Theo Who?

One of our favourite neighbour girls told her mum the other day, 'Mum, there are two Theos here at college. Theo Kendall and Theo Dore.'

Our Theo was Theo Dore. So much for our last name or surname, Dore would work just fine. I have laughed about this many times since her mother told me this earlier today. It reminds me of the time, shortly after Theo was born, that Jack asked that I call him Jackodore.

And here is a fun picture of Theo Dore holding Addie Laid:

They waved at me....

Jon and Stacey left England today. And things feel different....

Jon and Stacey were our first friends in England. We had never met before, but had a a few significant mutual contacts. I had high hopes that we would be good friends. When they first arrived in Cambridge, Charles picked them up at the bus station in Cambridge (we arrived two weeks earlier) and drove them to their flat. I remember calling home from work that day and in a very excited/nervous voice asking Charles how it was. I remember saying, 'did you like them? do you think we will be friends? what were they like?' After two weeks on our own, I was feeling a need for friends, and I was really hoping that Jon and Stacey would fill this void. And they for sure did!

They are the type of friends that you get to be yourself with. I have so many memories. These are just a few:

• I used to so look forward to our weekly Monday night talks (after laundry).
• I have great memories from our trips to Wales and Slovenia.
• The excitement I had when they walked into my room at the hospital after giving birth to Jack. They were 'our family' who came to visit. Jack's first visitors.
• Christmas 2005 that we spent together.
• No one is more fun to cook for than Jon. He makes even me feel like a good cook.
• Jon and Charles taking study breaks to come eat chocolate chip cookies or hot rolls.
• Picking Stacey up to drive her to work when her ankle was injured.
• After we moved to London, the way Jack and Theo would get so excited when Jon and Stacey would come for a visit.
• Chili and donuts - we will always think of Stacey when we eat these
• Stacey and my trip to the theatre in London.
• Our Pizza Hut dates (the last one being yesterday!)

Their plane was to take off at 12:15 today from London. Around 12:30 today Jack spotted a plane in the sky and said 'there go Jon and Stacey'. I jokingly asked him how he knew that was their plane. Without a hesitation, he said 'they waved at me'.

Six years later, and they are moving back to the US. We are so excited for the ministry God has called them to in Spokane. We are certain the folks in Spokane will be hugely blessed by them both.

We will miss them. They will forever be part of 'OUR England'. Thanks for the friendship...and from our family, here is a big wave back!

I'm the Little Sister

We pulled out the camera to take some pictures of Addie in her 'I'm the little sister' t-shirt. This gift was given to Addie by an older couple that was visiting college. I think they were especially fond of the gift because they also had two boys and then their third was a little girl. They gave the gift to Addie when she was only a week old, but I have a feeling they knew what was instore for her with two big brothers for many months and years to come!

Addie showing her shirt off


Miss Smiley


Miss Smiley Again


Adelaide and her biggest brother


Addie and her two brothers



And part of being the little sister is being in the middle of your brothers' pranks!

Our Garden (not back yard!)

England is in bloom and so is our garden. After living in England nearly six years, I have decided that I prefer the word 'garden' to 'back yard'. Why? Because it makes working there so much more enjoyable. 'I am going to go work in the garden.' sounds a lot better than 'I am going to do some yard work.'

Our new house has a nice garden -- a relatively big garden, especially by English standards. So after ten years of marriage, we finally bought our first lawnmower. One of our neighbours joked if this is what Charles buys me after ten years of marriage, imagine what he will get me after fifty! We were also told that we had bought a 'posh mower' prompted by the fact that we bought a lawn mower that was fuelled by petrol/gas instead of electricity.

We knew after borrowing one of our neighbour's electric lawnmowers while my sister was here visiting that we would need to get a petrol mower. All my sister kept saying the whole time Charles was out mowing with the electric mower was: 'it looks like Charles is out vacuuming the back yard'. And to be honest, she was right. We may have lived here six years, but electric lawnmowers still look funny to us - so petrol it was for us!

Here are some pictures from our garden:

Theo, the chunk

Today Charles walked into the bedroom to find Jack trying to lift Theo up onto the bed. It was clear Theo wanted up and Jack was showing a good deal of brotherly love by trying to assist. Well, despite the loving effort, he wasn't succeeding. In fact, he was really straining to push Theo up. So Charles offered his help which Jack quickly accepted saying 'Yes, I would like your help. He is such a little chunk.'

I hate to break it to Jack but this little 'chunk' (which is an incredibly accurate picture of Theo) will someday be Jack's favourite wrestling partner and then Jack might not be so happy that he is such a little chunk.

And here is a picture of our favourite little chunk: