Jump in feet first!

Today I will just embrace what it is and jump in feet first. 'What it is' feels like a giant jumbled mess of spaghetti. But that's good- because I like spaghetti. In fact, I think I'll make that for supper, after I jump in it feet first? No- I should make fresh for dinner. Add that to the list.
There must be 28 photos of this car on this chair from this angle on my camera (many thanks to our budding photographer- Miss Emily- you've seen her work before). My question is, what is my middlest trying to tell me. I think it's that I need help, so she's calling in the officials. Her call probably went something like this "Please- come quick, my mom is making grilled cheese (again) for lunch and bub is in time out (again) and I'm out of clean underwear. Mom also mentioned getting rid of all my toys, like she did the crayons, and I think she's serious this time. And my brother filled the register vent with batteries, and I painted my toes purple and got it on the bathroom floor, and my sister's arm is green (and huge) and my dad has fred flintstone feet. Come quick- I heard mention of hamburger helper (again) for dinner and as mom knows I DON'T LIKE THAT".
Proof about the fred flintstone feet- courtesy of our favorite photographer, again. If you look back at photo one, I think Emily has been unluckily blessed with these bad boys. However, on her they look cute and adorable. On Dan- not so much.
And here, I've included this picture only because I was fortunate enough to have it. See that solid piece of heavy, hard wood above her head- it is our staircase. One of the scary kind that is all wood and you can see through the steps, and weird as it is, it sticks out into our living room. Last night- after wranging this crazy bunch all day (including a play date for Allyson mind you) I managed to walk straight into it after working at the air show for 4 hours and getting home after 10pm. Yep, I didn't even slow down- walked right in the garage door and across the living room, then 'bam!' straight into the staircase. I was focused on the #2 flashing on the message machine (after all- they are probably really important exciting messages so I must have been in a hurry- AMVETS might be in the neighborhood or the Idpls Star might want to offer an upgrade- you just never know who's going to call while you're away) that is kept on a table under said staircase, and I suppose I forgot to duck. Instantly I saw stars, felt my teeth rattle, and heard Dan mumble something about 'why did you do that' (just for fun, darling). This morning I have a goose egg right on my forehead- just wonderful! Last night, as I was quietly crying (sobbing) after I plowed into the wooden structure of our home- I began reviewing how much work there is to do at the air show, my un-unloaded dishwasher and un-reloaded dinner dishes, my bedsheets that need washed, that dag gone blue paint for Sam's room, all this crap laying around that I keep thinking I'll sell on ebay, the toys, and the noise and the dust and the mopping, and then it hit me (not the stair case again)- the ottoman is on the deck.

Here he is- future furniture movers of America. (Add to that list above that Sam is dirty and needs a bath and the ottoman apparently does too). He put our ottoman out on the deck. Why, why, why? I'm not sure. But I'm with him- we should just put it all out on the deck- then God will wash it, I don't have to dust it and Sam can go back to being 2 instead of in the furniture moving business.

So back to the rescue call- Emily is obviously very wise as she knew I was in need of help long before I embraced it. So she took these pictures so I would have something to do this morning instead of doing any of the miriad of things I have complained about in this entry.Because that would be stupid, to waste this time I have before the kids awaken doing productive useful things. Instead I chose to type about them- kind of like making a list- so I can focus today (once the world stops spinning from this giant boo boo on my head).Today- Emily's playdate at 10am, 4H office to pick up fair projects (looser mom forgot to pick them up the day after the fair, yeah me!), dinner to a friend, send my entire paycheck to 342 doctors offices who all want $19.23 or $21.55- seriously if my insurance already sent them the huge payments could they not just forget about this 'pocket change'? In the world of $15,000 surgeries, do they really need my measely $20?- back to my list for today- sheets, dishes, ebay (yeah right) and then tonight- ANIMALS AND ALL THAT JAZZ! That is what will keep me going- knowing that in 8 short hours I will have my children all to myself at the Zoo so that we can discuss what animals are pooping where (Sam's new hobby I guess). I seriously can't wait.

Sisters Only!

That's what this sign says, Sisters Only! Emily made this sign and taped it to their bedroom door. You can only come in if you have a sister- which fortunately Dan and I both do, and Sam as well for that matter.

Emily loves her sister. She just loves to do whatever it is that Allyson is doing, regardless of what it is. She really looks up to her, there is a love that exists between sisters that is so very evident when I watch Emily and the way she looks at Allyson. When Ally showers any kind of attention on Emily- she just eats it up. And interestingly enough, Allyson seems to really depend on Emily for a lot of company and playmateness as well. Occassionally they want to sleep in the same bed together, Allyson is typically pretty good about letting Emily join in with she and her friends, and Emily wants nothing more than her sisters attention. I can relate- I too was the little sister.

Sure, my sister and I fought- especially when we got a bit older. But now that we are adults, she is such a good friend to me. One of the best kinds, the kind that won't come or go, fade in or out, regardless of time or circumstances we are sisters and I love her with all my heart.

Through marriages I have also been blessed with two Sister in Laws. Both equally wonderful and some of my closest and dearest friends. God is pretty awesome as he continues to bless us throughout our lives with people that make our lives complete. I'll be interested to see what kind of woman Sam brings into this crazy bunch some day- but I can tell you right now, I doubt she'll be good enough for him : )

I am glad for Emily and Allyson, they have a gift that they probably won't realize for many years to come- each other. Not sure where Sam fits in there, I suppose he'll have to stop chasing them with sticks and peeing on them in order to find his spot in that love circle.

PREPARE YOURSELVES

Winter is coming. Take the time now- prepare your cold weather accessories.
Sort them, try them on, give them a fresh laundering.
I only have time to do this because every other part of my life is in such perfect order.

That, and the fact that this dag gone sorter thingy has gotten so over loaded that every time I open the closet door it spills out all over the place. That is how it got 'lovingly placed' in the middle of the kitchen floor- and how my Miss Emily stumbled upon it.

Speaking of closets- how on earth can a family of 5 have a coat closet that is absolutely bursting at the seams? Would it not seem logical that it would have, at the most, 10 items hanging in it? (5 coats and 5 jackets- one of each for each person?) And as far as the gloves and hats go- ditto? Apparently we are stock piling winter clothing for something.

I surrender.

The green eyed monster

We live within seconds of the capital city of our state. Indianapolis has nothing short of the best of everything. The best shops, museums, hotels and of course, medical facilities. Of course, I consider us blessed to have the best of the best right at our finger tips. Families drive for hours to receive treatment at our array of hospitals, and we have them right at our disposal.

So today, when trying to get the appointment with the orthopaedic doctor I was relieved to have such an endless supply of physicians to select from. So I'm sure you will find it no surprise that we ended up in Franklin, IN- yes, almost a full hour from our home! What the heck man, can this day get any better?

It's a bit of a long story- more than I have energy to explain but it starts with my pediatrician being a ginormic horses patootie and ends with us having outpatient surgery at Johnson Memorial Hospital.

Just a simple appointment to put on her cast- what's an hour drive I thought to myself as we headed down there. After all, my tool of a doctor was no help and the ER where we had her treated had already discussed our case with this Franklin doctor. Personally, after meeting him and his staff- I loved the doctor and if we ever break anything else I would definantly consider going to him again. So that part was a bit of a blessing I suppose. Her arm was pretty well straight, just a bit rotated. So he tried to align it in his office. Needless to say, this was anything but pleasant for Allyson- she said it felt like it did when she broke it. He re-xrayed it and although better, it was not perfect. So he began talking about anesthesia and hospitals, and I began panicking. "Where in the heck are we anyway, and how on earth did a family within minutes of anything we want end up two counties away heading to a little bitty hole in the wall hospital?"

But at this point we had bought and paid for it, no turning back now. Long story short (or is it too late for that?) her arm is realigned, she is casted with this giant green mamerjammer, she's done puking and we are home.
And just as Allyson promised, Emily got to be the first to sign her cast.

Funny conversation between Allyson and the Doctor:

Dr.: "What is the last thing you ate"

Allyson: "potato chips"

Dr.: "What about before that, what did you have for breakfast?"

Allyson: "a cupcake"

Me: burying my head in my hands and surrendering my mother of the year award

I promise you all that most days we eat english muffins, oatmeal, cereal, eggs- you know 'normal' breakfast stuff. But not today, of course.

Please, please, please, please, please let tomorrow be just another ordinary, regular day. Because I am about runned out, if you know what I am saying............ Now on to the tricky part, keeping Allyson on bedrest for 3 days (all I can do is hope for rain.)

The blog where I whine

I am really really really trying to focus on the fabulous- not the frumpy. And for the most part, I live in a fabulous little corner of the world. But this morning, I can not over come the desire to just whine. You don't have to read it, but I am still going to write it and with any hope, when I am done I will feel better and can embrace this day that has already begun.

I'm tired and can't sleep. I will start there. I don't know if it is the color of the paint, the fabric of my sheets, or my wayyyyyy worn out nursing night gowns that I still wear for bed (not to worry, new pj's is on my list- and has been for years, it's just one of those things, ya know?) but I can't sleep. I am waking up all night long- still very tired and able to go back to sleep but regardless, I am missing out on those hours of consecutive sleep. I wake up tired, I go to bed tired, I eat lunch tired, I AM JUST TIRED. "If you exercise you will have more energy" I have read, been told by my doctor and seen in ads- that's not working either. I'm still tired. Enough on that.

The air show is less than a month away. I can still hear one of the chairman's voice echoing in my head "All we need is someone to answer the phone and check emails". The silly part is I fell for it. Not silly because I don't love doing it, I love the air show. But it is all consuming, and personally with three children, a husband, a house, mountains of laundry, various other committees- I'm already consumed. So I suppose I should just take a deep breath, purchase lots of oven ready frozen dinners and plow through the next 26 days because I'm already waist deep in it now. Happy Air Show!

And my child is broken. No big deal, tons of kids have broken bones. Heck, my husband has had tons of broken bones. I guess I will just feel better when she gets the permanent cast on and I have a better idea of what to expect for the next 2 months (can she roller skate, ride her bike, play basketball, and is there really a water cast that will make a trip to South Haven still possible this year? What about our plans for kings island?) I just feel like I failed her, because she is now broken. At the hospital I was trying to explain to her what had happened after I saw her xrays. I was showing her on my arm how you have two long bones from your wrist to the elbow and she says "I get it, now I have 3". She is such a good kid.

And only because I declared this to be the whiny entry, I will wrap up the rest of my whinyness in one short paragraph: I have ants all over, probably because most everything we own is sticky, my husband is still recovering from surgery-like a real trooper but still, my refrigerator needs cleaned out- which is a much bigger job than I can even think about, the toys have taken over and they overwhelm me, Sam's room needs painted some shade of gorgeous blue- which me being the most indecisive person in the universe will never be able to pick out, gas is $4 per gallon, the garage is overwhelmingly crowded with (you guessed it) toys, I need to have a garage sale to eliminate said toys, there is more laundry than time in the day, I'm out of milk and-for the grand finale- today consists of a trip to the doctor, air show for 4 hours, ballet, piano, dinner and another air show committee meeting tonight. I am not going to get to sit down again until 11pm!

And now my silly blog entry goofy mambo jambo won't let me put in a picture. So sorry- no picture today. More happy thoughts tomorrow I'm sure. I must now shower and dress- Monday is in full swing here with two awake and wondering about breakfast. Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Wow- that sure is a big bandaid!

All this time it has been Sam that I am afraid of, apparently it is Allyson that is going to keep us hoping! Today she broke her arm. A few years ago, she experienced a 'green stick fracture' break in the same arm- but this time she got it perfected and snapped it all the way through!
Bless her heart, she was such a trooper- and thank goodness they were not busy in the ER and the rushed us right back and within an hour they had us bandaged, painkilled, x-rayed and ready to go. The doctor commented that he was surprised it didn't break both bones- it was really strange looking when we first got there (yuck!)
We went to the park for a get together with our close friends from church to celebrate the birthday of our dear friend Missy Bucket. Who could have anticipated we were walking into a trap, a mysterious shady unsafe park clearly unfit for small children- what was she thinking? I mean, for crying out loud, there were monkey bars and swings and brand new playground equipment- obviously no place for my poor unsuspecting daughter. (wink, wink) All joking aside- we were so super excited to get to spend the day with our friends, the kids especially. I'm not even sure I had sat down my 'pitch in' fruit salad before we were wrangling the kids back to the van. Almost immediately out of the gate, Allyson had jumped down from the rings and fell on her arm. It was pretty crooked looking- I knew it was broken as soon as I turned around.
She's in a temporary cast until we see the Orthopedist on Monday. The bones are still pretty straight- probably no worry about having to set it or anything fancy schmancy, so probably he will just put on her more permenant cast- it just gives Ally a couple of days to try and decide what color they should make it (green or blue- she can't decide).

Seeing her in pain was more pain that I was prepared for. As a mother, it is so difficult to just sit patiently and have no control to help make it better. I was grateful that the hospital rushed around us- I'm not sure I could have sat in the waiting room very long with her hurting like she was. But now- armed with tylenol with codiene- I am back in control and can help with her pain.

Once back in the car with her sights clearly set on Dairy Queen (broken bones=ice cream, obviously she needs the calcium) Sam looks over and says "Wow, that sure is a big bandaid!" How funny are these small people among us? My only regret is not bathing them this morning- I figured tonight after the park we would all wash up, dag gone it! That is sure going to be one stinky arm in 6-8 weeks!

It's probably going to be a hard rest of the summer as we love to swim and play in the water, but at least we made it to the end of July before we broke a bone, right?

Walruses, Water Parks and Whatever

With gas at an all time record low for the summer- merely $3.98 per gallon- we figured now was a good time to drive all the way into downtown Indy everyday to visit the animals at the zoo. Well, not every day- but twice last week alone. Mind you- everyone else under the sun was also taking advantage of the low fuel expenses and apparently ended up there with us on Wednesday. Wednesday- the safest day to visit anywhere in the universe as 'everyone' else is at work. Apparently not this week. It was apparently 'take everyone you know to the zoo' day. But we were there- so we parked in the middle of no where and made our way in. Our zoo has a fabulous water area- since Dan is still recovering from birthing his kidney stone we decided to just play there for the day instead of truckin all over tarnation to see the animals.

Notice anything- no Sam in this picture you say. That's because he was here:

Just sitting on the fishy table or hanging from our stroller. He is not much for getting water dumped on him or sprayed on. He did spend some time splashing in a small puddle of totally contaminated water, I'm sure. He also investigated the small holes where the water sprays up for a while- but most of the time he was just hanging out with me. Then Emily returned, after 38 seconds of water play- insisting it was time for a snack. See, they know that I smuggle in the contrabanned snacks into the zoo. Who can justify spending $12 on a frozen, microwaved pretzel? So, she is now insisting we bust open the bowl of grapes- she is dying and must have them. Then she spends the next 18 minutes parked next t0 me and Sam while they fight over grapes- who gets to hold the bowl, who has the most, who gets to put the lid on and off and on and off, who gets the water bottle. Geez, we could have eaten grapes and fought at home- but instead it was refreshing to come to the zoo for a change of pace and do it there I suppose. Once the grapes were all consumed (or spilled), Emily went back out for more water park action- Sam still hung out with me and the fish table.

Our second trip to the zoo was for Animals and all that Jazz. The place was a ghost town as everyone was sitting in the concert area. AWESOME! The air was dry and a cooler than previously in the week, a light breeze blowing, soft live jazz music in the background, and no huge crowds to fight. Heaven. But it was free train ride night at the zoo for members, so we headed straight there to get it out of the way. The train ride line was not a ghost town. We waited patiently for about 40 minutes until we got our ride- which Sam LOVED. Off the train- on to animals. Animals you say? All of the animals went off display at 7pm- hysterical I tell you! Oh well, next week we will get there earlier for the jazz thing and hopefully get to them. It's nice in the evenings because it's cooler and dinner time, so the animals are really active.

On to more important things. Emily asked to borrow the camera- here is what she came up with:

A PHOTO MONTAGE BY EMILY

We LOVE the walruses- love them, love them, love them. Surprisingly- Emily got some pretty good pictures of them.

Oh look- a self photo of Emily. I kid you not- every time she takes pictures I end up with these mixed in, what a goof.

Oh- and some still landscape shots- of dead or dying flowers.

A tree, a honda and a trash cart.

And a parking space. I think in this photo Emily is trying to demonstrate the vastness of the air molecules in comparison to the natural placement of the foilage. Of show the interesting mixture of textures. Oh, wait- I get it, she is just pointing our how incredibly narrow the parking spaces are at the zoo.

Up close and personal

Bountiful harvest................

It's official, we are farmers. Yep, big time farmers we are. Well- not really big time, kind of small time. Really, really, really small time. 4 tomato plant small time. But that doesn't include the acres of squash and pumpkins we planted. Well, technically not acres. But rows and rows and rows. Alright- one row of each, one row of 4 plants each. But you do the math- that is 12 very vital, demanding agriculturally centered, fruit bearing plants. Yes sir e, and they are all mine. I mean ours. Really, the kids didn't want a whole lot to do with the planting- they let me handle that. Occasionally they will drag a bucket of water out there, and sometimes they even pour it on one of the plants. But boy- when it came time for 'harvest', Sam was all over it. Such a proud tomato picker he is. And after we had 'harvested' the bushels of tomatoes you see above (well, not bushels- but we did fill a side walk chalk bucket with these 6 beautiful balls of tomatoeness) he snuck back out and plucked out that giant green beauty. Boy- it would have been one gorgeous big tomato, had it been allowed to ripen on the vine. Whatever, we don't really even eat tomatoes. We just grow them. It's my little way of giving back to the world, one tomato at a time : ) I will keep you all posted as to our next harvest. With the size of our crop, I am considering purchasing a combine or a giant tractor of some sort- I would just love the opportunity to drive one of those things. I may even have to hire a farm hand. This life of a farmer is not an easy one- up with the chickens and working the field all day.......... no wonder I'm tired.

Obviously I might be stretching the facts just a smidge- but someday I would love the opportunity to be a real life farmer. We could raise sheep, plant wheat and sunflowers and have giant barn dances. My kids would wear boots and not be whiny because they'd be too tired from working all day and chasing those sheep, we'd enter them in the fair (the sheep, not the kids) and win ribbons, we'd have a barn- one of those beautiful old big barns you see on postcards and in mid-west living magazines. I would spend all day baking up wonderfulness and I would talk about 'going to town' and snap beans on my front porch while sitting on my swing drinking tea (sweet tea, so my good friends will come and want to visit to get some of it too). And I want a giant farm type kitchen table- and I will wear an apron. An apron with big pockets and a floral print. Somehow in my mind I have made it a simple but satisfying life. DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME AND POP THIS BUBBLE.

Thank God I'm a Country Girl (who currently lives in the city in a subdivision with a 4 foot square garden).

no comment

I could try to explain, but it wouldn't make any sense. You just had to be here, I suppose.

Another joy of summer.........

I am not a huge fan of summer, it's just too blasted hot. It's not like we have miles of scenic beaches to refresh ourselves on while we are sweating to death out here in the middle of no where. We barely have feet of public pools. But it is what it is- and thanks to my little people I am enjoying summer more and more each year. See, as you all already know, these little people LOVE summer. Sprinkers, wading pools, sidewalk chalk, lightening bugs, parks, oh my! The summer is it for them, and because they are not trapped inside the house trying to kill each other- summer is becoming more of 'it' for me.

Each year, there is a father/jr. fishing tournament hosted through the Teamsters. Last year was the first year Dan went with the girls, and they loved it! 4 hours of non-stop fishing action, free hot dogs, all the mountain dew you can drink, prize bags, the hokey pokey and small trophies- they were all in heaven. Here they are last year............

Gosh- a year sure has changed them both so much. Back to business...........

This year, Dan was scheduled to have his kidney stone removed during the weekend of the tournament, needless to say he was more than a little bummed. He had really been looking forward to taking them again. I feel blessed that Dan's dad wanted to take them in his absence. His parents came and spent the days of Dan's surgery here with us to help, and it was such a relief to have them here- I am certainly blessed with a wonderful pair of in-laws.

So, Dan's dad said he would take the girls- which was impressive but scary. Not scary because he can't handle it, scary because it's a 4 hour event in the blazing sun with an 8 and 4 year old who are easily distracted and usually a bit 'whiny'. But none the less, he was game.

Here they are- departing for their day of fishing.

And here they are after they got back home. They each were awarded a trophy for their excellence in fishing, along with a gigantic bag full of 'fabulous' kid stuff (notice Allyson's green water yoyo).And here is Emily on her brand new bike! They have drawings every year, and this year this little pip squeak won. Boy- she is sure one proud girl. Last year Allyson won a cool fishing pole. We are winners!

Dan has already talked about the tournament next year and how it will be Sam's first. I've already marked the calendar and begun making plans of my own. You see, if he takes all 3 to the fishing tournament, I will be here alone.

Alone, alone, alone, alone, alone, alone................... that is just simply something that I so very rarely get to be is alone. Not that I want to be alone all the time, I love not being alone as long as my company is this crazy bunch. But a few minutes or an hour here or there, heavenly. I suppose you can not really appreciate being alone until you have children and you are never alone again. Not even in the restroom, but that's a whole nother story!

Replace every 3 months

Yeah, that's toothpaste on our trusty steed, Lew. But not to worry, it's Dan's toothbrush. He's such a baby, he made me buy him a new toothbrush. I thought we could just dig out all the dog hair and give it a good rinse- but nooooooooo, he insisted on a whole new one : )

For whatever reason I feel like I must clarify that it was Sam who was the mastermind of this project- but surely you already figured that one out.

So- I will close with a reminder that you are supposed to replace your toothbrush every 3 months. For those of us with children, perhaps we should consider doing that a bit more frequently. I found my toothbrush under Sam's crib yesterday morning- I bought myself a new one too!

The joys of summer........

One of my biggest joys of summer is the county fair. That is even more true now that I have little people who also delight in the thrill of it all. Every year on the first day of the fair there is a parade. Homemade floats, fire trucks, lots of men driving tractors (Sam's idols), kids waiving, candy flying, I love it all! Forgot my camera, so no picture of all that fantasticness, but believe me it was wonderful!

Allyson is in her second year of mini-4H. In fact, this is her last year in mini-4H- next year she will be a full size 4Her. Hard to imagine, she still seems so mini to me. But regardless, on to bigger and better things I suppose.

She entered a project in collections- a beautiful display of her bead necklaces. She has collected so much over the years, most of it being items she has found in my trash can, but this year she picked to display these beauties. (just to the left of her ear there is a dark blue back ground board- that's hers)

And she entered an art project. It is a self portrait that she made at Grandma Larsen's house. She is such an artistic young woman, she loves all the artsy fartsy stuff. I just wish she would put it all away when she's done 'creating'. She was given a blue ribbon on both projects (kind of the norm for mini-4H). She was also supposed to have a 'bloomin veggie' to enter as well as decorated cupcakes- but life got in the way. In fact, we haven't even planted her 'bloomin veggie' yet. 2 projects was enough- 4 was way over the top. Now we know. (top shelf- just under the corner of the crafts sign is her painting- a big tan face with purple and green background)

One of the neighbor girls raised a pig this summer, Wilbert. We got to go visit him Friday night before the fair started at their house. They brought him home in a trailer so he'd be ready to go early the next morning- that was kind of cool for the kids. But not near as cool as having a back stage pass in the pig area in the swine barn! They got to spray him with water and pet him- big stuff! I must say- he was some terrific radiant humble pig (my favorite book as a kid, I couldn't help it).

And my personal favorite part of the fair in addition to that dag gone commercial building that I love to walk through (just in case I ever have a need for a dry basement treatment, 28 yardsticks or realtor I suppose)- the Tri Kappa Home Made Doughnut booth! YUM! I don't have a photograph to show you about them- just thought I would mention it.

The kids are partial to the Farm Bureau milk shakes- probably a close second for me!

So- in addition to all the excitement of the fair last week, my husband had his pesky kidney stone removed. He is now the proud pappa of a beauty the size of the tip of your pinky (I already forgot whatever metric unit they measure it in). Most importantly to us, his adoring fans, he is home and doing well. Thanks to all who lifted him in prayer. Needless to say, there is not a lot of rest around here for a recovering kidney stone patient- but hopefully he will become acclimated to the constant chaos and be able to steal a nap now and then.

Line 'em up!

I can always tell what Sam has been playing with based on the line up of toys. Sam will sit forever and physically line up his toys- matchbox cars, trains, ride on toys in the drive way, or as you can see above- bath tub toys. Whatever it is, he will spend an afternoon putting them in perfect order. I can not help but to smile each time a find a perfect line of precisely arranged toys.
And after smiling- I worry that he is obsessive compusive. I think I am. Or at least I could be if these wee ones (and my 'not anywhere close to being obsessive compulsive' husband) didn't beat it out of me. There was a day (many many moons ago) that I used to like everything in order- perfect order. I could not rest until my home was in order. Now, not so much. Order is something I do from a catalog, or at a restaurant. Not that I don't want order, and sometimes I declare we are going to have order- but it never comes. Oh, to have a perfectly arranged cabinet somewhere in our home. There is simply no longer any order in my home.
Except in the bathtub, apparently.

I scream, you scream, we all scream..........

That's right, we all scream for ice cream- for breakfast. You can judge me, that's fine. My children are eating ice cream for breakfast- but it stopped the screaming. See, they'd already spent some time outside (hunting for the toads of course) and that's when it happened. Emily and Sam began their 'I'm gonna chase you while you squeal" routine (Sam's the chaser, Emily's the runner). Emily locked him outside, then hysteria broke loose. That's when Allyson said "Can I have ice cream?" Then my small blonde one began chanting "ice cream, ice cream, ice cream"- so that is how we arrived here. That, and my messy dirty house that have already captured my attention for the early morning moments- which has drained me of any ability to argue already today. I suppose someday, when the child protection people knock on my door to inquire about my ice cream for breakfast eating, counter sitting, naked in the front yard, hootin' and hollarin' children I will not be able to deny a thing- as I am daily documenting our really bad habits in this blog. oops

Glass baby-

Rocko- Emily's glass baby.

Anyone who has met Emily Elizabeth has been in the presence of Rocko at one time or another, whether you realize it or not. To you, this small glass baby might look like a 1970's paperweight- but to her he is two and a half pounds of pure joy.................unless he is dropped on a toe, which has happened. Or unless your two year old brother is chasing you with him, which has also happened. But most typically he is nestled safe in Emily's arms.

Any time this little girl packs a purse, suit case or toy bag- Rocko is in there. She frequently sleeps with him. Rocko went to Niagara Falls on vacation with us. He is a well traveled, very loved glass baby.

We do own toys though. We even own plastic babies- but they do not hold a candle to Rocko. I bet her great grandpa had no idea when he gave it to her that it would become one of her most precious treasures. In fact, I had to wonder what in the heck he was thinking giving a heavy ball of glass to a then 3 year old. But this little bubble of pastel flower filled glass is much more to Emily than I suppose I had even realized, until last week when I heard her in her room wisper to him "Rocko, my little glass baby".

With any hope at all Rocko will survive Sam, and Emily for that matter, and possibly someday return to it's original purpose- a paper weight. But I'm sure he will always remain Rocko- the glass baby.

Spa's closed!

Due to a minor technical difficulty (the top half of our buckeye tree falling during the storm on Tuesday) I'm afraid that the day spa is officially closed. Fortunately that ginormous tree missed my butterfly bush that I planted in the back corner of ther yard, sorry to say the fence was not as lucky.Dan and I spent yesterday afternoon cutting up that bad boy (thank goodness the kids had the forethought to get Dan a chainsaw a few years ago for fathers day) and burning what we could in our burn pit. Then Dan got to try his hand at fence repair- he had to replace the chainlink on both ours and the neighbors fences as well as the posts that go across the top. But today- back to 'normal', just our regular chaos so far.

Yesterday morning we hosted our first ever 'Crazy Critters Crafting Camp'- really it was just a glorified play date with sidewalk paint and beads. Fun none the less.........

Here they are, painting Sam's tractor with sidewalk paint. The kids enjoyed having a few friends over and I enjoyed chit-chatting (as Emily calls it) with their mommies. Sam was kind enough to pee on his sister while they were all here as well as throw sand at one of the little girls (sorry Bella)- that kid! It's no wonder we have to bribe friends to come over with crafting supplies. As we speak he is chasing his sister with a plastic water gun that he is hitting her with while shouting "Love God, Love Neighbors"- I'm not sure he undestands that verse he learned at Vacation Bible School, ya think?

Dropped Allyson off at the bus for Girl Scout Camp this morning- she's spending the night there tonight. I'm sure she'll be fine, can't wait to see her tomorrow!