I am still here

We have been having some computer problems with the laptop I typically use, hence, the silence on my blog lately. But I do have plenty of photos to put up from our vacation and afterwards. So please be patient with me!

To help you with your waiting, you can check out some of the 27 little videos I put up on YouTube. I am dumping the videos from my phone onto YouTube so that people can actually see them, and they won't just be trapped on my phone forever. Most of them are quite old, but they are pretty cute!

The ones of Quinn reading are pretty old (6 months ago or more?). You should see him now! His little brain has really caught on to sounding out letters in words and he can sound out words very quickly now. He enjoys it so much so that he asks to read more paragraphs even when we are done.

Please stay tuned for photos coming soon!

open house at firehouse

I just can't get enough of these little ones. Quinn is getting taller and slimmer, and Cora is just proud to be walking and running everywhere. I was really looking forward to the Open House at the Germantown Firehouse because we went last year and had such a good time.

I just love Cora's little legs in this shot. I just want to kiss them, but this is a common response.

I like this little sequence of Cora as it looks like she's doing cute little dance moves.

Quinn was very serious about getting into the fireman's suit and shooting the fire hose. He was the most handsome fireman there. =)

preview of precious

I am going to miss my "littles" tomorrow as I shoot a wedding with Israel all day. I am so glad that they have each other. Here is a preview from our beach trip. I know every girl is jealous of Cora's Barbie sunglasses.

we have FISH

We have a couple of freshwater aquariums now, and we've really enjoyed it. The children love looking at them and seeing where they are hiding out at times. They are our first pets since being married. How funny is that?

We have 2 Silver Dollars, 2 Ghost Catfish,

Betta,

and 2 Dalmation Mollies in the main tank.

We have 8 fish, with 7 tropicals in one 29 gallon tank, and 1 fancy black goldfish (with the buggy eyes) in a 15 gallon tank in Israel's office. We'd like to add some more soon. The Betta is Quinn's favorite and he loves to tell me when he's swimming into the coliseum. The 2 Silver Dollars are my favorite as they are a brother species to the Piranha. How cool! I'd like to get some Bala Sharks in there too. I tend to go for the sinister, predatory fish for some reason.

Quinn's birthday at the park

Hello all...

Quinn's birthday was just a month ago, and I am finally getting the chance to sit down and throw some shots up on the blog...

We have been a busy little family of 4 this past month, and October is looking even more crazy, but we like it that way, I think? We just got back from the OBX where we had a blast for 4 days. And then Israel was in Detroit the week before that. I've been working as much as I can on my forensic consulting job every night, so the blog gets pushed to the wayside... I worked 3.5 hours today. This was only with the Lord's help today as I also managed to clean 2 out of 4 bathrooms, play Legos, cook dinner, wash 20 diapers, and fold/put away 4 loads of laundry...Some days are clearly more productive than others!! Some days look like this... make my bed, work for half hour, barely make something edible for dinner, and change a few diapers.

I am sorry in advance that not all the people at Quinn's party got a photo with him! We will have to remedy that. So I am not showing favoritism with the aunts and uncles! And I hope to see some of my family over the holidays, Lord willing!!!! Yippee!

Cora got a little purse from LA, thanks Johannah!

The McCotter's visited a few weeks ago, as well as 2 of their boys, Titus and James. The Groveman's grew up with the McCotter's so it's always good to see them when they are in town from Denver.

I will have some fun OBX photos to put up soon!

good puddling day

After all the rain today, Quinn and Cora could not resist the puddles outside! (<- check out the video)

And here are a couple cricket-related videos ...

eating a cricket

heavy cricket

Oh, while Quinn was eating lunch one day, he was moving his fingers very fast, and I asked him what he was doing. This was his response:

I am texting my name, "Quinn Wallace Groveman."

Oh. My.

(This post was written on Oct. 27, but since I started from a previous draft, it was posted as being in September. This timeline bothers me as a forensic consultant, but I'll learn to deal with it.)

Great QOTD's from Quinn!

He has had some good ones lately, and I've got to get them down before I forget them!

about his new sparkling grape toothpaste... "It tastes like Dirty Cake."

"We should put some snakes and spiders and snails in our fish tank. But the spiders will eat the fish."

When I gave Quinn popcorn, he started moving it around and said, "I am texting my name, Quinn Wallace Groveman."

"When you say it's time for bed when I am playing Legos, then I will say 'OK mom', and I will not say 'I want to play more Legos.' no no."

fish with eye balls?

Quinn requested that we purchase some fish because they have eyes. So we came home with rainbow trout and grilled them that night. I usually try to cook seafood at least once a week for variety, and salmon wasn't on sale, so we opted for the fish with eye balls. But honestly, I wouldn't highly recommend this, especially if you are super-hungry, and you have children who can't pick out bones. There were about 10 bones to every bite. But it was an adventure!

Here are some photos of Cora during my time going in and out cooking the fish.

So pretty....

And here are these two buddies, best friends, peas in a pod...

giggles

Johannah captured some silliness while Israel and I went out on a date tonight. And it has convinced me to try to capture more video myself, and not just photos, of these special little people. They are so much fun to be with, and it is obvious that they love being with each other as well.

So click on the link above, and enjoy!

Quinn is 3 tomorrow!

Words can not express the love we have for this special boy... We thank God for him every day.

Israel put up a wonderful blog post from photos he had taken this past year, so sit back and enjoy.

things of summer...lollipops and pools...

Cora enjoying her first lollilop. No other explanation necessary....

Quinn, Cora, and I have been frequenting the pool quite a bit this summer. We pay an arm and a leg for our HOA, so might as well take advantage of it!

This is me telling Quinn to come over and get in the picture.

F-U-N spells blueberry

We four Groveman's went blueberry picking and had a great time. This family loves blueberries and can't keep enough of them in the house! We got to take a little ride on a trailer being pulled by a tractor, which was cool, and then we were all shoved into the same aisle and told not to leave the aisle, which wasn't cool. But we made the best of it, and picked a couple pounds or so.

My MBPS (Mississippi-blueberry-picking-skills) kicked in shortly after arriving, and we were on a mission.

Cora even managed to pick a few while sitting in the stroller. I looked over at one point, and she had a good grip on the branch with one hand, and then was shoving blueberries in her mouth with the other hand. She's quite resourceful, and seems to fend for herself rather easily!

Quinn is waiting, with stick in hand, for the trailer to take us back to our car.

Craving Cinnamon Rolls!

I have been craving these since before Christmas (ha!) and I finally made the time to whip them out today. It was well worth it, and not too time-consuming thanks to my lovely breadmaker. It was scrumptulescent (inside joke here). Everyone in my family scarfed them down after dinner, and there is still plenty to eat in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow! They really do taste exactly like those fancy ones at the mall, which I've heard have more calories than a Big Mac, but sometimes you just need one on a Thursday night.

Be sure to use bread flour instead of regular flour!

Cinnamon Rolls

• Ingredients
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 small package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

• 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions

1. In the pan of your bread machine, combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start.
2. When Dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over dough.
3. Roll up dough, beginning with long side. Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. While rolls bake, mix together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk with electric mixer. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.

photo from allrecipes.com

Cora's birthday celebration!

I love this first shot because it is such a tangible expression of Cora's deep love for her daddy. She absolutely LOVES Israel and gives him long and lingering hugs each day. He thinks she's pretty special too, to say the least.

Cora had such a wonderful birthday on July 7th. She turned 1, and she was very happy about it! We really missed all the extended family that couldn't come, especially my mom, dad, and sis, and Kyle, but they were all here in spirit!

Cora got to sit on Uncle Judah's new Harley, which she wasn't too sure about, but I think she looks like a natural biker chick. yikes.

Quinn looked pretty cool on the bike too. He was clear that he didn't want us to turn it on while he was on it. haha.

Cora had to take a water break in between opening her gifts. She was working up a sweat. She drank for about 30 seconds. ha!

As we did with Quinn (which would be fun to post his 1st birthday photos here too), we let Cora dig into her cake. She loved it, and dove in head first!

We are looking forward to Quinn's 3rd birthday next month!