Pumpkins...

...as big as your kid.

A little overdue here are some pics from our pumpkin pickin' trip to Merrymead Farm. Next year maybe we'll plan better and do the hayride or the cornstalk maze. But for this year the pumpkin coral will have to do.




Oh, and we got some gourds too.

All she needed was an audience....

Amelia took her first step a month or so ago. But she hadn't done much since then. She was quite happy to cruise around furniture and occasionally let go to walk a few steps, before dropping down and crawling wherever she wanted to go. That walking stuff was just too much trouble.

Until last weekend, when everyone came for her birthday. On Friday night, with my parents and I watching Amelia walked a few steps from one person to another. When she completed this feet, everyone clapped and cheered for her. And since then I can't get her to stop walking.

She walks all around the living room stopping and squatting to pick up toys before moving on again. She walks around the dinning room scavenging for food that she dropped at breakfast and that I may have missed when sweeping. She evens tries walking on the bed... something that she is quickly realizing Mommy and Daddy won't clap for.

So things have gotten a lot more interesting around here... because now the baby is gone and I have two toddlers.

Here's some pics of the newest toddler on the block:

Amelia's one!

Here's some pictures from Amelia's B-day dinner on Saturday. Her birthday was actually on Friday, but we celebrated on Saturday so that my parents could be here with us. As per tradition, Amelia got the first piece of cake, her first ever, and she greatly enjoyed it.

I think that Maria had nearly as much fun as Amelia did opening the gifts, though she was a little too aggressive in her "helping" and tried to open the presents before Amelia had a chance to do it.

All in all a fun time with family and friends.

Why is everyone staring at me and singing? Don't they know that cake is on fire?

Hey, they made a mistake and gave me a piece... I'd better grab it quick before they catch on.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm....hey, wait is that a carrot in my cake?

Oh, they're still lookin'... I'd better be cute!

Hhmmmmm? What is this?

Oh, yeah! A bag full of crinkly paper!

Hey, I was looking at that! Oh, wait there's another down there.

Yummy!

Nearly Trained...

It's been potty training central around here for the last few weeks. Maria is finally starting to ask to go to the potty, and has been doing a fair job of keeping her special big-girl pants dry. All this potty related effort has caused several interesting situations.

The first incident happened the other day at lunch. Maria decided that she wanted to talk about her Elmo potty video.

Her is her version of the plot:

There was this little boy and he went up the stairs and he hadda go to da potty. And he went.

Then Elmo was in the bathroom and his daddy knocked on the door and asked if he needed help and he said no.

Baby bear and... and, uh, um... the other... Wee-wee and Woo-woo bear were there and Wee-wee and Woo-woo bear was hiding under the table. And Gina asked if she hadda go to the potty, and go woo-woo, and she said Yes! and Gina said come into my office, I have a special potty. Gina was an Officer. And Wee-wee and Woo-woo bear went.


Ya gotta love potty stories while you're eating.

The other funny situation happened at Wal-mart. Maria was wearing her big-girl pants, so I reminded her to tell me when she felt like she had to go to the potty. So we're in the craft section at the back of the store and Maria stands up in the cart and announces, "Mommy, I feel something coming out of my bum!" At which point, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or sink into the floor from embarrassment. I chose to tell her, "Squeeze your legs together!" and started running towards the front of the store, where I thought the nearest restroom was. Fortunately for us, there was one near the back, which I almost ran past in my haste to save Maria's big-girl pants and the contents of my cart from whatever was 'coming out' of her bum.

Thankfully, we made it in time. The actual potty experience was pretty fun in itself, as I had to wrangle with Amelia, whom I refused to put down on the Wal-mart bathroom floor. So I had her in my arms, struggling to get down, while helping Maria get onto and stay on the toilet seat, wipe, flush, pull up pants and wash hands. Oh, and did I mention that even though Maria made it to the potty, she got her shirt wet as it hung a little low while she was going. Luckily, I was purchasing some shirts for her, so all I had to do was open the bathroom door, get the pack of shirts from the cart, open it and get a shirt out, all with one hand, while the Indian lady across the way stared at me like I was a freak or perhaps a very poor thief.

Yep, fun indeed. Especially when, about 15 minutes later, just after Amelia started having a meltdown, and I was ready to leave, Maria announces, "I need to go somewhere" while tugging at her pants. So back to the bathroom we went. Thankfully, the Indian lady was gone this time.

Eventually, we made it out of the Wal-mart, with big-girl pants intact. But it was a pretty exhausting trip.

Now that Maria learned to tell us when she has to go, I think we'll start working on the wording she should use for her request. And maybe tomorrow we'll pop the Elmo Potty video back in and find out Wee-wee and Woo-woo bear's real name.

Quote of the Day.

At the dinner table:

Maria: Mommy, I am on the pot!

Luckily, I had Becky around to interpret...

Maria meant that she could see herself on the saucepot in front of her. She preceded to make funny faces at her reflection.

Can you guess what I thought she meant? Yep, too much potty talk around here lately.

Cute Kid Pictures.

Hahahahahaha. Complain about my not updating the blog, and you just might end up on it. :)

A new pro-life search engine.

A while back an alert reader left me a comment telling me about a newly created search engine that benefits pro-life groups. It's sponsored by Crossroads, a group which has college students volunteer to walk across the US to pray and promote a culture of life.

The new search engine can be found here. They promise to donate 100% of the funds generated to pro-life causes.

Pro-Life Search Update: Still No Refund.

The title kinda says it all. It's been far longer than a week, and somewhat longer than 21 days, and I still haven't received the promised refund. I plan to try contacting Dr. Rice once more, though I don't expect much. If Joe and Jack were truly sorry about what happened with the books they would have offered the refund a long time ago without having to be prodded to do so. And then they would have followed through and actually refunded the money once they offered it.

It's a really a very sad situation.

I think that we should pray for the two men, as I have been reassured by several people that they are "good men," so something must have gone terribly wrong to cause them to act in such a manner.

Attention Liturgy Coordinators:

Dean Abbott had a great post awhile back discussing why our worship services need to be more than happy, feel-good affairs. Go here for the original post and here for the update and clarification.

I have to agree that in order to communicate seriousness, we need to act in a serious manner. Reverence for God and respect for His laws are serious affairs. Fear of the Lord is a good thing. And our liturgy ought to inspire us and others to take God and His laws seriously. I don't think that we can do that when every week we have watered down praise songs instead of theologically dense hymns.

We shouldn't be going to church primarily to be entertained or experience an emotional uplift. These are great things. God doesn't want us to be sour-pusses. But we need seek the greater goods of reverence and fear of the Lord (meaning proper respect, awe and acknowledgment of our lowliness in comparison). Maybe if we do this, we will begin to draw others into a serious practice of the faith, and by such conversions put an end to the immorality that reigns today, most especially abortion.

Back from the Beach...

We have returned from one last vacation before the summer ends. (Yeah, I know it's after Labor Day, but summer doesn't officially end til the 23rd.)

We had a fun time at the beach, lots of sun and sand, some fun fishing and just one day of rain. Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

This was Amelia's first time at the beach, and her first encounter with sand. She loved it... maybe a little too much as she kept eating it.

This was the second trip to the beach for Maria, and she's a sand expert. She spent loads of time digging and making castles in the sand.

Maria enjoyed the waves... until one knocked her over, then she was much more cautious and would run away from the waves.

Amelia liked the water, and laughed at the waves. But it was a little cold so she could only "swim" for short amounts of time before wanting to head back to the towels.

We rented a pontoon boat to go fishing in the bay.

The first catch of the night, a sea bass. Too small to keep though, so he had to go back in.

Pop surprised everyone with this catch, a sand shark. Little did we know that this would be the first of many sharks caught that night.

Amelia mostly enjoyed the night, though she did get a little tired of "hanging" around in the carrier, and being passed from person to person when we switched who was fishing and who was watching.

Here's Captain Victor with the only keepable thing that was caught (way to go Jim), a kingfish. They filleted it for us and we ate it that night. It was pretty good, even if there wasn't that much of it.

The funniest catch of the night goes to David, who "caught" this clam which had latched onto his sinker.

Another Way to Contact ProLife Search?

I was sent this link earlier tonight. It is a blog set up by none other than Jack Manhire, for his son's Scout Troop. It has an email address and a cell phone number listed for Jack. I may have to send Jack an email, as we're nearing the end of the second week without the promised refund.

Thanks to the person who let me know about the site.

A Well Licked Treat.

Maria throughly enjoyed her ice cream dessert tonight. And she made sure to get every last drop.

Not blood, just chocolate syrup.

Deer neighbors...

We spotted these big bucks in our yard again this weekend, and I managed to sneak out the back door and get some pictures. Not clear enough to count the points, but enough to see that these racks would look good on the wall.

This one was the smaller of the two, at least an eight point.

This one was probably a ten, maybe a twelve, note the nice spread.

Labor day, at the pool.

Here are some pics of the girls at the pool. This was Amelia's first time in a wadding pool. I think that she enjoyed her little boat very much. And I know Maria enjoyed pulling her around in it. Thanks, Mom-mom for inviting us.

For the Birds...

At the beginning of this summer, we discovered a hole out soffit at the back of our house. We wanted to fix it right away, until we realized that some birds had made their nest there.
Well, now it's nearing the end of summer, and the birds have gone so Jim took some time this weekend to fix up the hole and readjust the gutter that was mis-hung and caused the hole in the first place. Here's a few pictures of most of the nest material that Jim pulled out of the hole when he removed the plywood.
There were two unhatched eggs left in the nest. And as Jim will tell you, lots and lots of droppings and feathers, but I didn't take pictures of that.
It was really quite a job, as it required us to rent scaffolding, and a truck to bring the scaffolding home and to return it.
It was a lot of work, but now thanks to Jim and Dad V., the hole is all fixed and the gutter has been adjusted and partially re-hung to prevent water damage in the future.

A busy weekend....

You know that it's been a busy weekend when you find your 10 month old slumped over, fast asleep in her high chair at 9 in the morning.

Sweet anticipation.

As I was lying on the couch with a cold pack on my head, Jim brought me my requested migraine medicine. Seeing the pills, Maria inquired, "Mommy, what did daddy bring you?"

"My headache medicine, my head hurts so I have to take these to help it feel better."

To which Maria answered, "Mommy, I think that the beach would make your head feel better."

Then she squinted at me and pulled at her eyes and said, "My eyes are itchy. I think that the beach will make them feel better. We need to pack up for the beach. The beach will make my eyes feel better."

Yep, someone is ready to go to the shore this weekend.

Thoughts on the Apology from PLS

Sorry it took me so long to post this. First, I wanted to make sure that I had permission to pass this info along to everyone. Then, the weekend happened and I got involved in furious cleaning and other projects.

I spoke with Patte, the former secretary for ProLife Search, on Thursday night. She gave me her permission to post parts of an email that she sent me detailing some of the inconsistencies in the apology email sent out by Joe Hanley. These were things that she told me before Joe's email came out and I asked her to clarify after I saw what was written in the email.

Here is the content of the email that Patte sent to me:

Yes, I do see problems with the email.

-I don't know what they are talking about with "web developers". No passwords were changed. I accessed the PLS website daily up to and including the day it went suddently offline forever.

-The only other person that I am aware of that had access to the website was their tech guy who worked for them in other capacities. He hadn't been involved with the PLS website for months. There was no need. He was not aware of the site being down until I pointed it out to him by phone. He logged into the account and said "They just didn't pay their bill and so it was canceled." According to him, all they need do even now, is to pay $250, they'll be given a new set of numbers and it would be up and running with no hitch whatsoever.

-Our userbase is not in the PLS website. It is in the aWeber program that sends out the mass emails.

-Therefore...how can they account for being able to SPAM you all these last months?

-Therefore....how is it that now they are able to send this email out that they did just yesterday if the website is gone and the "web developers" blocked them from the website?

-Why couldn't they access the contact information for the book purchasers? That all went through Paypal and Authorize.net. Every single purchaser is in there (except those who paid by check of course). There is no purchaser information in that website.

-To my knowledge, no charity received any money from the book sales in '07. They did however earn $6000 from book sales and that entire amount was given out at Christmas. Joe and Jack were so happy to do that.

-Though the printing of the books may have been taking place overseas, I was told that the Chinese printer himself is in southern California. Why can't he be sued?

I'm concerned about the ones who didn't get this email from them because they got sick of the SPAM and unsubscribed.

I think that Patte covers my concerns pretty well in her email.

The only thing that I can think to add is this post from the administrator of the Cure, Beach of Stone Website. (thanks to filiamariae for posting this new info in my combox)

For those of you who are wanting an explaination in regards to the domain prolifesearch.com... please read:

I do apologize you are being re-directed to this website. However, this is NOT my fault. I have NOT bought the domain, as lots of you have inquired of me. The people to blame for this problem is the host. My domain and prolifesearch.com are hosted by the same company, liquidweb. When I switched hosts recently, they put my site on the SAME IP address as prolifesearch.com. THAT is why you're being redirected to my site. I have since spoken to techs to try to fix this issue, and it should be rectified within 24-48 hours. Sorry for your inconvenience.

__________________
Graphics Web Designer and Editor of Beachofstone.com
lane@beachofstone.com

This was posted on their forum on August 29. Any links to Prolife Search still take you to their site, so the host hasn't changed the numbers yet. I'll keep watching it to see if anything changes, but liquidweb may not do anything, since, according to the former PLS web guy, the account is past due.

I still plan to contact Dr. Rice again and pass on the information that Patte sent to me, that I have posted here. I still have not received my refund.

Thanks to all of you out there trying to investigate this. If you find anything that I don't have email me and I'll post it here so we have everything in one place.

One final note: The address that is listed for ProLife Search is a private residence, but it does not belong to Jack or Joe. It belongs to a relative of one of the men, so if you live in the Chicago area, don't go charging out to the house. Feel free to send letters though, as Joe himself listed the address in his email as a way to contact him.

Pro-Life Search - An Apology?

As I was away when the apology email came out, I have been delayed in writing about it. (I was in dial-up land, so I didn't check my email.) While others (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam and Mama Says) have already posted all or part of the email, I will post it again here so you won't have to click a link to see it.

Here is the entire email that I received:

We apologize for the lateness of this email, and for the dropped
responses and follow-up tasks that have affected some of you. I
(Joe Hanley) would like to accept personal responsibility for these
failures, and I can only tell you again that I'm sorry. Personal
issues got me very off track, and I did not communicate outwardly
or complete the follow-ups I promised you, I ask your forgiveness.
We will take care of your requests and communication right away
from this point on.

As you most likely realize even before receiving this note, PLS has
had a long interruption in our mission--and our communication--and
we'd like to use this email for three things:

1. First and foremost, apologize for some problems over the past
months

2. Next, update you on the PLS operation

3. Finally, and importantly as well, initiate effective follow-up to
any communication and requests you have back to us

Bad news before details... as many or you have already noticed, the
ProLifeSearch website is no more. Here's what happened:

Regarding our operations, it has taken us awhile to put some of the
pieces of ProLifeSearch back together again. . . including those
who purchased the books.

As many or you have already noticed, the ProLifeSearch website is
gone. We'll get to how that happened in a minute.

But first, regarding the books: When we took the orders for the
leather-bound books we divided the money received two ways. The
first went to the publisher to produce the books. The second part
went immediately to our pro-life charities.

We then began having trouble with our publisher. For one reason or
another they kept giving us excuses as to why the books weren't
ready yet. Days turned into weeks which turned into months. By
the time we demanded our money back for a job not completed, the
publisher was completely non-responsive. Since this publisher is
overseas, it will end up costing us more to sue the publisher for
performance than what we paid them.

So all of the money sent to the publisher is gone. The money not
sent to the publisher went to our pro-life charities and hopefully
did a great deal of good for Life.

Of course some of you would like refunds for the money you paid, as
you should. We do not feel right asking for the money back from
our charities, and the rest of the money is in the publisher's
pocket. So we (Jack and I) will personally pay those people back
who request a refund out of our own pockets. We just ask that you
have patience. We simply cannot afford to refund everyone at once.
As money becomes available, we will make good on our promise
though.

Those people who have already requested refunds will receive checks
within one week. Anyone requesting a refund now or in the future
will receive that within 21 days of getting the request to us.

Some of you may feel a certain relief knowing that your money went
to help Life. If you do not wish to request a refund, you do not
have to do anything. If you do wish to get a refund, please email
us at plsrefunds@gmail.com or write us at 542 N. Ashbury Ave,
Bolingbrook, IL 60440.

Now the website itself: Sadly, the bottom line is that some of the
web developers we hired for this project left our employ and
changed all of the passwords to the site. This meant that for
months we could not access the site, change the site, or post any
new information on the site. It also meant that we could not
access our list of book purchasers to notify them of the problems
we were having.

As we tried to force the new passwords from these developers, the
URL -- http://www.prolifesearch.com -- expired, and it seems some rock and
roll site was all too ready to snatch it up because of all the
traffic we created over the past 2 years.

Legally, the site now belongs to that organization. We have tried,
but we cannot get it back.

The good news is that during our operation, through your support,
we were able to generate over $20,000 for Pro-life charities. Good
was done, and we accept responsibility (and apologize to all of
you) for a rocky wind-down to our efforts.

Of course, we also hope that we might have inspired others to come
up with their own ideas on how to blend every day activities and
our cause for Life so that those charities on the front line of the
fight have what they need to continue their good work each and
every day.

I am a little sad to have to say good-bye. But ProLifeSearch was
never about Jack and Joe. It was always about you. You are the
ones who made any good works we did possible. And for that I just
want to say Thank You.

Please go forth and continue to fight the good fight.

God bless you all,

Joe Hanley
Jack Manhire

ProLifeSearch.com, 542 N Ashbury Ave, Bolingbrook, IL 60440, USA

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:
http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?zKycrKxMtMxsrBwszIxs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have some thoughts about this email. I will explain more in a later post, but I do think that there are some problems with their, or rather Joe's, explanation of what happened. There are quite a few things in the email that conflict with what I was told by Patte, the former secretary, about what happened. Other things conflict with my own research.

For one, I don't think that the URL has expired yet. At least it hasn't according to GoDaddy, WhoIs. Click the link then enter the verification code to see what I mean. According to that site the domain name is still active and registered to Jack Manhire until September 16, 2007. It also says that there hasn't been an update since August 2006.

That's just one thing that seems "fishy" about the apology email. For a few others, read the first comment on the Mama Says post. The commenter, Elaine, is right on in her concerns.

I think that we should all ask for the refund. If anyone actually gets one, leave a comment here and let me know.

Home, home from the Grange...

Just one of the many swine we saw this weekend.

The girls and I returned home today from visiting my family and friends in central PA. It was a great time, especially since I planned the trip to coincide with the annual Grange Fair. The fair and encampment has been going on for 132 years now. There are tons of exhibits ranging from produce to quilts to photography to 4-H projects. People also bring livestock - sheep, goats, pigs, chicken, horses, and rabbits - to show and sometimes to sell. Judging takes place throughout the week so by the end you can see who has the Best Dairy Goat or the Best Vegetable Freak (a real category for veggies that are oddly shaped - sorry I didn't take a picture).

The Senior Dairy Cattle Showmanship competition.

There is a concert every night with smaller concerts or shows throughout the day. Area businesses set up booths to display their wares and area restaurants sell food. There are crafters in abundance, like the woman from whom my mom bought a plastic bag holder. I really found it pretty amusing that the woman felt it necessary to place the bag holder (a tube shaped open-ended fabric bag with elastic around each end meant for holding and storing plastic grocery bags) in a plastic bag for my mom to carry it home. She could have advertised it as "free with purchase, a plastic bag to start your collection."

Walking on the midway.

There are also carnival style rides, games and concessions. They have actually increased the number of rides since the last time that I was there, so now there are two ride areas at different ends of the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, with two little ones in tow, I wasn't really able to amuse myself by making myself ill on all the spinning, twirling, inverting contraptions. However, there were a few more tame rides which Maria enjoyed very much.

Fast car = Fun.

We went to the fair on Saturday and Monday, but we still didn't see as much as I would have liked. Maria had a great time looking at the animals, especially the rabbits and the goats. She was especially happy when one of the goats licked her a hand. (Nope, didn't get a picture of that either.) She also enjoyed playing "the duck game," and winning fun prizes, like the "trumpet" and spiky ball in the picture above. I also had a good time playing skee ball with Amelia in the front carrier trying to grab the ball from my hand.

Two "kids" eye to eye.

Last night we stay pretty late so that I could see Jamie O'Neal in concert. Unfortunately, she was late getting there, so the concert started at 8:30 instead of 8. Then, there were possibly drunk people sitting behind me talking loudly and making crude jokes. (I was very glad that Maria was with my mom or she would have picked up some "interesting" new words from these people.) Then there was the overly friendly man in front of me who kept playing with Amelia's hands and feet. I should have told him no, but I'm such a wimp when it comes to stuff like that, so after awhile I just said something about her needing sleep and turned her around in the front pack so he couldn't reach her arms and legs anymore. Even with all that, I still enjoyed the concert. I left after the first set to find Mom and Maria, so we could get the girls home and to bed. All in all it was a great, but exhausting trip.

Maria collapses on the floor after coming back to Grammy and Pappy's after an evening at the fair. Notice that she is still clutching her " 'nother balloon", her third one of the fair - she let the air out of the first, and accidently released the second into the air. This one she wasn't going to let go of.