"Hey, look, a bean."

he said to me as he opened up a biology book from college. He was researching our changing baby boy. A bean fell out of the book. We smiled at each other, knowing.

"Five years."

"Yep, five years."

The significance of the bean is this: five and a half years ago, when Paul and I were married, beans were the main player in a practical joke Paul's family pulled on us while we were on our honeymoon. When we got home to our 400 square foot, tiny but so cute apartment, we found beans everywhere. Beans in bowls, shoes, pockets, books, under the bed, on top of window ledges, behind furniture, everywhere. We didn't find some of the beans until be moved out of that apartment two years later. Every time we move, we find more beans. Five years later and awaiting the birth of our first child, we're still finding beans.

All I have to say is, "Good one, Robinson family, someday we will get you back."

Warning: Post about pregnancy, may be too much info for some men.

I love being pregnant. There, I said it, you can hate me if you want to. I have very few of the horrible symptoms that women usually complain about. I do not crave strange things. I am not constantly throwing up. I have different symptoms. During the first half of my pregnancy I had a constantly stuffy nose. I cannot sit for a long time because of tailbone pain. This is only a problem on Sunday. I am thinking about taking a donut pillow to church to sit on. I don't have to shave my legs very often (yes, my leg hair has actually slowed it's growth - this has been one of my favorite parts of being pregnant). But this is the symptom I want to talk about now - dry skin. I have never had such bad dry skin in my life. For a while I was lathering Vaseline on my hands at night and putting socks over them and sleeping that way the whole night - and the hands were still dry. This has a lot to do with being a kindergarten teacher because I wash my hands so much at work, but I've never really had a problem before. So I have a new solution. Even if you don't have dry hands (but who really doesn't at this time of year) it's still really good for your skin.

1. Keep a heavy duty moisturizer by your sink (my favorites are Eucerin, Aquaphor, or Burt's Bee's Banana Hand Cream).
2. Lather up with moisturizer before doing the dishes. Put a lot on. It will soak in because of the heat of the water.
3. Put rubber gloves on (I've never been one for the rubber gloves but my hands were so dry that it hurt to put them in the water).
4. Wash the dishes. The heat from the water will help the lotion do it's job.
5. Do not let husband use the same rubber gloves to do the dishes, because he will complain that his hands smell like bananas.

There you go. Beauty tips from me! It literally takes 30 seconds. Really, if the worst I am symptoms I am experiencing right now are minor back pain and dry skin, I have MUCH to be thankful for. I am actually finding that the more active I am, the better I feel. Usually my tailbone pain goes away if I go to the gym and use the eliptical machine.
I really should go to bed now because we have decided to get up early to attend the early service tomorrow. I have had a hankerin' for some hymns!

What is Annie reading?

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
So cute! I read this to a group of 1st through 8th graders the other day and they ALL loved it. A Dad tells his son the secret to getting rid of enemies is to make enemy pie!










The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

I am only a few chapter into this book but it has me hooked.











The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger

I got this for Christmas from my mom. I haven't had a whole lot of time to bake bread yet but I did make the Pear Coffee Cake today and it was delish. There are TONS of recipes in this book. It would take me 20 years to try them all.

Friday Favorites: Patch Maternity

Ok. I've had a change of heart. Gone are the days when I thought I could make it through my entire pregnancy without actually buying maternity clothes. You may remember a semi-angry rant about 3 months ago. I hate Motherhood Maternity because of thier return policy (thier policy is pretty much - no returns - although I do have a pair of black slacks from there that I love). My favorite store by far for maternity is Pumpkin Patch. Now, it's actually a children's clothing store, but if you look in the back you will find racks of maternity clothes. And the best thing is thier return policy - satisfaction garunteed. I actually have had a wardrobe malfunction with a pair of thier jeans, so I'll take them back next weekend. I really don't mind paying a little more for something if I know I can return it if at any time I am not IN LOVE with it.

You might not hear from me for a while - it's report card time. If you do hear from me - I'm procrastinating.

Did you know that:

INHABITS POULTRY MOON

and

THUMBNAIL RIOT SNOOPY

are anagrams of my husband's name?

check out: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/advanced.html

Seven months down.

Three more to go.

Yeah, that's right, ten months. They don't tell you that before you get pregnant. Well, actually nine and a half. But they start counting before you actually concieve. This is crazy to me.

Yes, they say the funniest things...

I have a new girl in my class. Here is a bit of funnyness from her.

HER: "I'm turning six in July. I'll invite you to my birthday party, if you're still alive."

ME: "Why wouldn't I be alive?"

HER: "Well, it's a long ways away. You might even be sixteen by then."

I am always delighted to have one of those uninhibited children in my class. You know, the ones who get up in the middle of my teaching just to visit the turtle. They make things funny. Speaking of turtles, when I got to school this morning I could smell turtle stink from down the hallway. I knew immediately that the filter had stopped working over the weekend. I had gotten to work half an hour early to get some work done, but I ended up spending that time cleaning out a stinky turtle aquarium instead. Oh, here's another one.

Upon seeing the apple symbol on the computer in the library, kindergartener says to the librarian:

"Oh, I see you got your computer from Applebee's"

Getting ready on Saturday morning:

"What do you want to do today?"

"Let's go for a drive."

In the car:

"Which way should we go?"

"South."

We ended up at Mount St. Helens. While it's packed in the summer, it's virtually deserted in the winter. We had a great time.

Baby Elias - 27 weeks

"This week he weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely."

-from Babycenter

That's right, I'm almost 7 months along! I was telling someone the other day how fast this pregnancy has gone by. It seems like just a week ago I was just finding out. 91 days until my due date.

Today was ANOTHER day off from school. Snow was forcasted and it sure snowed! It was supposed to turn to rain and melt but it never did and we ended up missing school. I feel really behind, January is half over and we've only been in school five days. I did enjoy staying home though. Paul stayed home from work also. We took a nap and went for a walk and watched Oprah. The picture is of me today - with all the snow. We got about three inches on top of what we had left over from last week.

"How's my beauty and the bump?"

-Paul Robinson (he said it to me of course)

Friday Favorites: Date Night!

Last night Paul and I went out and ended up going to Plenty restaurant in Olympia. I have a thing about fish and chips, an obsession. I ordered their fish and chips and they are absolutely my top pick for fish and chips around here. Melt in you mouth...move over Spuds. Everything was very fresh. I highly recommend it. It's a little hippy, but that's just the way we like it. Just hippy enough to be really tasty. Paul had the "artful salad". He really enjoyed that as well, right before he finished off what was left of my fish.

I feel old and out of date...

I remember when I paid 10 dollars a month for 10 hours of dial up internet. This was in Portland in the heart of the Hawthorne hippy neighborhood. Paul's brother just informed us that our old stomping grounds now has free wireless internet.

Snow! Paul took this yesterday. I just love the snow. We have been two hours late for two days.

As promised! Here is the Kermit costume. I was disappointed to find out that it doesn't fit me, and not just because I'm prego. It was made for a shorter person. Ah well, there's still much fun to be had with it. It even comes witha green leotard to wear undernead so that arms and legs are green too. And webbed feet. It really was uncomfortable to wear even for the 30 seconds that I had it on. Hope this picture is as much a blessing to you as it is to me!!!

Some days are just blessed. Today someone gave me an adult sized Kermit the Frog costume. You are probably asking yourself, "What did Annie do to deserve this?" I don't know people, like I said, I was blessed today. I know I will use it for something, but just what that would be has not taken shape. It's very realistic and well sewn. Complete with green tights and webbed feet. I feel big things are going to happen for me and this costume...big things.

That's all for now.

Check out my friend Kara's blog Karapy. After a year's hiatus, she's back with a vengence.

Little boys, little boys, EVERYWHERE!

My sister in law and brother are having a little boy, bringing the total to three boys, zero girls! We're feelin' the testasterone. I am very excited that Elias will have a boy cousin so close in age. Something tells me they may be double trouble, if I know anything about Tupper boys.

My Hero!

One of my gifts for Christmas was "Andy Griffith: The Complete Final Season". I just love Andy Griffith and it took me less than a week to consume all thirty plus episodes. One character that is missing is Barney. I didn't realize that Barney wasn't in every season and at first I admit I was a little disappointed. After watching a few episodes I was realizing that I like the fact that Barney is missing because it allowed them to focus on other characters like Opie, Aunt Bea, Howard and Goober.

I have a bid on "Monk: the fourth season" on ebay right now. There are very few shows that I would actually consider owning a whole season of. You see, if I own it I have watch it more than once or twice. I don't think Paul owns a single DVD or video, unless you count our wedding video, but that's more like joint ownership, so it doesn't count.

Do you know how much I love Good Earth Tea? It reminds me of Multnomah. As you may know from previous posts I have been on a Chai Tea ritual for a couple of months (morning rituals are important to me). I think it may be time to make the switch. I can't get enough of the stuff. Is this a craving?....I'm not sure.

Our friend Mark recently started his own blog Growing Together. Check it out! His blog is on wordpress, which I am actually thinking of switching to. Mark was roomates and friends with Paul at Multnomah .

Why am I thinking of switching? Well, Paul has requested that I not post pictures of our children on the blog. And I am obviously going to honor that because he is the head of our household and the protector of our family. Wordpress has the option of password protecting posts. In other words, my blog would be public, but when I want to post something personal such as information or pictures of my kids, I can password protect just that one entry. By the way, Paul loves the fact that I blog, and this has not been a source of contention at all, just an area that I feel I need to be obedient in. So if I decide to go this route, you'll have our password, that is, if you actually know us.