Homage to Gracie Jane

Girl loves to dress up. I think we've got an actress on our hands. She's skilled at getting in and out of character. She can easily go from Dorothy to a ballerina supastar to a dog in the blink of an eye.

Weekend update

Saturday morning is pancake morning around the Cearley house. We took a page from Jon & Kate + 8 and have been doing this for months now. It's something that we all look forward to throughout the week. Stephanie makes these super healthy pancakes with flax seed and organic this and that - my contribution is chocolate chips. Mmmm. Healthy, yet very tasty.

The boys are this close to crawling. The days of immobility and laying on the back are almost over. I forgot what it's like to have mobile babies. Soon, I will be forced to put up the gate, take things off bottom shelves and baby-proof everything in the house. Plus, the chasing. Oy.

Today, we will go look for frames for the special pictures we took about a month ago. I purposely didn't write about them because they are a surprise. Shhhh. Texas/Oklahoma State is on later this afternoon and I'm sure we'll watch that. Otherwise, today's plan is to relax as much as possible.

On a more sobering note, my company laid off 75 employees this past week. Hopefully, there won't be another round anytime soon. The state of this nation and economy is so depressing. I'm still standing and employed, but in these times, I suppose anything can happen at any given time. I just pray for leadership, here and around the world, that wants to solve this problem and will take the right steps to do so. I know it's asking a lot, but I have confidence someone can. Hurry up November 4.

5 things that have happened since last post

1. Steph's birthday was on the 12th. We had a nice date on the lake and were able to just chill together. It was very, very nice.

2. Max is getting 2 teeth on the bottom. It is keeping him up a little in the morning and making him a little bit fussier than normal.

3. Steph is weening the nursing. Soon, they will strictly be fed by the bottles.

4. I spoke at a digital pharma conference this past Wednesday. I traveled to NYC on Tuesday, back home on Thursday.

5. My mom came to visit last weekend (she helped babysit while we went out on the aforementioned date). She and Kyle are off to a vacation in Napa tomorrow, where they'll go to a wedding for one of her students and spend a week playing around in wine country. Have fun, momma!

Sunday with the Johnsons

After 2 1/2 long years of no contact with the Johnsons, we finally reconnected and even saw each other. We seemed to pick up right where we left off. Er, aside from the 3 babies who have collectively been born between now and then. They're doing really well and their daughter, Meadow, is beautiful. I think she looks just like D. She's a little under a year right now and Gracie couldn't understand why she wouldn't run or talk or do anything that Gracie does. It's silly how you don't keep in contact with those who are really important to you and before you know it, years have passed. It takes effort from both sides and we'll just try harder. Life is puzzling like that. Especially with kids.

BTW - that's Nick in the turtle towel.