The Story of Stuff

Well, I haven't blogged in so long and really want to get back into it. I will try to blog every weekend, but I'm not making promises.
I was just informed of this video called, "The Story of Stuff" and it is just amazing.
Please watch it, http://www.storyofstuff.com/
and I hope you are moved to change some part of your life so that we can help our planet and ourselves. It's 20 minutes long but totally worth your time. We are totally committed to buying less stuff, recycling as much as possible, reusing as much as possible and buying used stuff when we can. We are also going to not buy any plastic toys or products for the house or kids and ask our family members and friends to do the same. We need to think about the effects all of this processing and chemical waste that is affecting our air we breathe and our soil where our crops are being produced. Please help save our planet!!!

Love, Shelly

More catching up!

It's been a really rainy, cold winter for us in Southern California. One day, it was raining and windy and we realized that one of the banana trees fell down. Matthew and the boys went to clean up the mess and had fun with their rain jackets and boots.

My Mom came up to visit at the end of January and we all had a great time. My Mom and Ian were playing with the treasures that Nana has send from England and Ronan was enjoying his dinosaur book in his room.

Another wonderful Toddler in the Garden class at Upper Newport Bay. We saw a snowy egret and some hawks flying in the sky. Jodi has a great bird book that has the pictures & sounds of the birds, so we found the birds in the book that we saw in the Estruary.

That's it for now!! Enjoy :)

Catching up!!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted on my blog. I finally feel the desire to do this again. I've been definitely in a funk lately and just didn't want to spend the evening blogging and posting pictures when I could be doing other things like sleeping. I know Marilyn and James love reading the blog and seeing the boys, so I'm going to do my best to post at least once a week or more. So, I'll be catching up everyone with what we've been doing over the past month.

I didn't finish my cleanse :(

After my footbath, I had a colonic and a lympathic massage the following Saturday and I felt worse (really tired and bloated and gassy). I called Stacie who did my iridology (I posted about this on a previous entry) and she recommended I see Dr. Swilling, he has a PhD in Clinical Nutrition. So, I went to see him the following week and he put me on a totally different diet.

I'm drinking a fortified drink all day long which contains: raw milk, raw eggs, wheatgerm, lecithin, nutritrional yeast, whey powder, udo's oil, liquid minerals, raw honey and iodine. It doesn't taste good, but I just need to drink 1/2 cup of it 6x/day. I'm also suppose to eat small meals 6x/day to keep my blood sugar up and every meal should have protein in it. He's very into eggs, raw dairy, yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts and good grains like millet, quinoa, buckwheat, beans, lentils and fish. I can't believe I went from eating all raw foods to eating raw milk, eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, and beans and grains. He said if I followed his recommendations and took all the supplements he gave me, I can get rid of my Sjogren's Syndrome in a couple of months. So, after I tried this way of eating for a few days, the Sjorgren's flared up and I had horrible fatigue and joint pain. It was so awful!! But I stuck with it and my joint pain and intense fatigue went away and I felt a little bit better (no bloating, but still had some gas). I'm still struggling with eating small meals frequently. I've gained weight in my stomach because of the rich foods, so I'm trying to figure out how much food I should be eating for every meal. I've email the Doctor and waiting to hear his response. I will try this way of eating for a few months and see how my body responds. He said my body needs more protein to get my body back to normal. It's just so hard since I really love eating raw. But I have to say it's made eating with the kids easier since we are all eating the same things (yep, the kids are drinking raw milk (from Organic Pastures), raw cheese, & eggs). It makes less hassle and fighting since I'm usually just making one thing (but I still feel like I'm in the kitchen all day). I'll keep everyone posted with my results!!

We've been busy with kids as usual. On January 19th (Saturday) we went on a hike at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park to meet the Outdoor Family Meetup Group. We didn't get to talk with the group except to say "hello" because they all had older kids that could walk a lot faster. So, we ended up just hiking with Blythe and her family which was a lot of fun. Ian hiked the entire way (3.8 MILES) except for about 2 minutes of carrying and Ronan was carried about 1/2 of the time (poor Matthew). We thought the hike with 2.5 miles, but it ended up being longer and it was a lot of up and down hills. Ian was awesome and did great except for the end when he was complaining and said he never wanted to do that hike again.

The pictures above are from that hike.

More posts and photos to come! :)

Thursday- Detox Foot Bath

I had a Detox Foot Bath on Thursday and this is the before picture. And this is after 30 minutes...yuck!

I'm still on my cleanse but I've been eating solid foods which you aren't suppose to be doing. I ate a banana and some coconut butter on Wednesday and veggies and raw "ranch" dressing on Thursday. It's really hard not to have bite of fruit or veggies when you are preparing them for a smoothie or juice or when the kids are eating them. Also, I want the kids to eat more raw food, so if I'm preparing yummy food (like almond milk or raw ranch dressing) I want to try it. It's definitely hard doing a cleanse when you have children and have to prepare food all the time. I also feel like I'm in the kitchen all day long!

I've been having my green smoothies everyday and trying to have a green juice too. I've been doing a green soup too sometimes (those aren't my favorite). I've a little over 5 lbs so far...yeah!! I don't feel like my energy has improved, but it's only been a week since I've been taking the digestive enzymes (those are suppose to help). I have 10 days left of this cleanse.

Bye for now~

Pictures of the Boys

The boys at Steven's Birthday Party at O'neil Park on Sunday

Rachel and Steven(the birthday boy!)

Beautiful tree at Casper's Park

Ronan walking with Jodi (Toddler in the Garden class)

They were digging in the dirt in the dried up river bed to try to find some water or wet sand to put on their pictures drawn with watercolor pencils.

Ian was using some wet sand on his picture (Ronan was not into it)

Ronan the SuperMan:)

Ian as SuperMan (action shot)

Love, Shelly

Recap from the last 4 days!

I'm sorry I haven't written in 4 days...wow, time does fly! I've been tired and trying to be on the computer less, but I'm still on my cleanse.

Sunday, Ronan felt just fine when he woke up; we really think it's the tomatoes that are just too acidic for him. I took Ian to the Farmer's Market and he helped me shop. I learned that you should take your children out on "dates" to reconnect with them (through the parenting class I took). So, Matthew and I are going to switch off and take each kids somewhere each weekend. After the Farmer's Market, we went to Steven's party at O'Neil Park. It was a lot of fun and Rachel had made a vegan chocolate cake (that I heard was just wonderful) and had vegan food for the boys. Thank you Rachel!!

After the party, I helped out Blythe and Olga put together 400 boxes for their event in Los Angeles. Ricky Lake was showing her documentary of the "The Business of Being Born" and Blythe and Olga (their new business "Oasis Child") were one of the sponsors. I can't tell you how insane it was to put together 400 boxes...I was there from 4-9pm and they didn't sleep all night. Insane!!

Anyway, I survived that day by just eating 2 green smoothies and then had a fruit smoothie when I was helping them. I felt really good and not hungry until about 8pm. I didn't sleep well Sunday night (I was cold and kept getting up to pee from the smoothie) and then Monday I was sooooooooooooooooo tired and my legs were sore from standing. We went to the Toddler in the Garden class on Monday at Casper's Park. It seemed like everyone was tired. Mondays are just hard sometimes when we have a busy weekend.

I had green smoothies on Monday and was tired (I didn't workout).

On Tuesday, we just stayed home and Jane and Jakey came over to play. It was nice not having to go anywhere. We all were a little less crabby that day. Ronan took a nap which was good and I went to Pilates. I thought I would be tired at Pilates but I did pretty good. I think I had 2 green smoothies and a veggie juice before Pilates and then a green soup for dinner.

Today, Wednesday, we ran today (I wasn't feeling my best).

Here's what I ate today:

-mason jar of warm water and lemon

-veggie juice (pineapple, celery, parsley, asian spinach)

-green smoothie (banana, persimmons, asian spinach and parsley & Dr. Green powder)

-green soup (tomatoes, celery, chard, basil, lemon, garlic, 1/2 avocado) OK, little bit too lemony

-spoonful of raw honey with coconut butter & a banana (I was really hungry and crabby and this was the first time ate something that wasn't blended)

-green smoothie (bananas, soaked goji berries, chard) it was OK, not great


Today was good up until after we got home from the library (we went to storytime) and Ronan fell asleep in the car. I transferred him to his bed and he woke up right away. So, for the entire rest of the day he was super crabby and I was too. I just needed a break and some rest. It is really hard during this cleanse, I really need to rest for at least 30 minutes and I can't. I eventually put on some vidoes for the kids and I rested a bit in bed. UGH!!!After a big struggle with running about eating dinner (he refused to eat his veggies), we had a nice bath and they were in bed by 6:40pm. Matthew said it won't kill him to not eat his veggies, but I think it's really important to eat veggies especially at this time of year when there is more colds & flus. ugh!!!
I'll post some pictures tomorrow of the boys.
Off to relax while I can....
Love, Shelly

Day 6 of 21 Day Detox Diet!

Saturday was a very hectic day for us. First, Ian woke up at 5am and Ronan woke up at 6:50am - they both went to sleep at 6:30 the night before. I went to Pilates, then the Chiropractic appointment, then to Trader Joe's. I came home and made soup for Emily who is sick and for the boys for dinner. Matthew took the boys to the park to play. When they got home, Matthew went to his Chiropractic appt. and returned some tile and a bathroom cabinet to Home Expo. When he got home, I went to my massage appointment and then dropped off the soup to Emily. After dinner I went to a parenting seminar, "Parenting from the Heart" which was so wonderful. http://www.parentingfromtheheart.net/ They gave us examples and practical tips to really connect with our children. They offer a 18 hour course (over 3 Saturdays) that expands on what they talked about and I'm going to sign up for it. Since we've been having such struggles with the kids lately and since Matthew and I were brought up so differently, we really need to do this. I asked her about the troubles we've been having over sharing toys and she said this, "Have both boys negotiate how much time they would like to have with the toy and you should help Ronan understand the time limit. Ask each of them how long they would like the toy and if it's Ok with both of them and hopefully they will come to some kind of an agreement." I'm excited to go to the 3 day workshop to get more help.

Since it was such a crazy day, I'm not sure exactly what I ate, but here it goes:
- mason jar of warm water with lemon
- 2 grapefruits
- 1 apple
- really yummy green pudding (2 bananas, frozen mango, kale and mixed greens)
- smoothie - 2 bananas and Dr. Greens powder
- avocado salsa from yesterday and celery and cucumber

I shouldn't have eaten the avocado salsa so late the previous night because it didn't sit well all night and I didn't feel so good in the morning.

I'm writing this at 4:30am this morning because Ronan threw up and I can't go back to sleep. It looked like he threw up his soup from last night. I really hope he feels better today. :(

Lots of love,
Shelly

Day 5 of Detox Diet!

Today was day 5 of my 21 Day Detox Diet. I'm feeling tired still, but loving my green smoothies.
Here's what I ate today:
6:00am- mason jar of warm water with lemon (the boys were up at 5:30am today)
6:15am- 1/2 grapefruit and a bowl of raspberries
8:00- rode the bike for 30 mins
9:00- green smoothie (blueberries and oranges with mini sprouts from Trader Joe's with Dr. Greens powder - I can't remember what else) and sprinkled with goji berries and mulberries
Ronan and I walked to our park and then went to the Farmer's Market to stock up on fruits and veggies (we found some organic grapes, strawberries and pomegrantes - Yes!!)
12:00- veggie green juice from Mother's Market (it was sweeter than I'm used to so I need ask them to not put in so many apples next time)
2:00- green smoothie (pineapple, tangerines and orange with spinach and mixed lettuce) sprinkled with goji berries, mulberries, and raisins
We walked to the park again - I had to get all of us out of the house because we were all tired and grumpy.
6:45pm- Avocado salsa (onion, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice, tomatoes, avocado, sea salt, and cucumber) using celery and cucumber to dip.
love,
Shelly
Oh, Ian is doing just fine. He doesn't seem bothered by his banged up lip, thank goodness.

Day 4 of 21 Day Detox Diet!/Ian hurting his lip:(

Ronan at the park todayIan with his busted lip :(

A few minutes later- Ian & Ronan are playing with their new Crocodile costume I got from Target for $3.19 (they were having a massive sale and I couldn't resist)!

Today was a busy day. Ian went to his Waldorf Preschool and Ronan & I went to the park to meet up with our friends. I got a call while we were at the park that Ian injured his lip and I can hear him crying in the background. So, I jumped in the car and rushed over to school. His lip was pretty banged up (you could see 4 teeth marks and other areas of the lip busted). Luckily the bleeding stopped shortly and he recovered pretty quickly. I'm amazed how kids can rebound from injuries so fast and how adults take so much longer. I felt bad leaving him with Amber, but I had to go to my appointment at the Serenity Wellness Center. But luckily he was better by the time she came and was happy playing.

I had an iridologist study my eyes a few weeks ago and she discussed the results with me today. (Iridology is an alternative medicine technique whose proponents believe that patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris can be examined to determine information about a patient's systemic health. Practitioners match their observations to iris charts which divide the iris into zones which they correspond to specific parts of the human body. Iridologists see the eyes as "windows" into the body's state of health.
Iridologists use the corresponding charts to highlight certain systems and organs in the body as healthy and others as overactive, inflamed, or distressed. Iridologists believe this information may be used to demonstrate a patient's susceptibility towards certain illnesses, to reflect past medical problems, or to predict health problems which may be developing.)

She told me things I did know already from previous blood work 2 years ago and some things I didn't know. The main things I am struggling with are: 1) weak stomach acid, 2) congested lymph system, 3) poor assimilation of vitamins/minerals, 4) overall acidity in my body.

So, she suggested to take digestive enzymes every time I eat to help me digest my food and assimilate the vitamins/minerals (she said I'm eating all this wonderful organic raw food, but I'm not getting the most out of it). She also said to take a good probiotic, eat lots and lots of greens and do dry skin brushing, colonics, and lympathic massage for the congested lymph system.

I knew about the digestive enyzmes and probiotics but I need to take them regularly and I'm already doing the cleanse, so I'm getting lots of greens. So, I just need to do the dry skin brushing and lympathic massage and the colonics (I've had 2 done already a few months ago and they weren't very pleasant).

I can't remember everything I ate today because it's been so hectic, but here it goes:

6:30am- mason jar of water with lemon (I didn't get out of bed until 6:00am this morning!!)

7:30am- green pudding (bananas, apples, asian pear, mango, spinach) with mulberries on top

10ish- green smoothie at park (banana, apple, Dr. Greens powder and something else i can't remember)

1:00- finish leftover green smoothie and apple

4:30pm- green veggie juice from Mother's Market

7:00- big green salad (romaine, yellow bell pepper, tomatoes, celery, 1/4 avocado, with sqeeze of orange and dulse), 2 dates afterwards.
I'm super tired, off to bed.....

Day 3 of 21 Day Detox Diet!

I made it through Day 3 of my Detox Diet!! I wasn't very good at writing down what I ate today, hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.
I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep (I went to bed at 8:30pm b/c I wasn't feeling well and then woke up twice to pee).
6:00- mason jar of water with lemon
6:30- pineapple, kiwi and banana (I was eating what the kids were having) I was really hungry
8:15- we went running (about 3 miles)
9:00- green smoothie (bananas, blueberries, apples, spinach, Dr. Greens powder & mulberries sprinkled on top)
we went to the library for storytime, then went to Mother's Market to get some food, then went to Matthew's new building to have lunch together.
1:30- green smoothie (same as above but with no powder or mulberries), cucumber and tomatoes
3:30 - detox tea
4:15- banana and soaked apricots blended
5:45- green veggie juice (carrots and the green tops of carrots, celery, apple and sprouts) - Ian liked it a lot but Ronan not so much
Well, I'm feeling a little bit better than yesterday- definitely ready for bed.
Goodnight!!

Day 2 of 21 Day Detox Diet!

I made it on day 2 of 21 Day Detox Diet!!
I wasn't very precise today on my measurements, but you'll get an idea of what I ate today:
6:00- mason jar of warm water and lemon (the boys were up at 5:00am today...ugh!)
7:00- 1 1/2 grapefruits (I was super hungry this morning, so I needed to eat something before I rode the bike)
7:20am- rode the bike for 40 minutes :)
9:00- green smoothie (bananas, apples, pomegranate seeds, spinach and 1 TB Dr. Greens powder)
11:30am- ate 1 banana and 1 tangerine at the park (the boys ate oranges, cherries, tangerines, & lara bar)
12:45 - 2 dates
1:15pm - green veggie juice (carrots, celery, apple & kale) - Ian helped me make it while Ronan napped
3:00- pilates (yeah!!)
5:00pm - big salad (kale, butterleaf lettuce, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers & orange/celery dressing with dulse sprinkled on top
after dinner I had a banana and 1/2 orange

* I didn't get tired until I was in Pilates. I was pretty hungry today. I doing a little different version of the cleanse by eating very little fat. I think I'm detoxing all the cacao I've eaten in the past. I really hope tomorrow is better.
:) Shelly

Day 1 of 21 Day Detox Diet

Ok, so I made it through Day 1 of the 21 Day Detox Diet.

Here's what I ate:

6:00am - mason jar of warm water and lemon

7am- rode the bike for 45 minutes (yeah!)

8:30-9:30am - green smoothie (2 bananas, 1 big fuji apple, 1 cup strawberries, 10 small dinosaur kale leaves, 3 cups mixed lettuce, 2 dates, 1 TB Dr. Greens powder, & water) - I had to add the dates because it was a very intense green taste. It tasted better with the dates. It was a lot to drink but I did it over an hour.

(we went to the library and afterwards the boys snacked on tofu, apples and tangerines)

1:30pm - big green salad (butterleaf lettuce, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, and the dressing was 1 orange juiced mixed with 1 celery stalk)

2:15pm- cup of detox tea

3:15pm- pineapple & banana (the boys wanted a snack so I cut up pineapple and banana and couldn't resist. I was glad I ate it because I was feeling tired and irritable and that helped me get through that hump.

We went for a walk to the park and the boys enjoyed seeing some kids slide down the hill on ice blocks. Ian went head first down the slide and went right into a water puddle. So, I had 1 boy wanting to go home because he's wet and one boy who wanted to stay at the park and play...ugh@!!!!

5:45pm - energy soup (1 apple, 1 stalk celery, little bit of cucumber, 3 basil leaves, 1/2 lime juiced, little bit of dulse, and handful of spinach) - it was actually very tasty and I wished I had made more because I was still hungry. So, I cut up the rest of the cucumber and ate that.

(the boys had leftover veggie soup and 1 piece of eziekel bread)

I realize now that raw cacao definitely is a stimulant and is addicting. We've been having green pudding every morning and we all put toppings on the pudding (basically a green smoothie but thicker and today Matthew made his first one - yeah!). Anyway, we usually put mulberries, goji berries, and cacao nibs on the pudding. Today I just had my green smoothie without the cacao and I could feel a little headache and more tired. I think I'll stop buying the cacao - it will be better for all of us.

I was also very irritable today and Ian was just pushing my buttons. The boys have been fighting more lately and Ian wants EVERYTHING Ronan has and they are having so many problems sharing. I was talking with a friend about it today and she said maybe Ian just needs attention and wants to be held (that's what she is doing with her kids). So, I'm going try that more, ask him if he needs a hug and if he needs more attention. He is truly driving me crazy with his behavior lately. I really hope tomorrow is better. It also didn't help that Ronan wouldn't take a nap, so I didn't get my 30 minutes of rest...ugh!!

Here's to tomorrow!! :)

21 day detox diet

Tomorrow, Monday January 7th, I'm starting a 21 day detox diet - you can find some info on it at this site http://www.rawveganradio.com/cleanse.htm. Since I've been doing raw foods on and off for the past 1 1/2 years, I'm going to do the advanced version of the cleanse which means the 1st week is 2 blended meals a day and 1 salad and then the 2nd and 3rd week is all blended meals. Every day I will take 1 TB of Dr. Greens in my smoothie, drink lots of water, exercise for at least 30 minutes, rest for 30 minutes and listen and watch the included podcasts. I'm hoping to really benefit from this cleanse and therefore get rid of the candida, chronic yeast infections, fatigue, acne, teeth sensitivity & decay, dry skin, and excess weight especially around my stomach. I will update my progress as I go and will post what I eat everyday.
Wish me luck everyone!!
Love,
Shelly

Bower's Kid Museum

It's been raining this weekend and we were all getting kind of grumpy. (I shouldn't complain too much since others have it way worse then we do - like Lou in Eugene, OR where it's been raining/snowing for the past few weeks...sorry girl!! It rained pretty hard on Saturday and Sunday night but didn't rain too much during the day thankfully. We went to the Bower's Museum in Santa Ana this afternoon and had a lot of fun. It was only $5 per person and Ronan was free. There were lots of masks to try on and instruments to play and clothes to dress up in. We happened to catch their storytime which is at 1:30pm on Saturdays and it's run by a couple from a professional theatre/drama company. They verbally and physically acted out about 5 or 6 different stories. It was pretty cool and the boys liked it. After that we had a yummy vegan meal at Native Foods in Costa Mesa.

Love, Shelly

Balancing Toys & doing Puzzles

On Wednesday, the boys and I were doing the dragon puzzle and trying to balance the wooden toys. I just thought I'd post these pictures because they were pretty cool looking (the boys did this all by themselves) :)

Love, Shelly

Happy New Years!!!

Wow, I can't believe it's January 1st 2008...where did the year go...whoa!!!!!!! Well, we had a great New Years Day. We went to a new nature center in Laguna Canyon http://www.lagunacanyon.org/nix_nature_center.html and we had a nice time exploring. We walked to Barbara's Lake which is the only natural lake (non man-made lake) in Orange County. We spotted a great blue heron on the edge of the lake and saw some bobcat, coyote, skunk and bird tracks in the dirt. The park ranger said there is a family of bobcats that live in the area and frequently visit the lake, but we didn't see any there. After the short hike we headed to Laguna Beach with Jake, Nick and Jakey. The weather was just gorgeous and the boys had so much fun playing in the sand & water. We also some a pod of dolphins...a perfect addition to the day!!

I am so blessed each and every day for my beautiful family and so thankful to have such a wonderful husband. I love my boys so much!! :)

My goals for this year are the following:

- only buy items that we truly need and only from the USA or other countries that are fair-trade and/or handmade (basically try to avoid products from China)

-only buy organic cotton/hemp or other sustainable fabrics for clothes, towels, sheets, etc

-GO GREEN!! RECYLE, REUSE, & COMPOST

-only buy organic food (we do that now, but just wanted to include it on my list)

-exercise everyday

-drink a huge glass a water when I first wake up in the morning

-drink a green smoothie or green veggie drink everyday

-Eat all RAW foods

-play with my kids more and not worry about household chores as much

-hike every weekend with the kids

-run on Wednesday and Sundays

-be more positive

-no more yelling

-be more patient

I'm sure I'll add more to my list, but that's all I can think of now.

Here's to a healthy, happy, prosperous New Year!!

Love you all,

Shelly

Happy New Years Eve!!!

Happy New Years Eve!!! Well, Ronan was finally himself on Monday...THANK GOODNESS!!! He was still irritable, grumpy, lathargic, and in pain on Saturday and Sunday. I was able to look in his mouth and I saw his last 2 molars coming in...poor guy. He was up a lot in the middle of the night and really cranky during the day, so we didn't get to go to Dezirae's Baptism. Sorry Cindy and Rob! We really wanted to go, but Ronan was still not himself and I didn't want to drag them both down there and them be miserable. Ian has been pretty cranky too and they both have been fighting a lot and having lots of temper tantrums. I think it's a combination of things: Daddy being home for 11 days and so the routine has been off, being a little over stimulated, over tired and doing too much. I hope things get back to normal soon!!
Anyway, we went to Jane's house for New Years Eve and the boys had a good time. We left early because Ian was getting really tired and cranky. We had a great time catching up with everyone..thanks Jane, Nick and Jake for hosting. It was great ringing in the new year with our friends!! :)

Love, Shelly

Visiting Tom & Dawn!!

On Friday we drove to Murrieta to celebrate a belated Christmas and hang out for a little while. Ronan wasn't feeling well that morning but we decided to go to Tom's house anyway. I thought he just was tired and needed a nap. Both boys took a nap in the car and when we got there, they were pretty grumpy and Ronan didn't want to do anything. He just wanted to lay down with Daddy and was really warm and irritable. :( That was so unlike Ronan, he usually brightens up after his nap within an hour, but this was totally different. I decided to give him some Motrin because I tried homeopathic treatment for teething, but it wasn't helping, and the Motrin finally worked. After a few hours, Ronan perked up a little bit (especially when we started opening up presents) and played a little bit. We had a nice time visiting and Ian was having a great time playing with Uncle Tom. Tom is so great with the kids and I know he'll make a great father. He just loves playing with them (he's like Matthew where kids are attracted him because he's so good with them). Thanks Tom & Dawn for a wonderful visit and thanks for the presents (they gave us a paper/DVD/credit card shredder).

Love you,

Shelly