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Karen’s Quarterly Commute
0It’s been awhile since my last "Liam" post so I thought I better get something out here before everyone gives up on me altogether.
Liam’s Nanny Karen (a.k.a. my best friend since elementary school) came down from Kansas City last weekend to spend a few days with us. She has made quarterly visits to see Liam since we brought him home. She loves spending time with him and the feeling is mutual. For me & Rob, her visits give us us a rare chance to sneak out for a movie. For those of you who have have built-in babysitters, you have no idea how big a deal this is! We love Liam beyond words, but still it’s sure nice for just the two of us to be able to go out to dinner & a movie every once in awhile without worrying if he is okay. In the pre-Liam days, we were such big movie watchers that we sometimes had trouble finding enough films we hadn’t already seen to keep our Netflix queue stocked up. We certainly don’t have that problem anymore! By the way, our movie selection for last week was Gran Torino and I highly recommend it if you haven’t already seen it!
It’s always nice to have Karen with us, she just seems like part of the family. We love to reminisce about the "good old days" and we laughed when we were out shopping last week and a saleslady asked if we are sisters. We’ve been answering that question since we were ten years old. We don’t see the resemblance but apparently everyone else does.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of Nanny Karen with Liam that I can publish to the blog. I promised Karen final approval on all photos of her that go on here and none made the approval list. Next time I need to start taking pictures from day one so there will be more to choose from and hopefully some get approved. If you’re really curious, here is a post that features a photo taken when she was here for Easter last year.
We know it’s tough for her to steal time away from her own family to come spend time with us but we’re already looking forward to her next visit!
Local Celebrity
0You could call him a microblogger or maybe now even a microcelebrity, but you certainly can’t call James Cross a microgardener!
Nope, James (a.k.a. DoubleDanger) goes decidedly large-scale with his urban gardening ventures! In fact, his green thumb & backyard gardening projects landed him top billing in the following news feature that KWES NewsWest 9 aired last Friday, Feb. 27th:
Big props go out to a fellow Basin blogger!
Ward Cleaver Strikes Back
0
Remember the vintage advertisements of the ’50s that featured the Dad sitting in his easy chair, enjoying a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper and usually wearing a suit & tie or at least a smoking jacket & house slippers? For the past several weekends, I’ve had that image lodged in my head. I certainly don’t bear any resemblance to that Norman Rockwell-ish depiction, but lately, I sure am feeling it…
Y’see, I always brew up a fresh pot of coffee in the mornings. And back around the first of the year, we started subscribing to the newspaper. Then you add in the other new tradition we’ve sorta eased into, "Pancake Saturdays," (courtesy of Dede!) and you have the makings for quite a cozy start to the weekend.
So there I was early this morning, having padded out to the end of the driveway in my robe & big fluffy houseshoes to get the Sunday paper, retreating to my big brown leather easy chair with a cup of coffee in hand. Y’know, a few routines of fatherhood were a bit tough to get accustomed to, but then there are some that are just downright comfy to settle into.
Welcome back to the ’50s — just call me "Mr. Cleaver."
Welcome!
0Since we’ve just passed Liam’s first Gotcha Day anniversary, I decided it was the right time to wrap things up on our Russian Adoption Journey blog and transition back over to this, our main blog site. So, if you’re one of our regulars visiting from that site, we’d like to welcome you to 2Dolphins and encourage you to continue to follow along with us over here.

First Date Anniversary
0It was thirteen years ago that Rob & I went on our first date to see Bed of Roses and who would’ve guessed how much our lives would change in the years to come?
Just last week, we were reminiscing with friends over lunch about how everyone was so shocked to discover that we were dating. We were a very unlikely pairing, especially considering that we started off on such shaky terms. Well, let’s face it, I didn’t like Rob at all. But he was persistent and I finally decided to take a chance. And here we are 13 years later. It’s been a wonderful journey!
Another Loss…
0As much as we’ve had an incredible year of gains, we’ve also experienced some painful losses. Early this year, my Mom passed away suddenly. Then just a few months ago, our longtime friend Bryan Howell was taken by a tragic & senseless accident. And we lost another beloved member of our extended family this past week.
Charles “Whit” Smith had long said that he hadn’t even expected to see the year 2000, so everything since was just an added bonus. What he may have been not so aware of is that the bonus was ours. Among other things, I’ll sorely miss his sense of humor, always-supportive spirit, and that resonating baritone voice that seemed tailor-made for radio.

Goodbye Uncle Whit, we’ll miss you!
Tis Grand
0We had such a wonderful & uplifting surprise this morning. One of our favorite people in the whole world, Sister Margaret Ledwith popped in for a quick visit. We were so sad when Sister Margaret retired from MCH and returned to Ireland over 4 years ago and although we’ve tried to stay in touch via email, we’ve sorely missed her. So having a few moments for big hugs all around and to catch up on everything was truly a heartwarming blessing!

So, since she traveled back over from Dublin to visit us, it only seems fair that it’s our turn to visit her next… Gotta start saving for another trip to Ireland!
Busted Again
0My, what a difference 2 years makes…
Sharp readers (and maybe even some not-so-sharp ones) will readily see what’s changed since Dede & I were first busted at the ballpark back in ’06.

Suffice to say, this year’s MCH Employee Night at the Citibank Ballpark was definitely unlike previous ones thanks to our own all-star, who April would be quick to point out is:
(Press the "Play" button above to hear a great sound clip
from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
or click here if the audio control doesn’t appear.)
More Blogs in the Hood
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Early last year, I had been nosing around the virtual neighborhood and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were quite a few more Permian Basin area bloggers than I had imagined. Well, recently I’ve been noticing once again that the ranks of Midland-Odessa area bloggers has continued to grow. Several of the newer area weblogs have quickly made their way into my Google Reader subscription list and I keep up with them regularly. Here are just a few:
Ricë Freeman-Zachery’s "Notes From the Voodoo Cafe"
Snooty Primadona’s Rants, Raves, & Ramblings
Bob Westbrook’s "Ran with the Devil, Walked with Angels"
Of course, that’s just a small sampling. You can select the "Favorite Sites" tab above to check out the ever-growing list of Permian Basin blog sites.


