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Also, here's a video explaining why we currently have a huge brown smudge on the porch wall...
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A couple of movies
Sunday I captured Addy playing with "her" dollhouse, which actually used to be mine. My dad made it for me from a picture of one I wanted in the Sears WishBook (a christmas toy catalog for those of you not old enough to know what that is!). At the time I thought it was crummy that I had to wait SO LONG for him to make it, but now I absolutely cherish all the love and sweat he put into it and am glad it wasn't just bought from a store. Watching her play with it seemed like I was looking in the mirror of myself oh so long ago. The only difference is I didn't have a 3 inch pumpkin man living in it like she does. You may have to turn up your volume if you want to hear what she is saying.
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Also, here's a video explaining why we currently have a huge brown smudge on the porch wall...
Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos
Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos
Also, here's a video explaining why we currently have a huge brown smudge on the porch wall...
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Saturday, June 23, 2007
Swimming at Aunt Bendy's
This past week was definately a busy one for us! We started with a Father's Day cookout with Grandma and Grandpa Billmeier and Uncle Alex and Gretchen. Of course, we neglected to snap any photos until right before bedtime. Here is Brian and the kids after opening his father's day gift; a very much needed new office chair! Notice that Keith is trying to escape!!
On Wednesday, as the title of my blog states, we went for a swim at my Aunt Brendas (or Aunt Bendy, as Addison started calling her when she was first talking). We were joined by Brooksie and Audra and Nana. We swam for only about an hour, and spent the rest of our time playing with Billy the singing bass and other fun things on her back porch. We got to watch Aunt Brenda shoot the neighbor cat with a large watergun, which left us all laughing and wishing it would come back so she would do it again!! And we found out that Aunt Brendas dog, Balboa, can say "booooonne" when she wants a bone so, of course, Addy wanted her to do it over and over again. Unfortunatley, we could only manage a few "bones" from her in the end. Here are some pictures from the pool; Nana and Aunt Brenda gracefully declined pool-side pictures when they found out I would be blogging them!!
We also had to go clothes shopping last week for Addy and Keith. Honestly -- one week Addison fit in all her clothes and the next week they were way too small! And poor Keith; he's been wearing 12-month size pajamas since the weather turned warm and was probably sick of having his belly exposed and his shorts skin-tight every night! The kids were most excited about these two finds: Shrek pajamas with puss in boots on them for Addy (even though they were actually for boys, which she pointed out to me in the store, she couldn't pass them up!) and Thomas pajamas for Keith. Here they are in them; Addy is actually dressed up as Puss in Boots: wearing hat, belt, boots and holding a "sword".
Finally, here is a quick video of how the kids entertained themselves on Friday morning. At the end Addy says "I think its driving me nuts!" which is what I say about the CD they are listening to all the time! You'll understand why in the few seconds that you listen to it on this movie!
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Until next blog,
Jen
On Wednesday, as the title of my blog states, we went for a swim at my Aunt Brendas (or Aunt Bendy, as Addison started calling her when she was first talking). We were joined by Brooksie and Audra and Nana. We swam for only about an hour, and spent the rest of our time playing with Billy the singing bass and other fun things on her back porch. We got to watch Aunt Brenda shoot the neighbor cat with a large watergun, which left us all laughing and wishing it would come back so she would do it again!! And we found out that Aunt Brendas dog, Balboa, can say "booooonne" when she wants a bone so, of course, Addy wanted her to do it over and over again. Unfortunatley, we could only manage a few "bones" from her in the end. Here are some pictures from the pool; Nana and Aunt Brenda gracefully declined pool-side pictures when they found out I would be blogging them!!
We also had to go clothes shopping last week for Addy and Keith. Honestly -- one week Addison fit in all her clothes and the next week they were way too small! And poor Keith; he's been wearing 12-month size pajamas since the weather turned warm and was probably sick of having his belly exposed and his shorts skin-tight every night! The kids were most excited about these two finds: Shrek pajamas with puss in boots on them for Addy (even though they were actually for boys, which she pointed out to me in the store, she couldn't pass them up!) and Thomas pajamas for Keith. Here they are in them; Addy is actually dressed up as Puss in Boots: wearing hat, belt, boots and holding a "sword".
Finally, here is a quick video of how the kids entertained themselves on Friday morning. At the end Addy says "I think its driving me nuts!" which is what I say about the CD they are listening to all the time! You'll understand why in the few seconds that you listen to it on this movie!
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Until next blog,
Jen
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
In the summertime when the weather is fine
Its just the beginning of June and, except for today, the temperature has been already close to or above 90 for many days. So, to cool off, this past Saturday Brian and Keith filled an empty tidy-cats bucket with water balloons while Addy and myself slept in. After breakfast, the kids hopped into their bathing suits (you'll see Addy's obsession with the color green is wearing off on everyone else!) and enjoyed the first water balloon fight of the summer. Thankfully, they haven't realized that they could actually throw them at each other, and all of them burst on the ground. Brian couldn't believe how quickly a bucket of water balloons disappeared!
One of their favorite outdoor activities is to drag out their riding toys and ride them everywhere. This will entertain Keith for as long as you let him, and when its time to go inside you have to pry him off of it. Literally! My mom got to experience this first hand today when he was riding the tricycle at her house. She finally gave up and said "I can't get him off, Jennifer, you'll have to try". As I pulled him up, I would pry his fingers off the handle bars and he would lock his ankles under the seat. Then I would untangle his ankles, and he'd hurry and grab the handlebars. All of this while screaming at the top of his lungs. I finally just had to shake it until he let go. It was not a pretty site. Thankfully, he's quite resilient, and stopped his crying shortly after. Funnily enough, Brian has the same reaction when I tell him its time to come in from playing with his F.J.
ADDY'S RIDING TOY:
(Brian is forcing me to point out the bumper sticker, of which he is particularly proud)
KEITH'S RIDING TOY:
(which, if my grandpa were still alive, I'm sure he would insist on painting it orange!)
BRIAN'S RIDING TOY:
I've been struggling recently with these darn pacifiers (or bappies, as they are referred to in our house). The kids (for the most part) only use them in bed. At our recent dentist appointment, the dentist assured us that they should drop this habit on their own, and not to force the issue of taking them away. But Addy has some speech problems; for instance, she doesn't say her r's and l's and rarely her f's correctly, and I just keep wondering if this stems from her chronic bappy addiction. So, I've been dropping hints about the bappy fairy coming to take the bappies away in exchange for gifts, but so far, I'm still hitting a brick wall on the issue. Here is a small example of what I'm up against:
Finally, one last funny from the week. Recently my mom, nieces, myself, and Addy went to see Shrek 3. Addy had never seen a Shrek movie, and really wasn't too interested in it except, of course, the parts where Puss In Boots was in the movie. She absolutely LOVES all cats, even the cartoon ones. So, she was super thrilled to find Shrek bandaids that had Puss In Boots on them. She's been dying to get injured so she can use them. Finally, she got a splinter in her middle finger and so I washed it up and put on the beloved Puss In Boots bandaid. She then ran into the kitchen saying "Daddy, daddy, look at my new bandaid!!" And when he turned around, this is what he was presented with (SCROLL DOWN):
(NOTE: this photo was not posed, this truly is how (innocently) she was showing off her bandaid!)
Until next blog,
Jen
One of their favorite outdoor activities is to drag out their riding toys and ride them everywhere. This will entertain Keith for as long as you let him, and when its time to go inside you have to pry him off of it. Literally! My mom got to experience this first hand today when he was riding the tricycle at her house. She finally gave up and said "I can't get him off, Jennifer, you'll have to try". As I pulled him up, I would pry his fingers off the handle bars and he would lock his ankles under the seat. Then I would untangle his ankles, and he'd hurry and grab the handlebars. All of this while screaming at the top of his lungs. I finally just had to shake it until he let go. It was not a pretty site. Thankfully, he's quite resilient, and stopped his crying shortly after. Funnily enough, Brian has the same reaction when I tell him its time to come in from playing with his F.J.
ADDY'S RIDING TOY:
(Brian is forcing me to point out the bumper sticker, of which he is particularly proud)
KEITH'S RIDING TOY:
(which, if my grandpa were still alive, I'm sure he would insist on painting it orange!)
BRIAN'S RIDING TOY:
I've been struggling recently with these darn pacifiers (or bappies, as they are referred to in our house). The kids (for the most part) only use them in bed. At our recent dentist appointment, the dentist assured us that they should drop this habit on their own, and not to force the issue of taking them away. But Addy has some speech problems; for instance, she doesn't say her r's and l's and rarely her f's correctly, and I just keep wondering if this stems from her chronic bappy addiction. So, I've been dropping hints about the bappy fairy coming to take the bappies away in exchange for gifts, but so far, I'm still hitting a brick wall on the issue. Here is a small example of what I'm up against:
Finally, one last funny from the week. Recently my mom, nieces, myself, and Addy went to see Shrek 3. Addy had never seen a Shrek movie, and really wasn't too interested in it except, of course, the parts where Puss In Boots was in the movie. She absolutely LOVES all cats, even the cartoon ones. So, she was super thrilled to find Shrek bandaids that had Puss In Boots on them. She's been dying to get injured so she can use them. Finally, she got a splinter in her middle finger and so I washed it up and put on the beloved Puss In Boots bandaid. She then ran into the kitchen saying "Daddy, daddy, look at my new bandaid!!" And when he turned around, this is what he was presented with (SCROLL DOWN):
(NOTE: this photo was not posed, this truly is how (innocently) she was showing off her bandaid!)
Until next blog,
Jen
Friday, June 1, 2007
trying to clean out my closet
I guess I should be happy knowing that, for the 30 minutes it took me to clean out my closet, my sweet, innocent children played together civilly. But, when I stepped out of the closet and into the bathroom I found all of my make up pulled out and taken into the dining room, where Keith and Addy had been practicing their futures as Mary Kay consultants. Addy looks like she's preparing for a KISS concert with liquid eyeliner streaming from her eyes down her cheeks. And, of course, Keith tried to eat everything. Including, from what I can remember, about 1/2 a stick of lipstick. Gone. Heres a video of it for those that can view it. Sorry, the lighting is a little poor.
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Monday, May 28, 2007
Attempting to post a movie
Here is my first attempt at movie posting. See what a rainy day can do for my blogging? TWO blogs in less than 24 hours!! Let me know if there are any problems viewing this movie, it is one of the kids nearly one year ago!
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Sunday, May 27, 2007
Memorial Weekend Camping Trip
This past weekend we ventured back into the world of camping since before Addison and Keith were born. The last camping trip we went on was with Nate and Amanda Hubbarrtt to PJ Hoffmaster in 2003. And since they posted the highest number of sarcastic comments since my last posting, I will now begin this blog with their picture from that trip, so we can all enjoy their smiles until a month later when I post my next blog.
And here is a picture of DUNE BOY...
Now, continuing with this camping trip...We wanted to take our first camping trip with just the four of us, because we weren't really sure what to expect with the kids and camping. All in all in was a great success and we are definately up for more camping this summer, and hopefully we can convince friends to join us. We camped a little south of Louisville and the campsite was nice and quiet, that is, until UPS started their 11p to 7a flight pattern which went right over our campsite and sounded like they were grazing the top of our tent. Thankfully, the kids were so tired, that they didn't even stir with the noise.
Here is Brian setting up camp on Friday...
Friday's dinner was a pudgie-pie supper of ham and cheese pies and dessert pies, then we took a dip in the pool to cool off before bed. Here were the sleeping quarters for the kids, Brian and I slept at the front of the tent on the air mattress.
Since we were all crammed into one tent, when Keith hit his normal 6 a.m. wake up time, everyone else got up then too! We fixed a nice breakfast and got as "freshened up" as possible without running water. Here is a pic of me making the ever-important morning starbucks and a pic of the kids enjoying their first camping breakfast.
Oddly enough, the Hills were coming down to Louisville on this same weekend, so we met up with them at the Louisville Slugger museum and factory tour (have I mentioned my LOVE of factory tours???)
This was followed with lunch at BW3 and ice cream at Graeders. All four of the kids were wacked out of their minds by the time we were done and I'm betting the Hill family had a similar scene in their car minutes after hitting the road...
Please notice that Keith fell asleep holding his souvenir bats! When we arrived back at camp on Saturday nite we fixed a small dinner of grilled veggies and mac-n-cheese, then took our nightly dip in the pool; this time it was not only to cool off, but also to wash all the dirt and sweat off!! Saturday night, true to Kentucky/Southern heritage, there was a small bluegrass concert at the campground which we enjoyed under the moon and stars in our pjs. Sunday we basically woke up (Keith slept in till 7!!), cooked breakfast, tore down the campsite and headed home. Here is a picture of Keith and myself coming out of the tent after getting him and myself dressed.
And here is Addison playing with her best friend Pumpy and her lizards. Note the acorns that she had collected and insisted on calling "haycorns" like they are called in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
When we got home, a Memorial Day miracle occurred. You see, last Thursday Addy's beloved cat Burgie Brandenburg never came in from her nightly hunting. This was rather unusual for this cat who normally is meowing at the door about the same time Keith is waking up. She never showed up all day Thursday or even Friday before we left. I was talking to our neighbor and asked him to keep an eye out for her while we were gone. He said there were lots of big hawks that hunted over our woods and it wouldn't surprise him if she was hunted by one, since she is such a small cat. So, the whole trip the sadness of Burgie being hawk-lunch was in the back of my mind and I dreaded breaking the news to Addy. I even prayed that Burgie would come home alive. I tried to drop hints to Addy that Burgie had been gone for a long time, and I wasn't sure if she'd come back. Addy just replied "shes just out hunting mice, Mommy. She'll come home when shes done". Well, about 45 minutes after us returning from our trip, I heard a familar meowing at the door, and it was Burgie!!! She was wet from the rain and starving, but otherwise in good shape. She has been sleeping the entire time after returning. She must have done some serious cattin' around!
Addy was certain that Burgie was coming back despite my negative attitude that she wouldn't and this was a big reminder to me of Jesus' teaching that we all need to have that child-like faith in God.
LUKE 18:16-17
But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
OK, I am going to go shower for about 3 hours now to get off all the dirt and fire-smell. Both kids went to bed at 4:30 this afternoon, so I'm sure they'll be up early tomorrow!
Until my next blog,
Jen
And here is a picture of DUNE BOY...
Now, continuing with this camping trip...We wanted to take our first camping trip with just the four of us, because we weren't really sure what to expect with the kids and camping. All in all in was a great success and we are definately up for more camping this summer, and hopefully we can convince friends to join us. We camped a little south of Louisville and the campsite was nice and quiet, that is, until UPS started their 11p to 7a flight pattern which went right over our campsite and sounded like they were grazing the top of our tent. Thankfully, the kids were so tired, that they didn't even stir with the noise.
Here is Brian setting up camp on Friday...
Friday's dinner was a pudgie-pie supper of ham and cheese pies and dessert pies, then we took a dip in the pool to cool off before bed. Here were the sleeping quarters for the kids, Brian and I slept at the front of the tent on the air mattress.
Since we were all crammed into one tent, when Keith hit his normal 6 a.m. wake up time, everyone else got up then too! We fixed a nice breakfast and got as "freshened up" as possible without running water. Here is a pic of me making the ever-important morning starbucks and a pic of the kids enjoying their first camping breakfast.
Oddly enough, the Hills were coming down to Louisville on this same weekend, so we met up with them at the Louisville Slugger museum and factory tour (have I mentioned my LOVE of factory tours???)
This was followed with lunch at BW3 and ice cream at Graeders. All four of the kids were wacked out of their minds by the time we were done and I'm betting the Hill family had a similar scene in their car minutes after hitting the road...
Please notice that Keith fell asleep holding his souvenir bats! When we arrived back at camp on Saturday nite we fixed a small dinner of grilled veggies and mac-n-cheese, then took our nightly dip in the pool; this time it was not only to cool off, but also to wash all the dirt and sweat off!! Saturday night, true to Kentucky/Southern heritage, there was a small bluegrass concert at the campground which we enjoyed under the moon and stars in our pjs. Sunday we basically woke up (Keith slept in till 7!!), cooked breakfast, tore down the campsite and headed home. Here is a picture of Keith and myself coming out of the tent after getting him and myself dressed.
And here is Addison playing with her best friend Pumpy and her lizards. Note the acorns that she had collected and insisted on calling "haycorns" like they are called in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
When we got home, a Memorial Day miracle occurred. You see, last Thursday Addy's beloved cat Burgie Brandenburg never came in from her nightly hunting. This was rather unusual for this cat who normally is meowing at the door about the same time Keith is waking up. She never showed up all day Thursday or even Friday before we left. I was talking to our neighbor and asked him to keep an eye out for her while we were gone. He said there were lots of big hawks that hunted over our woods and it wouldn't surprise him if she was hunted by one, since she is such a small cat. So, the whole trip the sadness of Burgie being hawk-lunch was in the back of my mind and I dreaded breaking the news to Addy. I even prayed that Burgie would come home alive. I tried to drop hints to Addy that Burgie had been gone for a long time, and I wasn't sure if she'd come back. Addy just replied "shes just out hunting mice, Mommy. She'll come home when shes done". Well, about 45 minutes after us returning from our trip, I heard a familar meowing at the door, and it was Burgie!!! She was wet from the rain and starving, but otherwise in good shape. She has been sleeping the entire time after returning. She must have done some serious cattin' around!
Addy was certain that Burgie was coming back despite my negative attitude that she wouldn't and this was a big reminder to me of Jesus' teaching that we all need to have that child-like faith in God.
LUKE 18:16-17
But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
OK, I am going to go shower for about 3 hours now to get off all the dirt and fire-smell. Both kids went to bed at 4:30 this afternoon, so I'm sure they'll be up early tomorrow!
Until my next blog,
Jen
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Today is Ray Millers Birthday and I'm blogging just for him
So, let me start off by giving a shout out to one of my best friends, Ray, since today is his birthday. Here is a picture of him, just so you know what he looks like and can wish him a happy birthday if you see him on the street.
I've been very bad about blogging this month. I've been attempting to get back into shape, and my workout time conflicts with my blog time. So, today I chose blog over bulge.
Last week myself and my friend Tracy visited the windy city for a CME conference for PAs and to have a little fun. Here is Tracy at Julius Meinl, a coffee and tea house that we went for breakfast EVERY day except one. Tracy loves it so much she began to pout when she found out it wasn't on the itinerary on the first day (I guess I didn't grasp her true Meinl addiction). It was quite yummy.
We got to see the musical "Wicked", which was awesome and highly recommended for anyone who likes to go to that sort of thing. We also ate yummy sushi at the best sushi restaurant in the midwest, KATSU. The weather was crummy until Saturday, which coincided with our visit to Millenium Park, home of "the bean" (see below). It is quite a thing to see, even if we did have to listen to high school choir geeks singing songs from "Rent" a cappella.
And, we drove by Brians favorite building from childhood in Wrigleyville...
OK, it wasn't really his favorite; but it was a running joke with myself and my sister-in-law, Beth, that it actually was, and so every time we drove by it, we'd always say "look Brian, there's your favorite building from childhood!"...I guess you had to be there...
Today was a milestone in Keith and Addy's life...their first dental appointment. We went to visit a pediatric dentist, and had a really good experience. Here they are in the waiting room with a reluctant look on their faces.
I had taken Addy with me to my recent dental cleaning because my Aunt Brenda cleaned my teeth and I thought it would be good for her to see what the visit entailed with a familiar face doing the cleaning. My aunt did a great job explaining everything, and even gave Addy a bag of dental stuff for her to play dentist with at home (which she did, after being instructed that the cats did NOT need a tooth cleaning, only people!!). So when the hygenist today explained all of the same stuff, Addy's expression was one that seemed to say "um, my Aunt Brenda already covered all this, and you're boring me!" Here she is getting to touch the cleaning instrument...
And here she is doing some "cleaning" of her own before her exam...
Despite what this picture looks like, she did really well with her examination; as you can see she had her lizard friends in hand to help her through it.
Keith, on the other hand, was a slightly different story. He usually screams when we brush his teeth at home, so we knew an exam by a stranger was going to be rough. He didn't cry, but this picture pretty much sums up his exam. I wonder how many times Dr. Wells gets bitten trying to pry toddlers mouths open?
Here he is post-exam, I think he was checking with his tongue to make sure everything in his mouth was still there. Do you see the pretty hygenist behind him? Yeah, he was flirting with her after the exam, smiling real big and he even complemented her neon pink manicure (he said "eh, eh, nails, eh, eh, pink!). She then brought him 3 Thomas the train stickers, which thrilled him even more. So, I think he'll definatley want to go back to the dentist.
The first trip to the dentist was fun...and definately exhausting...glad we don't have to do it again for another 6 months!!
Until my next blog,
Jen
I've been very bad about blogging this month. I've been attempting to get back into shape, and my workout time conflicts with my blog time. So, today I chose blog over bulge.
Last week myself and my friend Tracy visited the windy city for a CME conference for PAs and to have a little fun. Here is Tracy at Julius Meinl, a coffee and tea house that we went for breakfast EVERY day except one. Tracy loves it so much she began to pout when she found out it wasn't on the itinerary on the first day (I guess I didn't grasp her true Meinl addiction). It was quite yummy.
We got to see the musical "Wicked", which was awesome and highly recommended for anyone who likes to go to that sort of thing. We also ate yummy sushi at the best sushi restaurant in the midwest, KATSU. The weather was crummy until Saturday, which coincided with our visit to Millenium Park, home of "the bean" (see below). It is quite a thing to see, even if we did have to listen to high school choir geeks singing songs from "Rent" a cappella.
And, we drove by Brians favorite building from childhood in Wrigleyville...
OK, it wasn't really his favorite; but it was a running joke with myself and my sister-in-law, Beth, that it actually was, and so every time we drove by it, we'd always say "look Brian, there's your favorite building from childhood!"...I guess you had to be there...
Today was a milestone in Keith and Addy's life...their first dental appointment. We went to visit a pediatric dentist, and had a really good experience. Here they are in the waiting room with a reluctant look on their faces.
I had taken Addy with me to my recent dental cleaning because my Aunt Brenda cleaned my teeth and I thought it would be good for her to see what the visit entailed with a familiar face doing the cleaning. My aunt did a great job explaining everything, and even gave Addy a bag of dental stuff for her to play dentist with at home (which she did, after being instructed that the cats did NOT need a tooth cleaning, only people!!). So when the hygenist today explained all of the same stuff, Addy's expression was one that seemed to say "um, my Aunt Brenda already covered all this, and you're boring me!" Here she is getting to touch the cleaning instrument...
And here she is doing some "cleaning" of her own before her exam...
Despite what this picture looks like, she did really well with her examination; as you can see she had her lizard friends in hand to help her through it.
Keith, on the other hand, was a slightly different story. He usually screams when we brush his teeth at home, so we knew an exam by a stranger was going to be rough. He didn't cry, but this picture pretty much sums up his exam. I wonder how many times Dr. Wells gets bitten trying to pry toddlers mouths open?
Here he is post-exam, I think he was checking with his tongue to make sure everything in his mouth was still there. Do you see the pretty hygenist behind him? Yeah, he was flirting with her after the exam, smiling real big and he even complemented her neon pink manicure (he said "eh, eh, nails, eh, eh, pink!). She then brought him 3 Thomas the train stickers, which thrilled him even more. So, I think he'll definatley want to go back to the dentist.
The first trip to the dentist was fun...and definately exhausting...glad we don't have to do it again for another 6 months!!
Until my next blog,
Jen
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