Tuesday, August 25, 2009

At the "Otter-all"

Last Saturday night we met the Phelps for dinner at one of our favorite places, The Depot in Helena. I'd been wanting a new family photo so I brought my camera along for some pictures in front of the waterfall, or "otter-all", as Georgia calls it! But first we had to wait for this sweet wedding that was taking place down there:
(this picture is here for Larry, who said when I was taking it "why are you taking a picture of someone's wedding? What will you ever do with that picture??" :) )

Tried to get a group shot of the kiddos at dinner, but Lincoln & Logan both went right after Georgia's hair!
It worked a little better with the boys in front!

Down at the "falls"...



Georgia wanted our cheeks touching hers! Such a cheeseball! Wonder where she gets that?!


We "hung out" at the playground for a bit before heading back to our house to tuck sleepy kiddos in bed! (Lincoln preferred to swing this way- all limbs and head dangling!)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Cini Mini Love

We have finished out our week of sickness. The final score:
Sickness: 5, Hipps: 0.
That was one persistent & nasty stomach bug! Larry & Lincoln got it Tuesday. Lincoln got it again Thursday afternoon. Georgia got it ALL Thursday night. I got it Friday. And my mom, who came to visit Wed-Sun {despite being warned!}, got it Sunday night after returning home. I hate that mom had to get it too, though it seemed inevitable. But it was so great to have her here to help while we were all sick. I think she did at least 50 loads of laundry!

By Saturday morning we were feeling almost all better and celebrated by making Mini Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast. They're from Darby's blog: Fly through my window. I don't know her, but feel like I do b/c I read her blog all the time and try all her recipes. They were yummy & easy! And perfect for little hands:


Here's the recipe, copied straight from her blog:
1 can of refrigerated "crescent" rolls.
Unroll and pinch together the seams between the triangles {you'll be left with 2 rectangles}
Spread butter over your two rectangles.
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Roll up.
Cut into ciniminis.
Bake on parchment paper according to directions on package... I think it's 375 for 8-10 mins.
Drizzle with icing.

Icing:
lots of powdered sugar
little bit of milk
dribble of vanilla
STIR.


And we didn't just sit around last week being sick and eating Cini Mini's- we also remodeled our kitchen! New counter top, new sink & faucet, tile back splash- we still need to grout the tile, so I'll wait to post pictures till all is done....

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I love you too, little boy!

How cute is this little guy???
And he loves his mommy. (It says so on his bib!)
And I love that about him!


I especially love it when he's NOT projectile vomiting all over me at California Pizza Kitchen. That was not so fun. Thankfully, it seems to be over. And, thankfully, so far, we hope, it seems to only affect the men, big & small, in our household.
{Don't worry, we only give big hugs when vomit is NOT an issue!}

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Lions and Tigers and... Cows?

Saturday morning we took the kids to the zoo, and as we explained to Georgia what we were going to be doing that day we asked her what animals she wanted to see at the zoo...
"Cows!"
But they have lions, tigers, zebras, giraffes- all kinds of exotic animals at the zoo...
"Cows!"
And wouldn't you know, the Birmingham zoo has no cows! I thought there used to be some Bison there, which may have looked enough like a cow to appease her, but we didn't see them. Thankfully we wore her out between the petting zoo, roaring at the lion, monkey house, train ride, and splash pad, and she forgot all about those cows!
It was great fun having aunt Sandy, uncle Matt & Logan join us!

Despite the heat, Lincoln covered his head with his bear and snuck in his morning nap! The kid likes to get his sleep!

Giraffe, Georgia & Daddy

The otters were having a great time playing in the water!

My little Hippos gave me sweet smiles for the first picture...

...but they really felt like THIS while waiting in the hot sun for our train ride!

We finished up by cooling down at the Splash pad!

Are you sad I didn't take more pictures? Me too! I took a lot of video, and I can only hold one camera while pushing the stroller. But here's a fun picture to end on...
Georgia the Giraffe, August 2009, 2 years old (28 months)

Georgia the Giraffe, February 2008, 10 months old

Our "New" Bernie-Dog

The spirit of the Bernman lives on...
this little guy that Larry gave Georgia for Valentines has long soft ears and likes to be cuddled, so he now has the honorary name "Bernie-Dog", and sleeps with Georgia every night!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A Tribute to Bernie


We recently said "Goodbye" to our first 'add-on' to the Larry & Kathryn family- our basset hound, Bernard Macmillion Hipp, aka Bernie, Berns, Bernman, Ba, B... As our family has grown and become more chaotic, Berns was getting left in the dust, which was making his ears droop more than ever. We finally battled the Guilt of not giving him enough attention vs. the Guilt of giving him up, and knew in our hearts that letting him go to a family that would love on him the way we want to, the way we used to but don't have time for anymore b/c our life is full of feeding, cleaning, & chasing our other two, was the more fair thing for him. It was a very hard decision. One that we've come up against several times in the past and we refused to make. A decision that battled our love for him, for he really was a sweet member of our family, and our own pride, thinking we could "do it all"- and have a dog too! I even didn't want to blog about it at first, b/c I felt bad that we had to let him go...
He had his "pitiful look" down to an art!
We loved taking walks by the creek.

But it's such a good thing for all of us, especially Bernie, and I decided to shake off the sadness of it and blog a little tribute to him! He was such a special part of our family, he deserves one last hurrah. And this blog is to document and highlight our whole life as a family, the ups, downs and in-betweens. Letting our sweet puppy go to a new home is all of those!
When Bernie was an "only child", all the pictures were of him!
First Christmas- he was scared of the firetruck coming by with Santa!

We got Bernie 5 months after we got married, October of 2003. He was just a puppy, and those sweet, soft ears melted our hearts! He wined and whimpered all the way home, and all through the first night. We should have listened to the signs...
Such a sweet little pup! He used to run and trip over those long, soft ears!



He was the most wild puppy I've known! He ate everything- the wooden leg on our dining room table (where a chunk is still missing), all the way thru the wood legs on our bar chairs, one whole section of carpet in our town home- including the padding, a basket of pine cones I put out for decoration our first Christmas, even rocks from the pebble-gravel in the backyard. He refused to be housebroken for over a year. He misbehaved constantly and barked incessantly. Yet we still loved him. Well, I loved him- I think Larry only liked him at that point! Larry was traveling lots for work at this time, and Berns was my constant companion. We took long walks along the creek trails, played in the soccer fields and snuggled on the couch. (This was back when he was little and allowed on the couch!)
Hoping to steer his chewing away from furniture, we would give him the long cardboard tubes from wrapping paper- he would completely shred them!

He continued to grow, and GROW- who knew bassets were such big dogs! It was like having a giant Labrador with short legs. And stubborn, troublesome attitude. We moved and he got a big backyard. As we were moving into our new home- literally as we were lifting the door on the Uhaul- Bernie offered us an introduction to our new neighbor. He was staked in the backyard, which was then unfenced, and barking up a storm. Our neighbor came out, and as I walked toward her with a smile and handshake offered out, she glowered with hands on hips and asked "is that dog going to bark like that all the time!?" and proceeded to lecture us on the quiet tranquility of this end of the neighborhood. Welcome, neighbor! (We have since made peace and gotten along quite well with said neighbor. And I guess she came to accept the Bernman, b/c yes, he did bark like that most days!)
Happy Halloween, 2007
Christmas 2005: with "uncles" Michael & Wes

But as the years passed, Bernie, and our family, matured and grew. When we brought Georgia home, we wondered how he would be with a 'little sister'. He was wonderful and loved her from the start. He always respected her boundaries, but still didn't mind when she invaded his space. He would lay with only the tip of his nose over the edge of her blanket on the floor as she played, and as she learned to move, she would bring toys over and bang him with them. Still, he stayed close by! One of her first recognizable words was "Ba", for Bernie- before even saying mama and dada consistently!
He posted himself "guard" next to Georgia's bassinet.
An attempt at a Christmas picture together (which I did not end up using), 2007.
Georgia & Bernie, looking for fun!
The literal definition of "parallel play".

Then we added Lincoln to the mix and our pace doubled. We were (are!) balancing new feeding and napping schedules, gym class, playdates, potty training... and Bernie was finally slowing down. He was finally outgrowing his long puppyhood, and the hound in him was taking over. He was ready for long naps in the sun, slow walks in the woods with time to sniff each leaf, and extra belly rubs. Except, around here, naps were usually interrupted by someone crawling over him or banging into him! We could tell he was getting frustrated, though he always continued his sweet demeanor, and we were finding ourselves frustrated at him for nonsensical reasons.
Newborn Lincoln & Bernie, napping in the sun.
Watch out, Berns- incoming trouble!
And I couldn't be happier about the new family we found for him! They had a basset before, have done several basset rescues (were you "foster" a hound for a time), currently have a little basset girl and wanted a sibling for her. They love their dogs and even take them to the beach with them. (I still can't picture Berns frolicking in the sand and surf!) Bernie gets to spend his days getting all the attention he could want and his nights curled up with his sweet new sister. His new momma promised to take good care of our "first child" and keep in touch. She even sent me this picture of Bernie and Lillie (hopefully you can see it- she doesn't know me well enough to know I'd want to put it on the blog!):

We love you, Berns, and always will! Here's to many more years of drooling, ear-shaking, scent-chasing, sun-sleeping fun for you!
I tried to take some last pictures of Bernie & the kiddos... well, a dog, 2-year old and 7-month old do NOT cooperate for pictures (esp. right before bedtime!), so this is all I got! :)