Private Edward

I just got Edward's address. He wants you guys to know that he's "well, tired, but optimistic." I am beyond excited to finally be in contact with him. I know that he would love to hear from all of you, so here's his address...

PVT Gimbel, Edward R.
E Company, 2-60th INF REGT, 193rd BCT BDE USATC and FJ
Bldg. 11000 Dixie Road
Fort Jackson, SC 29207-6100

(Put a circled 4 on the back of the envelope.)

I know he'll really appreciate your support. My Dad told me that it was more important for him to get letters while he was in Basic Training for only 2 months than while he was on his mission for two years. I'm sure it's because they are more isolated and there's less emotional and moral support.

Anyway, thanks guys!

~Meridth

A Little Help Here!

I have on my calendar that today is Justin Marquardt's birthday! Am I right? Last time (with Jack's b-day) I was wrong! So I wanted to get some verification.

If I am right...A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!

Utah + Gimbels = Happy Family Time

So my phone crapped out on me, the battery shut down, just as I got a text from one of the coolest people in the world. I am so incredibly excited about this weekend. It is going to be so great to see everyone. I heart the Gimbels big time. In answer to your question Casey I arrive at the SLC airport this Friday at 4PM and hooray. I know Claudia that you and I will be at the airport at the same time. (Right?) I don't know when Margie or the Hawkinses are going to be in Utah...

But yeah, I am beyond excited to see you all. I love you all so much.

Love,

Meridth

Missive from Edward

Dad and I got a letter from Edward Russell today.  What a surprise!  I had just talked to Meridth, and she also had heard from him, but didn't  have an address yet.  Well, guess what?  There wasn't a return address on this letter either.  So we still can't write to him, although we can hope he is feeling the strength of our prayers.

So,  I hope he doesn't mind me sharing his thoughts.  Here's what he had to say.  February 17.

"Hey you guys!  Greetings and shalom from Initial Entry Training.  Lots of cursing.  Lots of shoving.  Lots of 'getting smoked'.    One 'gets smoked' when one messes up.  There will be push-ups, shouting and possible embarrassment.  All in all, the last three days have been stressful.  But, you know, it's good.  I'm confident that things will work out well, and I'll grow and gain from this experience.  Ironically, I haven't even started yet.  Because of the three-day weekend, and the four-day processing period, I won't officially start in Echo Company util Thursday.

The men here are quite dissimilar to me, but I'm certain that the esprit de corps will make us fast friends, or at least battle buddies.  As you might expect, aggression is the name of the game and I feel myself compelled to step  up and sound off.  I know that right now Mom is tearing up, and thinking about her special boy and how gentle and sweet he was.  Attention Mom:  I WILL NOT CHANGE!  It's just a job--something I'll do and peel off when I'm done.

So yeah, I'm taking it one day at a time.  Tunnel vision, just focus on the task at hand.  Surprisingly, mental fortitude is really important.  Warning:  head games ahead.

Love you guys,   Edward R. Gimbel

P.S. No address yet.  Sorry Ma!  I'll send it when I can."

IT'S OSCAR NIGHT! WHAT DO YOU THINK FOR PICTURE OF THE YEAR?

ATONEMENT IS MY GUESS!

Saturday... is it still february?... I don't even know. (V2)

I went through and erased all the drafts in the post section so I don't think we have 300 posts anymore... sorry Betsey, but I made a liar out of you.

So I was thinking I should just buy an airstream trailer and live in that for a while. It's good enough for Matthew McConaughey and that's good enough for me!!!

Saturday... is it still february?... I don't even know.

So I must admit I wasn't all that interested in the six-word memoirs at first, but mom and dad got me the book and I read it. It's fun. Here are my efforts.

supposed to be tommy, karl instead

simple, but in a good way

dreams free, lives safe, gap sucks

everything been sat in my lap

good at everything, good at nothing

jealous of interesting, creative six-word memoirs

Friday I'm in Love

We are winding down this month of posts, and I can tell that you all are getting a little bored of this. I mean, no comments on the last post of the old T.V.?!?! Only one comment on those adorable pictures of Nora?!?! Please people, those were some money shots of the baby! She was in a bath! She had an adorable face coupled with cute fat rolls! Let's get to it!

I thought I should ask a question, maybe inspire some responses. What web resources do you enjoy? We recently signed up for this paid site called mvelopes. It is a online budgeting resource that links your credit cards, bank accounts, etc together. It allows you to create envelopes (get it? the name of the website) that divide your income into spending categories. Then as each transaction comes in on your credit card (or as a paid check or withdrawal), you assign the transaction to the spending envelope and the amount is deducted. This is probably the same as Quicken, but it's a lot easier to use. We love it and are using a real budget now! Yeah!

So, what web resources do you use and love?

P.S. Where does the title of this blog post come from?

Karl was here last night

Karl came over to the house last evening to pick up his license plate (in Indiana, we only have a rear plate).  Ed had to pick it up for him since  he works full time now and can never get to the BMV.  Of course, you know how Ed is.  He had to put it on Karl's car as soon as Karl got here.

Than he and Karl took the ginormous television out of the attic.  It died about a month ago, and is the biggest behemoth to move.  Karl said that at one point it got away from him and almost crushed Dad.  Here is a picture of Karl celebrating another end of an era.

Remember all the friends over to watch TV.  Remember all the video games played.  What a fun room that attic was when everyone was visiting.  I will have to send that picture later.  This stupid machine isn't working correctly

Bath Time Nora

Who can resist a bath time Baby?

Nora really loves her baths

Look at those cute eyebrows! She gets those from Richard!

I love the double chin!
Look at her cute big tummy! We love our rolly polly Nora!

She is just such a joyful girl! We feel so blessed!

Wednesday

Any predictions about who will win Project Runway? 

300 Posts!

Hey Gimbel people! This is our 300th Post! Isn't that exciting!

A little Nora update for you all...she is smiling a lot more now. She is very smiley in the mornings when we go and get her. She just smiles up at me and Richard like crazy. It is the best feeling in the world.

She is grabbing things more as well. She likes to grab and hold onto our fingers, clothes, and rattles. She also pushes with her feet a lot. She can even scoot a little bit when she is laying on her back!

Nora weighs about 15 lbs now and is completely outgrown all her 0-3 months clothes. She is in the 95% percentile in her height and weight. Babies typically double their birth weight in the first 6 months. She is right on track to do that!

I'll post pictures tomorrow, but it is late and I am tired! (Fingers crossed that Nora sleeps all night tonight!)

Karl's 2008 Chevy Malibu

Look! It's Karl's new car! and a picture of Karl's first meal in his car... He wasn't too happy about eating in there... Oh well, it had to happen sometime!

Lazy Sunday (okay...not really)

Another Hawkins Family Recap....

Morning: Betsey had church meetings, The 'Chard watched the baby. Breakfast: Oatmeal with fruit

Afternoon: Church. We meet from 1:30-4:30 p.m. Richard walked to church with the baby. Lunch: soup, carrots and pudding

Evening: Baptism. Got home around 7:00p.m. Richard worked on family history. I finished a school assignment and fed the baby. Dinner: stir fry, banana and applesauce

We'll probably have some popcorn later.

Just keeping the dream of posting everyday alive

S-a-t-u-r-d-a-y Night!

Another low key Saturday night at the Hawkins' house. Here is a recap of our activities.

1. I made sugar cookies for a baptism tomorrow

2. Richard went to the gym and ran four miles. It kind of disgusts me how quickly he can get back into shape.

3. I read to Nora. I just started doing this. I was feeling badly that when I watched T.V. while nursing, she would turn her head to the T.V. I figured that I should do something else while nursing. I don't want a little T.V. mush head (like myself) on my hands :)

4. Richard did some homework and church stuff (he just got another calling organizing temple visits and family history assignments for the ward.)

5. I blogged

What did you do this Saturday night?

Six Words

About a week ago I heard an NPR broadcast where they were referring to an article written about the life of Ernest Hemingway.  They spoke of a time when he was going to write a six-word novel.  The title was "For sale:  baby shoes, never worn."

Anyway I've been thinking a lot about that broadcast.  It would take a very clever wordsmith to be able to string together only six words and encompass deeply held feelings.  I told some of you about Ed's tender six word biography, "Claudia, Ryan, Margie, Betsey, Rusty, Karl" and I was really impressed that he came up with such a meaningful six words in such a short time.

The ones I come up with seem trite and cliched, and so I will continue to think about it.  None of my attempts seem to encompass the essence of my life.  Here are some of my meager efforts.  I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

"Child; then children; now others' progeny."

"Life's distracting curiosities always enfold me."

"Searching for new adventures--found happiness!"

"Bookworm: powerful words reeled me in."

And finally, the one you'll all agree describes me best,

Verbose: six words is not enough."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CASEY

I know Mom already posted a birthday wish for our sweet Casey, but... I wanted to include a picture! Happy Birthday, Casey! We love you and hope you have a fabulous day!

Happy Heart Day to the rest of you. We love you all dearly!

xo!

-M

Casey: the Queen of Hearts!

Happy Birthday today to Casey! Since her birthday is on Valentine's Day, and girls get to be the queen on their birthdays, that makes Casey the Queen of Hearts!

We all hope that today will be a fun day for you, even if Ryan does have to work tonight. Maybe you can go out for lunch instead. Most of the restaurants will probably be swamped tonight anyway, being Valentine's Day.

I hope you get some surprises in the mail today. Have a great day!

Love,
Claudia and Ed

Lilly was confused by the dog on the screen...

Little Lilly Lover

Every day at school we get tons of emails; some are spams, some are important information we need for our jobs, and some are those stupid 'forward if you believe in God' schmaltzy, emotional stories. But something came to me today, that I just had to share with you, and when you open it, you'll see why. It's Lilly!

So, if I can figure how to put the link in.......

http://cache.valleywag.com/assets/resources/screenclean.swf

Edward's Gone

...so Edward's gone off to basic. 2 months is going to suck again, but I think Edward's pretty amazing, and being trilingual will be extremely useful let alone cool. So I'm glad for our future, even if Edward (sans beard) is going to run around with a bunch of 19 year olds with M-16s.

Thanks everybody for the support. Love you all.

~Meridth

The $140,000 Buyout of '08!

Read the story here.

Well Dad? It's a lot of money? What does the UAW say? What about people you know at work?

Man's '91 pickup passes the 1M-mile mark

I saw this article and thought of Ed and Ryan. Makes you wonder if the blue 1996 GMC Suburban had legs like Frank Oresnik's trusty pickup truck — he calls it "the old girl". It passed the 1 million-mile mark with a camera crew filming the event and a public-radio audience listening in. "I can't tell you how much fun it was," he said. "It was really humbling, all this interest."

Recent news stories told how Oresnik had just 1,200 miles to go before reaching the milestone in the 1991 Chevrolet Silverado that he bought with 41,000 miles on it in 1996 and used in his business, distributing seafood and steaks in the upper Midwest.

At the time, he was getting his latest oil change — the kind of regular maintenance he credits with helping to keep the truck going so long.
He said he's had the truck's oil changed more than 300 times. It's had so many changes that the oil pan drain plug had to be rethreaded several times, he said, and "you never hear of that."

He passed the million-mile mark Friday in southeastern Wisconsin while on his way back home to Catawba, located in the north in Price County, about an hour west of Rhinelander. He was on County Highway V southeast of Fond du Lac.
On hand was a film crew from Chevrolet's public relations and advertising company, and he was speaking live to Robert Siegel, host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

A news crew from CBS had been with him earlier in the day. "I wont say it was relief ... it was exhilarating," Oresnik said later during a stop in Gresham where he has one of his longtime customers. "This truck has been so dependable over the years." Now that it's made history, the truck could be headed back to the automaker or Shell Oil. Oresnik said there's been some interested in GM or Shell Oil buying it.

TUESDAY or Like father like daugter

Snow caves

You kids are amazing!

I've been watching since Thursday, and Margie still hasn't posted about her wonderful new opportunities at work.

Most of you have probably heard about Brandon's month-long trip to Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India.  We haven't heard too many details, like when do you leave, will you be gone for your birthday, when do you get back, will you be able to be in contact with us, etc, etc.

But did you know Margie gets to be a world traveler too?  After she gets back from Nora's blessing in Utah, she will also fly to Mumbai, then she'll be heading to Beijing, to Las Vegas, to Washington DC and to London.  You guys sure lead an adventurous life.

Be sure to post foreign pictures for people like me who will probably never get to see all those exotic places.  

Failure

So, I forgot to post yesterday. I was going to backdate again, but I decided that I should be honest and admit defeat. This doesn't mean that we can stop the goal of posting everyday!

A recap on our Sunday.

Morning: Betsey had meetings for church

Afternoon: Church

Evening: We had friends over for dinner. Richard made a Thai-inspired chicken dish and I made Beef and broccoli. Richard's dish turned out better. Our friends loved our baby...but really, who doesn't!

Some upcoming exciting things for next week include a visit from our brother-in-law Shane and nephew Matthew, a haircut and color for Betsey (her first in 6 months), and Valentine's Day. AND most importantly, Edward leaves for South Carolina! Can't wait to see the buzz cut Edward!

The Last Hurrah!

Edward and Meridth came to dinner at our house tonight! It was so fun to see them, and Baby Nora enjoyed seeing her aunt and uncle. Thanks for coming to see us!

Edward Russell Gimbel

I believe yesterday was Edward Russell's last day at Starbucks.  In just five short days he will be reporting for basic training, and I don't know what the rules are for getting on the internet, so we may not hear from  him for another nine weeks.

So... if you are reading this Edward, tell us where to send cards and letters and we will do our best to stay in touch with you.

Enjoy your last few days with Meridth for a while, and we love you with all of our collective hearts!

No Wednesday?

Betsey, I woke up this morning anticipating a blog entry. I see Rusty posted twice on Tuesday, but no Wednesday post. Hm. The Gimbel goal of one post everyday is already unmet and it's only the 7th of February. Yikes! What does that say about us??

I'm only giving you a hard time. I love you!

Have a great Thursday.
-M

Wednesday's post

The Hawkins family had three of my friends from graduate school over for dinner last night. We made stir fry. Richard loves stir fry. When he was growing up, they had stir fry 2-3 times a week. He always wants me to make it, but I'm not a huge fan. I think the stir fry last night made him happy.

My friends loved baby Nora (as does everyone). She is an awesome baby (and slept through the night AGAIN last night.)...Go Nora Go!

Also...Happy Pancake Tuesday.

With Lent starting tomorrow ("Ash Wednesday") that makes today PANCAKE TUESDAY!

Happy Super-Tuesday!

That's all.

Just on my mind.

Happy Birthday, Lilly

Exciting News at the Kooman house -- Lilly turns 2!

Jan 1978-Jan 2008: The End of an Era

Take one last look, because this is the end of an era.  For the first time since January 1978, we no longer own a Suburban.  

The first Suburban, a maroon Chevrolet was "baptized" when Claudia's water broke just two blocks away from the hospital, right before Margie was born.

The second Suburban, a blue and silver diesel GMC was "baptized" by Rusty after he ingested an orange super gulp.

There then came a rapid succession of unforgettable Suburbans, beginning with the electric blue '92, then two green with silver trim, one a 1993, the other a 1994 diesel.   Just months later, a maroon 1994 made the scene, followed almost immediately by a gold 1995.  The maroon Suburban travelled to San Francisco, then north to the Redwood Forest, and on to Portland, and Washington State.  The gold one went to Breckenridge , among other places.  

As a family, we have travelled over a million miles in Suburbans, and I honestly shed a tear as Ed drove away yesterday.  It truly is the end of an era.

"Oh I plum forgot!"

Hey! Meridth drew up this great picture and then DIDN'T post it here! What was she thinking?

She was totally inspired by Ryan's post and doodled this up just today. I'm jealous of the snow, really.

Anyway...

Mystery Package

So we got a surprise package the other day from an anonymous sender. The package was sent to me and Edward in typed lettering from Utah. Since we have friends and family in Utah it could be just about anyone. Anyway, whoever that blessed person is...I'm stinking excited. As you all know, and to the chagrin of poor Ashley towards her less than feminine aunt, Edward and I both like comic books and Spiderman is an absolute classic. (We fight about DC versus Marvel all the time....and sorry guys...I'm a bigger fan of Batman, Superman and the JLA). Anyway this action figure we got in the mail has 46 points of articulation!!!!! Which means that this is a better model to draw from than...


this.

Hooray for presents and hooray for anonymous donors. :)

what up dudes

well to keep up with betsey's mandate here is saturday's post. I bought a new car. A 2008 dark grey metallic chevy malibu. It's really nice and I feel like an adult. I don't have a camera with me right now so I can't really post a picture but I think mom and dad have a picture of it. Other than that I started the first week of training at the anna engine plant in ohio. Up to this point I've just been doing other stuff, but this is the training for my actual job. I'll be here for 2.5 months. I'm excited to actually get started and hope I do a good job. Later dudes.

Ryans new hobby

Winter is still in full swing out here.
The campus was closed today & the snow in our yard is now taller than Chloe.

Who's with me?

So, the Gimbel Family Blog has gotten a little stale during the last few weeks. I think that after Edward's big announcement on the blog, we are all afraid to post the boring, mundane and small pieces of information that we typically post. I mean, if we aren't joining the army, then what should we talk about? EVERYTHING!! Come on here people, we need to get to blogging!

In an effort to rejuviate the Gimbel Family Blog, I say let's post everyday for the month of February! Come on, we can do it! February is a short month! Edward is going to be in S.C. soon in basic training and will need to have some fun stuff to read. Meridth will have a shortage of Gimbel's and will need to be updated! We need to get to work and BLOG!

If there isn't a post every day by the end of my day (here in LA), I'll be forced to create an entry detailing what Richard and I ate that day. How boring is that going to be? No one wants to see that! Come on! Get those creative juices flowing and start planning those entries.