Welcome Little Ones!

Announcing the arrival of the newest members of the extended Raymond family....

Lucianna "Luci" Marie Raymond

weighing 5lbs 2oz

&

Elijah "Eli" Stephen Raymond

weighing 4lbs 13oz

to the Proud Parents

Danny & Carrie

Sorry, no pictures yet as they were just born today! But I'm told we can't tell yet if they have red hair (like their Mommy) as it is too dark to tell. Mom and babies are doing fine; the twins are in incubators as they were still 4 weeks early, but everything looks good so far. Dad has a lot on his hands - Good Luck Dan!

HAPPY HALF WAY DAY!!! YAY!!!

YAY!! HAPPY HALF WAY DAY!! 203 Days down!!

(203 more to go....)

I can hardly believe this...it has felt like an eternity, but yet, I am so glad we are here! It's hard to believe Gary has been gone for so long, and yet we survive. Here are some of the things Gary has missed:

1. Cole's first steps

2. Cole's first birthday

3. Our trip to California and Disneyland

4. Summertime and sunshine in Maine

5. Olivia's first day of Kindergarten

6. Cole's first word - bye bye

7. Olivia's first (and second) tooth - GONE!

8. Our anniversary and my birthday

9. Fourth of July fireworks with the kids (even though they fell asleep)

10. Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch (and apple picking)

11. Halloween and trick-or-treating!

12. Cole first (but not definitely not last) major tantrum

13. Daddy's favorite dinner with Olivia, Colvin and Mommy

14. Our first tent in the living room

15. Navy Ball

16. Pop losing his car at a campout (and finding it again)

17. Our trip to Beantown and the Aquarium

18. Meeting Baby Mason (my sister's new baby)

19. Season's last day at Jordan's

20. My new haircut

21. Blue Hill Fair 2008

22. Olivia's graduation from Preschool

23. Summer days at Sandy Point Beach

24. Our "In Their Boots" Episode and Preview

25. Olivia's End of the Year Gymnastics show

26. 2008 Olympics

27. Father's Day

28. Putting the kids to sleep at night

29. Romantic nights with Mommy (after the kids are sleeping)

30. David and Matthew's move to San Diego

31. Mowing the lawn on his John Deere

32. The dreaded computer crash

33. Half Moon Tea Party with Olivia

34. Giving the kids hugs (anytime)

35. Reading bedtime stories

36. Chasing Colvin

37. 2008 Presidential Election (knucklehead didn't request his absentee ballot in time)

38. Cole climbing on the ottoman

39. Ice cream at the Dairy Port

40. ....the past 203 days with his family. :(

Onto brighter thoughts...2-week R&R COMING SOON!! Yay!

A little note from us:
Daddy - we miss you and we love you always!

It finally happened...

Well, the ultimate crisis finally hit...the damned computer broke. Or something in it. Gary thinks it's the ethernet card, but he won't know for sure without looking at it. So, I can't access the internet using our computer - OMG! I was frightened by what I would do without email!! (I can't believe our society has become so dependent on technology, but we have!)

Thank God for small miracles...mom is letting me borrow her laptop. :) Yay! So my only complaint is I may not to be able to post pictures for a while, unless I take the time to install the software for our camera on mom's laptop (which I might when I find time). You know, I love computers and everything we can do with them, but I hate them, hate them, hate them - they are awful creatures because they are extremely precarious machines. I think computers are like men...you have to love 'em but they drive you freaking crazy when you can't figure them out! ;) Love you babe!

I do have to make one note .... actually it's a BIG note for a BIG feat from a BIG BOY!!! He crawled up on top the ottoman for the first time by himself today!! Just now as I was typing an email to Gary! Which is extremely SCARY because now it means it's only a matter of time before he figures out how to climb on EVERYTHING and then I will have to watch him like a hawk! Right now I have the furniture arranged to box him in the living room, but I think I'm going to have to put gates up now because he'll figure out how to climb over the furniture. Oh Boy!

Tent City

Mommy's amateur attempt to make a tent for the kids in the living room - yesterday was Girls Only Day and we had a picnic underneath while we watched TV. Today is Tent Day Two and we decided to let Cole join us. Today we are watching Land Before Time, one of Cole's favorite movies. It's a small diversion to keep Cole still ... but it doesn't last long....when Cole decides he wants to play and it all comes crashing down! Oh well - it's fun while it lasts!

2008 Navy and Marine Corps Birthday Ball

Dinner .... YUMMY!!


Paul and Joanna


Part of the Gang - Chevonne, Brian, me, Renee, Steve
(& Baby Goocey-to-be)

Sheri and Brittany (in Pink) & Brittany's friend

My two favorite people! - Mike and Sheri

Last night I was finally able to get out without the kids (Big THANKS to Don and Christine for babysitting!) and I went to the Navy Ball at MMA sans Gary. :( It was a little bittersweet driving down the Castine Road and walking in without him (I was silently praying I wouldn't trip and fall in my three-inch heels without him to hold on to) and I got a little misty-eyed when they sang the National Anthem and had a silent moment for those who were out protecting our freedom, but overall it was a GREAT night! Sheri was awesome and I FINALLY got to sit at her table! Big Yay!! The company was great, the food was spectacular and it was a riot to watch all the dancers! A pretty good 'last memory' of an MMA/UMaine NROTC Navy Ball! The only thing missing was Gary....

He's going to hate me....

This is the winter hat Gary's mom made for Colvin - he looks so cute...and yet so funny! He's going to hate me when he gets older for torturing him like this and showing all his friends embarassing pictures!

Halloween at Memaw's house....

Our Little Witch! Our Little Monster!

Last minute, Olivia decided she wanted to be a witch and not a princess! And we have a little three-eyed monster running amuck...and he did just that...he ran, and ran, and ran! Half of my pictures are fuzzy because he wouldn't hold still! Either that or bad lighting...Sorry!

This Halloween, we decided to go to Memaw's house to celebrate and went to the hospital where Pepaw works to go trick-or-treating. We only visited about 10 offices and 5 houses and the kids were wiped! Night-time activities don't go over well in the Raymond house and as you can see the kids were passed out by 7:30p. But it was a lot of spooky fun ... our twist on our traditional Halloween chili - White Chicken Chili, lots of fun carving pumpkins and eating candy, and lots of laughs watching the kids run around in their costumes! We sure missed Daddy today, hope he likes the pictures!

At the end of a fun, spooky night, the little goblins are

OUT LIKE A LIGHT!

a budding artist...

Let me set the scene. Olivia has been sick with a fever (very high at times) for the last week. Although her fever wasn't completely gone (only mild, low-grade), today I let her go to school, against my better judgment, so she really doesn't feel well now - and her temp is back up. Well, today was the day we were to fill the perscription for the antibiotic if her fever wasn't gone ... and this is Olivia's depiction of herself and the medicine that she absolutely does NOT want to take. Notice her frown and the little shape on the high left - that's the medicine. :) I got a little chuckle when she showed it to me. Poor little girl, I just hope she'll be well enough for Halloween tomorrow! What a bummer that would be!

TV Eyes

As hard as I may try, Colvin is ... well, just that, a Colvin (for those of you who don't know, that is my mom's maiden name). He's watching tv while gnawing on his shoe - you'd think I didn't feed the kid! Maybe I should have titled it "Hungry Eyes." :) Beware of the teeth - you may draw back a bloody stump if you get in his way of watching Little Bear!

A Halloween Treat

Uncle Ron and Aunt Sharon sent the kids are very cute Halloween treat! Two little bears in costumes, which Olivia thought was hilarious! Thanks guys for making our day!

Our First Craft Fair

Saturday was our first craft fair, selling our adorable rag quilts. It is a lot of fun making them and seeing how different patterns can be combined with others to make something awesome; even ugly ones that one would never think to buy alone - like a diamond in the rough! Technically, we didn't sell any, but if you count the ones I paid for to give to the kids (pics above), then I guess we sold two. :) They are adorable and really warm and whatever we don't sell will make great christmas gifts! The slideshow has mulitple pictures of each quilt, plus some from the day of the craft fair - 23 quilts in 21 days! Whoa!

Six Months Down!

Yesterday marked six months since Gary left. I can hardly believe it. It's a little bittersweet because many of those Gary arrived in Iraq with are getting ready to leave, but I'm trying not to focus on that. It has been an exhausting six months, but we are in better shape than I thought, which I think says something about me as a person. At least I've learned that I'm stronger than I ever thought I was, although much of the time I wish I had someone to be strong for me. But we are keeping busy (it's the only thing that makes the time pass faster) and looking forward to Gary's 2-week R&R, tentatively scheduled for sometime around New Year's. We are very excited about that! I can't think of the months that will follow before his homecoming, not only is it too long to comprehend, Maine winters are in no way shape or form a southern girl's friend. :)

Cole's First Attempt to Eat with a Spoon!

Cole is getting so big and I thought it was time to attempt eating with a spoon - ON HIS OWN! I've been fighting it, not only because I don't want him to grow up so fast but also because of the mess I KNOW he will make! We started with mashed potatoes because I figured it was sticky enough for him to actually get some into his mouth ... about half went in his mouth and about half of it he wore! :)

A "Toof"less Little Girl

Olivia lost her second tooth this week ... on the bottom, so now she has a great big gap in her bottom teeth until the big girl teeth grow in. It's so funny to hear her speak now, with a 'wittle wisp'. :) Ha!

(Poor little thing has also been sick, so her cheeks are bright pink!)

Pictures from Daddy

Gary took a tour of one of the many bases in his area of Iraq.

Camp Slayer is what I think he called it ... a lot of stories in these walls, though Olivia thought he was at the beach! But I am more interested in seeing him in the pictures. He's my honey and ooh, ridiculously cute!