My life among savages...

'Fess up!

2011-06-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of mysteries in my house. Who left the back door open, for instance? No one ever did. It must have been the dog! (Actually, it WAS the dog, who figured out how to push the door open if it isn't locked.) So here's a list of this week's little mysteries of life:

1. Who left that giant booger on the hand towel???

(Timothy's suggestion that it was probably Wesley makes him my top suspect.)

2. Why is the front porch covered in something oily?

(I still have not figured this one out. It just appeared suddenly after I watered the porch plants, and I have no idea what it is. Disturbing.)

3. Who keeps knocking the dish towel in the kitchen onto the floor?

(Answer: Miney. Yep, I caught him at it. He reaches up and pulls it down, puts his front paws on it, and slides it all over the kitchen floor. Remind me to get a fresh dish towel every time I need one.)

And last, but certainly not least...

4. Who farted???

(No one ever owns up to this, either, and I suspect no one ever will.)

Summer Update

2011-06-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Day 12

If I have to mediate ONE more argument over who farted on whom and whether or not it was on purpose, I am going to the Home For Runaway Mothers! That is all!

More things I thought I'd never have to say: Bathroom Version

2011-05-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's that time again. More things I've said in the last week or so that I never expected to need to say.

"NO, there is most definitely NOT an MMA move called 'The Cloud of Dust', and I'll thank you to remember that only the bathroom and your bedroom are zoned for on-purpose gas."

"Yes, it would be funnier if 'fart' was spelled P-H-A-R-T." (Hey, I had to agree with him and plus...it's impressive that a six-year-old knows that "Ph" makes the same sound as "F".)

"Even IF your teacher said the limerick you write for your poetry folder can be funny, she did NOT say it could be about bodily functions!"

"See, I told you if you played patty-cake with your boy parts, it would hurt!"

"OW, biting my butt is NOT funny!" (Before anyone falsely accuses Chris, that one was aimed at Wesley.)

I somehow foresee that more and more, these little lists will contain nothing but bathroom humor. ::sigh::

My Littlest Lad

2011-05-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Wesley is ten months old now, and I have to say...this baby is a JOY. He's sweet and cute and funny, and has an impeccable sense of comedic timing. For example, nearly every time I ask him for some kisses and put my cheek up close to his face, he burps. I know, it's a coincidence. But it happens all the time!

There was a time when I thought I'd never have a third child, but Wesley was worth the wait. He's very much the family pet. Gabe adores him. Timothy is finally showing some interest after months of ignoring. And pretty much the worst crime you can commit in this household is making Wesley cry. We're trying hard not to spoil him, but it's an uphill battle, I assure you.

Some Wesley fun facts:

Wesley has many nicknames. Wesley Woo, Wesley Wiggles and Mr. Wigglesworth are the main three, and Gabe generally just calls him "Wiggle". The other day in the car, we had Veggie Tales "Oh, Veggie, Where Art Thou?" blasting, and Wesley was "singing" along with the music. I said, "Sing it, Wesley Woo!" and he immediately launched into falsetto. Gabe turned to the backseat and said, "A little pitchy, Wiggle, a little pitchy!"
If it wasn't obvious from the nicknames, this baby is constant motion. When he sees something he wants, he reaches out both hands and clasps and unclasps them quickly. We call it "Want, want hands".
We're struggling a bit with food allergies with this short person of ours. He's definitely allergic to bananas, and probably several other fruits, milk and possibly eggs. He's due for some allergy testing next month.
After not being mobile and showing little interest in it, Wesley learned to pull up, roll over and crawl in that order, within about a three week period. Now he's into everything. This morning he got into my knitting bag and unwound my yarn.
Outdoorsy baby is outdoorsy. He adores the wind, loves the feel of the grass, and is generally happiest if we play outside.
Up until recently, Wesley was a johnny jump-up fanatic. He didn't just jump, either. He'd back up down the hall, launch himself forward, and pick up both feet so he could swing. The first day he could crawl, he refused to go in the johnny jump-up and hasn't allowed us to put him anywhere near it since!
He's getting great at cruising along with a little help from the furniture. He walks on tiptoe a lot, which is unbearably cute.
Meanie absolutely adores Wesley. He'll let Wesley manhandle him and purr blissfully the entire time. As a result, Wesley learned to say "kitty" before he said "Mama". I see where I am on the list of priorities! Right under "blah", "dada" and "kitty", apparently. He also says "stinky" and "Gabe".

This is how we handle laundry day.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when he learned to pull up before he could roll over.

Bath time is always a hit. We've just transitioned to the big tub, and the occasional bubble bath with Timothy.

My handsome little strawberry blond baby! Tell me he isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen! Go on, I dare you!

A faulty internet connection and a gnat...

2011-04-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

The above-mentioned are the reasons there has been no Wesley blog. Let me explain. The other night, I wrote a blog about Wesley. I spent about a long time selecting pictures, and then tried to upload them. It always takes a long time, which is part of the reason I didn't blog for so long. But in this case, after an hour of uploading, the router glitched and I lost not just the pictures, but the entire blog.

Chris ran to my aid. This could be because he was alarmed by the curses flowing from my lips. Or it could be because he works on computers for a living and likes a challenge. Who knows. As we were bent over my laptop, trying to retrieve what had been lost, a gnat casually flew up my nose. No, I am not kidding. This happens to me ALL THE TIME. I'll be sitting there, minding my own business, and a gnat will fly purposefully toward me and before I can so much as swat at it, the darned thing flies up my nose. I've been complaining about this phenomenon for years now. I'd say it happens two to three times per week, on average. And it's not even like we're overrun with gnats. Ever since a friend told me to topcoat the soil in the houseplants with sand, we hardly ever even see a gnat in the house. But if there is one single one anywhere in a twelve mile radius, it will find me. And fly straight up my nose without hesitation.

Anyway, after years of my complaining, Chris finally saw it happen. He swears he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. But he did. So he laughed. Eventually, he went and got me a kleenex, because I was screeching and flailing. The gnat was not recovered. They never are. Somewhere, deep in my sinus cavity, is a large collection of dead gnats. Chris would like me to state for the record that this is perhaps the most disgusting thing I've ever put on my blog. (It isn't, because if you'll recall, I once regaled you with the exciting tale of how Meanie threw up on my head in the middle of the night.)

Eventually, I will rewrite the Wesley blog. But not now. Now I have to go get a kleenex. Another gnat just flew up my nose. Sadly, I am still not kidding.

My Long-suffering Eldest...

2011-04-18T21:19:00.001-07:00

Next in my kid showcase is Gabe, my eldest. What can I say about Gabe? Let's see...he's eleven years old and starting to tiptoe into the waters of adolescence. He is easily embarrassed by his younger brother at school. For instance, if his younger brother were to come out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles and go up to Gabe to ask for help with his zipper, that would be embarrassing. If Timothy told Gabe's classmates a story about the time he (as a baby) used Gabe's...erm...private parts...as a means of pulling up when they were in the shower together, that would be unspeakably embarrassing. What can I say, the two of them are like oil and water. They know how to push each others' buttons and most days, I should just don a black and white striped shirt, pull out my old lifeguard whistle and start calling their fights. But that is neither here nor there.

Gabe is starting to show interest in girls. Well, girl might be more accurate. He's sensitive and kind toward his poor, outnumbered mama most of the time, and he adores his youngest brother. He would take him to school if he could. He's good at helping around the house, and therefore, completely unwilling to do it. Chris has him mowing the lawn. Let me tell you about how much he likes that.

Gabe fun facts:

He hates his teeth. He won't smile with teeth, and looked so sullen in his school picture that I made him do retakes. Where he looked only slightly less sullen and assured me that look was his best smile.
He hates Justin Bieber. Loathes. Despises. But that has not stopped him from wanting to wear his hair longer, in what is suspiciously like a Bieber haircut. Don't tell him I said that. He'd kill me.
He still has Senior Bear. He still sleeps with Senior Bear. And in the mornings and right before bed, he wears Senior Bear around his neck like a scarf. Don't tell him I said that. He'd kill me.
School is a struggle right now. He loves reading, art, music, PE and hanging out with a certain girl who shall remain nameless. He hates studying. He hates social studies, science and being told what to do by teachers.
Life's goal: To be a writer. He hates to write, but this doesn't seem to dissuade him from writing as a career.

Here he is, practicing archery with his bff. Do boys have bffs? I don't know the answer to this. I'll ask him tomorrow in front of his friends. He'll probably be horribly and unspeakably embarrassed.

Despite not liking school science, he loves real life science. Here he is, balancing some eggs on end.

I told you he wears Senior Bear like a scarf.

Ha! Teeth! Caught him off guard!

He calls Wesley "Wiggles" and Wesley adores him! He used to scare me hauling Wesley around the house and yard, but he hasn't dropped him yet. He did let him fall off a bed the other day, but babies are made of rubber, so there were no major injuries.

Gabe is funny. His sense of humor rivals that of most adults. He is proud of looking like his Popple. He is loving and so stubborn that I sometimes want to strangle him. He is sarcastic. I have no idea where he learned that. Really. He's a good kid, and I don't know what I ever did before I had him around to keep me in line.

My Misunderstood Middle Man

2011-04-16T19:30:00.001-07:00

I wanted to write a blog on each of the boys, to document what they've been up to these days. It seems only natural to start with Timothy, since he is firmly convinced that he is unloved and I seem to spend most of my time trying to prove that I do, in fact, love him. Ah, the life of the middle child!

Timothy is six years old now, and in kindergarten. He reads as well as your average 3rd or 4th grader. He is silly, zany and ridiculous. He is the epitome of a difficult child. He is an accomplished mimic, he adores music, but most of all, he loves to torment his older brother. He really has a talent for it. Above and beyond most siblings, I think. Here are some Timothy fun facts:

Life's goal: To become a jet-setting young music mogul. Yes, these were his exact words. When asked if he knew what that meant, he answered, "Yeah, a rock star. Like Justin Beaver, only a boy."
Tonight he informed me out of the blue, "I like to sit in oatmeal. I pretend I'm a spoon."
He doesn't like to be called by all three names. Upon hearing himself called by his full name, he exclaims, "Aaaaw, MAN! I got all my names filled in!"
He has been receiving phone calls from a girl in his class. The first time she called, he spent a full five minutes on the phone with her before asking, "Who is this, anyway?"
At school, he loves PE, computer, going to first grade for reading and lunch. Lunch especially.
Least favorite school subjects include music and art, which are "boring".

Despite hating music at school, he listens to music nonstop. The Psalty the Singing Songbook series is his current favorite. He recently told me that his favorite song is "I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy, down in my heart! Down in my heart TUESDAY!"
Timothy played soccer last fall. At the end of the season, he had not scored a single goal. This minor fact didn't disturb him in the least, so that's good.

Every now and then, Timothy decides he wants to hold Wesley. It's adorable. It normally lasts four seconds. Sometimes five. Then Wesley pulls Timothy's hair or pinches him or spits up and Timothy screams. I had to take this picture really fast.

This is what most of my current pictures of Timothy look like, unless he doesn't know I'm taking them. I'd say we have 75% silly faces, 20% pouting because I told him to stop making silly faces and 5% candid shots.

He's actually pretty cute when he's not making silly faces or pouting.

Doing a bit of Wii Fit yoga. He only does the one pose, but he does it a lot. Sometimes for an hour at a time. He's going to have very flexible sides, with all the half moon poses.

Timothy is a laugh a minute. He is a joy, he is a trial, and more often than not, he is the bane of my very existence. He has had stitches four times in less than two years. FOUR TIMES. My hair is going to turn gray, and when it does, it will be Timothy's doing. He drives me insane and I love him dearly. Life must have been very dull indeed before Timothy!

A happy little story

2011-04-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there was a precious substance. This substance was known as "free time". There wasn't much of it, especially not around here. Then one day, we had Wesley. He was a good baby. Neigh, a GREAT baby. He was sweet and smiley and happy. But there was one drawback. He didn't sleep during the day. Ever. He was awake 14 hours a day pretty much every day. He slept all night, and that was nice. But at night, I needed to sleep, too. He also liked to be held. A lot. And since he was sweet and smiley and happy...I held him. A lot. This made doing anything else challenging. Free time was nowhere to be found.

Days went by, and then weeks. Wesley grew...

And grew...

And grew some more!

And he was cute. And sweet and smiley and happy. But he still didn't sleep much.

The house grew filthier and filthier, and I despaired. I forgot important things, like sending the kindergarten snack and combing my hair. I looked frazzled. More than usual, even.

And then one day, Wesley started crawling. And then he was sweet and smiley and happy...and MOBILE. The house got cleaned, because it had to be. (Well, and because I threatened the rest of the family within an inch of their lives and forced them to help.) And Wesley was slightly more willing to be on the floor and not be held all the time. And he even occasionally took a nap. Tiny little bits of free time started appearing here and there. I combed my hair and remembered to send the kindergarten snack. And there was much rejoicing.

The end.

Lessons I've learned whilst residing in a wind tunnel...

2011-04-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't live in Oklahoma, I would first like to inform you that it is windy here. Unduly so. That part in the song, "Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain", well let it suffice to say that they are not. even. joking. In fact, "sweeping down the plain is, particularly in the spring, a bit of an understatement. In fact, I think most days the plain is just happy if the wind doesn't sweep it right into another state.

I have now lived in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years. You'd think by now I would have learned everything there is to know, but no, the wind taught me an entire series of lessons today. I present them, for your edification.

1. On a very windy day, bumblebees get tired of the wind. They make seek refuge inside.

2. Five house cats are apt to notice a bumblebee the size of a hummingbird well before you do.

3. Cats who have discovered a large, loud buzzing thing in their house will immediately think it is some new game and give chase.

4. Five house cats giving chase is going to get your attention pretty fast.

5. A large bumblebee who has just been chased by five cats is going to be in a very bad mood. All your attempts to remove it from the house will be met with threats of violence.

6. On any day windy enough to drive a bumblebee indoors, it is not a good idea to try to go outside and clean bunny cages.

7. A 2x4' bunny tray, upon being caught by gale force winds, will come at your face at an alarming rate. In doing so, it will dump its unsavory contents, and in all likelihood, said contents will become an unsavory shower.

8. If you ever have any questions about whether or not you have hay fever and a tray full of dirty hay showers you, you can immediately find out. Hint: If you sneeze 27 times in 5 minutes, the answer is yes. And if you count the sneezes...well, you're probably a little weird.

9. If your back door is not well latched it will blow open with astounding force.

10. If you are bent over directly behind the door when this happens, busy scooping the cat box, it will probably hit you in the backside and propel you face-first into the litter box.

There, you're enlightened! And now I'm going to take another shower.

He calls it...

2010-12-18T18:44:00.001-08:00

Snowman, with pockets!

And he has no idea why Chris and I can't stop laughing!

The Twelve Days of Christmas According To Timothy

2010-12-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

12 Robbers Robbing

11 Diapers Diaping

10 Lords of Leaping

9 Dancers Dancing

8 Macers Milking

7 Swams of Fimming

6 Easily-ing

5 Gold Rings

4 Polly Birds

3 Wrench Hens

2 Turtle Bobs

And a cartridge in a pantry!

Don't be surprised...

2010-12-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

...if you ask a 10-year-old boy to make an out of order sign for the microwave and later come in to find THIS taped to the offending appliance:

Two more things I never expected to say

2010-11-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

"My butt is NEVER base!"

"Only the bathroom and your own room are zoned for farting on purpose. All farts occurring in other rooms must be accidental."

Ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!

2010-10-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Every fall brings new and exciting times, and lots of changes. Maybe because I have an infant, or maybe just because, the changes seem to be coming fast and thick this fall. So, in no particular order...

Wesley is loving his johnny jump up. He's a good little bouncer.Both boys are playing soccer. Gabe is on Team Tsunami.

Wesley is a big fan of soccer. Except when he isn't. Here he is, wearing a hat I made for him.

Timothy got glasses for reading. He jumped about a grade level when he got them. This means that he's reading on about a third grade level. Smarty pants. Over-achiever.

Cute baby is cute. I mean, he's always been cute, but I think he's getting cuter.

Our annual picture outside the Grissom playground. This year I have three boys and two of them are Grissom students.

Wesley is growing and changing faster than you can even imagine. He doesn't quite have sitting up down yet, but he's getting there.

A week ago, Gabe graduated from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Where does the time go?

Here he is with the ceremony team and his Arrow of Light.

Yes, he's almost as tall as me. Don't remind me!

Also new and different, Gabe got contacts.

Yes, he still looks a lot like his Popple.

More soccer. Timothy is on the Comets.

As you can see, he's making new friends!

Here's another cute one of Wesley. Just because.

Wesley's eyes...

2010-09-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

...are a deep, beautiful blue, and they gaze with wonder at the world around him. However, after this week we finally have an answer regarding whether or not he has ocular albinism like Timothy, and it wasn't the answer we wanted to hear.

At almost eight weeks, he developed significant nystagmus (wiggly eyes, for lack of a better explanation) and we were pretty sure he did indeed have the disorder. A trip to the pediatric ophthalmologist confirmed our fears.

So what does this mean for our family, and especially for Wesley? Those of you who know Timothy will agree with me that he hardly "suffers" from ocular albinism. He's a very normal 5-year-old boy in many ways, and well above average in terms of intelligence. I know I'm his mom and I would say that if he were a dull-witted little twit, but trust me, he isn't. He's a sharp-witted little twit, in fact! When we compare Timothy's babyhood with Wesley's, there are a lot of significant differences. For one thing, Wesley's eyes are responsive to light. His pupils dilate and contract normally, and he flinches at bright lights. Timothy had extremely slow and reduced dilation and contraction of his pupils, and did not respond at all to bright lights when he was an infant. For another thing, the nystagmus developed much later in Wesley than it did in Timothy. Finally, Wesley smiles. Timothy didn't smile until he was much older because babies who don't see don't know to mirror their parents' smiles.

We think, and our doctors agree, that Wesley is seeing objects, if only roughly. He can follow toys or people with his eyes somewhat, and his smiles tell us that he does see us. We're hoping this means that he will be even less affected by his abnormal genes than Timothy is, and may have near-normal vision in time. And really, it is only time that will tell. We are full of hope for his future, full of joy at being given such a sweet, wonderful baby, and full of thankfulness for every single smile.

Boys will be boys!

2010-08-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today I was in Wesley's room changing his diaper, and Timothy followed me in to keep me company. While I was busy with the baby, he was examining my breast pump. I typically feed Wesley in the rocker in the nursery, and Timothy is typically pretty clueless even when I'm feeding Wesley elsewhere. So I was a little surprised to hear, "Mama, where does the milk come out when you feed Wesley?"

I considered this question for a while and then answered as clearly as I could. "It comes out of my nipples, Timothy."

There was a moment of stunned disbelief, followed by peals of laughter. Before I could stop him, Timothy ran from the room, laughing hysterically. "Gabe, Gabe, guess what?" he shouted. "Mama can squirt milk out of her NIPPLES!"

Throughout the course of the day, he shared this information with Chris and then with our waiter at dinner. I have a feeling come Monday, I might be getting a call from his kindergarten teacher.

Introducing...

2010-07-26T14:10:00.001-07:00

My newest little savage, Wesley Joseph. OK, I know he's not very savage-looking at the moment, but I seem to recall both his brothers looking this sweet and innocent at one point and you see how they've turned out! I'm a little behind in posting...he was born June 29th at 10:01pm. He weighed 6lbs. 13 oz. and was 21 in. long. He'll be four weeks old tomorrow and he's still a little shrimp. He's up to about 7.5lbs. This makes him a few ounces under what Timothy was when he was born, and more than two pounds less than Gabe's birth weight. Yes, that's pounds. I keep telling him he'd better get to growing if he's going to keep up with the big boys!

Another Question I Never Expected To Ask...

2010-06-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

And the strange answer I received...

Should you ever wake up one morning and stick your head into your sons' room on your way into the kitchen for coffee, and should you be forced to ask the five-year-old, "Son, why is the tip of your weewee sticking out of the top of your shorts?", you should be prepared that the answer might be, "So I can make sure no bugs crawl on it!"

You should also not be surprised if the five-year-old in question sees nothing odd about ensuring this little bit of peace of mind for his most prized possession.

Spring pictures and new hair

2010-05-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

I have to publicly admit something. My sister was right. She's been urging me to cut my hair. I didn't really want to cut my hair. But I did it anyway because I listen to my sister. Sometimes. Occasionally. Once every ten years or so. Anyway, today I went and got a drastic haircut.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it. It's very light, it'll still go up in a very small ponytail, and I've been told it makes me look younger. Also, Chris can no longer roll over on it and pin me to the bed in the middle of the night. I'm also pretty sure that for the next week or so, I'm going to use WAY too much shampoo when I wash it.

In case anyone wondered, this is also doubling as a belly shot. Here's the Dread Bump Wesley at 31 weeks and some change. Eight months. Gah!! I should be working on his room. Or his quilt! Or his...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw, cute dog! Now I will take some deep breaths and calm down. Yes, this is Buster, resident Sheep. Oops, I mean dog. But doesn't he look like sheep? And the back yard definitely looks like a pasture!

Finally, my peonies bloomed today! I promised my dear friend, Wendy, who lives in Texas in a land of no peonies, that I'd post some pictures since they are her favorite flower!

Now, if only I could put the smell on my blog! Mmmmmm!

Disturbing announcements made by my children

2010-04-27T18:27:00.001-07:00

Timothy came to me in a state of great excitement today to say that he now knows that "peanut butter does NOT have the pee in it like when you go to the bathroom, it's a different kind of pea". I am now left to ponder the disturbing thought that he's believed that it does contain pee like when you go to the bathroom all this time, and yet he still ate it.

Another list of things I never thought I'd have to say before I had kids...

2010-04-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

1. No, I'm NOT going on The Biggest Loser because I am NOT obese, I'm pregnant!

2. You're right that it was never a rule before, but from here on out, please consider "do not put the cat in a crate and push him down the slide" to be one of our house rules!

3. Do I even want to know why this week's laundry contained 13 pairs of your socks, but only 4 pairs of your underpants?

4. It takes months and months, and the right conditions, to make wine! You are NOT making wine in my kitchen! Now be quiet and eat your grapes!!

5. No one is allowed to wear the toilet plunger as a hat. I don't care if your brother did it last week.

6. Are you sitting on my orange? (In the kids' defense, this was directed at the cat, and yes she was. I washed it and ate it anyway. I was hungry.)

It is a disturbing fact that numbers 2-6 were all uttered by me today.

A post about poop...

2010-04-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd share this disturbing story from yesterday. Timothy came out around bedtime holding a large sponge and looking sheepish. He announced to his father that he was done cleaning his shelf and could he please have dessert now. I looked up from my knitting and asked the seemingly innocent question, "What was wrong with your shelf?"

Timothy grinned rather wickedly and stated, "It was covered in poop! Daddy said I had to clean it up before I could have dessert."

My mouth dropped open and I turned to Chris. "You had him cleaning up poop? He's not old enough to do that by himself? What was it, cat poop?"

Chris said, "Nope, not cat poop."

This gave me pause. I finally worked up the nerve to ask, "Was it human poop?" I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to that one, really.

"Not exactly," was Chris' reply.

It took me a while to get the full story, but the long and short of it is that Chris had gone into the boys' room for something and discovered that Timothy had written the word "poop" no less than 20 times all over his white bookshelves in various shades of crayon. As Timothy later explained, "There was red poop and blue poop and orange poop...all the colors of poop."

It would be better if Timothy never knows how hard we laughed when he was safely in bed.

A difficult age...

2010-03-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

Mother confession of the day: five is not my favorite age. Timothy suddenly knows everything. It's all black and white, and surprise! He's always right. His favorite way to pass time is to ask questions to which he already knows the answers. This past week, we were over at Mom's house so I could do some sewing. He was coming into the sewing room about every 30 seconds or so to require that I choose the next color for his craft project. Finally, in complete exasperation at being asked for the 4,000th time what color of paper should come next I responded, "I would like the color of paper that means you won't come back into the sewing room for a long time."

He looked at me coldly and then said in his iciest tones, "Well, that would be pink!" before stomping off.

Spring...ish

2010-03-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Spring has come to Oklahoma! Or...we thought it had. These pictures were taken the day before yesterday. Blue skies, happy birds, flowers blooming...well, we'll ignore for the moment what happened yesterday (snow!) and just enjoy these, shall we?

Here's a pair of finches on one of my feeders. It's hard to tell from the back-lit pictures, but they're purple finches. I've got lots of purple and red ones this year. It's really funny to see the males fighting over the feeders!

It's hard to get a good picture through the front window, but I tried.

My daffodils are in full bloom.

I just love these cheerful little flowers!

Point of interest: a female downy woodpecker has been visiting our feeder. Some woodpeckers do eat berries and such...but more perplexing still is the mockingbird! I haven't managed to photograph the mocker, but it's pretty funny to watch because he's HUGE. Much too big for the feeders!

Now, please stay tuned for today's pictures of Timothy building a snowman. ::sigh::

I have great friends...

2010-03-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

I also have a lot of cats. Please excuse the fact that the cats insisted on being part of my pictures!

Yesterday I got a mysterious box in the mail. It was a familiar address...I've ordered spindles from Jesh in the past and if you're in need of a spindle, she's who I'd recommend! But in this case, I hadn't ordered a spindle. I explained this to Chris as I opened the package. I explained it repeatedly. For some reason, he didn't seem to believe me...

When I opened the box, a marvelous sight met my eyes. The mysterious package contained a blanket. Not just any blanket, either. A blanket made by my friends from Ravelry, friends from all around the world, many of whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting! Here it is, the Love Blanket:

The pictures don't do it justice. Each and every block is amazing and unique and beautifully knitted or crocheted by people who care about me. As you can see, Boris approves.

Miss Mouse also approves. So do Moses and Jack. I'm having to fight for the use of my new blanket, but the upside of this is that every time I sit down, I immediately have a kitty or three on my lap!

Now, for the mushy part...to all of you who had a part in making me this lovely gift, THANK YOU!!! I can't even begin to put into words how much it warms my heart to have so many good friends scattered throughout the world. I will treasure this gift, and the thought behind it.

(Timothy, not unlike the cats, has to make his way into as many pictures as possible.)

Introducing...

2010-02-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

The Dread Bump Wesley! Yes, as most of you probably already know, we're having another boy. And yes, his first name is Wesley, my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Middle name is yet undecided, but the Princess Bride jokes already abound. These ultrasound pictures are from today, at 21 weeks and 2 days. He's around 14 oz and looks healthy. He also looks an awful lot like Timothy, but maybe that's just me. Chris is pretty sure you can't see family resemblance in ultrasound pictures.

I've hesitated to post, but I'm going to go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Yes, because he's a boy, he has a 50% chance of having the same genetic disorder that affects Timothy's vision. We had a few hard days after we found out we're having another boy (we've known for about three weeks now) but I'm choosing not to worry about what I can't control. I hope that doesn't sound flippant. To put it in perspective, sometimes I have to choose this 8 or 10 times an hour. The good news is that the baseline vision for boys with ocular albinism tends to run in families. We have one high-functioning boy with the disorder. If Wesley has it, he'll probably have about the same amount of vision that Timothy has. For those of you who know Timothy, you'll realize this is great news. For those who haven't met him...well, let's just say that you probably wouldn't know he has a vision issue if we hadn't told you. And we also have another son with perfectly normal vision. That could happen, too. For today, I'm choosing to be happy about how much fun I had watching our healthy 3rd son wiggle around and give the ultrasound tech fits as she tried to get a clear picture of him. I'm choosing to giggle over Timothy telling her that it's a brother and that he gets to boss the baby around because he's the BIG brother. I'm choosing to stick to my firm belief that he looks like Timothy.

I'm also choosing to be absolutely in love with these little feet. Aren't baby feet the very best? I've already completed a pair of booties and a pair of tiny socks for this pair, and now I'm off to dig for yarn to start another pair. Every baby needs a pair of hand-knit socks for every month of the year, right?

The Craft Cupboard That Devoured My House

2010-01-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Pregnancy hormones have kicked in and turned me from a relatively normal, rational person (OK, that's a bit of a stretch, I'll admit) into a Crazy Person Who Must Organize. Please note the capital letters. Why having a baby means I have to clean out and organize the entire house, I can't quite tell you, except that my friend Kat pointed out that afterward, I won't have time to clean or organize anything again for at least a couple of years. So I decided yesterday evening to clean out the Craft Cupboard. Again, note the capital letters.

After Chris and I got together, he was annoyed at the fact that I had weird, deep shelves in the end of my hall. They were far too deep for bookshelves (although that's what I using them for at the time) and we have a linen closet in the bathroom, so their original purpose remains a mystery. But since they annoyed him, he built cabinet doors for them, and the Craft Cupboard was born. For seven-odd years since, random items that have no other home have gradually accumulated there. My Scrapbook Habit lives there, as do my patterns, buttons, beads, glue, ribbon, glitter, fun foam and any other bit of leftover or clearanced something-or-other that I thought might be useful. Here I should note that my fabric lives with my mother. That is not, as you might think, so that Chris doesn't find out about it and die of the shock of my combined accumulated yarn and fabric stashes. I'm sure I have other reasons. I'll get back to you on that.

Anyway, the Craft Cupboard somehow managed to avoid detection during the Great Clean-out prior to Timothy's birth, so why I thought I could clean it out in one evening is a great mystery. Even greater than why my fabric lives with my mom. I spent six hours in there last night. That is how long it took for me to get one shelf cleared and organized, and to be able to find my bed again. Because when I opened those handy cabinet doors, the Craft Cupboard devoured my house. My entire house. No room was safe. We're still hoping the missing cats turn up before it digests them.

All this leaves me wondering...is there a 12-step program for multi-crafters? Should I seek professional help? If I should disappear, you'll all have this blog to witness what will have happened to me. My craft habit will have eaten me alive!

Horror Story

2010-01-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved all creatures great and small...all creatures, that is, except possums. For her, possums were the epitome of horror. They were ginormous rats, R.O.U.S.es, even. And so she lived in peace, without any possums.

One day she ventured forth in the snow to take out the trash. In the driveway next to her yard she could see an animal. It moved oddly and appeared to be injured. So of course she approached to see if she could help. Only it wasn't an animal. It was a POSSUM. In broad daylight, a possum! Eeeeek!

So she ran for her life and called her husband at work and announced they were moving. And her husband was amused and told her the possum would not hurt her. Eventually, she worked up the nerve to follow the possum, along with her sidekick, Dynamite the cat. Thanks to a fantastic zoom lens, she got a glimpse of the possum.

If you look very carefully between the gate and the bottom of the house, you will see a little curl. That is a possum tail. ::runs away screaming in terror::

OK, I'm back. Anyway, the girl now lives in constant terror of possum attack. Especially since her dog has started spending his days trying to dig under the shed in the backyard, or sitting and growling menacingly at whatever is under it. And she is afraid to go out to dump the compost, which is behind the shed, or to let her children play outside.

The End...for now.

Let us hope this horror story doesn't have a sequal.

One of these things is not like the others?

2010-01-18T20:09:00.001-08:00

What does this very random grouping of photos have in common, you might ask. Believe it or not, they DO have something in common. All of these photos are ones I've promised various people I'd post. All but one. This first one. I just thought it was cute.

So, for Emmms, here's the advent calendar my mom made us. I couldn't get a closer one to come out clearly, but you get the idea! You could make one, I'm sure of it!

Next, here's a four leaf clover I found right before Christmas, while I was out cleaning the bunny cages. Luck of the Irish and all that.

Mom, here's the picture of the boys in their Christmas jammie pants. They're already asking if I'm making teeny pants for the baby next Christmas to match all theirs!

Here are the icicles from the snow storm(s). Pretty ironic when you can't take down your icicle lights due to icicles!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my new camera? Timothy's class forced bulbs at school, and when I started to take a picture, my camera automatically went to flower setting. SO COOL!

Heather, here's a picture of how the Librarian is getting along with the rest of his furry family. Clearly, Miss Mouse has accepted him.

Last but not least, here's a bump picture for everyone who has asked that I post one. It was taken today, at 16 weeks. I know it's not much of a bump. Believe me, it feels a lot bigger than it looks!

Belated holiday pictures

2010-01-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from last month. The good news is that now I not only know how to use the new camera (more or less) but I also know how to rotate pictures from my laptop. We'll all hope this means more consistent blogs.

Right before Christmas, we went downtown with our friends Javier and Sonia and tried out the ice skating rink. We picked a great night. The outside temp was in the low 50s, and we didn't freeze waiting in line for our skates! Here we are with the giant tree.

Chris figured out the timer on the camera! Group shot!

Javi and Chris put on their skates...

While Timothy waits, semi-patiently.

So here's where the score stood: Gabe and I are experienced ice skaters. Chris admits to having skated a few times in childhood, and later recalled that he stopped because he wasn't very good at it. Javier, Sonia and Timothy had never skated before.

Here are the boys, ready for action.

Javier and Sonia, on the ice. They look like pros, don't they?

Timothy wasn't doing so well skating with Chris. It turned out he needed a little direction. Once I told him to move his feet one at a time and not at the same time, he did a very good job skating. It was still exhausting, trying to keep him upright.

Gabe was much easier to skate with. We had an arrangement. If he fell, I was letting go of his hand to avoid going down with him. If I fell, I was going to try to land on him to cushion my fall. Luckily, we didn't have to test this arrangement.

Everyone but Gabe and me gave up before too long. It was pretty crowded and I didn't blame them.

The lights were really pretty.

Downtown lights and Christmas lights!

One last shot of the pretty blue trees

And of course, the giant Nutcracker!

We had a really good time and will probably go again next year, if they set up the rink again. But if we do, I think I'll make Chris bring a few pillows to strap on him for padding!

Some projects and a funny

2010-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

I know, it's been too long between posts again. This time I have a good excuse. Growing a real, live human is hard work. This one seems to be taking my few remaining brain cells, too. So you'll have to bear with me!

Anyway, here are some projects I worked on for Christmas. Mom had a great pattern for little zippered bags and we managed to whip out quite a few. I gave one to each of the boys' teachers, which is five altogether!

This one was my favorite, and not just because it had my initial!

Here they are, all together! They were fun to make and I can't wait to make more. I might have accidentally started three quilts in the meantime. Might. Have I mentioned that being pregnant makes me want to do everything at once despite the fact that I have no energy?

Now, for the funny. Timothy and Moses the cat have a weird sibling rivalry thing going on. I regularly have to mediate arguments between them. Moses is always saying insulting things, according to Timothy, and Timothy is mean and won't let Moses eat off his plate. At least, that's what they each tell me. But that's in the daytime hours. Night is different. Clearly.

Yes, we were trying to give the cats their flea prevention and couldn't find Moses. It turns out that all those evenings he was missing (read: not tormenting the other cats), he was curled up with Timothy. Timothy claims Moses keeps the bad dreams away. Moses just knows Timothy has the warmest room in the house!

A brief moment of duh...

2009-12-14T06:49:00.001-08:00

I should be showering, but instead I'm sitting here at the computer because of what Timothy just said to me. As I was doing the breakfast dishes, he walked up to me and said, "Know what, Mama? I have an invisible friend! Do you know where he is?"

"No, Timothy," I replied, "where is he?"

There was a long pause followed by an exasperated reply. "No, I'm asking you where he is. I can't find him because he's invisible!"

I really should have seen that one coming.

Christmas music

2009-12-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

My music-loving kid, Timothy, has been learning some Christmas songs at school. This was a huge relief, because to tell the truth, if I have to hear "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" just one more time...

Anyway, he was singing them in the car for me today. His favorite is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". Unfortunately, he doesn't have all the words exactly dead-on. He starts off with, "You'd better watch out, you better not kraut! You better not pout I'm telling you why..." I blame Chris' obsession with bratwurst and sauerkraut.

The spirit of the season?

2009-11-30T10:04:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I sat down with the kids to try to get an idea of what their Christmas wishes might be. In their favor, neither of them has really asked for much lately. I appreciate that, but it makes Christmas shopping hard. So Gabe got out a notebook and pencil, and we sat down to write lists.

Gabe's list contained several toys and games. Fine, they were all reasonable. Then he wrote down one that wasn't. "Internet access" Um, no. His uncle, who was on the phone with Chris at the time, quipped, "Why not ask for a car, too?" Don't tempt him, Jon, don't tempt him.

Timothy's list...well, there isn't a whole lot I can do with that. He wants the following items: bug spray so he can kill bugs by himself, air freshener for his room, which he informs me smells "beige", Mozilla Firefox (I'm 100% sure he has NO idea what this is, it just sounded neat), a laptop, a game system, movies on video that we already own on dvd, and a book about Santa Clause feeding some animals. Let's just say he's not going to get much on his list. The good news is that being four, he won't remember what he asked for next week. At least, I sincerely hope he won't!

The usual delays

2009-11-25T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, not the usual ones. More like some new and innovative ones that have kept me from blogging in the last week. Exhibit A: Timothy fell on the playground at school and ended up with five stitches in his chin. Pictures to follow, as soon as I dump the camera card.

Exhibit B: Morning sickness. Not serious morning sickness, and hey, it waited till I was 8 weeks pregnant to start, so maybe it'll be short-lived. Meanwhile, I spend a lot of my time sitting around feeling queasy and tired.

Speaking of the baby, the kids were discussing in the car last week what we should name the baby. Gabe is in favor of deciding on a boy and a girl name right away and then we'll be ready when we find out what we're having. He suggested that John was a good name and would fit with his and Timothy's names, being from the Bible. I told him we'd consider it. Then Timothy piped up solemnly, "Yes, and if it's a daughter, then we can name it Nick."

He was quite disappointed when I told him that was not going to happen. And both kids were disappointed to hear that they don't get a vote in naming the baby. I just don't want to end up with a daughter named Nick Spike John.

Friends

2009-11-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

These pictures are more than two months old, but I've been meaning to post them, so why not? Since late summer, we've been enjoying the return of our dear friends, Javier and Sonia, to Tulsa. We've spent a lot of weekends with them, mostly just hanging around. And eating. There is a lot of eating when we get together. Not sure why that is. Friendship must make us hungry. Anyway, this was back in September, and the boys were goofing off outside while we were waiting for the Driller Stadium fireworks. It's a little surprising the Little Tyke car survived, because it's practically an antique. But here are all three of my boys riding it, while Nick (Javi's son) looks on, probably waiting for the whole thing to collapse.

This was just a cute picture of Timothy. No other reason for posting it.

Like any self-respecting Drillers fans, we preferred to watch the fireworks from the Lowe's parking lot, along with everyone else to poor or too uninterested in the baseball game to pay admission to the stadium. Gabe and Nick had the best seats in the house.

Ooooooooooooooo! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Chris has decided there must be one picture of me from every set. Here it is.

Just another sunset

2009-11-16T06:09:00.000-08:00

After an unseasonably cold October, we had a gorgeous beginning to November. There's nothing quite like Indian summer, and around here, it tends to result in really spectacular sunsets. I'm no photographer, and my pathetic little point-and-shoot and I have a love/hate relationship. Actually, it might be more of a hate/hate relationship. Anyway, this is the best I could do with the sunset we saw coming home from Mom and Dad's house the other night.

I really did try to get a shot with no power lines in it, but this one was probably the best picture, despite the distractions.

A new arrival...

2009-11-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

This time it isn't a cat.

At least...I don't think it's a cat. It's pretty hard to tell at this point.

Heart attack at a glance...

2009-11-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

I looked out the window and for a moment, I thought Boris had been injured. Nope, Timothy colored him pink with sidewalk chalk! Crisis averted!

Zombies and other killer things in my neighborhood

2009-11-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

It's a well-known fact that the man at the end of my street is a zombie. For one thing, although he is at least 60 years old and lives alone, he feels the need to come out at odd intervals of the night throughout the year to set off fireworks. I think he's trying to cause enough confusion and chaos that no one will notice if he eats a few people. For another thing, he has a bumper sticker that says "Got Brains?". And lastly, when I lost my cool last summer and stomped down the street in my pajamas to yell at him for waking my children with fireworks yet again, there was this odd smell of rotting flesh. He tried to tell me it was because everyone had trash out on the curb, but I didn't buy it.

Anyway, it's a weird neighborhood. I mentioned earlier that poison ivy attacked me over the summer. And I think I also mentioned the tomato plant that is trying to take over. Here it is in all its glory. I'm really not sure this shows the magnitude of this tomato plant, but it's roughly ten feet in diameter, and still growing. I didn't intend to have a tomato plant in my flower bed. The plant assures me that's part of its mystery and charm.

These are some of its offspring. They are delicious. Well, except for the one that was rotten and erupted like a volcano in my kitchen when I snapped the stem off. That one was NOT delicious.

And while we're on the subject of killer plants, meet mine and Gabe's favorite tree.

One morning on the way to school, Gabe asked if I'd ever noticed that the tree appeared to be trying to strangle the light pole. I hadn't, up till then. Gabe is pretty sure the tree is tired of being kept awake by the light at night. What do you think?

Doing our civic duty...

2009-11-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the Tulsa mayoral election. Our polling place is very close to the house, and is usually pretty slow in the mid-afternoon, so I typically go after I pick Gabe up from school and take both kids with me. Gabe is getting older and is more interested in how the government runs, so he wanted to know what we were voting for on the way inside. I told him we were voting for who would be mayor, but I failed to mention that there were a couple of other things on the ballot. He stood and read over my shoulder as I filled out my ballot for mayor, city counselor and several propositions.

Fast forward to this morning. Chris is off work for Veteran's Day and he generously offered to take Gabe to school. OK, that's a lie. When the alarm went off, I "accidentally" shoved him bodily from the bed and then mumbled, "Since you're already up, wanna take Gabe for me?" At any rate, on the way to school this morning, they were listening to the news report on the election. "Daddy," said Gabe, "What prepositions did you and Mama vote for anyway?" I feel that it would be best, when he gets home from school, if I explained to him that his father's answers of "About, For and With" might not be fully accurate.

What I did over my summer vacation

2009-11-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

There is really no fast way to catch up on months of blog neglect. Especially if you are like me and can't for the life of you figure out how to flip pictures so that blog readers don't throw out their necks turning their heads to look at the pictures. But I digress.

I decided it would be easiest just to post some random assortments of pictures. And by the way, my use of the word "vacation" might have been a little sarcastic. Moms don't get vacations. They don't get sick leave or overtime, either. I tried standing in the living room with a sign demanding fair treatment, but no one even noticed, so I gave up.

First off, I grew some things. These are peas. The best peas you'd ever hope to eat. And I grew them. If you want your kids to eat vegetables with enthusiasm, try having them help grow them. Amazing!

I also spent a lot of time cleaning bunny cages, brushing bunnies, carting bunnies outside for play time, trying to catch bunnies when they sneakily opened their cages and escaped into my kitchen, and made disgusting oooooing and aaaaahing noises over how cute they are. Knit sleeps on his back with his giant furry feet in the air, but I haven't caught it with the camera yet.

My children also spent a fair amount of time communing with Knit. They know better than to get too close to Purl. We're fairly certain she descended from the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In other words, she's slightly evil.

Then my friend Kat, known among certain circles as "Kat the Enabler", taught me to dye yarn. It was fun. REALLY fun. Here is some sock yarn I dyed. I call it...Hubba Bubba. Am I dating myself? I loved that gum!

At some point, this creature adopted me. Her name is Maura. She weighs all of five pounds, has only three working legs, and is The Boss. When Maura meows, you listen. I find that letting her run the household saves a lot of unnecessary worry. Plus, my children obey her far better than they obey me.

As you can see, I grew some more stuff. These were my herbs somewhere mid-summer. The small tomato plant below has since made a play for domination and taken over the front yard. I should really take a picture, because I'm not kidding. One day, my house will just be the big lump covered in tomato vine. However, I'm not complaining because we've had LOTS of tomatoes.

Kat was involved in this activity as well. She taught me to spin. I've always wanted to learn, and I'd been saving for a wheel. For my birthday, Mom, Dad and Pawpaw conspired to get me my own wheel. I also need a picture of that. Because this is apparently the only part of my wheel that I photographed. Odd.

And then I grew some stuff. This is a heap of mixed greens. It was delicious. We ate pretty well this summer, considering my garden tried to kill me. (It gave me poison ivy that landed me in the ER. Twice. And no, I wasn't trying to grow poison ivy. It's a long story.)

I would like to say I grew this, but I didn't. The birds did. I have very helpful finches.

I made some pickles, using my grandma's recipe. My cucumbers didn't do very well, but my cousin donated some cucumbers to the cause. I enjoyed making them, even if the smell of the brine caused Timothy to walk around with his shirt over his face for an entire day.

So, that was my summer vacation, the highlights. Yes, I realize I turned into a hippie. I didn't mean to, if that counts for anything.

If my cats don't hate me yet...

2009-11-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's probably a miracle.

I truly don't know what possesses me sometimes. Poor Meanie.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

I truly don't mean to go months between posts. I don't. It just happens. I've had so many gentle reminders (from my two remaining readers!) in the recent past, I finally dumped the camera card and here I am. We are big fans of Where the Wild Things Are. The book more so than the movie, but we did take the kids to see the movie, too. So it came as no surprise when Timothy expressed interest in owning a wolf suit. Unfortunately, because the movie came out so close to Halloween, no wolf suits could be located. What's a mother to do? The answer is take a trip to the fabric store and beg her own mother for help! Gabe decided he would be a Wild Thing (not a big stretch for those of you who know him!) and we were set!

Mom helped me a lot with Timothy's costume, especially the hood, which was a little tricky. I managed Gabe's by myself. Both boys had knitted fun fur tails. Here they are showing them off, with Boris doing his best to roar his own terrible roar, gnash his terrible teeth, roll his terrible eyes and show his terrible claws. Or, you know, just sit there and beg for attention.

Here I am with the Wild Things.

My friend Lena goes all out for Halloween, so we had to stop by and see her house. Here are the boys, posing with her she-wolf!

This is how the evening ended. Timothy enjoyed trick-or-treating in Mom and Dad's neighborhood for about an hour, and then he was done, so I took him back to the house to hang out with the grandparents and eat some candy while Gabe and Chris went back for more. It was rather a warm evening, for Halloween, so Timothy ended up shedding his fleece once inside. I guess Chris was feeling left out...

The head sprouting from his back is NOT part of the original costume. I don't have my sister's eye for photography, clearly!

Trying to win some fabric...

2009-09-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

My mom is having a give-away for her blogiversary, so I'm posting for an extra chance to win. If you want to see her beautiful quilts (and maybe a shot or two of my adorable-albeit-slightly-evil kids), click on the word "Mom" under blogs I read!

The Five Senses

2009-09-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

Lest this become the world's most depressing blog, I have a kidlet story. Today when I picked Timothy up from preschool, we were talking about his day as we drove to Gabe's school. I knew his class has been studying the body, so I asked if they were still talking about the five senses in group time. With a little help, I got him to name sight, hearing, touch, smell...but he was struggling on the last one. At last, he said, "Oh, I know! It's temptation!"

Trying to keep a straight face I said, "I think you might mean taste."

"No," he insisted, "it's temptation! Like, if there is a cake on the counter and you would like to eat some but you haven't had your dinner yet, you should probably wait till after dinner! That's temptation!"

You can't argue with that kind of logic!

Beautiful Weeds...

2009-08-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

I had a dream about my granny last night, and I can't stop thinking about it today. In my dream, Granny and I were sitting at a roadside park. We were on a trip together, and we had stopped to rest. It was a perfect spring day, and although Granny was beautiful and healthy, like I remember her from my childhood, I knew in the dream that she was going to die, and that this was the last time I was going to see her. We were talking about flowers. I asked her if she remembered the blue flowers that used to grow around her house when I was a little girl. They bloomed in the morning and then closed up for the rest of the day, and I thought they were the most beautiful flowers in the world. I used to pick them and bring them inside, but they would close up and never open again. I tried to press or dry them, but they lost all their lovely cornflower blue and just shriveled up. I even tried taking pictures of them, but the pictures never showed their true color. I asked Granny in my dream why she thought it was that I could never preserve them when I was a child. She answered, "Because it's against the rules, Honey. We don't get to stop time to enjoy the beauty we find in life. We don't get to keep it forever. We're just supposed to enjoy it as much as we can while we have it because it never lasts very long."

That's what my life is: a series of lovely weeds. The things I plant don't always grow, but there are plenty of flowers anyway, just waiting for me to stumble upon them. I wish I'd had more time with my grandmas. It doesn't seem fair that they're both gone. But I have so many memories of the things they said, the things we did together and the times I spent with them. I have the most beautiful field full of wildflowers in my memory.

The makings of a memory...

2009-08-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

It's been another sad week for my family. My grandma passed away suddenly on Saturday morning, and we've all been dealing with the grief related to losing someone so dear to us. I thought I should write about Grandma and what she meant to me. We each knew her a little differently...each relationship was unique.

Grandma was a quiet, peaceful person. When I was a kid, walking into her house was like being wrapped up in a cozy blanket. She lived in the country, and I looked forward to exploring the woods, playing with my cousin who lived down the road, and working in the garden. I guess being raised in the city meant that I never had to work in the garden long enough for it to become a chore. I remember sitting on the back steps in the evenings, snapping green beans. I remember the way scratches from the blackberry bushes stung when I rinsed them in the pump, and how good that well water tasted on a hot day. I remember Grandma and Mom in the kitchen, canning vegetables from the garden or cooking a meal. Grandma always made my birthday dinner when we were there. She would make whatever I wanted, and I think I usually asked for pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and green beans. It was always delicious.

Grandma loved animals. I remember her having several cats throughout the years, and she always fed the birds. Her yard is full of bird feeders and nest boxes, and we had a lot of conversations about what birds had visited her feeders. As an adult, I always called her with my gardening questions. We also shared a love of African violets, peonies and irises.

Needle crafts were another hobby we shared. Grandma was an excellent seamstress, and spent many evening hours stitching away on quilts, embroidery and crochet projects. Maybe that's where I get my "crafty" gene.

The day Grandma went to be with the Lord I went to a dear friend's house, and when I walked in she was pulling jars of dill pickles out of a stock pot. That about summed it up for me. Grandma was the smell of dill, the way those pickles looked in the jars, and the impatience I felt waiting the required six weeks before opening them. She was fresh spearmint from the garden in a glass of iced tea. She was quiet summer evenings and beautiful handmade quilts. She has left a big hole in the lives of all of us who knew her, but I know that when we get to heaven, she'll have a meal ready, and beds made up with beautiful quilts. I hope that she has a garden where weeds never grow and every pretty bird there is.

When kids are literal...

2009-07-10T14:48:00.001-07:00

The other night, Chris made stuffed bell peppers for dinner. There were two green ones, a red, a yellow and an orange. He gave Gabe first choice (yes, I know, my kids are really weird and will eat stuffed peppers!) and he chose orange. Of course, Timothy then wanted orange, too, but we didn't have another orange one. I gave him a yellow one and told him, "This one has your name on it!"

Skip forward 45 minutes, and Timothy is STILL at the table. This is unusual. He normally inhales his food in under 10 minutes. So I went back to check on him and he was dejectedly clearing his empty plate. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I ate all my dinner," he replied, "but I couldn't find my name written on my pepper."

2009-07-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a while...OK, a looooong while...and it's hard to get back on the blog wagon. To tell the truth, this is a blog I've been working and reworking in my mind for a while, and just can't seem to get it out. As most of you probably know, my granny passed away on June 19. I don't know how I can possibly express in one blog just how much she meant to me, but I'm going to try anyway.

Granny was beautiful, kind, and had a wicked sense of humor. She bought me my first bikini and my first miniskirt, and somehow managed to convince my dad to let me wear both. I think she enjoyed his discomfort, actually. When I was a kid, I knew her as a Story Teller, and the Keeper of Secrets. Andrea and I always thought we were pulling a fast one on her when we'd get her to tell one story after the other at bedtime. Now I realize she was well aware that we were getting to stay up late, but telling us stories was important to her, so she did it. As an adult, I saw more in her stories, and came to know her as someone who lived through some really hard times and refused to let life take away her sense of fun. She had a smile that was irresistible.

I think that most of my favorite stories will always be the ones that involve Granny, and I hope I remember them well. I'll never tell them quite like she did, but my kids will hear them. Most likely, they'll hear them until they begin to roll their eyes every time I start talking. But hopefully, someday they'll look back and remember the stories, and tell them to their own children. Who will roll their eyes. Because that's how it works.

Delana's little cupcake

2009-04-19T21:44:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I posted any knitting projects, so I thought I'd put this one up. Just finished it today. My friend Delana, who has four sons, is pregnant with a little girl. I wanted to make something really cute for her. This hat and mittens were just the thing.

I know it's hard to tell size on this, but it's approximately 6-12 months. The baby is due in May, so I hope it fits her next fall/winter. The hat is pretty stretchy and might be able to go for two seasons.

This was such a quick set. I made it in about a week.

Dyeing (not to be confused with dying)

2009-04-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of us dyeing eggs. Note that I made the kids strip down to prevent messes, yet I was the one who ended up with multi-colored fingers!

Gabe really likes to write on the eggs with a white crayon and see the magic writing appear. It should be noted that I do feed this child. If he gets much skinnier I'll have to put weights on him on windy days.

Timothy wanted to try writing on the eggs, too.

We had some random mystery dye packs from last year, and I wasn't really sure what colors they would be. Most of the colors were really cool, but then there was one that was...brown. It wasn't ugly, it just looked like a brown egg.

When it came out of the dye, there was this long silence. Gabe said, "It's...it's..." Timothy piped up, "Poo!"

Timothy was especially impressed at the egg dying process this year.

This was my favorite egg! The only pink dye we had was really grainy, so I overdyed with blue and got this! Now, to try it with yarn!

Our finished products!

Easter '09

2009-04-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

OK, time for a few pictures from Easter! Here are the more formal pics. As if my sons have ever taken a formal picture in their lives! It's more like..."formal". So, we start with the whole family.

Now, my silly boys. They clean up pretty well.

Chris and me...I asked why he never smiles, and he said he WAS smiling. His smile is very...subtle.

Grandma and Grandpa were in town for the weekend. The boys had a great time playing with them. Timothy taught Grandma his version of Monopoly, which seemed to involve a lot of going to jail.

S'mores

2009-04-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to keep up with the blogging, but I haven't had much time to think about it. I'm hopelessly behind! However, here are pictures of the first time we used our new fire pit! Chris found a great deal on one, and we bought stuff to make s'mores and enjoyed an evening of cooking out! Timothy REALLY enjoyed the s'mores! Can you tell by his sticky cheeks?

It's been a little windy for a fire, so we had to be really careful. We've done fine with lots of daddy supervision. Let's face it, all little boys are pyromaniacs! Come to think of it, so are most big boys!

Gabe is old enough to roast his own marshmallows, and takes great joy in doing so.

I made the mistake of tossing a dropped marshmallow to Buster. I've created a monster! He's mostly polite about his begging, but I can't leave him next to Timothy because the moment I look away, he's ready to snatch Timothy's treat. He seems to feel that's what Timothy gets for being just on the level of his mouth. Oh, well, it does make for easy cleanup of sticky fingers!

Peckish...

2009-03-31T11:49:00.001-07:00

We're really enjoying the return of some warmer weather. We'll ignore the minor blizzard of last weekend when I say that March has been a pleasant month. One of the things Timothy really enjoys is going to the park to feed the ducks.

I'm not entirely sure what he's doing here, except that the ducks must have done something hilarious. Ducks, by the way, are very polite animals. Geese, on the other hand...

Are NOT!

I'm thinking seriously of blowing up this photo and having it framed!

If I were any more behind, I'd catch up with myself!

2009-03-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! Life is suddenly very, very busy around here. I hate it that blogging has taken the back burner for now, but I have a bad case of the Spring Crazies, and I can't seem to focus on writing anything. Plus, Chris accidentally broke the network between the computers, and for about three weeks, I had no access to any pictures.

On a happy note, I'm 36 teaching hours away from finishing up my Pilates apprenticeship! It's a 500 hour program, and I started it two years ago, so I'm quite excited to be almost done! Three more weeks should do it!

The good news is that I've taken lots of pictures, whether or not you've seen them, and I'm going to work on catching up a bit in the next few days. Feel free to hunt me down and whip me soundly if I don't stay on top of my blog!

Good mail!

2009-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Since I've been on Ravelry, my very wonderful friends on the VLT (Very Longest Thread) have sent me all sorts of lovely surprises. I thought I'd show some recent ones.

First, Emmms in London sent me some lovely packages, and one of them contained these beautiful fingerless mitts. They're so wonderfully warm and soft, and I love them! Of course, since it's me, I have to have a ridiculous story to go along with the pictures.

In this case, the story begins with me outside trying to get a good picture. I got this good one of my left hand, but my right hand looked better at the time (I know how silly this is!) so I was trying to get a picture of the right hand. The problem is that the camera is right-handed and so am I. After several failed attempts, it suddenly occurred to me that if I turned the camera around the other way, I could reach the button with my left hand. You see where this is going, right? Yep, I snapped a picture of my own face, with a perfectly lovely look of intense concentration on it. Unfortunately, I deleted it before I thought of blogging about it. Next time I do something really dumb, I'll try to think of you, my readers, first!

Here are some goodies from Heather in Ohio. She makes the very best cookies you've ever eaten, and her cupcakes...well, there are no words! She's on a mission to put meat on the bones of the world. And possibly to make the world laugh with silly flamingo frames. I am happy to report that I didn't manage to photograph my face while taking this picture.

Mittens!

2009-02-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

Timothy developed a sudden yearning for yellow mittens last month. I don't know what caused this yearning, but yellow mittens were not available at any of the stores I checked. So I decided it was time to try knitting mittens. They were way easier than I thought they'd be!

He was absolutely thrilled with the result! Unfortunately, the third time he wore them out, we lost one. I do have extra yarn, so I'll be making another mitten soon. And this time, I'll be fashioning a cord to keep them together!

Growing pains...

2009-02-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

The laptop fan choked to death on a hairball (again) and as a result, I'm once again behind on blogging. But this story was way too funny not to share, so here it is.

Gabe was off school last Friday for a teacher work day. So when I left on Friday morning to take Timothy to school and go to work, I had both kids and was rushing to get out the door on time. As I got ready, I was quizzing Gabe to make sure all his chores had been done. I asked him if he fed the strays. Yep. I asked if he'd turned the light on in his aquarium. Yep. I asked if he'd turned off the lava lamp in his room. He replied, "Oh, I don't sleep with that on anymore!" This surprised me, since he's slept with it on for a long time. "Is the light bulb blown out?" I asked. "No," he replied, "but I heard on 740 KRMG that if you sleep with a bright light on in your room, you're more likely to lose your hair."

At this point, I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. This annoyed my eldest child very much. "MAMA, THIS IS SERIOUS!! I don't want to be BALD!!!" he shouted. I can't say that I completely stopped laughing, but I tried really, really hard! Nine years old and already worried about male pattern baldness!

Bliss...

2009-02-18T21:09:00.000-08:00

He really has a hard life, doesn't he?

Is winter over yet???

2009-01-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, the snow and ice is pretty, but I'm SO ready for spring! Kitty He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named agrees with me.

I did take the kids out this morning for a few runs down the hill on their sled. They had fun, and it's not too bad out today, now that the sun is shining and the wind has stopped blowing!

Obviously, it's still a little slick, with ice under the snow!

This is the first year Timothy has shown any interest in playing in the snow, so Gabe showed him the ropes.

Poor kid wanted to build a snowman! He didn't understand why 1 inch of dry, powdery snow does not a snowman make.

Both kids enjoyed trying to track the stray cats by their prints. But tracking them proved to be hard because they swarmed all over the porch this morning when we put out food, and it was impossible to tell which tracks were coming and which were going.

The whole yard was full of "grasscicles". It's pretty odd to see.

I don't know if it shows in this picture, but there's a glaze of ice on everything.

The ropes holding up our baby tree had little icicles all over them!

Poor little tree! It probably wants spring to hurry up, too!

These are already gone, having falling when snow slid off the roof. I'm sure we'll end up with more this evening, as everything starts to refreeze.

Just in case you don't think I'm strange yet...

2009-01-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

There's a slug in my shower. Not a giant, disgusting one, just a teeny one. Normally, this only happens in the summer. And normally, when it does happen, I just let it crawl onto a sheet of paper and take it outside. Not this time. I would very much like the slug NOT to live in my shower, but it's winter, and if I take the poor slug outside, it will freeze.

I've named him. His name is Friar Ted. Yes, I know this is beyond bizarre, even for me. My love of all creatures great and small doesn't usually go quite this far down the food chain. I do relocate non-venomous spiders, because they are useful and eat bugs for us. And the crickets really can't help it that we built buildings in the middle of their prairie land, so I take them outside, too. And yes, I admit that I named the praying mantis on the front porch. And two spiders. Hey, Sergio and Guido were there for so long, I had to name them. A tree frog did once hibernate in my house. But that was an accident. But a slug...it's just so wrong!

Before everything was gray...

2009-01-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Remember color?? It made the world less blah and depressing. I was really debating whether or not to post pictures from months ago, but they were so bright and cheerful, they just demanded to be posted! Here's the yearly shot of the boys outside Gabe's school playground.

This is our fourth year to take this picture. Wow, fourth. I'm getting old. Someday, I'll frame them all in a row and be amazed at how my boys have grown.

OK, I admit it...I was trying to be all artsy and get some cool shots of the leaves. I have neither my sister's skill or her cool equipment, though, so I'll have to be content by how cool and artsy it looked in my head.

I could just stare at these leaves all day. Fall is nature's way of apologizing in advance for what it's about to do to us.

And presenting...a new traditional shot. We got a tree this year. If it wasn't for the fact that I've been traveling backward in time to catch up, you'd have already seen the Scouts planting it. Now we'll take pictures to watch the tree AND the kids grow!

Our tree looks very pretty when it has leaves. Right now it looks like a sad little stick. It's not a bad little tree, Charlie Brown. All it needs is a little love!

I no longer remember why Gabe was posing this way. Oh, well, I suppose it isn't important. Either that or it was followed by something so traumatic I've blocked it from my memory. Knowing my sons, it could be either.

Before everything froze, I harvested what I could from my little garden. We got LOTS of cherry tomatoes!

The flowers were pretty, too!

Ah, color! See, don't you feel better?

Precocious=Obnoxious?

2009-01-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have often been told that my children are smart. And they are. But they are also little twits. Here are two recent examples of things they've done that have caused me to wish the floor would open up and swallow me.

On Tuesday, I received a call from Gabe's teacher. Apparently, he had spent the first couple of days after Christmas break being a bit of a problem in class. For one thing, he kept falling out of his chair on purpose. For another, he kept shouting out rude replies to the teacher. We had a good discussion, which has resulted in more cleaning and less Nintendo for Gabe. But then the teacher pointed out that she hadn't known any eight-year-olds prior to Gabe who could properly understand, let alone use sarcasm. Oops.

Timothy had to go to the ENT this week (oh, joy, another ear surgery to look forward to!) and his greeting to the doctor left a little to be desired. The doctor came in and asked him how he was today. To which Timothy replied, "I fart a lot. That's why my mom won't let me have raisins." The doctor, luckily, saw the humor in this statement. He must have boys, too.

Visitor

2009-01-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago, I arrived home from knit group to find the house mostly dark and Chris asleep on the couch. I set my bag down and walked into the kitchen, where I saw a spot on the rug. In the low lighting, I thought it was a hairball that someone had kindly horked up on the kitchen rug. I grabbed a paper towel and flipped on the light. This little guy is definitely NOT a hairball. Seriously, I live with six house cats, and not one of them noticed a 12 inch long grass snake! They're fired. Anyway, I caught him and returned him to the front yard, advising him that however welcome he was to hibernate in my flower beds, he was not at all welcome to hibernate in my kitchen. He hasn't returned, so I guess he took the hint.

All you need is BLAH

2009-01-06T21:51:00.001-08:00

Timothy really likes music. He has rather eclectic taste in music, for a three year old. For instance, he's been wanting his own copy of "Yellow Submarine" ever since he listened to it in his Popple's car. So Mama T and Popple got him a copy for Christmas. We were listening to it in the car yesterday, and "All You Need is Love" came on. "Mama, Mama, it's my favorite song!" he cried. "Blah, blah, blah! Blah is all you need!"

Another of his current favorites is Paul Simon's "Graceland" dvd. For those of you who have never seen it, it's a concert in South Africa, featuring Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mabazo. He seems to really enjoy the African music, but he has his own take on it. His favorite song on the dvd is one that he refers to as "Bubbashoota". Since we don't really know what they're saying, we've stopped trying to tell him it's not called Bubbashoota.

As long as he doesn't develop a taste for rap, I'm not going to complain too much.

Halloween (Yes, I'm that far behind!)

2009-01-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

It's taken me so long to get back to posting pictures, but I couldn't resist putting up some pictures from Halloween. We went with a Pirate theme this year. These first few were from Hallozooeen, which we went to a couple of nights before Halloween.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

The zoo thing was cool, but VERY crowded. It literally took us an hour to get to the zoo from our house, traffic was so awful. (It usually takes less than 10 minutes!) Timothy was pretty cranky because of the crowds, and we didn't stay long.

Oh, and did I mention that, ditz that I am, I sent my legally blind child out in the dark wearing an eye patch? It never occurred to me what a bad idea that would be until he kept running into things. We decided to lose the patch very early on.

Gabe carved his pumpkin all by himself this time! I think he did a pretty amazing job!

Trick or treat!

That's one cool pirate!

Here we are at Mom and Dad's house. The plan was to take the kids out for some trick or treating, and then they were going to spend the night with Mom and Dad so Chris and I could go out. This plan got altered when I came down with an awful stomach virus. I was already VERY miserable by the time this picture was taken, and this is the only picture of me in my costume. Chris has promised me a rain check for next year.

Class clown

2009-01-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. My little clown has been at it again. Timothy can dress himself without too much help, so I usually just put clothes on his bed in the morning and leave him to it. However, he appeared like this not long ago. I shouldn't have laughed, because he wants to do it every time now, but it was just so unexpected. All I can say is he must take after his father. I'm positive I was never that goofy! No comments from the peanut gallery!

Boys and their toys...

2009-01-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

This was just too cute not to take pictures. The other day, Timothy brought out his fishing game and asked his daddy to play with him.

Caught one! Moses was very interested in the entire process, as you can see!

"Look, a fish!"

And here he is, brushing his fish's teeth. Yep, not kidding. It's what he does.

On an unrelated note, here's Chris, wearing the hat I knitted for him. He informed me that he loves his hat, particularly because when the hydrolic lift on the back gate of his truck suddenly let go, the hat helped pad his head so it didn't hurt so much. That thing has slammed on me before, and I think it would take more than a hat to keep me from wanting to take a bat to the darned thing!

Christmas Day

2009-01-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was very exciting for the boys. Timothy had asked Santa for a real camera and a fishing pole. He got both, although the fishing pole was part of a fishing game. He was thrilled. At some point, I may have to post his view of Christmas. I'll warn you, though, it includes mostly pictures taken up peoples' noses, or rear views of anyone who dared bend over in his vicinity.

Gabe asked Santa for an aquarium and a hammer. We sincerely hope he doesn't plan to use them together.

Gabe got a letter from Santa, which included a gift card to the pet store, so he could fill his aquarium with fish.

Timothy LOVES this game. He's getting pretty good at it, too. His favorite thing is to catch the fish and then brush their teeth for them. I have strange kids.

Catch of the day!

More presents!

Love those happy faces!

After presents, it was time to head to Mama T and Popple's house for...MORE PRESENTS!

Gabe got stilts! This provided entertainment for everyone. Even dad got up on them. Not to worry, there were no holiday visits to the ER. Gabe is a little shocked to find out that I used to be pretty good on stilts when I was a kid. I must be getting old.

Here's Aaron, in the hat that I made for him.

And Patrick and Dre! Dre's trying on the Lace Scarf of Doom that I made for her. OK, Doom may be putting it a little strongly. It came out fine. And hey, I learned lots about lace!

I know, I know, small children shouldn't be allowed to play with plastic bags. He was being closely supervised. The blocks are one of Timothy's favorite gifts. He's been building all kinds of fantastic things with them.

Gabe got some legos. He's been collecting the Indiana Jones set. It didn't take him very long to get the whole thing put together.

Yet again, I somehow managed to avoid the camera. But we ALL had a very nice Christmas, and received great gifts. I got some new knitting books that I've been wanting, and lots of lotion and bath stuff in my favorite scent. I also got pig socks. I'll have to take a picture of them. They make me laugh. Chris got some of the nicest kitchen knives I've ever seen. He's been practically giddy about cooking dinner lately. If you hear manly giggles coming from the kitchen, it's probably just him dicing some potatoes or something!

Poor Miney!

2009-01-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

We did some serious house cleaning and reorganizing today. Part of what needed to be done was vacuuming the entire house. I should first point out that the cats hate it when we vacuum. They're terrified of it, and usually hide in the garage from the moment they hear the vacuum cleaner come out till several hours after it's been put back. I should also point out that Miney, although (or perhaps because) he weights nearly 20 pounds, is the biggest scaredy cat of them all.

Somehow, Miney failed to hear Chris getting the vacuum out, and wound up trapped. Chris was vacuuming the kitchen, so Miney's escape route to the garage was cut off. I should now point out that Chris had the big door open in the garage earlier in the day. When he does this, he locks the cat door so they can't escape to the outdoors. You see this coming, don't you? If not, here it is: Chris forgot to unlock the cat door.

So Miney finally worked up his courage and made a run for it. At top speed, all 18 pounds of him slammed into the door, which didn't give. He backed up and made another run. Again, his head hit the door with full force and it didn't move. By this time, Chris had the vacuum off and was trying to help, but it was too late. Yes, Miney, in his panic, made for the kitchen door, changed his mind when he got there, turned, darted between Chris' legs, and ran head-long into the cat door AGAIN. I'm not sure if he had weakened it with his earlier attempts or if he had just reached warp speed at this point, but he broke the lock and made it out to the garage. It has taken me the rest of the day to talk him into coming back in. He still flinches when anyone walks too close to the hall closet, where the vacuum cleaner is stored.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was quiet and peaceful. The mail came late, so at about sundown, the boys received a mysterious package from Norway! My dear friend, Elin (itisalwaysraining from Ravelry), had sent them a package of treats from Norway and Sweden. There were LOTS of sweets for them to sample. They are still enjoying them! She also sent me some wonderful alpaca yarn, and a sample of her beetroot dyed yarn! It was a great surprise for the boys, and so exciting that it arrived on Christmas Eve!

Both boys really enjoyed the little gummy monkeys. Gabe was really fascinated by the languages on the wrappers of the candy.

"I don't know what this is, but if it's candy, I LIKE IT!"

"Mmmmm! Chocolate!"

Timothy is such a clown! My friend, Nichole, gave him a Santa Clause Mr. Potato Head. Here he is modeling the beard and lips. We weren't sure whether he looked more like Santa...or Hannibal Lector!

We always let the kids open a gift before bed on Christmas Eve. This year, I was suprised by a gift for ME! Chris wrapped it REALLY well, so it took me a long time to open it. It was new pajamas! Thanks, Mom!

One of my Christmas projects was to make all three of my boys pajama pants. OK, Mom helped. If you must know, she helped a lot. So now it makes sense why she got me pajamas, too! She already knew I was going to have the boys open theirs on Christmas Eve. Here's Gabe opening his.

...And Chris, opening his!

And Timothy! (The boys had just gotten out of the shower, thus the wet hair, and in Timothy's case, lack of clothing!)

My men.

Timothy decorated an Advent calendar at school and enjoyed putting a numbered sticker on it every night. Now he can't count to 25!

He also made "reindeer feed" to put on the lawn. It was oats and glitter, mixed together. The oats were for the reindeer to eat, and the glitter was to make a sparkly runway for Santa so he would be sure and stop.

Timothy was pretty excited about sprinkling it all over the front yard.

Not to worry, I know it looks cold, but it was actually a very mild evening.

A little help from Daddy.

I'll refrain from posting the video of Chris locking me out on the porch and making me dance to get back inside.

Drowning in pictures...

2009-01-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

I finally dumped the camera card, and was a bit shocked to realize how long it's been since I've added any pictures. More shocking still was how many pictures we've taken since late August. Ah, the digital age. Remember how we used to be careful about how many pictures we took? Worried about wasting film? Those days are gone! I figured I'd better start with recent shots and go back before time gets away from me. So without any further ado...Christmas doings.

Timothy REALLY enjoyed decorating the tree this year. Moses really enjoyed undecorating it. Such is life.

Here it is! Somehow, we missed an entire box of ornaments. By the time I found them, there was no room left on the tree. We have a lot of ornaments.

We were late getting in to see Santa this year, and Timothy talked of little else for at least two weeks. He was so excited to sit on Santa's lap. And yet, you'll notice where he's sitting. Uh huh. Santa in person was a lot scarier than Santa in his imagination, it seems.

We did get around to making some Christmas cookies. Gabe really enjoyed the whole process, and is old enough to be very helpful, and make some fun cookies.

Timothy, on the other hand, had only one point of interest. Eating the cookies was his top priority. He cried when we put the dough in the oven. Said he didn't want his cookies hot!

He decorated exactly one cookie, and as soon as he was done dumping sprinkles, he ate it.

Gabe helped me decorate the rest. He did a great job. I'm still finding sprinkles all over the house.

"SPRINKLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We told him to go put on a pull-up...

2008-12-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

But we failed to specify on which part of his body he should put it! I know I promised pictures and catch up several days ago. That was BEFORE Chris and I got hit by the Stomach Virus From Hades. We're better now, but someone seems to have stolen my legs and replaced them with rubber. I'm offering a reward for their safe return. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, Timothy IS potty trained (more or less) but he still sleeps in pull-ups. Let's face it, it's easier than changing sheets every other day!

Bliss: A late-breaking Thanksgiving blog...

2008-12-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

Hello, world! I'm still alive! It's been a crazy couple of months, and then I just couldn't think of anything to say, or how to say it. So I'm plunging back into the world of blogging with a blog about things I'm thankful for. (I know, prepositions are no words to end sentences with!) The world seems to have gone crazy lately, and it's hard to get into the spirit of the season when everywhere you look is gloom and heartache and worry. Instead, let me tell you about what's GOOD in life!

My children are hilarious. They make me laugh, and they have great smiles. The amount of mischief they cause on a daily basis is nothing compared to the joy they bring me. If you've met them, you'll realize that this is saying A LOT! I'm once again enjoying Christmas through their eyes. For them, it's still magical and amazing. They don't notice if times are hard. It doesn't bother them what the news reports. They are firmly convinced that nothing bad that happens today could possibly carry into tomorrow. Unless, of course, like Gabe, they are still being forced to clean things as punishment for something particularly heinous that they've done. Like making Little Brother kiss the cat's butt. But I digress...

I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my pets, and all the things that make me smile. Timothy would like to interject that he's thankful for his booster seat and checkers. So see, there's still plenty to be thankful for! I will do my best to get some pictures up and catch you up on what's been going on around here. In the meantime, enjoy the Eve of the Eve of the Eve of Christmas Eve! Have some eggnog, bakes some cookies, and enjoy a few moments where all's right with the world!

Presenting...

2008-10-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

My mom! You quilters have to check out her blog! She puts up pictures of her beautiful quilts, and her sewing room will make you pea green with envy! Leave her a comment, too, so she'll feel the blog love!

Knitter Humor...

2008-10-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Someone posted this on Ravelry, and it had me rolling. I especially like the part about handspun.

Out of the mouths of third graders...

2008-09-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

As I just mentioned in my previous post, Gabe is growing up. In fact, he now demands to be called "Gabriel". I guess I should comply...it IS, after all, his name. And a name that I gave him, no less. I'm just not used to the grown up Gabe...riel. There have been lots of fun parts. He's a good kid. Responsible, respectful, helpful...well, mostly. But there is one part of growing up that is hard to deal with. And by hard to deal with, I mean hard to deal with without laughing. He does like to test the waters on what he can get away with now and then.

Last week, we were just home from school and in the kitchen. The boys were having a snack, and I was washing out lunch boxes. There was a sudden howling and growling from the porch. This isn't unusual. We do, after all, have ten cats living in or around our house. But the weather has been nice and the windows were open so it was very noticeable. Boris and Horace have never exactly learned to live in harmony. As long as there are three food bowls on the porch, they normally do pretty well, but as soon as a bowl goes empty, they can no longer tolerate one another. Gabe jumped up from his snack and ran outside to check the food status. He came back in, slung himself down in his chair and said, "I figured out what the problem was, Mama!" I didn't look up from the dishes. "What was going on?", I asked innocently. "Oh, the usual," he replied. "Horace was just PISSING BORIS OFF AGAIN!"

A shocked silence followed. Then I asked him to repeat himself. He did, with a little grin. I explained that the word he had used was not appropriate for an eight year old. He then went through a list of all the people, parents included, who he has heard use that word. I reiterated that just because adults use a word doesn't make it ok for children to use it. I finished washing lunch boxes and went to my room to laugh hysterically with my face buried in a pillow. What next???

Third Grade Bible Presentation

2008-09-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

First off, I just have to start by saying...HOW ON EARTH DO I HAVE A THIRD GRADER??? Wasn't he three last week? Shouldn't he still be in preschool? But no, instead he insisted on growing up and being old enough to be a part of our church's third grade bible presentation. I didn't get many pictures, but they called us all up front and gave the kids their own bible, complete with a card to get their name engraved on it for free at a local store. Then, after the service was over, there was a reception with cake. Here is Gabe, getting the church's sticker put in his bible.

Now, for the really great part! Cake with his buddies. Josh and Logan are both friends from Scouts and fellow third graders. Don't worry, Timothy didn't miss out on the cake! He was on the other side of the table, chowing down with Josh's younger brothers!

Last Fifth Night Concert of the Summer

2008-09-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

With summer officially drawing to a close this past Monday, I guess it's high time I finished posting pictures from the summer months. As I mentioned in previous blogs, most Thursday nights of the summer were spent at Utica Square, at the Fifth Night Concerts. We met with a group of friends and everyone brought food to share. Gabe had a couple of school friends who came with their families, so he was pretty well entertained. Timothy is mostly entertained by food. The picture below is an example of the face he makes when he demands to have his picture taken. Someday, I think he will probably regret the large number of pictures of him making this face.

Yes, it has happened again. An actual picture of me on my own blog. That is all I have to say about that.

Since it was the last concert, Nichole splurged on cake balls from Mallory's Mud Pies. Andrea has mentioned these little bits of cakey goodness on her blog, and they are every bit as good as she says they are. Chris is trying to perfect the recipe so he can make them at home, but so far, he's succeeded only in making a gooey mess. If he does succeed, we'll all gain 50 pounds. They are pretty irresistible!

Here is Gabe, with his buddy, Caroline. She is also known as Care-a-lot, because apparently, Timothy has her confused with something from the CareBears DVD. Luckily, she thinks Timothy is cute, so she answers to both.

Have I mentioned that my children are weird?

POPCORN TIME!!

2008-09-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

It's upon us again! Gabe and Chris are very involved in Cub Scouts through our church, and our annual fund raiser started on Monday. So, I feel a little bad about the plug, but not that bad because it is, after all, MY blog! So, if you're interested in popcorn...here's what we have!

5-way Chocolate Lover's Tin $50
Chocolate, Caramel and Cheese Tin $40
3-way Cheese Tin $30
Trail Mix Tin $20
Microwave Kettle Corn (15-pack) $20
Gourmet Caramel Corn Tin with Almonds, Pecans and Cashews $17
Chocolatey Caramel Crunch Tin $17
Caramel Corn Light Tin $17
Unbelievable Butter Microwave Popcorn (15-pack) $15
Butter Light Microwave Popcorn (15-pack) $15
Caramel Corn Tin with Peanuts $10

We are aiming to sell $2,000 this year, so that we can get Gabe a scholarship fund set up. Once the fund is set, a percentage of each year's sales will go in the fund, and it will accrue interest. Families in our pack have told us their older sons have ended up with a few thousand dollars for college. Gabe mainly wants to make his goal so he can win a Nintendo DS. So, if you're interested, you can leave a comment or e-mail me. Shipping can be arranged if you're out of town, and payment is due when the popcorn arrive, which I think is some time in late October or early November. Thanks for putting up with my shameless plug!

My children are weird, Version 5.0

2008-09-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm not entirely sure why it would be "Version 5.0", but I do feel the need to share some of our more...interesting...stories from the last few weeks.

Timothy has clearly been watching far too much television. He seems to be addicted. He has a little one in his room that has a built-in VCR, so that Chris and I can occasionally watch grown up shows in the living room. However, he was watching it way too much, so Chris put the tv on a timer so it will only work at certain times of the day. The other evening, I was in my room getting ready for work when I heard him talking to himself in his room. "Oh, NOOOOOOO!" he exclaimed. "My tv won't work! Needs a 'verter box! Have to go to the 'verter box store and buy a 'verter box so my tv will work!" Apparently, PBS has really gotten through to him!

Gabe is discovering the joys of being a big brother. I mean, he already knew some of them, but it's really hitting home now that Timothy is getting older. Several nights ago, both boys were playing outside while Chris and I fixed dinner. Gabe came in, giggling, without Timothy. This is unusual because where Gabe goes, Timothy usually follows. "Gabe," I asked, "where is your brother?" Gabe feigned innocence. "Seriously, Gabe," I warned, "You'd better tell me where your brother is!" Gabe giggled again. "He's in the backyard," he answered. Not seeing Timothy out the window, I put on my you're-about-to-be-in-big-trouble-mister voice and asked again. Gabe finally lost it and began laughing hysterically. "I locked him in a box!" he gasped. Sure enough, a big plastic storage box next to the swing set was moving a lot, and there was a leg sticking out one side. Not to worry, Timothy was fine! He was mostly worried he was going to miss dinner.

We have also developed rather a preoccupation with our private parts around here. And before you get any naughty ideas, by "we" I mean Timothy. Mom and Dad kept the boys overnight last weekend so Chris and I could go out. Since Timothy has been potty trained, he has much easier access to...his parts. Mom told him, "Timothy, you need to stop touching your weewee." He looked at her calmly and said, "I'm not touching my weewee, I'm touching my balls!" I have no explanation or comment on this, except to say that his father and I did NOT teach him that word. And if Gabe knows anything about it, he's not talking.

Lastly, on a similar note, we were at the drug store, picking up our pictures today. The boys were getting a bit antsy in line, and I was tired of telling them to stop touching things so I told them to put their hands in their pockets. Clearly, this was a mistake. Gabe complied, but Timothy wailed, "But I don't HAVE pockets in these shorts!" Gabe was quick to the rescue. "Well," he reasoned, "just stick 'em in your pants, then!" Our cashier nearly fell over laughing. I told Gabe, "See, now she's going to go home tonight and tell all her friends that some kid told his brother to stick his hands down his pants!" Gabe thought about it for a moment and came back with, "Yeah, but at least she doesn't know our last name!" It's hard to argue with that kind of logic.

Fabulous yarn!!!

2008-09-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

Those of you with amazing memories may recall that long, long ago, I posted a link to the Knit Witch's blog when she held her blog contest. Well, guess what? I WON! I've been meaning to post these pictures for weeks and weeks now, it just took a while to make it happen. Anyway, I won the grand prize, which was five skeins of the most lovely alpaca yarn! She included a bonus, too! She sent me deliciously yummy jelly that she made in her own cauldron! I really need to take pictures of the kids eating it. But if I do that, I would have to clean them up. Or I could just let the dog in...

She also sent me some gorgeous stitch markers. I love them!

The cats were really interested in the entire package. I'm not sure if it smelled like alpaca, or just other cats. Elinor was the first to come explore.

Unfortunately, Moses was a little too interested. I was able to snap this picture quickly, before I chased him away from my precious yarn and threatened him with death if he nommed it ever again. I also put it away, as I don't trust his self control. It's safely stored in a plastic bin, as I search for just the right sweater pattern. I'll keep you posted on my progress. This will be my first grown up sweater, and I'm a little frightened! And if there are any yarn addicts reading this, you really need to check out the Knit Witch's blog and her website! She dyes gorgeous yarn. You need some. Go! NOW! What are you waiting for???

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

2008-09-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

So many of my favorite images from the last month cannot be categorized in any logical fashion. I decided that I needed a truly random blog post to put them all together. Try to think of it as that dumb essay that every teacher assigned the first week of school.

First, it should be understood that a lot of my time is spent rescuing my children and pets from carnivorous furniture. In this case, Moses was being devoured by the sofa. He was horribly ungrateful when I rescued him. Perhaps he was offended that I risked his life by taking pictures first. Yes, his head is actually falling into a large hole in the couch.

Here is Timothy, in much the same predicament. For two solid days, I got called every five minutes or so to get him out of the bins. I finally refused to rescue him again, and after ten hours or so, he managed to free himself.

I also enjoyed working on my swap package. It was a pirate themed swap. I made this for my lovely swap partner. There isn't much more I can say about this.

Then one day I came home from the grocery store and found this. Chris had lots of points at work, and the points system has all sorts of goodies available for the busy bees at his company. Chris decided we need a kayak. It's actually really cool, I was just a little shocked to come home and find it in my living room.

Somehow, this is the only picture of Gabe I could find for this post. I'm fairly sure Gabe did live here this summer, so this is perplexing.

Timothy took a summer job as a Chippendale dancer. The hours were awful, but the tips were great. Ladies can't resist a man in pull-ups.

His portfolio was really impressive. I like this shot. Pensive, yet rugged.

Miney spent a lot of time watching Star Wars. Can you guess his favorite character?

So that sums up the last month. It probably also leaves you with lots of serious questions about my grip on reality. Luckily, people have been questioning it for so long, I no longer notice.

Erqsome and KTB tagged me...

2008-09-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Several eons ago. And I'm just now responding. So, here we go.

6 quirky things meme
The rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged me
2) Mention the rules
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself
4) Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

First Quirky Thing:
I was totally inspired by the story of Erqsome's whistling nostril, so I have to tell my own story about a nose whistle. Sorry, Dre, you can kill me later. When I was a teenager, my younger brother and I noticed that our dear sister's nose whistled. We would sit with her between us during church, and I don't know if it was because we noticed it more and more as time progressed, or if it really got louder, or if we were just really bored, but by the time we'd been sitting there half an hour it seemed deafening. And nobody noticed it but the two of us, so we'd get into trouble for leaning over her to discuss it. Why this is still funny to me, I can't tell you, but it is.

Second Quirky Thing:
I hate making phone calls unless I know the person I'm calling really, really well. Thus, I refuse to order pizza. My husband thinks this is hopelessly weird.

Third Quirky Thing:
I have a freckle underneath my left eye, on that little weird ledge between the eye lashes and the eyeball.

Fourth Quirky Thing:
I once went into McDonalds and ordered a hamburger with no meat. I was five at the time, and my parents have never let me forget it.

Fifth Quirky Thing:
Having my picture taken professionally by anyone other than my sister makes me so nervous that I literally nearly make myself sick. I discovered this a few days ago when I had to go get head shots taken for my studio's website.

Sixth Quirky Thing:
Beer tastes slippery to me. I cannot explain what I mean by "slippery", but it bothers me so much that I can't drink the stuff.

There, now you all know how neurotic I am! Well, most of you knew it before. Now I have to tag people. I don't remember who I tagged last time, so I will try not to tag the same people again!

1. Dre
2. TheKnitWitch
3. Jesh
4. April
5. Brooke
6. Halcyon (should she ever rejoin the online world!)

Finished projects

2008-09-04T14:31:00.001-07:00

I did get a few things accomplished while I was sick. Not many, but a few. Here are some pictures of the baby gifts I completed this past month. First, Baby Evelyn's layette.

Crocheted hat, sweater and booties, size 3-6 months, which will hopefully fit her when it cools off!

And here's Anne Marie's baby shower gift, a pumpkin hat. Her son, Evan, could be arriving any day now. This was my first project to knit "in the round". It was a learning experience. Since then, a new friend has taught me how to magic loop (Thanks, Kat!), so next time it will go a lot more smoothly!

How does my garden grow?

2008-09-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

In the last blog before my long absence, I promised pictures of what was left of my garden. Well, here they are! The basil was (and IS!) still going strong. The purple basil we tried this year was a huge success, but as always, the lemon basil (planted from last year's leftover seeds) was my favorite!

I'm a little perplexed that out of all the zinnia seeds I planted, I ended up with only pink ones. Once again this year, we have resident praying mantises that like to hang out on the zinnias. I think they might be the sons and daughters of the HUGE one we had last summer. They are all fairly small, and none of the pictures I've taken have been clear enough to show anything but a bunch of leaves and a green blur.

The marigolds are gorgeous right now. I might be the only person in the world that loves the way they smell! They seem to be the only thing that didn't get attacked by little green worms this year.

Last, my garden's crowing achievement! The first ripe cherry tomatoes! Since this, I've picked about a dozen in the last week. There are lots more on the vines, if the sun stays out long enough to ripen them! I also have three more tomato plants that have lots of tiny green cherry tomatoes on them, but whether they'll have time to ripen before the weather turns remains to be seen. The geese all started flying in formation awfully early this year. I hope that doesn't mean we're going to have another hard winter!

May as well dive right in...

2008-09-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's me! After taking the entire month of August off, I am back! I would like to pretend that this is something I did on purpose. Many European countries take August as a holiday, from what I understand. However, like George Washington, I cannot tell a lie. It is partly laziness and partly technical difficulties. Let me 'splain! No, too much. Let me sum up.

First I was sick, then the computer was sick, then school started and the kids and I all got sick. That's about the sum of it. I am still snorting and coughing, but I have run out of excuses, so I will start the long process of catching up. Whether or not I still have readers remains to be seen!

Timothy more or less learned to swim this summer. Sure, he forgets to come up for air now and then, but we're always there to help when he needs it. He couldn't have less fear of water if he had gills. He would have gladly spent the entire summer in the pool all day, had that option been offered! This video took forever to upload, and it won't play beyond the first 14 seconds for me, so you'll have to let me know if it plays for you. Also, I apologize in advance for the the swimsuit shots. If I could, I would edit out myself (and probably Dre, as well, since she'll probably murder me for posting this!)

I think this is video of Gabe diving. I can't watch it so I can't be sure. He is very comfortable in the water these days, and diving was a new skill for him this summer. The disclaimer on all Gabe footage is that I really do feed the child. He is the skinniest kid I've ever seen, although my mom assures me that he looks just like I did at his age. But in case anyone wondered, I do feed him daily, and he even gets ice cream and cookies, but he still never gains any weight. He's getting so tall, and yet he only weighs about ten pound more than he did when he was 4!

Gosh Oh Golly Gee...

2008-07-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

It's hot. That's no excuse for not updating my blog, but we're not doing anything other than sitting around trying to stay cool. We've been swimming a few times. I keep forgetting to take my disposable water camera, so I can finish off the film that's in it. Then I would have pictures to post. Alas, I have no brain.

So, things that I need to take pictures of and post on my blog:

1. The garden. A lot of stuff got eaten by a horde of tiny green worms, but I do have cherry tomatoes galore. They're not ripe yet, but they will be soon. And the basil is lovely.

2. My first attempts with a drop spindle. Some of what I'm making is starting to closely resemble yarn, albeit very ugly yarn.

3. Timothy swimming. I need to get video of that.

In other news, the Pilates studio is done (more or less) and we are moved in, so I once again have equipment and am going to be booking equipment lessons soon! Yeah!!! Our new studio is gorgeous! If you're interested in coming to see it, I have a few cards left entitling the holder to a free class! So, sorry for the boring blog for today, but hopefully, publicly posting my to-do list will spur me to actually DO something about it! For now, I'm off to practice my spinning!

The complete dictionary of our cats

2008-07-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

People are always a little shocked at the number of cats who call this house home. Most days, I'm one of those shocked people. I don't honestly know how I came to be the crazy cat lady on the block, but those who know me well could have predicted it for some time before it actually happened. My parents, for instance, have probably know it was coming since I was a very small child.

In order to clear up some of the confusion over who's who, I've decided to put together a comprehensive list. These pictures are not all fantastic. Today I don't have the patience to go through years of pictures and find the best ones. But here they are, good pictures or not!

First, we have Eenie. She's known around here as Miss Mouse. She is our only permanent female cat, and she is spoiled rotten. One of our original litter of bottle babies, she is my favorite kitty, and she knows it. She reserves the right to kick any other cat off my lap, and to finish up anything I leave in my milk glass or ice cream bowl. She is very, very sweet, and just a little neurotic. In this picture, you can see her bald tummy. When she's feeling off, she pulls out her fur. I made her watch a special on tv about the disorder, and it seems to have helped her sort things out. Her fur is growing back nicely. Another month or so and she'll be back to her normal, lovely self.

Next, there's Meanie. He's also one of the original litter, and resident Chatty Cathy. He holds the notoriety of being the only kitten to have been mislabeled gender-wise, early on. (Well, up until the wild litter we caught a couple summers back! Sorry, Beth! I promise I didn't know Fred was female!) Meanie spent his early days as Chris' favorite, and was known as "Princess". One day, when he was about a month old, he was rolling around and I noted that "Princess" had some very unladylike parts. Chris has never forgiven Meanie. Meanie is a sweetheart. He loves to talk on the phone. Anytime it rings, he comes running and insists upon saying a few words. No, I'm not that crazy person who makes you talk to my cat when you call me. He just tends to speak over me.

This is Miney, also known as Lard. He's our Big Boy. He topped out at 19 pounds, but is now down a little from that. He's so tall, he can stand with his hind feet on the ground and his front feet on the counter. Despite being the biggest of our original litter (well, any litter, really) he is the resident Fraidy Cat. Everything terrifies him. Strangers, thunder, bugs, a baby mouse that Jack once caught...you name it, he will cower in fear over it. For those Monty Python fans out there, he's our Brave Sir Robin.

Moses is our most recent interloper on the permanent residents list. He is the reincarnation of my dear Mo, who died three years ago. The other cats can't stand him. He's an obnoxious whippersnapper. He has too much energy. He's never met a bit of people food he didn't love, and wouldn't steal right off your fork. I adore him. Well, except that he loves to nom expensive yarn. He gets his comeuppance for eating my yarn by being forced to model my knit and crochet projects.

Somewhere out there is a better picture of Jack. I'm sure of it. I just couldn't locate one. Jack is our oldest cat. At six, he's our Top Cat, and he doesn't tolerate any jumping ranks among the others. He is our escape artist, managing to con the kids into letting him escape at least once a day, it seems. He doesn't ever go far, mostly he just likes to make me chase him. He has huge quantities of dignity, and will only purr for me if there are no other cats in the room to see it happen.

Meet Elinor. She's one of our fosters. She's a total snuggle bum, and loves to have her belly rubbed. She mostly stays in Gabe's room, but likes to venture out in the evenings for a visit before bedtime. She's not a big fan of the other cats, excepting her sister, but she's learned to tolerate them. Mostly. Moses is enough to send her into a hissing, spitting fit. Then again, he has that affect on us all sometimes. You should have seen me the last time he ate my sock yarn.

Makinsie, Elinor's sister, is our Grumpy Old Lady. She's 12 years old, and would like a little peace and quiet. She'd also like the kids to stay off her lawn. She's very sweet with people, except for Timothy, but she doesn't care for any other cats but Elinor. She's hoping to find a quiet home where she can be an adored lap cat. She is one of the prettiest cats I've ever seen, and she reminds me of Giselle, my dearly departed childhood pet.

Now, for the outside crew. First we have Boris. We didn't much care for Boris at first. He was a bully. Then we gave him a little operation, and half a chance, and now he's our #1 porch kitty. Boris will let the kids do anything with him. This picture was taken shortly before they decided to decorate him with chalk. He has been offered a spot in the house several times when the weather was bad, but he and Jack can't agree on terms so he's never stayed long. He's Scrawny Cat's best buddy, although he refuses to admit it. They sleep in the same basket, paws wrapped around one another, and groom one another's faces, but if he thinks anyone's looking, all Scrawny will get from him is the back of his paw. He would love to find an indoor home where there is no alpha male to get on his nerves, and preferably one where Scrawny is welcome, too.

Horace is Boris' evil twin. He's far more of a bully than Boris ever was, but he's been much better since his operation. In this picture, he is very dirty from several rainy days in a row, and he had just had his little operation so he wasn't feeling his best. He's actually very pretty, when he's brushed and clean. He LOVES people. He's just not much of a fan of other cats. He'd also love it if someone took him home and spoiled him rotten. He's tired of life on the streets.

This is one of only a few pictures of Scrawny Cat. She's very shy. We started feeding her when she was a very frightened adolescent. We think she was born into the wild, although we have no idea who her mama might be, since all of the mama cats around here have been captured and spayed. We managed to capture her and spay her before she ever had kittens, and although she's still shy, she loves to be petted. You just have to be patient and let her come to you. She would make a great house cat for someone who wants a quiet, low maintenance kitty. We'd love to see her find a home with Boris, whom she clearly adores in a hero-worship kind of way. She isn't very fond of Timothy, since he insists on chasing her, but Gabe is her favorite person in the world. He was the first of any of us to be allowed to pet her.

There you have it! The complete guide to cats in our house! The last five are up for adoption, if anyone is interested. They are all spayed or neutered and have rabies shots, and Elinor and Makinsie are declawed and up to date on all shots. Please let me know if you're interested or know some one who might be! We really have far more than we would like to have, and I'd love to place the fosters in wonderful homes before the end of the year!

The Fourth of July and Timothy's First Fish

2008-07-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

I'm making progress in the catch-up process. I'm up to the Fourth of July! We started out the day with some fishing and a picnic at the park. We didn't have any real plans, so it was kind of a fly by the seat of your pants holiday. Here we see Gabe, having some fried chicken and fries.

Timothy reeled in his first fish, with a little help from Chris!

Almost got it! Keep reeling!

Look, a FISH!!! Since Timothy's vision isn't great, it's always exciting to watch him experience things for the first time. I know he knows what a fish is, theoretically, but this is his first real, live sighting!

Timothy's wasn't the only catch of the day! I think everyone but me ended up catching something. I was too busy making sure Timothy didn't wind up in the lake this time. I failed to mention in the Scout Camp post that the Sunday before camp, when Chris and the boys went out to Camp Russell to help with set up, Timothy managed to fall in the lake, right in the middle of a muddy, shallow spot that was full of slime and weeds. He's very proud of this fact. It seems to have been the high point in his summer thus far.

Because we didn't have official plans, we decided to go to the Drillers game and watch the fireworks afterwards. Because we've already wrestled our children through one baseball game this summer, we opted to go late. We arrived at the bottom of the 6th inning. It turned out to be the perfect time to arrive. We kept the kids busy and happy with LOTS of snacks. Here's Timothy, experiencing his first cotton candy!

Gabe's an old pro with cotton candy. Don't his eyes just scream "SUGAR HIGH"?

What trip to the ballpark would be complete without Cracker Jacks? They turned out to be even bigger a hit than the cotton candy was with Timothy!

The game ended with an incredibly exciting play and a close win by the Drillers. The crowd was on its feet for a dramatic slide into home plate! Then, after a few minutes of set up, it was time for fireworks. My camera never does well with low light pictures, so I just sat back and enjoyed the show. We all had a fantastic time! Can't you tell?

Big Splash

2008-07-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

We've spent a fair amount of time at Big Splash this summer. We got Gabe and Timothy season passes for their birthdays. It's quite a deal to buy them in the winter because regular tickets cost enough that you can buy season passes, go twice and save money. And since they keep changing the policy on who gets in free, we ended up with an extra pass. The website said "under 3", but when we got there to take our pictures for the passes, I was told it was "3 and under". Chris ended up with Timothy's pass, so now we can all go anytime.

My water baby, in the wave pool.

Tormenting Big Brother, as always!

Gabe is such a ham. A very skinny ham, but a ham, nonetheless!

A great way to spend a hot summer afternoon!

So that I don't leave you with the impression that I look ridiculous ALL of the time...

2008-07-19T20:44:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture from the night Chris took me to Molly's Landing to celebrate my birthday. Ok, it does happen that in this picture, I am hugging the little wire guy who was hanging onto our wine for us while we weren't using it. But in the other picture Chris took of me, I have a terribly silly look on my face. So it had to be the one of me hugging the wine guy. Alright, you win, I do look ridiculous all of the time.

Don't blame me, it's his fault. He told me to do it!

Lots of pictures of Scout Camp

2008-07-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Scout camp began on a wet, unseasonably cool morning. It was the morning of my birthday, in fact. The opening ceremonies were a little damp. Chris had taken Monday and Tuesday off work to be with Gabe, and my scheduled unexpectedly cleared for Monday, so I went along.

Forgive me for posting this terrible picture of myself. It was cold. Gabe wasn't using his poncho, and since I don't own one, I thought I might as well put his to good use. I now know that a grown woman in a Spiderman poncho draws a lot of strange looks.

Here is our pack's flag, as drawn by the boys.

Despite the wet weather, activities continued as normal. Here are Gabe and Chris at the bb gun range. Have I mentioned that my son is quite the sharp shooter? So if you ever get pinged in the bum with a bb and he tries to convince you that it was an accident, do NOT believe him. He has a marksmanship patch that states otherwise.

Toward afternoon on the first day, the sun came out. Here are the boys, practicing for the flag ceremony. Our pack was in charge of closing ceremonies on Thursday, and the boys worked hard to get it just right.

Here's Gabe, receiving a bullseye bead at the bb range.

Here, he's learning to make ice cream!

On Thursday, I went with Gabe while Timothy was at preschool. This is the woodworking station, where Gabe built a bug catcher.

I love the look of intense concentration: "Do NOT hit thumb with hammer. Do NOT hit thumb with hammer. Do NOT..."

Here are Logan and Gabe, carrying the pack flag.

Closing ceremony on Thursday. Gabe is toward the back of the line.

Tying off the flag lowering ropes.

Gabe's job in the ceremony was to lower the Oklahoma flag. He did a fantastic job. These pictures are all out of order, but I can't be bothered to fix it. You'll just have to scroll through backward or something.

Archery, another type of marksmanship at which Gabe excels. We think it's interesting that he is left handed, but can shoot equally well with both hands.

A game of human checkers.

Everyone had a lovely time, and two days of rain did very little to dampen the boys' spirits. It did create an astounding amount of filthy laundry. But that's to be expected, I suppose!

100th Post Quandry...

2008-07-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything these last few days because this is my 100th post, and I wanted it to be special. I've thought long and hard about my options. I've seen lots of people do 100 facts about themselves to celebrate their 100th blog. That was my original plan...but then I realized that I have children who tend to run amok when I'm distracted, and that it would take me far too long to think up 100 interesting things about me. No telling what could happen in that amount of time! Next, I thought I might go back through my pictures and pull some of my favorites. It turns out that I have a LOT of favorite pictures. I just couldn't narrow it down. Then I thought I'd do something sweet and sentimental. Hahahahahahaha, I'm just kidding. Finally, I overheard a conversation taking place in my back yard yesterday, and I just knew it was the perfect post for this momentous occasion. It was between my eldest son and his buddy from next door. It perfectly represents life as I know it. Here it is:

Gabe's friend: "I have to pee. Are we allowed to pee out here?"
Gabe: "Yeah, sure."
Gabe's friend: "Where should I do it?"
Gabe: "Anywhere you want."
Gabe's friend: "Are you sure your mom won't care?"
Gabe: "Nah, she lets the dog pee out here all the time!"

I didn't intervene, in case you were wondering. I probably should have, but there are some things best left alone. Some points best left unpondered. Like why I found a single, cooked black bean in the shower this morning. I've just resigned myself to not having all the answers all the time.

More summer pictures

2008-07-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, we went to a fly fishing seminar at the park. Chris and I learned to fly fish in Montana two summers back, and we have our own rod, but we don't get to do it much, because, you know, we have children. Since the park thing was A) Free B) On a Saturday and C) Free, we decided we had nothing to lose and took the kids along. First, we learned to tie our own flies. It was really pretty fun, and not as hard as I thought it would be. I guess all the knitting and crocheting has made my fingers nimble. Then, we went down to the pond to try out our new flies. Hey, look, I'm on my blog! I am not actually a hunchback. Apparently, I just impersonate one when I cast a fly rod.

The hardest part was not hooking errant kids on the back cast. Since Chris and I only have one rod and reel, we took turns keeping the kids out of harm's way.

It was also challenging to keep the ducks and geese out of harm's way, harm's way being Timothy. He really wanted to pet them. Oddly enough, they really didn't want to be petted.

I call this one "Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn". I have not the mad photography and editing skills that some of you have, so I apologize for the quality.

Gabe is becoming quite the fisherman. His Pawpaw will be proud!

Not a keeper, but quite a cute little bluegill. He posed for one quick picture, then we quickly sent him back into the pond to tell his fellow fish about his adventures. He must've done a good job of it, because he was the only catch of the day. Unless you count that one slow duck that Timothy caught. He didn't need those tail feathers anyway.

Bank of America Night at Driller Stadium

2008-07-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

What is summer without baseball? We attended Bank of America night at Driller Stadium again this year, although this year it didn't coincide with Scout Night. The kids were really only interested in the food and the fireworks. Unfortunately for those of us who had to keep the kids entertained, between the food and the fireworks lie nine looooooong innings!

Timothy is a big fan of the two-fisted hot dog eating method.

Gabe is more a burger kind of guy.

Chris will eat anything, provided it is unfortunate enough to linger on his plate long enough. Between this and the video of him on the slip 'n slide, I maybe needing a place to sleep tonight.

'Cause it's ONE, TWO, THREE strikes you're out! Gabe kept heckling the wrong team. We should probably provide some baseball background before we attend any more games!

A rare moment of attentiveness. Either that or he was practicing his gymnastics skills!

Mr. Personality

2008-07-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

Let us take a moment to consider my youngest son. He is full of surprises. Some of them are cute and funny surprises. Occasionally, they are NOT. I didn't, for instance, fail to enjoy the shouts from the bathroom recently of, "Oh, no!!! Timofee peed ALL OVER THE PLACE!" Yes, we are still potty training. No, I am not yet winning. At any rate, the surprises are more often funny than not. Here he is, fresh from the shower, and wearing Mr. Potato Head's spectacles.

Here, I believe he was supposed to be cleaning up his toys. For the record, I told him to put his toys in the bin, not his tush.

I'm fairly certain that there's a pull-up somewhere on his person. I'm not making any promises, though.

Finally, even though Timothy is not in this picture, he was the cause of it. Moses was sitting innocently on the table (alright, to be perfectly honest, Moses is rarely ever innocent) when Timothy decided he needed to be encompassed in videos. Look, Ma, a fortified kitty!

If any of you are feeling down, I'd like to offer you the use of Timothy for a day. My hourly rates are very reasonable, and I guarantee results. If you are not fully happy to see me arrive to pick him up at the end of the day, I will happily refund your money!

My cats are strange

2008-07-14T14:51:00.001-07:00

The following pictures are NOT an example of excellent photography. They ARE, however, an example of trying to catch something on film without startling the subject of the picture into...dropping his ear of corn. It was Father's Day. We had played on the slip 'n slide (and by "we", I mean NOT me), we had cooked on the grill. We were sitting in the living room relaxing. Then we noticed that Moses was behaving in a peculiar manner. He was slinking around the coffee table, looking suspiciously like a cat about to steal someone's dinner. Since dinner was over and done, we waited to see what would happen. He circled the coffee table for several minutes. Then, when he was fairly sure no one was paying any attention to him, he stood up on his hind feet and began gnawing on the corn cob on my plate. There was no corn left, mind you, but he didn't let a little thing like that stop him.

Eventually, he decided it would be best to pull the whole thing off the table, so as to get a better grip on the cob.

Meanie was feeling left out, so he decided to try some corn, too. If he had started the whole thing, it would've been less surprising, since Meanie appears to think he is a cow. Every time the front door opens, he darts out and sits on the front steps to eat some grass. He won't go any further than the steps, but he doesn't feel his day is complete unless he's grazed.

It's rather irritating if you happen to be in a hurry, because you have to stop and retrieve a cat every single time the front door opens. But let's get back to the question at hand: Why are my cats eating corn on the cob???

Here's some video of it. Because I finally figured out how to put video on a blog!

And so, it begins...

2008-07-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have now downloaded my pictures. How is it possible that between June 12th and July 14th, I took 365 pictures? At the current rate of things, Chris should be able to finish putting all our pictures onto Flickr sometime around 2019. If he's lucky. So, first things first. We bought a slip 'n slide. The kids enjoy it. Chris didn't seem to enjoy it that much. I have video. Hopefully, I will be able to put the video on for your viewing...amusement.

Gabe had to come up with a new and innovative way to slip 'n slide, of course. He preferred to do it on his swimming kick board.

Timothy prefered the method of lying down and one end and propelling himself with his hands. His performance was not unlike that of a seal on land. It was amusing.

The whole thing ended up turning the back yard into a soup of mud and grass. Not that the back yard was that impressive to begin with. I consider a little mud a sacrifice well worth making if it entertains the boys for more than five minutes at a time.

Clearly, it did. But they were not nearly as entertained by the slip 'n slide as I was by Chris on the slip 'n slide. Apparently, there are certain...ahem...parts of the human anatomy...that don't enjoy the slip 'n slide experience as much in adulthood as they did in childhood. This is what I'm told, anyway. You wouldn't catch me on one!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...I present Chris, on the slip 'n slide!