Grandpa's Garden

Grandpa Rollins grew a surplus of all kinds of vegtables this year. We've enjoyed tomato soup and yummy salsas from home grown tomatoes. Squash soup from home grown squash. And my very favorite was the carrot ginger soup from garden grown carrots the boys helped pull up.

The boys have tried all sorts of vegtables from the garden. Luke has liked most of them including beets and green beans. Caleb has hated most of them. Both have loved the cantalope and watermelon.

Luke and Caleb have enjoyed working in the garden with Grandpa Rollins this year. I hoped they're developing a green thumb of their own!

Pumpkins

We picked out pumpkins yesterady to carve up in celebration of my Dad's 52nd birthday. It was a perfect day for pumpkin picking! I don't think the beauty of harvest time will ever compare to upstate NY's, but yesterday came pretty close.

Also, here's what 7 months looks like. Still coming along and getting more and more crowded.

Newest Nephew

Kami had her son on Tuesday, October 6th. They named him Henry Paul. They are doing great and we can't wait to meet him.

Dang you, Caleb!

Recently, Caleb has had a poop problem. He's had a little rash (what the pediatrician diagnosed yesterday as a strep A infection) around his bum hole which makes pooping pretty painful and bloody. (sorry) And so, he will hold his poop for as long as it will hold and then unload in his pants, and sometimes in the potty. (Sorry again, I have to set up the story.) Although I feel bad it hurts him to poop it's got to come out one way or another so can he please put it in the potty!?!

A week or so ago I was at lunch with my grandma who was visiting, my aunt, my mom, her friend, and Caleb. Before getting there my grandma had bought Caleb some little figure guys and he took them into the restaurant to play with. At the end of the meal Caleb began doing his poop dance which I've come to recognize and loathe. I took him to the potty where he peed and then refused to poop saying, "see mom, there's no poop." He was even holding his little legs together in order to keep his cheeks together and keep the poop in. I told him that I was going to have to take his new toys until he could put his poop in the potty. The stink said while sitting on the potty and squeezing, "I want you to. I want you to take my toys!" Fine.

We went back to the table where he immediately took his toys and threw them across the table at me. He didn't poop until later that day.

Last week on an especially frustrating day on and off the potty. He says to me from the couch, "the quickest way to stop poop is to sit on a pillow." What?? He sits on a pillow and sort of bounces up and down until the 'pains' stop and then he'll go play again until finally...the poop has no choice but to...

We finally got some medicated cream and an antibiotic to clear all this up and hopefully resume a normal bowel movement. Geez, I thought I was done cleaning up his rear.

New babies are coming!!

This picture is a few months old and, really, not the best of either of us, but for history's sake...here is is. Kami is about 7 months and I'm 5. I'm now about 6 and a half and Kami is almost delivered. Any day now! Lucky her.

Also, for those wondering what the heck I'm wearing, this was at the the end of the day when I reached the "I've got to get these pants off and get into something that facilitates bending and breathing." And so, the sweatpant.

Kindergarten

Before having Luke I taught school for about 6 months, and on the first day of school I stood with the other teachers watching the Kindergartener's come in and we said, "look how cute and little they are." And they were...little bodies with backpacks twice the size of their backs, super little compared with the big kids.

This year I sent Luke to Kindergarten and said, "Holy Cow!! Look how huge he is!! Big enough to be a Kindergartner." He's such a big boy now and loves taking the bus.

As is typical I was freaked out he would get off the wrong bus stop and be standing on the side of the road some where wondering where I was.  I told him many, many times, "do not get off the bus unless you see mom."  When the bus pulled up he was standing in his row scanning the road to find me.  He did.

It 's been a few weeks.  His transition to "school-boy" has been flawless.  I still love watching him run across the road to the bus with hair and backpack bouncing.

So What Are You Guys Doing Now??

Graduation was in May and since then the question of "what's next for the Rollins?" has perplexed us and others. We've determined another 6 month plan, which seem to work best for us, and it all happened a little like this...

Ben abandoned finding a traditional job in February due to the worst economy since the great depression, a lack of interest in big corporations, and most of all the entrepreneurship bug that has got the best of him in the past and has now bit him again with a new Cornell technology. This is Ben's latest corporation and he's partnered with a Cornell PhD candidate who is working furiously in the labs on a medical device - Ben calls it a "Super" Band Aid for the eye, Star Wars type stuff. While we were in Mexico Ben spent many hours writing up a business plan to submit to several business plan competitions. When we got back to the states they won 1st place at Cornell's competition, and took 8th of 340 applicants in the biggest competition in the nation, Rice. They expect to go back to Rice this spring and take the grand prize of $100k cash, plus prizes. They have also been selected as a finalist in the Purdue competition, which is held this coming November with a prize pot of $30k. Here are a few links about the company.

CNN Forbes

Johnson School

And so, what does this mean for our family life? Well although the National Eye Institute has awarded nearly a million dollars in government grants to continue research, it doesn't pay a salary to Ben or Brian (his partner). The business has a bank account but its been used to pay for paperclips, printer ink, and business travel to Boston, Omaha, and Ithaca. This means we will stretch our left-over savings/student loans as far as it can stretch (I'm talking serious stretching like I've never stretched before) while living in the Rollins' basement at least through Christmas. Yes, I will be bringing our new baby home to our parents house - at least there is a sweet theater room, basement kitchen, and a yard large enough for Croquet.

While Brian continues working in the labs in NYC, Ben works in my parents basement writing grants, talking to the FDA, and other stuff. We (our parents included) all hope that come January we'll be able to pull some salary and finally begin to live like a real grown-up American family in a space of our own.

So there it is. Wish us luck!