test garvin wordpress

My ma just sent this fun photo from our trip to indiana. --sent from my handheld device--

We stopped by the lumber yard (actually, the Yarnelle Lumber Company) when we were in Wabash to visit my grandma. Uncle Ken (my mom's brother) and his wife Jill pretty much run the place by themselves (it's been in the family for generations). Wabash has big box stores and Home Depot now but the lumber company has survived, a triumph in itself in my view. Bailey and Ken Baily and Jill Art got to ride the conveyor belt in the lumber yard, something I remember doing when I was Art's age. It's SO FUN!

More photos from our recent vacation. A baby gets baptiz--I mean gets her hair washed in the lake. Jessica said she used to do this in the lake when she was a kid. Just lay around and blow bubbles and float. 3, 2, 1, BLASTOFF!

just posted this on facebook: " I just photographed a Minnesota Lynx game and have been turned into a Lynx fan. My god that was so fun. So much energy. Apparently they have the best record in the NBA, too. They were good! After they won they danced on the floor to cheering fans. I'm going to take my little boy to see them." http://photo.twincities.com/ssp/m/embed.js SlideShowPro({ attributes: { id: "album-4187", width: 800, height: 600 }, mobile: { auto: false }, params: { bgcolor: "#000000", allowfullscreen: true }, flashvars: { xmlFilePath: "http://photo.twincities.com/ssp/images.php?album=4187", displayMode: "Manual", videoAutoStart: "Off" } });

Art, Lewis, Netta, Bailey, Ben and I all tramped down to the hospital the other day to see our new cousin, Oscar Keenan, son of my cousin Cait and her husband, Zach. That makes him my first cousin once removed? And the boys are his first cousin twice removed? I don't know. I looked it up and there were charts and still I couldn't figure it out. Michael, my brother-in-law and father of my niece, Charlotte , says they are second cousins. I'm confused. Anyway, just today Art said, "I wonder how Cait's baby is doing." We talked about how small he was. When we first arrived at Cait and Zach's little hospital room Art was really surprised at how small he was and said he thought he would be as big as our babies. I was surprised, too. I forgot how tiny new babies are. When we got there I got all teared up.  I was so proud of my cousin and so happy to see a new, healthy baby join her family and just all emotional.  What a sap!  And I couldn't help but no...

We are witnessing the magical twin love around here. The girls are clearly glad to see each other and possibly even distressed if they are not close. I don't know, but they choose to go in the same direction most of the time and reach out for each other in their high chairs, while nursing and even in bed sometimes. On the car trip home we switched the car seats for a while so instead of sitting right next to each other with the boys in back each girl was next a boy. When the girls saw each other after a couple hours of driving apart they were very happy. Just the other day I spied them waking up from a nap and while Bailey laid on her back Netta pushed herself up to sitting, noticed her sister and made a big smile while reaching for Bailey's ear. And even though I couldn't' see Bailey's face I could see her cheek bulge out from a huge grin. They really are happy to be together.

Before we left for our vacation the girls were just starting to crawl. They were quite slow and I could leave them in the living room for several minutes knowing they couldn't get into trouble anytime soon. Then we got back from our trip and it was a different world! They had sped up trmendously and it is very stressful for dear Ben. So far I've been taking it in stride, pulling babies off of dangerous items, picking up bits ahead of them and out of them, sweeping, sweeping and sweeping some more. The gates are going up today and the pack n' plays/holding tanks are out.

My grandmother is nearly 90. She always asks about our kids, especially Netta and Bailey who she had never met. We send her tons of photos but there's just nothing like holding them in your arms. So making the trek to Wabash, Indiana, my mother's hometown, was worth the drive. As soon as we arrived she dug up a some baby clothes she bought for them. She adores Jessica and loves to tell me how wonderful she is. "Oh Ben, she just such a good mother. I just, I mean, I can't tell you how much...." Stuff like that. Each Monday Grandma goes to Hardees to meet her friends and chat. We were in town only two days so she called an emergency meeting on Thursday morning. Lewis, wonderfully, preferred to sit on his own at a table across the restaurant. I don't know why but I really love that he ate on his own and to not come join the group. I think he was a little overwhelmed and wanted to make some space for himself. Good on you, Lewis. Netta, however, was in a great moo...

Each boy had their own mama or papa to sleep with. Lucky them. As seen here, both Art and Lewis constantly schooched their little bodies towards our big ones, crowding us out. It's endearing and also really annoying.

I'm going to post some of the photos from our vacation over the next week or so instead of all at once. In part cause I'm still looking through them, but also since it's more fun that way, and who doesn't like to have MORE FUN!?

Josh and Art in Lake Minnetonka today after they jumped ship. --sent from my handheld device--

Art holds Netta at the cottage.

Halfway through our recent vacation Arthur recorded this little diddy for his friend Silas. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bQvimPQ-CM?rel=0]

Finally made it home last night after our mini-adventure through the Midwest. We'll post some photos and notes in the next couple days.

We're leaving today Sunday for long-awaited two week vacation. One week at Jessica's family cottage in Wisconsin, the other in Indiana visiting my grandmother. See you when we're back!

Art and Lewis have different palates, to say the least. I would say that art takes after me, having something of a sweet tooth and being particular about what things feel and look like. Art will routinely mope through the hosue saying, "I just really wish i could have a treat..." -A texture and temperature are especially important for his food. Often times, if he is eating rather slow, he requests his macaroni and cheese be heated up mid-meal. Food should feel a certain way in his world. Lewis, on the other hand, is something of a garbage disposal for fresh food. He will try almost anything (he used to be known for his "No like it? Try it!" phrase) and doesn't really care what it looks or feels like. He can eat cold ravioli, oatmeal or hamburger and will inhale a red pepper in minutes. He loves peppers. Anyway, tonight I made the kids strawberry ice cream cones and Lewis took a bite of his and said he wanted a different dessert. The strawberry ice cream...

Uncle Josh joined us in a bike ride to Powderhorn park for the 10pm fireworks over the lake. A super late night for the boys (they're bedtime is usually 8pm). Lewis was a little scared of the fireworks and overwhelmed by the million people there. But after I closed his ears from sound and sat him on my lap, he did really well. We got home at 11pm and both boys were asleep by 11:15. WAMBAM!

[This is for my mother...] A fancy ad that ran in the Pioneer Press recently touting the award I won and the many many others our paper won, including first and second place in 'story of the year'. I really do work with some impressive people who make me better at what I do.

Happy birthday, nation! Art, Lewis, the girls and I went to an old fashioned neighborhood parade near my aunt and unlce's house complete with a grand finale of all the kids on decorated bikes and spectators walking the parade route to the park. The kids did a lot of waiting today but I think it all paid off for them. They waited for the parade to start and when it did they saw a fire truck, a moving 20ft tower made by the boy scouts and my uncle Brian playing a kazoo in a grass skirt. Then they waited a ling time to ride a pony and they got to do that, too. They were both very excited to do that. The girls brought joy to all who held them, which was a lot of people. I'm not even sure how many. My aunt was in charge of them for almost an hour while we waited for the pony ride and during that time a whole slew of her neighbors took turns holding them. Nice parade. Nice Fourth. Right now, at 10:03, Ben, Josh and the boys are at a park nearby watching the fireworks. Ver...

Adria on her wedding day The time since Bubbe passed away, about two weeks ago now, has gone quickly and without much notice. Jessica lost her mother, I lost one of my best friends, Arthur and Lewis and Netta and Bailey lost their beloved grandmother. I wish I were able to cry more as of late and feel almost guilty about how well and happy we've all be doing. I miss her and feel myself trying not to think about how sad it is sometimes. How sad it is for Arthur, who loved her so much. He wondered recently who will make birthday cakes now that Bubbe died. Arthur grew up going to her house every Saturday while Jessica taught cello lessons. Adria told a little story once about how he had stayed the night at her house. He woke up super early and crawled into her bed to snuggle. She remembered him driving a little match box car over the bumps in the covers making driving sounds and how wonderful that was for her, to just lay there and listen to him play in the early morning. That was her...

My photographer friend Kyndell Harkness took this at last night's Twins game just before a huge storm hit and delayed the game two hours. There was no rain and then this solid pitch black mass of clouds overtook the place. It went from no rain to total downpour at once, you could actually see the burst of water flying down through the sky and past the stadium lights. The crowd shrieked even before it started raining cause they could see it.

Ever since Art started going to Willow Preschool in Jen Boss's lovely basement I have been inspired.  I love to teach, I love to reading about education theory and child development and I love watching kids discover and explore.  Seeing what Jen has made for her students and herself with her business made me think maybe I could do it, too! Right now I am courting a nearby park to see if I can start something there since our basement is just too small to make a good preschool.  I would want to run what is nowadays called a "play-based" preschool where many stations or learning areas are set up for kids to choose from for their play/work.  I've been especially inspired by this blog .  The teacher so beautifully chronicals the goings-on of their school. Reading the various blogs and getting my proposal together for the park has tuned me into my own kids' play much more acutely.  I'm routinely setting them up for some kind of exploration and just letting them run ...

Babies in one piece swimsuits are SUPER CUTE! Our neighbors commented that Bailey is wearing the Gay Pride swimsuit. How modern and inclusive you are, Bailey! Netta is wearing the swimsuit that has been hanging in the girls' room since February for it's super-cuteness and as an inspiration to get through the long winter, and the day finally came to see the girls in their suits!

I love plastic animals and we have quite a few. We keep them in a large open basket, inspired by Art's preschool teacher, so they are always available. And they are almost always in play rotation. I have been known to refuse all kinds of toys, but never a plastic animal. And here's why; A good plastic animal is frozen in the middle of some kind of action or behavior, making it the greatest joy to find, say, sitting on a window sill or stacked with other animals in an animal party ... Anyway this crocodile was on the sidewalk that leads from the front to the back of our house for the past several days, but it was not sedentary. Oh no! Each day it crept slowly to the backyard. I don't know how it moved, or who moved it, but each day it would be a foot or so further along the path, always baring it's ferocious teeth amidst a rapid shooshing of it's tail. Then yesterday it appeared in the grass of the backyard, threatening us all!

A couple days ago I was taking care of Netta and Bailey for the morning (Jess had the boys at a nature documentary at the Riverview). I realized the girls nhad never been to the newsroom to meet folks at work. So off we went for a full fledged tour. Most if not all the people in these photos have kids so seeing Netta and Bailey seemed to spark that I-need-to-old-that-baby feeling. Politics editor Maria with Netta, left, and reporter Jessica with Bailey. Photo editor and good friend Neal entertains the babies. Fellow parent of twins and reporter Mary Jo and Netta. Editor Sue with Bailey. Designer Ellen with editor Chery Bailey with reporter Maja Reporter Megan with Netta. Bob and Bailey.