Thread Started on Monday, April 04 2005 @ 11:47 AM
Contributed by: Ernie

NEWS!!! The Edmonds/McCraw Family & Friends Reunion is on schedule for August 7, 2010 from 11-3:30 at Randolph Park in Dublin, VA at the DHS Shelter. Details are on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120803596024

7/20/2010 So were about midway through the summer season and we have just been having a blast w the pool ($99 end of season sale last year at Sams Club :) ) in the back yard. We go out there nearly every day and play. Sam has come so far in her swimming and Cady never even struggled. They are so at home in the water its crazy. We have some floaty chairs and stuff that we just kick back and relax on for hours. Other happenings- we are on a house de-clutter effort that is totally major. We have always had an issue w clutter and now Sam and I are hitting it full force! More on this effort in the posts to come. :)

3/4/2010 Wow- Its been forever! So much has happened since the last post nearly 15 months ago!!! Sam and Cady are doing well, Sam is about to start Kindergarden and Cady is talking a bit but knows everything thats said. Sam and Dad regularly watch tv and other activities together while Cady and Mom hang out most of the time. One exception is Redskins football and Idol and thats when both girls hang out with Dad. Sam on his right and Cady sitting between his legs with her head using his tummy for a pillow. :)

Have a great Spring 2010 and God bless!

1/8/2009 Happy New Year Everyone! There has been so much going on since I last wrote, I nearly don’t know where to begin! For starters, Samantha and Cady both have new websites, www.thesambina.com and www.cadygirl.com respectively. Samantha’s is standing tall but Cady’s is still pretty sparse. Also, we as a family have discovered the Wii. We do family night a few times per week and every night we start with Samantha’s Disney Princess game, followed by Mom and Dad playing Super Mario Kart or Wii Sports. Were having a blast with it!

Cady became mobile over the holidays and just this week, She has learned to pull herself into a standing position on her own! Im sure its only a matter of days before she is walking around and getting into everything.

Pictures and Videos: There a LOADS of new pix and vids!!! Check them out until I post on here again. Be safe!!!!

12/11/2008 Today marks the end of an era. ErnieEdmonds.com as a website will soon be only a memory. I will still keep the domain name so that we will have email and such, but it will soon be replaced by the MASSIVE undertaking that will be “The ‘Villes”!
“The Villes” is a web project that Ive been planning for years and have just this morning put into place as the technology to provide the capacity and efficiency to pull it off has just recently come about. It will ultimately be a genealogy, a picture portal, a blog site, and house all the videos, stories, and history from years past, and the years to come!

Today I have reserved the following domain names:

edmondsville.com
mccrawville.com

By doing so, I’ve secured the fate of those domain names for the future. If you are part of this family, or our extended family, you are welcome to either secure your own *ville.com domain and link to the site.

As I mentioned above, the technology involved is cutting edge. It utilizes a multi-user security model that will provide each user the ability to manage their own areas (so if you do link, you can control your own content and wont be reliant on me except for initial setup). The front end is elegant in the extreme, functional, and very refined. The backend is a SQL database that our hosting provider will back up nightly for us to ensure our site is never lost.

If you would like one of the new email addresses, definitely let me know! At this point, everything is open (except for ernie@edmondsville.com) so speak up!

“The ‘Villes” promises to be a VERY useful tool for a long time to come!

12/06/2008 Its Saturday morning at 7:07 and I’m up creating more of the videos you’ll see below. As I’ve been so uninvolved with this site for so long, I’m rather surprised that I’ve kept up with the videos for a whole week now. There are still several HD tapes that I am slowly but surely converting to web format. This format is “Medium” and its not nearly as crisp as the HD original so if youre interested in getting DVD copies or the original HD AVIs, please ask. If youre wanting the HD Originals, better bring a portable hard drive with you as they are multi-gigabites each. HD is nice, but not small. :/
My goal is to have one video posted per day until they are finished, then regularly film and create new ones. Hopefully youll come back to see us regularly too!

Changes to the site:
Im changing hosting providers so Im not sure if I will be able to transfer the site as you see it now onto Godaddy from its current hosting provider- iPower. I really liked iPower at first but after 6 yrs and some customer service issues, Ive found that Godaddy is MUCH more to my liking. With that being said, if you stop by and see some generic looking site with the Edmonds name on it, Ive moved it at that point. I have little doubt that I’ll be updating this between now and Christmas but in the event that youre away- Merry Christmas to you and yours and have a GREAT 2009!!!!

11/29/2008 What a whirlwind, its now Thanksgiving and we all hope that you have a wonderful day and are so glad to have you in our lives. Expect some new videos soon. Thats what Im doing today. :)

6/30/2008 Cady is growing quickly and is starting to interact with us more each day. She is so sweet! Samantha is doing mostly well, although an occasional outbust is not out of the question. Sam really likes her sister though, she gets so excited! I love watching her when theyre together. Mom is doing well. She is doing a good job with everything.

5/7/2008 Cady had a checkup today and is growing and gaining so thats all good. Shes currently at 9lbs 6 oz and is 21.75 inches. She may have a dairy alergy so Mom has been directed to cut it out and see what happens….

4/22/2008 Cady Reece was born at 13:27EDT in Inova Loudoun Hospital and weighed in at 9lbs even and was 20.25 inches long. Mom and Cady are resting comfortably and are in great shape!

4/12/2008 So in my last posting, I mentioned that we were pregnant. All is going well on that front. Anna is huge now and it all seems like a blur. We have a name picked out, but were not telling. We did find out that “Somebody2″ is going to be a girl so it looks like Im destined to have only girls. Thats ok though, I love Kristen and Samantha like Ive never loved before. Theyre both angels to me.
So yeah- due date is 4/22/08 so I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for stopping by!

11/26/2007 Wow, Its been so long since Ive written on this site. I’ll think about it, and then I’ll get busy and forget about it. Sorry about that. Things have changed in so many ways since the last posting. We bought and have moved into the new house, Sam has grown, motorcycle adventures- including a wipeout, and countless other ventures. We have gone to California a couple of times, Ive gone to Chicago for a Cubs game, Baltimore for an Orioles game, and the biggest news of all…
Were pregnant! Due date is May 3rd.

10/20/2006 After a week in sunny Florida we are back home but ready to go back! The weather was beautiful, the times were great, and we couldn’t have envisioned a better vacation!!
Check back often to see the newest videos of our travels featuring Miss Samantha having the most fun shes ever had….

3/9/2006 Its been a long time since Ive written and I have no good reason for it. Sam has been growing like a weed and gets sweeter by the day. Lots of things have happened since the last posting. Sam has not only learned to crawl but has also started standing up and walking with the help of Mom and others. She has been to the NRV a couple of times and has gotten to know Phantom as “Bop” She calls most all cats that so I guess its just her word for “Cat”. She always has smiles for all when she sees them and is enjoying being held whenever the opportunity arises. Easter is coming up but before then Sam will have her first birthday party! Hopefully we’ll get to see everyone soon!

12/07/2005 Sam and family had quite a few friends over for a Christmas party this past weekend. Her friends Hayden, and Jimmie were by her side as they played with cups and toys. Hayden took an active interest in Phantom. Jimmie and Sam enjoyed looking at each other. Later in the evening, Foozball broke out until the end. There was lots of great food and deserts!

10/10/2005 Sam had her first trip to the New River Valley this weekend. She saw alot of friends and relatives and the pictures can be found in Shutterfly Gallery 7. She went to Sal’s for dinner on Saturday night where she saw a great time with family. She is now back home and is enjoying Columbus Day with Mom and Dad.

10/2/2005 Samantha had some visitors this weekend. Her Aunt Gen and Grandma Diane! They all had a great time together and went shopping nearly the whole weekend. Sam was showered with gifts from all directions. She tried on her Halloween costume- she is going to be a strawberry!

9/10/2005 Samantha got a new toy yesterday, an Exersaucer! She loves it and pictures are now online via the Shutterfly link. We are switching away from Yahoo as we get commission to help support the site from Shutterfly- So make sure and use the link on ernieedmonds.com if you dont already have an account with them! :)

8/30/2005 Sam’s Uncle Jay came to visit her this past weekend and had a great time. Pix are available in the Samantha 4 gallery. We went to Saturday dinner at Domani’s and lunch at Sweet Water Tavern on Sunday. Uncle Jay and Dad went to the Air and Space Center on Saturday morning and since Sam had already been a few times, she decided to stay with Mom. Sunday morning Uncle Jay went flying with Dad while he practiced takeoffs and landings. They had a good time and Uncle Jay was only a little green from it all.

8/19/2005 Sam went to the doctor today and weight was 17lbs 14 oz. and she is 26 inches long. Head is 17cm and weight is in the 97th percentile. The doctor has given her the name of “Little Buddah” She is 90th Percentile for both head and height.
She did well getting her shots and sleeping comfortably after her ordeal.

8/08/2005 Sam has had a pretty eventful month along with the rest of us so a little bit of recap, Anna has returned back to work and Sam has started going to Daycare (School) She and Anna struggled the first day as they didnt tell us what she would need and Anna had to make a last minute effort to secure some things so Sam would be more comfortable. She even got her a toy to hang on her crib at school so she wouldnt be the only Child without one. She seems to be doing well there. She has weathered Foot and Mouth, Pink Eye, and who knows what else but ultimately did catch a cold. She is getting over that and getting sweeter than ever. On Saturday 8/06/2005 at 7:12EDT Sam rolled over for the first time. She had been working at it a while but now its official!!

7/06/05 Sam enjoyed her first fireworks celebration at Ashburn Lake on Monday night. She was a good girl. The display was the best ever that we’ve watched in “The Village”. The next day, Anna and Sam left for San Diego for nine days. She did great on the plane and drank 3 bottles. She seems to enjoy the 70s and sunny weather better than the three H’s (Hazy, Hot, and Humid) that we have here in Virginia. I anxiously await both their returns…

6/27/2005 Sam had her Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Mariah, and Uncle Luke as visitors this weekend. She had a great time wth everyone and is now wishing them well as they head back to Cali. We had a cookout and lots of great things to eat! Sam has been enduring the heat pretty well. She is looking forward to her first Independance Day!!!

6/21/2005 Yesterday Sam went to the doctor for her two month checkup. Her stats were length:24inches & 90th percentile, weight:14 lbs. 8 oz. & 97th percentile, and head is 17inches & 70th percentile. She didn’t like her shots at all! Sam appears to have gotten over it as she is sleeping like a baby this morning…

6/11/2005 Sam has had some company this weekend- Eric and Kim! She has gotten some good time to visit and we all went to the Udvar-Hazy Center (National Air and Space Museum) and took in some sights including the Space Shuttle Enterprise, Enola Gay, Concorde, Joint Strike Fighter, SR-71 Blackbird, and a couple hundred other air/space craft! Daddy and Eric sat in a plane and took in some flight information that made Daddy interested in taking lessons…

5/29/2005 Happy Memorial Day! Sam, Dad, and Mom went to a party today at Uncle Shane and Aunt Amanda’s house. There Sam met Hayden, and Connor. A wonderful time was had by all! Check the photo gallery (Yahoo) for pictures from the days activities!!

5/18/2005 Sam is 6 weeks old and unfortunately will miss the opening night of “Star Wars Episode VI: Revenge of the Sith” as it premiers tonight at midnight. Something tells me she’ll see it sometime in the coming years though. Her Grandpa Edmonds took me to see the original “Star Wars” on May 19,1977 (28 yrs ago tomorrow) and I’ll never forget it. Darth Vader walked down the aisle and his cape brushed my arm! I was ready to hit the door running…Hey- I was 8 yrs old then. :)

5/14/2005 Sam’s email link is back up and running if you want to send her anything for her scrapbook.

5/13/2005 Sam went to the doctor for a checkup yesterday and weighed in at a respectable 11 lbs. 4 oz. She is starting to grasp things with her hands more often and appears to like her Dad- at least during the morning wake-up hours. Her vocabulary is evolving and now we have a coo-YELL combo going. She coo’s and grins while doing so and is very sweet….

5/9/2005 Samantha continues to get a bit larger each day. She has started grasping things. Saturday night she grabbed the dreaded wash cloth and wouldn’t let it go! She has never liked it and has now discovered a means by which to neutralize the threat…or so she thinks. Kathleen came to visit her new grand-daughter on Sunday, Sam was on her best behaviour and got stellar remarks. :) After Kathleen left Sam was so excited with her day she partied til the sun came up Monday morning!!!

5/4/2005 Sam is eating alot more now. She is turning her head and really enjoys her swing. She has started going for walks around the neighborhood and seems to sneeze alot with the high pollen. She met her sister Kristen this past weekend and both seemed to like each other.

4/27/2005 Sam has taken to sleeping in the bed with us. She sleeps all night with the exception of 3am so I think its a fair trade. She is getting much longer now. She looks more like the “Gerber” baby every day. She has started looking around and focusing on objects several feet away. She had visitors this past weekend as her aunt Renee and Granny, and Grandpa Furtek came to meet her and get to know her a bit better. Pictures from the weekend will be posted shortly…

4/19/2005 Sam went to the doctor yesterday and she is up to 8 pounds 4 ounces. Nothing else had changed, and the doctor said everything looks great. Anna was able to save her a shot as she reminded the doctor she had already had the one he was about to give her when she was in the hospital. Sam is still staying up alot at night and she and Mom are trying to get some rest this morning.

4/17/2005 Sam has just returned from a nice lunch with Mom, Grandma, and Dad. She was just an angel in the resturaunt. Grandma is leaving to go back to San Diego this afternoon and Sam and the rest of us will miss her. She has really been a caring and loving helping hand the past couple of weeks.

4/15/2005 Sam is enjoying her bassinet a bit more now. She as slept in it for most of the past two nights. Phantom isnt so scared of her now. He was caught trying to get into her car seat the other day and was snapped at- he fled the scene.
The weather has been beautiful this week and Sam has had many visitors. Gifts keep coming and thus far we have had no duplicates- thank you all for thinking of things we wouldnt have done so in a hundred years- also, thanks to all who have called and visited as we have really enjoyed seeing you all!

4/13/2005 Sam is determining if there is something past her hands in the world. She is looking around and holding her head up a bit. She’s still eating well and is a bit more tolerant of her bassinet. On Tuesday she went shopping at Baby’s R Us and seemed to enjoy her first restaurant dining experience.

4/11/2005 Samantha had her first doctors appointment and she is doing well. She lost 7 ounces since she left the hospital but the doctor says it was expected. Her head measured at 14.5 inches. She has decided that her nursery is preferred over our bedroom. She is eating well and poopoin a plenty….

4/7/2005 We are all home now and Sam is getting to know the house. Phantom is scared of her…

4/4/2005 Samantha Brooke was born at 12:44pm EDT on April 4, 2005.
She and Mom are doing well.
Samantha was 7 lbs. 14.4 oz. and is 20.5 inches.
Sam received a 9 9 on her Apgar score!!
Sam has not only regained her birth weight, she has surpassed it by an ounce!!!
Sam’s hearing test came back as a 17- good hearing is 3.5 or above.