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I found him this way a few minutes ago.  

Breaking It In

While Jessiqa was at work I took Abby and Ben to the park where they had fun swinging and playing on the climbers and slides.  They seemed to enjoy running around the park and playing hide and seek behind trees more than anything today.  Below you can see them hiding from each other.  (Something I forgot to mention previously.  If you want to enlarge the pictures simply click on them to view them at their original size.)  The picture on the right is the kids running to the car.  

When we arrived home an early birthday present was waiting on our front step courtesy of UPS.  The Garver grandparents and great grandparents were kind enough to have their gift shipped directly to the house so we didn't have to haul it back to Springfield.  It looks great and the kids absolutely love it (as demonstrated by the video below.) The kids decided they needed to make sure the rug was thoroughly broken in before they went to bed.  They played on the rug in similar manner to the video for well over half an hour before I had to put them to bed.  I am fairly certain that they would have ran around on it until they passed out if I would have let them.

Grandpa and Grandma Morris Visit

Mom and dad were in Springfield yesterday and we were able to spend much of the day with them.  They came bearing gifts for Abby and Ben, who were enthralled by their new "toys."  Abby and Ben are quite skittish around people they don't see everyday and playing with them normally warms them up fairly quickly. They received notepads and pencils which they promptly began scribbling on.

They then wanted to read their new books that they had received.  Dad and mom then learned a very important lesson about reading books to the kids.  For whatever reason, Abby and Ben will ask to read the same book literally twenty times before getting bored.  So, if you don't want to read the same book twenty times (trust me...you don't), it is vital that you have more than one book within arm's reach.

Ben soon discovered that grandpa had a camera and became quite intrigued.  Abby and Ben have become accustomed to touch screen devices and it is quite amusing to see them try and use non touch screen devices in a similar manner.

After a very short nap we realized that Ben was not feeling well and had a fever.  We spent most of the day chilling at home because of this.  We did go to the mall for a short while to browse and eat.  After eating at Ruby Tuesday's dad and I took Abby and Ben out into the mall to walk around while the ladies finished eating.  It is worth noting that we go to the mall fairly frequently to walk around and let the kids play with other children.  As we begin walking Ben realizes that we are near his favorite store. ToysRUs? Build-A-Bear? Nope...JCPenney.  He likes JCP because there is an escalator.  After some confusion on his part on which side is up along with quite a bit of explaining we proceeded to take the kids up and down the escalator at least seven times.  I apologize for not taking pictures but as you can imagine Ben becomes very excited and it is quite difficult to make sure everyone is safe.  We left the mall and eventually made it home.  We had told the kids that they could watch their new Pooh movie grandpa and grandma had brought them.

Midway through they decided that they would rather read and watch Television.

We quickly turned the TV off and let reading be our wind down activity before bed. Dad and mom read to the kids for a while before we put them to bed.

 It was good to spend time with mom and dad and see the kids interact with them, even though Ben was sick. Who's next?

Here we Go

This might end up being really lame, but we've decided to start a blog to keep everyone who is interested in how we're doing, the kids mainly, up to date.


I've been home from Ashland, NE nearly two weeks now and it's great to be home.  I wasted no time making up for lost time adding to the craziness by breaking my glasses last Thursday playing basketball.

 The kids are adjusting well to Jessiqa returning to work a few nights a week and I'm enjoying the time we're able to spend together.  I think I'm finally hitting my stride after starting school yesterday, and it looks to be a good last semester on campus.  The kids are learning their numbers, 1-10, and absolutely love to have books read to them. I ventured down to Clever, MO to pick up their new outside climber since they had out grown their previous one.

A few pictures and a short video for your enjoyment.