A happy little story

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...

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...

Snowman, with pockets!

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

The Twelve Days of Christmas According To Timothy

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...

...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

"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!

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.