My birthday isn’t until tomorrow, so you all have time to get me something nice…

Before:

After:

He spent the day hanging out at the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, with Anne, Ethan, Lauren, Grandma Reiley, and friends Liam, Molly and Ms. Carrie. Quite an entourage, if you ask me! The museum got a big thumbs up from the kids and moms alike.

We capped off the day with some cake, ice cream, and gifts. The big hits were more “Cars” cars, a Diego Rescue Pack, Timex kids watch, and SpiderMan PJs (which have already been put to use!).

Ethan, while studying some bacon I had over-fried: “Uh-oh…”

(For the record, it was not burnt (completely), and he still ate it. The boy likes bacon.)

Anne, while reviewing the alphabet with Jonah: “Who is the most important person in your life, whose name starts with the letter ‘M’?”
Jonah, with no hesitation: “Me!”

(Anne was hoping for “Mommy.”)

Anne, while watching a Saturday Night Live re-run: “Who is Tom Brady?”

(SNL was re-running the show Tom Brady hosted one or two years ago, in honor of his appearance in this weekend’s Super Bowl. He is the quarterback for the New England Patriots, in case you don’t know either.)

And my favorite…

Jonah, during his Sunday afternoon nap-time prayers: “Dear Jesus, please come into my heart.”

(Well done, son.)

Lauren was born on November 7 (view her birth announcement). We were often told by other parents in the know that “the third child raises herself.” This has yet to be the case. Even so, she is a wonderful baby, and the boys just absolutely love having a little sister.

Ethan is our linebacker in the making. At age two, he bigger than most of the three year olds he meets… he is just a solid kid. He is also our social butterfly. He loves introducing himself to people and doesn’t know a stranger. (We have to watch this!) The only down side is he has yet to say his name, so he introduces himself as “Jack-Jack”… the baby from the movie “The Incredibles.” Somehow his big brother convinced him that this was his name! As you can see in the photo, Ethan started wearing glasses this year. He is doing really well with them. What he doesn’t like is the patch he needs to wear four hours a day to strengthen his weaker eye… but he is doing as well as a two year old can with such things!

Jonah is going to be five in February. We can’t believe we’re about to have a five year old! It has been amazing to see him develop and learn… he is like a sponge. He loves going to pre-school to learn and see his friends. He has a wonderfully creative imagination, and is always thinking of new games to play with Mommy, Daddy and Ethan. His biggest question lately has been, “when can Lauren play?”

Anne continues to enjoy staying home and being with the kids. She especially likes exploring all of the parks in Cary, and hanging out at the pool. But it isn’t all bon-bons and pedicures. Raising two active boys and a baby who likes to stay up until 1 a.m. is hard work! Speaking of hard work, Anne is also in her second year of leading the MOPS (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) group at our church, which includes nearly 30 moms and their children. There are many hours of work and phone calls with leading MOPS, but she really likes pulling it all together and she does a great job at it!

Jordan is still with IBM, where he leads the small & medium business (SMB) marketing programs for the services group. He also keeps busy with projects around the house. In early summer he removed the carpet in our bonus room and replaced it with hard wood flooring (thanks to Pat for helping!). He also finally finished installing and painting all of the trim in the kitchen… something left over from that remodel from two years ago! Jordan also continues to take on new leadership roles in our church. He is a trustee and helps lead the men’s ministry. He has even dusted off his trombone, which he hadn’t played since high school, and has played in several brass quartets for the church. He claims it is like riding a bike, but we’ll let the audience be the judge of that!

You can find the key “stats” and photos at the online birth announcement we created and posted here: www.jordanne.net/lauren/

Both Anne and Lauren are doing great, and the boys have been adjusting very well. They are thrilled to have a little sister!

• Painted the boys’ room
• Yes, the boys’ room… we got bunk beds and they moved into the same room
• Jonah started his second year of pre-school
• Went to some birthday parties…
• Including Ethan’s! He turned two!
• I took a quick trip to South Bend (IBM recruiting trip to Notre Dame)
• Had the best seats ever at a Notre Dame football game (even though we lost)
• Went to the NC state fair
• I gave my first haircut to Jonah (and it looked good!)
• Spiderman and Tigger came to visit - and they collected lots of candy from the neighbors

If you want to see photos of what we have been up to, check out the albums for Ethan’s Birthday and a Fall 2007 collage.

I received the following error telling me that they thought I was an automated computer virus or spyware application.

So, if you use Google Reader to link to a Google-hosted blog, Google thinks it is attacking itself. Nice.

In light of ND’s rough start to the football season, Taco Bell restaurants in the South Bend area are offering free nachos to their guests on Sunday because quite frankly, game day for an Irish fan is “Na-Cho Day”. (A play on “not your day” for those who don’t get the play on words.)

Taco Bell is getting all kinds of press and blogging around this (including me, obviously) so I’ll qualify it as a decent marketing idea. It will also get people into the restaurant to buy some tacos and burritos to go with their free nachos, which is always good.