Blu Butterfly

Yeah, I totally judged him for this!

2012-02-11T12:40:00.002-05:00

He says it's my fault; I forgot to get dog food, so while he was out getting dog food, he got this game. What-EVER!

We talked about getting this game, and agreed that it wasn't necessary. I guess he changed his mind.

He pointed out that it comes with a wheel to steer with, because that justifies everything!

Eliz liked it b/c it had a sheet of stickers you could use to decorate the wheel with. I'm still on a quest for a toy I want that everyone else will enjoy. Let me know if you think of anything!

New Shoes

2012-02-02T15:59:00.000-05:00

First off, my extended absence from here was not intentional-if it had been, I would have told you I wouldn't be posting. The main reason was a lack of energy, due to a poorly functioning thyroid. I've been on Synthroid for 2 months now, and it's made a massive difference. The other reason is that I've been focusing solely on school since my energy returned, and have pushed everything not related to school to the back burner. However, I've missed being here, and using the Internet as my journal, and a way to let far-off family know what we've been doing. Not that we're incredibly exciting, but it's more than you'd get from Twitter or Facebook. Moving on!

My kids grew. Alot. In a week. Not kidding, stuff either fit just fine or it was too big. Then I'm trying to button Lex's pants, and he says, "Mama, stop, that hurts." They were adjustable pants, so I adjusted them. And adjusted them. Then I realised that the lil' booger had outgrown 2T and was in 3T. He had a pair of shoes that were 7 1/2, and a pair that were 7's. That's it, none of his other shoes fit, none of his clothes. Then Eliz has the nerve to show me how her pants keep leaving groove marks, then how the hem doesn't even touch the top of her shoes! How dare she! Here's the deal, the way we shop for new clothes in this house by getting into the attic and bringing down a tub of hand-me-down clothes. I've posted about this before. Yes, this is a wonderful blessing not many people experience. Usually, there are shoes as well, or we run over to the second hand store and buy from there. That's my rule for Lex, since he outgrows them so fast. With this growth spurt, I realised I was going to have to go shoe shopping; I wanted something specific for the both of them, and more than likely, I wasn't going to find it second hand. I wanted shoes that could be worn with socks, but would work in warmer weather, since it's been so warm, and is supposed to stay warm. I also wanted easy on and off, i.e. slip-ons. We did try second-hand, and we also went to several stores-just ask Eliz, she'll tell you-we SHOPPED for shoes. Once I realised I was going to have to get *new* shoes, I just bought them the shoes I had been trying to find cheaper versions of-TOMS.

Lex _loves_ these shoes. I showed him a pair of shoes with Marvel Comic characters, and he still choose the plain grey TOMS. Once he had them on, he ran and danced around, quite pleased with them. Eliz originally choose the red sparkly pair, but I explained she needed to start with a pair that could get dirty. The price is reasonable for new kids shoes($30 for Lex & $40 for Eliz), and the whole One for One makes it even more reasonable. When we got to the store, I told the shoe girl what I was looking for, she grabbed a few shoes and said, "And TOMS are really great." I've wanted a pair for myself for awhile, it's just, well I'm a consignment girl, I like the really nice quality without the high price. So spending $50-$70 on shoes is...hard. However, I see these shoes as opening the door for

Bry-D and I both to get a pair.

Why his Dad doesn't dress him

2012-01-25T08:36:00.001-05:00

Sure he's cute, but I can't help but think of Larry the Cable Guy when I see this.

I'm shocked. Really. I'm totally shocked.

2012-01-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

Bry-D walked in the door a little late from work and all he said was, "Don't judge me!" Well, it's kind of hard not to now that you've said that. He also told me he kn ows he's a tard. All this with that sort of guilty look on his face.

And why was he acting this way? Because he bought that. Yeah, you're looking at Bry-D's upgraded remote controlled helicopter.

This one hovers. It turns on a dime. Goes backwards. Cleans bathrooms. You know, all the stuff your husband's toys should do. Just kidding about the bathrooms-I wish!

It is a cool helicoptor, and even though I could give him a hard time, the truth is, I really don't care. It makes him happy, the kids have fun with it, so whatever. However, this does not make him look like he's ever going to grow up. Ah, well, he can be the fun parent.

Pilot lessons

2012-01-19T14:44:00.001-05:00

She's been practicing flying the helicopter a few times a week. Lex tries, but he mostly crashes. Such concentration!

Whoopsies Daisies! It wasn't really as bad as her face makes you think. Bry-D has done worse with it, and the dog has tried to catch it a few times.

Fort Days

2012-01-16T11:43:00.001-05:00

We've been cooped up for a few days. In order to make it easier for the kids, we built a fort in their room.

We had some high-tech fancy stuff going on with this.

Namely, clothespins and clamps!! We left it up for a couple of days, but took it down before it turned into a horrible mess.

Something else inspired by Pinterest-I used masking tape on a blanket to make a bunch of roads. Now we just fold up the blanket when we're finished- talk about easy clean-up.

Birthday Boys!!

2012-01-14T14:27:00.002-05:00

The weather has been yucky, and we've been sick, so we kept the birthday celebration simple-cake!

We talked about all sorts of things to do, and ended up not really doing anything. Bry-D and I went out on a date for his birthday, of course, but still, it wasn't an eventful weekend. Oh, wait, Bry-D got to go to the BMV and get his license renewed. Always the fun way to spend your birthday!

He did it again!

2012-01-08T11:16:00.004-05:00

Got a another new toy, that is. Yep, that's a remote controlled helicopter. I thought about getting him one for Christmas, but this is sort of an early birthday present.

At least he shares with the kids!

Yes, I married a goob.

At one point he said I was just jealous because all the "toys" he gets are for the whole family, and therefore justifiable, and all the "toys" I'd like to get would be for me alone. Which is true, to a point. I'll find something for all of us. That doesn't cost a fortune and isn't just for the beach!

I think it's time I bragged on my husband

2012-01-07T08:55:00.001-05:00

Bry-D's part is done, well, except for putting in a new light fixture. Is my hubby wonderful, or what? Just as we suspected, the pedestal sink adds a lot of room-though there's pretty much no place for the towels and toys and such.

He did a great job, didn't he? Well, he had help. Hmmm, maybe it would be more accurate to call them "assistants" than "help" - they weren't always helpful. They did try to be helpful, though. Bry-D did a great job of tolerating their "help".

I have ideas for towel storage and something to replace the medicine cabinet, and I've had some pictures ready to put up for awhile, so once that's all done I'll post some pictures of the finished room. Now on to the next home improvement!

Hurray for power tools!!

2012-01-06T23:01:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Pinterest, I've kept busy. It's also helped me re-organise and clean. Our play area desperately needed a make-over. So, guess what I did? I followed Pinterest to Ana White's website, and using her instructions, made these!!!!

I am giddy with excitement over this! I had Bry-D help me with the dress-up cabinet-it's impossible for one person to do on their own. He liked it because he got to use power tools and I cleaned it up.

They don't look professionally made, but they are very sturdy. I made another leaning shelf set for the kids room. I really need to pick a color to paint them, I think that will help. And, Bry-D is so sweet he went out and got me my very own Jigsaw! He's so wunnerful! (Can't wait for spell check to try and correct that word!) I rounded all the corners myself, and I'm looking forward to my next power tool adventure- a play kitchen!

Make a funny Face!!

2011-12-29T22:52:00.001-05:00

That's what she told us to do, so we did.

Eeek, that's sooo not flattering! What's wrong with me?! Why am I sharing this with you?!

I'm not sure why her hand is behind her head - sneak attack on herself from behind?

Is it me or did the kids do the same funny face? Also, why do they look cute when Bry-D and I look kind of creepy?

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T10:19:00.003-05:00

We had a nice, quiet Christmas here. We kept with our traditions from last year; spent most of the day with Bry-D's family, eating and laughing. This was the first year Lex seemed to really 'get' the whole present thing. Eliz gets so excited to be unwrapping, she doesn't even notice whats he gets, and later she's all surprised and excited to see everything. Which is cute and funny, but Bry-D and I are the only ones that see it. We need to try and teach her to sl-ow-do-wn!

We got the kids some big gifts- a dollhouse for Eliz-

And a parking garage for Lex-

The boxes for these were huge-I had to make room in the garage, so I wrapped them weeks earlier than normal, the kids kind of forgot they were under the tree. Or, beside it. They did get other things from us and from family, and they love all of them, I'm not going to inventory presents on here. I was a lot more careful with my planning and spending this year. But that's a post for later.

When Bry-D was opening his gifts he told Eliz, "Your Mom knows me too well." Probably. I was very excited for him to hook up this, an ergonomic gaming keyboard.

And yes, he got me something wonderful-a big comfy blanket, and I didn't even have to tell him to get animal print, he did that part on his own! It's all warm and comfy and I get mushy and gooey with love for my honey when I roll up in it.

There was one very special gift from my parents to me, and this will require a post all it's own, but here's a preview-

They insisted that they had to come over-a 45 minute drive ONE WAY- the day after Christmas to give me this really great gift. I'll admit, I was kind of annoyed. They had to come early b/c Dad had to be somewhere, and Bry-D and I couldn't figure out what was so special, so important that it necessitated all this? Then I took the old tablecloth off.

My mother had gone through _all_ and I do mean _all_ the family heirlooms and divided them up between my sisters and I. My father made a custom box for it, and they printed out a genealogy and inventory book to go with it. By itself, that's a big deal. However, my box gave my Dad fits, so it wasn't ready; which means my sisters got theirs and couldn't say anything about it until they knew I had gotten mine. That's why my parents HAD to come over, my sisters were dying to talk about the boxes. I've got to find a way to display this-I may try to design and make a coffee table just for this. It's huge, though-2 ft high, 2 ft wide, 3 ft long. It's got so much n it, it'll take forever to see everything, which is kind of the point.

Happy Birthday To Me!

2011-12-11T08:32:00.003-05:00

For my 34th Birthday I had my favorite breakfast- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and a White Chocolate Mocha.

Bryan wasn't off work on my birthday, he had the next day off. So, the kids and I went to one of my favorite places for lunch-Johnny Rockets.

Eliz sold me out to our waitress, which meant that I got sang to and I got a free sundae. I got the kids malts.

Bry-D bought me a box of assorted chocolates, a bag of Reese's cups(How I love that man) and a BIG balloon.

I had a friend that wanted to babysit for me as thanks for sewing something for her, so we went to dinner and saw Breaking Dawn. I've been on a quest to find knee high boots that fit my big calves, and thought that since it was my birthday weekend, I would for sure find them...but no, boots that fit continue to elude me. It was a very nice, peaceful birthday. Next year I turn 35. Hhmmm...I think that bothers me.

It's coming along

2011-12-03T17:52:00.002-05:00

It took him some work, but he got the toilet in. The cabinet was easier,

He has promised me that the sink will be in soon. Well before Christmas. I am for sure holding him to that. So far the best part of this whole thing was the other morning; Eliz was doing the potty dance outside our bathroom while Bryan was inside. She shouted "Daddy! FIX OUR BATHROOM!!!!!!" First world problems.

From Grey & grey to brown & blue

2011-12-01T19:38:00.002-05:00

Doesn't it look great? Bry-D worked hard on it, I'm really proud of him. However, there has been a, umm, glitch? The tile color is "Puritan Grey" & the grout is "Slate" Both of these look grey in the store, and most of the time he was installing it, the tile looked grey.

My mom has a great eye for color and when I sent her a picture of our grey tiles, she replied with, "Looks brown to me" I tried not to panic and just decided it was the phone's fault. But then he started grouting...and the tiles were indeed, brown. And the grout was...blue?!?

With the names, we really thought we were doing grey with a darker grey, not brown and blue, but we agreed that at this point, it's not coming out. Fortunately, we really do like the colors, they just aren't what we had planned on. Next he'll put the toilet in and we'll add the sink! Yay!

Girl's Day Out

2011-11-30T07:18:00.002-05:00

On Saturday I took Eliz with me to the "That Something Special" Craft Show at Southport High School. We walked around, sat and had a drink and a snack, just spent time together. My mom and I have a had a booth there before, but this year things didn't work out. I've had an idea for a Christmas wreath, and wanted something that I've seen at a booth each year, which is the main reason we went. After I made my purchase, we found a really fun booth!

You almost can't see our hair/feathers-though they are very bright! When we got home, Bry-D seemed to think I was crazy for getting my face painted, and even more so when he heard me promise Eliz I wouldn't wash it off. For her, I went all out trying to preserve her face paint-I sprayed her face with hairspray. When she asked if I wanted her to spray my face, I declined. I only use hairspray on my hair in the most dire of circumstances, so face painting wasn't going to get me to use it. When I got up the next morning most of my face paint was off, but Eliz's looked pretty good, so she got to wear it to church. I did have to explain several times that she had to shower on Monday and wash it off. The hair things are supposed to stay in for 3-6 months; Eliz is messing with hers so much I don't think it will last that long. We'll see!

A summary of my day today

2011-11-28T20:42:00.000-05:00

We met Bry-D at the Mall food court for lunch; I try to make this happen twice a month. Usually we have a routine-lunch, library, then either the Zoo or the Children's Museum. Eliz was scheduled to play at a friend's house this afternoon, so today we were just getting lunch and then going to the library. We never made it to the library.
Here's the highlight to go along with the video-
:00-I lost my purse in the downtown mall.
:09-I get my purse back(with everything still in it)
:40-I lock my keys in the car, in the mall parking garage. The tossing and tumbling goes along with some of the other things that happened; read below for the detailed retelling.
1:20-How I felt when I was getting into the car and Lex, overtired from the eventful day, was screaming and crying.
1:22-When I took my shoes off at home.

After we said goodbye to Bry-D we stopped at a kiosk that had some games and toys. We walked away, and I realised I didn't have my purse. Eliz said, "This is not good." I told her we just needed to pray. I was also noticing that there was a foul odor coming from Lex, who, unfortunately had told Bry-D he had to poop, but didn't go when Bryan took him. We went back to the kiosk, but my purse wasn't there. We retraced our steps back to the food court, no purse. To the bathroom, no purse. Back to the kiosk(I was now sure Lex had pooped in his underwear, though he didn't seem to mind)and asked the clerk. He called security, and was told someone had just turned in a purse in the food court. Back to the food court, at this point I tell Jesus to just bring it, I don't care anymore. The girl had already given it to a security officer on a Segway. She said I'd have to ask someone with a walkie-talkie to find out where my purse was. Did that, down to the lower level, into Security. Purse not here yet, on it's way. Into the bathroom, clean Lex up-Eliz keeps whining about having to be in there while it stinks. I have no sympathy-I'm the one using wet paper towels to wipe since there aren't any wipes in the bag. Lex probably used them all to clean his cars. By the time I was done, purse was waiting. Everything in purse, tell Jesus thanks, and the security guards. To the car! I put the car keys in my coat pocket while I go buckle the kids in. Eliz climbs in and says, "I have to pee!" My response? "Are you going to pee on yourself if we wait?" Yes, absolutely, this is a potty emergency! Without thinking, I say, "Really? we were just in a bathroom for 5 minutees!?!" I sigh, take off my coat, toss it into the car, check to be sure I have my purse, and shut the door. Ice cold water on my face realisation. Keys. were. in. coat!!!! Yeah, I just did that. Unfortunately, I give Eliz a look of death and tell her I've locked the keys in the car-and she takes my unspoken blame that this is somehow her fault. Inside to security office which no-one answers when I knock. Call Bryan. Walk all over the place. Eliz has said she's sorry, but it's only now, hours later and after she's in bed that I realise I never really spoke to her about how this wasn't her fault, I kissed her forehead, and then just sort of charged forward with a grim determination. So I'll have to pray she's not damaged soemhow from an afternoon of thinking she was to blame for her mother's moment of absentmindedness, and speak with her in the morning. I call my Dad. Take Eliz to the bathroom-apparently she could have held it. Find security guard and beg for help. She gives me the number for Pop-lock. Be there in 25 minutes, it'll be $45 flat fee. Okay, not so bad. Waiting for Pop-Lock, and the Salvation Army Bell Ringer goes by. We parked right next to where he was ringing his bell, so he's seen us going back and forth, back and forth. He got a brief update each time. We're also right by the mall car stroller things. Usually I'm a no climbing or playing with that kind of mom. Under these circumstances I let it all go.

I give the kids change to put in the Salvation Army bucket, and he's singing Christmas Carols, so the kids and I join in. He's got a baritone with him too, and he lets the kids push the keys while he used the mouthpiece.

Lex rang the bell for him and Eliz waved to people as they walked by. He was a really nice man, and had a great Bass singing voice. The Pop-Lock guy arrived and jimmied the car in less than a minute. And now, after all this time being a great little trooper, Lex starts melting down, "LIBRARY! WANNA GO LIBRARY! WANNA GO! LIBRARY!" I get into the driver seat and drive home. Really, that's how I responded-just. get. home. We have 30 minutes before we have to drop Eliz off, so the kids read books while I try to get a few things done before we leave. Drop Eliz off and then I break one of my rules and turn on a movie for Lex, then sit down and stare at nothing for awhile.

It wasn't how I had planned for my day to go. It wasn't a good day, but it wasn't terrible either. As I left the house to drop Eliz off, I thought, if anything else goes wrong, I'm going to lose it. Probably in a eyes leaking like Nigara Falls sort of way. Through the whole thing I was polite, and did my best to be kind and thankful, other than the incident with Eliz. But I'm looking back at it thinking, where was God in all of this? Or really, was my focus on God in all this? Because if it had been, would I have done anything different? Was there some lesson for me to learn that I didn't? Or was this just a rough day and I should leave it at that? Not sure, but I'm ready for some hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

It's no longer cereal weather

2011-11-17T10:16:00.002-05:00

As long as it continues to get colder and colder, we'll be eating more and more muffins

We'll start eating oatmeal, and I'll eat grits. Eliz's favorite is Double Chocolate Chip, my favorite is Lemon Poppyseed. Nearly every time I open the box and start to add the 2-3 ingredients, I think, wouldn't it be great to make these from scratch? But, it seems like baking a pie-something other women do, that are more together, better planners, healthier eaters. And I think someday I will make our muffins from scratch, but not now. Right now I want something mostly healthy and served warm, and most importantly fast! There are other things I place a higher priority on, and so, I'm not going to burden myself with thinking I have to or I'm not taking good care of my family. But someday, and I hope my kids are still living at home when I do fix the muffins from scratch.

Something missing

2011-11-16T00:09:00.001-05:00

I wish I could put my finger on what it is that's missing...

It's so much bigger in here now!

Tomorrow night, I'm taking out the trim.

2011-11-15T23:03:00.003-05:00

That's what he said. That's what I thought he would be doing. But then this happened.

That doesn't look like trim to me. That's a toilet. In my foyer. Yeah, sure, c'mon over, sit on the potty and take your shoes off. G'head, make yourself at home!

We've been together 13 years, almost 14. You'd think I would have known that this is what "taking out the trim" would be. The beginning of the bathroom remodel I thought we were starting next week. I'm not upset, mostly because there isn't much point in being upset. He can't put the toilet back in until he puts in flooring, so...yeah. When I was in high school my parents fixed up the bathroom. The toilet sat in front of the big picture window for weeks. Weeks, not days, or "a" week, WEEKS. I don't remember why, and I don't think that matters. What matters is that the toilet sat in front of the picture window for WEEKS. Did I mention that I was in high school? Yes, it's possible that I'm remembering it wrong, but that event has scarred me for life. A toilet in the picture window for WEEKS, people. WEEKS. And now I have one in my foyer.

The Spiritual growth of a 7 year old

2011-11-15T13:16:00.002-05:00

Yes, that wonderful woman from A Holy Experience has helped me again...this time it includes the kids. She calls it a "Peace Retreat" I've been calling ours a Prayer Corner. This has been in my head for awhile, but the events of this morning made me drop everything to get this done. But before I explain that, I have to give some background.

Last summer Eliz accepted Jesus into her heart. It was a wonderful moment for Bry-D and I both. However, it took me until this summer to make a very important connection. Eliz now knows that she is sinning, and feels the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In the Bible Paul talks about how having the Holy Spirit makes us more aware of how we're breaking God's law, and this leads to conviction which is supposed to lead to repentance. What I wasn't thinking about was that she feels guilt in her Spirit, and it's up to me, to us, Bry-D and I both, to teach her how to reconcile herself to God first, then to those around her. She would do something she shouldn't, get reprimanded, and I would think it was over. But she would climb into her bed, up high and out of reach. Out of reach of Mama's hugs and voice, her brother's love, and everything else, and feel terrible. I kept thinking she was pouting, which annoyed me to no end, but then it came to me all at once while I was trying to get her to just simply look at me from her bed. In frustration I asked God 'how do I help this girl?' and there it was-I hadn't taught her to reconcile herself with God! Here, she had the knowledge that she had done wrong, but not the knowledge of how to make it right! I felt like the worst mother in the world! And so we began with training her to ask God for forgiveness and then others if it was needed. But sometimes she gets overwhelmed with having made the same mistake yet again-usually in her relationship with her brother-oftentimes she shouts while holding herself tight

"I'm always so mean!"

and I try to comfort her and remind her that Jesus is there to help her change, and it takes time, and look, Mama made a mistake this morning and _____(fill in with any number of things, I've probably done it), so it's okay if she makes mistakes too. But her heart gets to heavy to hear this, and I can't help. And this morning we had gone this round three times and my heart cried out to Him for help for this little girl yet again, and by His Grace, I remembered. I explained the idea to her, and she glowed with joy and excitement. His love for her pouring out, such compassion for His little girl. So off to Goodwill, then the christian bookstore, then home.

She picked the corner, I picked the books. I put a few for grown-ups, because I'm sure there will be stormy days when I need to sit and find peace and quiet to pray and ask for help. I'd like to make a few things to add the this space, but for now, it meets the needs we have just as it is. I chose the books I thought would be best for us, but I think each family will want/need something different. There's a notebook, pen and some crayons, some books for children, a travel size Bible and some books for adults. I'm trying to find an appropriate Children's Bible to put in there. We have a few, but I can't find the one I want, I think it's in the attic. Eliz asked what would we do about Lex, and I told her we would train him that when someone is sitting in that chair, he is to leave them alone. I have high hopes for this, she sat down in it as soon as we had it put together. When she got up, she smiled from the inside out and said, "I feel so much better since I talked to God." It's funny, but sometimes I forget that too.

Note to self

2011-11-14T11:00:00.000-05:00

Always check muffins with a toothpick to ensure doneness before dumping them onto the cooling rack. Such a waste of good chocolate.

Carrying on a family tradition

2011-11-11T17:37:00.001-05:00

Since the night Bry-D brought home Rocksmith, Eliz has wanted to play. And even though the electric guitar we have is way big & heavy for her, she makes it work.

You really do learn to play the guitar, though I think she would do better with a 3/4 electric. She'd only want it if it were rainbow or pink.

I once asked Bry-D to teach me to play the guitar. He wasn't sure how to do it, because for him, music comes naturally. It's a part of who he is, somewhat because he learned so early. Just as sewing is something I can just do, he can play most any instrument, and don't let him tell you differently. And so, Eliz is learning. I don't expect her to play for other people, or to be in a band, but she comes from a few generations of musicians, so she's expected to learn. I do look forward to watching her jam with her father.

Guess I'm keeping the boots...

2011-11-09T20:35:00.002-05:00

Since the box they came in has already been turned into a robot!

I barely had my foot in my new L.L. Bean "Wildcat" boots to try them on, and Eliz had the scissors out, cutting armholes and a face opening.

I have a couple of great videos involving this box, the kids, Bry-D and LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" But Bry-D will be glad that I have yet to correctly upload a video. Ahh, someday. Someday.

Everyday I'm Shufflin'

Such a sweetie!

2011-11-07T15:49:00.003-05:00

When she first called me to the back door, the leaves spelled "I luv ♥" I think she meant "I luv You", but I didn't want to rain on her parade. I went to get the camera and the wind blew the "I" away. I got all warm and gushy and wanted to snuggle her close, she however, didn't want to waste nice weather.

The best time of year

2011-11-06T20:19:00.006-05:00

The difference between this day and the other day is that it's colder and even after clearing the yard the other day, it's full of leaves. This time of year is my favorite-it's this time of year that reminds me of my childhood the most. The smell of leaves, the sound of them crunching and crackling under your feet. The feel of them tickling you as you lay in them; more than any other season, Autumn makes me miss being a child.

Lex eventually gave up riding his bike through the leaves, and so I took it to be an opportunity to practice a little child labor.

I tried to remember the games we played as kids, so I could teach Eliz & the neighbor boy, also known as Conan. I remember playing different versions of tag, hide and seek, using the leaves to pretend to be zombies or vampires. Something I hope my kids had from my childhood-neighborhood friends. 4 or 5 other kids around her age to play with. There are great places to play where we live, but not many kids to play with. You need other kids to build forts with, have wars with, climb trees and explore the world with. Bry-D and I plan to move to a place that's kind of out there, with enough land for my huge garden, and his 4 wheelers & dirt bikes. The only downside I foresee is the lack of playmates for the kids. How to live out in the middle of nowhere and still be able to have spontaneous play dates?

Creative Freedom

2011-11-02T20:24:00.040-04:00

For some reason, painting on paper wasn't doing it for them today.

They had to paint themselves...or maybe Eliz is considering auditioning for the BlueMan Group?

I guess Xander wanted to go Tribal...or he just felt like highlighting his hair.

He mixed his colors until they made brown.

I think she told me what the white globs were, but I don't remember now. It reminds me of Ronald McDonald, but she doesn't know who that is, which makes me feel old.

I taught art for several weeks for our Homeschool group this semester. One day a mother told me I did a good job. I was a little confused, and asked what she meant. She said I did a good job of letting them be themselves and do their own thing. Which I got from my mother. As a young teen (13-15) when I shaved part of my head and dyed the rest of it crazy colors, she let me. When I used permanent marker to write/draw on myself(14-17), she didn't seem fazed-as long as it wasn't inappropriate. I wrote poetry(my own and other people's) on my bedroom walls(13-18), and she suggested I draw a frame around them. She was strict about some things-curfew, dating, how I allowed people to treat me, but when it came to self-expression and creativity, anything worked, because she always said, "There are no mistakes in art."

It looks like Fall, but it still doesn't feel like it!

2011-10-26T17:56:00.013-04:00

Even though we live in a subdivision we've got a really great creek down the street from our house. The weather was so nice, we went exploring.

Look! He floats!

Hmmm...so pretty this time of year!

That little grassy spot was under water not to long ago.

I'd love to creek stomp there, but the signs are posted for "No Trespassing" so we have to settle for looking.

They found lots of freshwater clam shells.

Gotta get close as he can!

Fun for the whole family!

2011-10-20T22:35:00.028-04:00

The phone conversation went like this-

Bry-D: I'm going to stop and buy a video game on my way home from work.

Me: (Kinda bored)Okay, what game is it?

Bry-D: You'll really like it, we can all play it.

Me:(Very skeptical) What game is it?

Bry-D: You'll see when I get home!

Me:(Very skeptical, a little concerned and kinda confused) What game is it?!?

Bry-D: You'll see when I get home-it's interactive!

Click!

He came home with RockSmith, a newly released guitar game. We don't often get picture of that smile, which is an indicator of how excited he was. And the fact that he had just heard about it, and he was willing to pay $80ish for it.

You plug your electric guitar into your Playstation, and learn to play. Or in Bry-D's case, learn to play favorite songs with the correct and oftentimes much more difficult chords.

Groupies not included, though our house has three, five if you count the dogs.

Yes, I've been playing it. I refuse to play after Bry-D, it's very damaging to my confidence. I'll pick my single notes to a sing, then he'll play the actual chords. So I always go first.

I'm still deciding if being a guiter player is worth the really short nails. What's the point in painting them if they're just little nubs?

Revisiting being a kid with Slime

2011-10-19T21:26:00.002-04:00

This stuff is so fast and easy, this is the only picture I took of the process. Seriously, it's a five minute activity. The How-To is at the end of the post.

Luckily, the kids play with it for much longer.

Cookie cutters, scissors, and just simply feeling it make this fun.

Personally, I respond to this stuff with "Ick". But that's just me.

How-to:
1 teaspoon borax
1 cup water
4oz(1/2cup) glue(clear for slime, white for gak)
1/2 cup water
food coloring
storage container

Dissolve borax into 1 cup water, and in a separate bowl, mix glue, 1/2 c water, & food coloring. Pour Borax water into glue mix; it will turn to a solid almost instantly. You can stir for a few moments then you have to use your hands to gather it all together; have the storage container ready and toss excess water. Knead until it firms up and feels dry. Keeps indefinitely in an airtight container.

Rainy Day

2011-10-18T21:31:00.015-04:00

Thanks to Pinterest, we had something to do this afternoon while it was cold & wet outside. Spy Training!

She kept 'improving' it. Sometimes the dogs or little brother would tear through it. She was getting it just right for someone special..

Daddy! Being the ultimate Spy, Bry-D was able to get through it and bring his precious Diet Dr. Pepper too!

Though it wasn't without difficulty.

I have a rule for Pinterest-I can't get on unless I plan on doing something I see there. I have an idea that I'm knocking around my head. Once I figure out all the details I'll share with you.

It's a Conundrum

2011-10-10T17:04:00.002-04:00

October is not supposed to be like this. I've never been able to lay in a pile of leaves with shorts on, but I did today. I keep waiting for the day I have to take those flip flops off her feet and replace them with socks and close-toed shoes...

And this may be the first time in years that it's rained enough for mowing in October. There is usually a warning out not to burn your leaves or have bonfires...it's almost to hot for a bonfire!

The leaves are turning, the trees look like they are on fire...some of them have swirls of color; green, yellow, red and orange...

I've never had to weed my cactus twice in a season!

We put all of the leaves into the garden. The kids think we do this so they can play. That's not the main reason, but it's nice that they can play and we don't have to keep raking the leaves back into piles.

Took me a minute to realise what he was up too

Aww, what a great Daddy, creating a small tornado for the kids!

He probably enjoyed that more than they did.

Hours and hours of fun

2011-10-05T21:20:00.000-04:00

Just add water to dirt

Your kids will play all afternoon in the backyard

They'll even skip their nap!

You can probably guess how all this ended, right?

Soap MoHawks, Yes!

Girl time

2011-09-29T21:12:00.001-04:00

It's pretty normal for Eliz and her friends to climb onto her loft bed and sit and play; this time they had press-on nails.

I think it was full hour before I heard them come out of the room for anything.

She kept taking them off so she could do things, like pick up a book.

He's dedicated to taking a walk!

2011-09-19T20:59:00.001-04:00

Yes, I took this picture from the car while he and the kids walk in the rain.

Usually I'm the one encouraging the kids to be out in all types of weather.

I would say he was "Experiencing the Rain" but I think you have to be barefoot and without raincoat for that.

I'm not sure, but I think she could fit more pink into her outfit.

When I asked him why he was out in the rain, he said he wanted a different perspective of it. Most of the time, lots of rain means lots of extra work, oftentimes, forced overtime. He wanted to try to enjoy the rain. And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks!

And we thought our wagon was cool!

2011-09-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

We took the kids to a car show at the Indianapolis Motor Speeedway this weekend. We got out the newly re-furbed wagon, and walked around.

I didn't take that many pictures, but Bry-D did. Most of my pictures would have been of the kids and Bry-D pointing at cars. Then we saw this.

Oh. My.

Our not-quite-finished wagon seemed so...inferior to this! Got get on that finishing projects thing!

Wagon makeover

2011-09-12T17:15:00.002-04:00

How can you tell if you've watched too much West Coast Customs lately?

When you repaint your kids' red Radio Flyer Wagon metallic silver with a black interior.

He considered racing stripes and painting the side rails black as well, but we'll see.

Ah, well, the weekend is over for him, so we'll see what he does with it next next weekend.

Eliz's birthday weekend

2011-09-11T20:30:00.000-04:00

We had been asking Eliz what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she kept repling, 'I don't know.' It was just days before the big day that she requested The Children's Museum. No problem!

We spent most of our time in the Treasures of the Earth exhibit. Lex dug up Chinese statues,

Eliz & Bry-D put them together! I would really like to get a more advanced camera to see if I can get high-quality pictures inside the Children's Museum. I took so many more pictures, and so few turned out.

Bry-D being silly with Eiz.

Colorful birthday cake!

And Taters came over to celebrate! This year I took Eliz shopping to buy a birthday outfit. We're blessed to recieve so many hand-me-downs that we literally never go shopping for clothes, so it was a special and fun first for Mommy & Daughter. She finally decided she wanted more My Little Ponies as her birthday gift, so we went and bought those, as well.

Don't trip!

Big breath & bow 'em out!

Sorry, but once cake is served, I put the camera down. Had the weather been better we would have gone to the Zoo as well. Bry-D had a four day weekend, but we laid around the house on Monday watching movies. A nice simple weekend for her 7th birthday. Next year is a party year, I'm betting she's going to want a sleepover party. Eeek, better start preparing myself for that now!

For Firefly Fans only

2011-09-08T20:25:00.001-04:00

Two by two with hands of blue...

It's okay if you don't understand. Just watch Firefly episode nine, "Ariel".

Bry-D's time off work

2011-09-05T20:21:00.000-04:00

It seems lately, Bry-D has been off work more than he's been at work. With vacation, holidays, and Eliz's birthday coming up, he's been home an awful lot lately. Which leads to far more laying around doing nothing than I'd like to admit.

Bry-D's vacation

2011-08-30T06:05:00.000-04:00

We don't usually go anywhere when Bry-D has time off. Trust me, I'm working to change that. However, we do have a good time. Since Eliz was having her riding lesson, we got Bry-D on a horse too.
Waiting for his horse

Ready, set...

SWING

Steady now!

Aren't we cute together?

We eventually got him to trot

What was Eliz doing during all this? Riding Sonya, being a good little student.

There is a very specific reason why Bry-D takes a vacation the last week of August.
The MotoGP.
A motorcycle race held in Indianapolis. On Friday we packed up the family and went to the track to watch practice.

It was a big day-Lex's first time at the Track!

The previous Saturday, Bry-D and I had gone on a charity motorcycle ride; my parents had taken the kids for us, and my dad took Lex to the Racing Museum that's at the track. It was apparently almost sensory overload for the little guy.

This trip was too-it took him a long time to settle down enough to be able to sit down.

This is Eliz's 3rd year, so she's an old pro. We only had them sit and watch for an hour or so before we went walking around.

Eliz found a motorcycle she wants. Lex, well, Lex wanted all of them.

Then we saw this sign. What!?! Are you serious?

Oh yeah! I'll sign anything, just get me on that bike!

This was definitely the highlight of vacation for Bry-D

Awww, he's so cute!

And she's so big!

Look at him go!

See the pink shoes? That's how you know it's Eliz

He let her ride on her own! Oh, I'm tearing up with pride!

The guy riding with Lex did several wheelies.

Yes, we're very proud parents. The kids' excitement over the motorcycles made the salespeople laugh.

We were told several times that our kids made them happy, or made their day. It wasn't surprising-they do the same for us, everyday! Yup, a fun, relaxing family vacation.

Why I don't want help folding clothes

2011-08-29T17:23:00.001-04:00

Sock Ninja Wars! If I had taken a picture of my bedroom, you would have seen a pile of clean clothes, NOT getting folded.

Lex starts laughing so hard, all he can do is stand there.

Tickle attack!

Stealth mode Eliz hits Daddy in the back with a pillow, and then she

RETREATS!!! Run, run, RUN!

I think she does the hide under the covers thing.

Sister Trip 2011

2011-08-20T20:10:00.001-04:00

One of the reasons I haven't blogged is that I was trying to keep a secret. A very big one. In 2007 my 3 sisters(The Student, The Quilter, & The Nurse) and I went to Gatlinburg, TN. Just us for a Sister Trip. It was supposed to become an annual thing, however, some of us had babies(The Quilter being an overachiever had two @ once!)Some of us went into and eventually graduated from Nursing School, others decided to go to college for, well forever. So this year everything worked out to have another trip. Here's the secret-we kidnapped my Mom!

She was totally clueless! My Dad told her he was taking her out of town, but not where, how long or anything else. The mission kind of became Torture the Control Freak(our mom). We also had a little fun at her expense because she's notoriously overdressed for things, so we showed up all done up to kidnap her.

She whined enough, or ahem, tried very hard to figure out where we were going in the first hour, so we finally told her our destination was Nashville, Tn. She asked if The Nurse was meeting us, and we told her, sadly, no, she couldn't get off work. We were, of course lying. She told us if The Nurse showed up she was going to kill us all.

So when The Nurse did show up, I waited expectantly. Since it's a week later and I'm blogging, Mom lied as well! I guess that means we're even! We went to The District and walked around, we had dinner in Hillsboro and walked around, then we went back to The District and walked some more. This was just the first afternoon and evening. We did all this in heels, so at the end of the night, we got a little silly...this picture is our mostly sober walk to the room.

So The Quilter no longer felt like wearing her heels. None of us did, so we all took them off. Then the Quilter didn't feel like walking, so she started crawling. Then she didn't feel like moving at all and I tried to carry her. I guess you could say it failed miserably. The Security Guy didn't seem to mind us laughing hysterically in the hallway so we stayed there for a bit, waiting for the The Student.

Then we went to bed, and Mom got up and dressed obnoxiously early and wanted to go sightseeing! We laughed really hard and went shopping hours later. Dad showed up, and then we went sight seeing in our very special shirts!

The front of Dad & Mom's shirts say "Nashville, Tn 2011" And the back of Mom's says "Kidnapped by 4 of a Kind"

Our shirts had our birth order and our childhood nicknames from Dad. The front says "Sister Trip 2011, Nashville, TN"

When we went to dinner that night, the waiter saw Dad with all five of us, and said to him, "I don't know how you did it, but you're my hero!" Dad chuckled and waited awhile before divulging the truth, that we're his wife and daughters.

The next morning Dad & Mom crashed our room before leaving to head back to Indiana.

The Sister Trip part began then, officially. We did lots more shopping.

The Hotel Concierge, Nival, was incredibly helpful, and was so nice to our parents while putting up with us, we gave him a copy of this picture with a thank you card.

At the end of the night we sat at the hotel pool and soaked our aching feet while enjoying cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory.

And yet again, we ended up laughing hysterically in the hallway. Yet again, due to The Quilter's antics. She tried to wipe the hotel floor germs off her feet onto the wall. Her foot got stuck somehow? And when she finally got it off she did a loopy turn and landed with a hard thud.

We of course laughed while she tried to limp into the room. 'Cause that's how sisters love one another.

Remember how Mom really wanted us to go sightseeing? Well, you could see the replica of the Parthenon from our balcony, and she kept going on about how close it was, and how neat it was when she and Dad saw it. Well, she'll be happy to know that we made it there. Bright and early, too!

Maybe a little too early.

This really isn't bad. If we hadn't done so much walking in heels, it might have just been The Nurse that was sleeping through it. We call her the Professional Sleeper for reason!

She's never happy when she finds out we took her picture while she was asleep.

and yes, I have pictures of other things for you all, it was just so very difficult not to talk about all our fun plans for this trip! Because of a few problems, we now have a Sister Trip Rule List.

1. Only wear heels for dinner, never for shopping

2. Sister Trip has to be 4 days

3. Take a nap on Saturday

4. Make good on the ideas of horseback riding and skydiving. Someday.

5. More time relaxing, less time walking around in heels.

I might be missing a few.

This OCD Moment brought to you by

2011-08-17T13:24:00.023-04:00

The dog. The dog got onto the bed. And for Bry-D that means the mattress and everything must be decontaminated. Most people would just change the sheets, maybe flip the mattress while they're at it. But no, not my hubby.

I left for the store, and when I came home, this is what was happening. Something similar came about this time last year, you may recall. Read about it here. Although this didn't involve a trip to the hardware store, it was even more humorous.

He always wants to know why I take pictures of what he does. Mostly because it's entertaining. And funny.

Brickyard Weekend 2011

2011-08-02T19:00:00.004-04:00

We had a great family weekend. The Country Boy & the Nurse came up from Georgia, and everyone spent the night at my parent's house. This made it easier to just relax and enjoy ourselves, not having to think about leavin, getting home & kids to bed, then up early the next morning to drive back 45 minutes. Me thinks this is the new Brickyard tradition. And now, the pictures!

The Country Boy & The Nurse brought their newest addition, Tink. Whenever the kiddos got to be to much fun for her, she ran to one of the Grandma's-she is one smart lil' cookie! Not that the ids didn't try to coax her off of Grandma's lap.

We of course ate outside-easy cleanup!

Check it out, W-guy is almost smiling! And Casserole, well, she's always smiling.

Silly Daddy!

Innocent Daddy. Notice the smug, cat ate the canary smile?

The Dynamic Duo-Lex & Clyde

Another Dynamic Duo, Taters & Eliz-see the look on their faces?

Clyde's reaction to goobers. For those of you that don't know, it's soaked and roasted peanuts.

The story behind this picture. That swing has been on that tree since the night we moved into the house. That's 20 years. Gah, have I gotten that old already!? Let's not dwell. In all weather; snow, hail, thunderstorms and sun, Eliz nevers fails to ask my dad if he will push her on the swing. Well, as is usual for her, Eliz was the first one up, and my Dad got up shortly after. He told me he whispered, "I think we could go outside and swing, if you'd like" and she was at the door, digging through the shoe bin in a shot, "Lemme get my shoes!" My Mom got this picture of the early morning Grandpa-granddaughter bonding.

We sent the kids in to wake Country Boy & Nurse up. I think we told them to go get the dogs.

They loved the courtesy wakeup call.

The Brickyard is one of the times when everybody is there, so my Mom always wants family pictures. We all dress nice, get out all our cameras and click away. Instead of posting the pictures that came out well, I'm posting the ones that didn't. Why? Because these are more fun!

Whoops, looking at the wrong camera, and I have no idea why Lex has his arm up.

Awww! If only the Student didn't have her arm in the way-such a photo hog!

Typical-Mom's eyes are closed, Dad looks a little confused and Lex is fleeing the scene.

Now, this may be staged, but it's entirely possible that The Mechanic said something obnoxious to his mom, which made the Wannabe Nurse pout, and Taters wonder what's going on.

We did grandkid portraits for each family, and I love the shot within a shot for this picture. Yes, the dogs are considered grandchildren.

Seconds after this was taken, Zoey licked her Mama's face.

Kay, so almost everyone is smiling, and I think the majority is looking at the same camera

Caught W-guy trying not to smile, but Bonnie & Clyde did the divide and conquer thing. Not sure what Casserole has such a problem with that she's making that face.

Wait, which camera are we looking at?

The moments before we try for the big family picture. Mom directing..."Sit there, no there. Right there!"

Okay, everyone, let's give the impression that we're a nice quiet family.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Father-Daughter Bonding

2011-07-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

The house I grew up in has a tree swing, so of course, our house has a tree swing. The kids are always asking me to swing them high, like Daddy. Which I will never do. My stomach can barely handle watching him do it, let alone shooting my children into oblivion myself.

I will, however, make my children sick by spinning them on the swing.

She's learned that she can speed herself up or slow down by how she holds her legs.

Run in a straight line, Eliz! Run straight!

She made it pretty far. He likes to tel her to run as far as she can.

Lex vacuumed the sidewalk. I guess he thought it needed it.

So that's how Bry-D bonds with his little girl. Giving her brain damage and teaching her to be a daredevil. Yay.

Little artist

2011-07-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

He doesn't get messy like Eliz did. THough maybe that's just going to happen some other day. He gets upset that he only gets one color and Eliz gets all of them.

It was his idea to use the sponge.

I wanted to get a picture of his look of concentration, b/c he looked so much like his Dad.

And, he was ready to throw it away when he was finished-I hope that's because he's learning that it's the joy of creating that matters, not the finished product.

Man vs Machine

2011-07-17T16:29:00.037-04:00

So, in the Spring we had Man vs nature, and this weekend we had Man vs Machine. Eliz has moved on to a bigger bike. And Lex is always trying ride her old one. Which would be fine, except that Eliz's old bike is pink, with lots of princess decals on it. Actually, it is fine with me, however, this is not fine with Bry-D. So, he started to give the bike a manly remake. He took it all apart.

Some of it came apart easier than other parts.

He really did work to get the pedals off, for a bit there I thought we were going to go to the store and buy a bike, but his sheer stubborn will won against the brutal strength of well-tightened metal work.

He made sure every. single. princess. girly. decal was GONE before continuing.

Sanding the pink off a bit before painting. Begone evil girly stuff!

Poor guy had to keep moving his impaled bike frame around because the wind kept shifting so the paint was blowing towards the house and garage.

We're on the lookout for black tires, handlebar covers, and seat. However, it is apparently manly enough for Lex to ride simply b/c it's not pink and doesn't have girly stickers on it anymore.

The tires are totally flat so Lex can't ride it yet. I think it's more neutrally girly now, personally.

Bry-D had a sprinkler mishap...

2011-07-15T21:08:00.000-04:00

I didn't see it, just the aftermath-a laughing Bry-D that looked like he had wet himself. He was trying to push the sprinkler into a really hard spot of dirt, and the spike broke, which sent the water spray right onto his face, stomach and pants! I don't think he really meant for me to catch this pose, however, thanks to the delay on my phone's camera, I got it perfectly.

Yup, that's my hunka-hunka-burning-love.

That's what you get for watering the lawn, and keeping it so short the pretty wildflowers won't grow!

Creekstomping!

2011-07-13T20:49:00.000-04:00

I grew up with a creek in my backyard, so walking the creek was an everyday thing. Now I have to drive my kids down the street so they can get wet and muddy.

Lex likes to pick up rocks and throw them to make a splash

While Eliz searches for shells from small freshwater clams

Lex discovered his echo in this tunnel, he was estactic to find someone that returned his "hello" everytime

Then we met a family looking for crawdads. Eliz thought is was great until she got a look at the crawdads claws. then she suddenly didn't want to be in the water anymore.

Lex makes friends just as well as his sister! He had to change clothes because he went face first into the water.

I'm really not sure what Eliz is doing this picture? An ancient Keep The Crawdads Away Dance?

It's worth the 5 minute drive, and the education. Because of this visit Eliz got library books about algae, crawdads, and water currents.

In hindsight,

2011-07-11T14:42:00.001-04:00

giving a toddler a chocolate covered granola bar on day that has a heat advisory is not the best idea.

Ah, well, live and learn.

July 2011, so far

2011-07-10T21:22:00.000-04:00

We went to Bry-D's brother's house for our 4th of July cookout, and I didn't get any pictures. We had a great time. Eliz was immediately attached at the hip with one of the little girls there, and Lex loved all the cars and bikes.

This picture represents a day of my life-it's an example of the most careful sewing I've ever done. This is an evening gown for a Queen pageant. The girl I made it for is 5'11". I made the dress before she had gotten shoes to wear with it. I told her not to get shoes higher than 3 1/2". She got platform heels that were 5"(yes, they are beautiful, but they caused me some grief)So, I had a last minute make-the-dress-long-enough crisis, which coincided with one of those days with the kids. Sweet girl had to come and stay at the house while I sewed the dress.

Another library program! Take Flight Wildlife Education. Mark was great at keeping the kids interested while still teaching. All of the birds he had were birds of prey, and he pointed out that the reason he can touch and hold them the way he does is b/c 1. they know him and trust him, and 2. they don't know he's edible. Let's hope they never figure out point #2! This is Jack the Red Tailed hawk. We got to see him eat a real dead mouse. Disgusting, but also really cool.

This is a Great Horned owl, and I don't remember his name, but Mark kept turning in circles trying to get him to look at the audience. The only bird that I didn't get a good picture of was a Kestrel, a small very very amazing bird of prey.

I don't remember what kind of bird she is, but her name is Guenevere, because he said that if he doesn't treat her like a Queen, she gives him what for. To keep her happy while she was out of the cage he fed her a mouse. I got some gross up close pictures of that. Mostly just so I could say I did.

Ahh, pool picture! Lex know that the pool is at the YMCA, and most everyday as we park he asks, "Go pool day?"

We went to a Remote Controlled Aircraft show at the Greenwood library. All but one picture of Lex has him pointing to the sky. I could literally kick myself for not getting a better picture of Bry-D!

I stopped taking pictures when I realised i was never going to get a shot of a plane doing a loop.

Now, that's a model plane! They had some that were there just for looking, and some that they were flying.

Of course, eventually, both kids wandered over to the playground.

As usual, Eliz made new friends.

This week we have more of what's become the usual-swimming, library, playdate. I really want to make it to the zoo soon, we haven't been but twice this summer. Will do my best to update regularly!

June 2011

2011-07-10T20:46:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure, but I think I've got our schedule figured out. We joined the YMCA for the summer, and as Bry-D said after getting another text that we would be swimming until dinnertime, "You're really getting your money's worth" It's easy to do there! Other than daily trips there, we've been to library each week; both kids are halfway through the summer reading program-Eliz's reading confidence is getting better and better!

Pool bag in it's usual place every morning.

I did get seeds planted, I'll have to get pictures of the "survivors" of Lex's rather vicious "weeding"

They often look like this at the end of the day!

I LOOVVVEEE summer programs at the library! Free, fun, educational! The Greenwood Library's theme is The Great Outdoors, and Marion County's theme is Science Odyssey. This guy was going to all the Marion County libraries, his show was great! Yes, he really did set things on fire.

The very close to the stage audience was enthralled. Unfortunately, Lex wasn't in the mood for science, so I missed much of the demonstration. Lil' booger.

I have tried everything I can to turn these pictures, but they refuse to cooperate! Snakes Alive with Snakehead Ed. Eliz and I left even more excited about getting a pet snake. We were totally shot down by Bry-D, but we'll keep trying.

That's a coral snake imitator-I can't remember it's name. My phone died before I could get a picture of the 15ft albino Burmese Python, Melanie. She was beautiful! I got to participate-he asked if any of the women would admit to having a bad hair day, and I raised my hand(we had come straight from swimming-shocking!)I thought he would hand the snake to me, instead he put the Ball Python on my head! I was fine with it, being the snake lover that I am. I also agree, having a snake on your head would keep people from noticing how bad your hair looks!

Some of the activities we've gone to have been to old for Lex, but that has been fine with him-the libraries we frequent have great play areas!

Of course, Eliz sailed the High Seas at our Church's VBS. This is the Friday night performance of the kids' favorite song, "Jump, Jump, Jump"

What do ya know, I got picture of them jump, jump, jumping! The song is really catchy. I think most every parent was singing it throughout the week.

And so, that was the month of June-very busy, but lots of fun.

His favorite bedtime story

2011-06-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

When asked to pick a story, he is just as likely to pick a book as one of these.

I'll have to get a video of Bry-D reading the articles from his Motorcyclist magazine to Lex. The killer part is that Lez really is listening.

I guess it's just in his DNA. In which case I should accept this as part of life and move on. Maybe I will. Maybe.

Sorry for our absence, but

2011-06-10T21:20:00.005-04:00

we were suddenly attacked by summer. Maliciously. And violently.
As you can see. I really don't know how we survived the past week.

Summer started with VBS, or BoBs as this program is called. My girl, the uber participant.

I used this motorcycle in a how-to last spring. He hasn't been riding into work, but he often has "errands" to run when he gets home from work.

Library visit! Eliz got her first real library card, and we signed up for the Summer Reading Program, of course!

After spending last summer sweltering in the backyard mini pool, Bry-D and I agreed that a YMCA membership was a good idea.

Eliz is already a strong swimmer, Lex is very close to swimming on his own.

And yes, the fence got finished! Didn't he do a spectacular job?! When he was attaching the gate I told him he had never been hotter. Some women go giggly for jewelry, I get silly over garden tools. To each her own.

I believe that this leg and sandal tan line is hard evidence that I should spend more time lounging poolside and less time working the garden. Don't you agree?

So, I will do my best to keep everyone updated on how we're muddling through this summer. We certainly have plenty to do.

Instead of catching the sunlight

2011-06-03T09:31:00.002-04:00

This time they found a rainbow!

Did you know

2011-06-02T20:28:00.001-04:00

That in a pinch, ie, no icecubes, you can use teething rings to keep your drink cool?

Rhubarb Pie & Gardening

2011-06-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

I said I'd make a rhubarb pie next, and I did! My neighbor gave me some fresh rhubarb and I knew Misti, I've mentioned her before, claimed to have the best ever rhubarb pie recipe. We had everything in the pantry already, so I got to work. Turns out she was right! Del-ici-ous!

I definitely got the stamp of approval from Lex, tho Eliz said it was too sweet.

That's okay, more for me! Although Bry-D liked it enough to have two pieces before dinner. I didn't catch him, just saw that the pie was noticeably smaller.

This morning we planted seeds, since the fence is supposed to be finished by this weekend. I meant to plant these a long time ago, but well, yeah. So we put dirt in cups,

Made sure to write what we were planting on the cups,

Put the corresponding seeds into cups,

Watered,

And placed them in a sunny spot where the dogs can't trample them.

We're going to paint the fence and plant a cut flower garden along it too, then I'll buy some tomato plants to go along with these. I'm so excited! Yay!

Memorial Day

2011-05-31T19:49:00.002-04:00

I told you that Memorial Day weekend is all about the Indianapolis 500. So what did we do on Memorial Day? Remember that old lawnmower? Well, it died Monday morning. Not surprisingly, either. So Bry-D went to Sears(insert grunting noises) and got a new one. This picture was taken after it's first run. Wanna know why it's not dirty?

'Cause he rinsed it off afterwards. Let's see how many times that happens again.

He also got another new toy. (Insert more grunting noises)

He wasn't nearly as gentle getting this one out of the box as he was the PS3.

He immediately handed me the instructions. Not so I could read them to him, but so that I could put them away.

Lex knew exactly what the box was really meant for!

He picked up that handle thingy and asked, "This for banging?" I told him no, it was for...something with the new thingy.

Look Daddy, I can work it! (Don't worry, it wasn't plugged in)

Bry-D plugged it in and gave a 10 second vrroom. Lex thought that sounded funny.

Then Bry-D really let it loose. Lex did not find that noise at all funny.

Oh, I forgot to mention why Bry-D got this new toy. I demanded he get fence to keep the dogs out of my veggie garden. So he measured and estimated, and decided he needed a miter saw and lots of wood. Lotta lotta lotta wood.

It was so blistering hot and not a cloud in the sky, he didn't get very much done, but he plans on working on it a bit each day.

He also promised to show me how to use it. I think I'm going to like this toy!

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-30T22:25:00.002-04:00

Also known as Race Weekend in my family. My entire life, the biggest summer get together has always been Race Weekend. Living in Indianapolis, the 500 is hard to avoid, and the City devotes the entire month of May to activites surrounding the Race. However, The Brickyrd 400 is starting to become "The Big Weekend". Bry-D didn't have to work, even with all the rain! On Saturday, Bry-D & I took the kids to the 500 Festival Parade.

Sorry, we ran around alot & I was to busy to take more than these two pictures.

Sunday after the race everyone gathers at my parents house for a cookout. Check out the lightwieghts.

My dad had a wasp trapped, which really intrigued Lex.

Lex also helped grill the hotdogs, bratwurst, and italian sausage.

The Diva herself, and our adopted Grandma Wilma.

There are two places to hang out at my parents' house-one is the swing in the side yard.

The Deputy was giving self-defense lessons to the girls, using NewGuy as his dummy. The Deputy said, "I'm going to hit your leg here, it won't hurt, but you'll fall down"

NewGuy dodged it. I was laughing hard, sorry it's so blurry, but you see that The Deputy almost did a face plant.

He switched dummies to The Mechianic. He is a Dummy, and took the hit, however, he didn't go down.

The other place to hang out is the fire pit in the backyard. Here's The Quilter, Lex, and The Quilter's oldest, Jesster, my parents are on the swing. And yes, my Mom has her arm in a sling. She slipped in some mud, fell, and broke her arm. I can tell it as a very funny story, but I perfer to wait until she's around to be annoyed by it.

I don't know what we were talking about, but it must have been funny by the looks on thier faces.

Cousins playing together. There are more pictures and some funny videos, but The Student & The Quilter have those.

I left my camera at home, all of these were taken with my phone. Not to shabby, I think.

Going with the flow of mud

2011-05-25T15:46:00.000-04:00

You all know how much Lex loves mud. And if you've watched the national weather, you know that Indiana has had LOTS of rain, and that translates into MUD. Which isn't forcasted to end anytime soon(praying the 500 doesn't get rained out). Anytime we go outside to play, we end up muddy. I could fight this, insisting on staying indoors, or only playing in the front yard(less mud there) Instead, I've been trying to think of a way to embrace the mud. Lex particularly enjoys getting his vehicles dirty, then washing them, so I'm trying to come up with a carwashing area. Of course, I then saw something I just had to do on Meg's blog.

Mud Pie Kitchen

Our backyard has "the best spot" corner area, where the kids have dug holes that they use for all sorts of things, from fixing soup to washing toys.

This is where we keep our firewood in the winter. Seems to me this is the perfect spot for our new kitchen.

I did a Goodwill run, and got a bunch of supplies, with the intention of keeping half aside in case things got broken.

Eliz was big help setting up-we used the plastic bins for water and storage, and LEx immediately adopted one to be used for washing cars.

This was how Lex helped set up.

Soup's on! I don't know how much we'll add/subtract/change this. I suppose as the summer goes on, it can change quite a bit. I was weeding in the veggie garden while they cooked up a storm, and was served several delicous dishes. We have a family project planned this weekend for the veggie garden, can't wait to show you!

I followed the links on Meg's post, which led to extreme excitement, then I did a yahoo search on mud pie kitchens and found my dream-come-true-backyard here. Seriously you need to look around this blog! I need to stop before I gush all over you about how much I love this woman's ideas! I spent for-ev-er looking and reading and getting all jumpy and silly with desire to try and make and do. 'Nuff said, happy Towel Day everyone!

I needed a nap afterwards.

2011-05-23T21:51:00.001-04:00

Only a Children's Museum would have jelly-bean replicas of world renowned works of art. Yup, another trip to the Children's Museum, but with a twist, we took The Quilter's sister-in-law, Aunt Ruth, and we started on the top floor.

The obligatory pre-fun restroom stop.

This metal billiard-ball thingy has been around since The Quilter and I were kids. Yeah, it's that old.

We started at The Science Works, it's supposed to be for 6 and up age, but really works for all ages.

Other than having to crawl under a portion so that you can play in the middle of the water works, it's a really fun part of the exhibit. The crawling is only a problem if you're taller than 4 feet, the clearance is meant for kids, not adults.

The construction area-so shocking that he went for the truck.

It's called The Children's Museum, but adults can have fun too!

Look what Teamwork can do!

Something else teamwork can do!

Lex-not so much a team player. Especially when it's time to go.

Maze of Mirrors-that's a lot of Clyde's!

Aunt Ruth ROCKS! That's just my opinion, though.

She shared the cotton candy with everyone, so I bet they feel the same.

The Quilter's kids did much better this time around with the Dinos. The first time they came, all three had their heads planted in her butt and thighs. She and I thought it was quite comcial. The kids didn't get our sense of humor.

Don't let the cuteness fool you. Beware Bonnie. This chick is going to rule the world.

I'm really starting to contemplate hiring a driver. I desparately wanted a nap on the way home like everyone else.

Sunday Afternoon

2011-05-22T21:09:00.002-04:00

It wasn't the sunniest day, but it was hot. Hot enough to justify Bry-D hosing off the kids. Not just ours but the neighbor's children too.

I gave them umbrellas and towels. They never did use the towels.

He's gettin' his Conan on.

I think all men get strange joy from torturing children while calling it "play". Meanwhile, Conan's mom worked away the afternoon. Made me tired just watching!

He's a runner!

Since it's Indiana, we ended the afternoon with hail, maybe a half hour after we went inside.

Not big hail, but it happened twice.

Morning

2011-05-20T09:04:00.000-04:00

Why can't you catch the sunlight?

You can see it shining on your hands, the floor, the wall.

But no matter how hard you try, it never stays in the palm of your hand.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My first pie

2011-05-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

Bry-D called from work today and said he wanted pumkin pie. Okay, I guess, was my answer. I called my MIL, the Redneck Valleygirl(yes, she knows I call her that-it's incredibly accurate) and got her super secret recipe(wink, wink, Susie). The kids helped-we were all kind of excited about this "first" pie. I love to cook and bake, I'm always ready to try somethign new, but pie baking is kind of like quilting for me-something about it seems so much more difficult that I'm a little afraid of it.

This is how Lex "helps"; he plays in the sink, constantly rinsing the dishes for me.

Not very messy, which isn't always the case.

Look, a picture of me! And the pie crust getting trimmed.

Lex "helping" again-he smashed the eggshells to smithereens. Yes, very helpful that boy. I liked it better when he washing everything.

They watched the pie cook long enough to see that it wasn't very exciting to watch a pie cook.

We didn't get the egg mixed in as well as we should have. This didn't matter though.

No, he's not pretending, that really is how big of a bite he took. He ate his first piece in three bites.

The second in four, and then gave me the double thumbs up.

Lex attempted to give me a thumbs up as well. Eliz wasn't a fan of the pumpkin pie.

I'm not a fan of pumkin pie either. I am, however a fan of whipped cream.

Bry-D was actually worn out and ready for bed after that. It was very comical. Next we'll try Rhubarb Pie, because I LOVE rhubarb.

Fast Food

2011-05-17T09:02:00.001-04:00

Not what I expected Lex to do with his banana.

But, trucks are meant for hauling, so I guess it's okay, right?

Who needs tonsils? Not my girl!

2011-05-12T14:51:00.002-04:00

The follow-up appt. for Eliz after her sleep test went just about the way I thought it would. She needed her tonsils and adnoids removed. I wasn't surprised by this at all. The actual results of the sleep test did surprise me. She stops breathing 4.5 times an hour for 22.35 seconds. Oh. My. My big fear going into the test was that they would say she didn't really have a problem and there was nothing to be done. Turns out her problem was much worse than I had thought. We scheduled the surgery, and then waited for the weeks to pass and the big day to arrive.

Xander was to spend the night with Grandma Linda, to Bry-D and I's great relief-my parents weren't able to help out b/c of work, and Bry-D's mom is out of state. Eliz has spent the night with Grandma Linda, but not Lex, and never has he sleptover without Eliz. So we did a trial run the week before. Honestly, I knew the little guy would be safe, I was more worried he would drive his Grandma to drinking; maybe to her knees in prayer, but instead, he melted her already rather soft heart. He also sent his Aunt G into fits, as he and her eldest are clones of each other, and her Eldest was going to prom the next night. At some point, I will get a good picture of Eliz & Aunt G together so that I can show everyone, that this is who Eliz looks like. At least we know she'll be pretty when she grows up.

To make the wait easier for Eliz, I kept us moving and going. We visited friends-I still hadn't located my camera, so there aren't very many pictures, and they aren't very good. We met people at the library, had people over, and went to their house.

The week of surgery, we went out everyday. First with friends to the Children's Museum.

The Barbie Exhbit. This may have been the last day it was open. A rare still moment-I never got a picture of Eliz's friend, she put 6-7 multi-colored tutu's on under her skirt-to cute!

We also went to the Bounce Spot, but my phone died, so not a single picture of that. And our last day before the surgery was Wednesday, we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. Still no camera, but the girl in the black jacket in this picture volunteers/works(she was maybe 15) at the Zoo with the dolphins. They kept swimming up to her and just floating until she motioned them to go, or if she went to the other side of the dome. I commented that they must know her, and she said yes, she is there each week. I told Eliz that the dolphins knew this girl, and that started a great conversation between them.

The Cheetahs. They seemed to be watching us the same way we were watching them. By this time we were all worn out.

So worn out that we slept in the day of surgery. Our arrival time was 6:30, surgery was to begin at 8am. Thankfully, we're 5-10 minutes from the hospital, so we were only 10 minutes late. Things moved very quickly.

She was allowed to bring a lovey back with her, adn of course, Bear was her first choice. I was worried she might try to bring her new Calico Critters Squirrel family, which she bought with her Lemonade Day money. But she said, "Bear has been my friend for forever, he's keeps me safe all the time." Bear got an ankle tag, and the pink wrap was put on his arm, they tol dher when she woke up from her "nap" she would have one just like it. She was great for the entire pre-op. The nurses loved her, and complimented her on her manners. I was relieved, I thought she might be "that kid" that they can't work on because they behave so badly. I went into the lobby, and hadn't even gotten the text message that surgery had started sent out before they told me she was in Recovery. I spoke with our ENT, whom I really like, about the surgery-she had big adnoids and medium tonsils; and had just gotten settled into my lobby chair, when I was told she was waiting. She was hysterical when I got in the room. She was crying and screaming, "I don't want my tonsils out! I want my tonsils back in!" She would start to calm down, and then would become hysterical again. She kept shouting, "Home will make me happy!" So much for manners. I finally told her they wouldn't let her leave until she calmed down. She looked at our nurse, San, and when she nodded yes, this was true, Eliz shut right up. This was taken during one of her calm periods.

Other than that first 45 minutes after she woke from surgery, she's been really great. Most mornings she wakes up asking for her pain meds, but she really doesn't complain about pain any other time. She does complain about not being allowed to run adn lday, or go anywhere(we went to the store today). We're offically at one week now, and she seems to be normal.

My big fear for after surgery was that this wouldn't make a difference-that her sleep would continue to be less than restful, and the daytime problems would continue. Of course, my only question for the ENT about surgery was, how long til we know it's helped? She said about 2 months. We might see change sooner, but her sleep schedule has to reboot itself, and you have to wait for her to heal before that can happen. So, more waiting. Gah, I hate waiting.

Lemonade Day 2011

2011-05-01T19:54:00.000-04:00

National Lemonade Day. You might have heard of it, it's a day for, well, lemonade stands. When you sign up, you get a lot of helpful material. It's a program designed to help children learn to start, operate and own a business. There's a "Caring Adult Guide" & a "Young Entrepreneur Guide". They take you through steps to running a lemonade stand, and they cover just about everything. We signed up and I didn't expect alot from my 6 1/2 year old, but she surprised me with her business sense. She knew what she wanted and had good reasons to back up her choices, there was very little silly girl stuff.

Starting to mix the lemonade-she chose making strawberry lemonade and pink lemonade with lemon slices. From the get-go she wanted to serve cookies, chocolate chip, until I pointed out that if we made them with M&M's they would be rainbow cookies.

I gave her the measurements, and she fixed it.

She helps me cook alot, so I didn't have much to do with it-other than slicing the fruit.

Daddy got the first taste of her lemonade. Upon being chastised for drinking more than a cup, he proclaimed himself the sole shareholder of this endeavor, and drank some more.

It was a terrible day for a lemonade stand-it rained all morning long, the sun never came out, and it really wasn't that warm. But family and kind people stopped, bought, and tipped well. Though she didn't reach her goal, she did much better than I had expected. We have enough supplies to do it again, and I think that's her plan. She did a great job working her stand, smiling and waving @ everyone, asking those with windows open if they wanted lemonade, greeting and thanking. She watched me with the first few customers, and then took over. I am very impressed with her, and very proud. This will probably be a summer of lemonade stands for us.

A few people commented that they had heard of Lemonade Day on the news, here's our local website for it.

Bry-D says he looks like me, but

2011-04-30T11:00:00.001-04:00

I just don't see it.

Yeah, sure if you squint and his dad's not around, he does kind of look maybe like me...

But in most ways, this little guy is his father made over.

Bry-D is very quick to point out that Lex and I both have pointy elf-ish ears, but a single common trait does not a likeness make! I will admit that Lex resembles me more than Eliz ever has; complete strangers have seen Eliz and I together and exclaimed "Wow, she must look alot like her father!" I'm okay with all this, btw, I see it as a reason to have more children-keep trying until we get one that looks just like me!

Little boys covered in chocolate

2011-04-27T08:29:00.000-04:00

look very simliar to little boys covered in mud.

His sister, by contrast, kept herself very neat and clean. He also protested getting wiped off-I guess he was saving all that for later?

Mud, glorious MUD!

2011-04-26T20:45:00.000-04:00

His sister wasn't interested in the mud.

This did not stop him from enjoying himself solo

What I found most entertaining was how he kept saying "Yuck, wet, ucky!" Then playing some more.

She did eventually venture over

They decided that mud is just more fun with two than one

This cold squishy experience must be shared in order to appreciate it fully.

Yeah, I'm at a loss for why children think this is so great.

I certainly could have done without this mess.

Man vs Nature

2011-04-25T21:10:00.000-04:00

It's a typical Indiana April-lots of rain, which means very tall grass. I kind of like it, personally. It's not that high, in my opinion.

Ok, after a little perspective-the toddler can barely walk through some parts pf the yard, I guess it does need a bit of a trim.

Work it, Baby! That mower is 6-7 years old, and it's not self propelled. Which is why I never, NEVER offer to mow for him. The grass was wet from the rain today, so it was iffy how this was going to turn out.

Man won, however. I predict the grass rallying and growing several inches in the next few days.

His son takes a more one with nature, or mud, approach, as we already know.

If you look behind the little guy, you'll see my vegetable garden, which Bry-D seems to think I want to grow grass in, not vegetables. Hrumph.

What was today like all those years ago?

2011-04-23T15:23:00.000-04:00

The tomb is sealed. Just as it was so long ago. I have to wonder, what was it like for Jesus' followers? Where they numb with shock, just going through the motions? Were they racked with grief almost unable to move? Were they angry and bitter, wondering what had been the point? When I let the dogs out this morning it seemed a perfect spring morning, dewy grass, birds singing, beautiful fresh air-was it like that for them, and did it seem somehow wrong? Did they wonder at the fact that the world still turned-even though someone like Him had died? Oh, what a horrible death it was. Long, drawn out and painful, more than any man should have to go through.
We put a clay caterpillar wrapped in white linen into the tomb last night before bed. Eliz placed the stone over the entrance, and I made sure it was on there tight. What will it be like, come Sunday morn?
We also had our first Passover meal, a Seder, last night. We were going to have it on Thursday, but because of Bry-D's work we had it last night. I didn't take pictures, though I kept thinking I should, so we could see the pictures and remember. It was nothing like a Seder probably. Bry-D hates change, and a Passover meal is definitely change. It's also traditional, and full of ritual, which we usually avoid like the Plague. But, as I sought God for something to make Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday more important than Christmas, a tradition that would teach my children that these days are so much more than bunnies, candy, and eggs, He lead me to Passover. The more I researched, the more excited I got. Bry-D, however, was less than thrilled. He was willing, just not enthusiastic. Which is his normal reaction to, well, just about everything. If you'd like a visual, imagine Tigger & Eeyore. The more I bounce the more sedate he gets. So we did the very minimum. Some would perhaps say it wasn't a Seder meal, but it was as much as much as I thought I could get Bry-D to do. We had a Seder plate, Eliz asked the four questions, and we read of the Exodus from the Bible. It would have been fun to get a picture of the different reactions to the Maror(bitter herbs); Eliz-disgust, Lex-elation. We used horseradish mustard, b/c Bry-D wanted something he could use on a sandwich later. He ruined my delicious chicken with it during the meal part. Well, that's my opinion(I guess you know what my reaction to the Maror was!) And the Charoset(mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon & sugar) Eliz & I loved it, Bry-D & Lex nearly spat it out. We used pita bread because I wasn't sure how the Matzoh would turn out, and Eliz and I throughly enjoyed spreading the Charoset on the pita.
It was interesting how naturally Eliz asked the 4 Questions-I hadn't told her about them, but she automatically asked all but one. It was a good meal, and against his best efforts, I think Bry-D enjoyed it, and once it was done understood the "Why" of it.
And so, today, I sit and contemplate. There's some sewing to do, some cooking, Bry-D's working(of course) but I keep coming back to what was it like on the Sabbath all those years ago? Did they yet understand? Did the men grind their teeth and clench their fists in frustration and anger? Did some hide in shadows, full of shame? Did the women weep and lay face down, begging God that they would wake up in the morning and find that it had all been a dream, not knowing the dream they were about to experience. It would seem like cruelty that the day after His death was ordained a day of rest, to be spent being idle, leaving hands and minds with nothing to distract them from what had occurred the day before. Leaving plenty of opportunity to relive and remember, not just the day before , but the years spent in His presence. Had they been wrong? He had done such amazing things, so why was it like this? How had it ended like this? I'm sure many saw it as over. Done, finished, complete. Jesus was in the grave, what else could happen? He had raised people from the dead while He was alive, but now that He was dead, what miracle could occur? Yes, let's remember to ask that when everything seems over-"What miracle could happen?" And perhaps, we'll see God work the way He did thousands of years ago.

Rambling

2011-04-17T22:11:00.000-04:00

I was doing so well and here it is, it's been 8 days since I posted anything And my back hurts and I'm upset by it more b/c it means I'm not pregnant and I want to be But the pain hurts and I want it to stop It's starting to feel more like sciatica than monthly The dog won't share the bed Alexander is sick with something possibly an ear infection he's gotten up a couple of times and said his ear hurts He never does that We don't have any garlic for him Easter's a week away and the dresses aren't done I don't think I'm going to fit into my dress that's a bit to revealing but Bryan likes it That should be a sign not to wear it in public Going to plant an EasterGarden with the kids tomorrow Don't want it to rain But I need it to rain so the Bearded Iris survives being divided and replanted Bryan's coming to bed but I'm not sleepy yet The weather's been nice enough to line dry the laundry Reminds me of Granny Mullen When I was 18 Grandma Apon left my unmentionables on the line for Bubba the neighbor to see while 4 wheeling He would run into the pond and you would hear the engine gurgling and him cursing while I hosed off in my bikini Grandma and I would laugh in the heat When I came back to Indy it was 95° and I had to wear a sweater I was so cold My Mother in law is coming for a visit Spring is coming Going to have two gardens to tend this year Need to get our seeds started And I'm still not tired but he looks so comforting and inviting I'm going to snuggle up and dream about sunshine and flowers and tomatoes hot from the sun & straight off the vine

Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it

2011-04-09T12:02:00.001-04:00

Really, I shouldn't be surprised, last year gave me a hint of what was to come.

My new mantra: God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt.

I don't think I like this one as much

"Rub some dirt on it"

Spidergirl

2011-04-08T08:05:00.001-04:00

One of her first favorite things was Spiderman. Her first prayer was, "Thank you God for food, Spiderman, and books" The first costume she requested for Halloween? Spiderman. It's only been in the last year or two that she's gone a little more girly in her preferences. Her pretend play, however, is still very adventurous.

I didn't ask why she was climbing along the fence.

It's possible there was lava. Or she was climbing a mountain.

Or maybe she just didn't want to get her new Chucks dirty yet.

My sister once told me a story about watching her oldest son (now 20) climb across the TOP of that very same swingset. So far she's never tried that.

She caught me taking her picture and posed. I wasn't able to get am 'action' shot of her climbing from one swing to the next. Can't wait for her to teach her brother. (That's sarcasm just so you know)

A cute girl in a cute hat & a boy with his Monkey

2011-04-07T08:21:00.004-04:00

We did it again. Library, Lunch with Daddy, and the Children's Museum. I think next time we'll hit the Zoo, Indiana weather permitting. See the pink beanie? She actually let me pick her outfit, which hasn't happened since she started dressing in private.

His sister likes to sit at the computers, so he likes to push the buttons. It doesn't last long, he's up and running really fast.

See the Monkey? All pictures from here on out will be blurry, sorry. This is in the Dora the Explorer Exhibit.

Her favorite area in the Exhibit is where you can pretend to be a veterinarian. She posed for her picture.

Again with the not staying still thing!

HA! Caught them standing still!

The stillness ended pretty quickly, however.

I'll get pictures of lunch next time. We did meet a very nice older man that gave each of the kids a silver dollar while in line at Taco Bell. I saw him later doing the same thing with some other kids. I wonder if that's how he spends his lunch hour every now and then? That's a very good man.

Freeze Mob!

2011-04-05T10:06:00.000-04:00

A reason to love Facebook-a friend from highschool heard from another friend from highschool about a group from IUPUI called The Dead Unicorn Society that was going to do a Freeze Mob at the Indianapolis International Airport. We don't have any batteries, so I had to use my phone for pictures.

Here's the Story Morning Glory.

Adrian, aka A, a travelling buddy and partner in crime from the good ol' days, posted the link. I told her I'd be there! Bry-D had to work forced overtime(yuck). But I got a babysitter anyway, and all was ready. I tried calling Misti, another part of the travelling group(Mandy, the 4th member of the travelling group, lives out of state)however, Misti chose to be a responsible grown up, and not go. I've decided to hold a grudge against her for that. Anyways. Bry-D told me on Friday morning that the front end of the car was in too bad condition for me to drive myself. After I tried to drive it, I had to agree, it just wasn't trustworthy for more than a few miles, if that. I tried to get a hold of Adrian, and ended up leaving her a Facebook message then chewing my nails. She called Saturday morning and picked me up. We met a group of people at a Kmart near the airport, as well as Lisa the friend that had told A about the event. We had room for one more, and were joined by a man named Aaron. He's a fan of Firefly, which immediately makes him cool. We followed the group tot he airport, gave our parking tickets to a girl who then got them paid for-the reason why we met so early. Then we waited for the rest of the people to arrive.

Everyone was to meet in the baggage claim area, see the clever sign? Sorry about the blurry picture! Probably camera error, not user error.

Once we had our instructions and had synced our cell phones, we went to the food court and began our plans. I knew I wanted to be kneeling, and I had decided I would drop my purse and be in the process of picking everything up. As it neared 12, we moved to a more concpicous area, and as my phone vibrated 12, I tossed my purse. Not sure how I got it on the ground, how I got on the ground, but I froze a little eaarlier than I planned. My hair was over my eyes, which drives me batty, and I think I my have blinked and moved my face without realising it. I'm pretty sure I was mostly frozen, though, I honestly couldn't tell you. I heard people walking by talking about the frozen people. They were saying things like,

"What happened?"

"Why did everyone stop moving?"

One woman must have walked by everyone pushing a stroller and using her phone to film it, b/c I saw her from the corner of my eye at least twice, and several of my fellow mobsters were talking about her. I heard another woman walk by and ask her companion,

"Are they supposed to be human statues?"

I had mild panic attack when I realised my phone screen had gone blank which meant my super effective task killer had turned off my 5 minute timer, and therefore I wouldn't know when to unfreeze, since I couldn't see anything. I tried to look to the side, but knew my head was going to move, so stopped. I could see a group in front of me and it looked like some of the people were frozen and some people were hopping like rabbits around them. I also noticed that things had actually spilled out of my purse, which made me really happy. I was holding my phone in my hand, sort of out and away from my body; to my it looked as though it was jumping around in my hand, though most likely, I was the only one that could tell it was even moving. Then my phone made me jump, b/c the alarm started going off, luckily at 12:05, so I just had to recover and get the blasted thing turned off ASAP! Everything was on vibrate, so I don't know why the sound was on for it. I got my things back into my purse and walked away from the food court, wandering a bit, since I was trying to figure ou why the alarm had sound when it shouldn't have. I met up with Lisa, A, and Aaron, and as we left we found the DUS people looking at large sketch pads they had been using to sketch the frozen people. That's what I had taken for rabbit hopping. We all discussed the even on the way back to Kmart, A and I continually thinking of how Misti and Mandy would have behaved had they been there. A drove me back, and we parted. Then there was the letdown after you get yourself all hyped up. I wanted to know had been still? Or had been sort of half frozen? Then it occured to me that I was wearing lowrise pants. Had I been flashing people? Some of that nervousness comes from Bry-D's love of dropping cold things down the back of my pants. Once the video was released, that fear was aleviated, only to be replaced by the worry of how frozen was I? Dspite my concerns, it looked like everyone did a great job, even the little kids.

I really look forward to doing more things with DUS. Need to keep doing this kind of stuff so my kids never look at me and say, "You were never that cool!"

Monday Nights...

2011-04-05T08:09:00.002-04:00

We have some friends that sometimes come over on Monday nights. This works well, b/c then all the kids have someone to play with. Eliz's loft bed is the place to hang out. All the kids that come over gravitate to it. This is Determined D. Those that know her, understand the nickname.

Bry-D & Little Mr. D play video games. Errr, well, Bry-D plays and Mr. D watches. On occasion, Bry-D has shared with him.

There's also Mini Fireman, which for some reason there aren't any pictures of. He and Lex argue over trains, cars, or whatever toy one of them is holding at that time.

What do I do while everyone else is having a playdate? Dishes. Laundry. Facebook. All the fun stuff I can't do during the day b/c I get interrupted to much.

She's growing up

2011-03-27T12:53:00.002-04:00

She was getting dressed in her closet, until I pointed out that the bathroom had lights. And more room. This happened suddenly-one morning she told me she didn't want anyone to see her naked, went into her closet and came out dressed.

I know this is one of those signs of getting older, and I kind of don't mind, but it kind of upsets me. It means that many of those "Baby girl" things are coming to an end. I know that this means that there are fun new things to do, just hope her Dad is able to adjust.

I asked her to poke her head out nd she ducked back in much faster than I thought she was capable of. She'll be upset about this when she's older, but I don't mind.

Guess where I found him?

2011-03-25T08:50:00.001-04:00

I left the door unlocked & the light on. So of course, Lex went out and climbed nto his favorite big thing..

Daddy's motorcycle! I took this video with my phone, sorry about the poor quality.

A fun Wednesday!

2011-03-18T08:31:00.003-04:00

Wednesday was a busy day! First we visited Central Library, then we had lunch with Bry-D, and finally, we visited The Children's Museum. This is a regular place for us; when the kids are little it's our birthday trip, and it's just lots of fun. When we walked in, Lex started going crazy about something, it took me a minute to realise he was saying "

"Bumblebee! Bumblebee!" His father would be so proud. One of the temporary exhibits is a Movie costume exhibit, and so, one of the real Bumblebee's from the first movie is at the museum.

Lex was just as excited to see "Bumblebee car!" as Bumblebee himself.

The man with the wrench told us about Bumblebee, and where all he had been.

Eliz wanted a shot of her hair, I think this is the only time Lex took his eyes off Bumblebee.

He can be talkative when he wants, and one of the cutest things he did was to wave hello and goodbye to Bumblebee.

I didn't take pictures of the Costumes b/c the kids were moving to fast for me. Eliz did, of course get dressed up.

I managed to get that on Lex. He didn't pretend play much, mostly just walked around checking everyone else out.

A very tiring, great time. I'm the only one that didn't fall alseep on the car ride home. If you go during the weekend, they have people dressed up as Darth Vadar, Storm Troopers, Star Trek, etc. I don't think I'll brave the museum on a Saturday unless Chewy is there.

I make a trip to the library, lunch with Daddy and then a visit at the Museum a regular Wednesday event.

A sleep test for Eliz

2011-03-16T08:08:00.001-04:00

For a couple of years, Bry-D and I have felt that Eliz wasn't sleeping well. We could hear her rolling into the wall, she talks in her sleep, she wakes up hyper, running around, climbing and jumping, and talk really loudly. We've tried alot of different remedies, herbs, a new mattress, and nothing has helped. My niece, The Quiter's daughter, was tested and treated for severe sleep apnea in December 2010. As my sister would tell my excitedly about my nieces varied areas of improvement, I realised these were areas we were concerned fro Eliz. It took me awhile to realise that we could ask for a sleep test for her, but I finally made that connection. We went to the doctor-I love, love, love our pediatrician, btw-and she agreed we needed to do a sleep test. That was a Monday, and we got an appointment for the sleep test scheduled for that Saturday. Eliz was nervous, so I took picturesto try and make fun.

Had we known they were going to color on her, we would have brought our own markers!

Our tech was really great, He answered her many, many questions and kept it light and fun.

Nosy Rosie wanted to touch, taste and smell everything!

This is halfway through-she had 16 wires/attachments on her!

She was a sweetie throughout the whole thing, never complaining once!

We agreed that she had Rapunzel hair, but better, since Rapunzel just has rainbow flowers, and Eliz had Rainbow colored wires.

Even a finger thingy! Two different doohickies in her nose!

Ready for sleep! I honestly didn't think she would be able to seep with all that stuff, but she did. The tech said that he'd be in a dozen times to put the nose things back in, and he wasn't kidding. It was also freezing in the room, Praise Jesus, our friends the Doves loaned me a 40° sleeping bag, otherwise I wouldn't have made it. I wanted to post this after we'd gotten results, but it's going to be at least a week, so I'll let you know when we know!

Toy switch

2011-03-15T09:39:00.001-04:00

I first heard about toy switching when I was a teen visiting my Uncle and Aunt in Georgia. I happened to be there for a toy switch, and once they explained it to me, I was pretty sure they were geniuses. If you've ever thought or said out loud, "We have too many toys" try this. We don't have alot of toys, but the playroom is a 5X7 area, so space to play disappears quickly if we have more than two or three things out. I will also admit to being a bit anal. I love to organize; having a place for everything and everything in it's place is very satisfying for me.

Doing something like this takes more planning time than work time. The actual switching of the toys takes an hour, maybe less. It starts with a list of all the toys you have. Get rid of some of them. Goodwill or trash, but just get some toys out of the house. Every time we switch, I find things that are broken or missing something that can't be replaced-get rid of them! After you've written down what you have, group toys together. Whatever toys you think should be out at the same time, and you have room for, group together. The only advice I have on this part is that more than a few studies have shown that when people have more than three choices, they choose nothing. This may explain the "They have tons of toys but they're playing with a paper bag!" phenomina. You can apply that theory to toys by keeping the options down to 3 types of toys. Example-we currently have out baby dolls and their blankets, bottles, etc; a basket of trains, and some matchbox cars with a semi truck. We have puzzles and board games, but I try to make sure that there's only three of them out at a time. We switch toys every two months-this works well for the kids, about the time they seem to be getting bored with what's out, we switch. The toys are stored together in tubs, and come out twice a year.

I have a "Toy schedule" document that has what toys come out together, as well as when. We have some toys that end up staying out all the time-art supplies and dress up. We have far more books than we really need, but we rotate those as well-that way I can always justify buying more books! A tip that I only follow with toys, not books, is 1 in, 1 out. If you get a new toy, get rid of another, this is a big anti-clutter rule. I'm also not rigid with this rule, either.

If you take the old stuff out to another room, then bring in the new stuff, the kids will unpack them for you, and you can put away the other toys without anyone noticing or even caring.

Outside for the first time in a long time!

2011-03-13T19:59:00.005-04:00

It was really wonderfule outside, so we grabbed the outdoor toys and played. We had the chalk and frisbee, thought I didn't take pictures. Eliz spent alot of time turning our sidewalk into a road using the pink chalk. Lex never would ride on "his side"

What are they thinking?!

2011-03-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

These are day lilies, and they don't usually peek out of the ground until mid-April. Look at that!

I mean, really, this is way to early for them to be this high out of the ground, especially for Indiana.

Even the bearded iris is at it! I need to divide and replant this, and it looks like I'm going to have to do it much sooner than I had anticipated.

This does not surprise me very much. This is fringed bleeding hearts, and it's a very early riser. It's usually blooming while everything else is just starting to think of coming out.

This has, however, got me into the mood to get outside and get myself dirty. The few days of sunshine have also helped. My grandmother has a flower bed that she said I could have, and I'm of a mind to drive over and dig it up. Need to prep the ground and start planning the iris' move before that, though. Yay Spring!

Sweet Buns

2011-03-09T13:00:00.001-05:00

Don't tell me you were expecting me to post a picture of food?

The only time men's underwear is cute.

They are genetically predisposed to this behavior

2011-03-08T18:56:00.000-05:00

I left the light on and the door unlocked. I suppose this is better than going after the power tools.

Having a grandfather that used to race for Porsche, and a father that wanted to fly the fastest planes known to man, this is normal behavior.

He never stopped "vrrooommmm"-ing, and Miss America there never stopped smiling and posing.

So, I guess he'll drive the car in the parade whiel she smiles and waves. If he'll go slow enough for anyone to see her.

Rainy Days

2011-03-06T08:02:00.002-05:00

Bry-D says that we need this all this rain to clean the salt and grime off everything. I suppose that's true, however, I haven't been very inclined to go out in it. Not sure why, maybe b/c the rainy gloom came immediately after the snowy gloom. We've been hanging around in the house lately, not doing anything very exciting.

Young artiste's at work. He is constantly telling me that the white and grey crayons are "Boke". I have yet to convince that they are not "boke" they are just difficult to see on light paper.

He never says orange is broke.

Finished work

Eliz has gotten really interested in drawing things from pictures. Though she never tries to draw the exact picture, she usually changes something about it to conform it to her personality.

She used the watercolor pencils for this Easter Basket, though I don't know if she ever painted it.

Color in motion!

Such concentration

Reading. She's getting braver and braver about reading books herself.

She kept telling Eeyore, "Be still, I'm trying to lay on you!" She was to comfortable to adjust her skirt when I told her it was flipped up.

A basin, two small cups, and water. All he needs for a good time.

That towel was soaked by the time he was done. Clean up was easy-he thinks the dishwasher racks are a train, so I tell him to put stuff in the train, and then he choo-choos it for a few minutes before closing the door.

Maybe next week we'll venture out into the mud again-if I get us rain boots.

Morning Photography

2011-03-05T09:28:00.001-05:00

In case you'd like someone to come and take your picture before the sun is up, Eliz is available.

So glad this isn't of my face...just because I'm a morning person doesn't mean I look good.

Looks like it's going to stay this way

2011-02-28T08:08:00.001-05:00

These were taken last week, right after the ice melted, but before more snow came. I didn't get more pictures for two reasons-the kids kept getting stuck in the mud and losing their boots, and the all the AA batteries were dead.

She wanted to fill up the hole in the corner, but discovered that was not going to happen without alot of work.

I think the mud on her behind came from her boots when she was running around.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Lex's face the first time he tried to step and his foot stuck-absolutely classic. Have batteries now, and with the storms ripping through right now, we'll have plenty of mud for a few days at least. It's time for mud pies and dirty floors!

He's lucky he's cute

2011-02-26T17:02:00.001-05:00

Being cute has saved this little guy's life more than few times. Those are bobbins. For people that don't sew, you just need to know that they are little tiny wheels that hold a couple(or more) yards of thread. See that ball of thread? It only took him 5, maybe 10 minutes to make that...

The unnatural quiet should have tipped me off more quickly. How to use a bobbin, toddler style: Take a bobbin, put it in the bobbin case lid, and pull the thread. Then you watch the bobbin spin and spin and spin.

He probably could have done this for a half hour or more. Quietly, and without bothering his sister.

I never did get a picture of the threads wrapped around his legs with the bobbins following him like cans on a newlywed's truck. Or the ball of thread that was bigger than my fist. Had Eliz seen it, she would have wanted to keep it b/c it was a rainbow ball.

I've been feeling yucky off and on for the last 3-4 weeks, and had I felt better, I might have been more inclined to anger. However, I just didn't really have the energy for it, so he got to sit still while I unraveled/cut the threads, then helped me clean up. He did get to keep the bobbins he had emptied, I realised that they're just the right size for hauling and dumping with his construction trucks. He likes the noises they make. This has also convinced me that I need to get a key for my desk-it has a lock so as to proctect the contents of the drawers from little hands, but I lost the key very quickly after purchasing it. Anyone know, do I go to a locksmith for that?

Bry-D's new toy

2011-02-10T21:25:00.003-05:00

Bryan's work gives the employee's reward points for productivity. He finally cashed in some, or all, I really don't know, and got a new toy.

A PS3. Also know as, You'll Never See Your Husband's Face Again.

Two of the three boxes it was packaged in.

Ohhh, the excitement! Rapture! Joy!

He managed to set the controller down and turn his head before I got the picture of his big goofy grin. You can see a hint of it there.

Careful, careful!

He actually let me hold it-fresh out of the box and everything! It's really heavy, I remember the PS2 weighed about as much as a Frisbee.

Do you see the scuff? Do you? Cause it's riiiggghhhttt...There! (Yeah, I can't see it either, I think you can see the camera and my fingers more clearly)

LOOK! It's a man that reads directions! Or at least peruses them. It's fun to note that this picture didn't load the first time, maybe the computer didn't want evidence of such a thing.

Honey, just plug the thingy into the thingy and press the thingy. Really, how hard can it be?

He said, "It powered up. That's a good sign. It beeped at me." He must have very high expectations. Apparently, there's something going on with the audio hookup that he can't hear it, though he can play it.

So, I should have plenty of time to blog and facebook, since I won't be spending any time with my husband in the near future. Unless I decide to relive the teen years and watch my guy play video games.

He said it was strictly for the BluRay. And I believed him.

* * * *

Update on the toy-Bry-D found out that our moniter has speakers, so he can hear his game, however, I don't know if we'll be able to do the surround sound stuff when we watch movies. Also, after he hooked it up it immediately needed a "Crucial" update. Which it tried to download for the next couple hours. (It's okay, we put a dollar in the Collection Box & I called it a night.) He did get it sucessfully downloaded the this morning. We played the Playstation Move games, and as someone that has not played very much Wii, I can't tell a big difference. Altho I like the playstation controller better because the end of it glows and is blue.

Family Flu Week 2011

2011-02-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

It started with Lex on a Saturday, then me on Tuesday, finally Eliz on Wednesday, and lucky for Bry-D he was working and taking a class, so he never got it. It was miserable; we did a lot of laying around. We had a well child check for Lex already scheduled, and the MD stated that it was definately the flu. I never had a fever, though Eliz and Lex both got up to 102. We've spent this week laying around reovering from being sick. I did take pictures, just as a reason to move around.

We set up the sofabed on Thursday, to make the laying in bed covered up part easier.

We read books, colored, and watched movies to pass the time.

Eliz got that blue champagne glass @ a friend's birthday party-I used it to get her to drink the "yucky" juice(grape) when we ran out of apple and fruit punch.

I never did convince the toddler he was sick and needed to be still.

Ah, well, boys will be boys.

Five minutes before I took this picture, Eliz was absolutely insistant that she wasn't going to be able to sleep, at all, because she wasn't tired, at all.

So, now we're getting back to normal, whatever that is!