Author Archives: reba

Ghoulish Good Times

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Houston picked out everyone’s costumes for Halloween this year. He wanted to be a scary skeleton and requested that the twins be Super Mario Brothers, with Gabriel as Mario and Zeke as Luigi. (He plays the “Mario Cart” game on Daddy’s Nintendo DS, as well as sometimes watches a cheesy show about the video-game brothers from the late ’80s.)

Intrigued as always, Gabriel (left) & Zeke help Granny, Mommy & big bro carve the jack-o-lantern.

Granny & Grumps couldn’t stay for all the fun, but they helped us get the boys into their costumes. After hot chocolate, we hit the streets with some of our closest neighbors.

Very soon after the festivities began, Luigi (Zeke) only wanted to eat the few pieces of candy he’d gotten and wasn’t at all interested in continuing with the trick-or-treating nonsense. So Daddy and a stubborn Zeke headed home to hand out treats and eat sweets.

“If I could only ride a trike, surely I could score more candy in a shorter time,” contemplates Mario (Gabriel).

Houston the skeleton, who was sticking with the some of the faster, older kids (led by Miss Heather from next door) eventually got ahead of Mario (Gabriel) and Pocahontas (the boys’ good pal, Maddie), who I was pulling in our new wagon. As we made our way up an incline and farther away from home, we inevitably caught up to an increasingly slower, tired Houston.

That’s about the happiest skeleton I’ve ever seen & that was just the first house!

By that time, Gabe was pretty pooped, so I took him home, where we helped Daddy and Zeke with candy duty, and Miss Ruth and Mr. Kevin (Maddie’s folks) took Houston and Maddie around the hood for more trick-or-treating via wagon.

Even though the Houston, Gabriel and Zeke were on totally different schedules that night, it turned out to be a great Halloween, thanks to awesome neighbors, friends and family, as well as perfect autumn weather.

“Hey, pisan … waddya lookin’ at?!?” says Luigi (Zeke), conjuring his inner Italian machismo.

Click the top photo to check out Part 1 pics, which include trunk-or-treating a few days before Halloween at Uncle Greg and Auntie Merdy’s church, and the above shot to view Part 2.

Gabriel & Zeke Turn 2!

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The biggest news of October was that Gabe and Zeke had their 2nd birthday on 10/16. We kicked things off by visiting Steeple Hill Farm, which featured hayrides, pumpkins galore, plenty of farm critters to pet and/or feed, a corn maze, and both an “enchanted” and “butterfly” forest. It was a gorgeous morning and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the seasonal festivities.

Gabe & Zeke start their birthday morning off by hunting for woolly worms on the corn maze.

Then later that afternoon, we had folks over to the house for some more outdoor recreation, including an impressive campfire (built by Stephen) in our newly constructed fire ring (built by me). We toasted s’mores and hot dogs, pigged out on cupcakes and ice cream cones, and just vegged out while we celebrated the twins first two years. They might be double trouble, but Gabriel and Zeke are such a blessing, and this fun-filled day was a perfect reflection of that fact.

The birthday boys wreak havoc in the “enchanted forest.”

The twins had their two-year check-up on 10/18. Zeke weighed 30 pounds and measured at 33 3/4″ high. Gabe was just shy of those numbers, coming in at 29 1/2 pounds and 33 1/4″ tall. We also started them on their alternative vaccine schedule with the doc giving them one shot that day. He also notified me that there are a few vaccines Gabe and Zeke can skip since those particular ailments no longer pose a risk to them by age 2. Very cool.

“I hope I can build campfires as good as Daddy,” thinks Zeke.

The rest of the month consisted of an overnight visit from Gramsey and Papa; our weekly constructive appointments with Miss Pat; hitting the Y on Fridays; trunk-or-treating at Greg and Meredith’s church on 10/27; and then trick-or-treating in the neighborhood on Halloween (more details about those ghoulish good times when I get the pics edited and into gallery).

And we’re kicking off November by taking the kids with us to vote in the oh-so-important midterm elections tomorrow. Yee haw!

A chilly Gabriel warms up around the campfire w/ Mommy.

Starting at the top and moving your way down, click each photo to check out all the pics from Gabriel and Zeke’s birthday. (Thanks to Granny for snapping shots while my hands were full, as well as our neighbor, Miss Heather, for sharing her photos.) Be sure to also check out the three cute additions at the end of the October gallery.

Anniversary & Richmond

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It was 10 years ago yesterday that Stephen and I tied the knot. It’s amazing to think about all that we’ve been through as a couple and even more amazing the fact that it has made us stronger as a family. In short, I never thought I could love Stephen more than I did that beautiful fall afternoon a decade ago, but I do. Cheers to all the old married folks out there!

A 22-year-old, long-haired Stephen toasts Rebecca, his 29-year-old, green-dress-wearing bride on October 14, 2000.

Being that Stephen has been working a lot and we have three kids, we didn’t do anything special for our anniversary. But we did head up to Richmond the first weekend in October to stay with Ingrid (my oldest, dearest friend in the world), Peter (Ingrid’s hubby and another old pal of mine), and their three wonderful kids, Quinn and Ellie (13-year-old twins) and Mia (an adorable 10 year old). I know hosting “the zoo” was a huge and completely self-less undertaking for Ingrid and fam, but we all had such an incredible time.

In addition to the hospitality and fun served up at Ingrid’s house, we also got to visit with family at Auntie Lisa’s house while hangin’ in my hometown. Dina, Meredith, David and Kara; Lisa, Albert and Rick; and Gramsey and Papa all went out of their way to spend time with us — not to mention feed us! — and we just appreciate the effort everyone made to make our weekend in Virginia’s capital city a memorable one. Thanks!

Two sets of twins & one singleton (grouchy singleton Houston refused to pose for this pic).

The twins’ sessions with Miss Pat — which are now back-to-back sessions once a week — have been extremely effective. Last week, she said the biggest challenge was to get Zeke to use words instead of sign and Gabe to use words instead of making the sound. So she asked me to jot down all the new stuff they were saying. And the list I gave her this past week included 20-plus words!

Miss Pat, Daddy and I are all hopeful that the twins will soon be talking up a storm soon just like big bro Houston (who recently engaged me in an in-depth conversation about how peculiar it is that Hulk’s pants never tear to shreds when he turns from Bruce Banner into the doctor’s mammoth, raging alter ego … whatta hoot!) And being that Gabriel and Zeke are turning 2 tomorrow, that’s the best birthday present I could want for my “double trouble!”

Cousin Meredith shows an inquisitive Zeke how to blow leaves.

On a sad note, Yoda-fish died. He had been sick for a few weeks, swimming on his side at the top of his tank, while not being able to swim below the surface. After some research, I thought he had swim bladder disease. I treated him with thawed frozen peas, which actually worked for a few days, returning Yoda-fish’s normal buoyancy and swimming patterns, but then he finally passed. At least our aquatic buddy was happy in his last hours. RIP, Yoda-fish.

Reba & Iggy: Richmond gals & great friends for nearly four decades.

You can view a few shots of Houston’s last diaper EVER at the end of the September gallery and some new pics of the kids playing around the house in October. Click the photo of Meredith and Zeke to see the Saturday goings on while in Richmond and the above photo to see the Sunday fun.