Love for Logan Benefit

For once I'm going to put something of substance on here. We have some friends, Brian and Anita Keating, who's 2 1/2 yr. old son is in need of another heart surgery. He will require a long recovery period so Anita is going to stay home with him. They are going to have a benefit dance for him to help with the income they are going to lose because of this decision. The Keatings have always thrown stellar shindigs so if you don't have any plans Aug 3, please come and party with us and help support sweet baby Logan. Everyone is invited, but tickets are limited.

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2523308

Gardencourt
Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
1044 Alta Vista Road

August 3, 2007
8:00 pm – 12 midnight

$20.00 single or $30.00 per couple

contact Marcia email mhampton53@hotmail.com

Good food, good company, good weekend.

Micah didn't ask for much for father's day, he just wanted to go to Jeff Ruby's for dinner. Our favorite steakhouse is The Precinct in Cincinnati and they are owned by the same guy. The food was awesome! (but a bit overpriced). All in all I would recommend The Precinct above Jeff Ruby's, the ambiance is much nicer. We went with some friends, Brock and Laura, and just talked and ate for 4 hrs. It was a great night out.

Sunday we drove home and just bummed around the house with the kids for awhile. The neighbors came over with a hopscotch/sprinkler they bought for Grey and then we ate the catfish the guys caught the day before. It was a nice weekend.

Playgroup at the park

Well, the turnout wasn't huge but we had a great morning at the park.

Lydia


Kristi & Connner


Keaton and Grey


Keaton & Clay


Grey-monkey


Caged Animal


Jaba the hut, in a swing

Perspective, perception, perfection

At church we have been talking about neighbors, barriers, brotherhood, community, & social responsibility. This is always circling around in my head because we don't live anywhere near family and because of that Micah and I lean on each other A LOT. It's created problems over the years because for either of us to go out and have fun, it usually means the other must stay home with the kids. The years before kids were hard too because we would want to go out but were post frat party stage, to young to bar hop, and too broke to do anything else. Luckily we really are each others best friends and that was the awesome byproduct of all that time spent together. But even best friends need buffers occasionally and that's where your friends and neighbors come in. They are your gauge, they add perspective. Hopefully it's more than a case of keeping up with the Jones', it should be a support system.

You can't pick your neighbors, at our first house we were just surrounded by heartache, divorce, and infertility. That can make it hard for a newlywed newly pregnant couple. So, when we moved to this house and I prayed...really, really prayed, every night that our neighbors would be what we needed. And God delivered BIG on that prayer. We have two neighbors that have become family, we have an older couple who have been married for decades and have gone through a lot of heartache but are still in love (rare and wonderful to see). We are on a friendly first name basis with all of our neighbors in the court. The other day I needed to run to the courthouse and didn't want to drag the kids, so I called Jineane and she wasn't going to be home in time, so I walked over to Gerry's and she put down her paintbrush and came right over. Now that's a blessing! We may not have family to call on but we do have great neighbors. Some are liberals, some conservative, some goth. But they love to see my kids, they offer up their tools for projects, and they always wave.

Now friends you can pick, but there's a catch, they have to pick you too (and your spouse). It's got to be a four way friendship, and then if you add in kids it becomes an exponential equation, but good friends can really make life amazing. So we've been working on that, and it's surprising where you'll find them. Some you find at church, a dinner party, or the grocery store. And I dare say we are doing well, after inviting about 20 couples over for dinner over the past couple years we've got a great roster of friends.

So now we have friends and neighbors we love, where do we go from here? Do you just stop and become complacent or do you seek more? Back to church, how do we break down walls and go further into our community and be productive. How do you become useful to God in all your relationships. I don't think He puts everyone we know in our charge, but what about the people you do feel a connection or responsibility towards. I don't think anyone feels comfortable around someone who is constantly trying to be inspiring and quote scripture or throw fortune cookie sayings around, but have you ever had God prompt you to say something outside of your comfort zone to someone else? I know I have and I'm always amazed at how the other persons face looks when I say it.

I wonder sometimes, did God make things tough in the beginning because I'm a slow learner. Maybe I'm one of those people who would've taken everything and everyone for granted. But now I actually try to be a good friend and neighbor, I'll bring food, turn off your water hose, get your mail, remember your birthday. Is that what God meant us to do. I guess if we don't have a traditional community it is our responsibility to build one?

I don't really know where I was going with all that, just rambling I guess.

PS-There are two houses in my cul-de-sac for sale "won't you be my neighbor?"

I finally found my camera....

Here are some pics from last weekend.


Beautiful Chrisman Mill


Tired baby


Mrs. Colonel and Harrison

Extraviganza!

We had a stellar weekend
It started Friday when Micah got home from Pittsburg and like a night on a shining silver horse he brought home my suburban with a working air conditioner. We took the kids over to the neighbors and headed to Chrisman Mill for our Tuscan-style dinner. We got a little lost on the way, which always stresses me out, but we got there. The atmosphere was great, there were only 10 other people, the french doors were open, and in between courses we went outside and did a little stargazing. The food was good and there was a ton of it. I think we ate for nearly 3 hours!! The wine was a little on the green side but Micah had a little tete-a-tete with the winemaker about it and he fessed up, he said that they didn't have a very good crop and had to do a lot of blending. And due to Micah's bold move we scored our first taste of tank wine. It was the 2005 that they hadn't bottled yet, it tasted much better than the stuff they served with dinner so we will anticipate when they finally get around to bottling this vintage.

Saturday we bummed around and took a late afternoon nap (5-7), this was a mistake because the kids did not want to go back to bed, but we couldn't resist.

Sunday Micah went on a 6am bike ride, then we headed off to church, then went to an evening BBQ with some new friends. It's always fun to be around new people, even though I feel as if my social skills have plummeted since having children. Sometimes I feel like Tommy from Rugrats. I think I'm talking very plainly but everyone else just hears babbles. That mixed with the fact that I usually look a little haggard, and well, I just don't feel like the life of the party. But we were received warmly and a few brave souls even tried our Paint Thinner Bloody Mary's, and if you wonder what's in them....here you go
Tomato Juice-half bottle
V-8 Hot-half bottle
3 tbsp. Lemon Juice
3 tbsp. Lime Juice
1 tbsp. Celery Salt
1 tbsp. Lemon Pepper
1 tbsp. Dill Weed
1 tbsp. Horseradish
1 tbsp. Picapepper Sauce
1 tbsp. Tiger Sauce
1 tbsp. Tabasco
1 tbsp. Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1 tbsp. Sriacha Sauce
2 tbsp. Worchester Sauce
Pickled Jalapenos (equal to one whole)
Vodka half a 1/5+-

Monday we slept until 9!!!!!!! Gentry slept from 8-9, it was freaking awesome! There was more bumming and then we went to another BBQ. But unlike the BBQ the day before our kids were the only ones there and the house wasn't childproof. So we were nervous wrecks who spent most of our time trying to keep Grey out of trouble and Gentry happy. So we left about 7, came home and had a drink.

Crazy weeks continue

We went out last friday night with our much loved neighbors, after two years of knowing one another this was only the third dinner we have ever had with them that didn't include our children...reason being that they are the ones who usually watch the kids so we can go out. Now you understand why we love them so much. We went to our fav. steak house in Lexinton, The Chop House and had a wonderful dinner by the fireplace. We went to Coldstone after for some yummy icecream and then headed home.

Saturday we had a ton of stuff to get done. Micah got up at 6:00 to go on a bikeride and got home about 11, he mowed the lawn and then finished my pantry shelves (part of my mother's day present). They turned out spectacular!!!

We got ready to go to Cinncinati for Micah's ACS conference. I was a little skeptical at first, so Micah was going to drive us home Monday night and then go back up until Wednesday. After we got there I saw that we had a suite, so Gentry was able to take his naps without Grey waking him up. So we stayed and played on the elevators, swam in the pool, and played with Emmy the hotel parrot. They were doing construction on the building next door so Grey was in crane heaven. It was a lot of fun! One of the coolest things was the free bar from 5-7:30 everynight.

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend was all around great. We went to Laura's graduation party Saturday afternoon and had some great BBQ. Grey had a blast outside assaulting some 5 yr old neighborhood kid. I also made a cake for Laura as a gift and I fretted over it all week so finally finishing it was a relief. It turned out great considering it was my first attempt at fondant and sugar paste. The best part was it turned out just like the sketch I drew up earlier in the week...I love when things go just as planned, I know, I'm a bit Martha that way.



Then Saturday night we went out for sushi with some friends we used to go to church with. It was the first time we have had sushi and surprise surprise we loved it. We totally gorged ourselves, the waitress brought Micah and my food and put it in the middle of the table because she thought it was for all four of us. Little did she know that we have the appetite of a very large mid-western trucker.

Sunday morning was crunch time. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Micah had to be at church early to watch the junk yard kids (only nobody called to tell us that there were none this week), and it was Gentry's baby dedication, and we had to pack up some cake and other stuff to go to Louisville for the day. And since I'm horrible under pressure and I had nothing to wear, I was very unpleasant.



The baby dedication went great, our church really does a great job with that. It was very precious and meaningful for us. After church I wanted to get a group picture of my church mom friends and lets just say that chaos ensued. 8 kids under 4 tying to play, and four moms trying to smile...It took Brett and Fred making some sort of kissy/zerburt noises, Greg directing traffic, and Micah wielding the camera to get one picture, but it was worth it.

Then we headed off to New Albany, IN to see Micah's paternal grandparents. It's like going back to the '50s when your on " We sit on the screened in porch, have a vodka tonic, and listen to the silence. I just feel like we have so much to learn from them, they've been married for over 50 years, Janis has Parkinson's, Dick's cancer just came back, but they are still holding on to one another.




So all in all it was a great weekend full of family and friends. And to top it all off I got a new copper bottom skillet and Micah is building me new pantry shelves...very cool.

I'm no social butterfly.

I'm sure some people think I'm a snob, but I'm really just painfully shy. This makes making friends really difficult.

I have always been an introvert, but I was a borderline recluse after Grey was born. I would even have small panic attacks when the phone rang. I don't think I answered the phone, without first screening the call for almost a year. So after Gentry was born I decided I was going to finally make some friends, no matter how painful it was. I set out a criteria, I wanted some friends whose kids were compatible with mine (or had none), whose husbands would get along with mine, and who were receptive. You have no idea how many woman don't want anymore friends.

I started going on play dates, and just like any other kind of date it's a bit awkward at first. Will my kid hurt your kid or vise versa and how do we handle it without hurting the other moms feelings. Are you willing to drive to my house or do I have to come to yours every time. Do we have similar interests. So forth and so on, until a relationship is finally built.

So I picked six women, 3 married with kids, 1 married no kids, 1 married and pregnant, 1 engaged no kids. Now I'm no social butterfly so six meaningful relationships is a lot for me. So I've decided to be a bumble bee...they return to the same flowers over and over. This seems to be working really well for me, I would say 4 of the six relationships is bearing real fruit and the other two are getting there. Life can be really lonely when you don't have some good friends to commiserate with, share joy with, and just be silent with. I'm so glad that I finally have friends again.

Last night was so great

My neighbor, Jineane and I went to go see Dirty Dancing. We got there early so we got the last two great seats. It was like the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the way that the audience sang along and cheered at there favorite parts, especially when he said "Nobody puts baby in the corner". One girl even let out a huge sigh when Patrick Swayze took off his shirt and everyone laughed. It was just a good all around time. I almost want to go back tonight and watch it again.

Weekend Review

The weekend was long, and well Saturday was a little shaky. Micah went on a bikeride from 7:30-12:30pm (47miles) , and I was a little ticked off to say the least (only b/c we hadn't seen him all week). So when he got home I went to go and get a necklace repaired and shop at Hamburg, I had planned on going to Petsmart to pet the puppies, but I was feeling pretty good after a couple hours shopping so I didn't need to, but Sunday was awesome. We actually got to sleep in a bit! Micah woke up and made a stellar breakfast, he crumbled up sausage and put it inside the pancakes, then fried and egg over easy and put it on top of the pancake, pour on maple syrup and there you have it. Sounds a bit weird but tastes out of this world. Then we got ready to go to Rolex. The day was beautiful and the kids did great. The only bad part was the blisters I got from wearing the wrong shoes....stupid me! By the time we got home we put the kids down. I took a nap, Micah studied, then the good part. We went over to the neighbors for dinner. Now some of you have heard me talk about my neighbors. They are the world's greatest. Our kids love them like family and so do we. So anyway after dinner they gave us an anniversary present. It's a 4 course dinner at Chrisman Mill Winery. They only do it once a month in the summer, for twenty couples, by reservation only. How freakin' cool is that! And to top it off they are watching the kids for us while we go. We are soooooo excited. So rocky start, awesome finish....Thanks Neane and Casey! And for the grand finale, Gentry slept from 12-8am!