30 OCTOBER 2007

“This is a story about a guy, who like most of us, sometimes questions his existence, measuring himself to others, not believing enough in his abilities or his worth. Then one day, his passion outgrew his fears as he stepped onto a stage, a stage that took him to a place beyond his self imposed prison. Watch the faces of the judges as this guy walks out on the stage. You can almost see what they’re thinking as they pre-judge this guy based on his looks and the fact that he’s a cell phone salesman. Maybe this guy stopped believing in what people told him for so many years and ultimately started listening to his passion.”

Edited: I was informed that the video I originally had embedded is expired. I updated the link, but if it still doesn’t work then go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA.

All of our weekend plans were almost ruined due to rain and illness. Annie’s school warned us on Thursday that her field trip to the pumpkin patch could be cancelled the next day if it rained. It was even sprinkling when I we arrived to the school, but they decided to give it a go. Fortunately, the rain didn’t start until the very end of our trip. More on that later. Directly after school on Friday the girls and I were planning on driving to Viriginia to see our dear friends, Tricia, Elena, and Elissa. The agenda included spending the weekend there with the girls running amok together while Tricia and I dished and caught up on old times. I’m sure lots of picture taking would have taken place, too. {Tricia did a little photography on the side, too, and I did her website.} Sadly, Tricia and her girls came down with quite an illness and suggested we reschedule. We’re going to try again this weekend, unless something else comes up:/ Be sure to check out Lucy with the femur (that’s a human thigh bone…only “the Burbs” fans will get it).

The pumpkin patch Annie’s school went to this year wasn’t quite as extravagant as the one we went to last year, but it was very quaint and appropriate for our young and small group. The “tour guide” showed us some of the vegetables they grew including green beans, cucumbers, various squash, tomatoes and more. We also got to visit with some cows, horses, and pigs. Of course, the kids got to pick out their very own pumpkin to take home. Annie insisted that her pumpkin was the biggest of all (even though most other kids had bigger). She picked out Mimi’s and made sure that it was much smaller than her’s. Mimi, being the diplomat, made no fuss. The girls had lots o’ fun getting to run around and seeing some animals. Well, Mimi was off to a rough start with a touch of cantankerousness, but she pulled through and was happy as can be by the pumpkin picking phase. Everyone also got to pick out an apple to snack on, and I got to divert a little boy from vomiting on us (good times). Right as we were finishing up with the apples the rain started to pour. We were escorted to their produce store. They actually had quite a nice selection including eggplant. While waiting for the bus I happened to look over and spotted a bow and some arrows much like the one Mike owns. He would have been so proud. Once Annie was on the bus Mimi and I motored home to take naps. Of course, we had to pick Annie up from school an hour and a half later.

Mimi and I have been battling about her incessant hair-twirling. I’m not kidding when I say that she wakes up everyday with a dreadlock in her hair. So I sit patiently and work out the knot every single day. I would love to just cut it out. However, if I did that each day, then she would be bald after only a week or so. I’ve tried talking to her about it. Funny, right? I’ve tried scolding her, but it does no good to discipline a 2.5 year old for something that happened hours ago. The other night I came up with a new idea. I decided to make a hat out of panythose (yes, panythose). I figured it would be thin and soft enough to not disturb her sleep. Unfortunately, she woke up without the “hat” on and with new dreadlocks with which to contend. I’m thinking my next step is to try mittens on her hands, but she’ll probably just take those off, too. Mike suggested french-braiding her hair. The problem with that is that I don’t really know how to french-braid, and I think she would manage to wriggle her little fingers in enough to pull out an adequate amount to twirl. Any ideas, people? In other news, the girls are quite fascinated with bad words, potty words as we call them. We try to limit or prohibit their use of the words butt, poopy, booger, fart, etc. Instead we prefer bum in place of butt and toot in place of fart and other such replacements. Unfortunately, the girls are constantly testing us on this. I caught them the other day singing “the ABC Song” but they were inserting butt where they could. “A, B, C, D, BUTT!” ha, ha, ha. Such clever girls! Then the other day Annie came to Mike to tattle on Mimi about how she was saying potty words. When Mike went to catch Mimi in the act, she was saying “potty words”. In fact, she was jumping up and down on the couch screaming, “POTTY WORDS! POTTY WORDS! POTTY WORDS!” Oh, our pesky kids.

Since my traveling plans were cancelled, Mike and I went to “Beer, Brats and Bunco” (a dental spouses club sponsored event) on Saturday night. I spoke with Trang about it beforehand, and we made the executive decision to RSVP. Apparently, this didn’t sit well with the men. Mike grumbled a little bit but knew he had no choice. I called Trang right after leaving our house to make sure they knew how to get there, but Trang informed me that they weren’t going (the USC game was more important to Matt). Oh no, they weren’t getting off that easy. I laid on the guilt like molasses, and Trang conceded that she would bring her mother along for the event. I figured that we wouldn’t be seeing them there. However, much to everyone’s surprise, the whole Chesler brood showed up, Matt, Trang, Brady, and Trang’s mom. Evidently, Trang insisted that Matt attend. He said that if USC scored, then they’d go. Sure enough USC scored seconds later. It turned out that Matt and Mike seemed to have more fun than us. Our babysitter asked that we be home between 9:30 and 10. When it got to be 9 p.m. I told Mike that we better call it a night even though there was still one more round of Bunco to go. He was the one that insisted we stay to finish up the last round, and so we did. It was a fun night that I’m glad Trang and I decided to do:)

I now leave you with the girls’ rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. Broadway, here they come! (Just trying out the video function again on my new P&S.) I love that Google will let me upload my 50MB video so that I don’t have to take up that much space on my own web server.

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So we decided to get a new camera. Don’t worry, I still have my ginormous beast of a camera that I use for professional stuff. However, I was starting to dread having to lug that thing around everywhere or found myself “forgetting” to bring my camera to events. Now we’ve got a handy point and shoot that also doubles as our camcorder. Our camcorder decided to not work well over a year ago, and Mike’s little P&S chooses not to record video anymore. Rather than buy a new camcorder that would hardly get used, I decided we should just invest in a nice P&S with the video option. The one we decided on is the Canon Powershot 950IS. The camera boasts a whopping 12.1 megapixels which is more than my pro camera. I was suprised to see that each picture was 8 MB. I’m going to lower the resolution because I will never need to print anything bigger than 8×10 (if even that big) from this camera. Without further ado, here’s a sample video from the new digicam. While watching a movie, I noticed that my camera was done charging and Mike was alseep…what better time to film a “movie”. I just got the biggest kick out of the look on his face at one point during the video. Enjoy!

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On Saturday the Guises made a suprise appearance to return our long, lost coolers. The girls and I were away at a birthday party, but we all went out to dinner upon our return. The restuarant we went to is a great place that has a fun, general store with tons of toys, games, gag gifts, and much more. {Unfortunately, on this particular night the service was not so great and left a bad impression with the Guises:( I hope they will believe us when I say that this was very unusual. Gina is not afraid to speak her mind to service staff and made sure to let the waitress know that we were not happy. I was hiding under the table though…yes, I’m a big ol’ wimp.) Of course, the kids always have to make a stop in there every time we go. We gave in and purchased a couple of items including a potholder weaving kit and a couple of sets of fake moustaches (don’t ask). Once Annie got wind of the potholder kit she asked over and over when we’d get to make potholders. It was on Sunday (a whole day later, can you imagine) that we finally got a chance to sit down and make a potholder. Annie actually got the hang of the process and got 2/3 of the way through before handing it over to me to finish off. Mimi lost interest after the first couple of weaves. She was very intrigued by the instruction booklet though. That thing didn’t leave her hands for most of the day.

The girls got new dresses for church. I couldn’t resist snapping some shots while they were wearing them. Please don’t let them grow up because they are just so scrumptious right now.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

This weekend was fun-filled for us Hawleys. On Sunday (I know, it’s supposed to be a day of rest) we went on a bike tour to the Anacostia River. I was reluctant to go, but Mike insisted. I’m glad he did because it really was nice to get out and do something different. The trailer was hooked to Mike’s bike this time, so my thighs weren’t on fire two minutes into the trip. Mike clocked us at traveling around 10 miles. Go us! On Monday we headed down to Annapolis for the day. Our first stop was at the Naval Academy. I suggested we check out the gift shop. We were glad we did because we got the girls the cutest visors that they wore all day. (Mimi wore her’s again today–she’s very attached.) The rest of the day was spent strolling around downtown Annapolis peeking through shops, eating lunch, enjoying the boats, and devouring ice-cream. We had dinner plans at the Parks’ home (a new classmate of Mike). However, we lost track of time, so we had to go straight from Annapolis to their house. The girls were pooped (oops, Mommy said a naughty word…as Annie would make sure to tell me) and took a quick nap on the drive over. I’m glad we finally took the time to check out Annapolis. We’ve had lots o’ people tell us what a neat place it is, and it is. Have a look at the pictures we took on the girls’ page under “October 2007“.

While I was making the girls’ October album I realized that I’ve been remiss in putting any galleries for the girls since May. So I went ahead and put together an album for each month that has been missing. I must warn you that many of the pictures are repeats from some of the memories galleries–there are a couple of new ones here and there. Mainly, having the galleries are just a formality and record of my girlies for each month:) If you’re interested, then go check out the girls’ page to see all the new months.

Anyone who has kids can surely relate to this. The man sings my exact routine with the girls each night, and I thought I was the only one going through this (::wink::). And to think he worded it to Pachelbel’s Canon.

In other news: Mimi decided she wanted to sleep in Annie’s bed today during naptime. When I went to get her after she woke up she was in her crib?!? Does this mean she’s not ready for the big, girl bed? Fortunately, for Mimi, I’ve been putting off the official bed search. It amazes me at times how different she is from Annie. Annie was/is determined to learn/do new stuff all the time. Mimi, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have that same fortitude. At times, I do worry, but then I have to tell myself that Mimi is just a different person and is an incredible, magnificent, wonderful, spectacular, terrific kid in her own way.

Today the girls and I went to Moe’s Southwest Grille since Mike has been attending a conference in Baltimore since yesterday and will continue to do so until tomorrow afternoon. They closed down the one closest to us in College Park and re-opened next to Ikea in a new shopping center next door. It was a total fluke that we attended their grand opening, but we lucked out. The girls were asked to have their picture taken with the man dressed up as an Indian (?) who was making balloons animals. Supposedly, the picture will be in a newspaper (or a newsletter–I couldn’t really understand the photographer). In return for their cooperation, the girls were gifted with Mexican, turtle bobble-heads {picture courtesy of some seller on eBay}. Annie chose a pink one and Mimi a blue. On the way home Annie declared that her turtle would be called Fancy Nancy. If you have never heard of Fancy Nancy, she’s a character in a series of children books who loves to be fancy and adores anything French. They really are some cute books with sparkles and spunk. Grandma Minnesota got Annie 2 of the books when we visited her this summer. In one of the books Fancy Nancy decides that her family is lacking in fanciness and offers a seminar on how to be fancy. The other day Annie asked me if I would attend her class on being fancy. Does this mean that I’m not fancy or that Annie sees something devoid in my style :(?

Happy October, everyone! I never thought I would see the day when I actually looked forward to the months to fly by and the weather to cool off. With temperatures in the upper 80’s last week, I was actually getting annoyed that the weather wasn’t chilly. Those who grew up with me are probably not believing what they’re reading because I used to swear that I would live in the deep, hot south because of the year-round stifling temps. What can I say, I’ve changed. Say hi to Prudence. She’s a preying mantis and came to visit us the other day. Prudence isn’t her usual, vibrant, green self but is instead preparing for fall and winter by wearing fresh fall colors.

Did you know that there are places that let people come and dish up food only to take it home to freeze? And I’m one of those people. The place is called Let’s Dish, and there are several locations here in Maryland. A group of us went on Saturday to “try it out” with a coupon for $10.00 for one meal. Normally, the meals are $25.00 each which serves 4-6 people, and they encourage a 4-meal plan that is discounted a whole $5.00. I told Mike that I was considering going again in the far off future to do this so that we’d have meals already prepared for those nights when we want a nice meal but not all the work involved. He looked at me like I was crazy and said that I absolultely wasn’t going to go to a place to have someone else make my meals for me to “cook” later. How dare he take this idea away from me!! Can you guess how much I love cooking? Anyway, it was fun to have a day away from the kids and chit-chat time with some girlfriends.

Later that night Mike and I discovered a different kind of dining experience. We met up with Tiger and Leah at a place called Fogo de Chao. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, but it’s a Brazilian steakhouse that offers meats of many animals and cuts. Instead of ordering off a menu, you are given a card with a red and green side. If the green side is up, then you are bombarded by the “gauchos” with meats galore. It’s definitely not for people like me and Leah with little appetites, but Mike and Tiger gave those people a run for their money. The food was fabulous and oh-so-filling. Leah and I were more impressed with the bathroom though. I’m so going to sneak in there one day with my camera to copy for my future, dream home;) Of course, halfway through our walk back to the metro station we were up for some ice-cream at Maggie Moo’s. Tiger actually ordered a hefty serving of popcorn ice-cream. Mike and I both tasted it, but I don’t think I could stomach a whole cup of that stuff. I’m a chocolate lover, so it’s hard for me to think of anything else anyway. This is one good thing about living in a super, huge, ginormous city (or set of cities) is that we’ve got tons of variety in the way of restaurants.

Annie has taken a liking to waking me up each morning. If I’m not quite ready to get up, then I tell Annie that it has to be at least 7:30 (seven-three-zero) on the clock. Well, Annie enjoys saying the time for EVERY SINGLE MINUTE. “Mommy, it’s seven-one-three!” “Mommy, it’s seven-one-four!” Talk about completely defeating the purpose of those extra minutes of rest. Mike and I discussed this new habit and thought it would be fun to get the girls a clock for their room. While shopping for said clock I also decided to get the girls each a watch. Now if I absolutely don’t want to get up until seven-three-zero, then Annie is told she can’t enter my room until those numbers are on her watch or clock. So far it seems to be working, although on a couple of recent days I actually got up before Annie. Part of the reason Annie needed that extra sleep was due to her asthma making a return. {The previous visit to the doctor resulted in Annie getting an Albuterol inhaler, but she refused to use it without Mike or I having to tackle her to the ground. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t getting any medicine in her. So Mike and I concluded that maybe she didn’t have asthma, and Annie’s coughing fits also went away.} On Wednesday though Annie coughed every 5 seconds all day long, and then had a major attack with difficulty in breathing in the middle of the night. We took Annie to the doctor the next day where they put her on a nebulizer. Surprisingly, Annie didn’t freak out and sat very patiently for the 10 minutes required. It actually made her stop coughing, too. So now Annie takes Claritin daily and has to use her inhaler during coughing fits. The cough did return the other day, and Annie actually used the inhaler all by herself properly and without a fight. The funny part of the story is that on the way home from the doctor Annie exclaimed that she had a fun time at the doctor. Then later she told Mike that she was smoking at the doctor. Mike explained to her that she wasn’t technically smoking, but she insisted that she was in fact smoking. I hope this doesn’t mean that we have a future smoker on our hands:(

It’s official, Mimi’s a hyper kid. That child hops everywhere. When I yell across the house for her to come to me, then I will hear bonk, bonk, bonk…until she reaches me. All I can say is that she’s going to have some monster calf muscles one day. The other day while preparing to do a pilates/yogo video I grabbed the Noah’s Arc quilt (that Auntie Jenni made) to use as a mat. Mimi promptly picked it up declaring that it was her blanket. She came back a few seconds later with a towel and put it where the quilt had once laid. I discovered later that she had also returned the quilt to her crib. That stinker! My hopes were raised the other day when I was summoned at church to attend to Mimi’s insistence that she had to go potty. I immediately escorted her to a toilet waiting for something grand to happen. Suddenly, I heard a toot and Mimi saying, “All done!” I checked the toilet to discover NOTHING! Little Miss Toot had dragged me out of my class and got my hopes up just so she could pass gas on the potty. I tried to see this as a positive experience because it must means that Mimi is starting to realize to an extent what goes on in that big, white bowl. Of course, our marathon, toilet-sitting sessions since then have brought no progress, but I’m not giving up. Speaking of our tooting princess, we have discovered that she does have a talent for it. Mike has been attacked by her toots on several occasions. Some evenings I will hear quite a raucous going on in the girls’ room after bedtime, and I will find Mimi having a fart party in her crib much to her and Annie’s enjoyment. Just thought you’d like to know…

How was your weekend?

Uncle Travis was here for business last week for a couple days. The girls, Mike, and I really enjoyed his company. Annie and Mimi couldn’t get enough of him and immediately discovered that he is very similar to Daddy. He throws them in the air, plays “Ring Around the Rosie”, pushes them on the swing, and so much more fun stuff. What more could a little girl want? I hadn’t realized that this was the first time Uncle Travis and Mimi met in person. They seemed to hit it off as if they’ve known each other for years. Annie still asks about Uncle Travis and his return. Fortunately, I am able to say soon since he and his family (Mike’s sister and 3 daughters) will be here for Thanksgiving. A funny thing happened the day after Uncle Travis left. We received Sister Jen’s (that’s what Mike calls his sister so as to not confuse with Wife Jen) quarterly, family newsletter. In it was a recent picture of Rozzie and Maddie in their ballet costumes. Annie picked that picture up and said, “Those are Uncle Travis’ girls!” So bizarre since the last time she saw the Smith family all together was the Christmas before Mimi’s birth. Annie must have a better memory than I give her credit for. We can’t wait to see the Smith family soon!

Along with Uncle Travis’ visit was something to go along with each night of this past week. We had the missionaries over for dinner one night when Travis was here. Wednesday night was Parent Night at Annie’s school. A peculiar incident occurred while there. I sat down at some random table next to one other student’s mother and discovered she was my neighbor right behind us. Mike had a a super, late night on Thursday night. On Friday night, Mike and Uncle Tiger cut a tree down at our German, neighbor’s house. Mike likes to stress the German part of our neighbor since he likes all things German. Later that night, Leah came over so that we could all go out to dinner. Last night we had to attend a party at Mike’s boss’ house sans kids. That was fun but such a far drive. When you’re ready, you can venture over to the girls’ page and view their September 2006 picture album. A little late, I know, but it was now or never.

The week before was the same thing, something to do every single night of the week. When will it end? I’m told never. A couple of fun things though. Tiger and Leah thanked Mike for some tree work done at their house by giving us a gift card for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and free babysitting for the night. We took them up on their offer and scheduled the occasion for Friday night. The food was delectable and exactly what we had anticipated. Then on Saturday night we went to a family bowling night sponsored by the dental spouses’ club. Annie got to bowl for the very first time (sorry no pictures). It was so cute to see her ball sluggishly roll down the lane and then lightly tap a pin to knock it over.

Uncle Travis was here for business last week for a couple days. The girls, Mike, and I really enjoyed his company. Annie and Mimi couldn’t get enough of him and immediately discovered that he is very similar to Daddy. He throws them in the air, plays “Ring Around the Rosie”, pushes them on the swing, and so much more fun stuff. What more could a little girl want? I hadn’t realized that this was the first time Uncle Travis and Mimi met in person. They seemed to hit it off as if they’ve known each other for years. Annie still asks about Uncle Travis and his return. Fortunately, I am able to say soon since he and his family (Mike’s sister and 3 daughters) will be here for Thanksgiving. A funny thing happened the day after Uncle Travis left. We received Sister Jen’s (that’s what Mike calls his sister so as to not confuse with Wife Jen) quarterly, family newsletter. In it was a recent picture of Rozzie and Maddie in their ballet costumes. Annie picked that picture up and said, “Those are Uncle Travis’ girls!” So bizarre since the last time she saw the Smith family all together was the Christmas before Mimi’s birth. Annie must have a better memory than I give her credit for. We can’t wait to see the Smith family soon!

Along with Uncle Travis’ visit was something to go along with each night of this past week. We had the missionaries over for dinner one night when Travis was here. Wednesday night was Parent Night at Annie’s school. A peculiar incident occurred while there. I sat down at some random table next to one other student’s mother and discovered she was my neighbor right behind us. Mike had a a super, late night on Thursday night. On Friday night, Mike and Uncle Tiger cut a tree down at our German, neighbor’s house. Mike likes to stress the German part of our neighbor since he likes all things German. Later that night, Leah came over so that we could all go out to dinner. Last night we had to attend a party at Mike’s boss’ house sans kids. That was fun but such a far drive. When you’re ready, you can venture over to the girls’ page and view their September 2006 picture album. A little late, I know, but it was now or never.

The week before was the same thing, something to do every single night of the week. When will it end? I’m told never. A couple of fun things though. Tiger and Leah thanked Mike for some tree work done at their house by giving us a gift card for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and free babysitting for the night. We took them up on their offer and scheduled the occasion for Friday night. The food was delectable and exactly what we had anticipated. Then on Saturday night we went to a family bowling night sponsored by the dental spouses’ club. Annie got to bowl for the very first time (sorry no pictures). It was so cute to see her ball sluggishly roll down the lane and then lightly tap a pin to knock it over.