+ 1 - 5 | § ¶Three Web Albums! It's a record!
I had planned on going to the Children's Museum with the kids today, because during May you could use the Meijer Garden's membership to get in for free, but i didn't know that until yesterday. But then i totally forgot today. It never even crossed my mind until, as i was tucking him into bed, Houston asked me, "Tomorrow is the day that we are going to the Children's Museum, right?" Shoot!
In my defense, we weren't just sitting around picking our noses today. We had a t-ball game this morning, a necessary naptime for Zane and quiet time for the other two, cookie dough making so that we can make cookies to bring to our new neighbors, and lots of playing outside. We weren't bored. But if i had remembered? We could have gone. Darn it.
On the upside, they all got to snoop cookie dough.
If you want to see lots of pictures and more details about what we did today, click here.
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+ 3 - 4 | § ¶Beans, beans, the magical fruit (except that they're really a vegetable. Sheesh.)
I don't know if you can tell, but our vegetable garden is starting to Grow Stuff! Mostly beans, so far, although little teensy carrots are also starting to sprout. And here's a mystery that someone can solve for me: Why are there beans growing in places - halfway across the garden even! - that i did not plant them? I planted nice little rows of beans. There are now bean sprouts popping up among the tomatoes and the carrots and the squash. Either one of my kids is digging up the seeds and moving them or some little animal is? Do animals do that?
Houston got his yearbook today. Seeing himself in print, along with all of his little classmates, was extremely exciting to him. He poured over it all the way home from school, and then for another half hour at least. Fun.
+ 1 - 5 | § ¶Crash
A helicopter crashed onto the roof of the nearby hospital this morning, sending up lots of smoke and apparently looking very impressive. We never noticed a thing, although Houston later tried to convince me that he had heard a crash. (He hadn't.) After school, we drove past the hospital downtown, but nothing looked amiss at all - except for the news crews lining the street. Not that i'd ever WANT a tragedy to happen, but since it was a tragedy that was already happening (and no one got really hurt), i really wish i'd gotten to see it! Especially as it's so close to our house.
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+ 1 - 5 | § ¶According to my kids. And also, ice cream!
According to Houston, probably "bears used to live in Mammoth cave in apartments, but now they live in their own caves instead so they don't have to pay rent."
According to Katrina, if our car went off a bridge and into the sea, we should "quick get out of our seatbelts and put our bathing suits on and go swimming."
According to Zane, it's a really funny joke to get into Houston's car seat instead of his own.
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+ 4 - 3 | § ¶A really long explaination about why i'm using this picture.
I went to the grocery store three times today. And didn't actually do the grocery shopping that i need to do. The first time, i was stopping on the way to Houston's school because it is his week to bring snacks and i did not plan ahead. The second time we stopped on the way home from picking Houston' up from school, to get a prize for getting enough stickers on their charts. While we were there, i decided to make some chicken crescent thingies (totally unhealthy, what with the cream cheese and the crescent rolls, but entirely delicious) for dinner, so i called my mom on my nearly dead cell phone to ask her what i might need for it. She was completely helpful, but apparently assumed that i was smart enough to realize that i would need chicken. Which is why i went back for the third trip. That time it was already late enough that i needed to just run in, get the chicken, and run home to make dinner. Not enough time to get all the rest of the stuff i needed.
I completely organized and put together a photo album for the quinceanera girl (part of what i had promised to do as part of being the photographer) on Snapfish today. Twice. The first time i finished it, saved it, and closed it down. Then, hours later, i opened it up to show Juanito so he could give his approval before i ordered it. I re-uploaded one of the pictures using a slower upload so it would be higher resolution, put it into the right place, and hit preview so i could order the book...and the entire thing was GONE. Nothing remained except that one picture. I called Snapfish, and their explanation was something along the lines of, "Maybe it's because you saved it a couple of times. But either way, it's just gone." Right. Thanks. Next time, i am SO not using Snapfish.
I brought Houston to school today while Juanito stayed home with the other two kids. Since i had the chance, i stayed for a little while to sit in on the class and watch Houston show his Show And Tell book. He did it pretty much how i'd expected: He opened it up, showed them a picture, and gave a shy look. He didn't say a word the entire time, even though the teacher encouraged him to explain about it. She ended up telling them all about the dinosaurs in the book. I stayed in my little corner, observing, until they left for gym half an hour later. It was fun to watch what a normal class is like for him. Houston was awesome while they were sitting down. He would listen quietly, raise his hand appropriately, and answer with brilliancy. And then the class would stand to do something, and it was like someone had flipped a silly switch and he was suddenly unable to stand still and just do what they were supposed to. Rather than calmly clapping and counting by fives, he was clapping all goofy and totally not saying a word. And then they sat down, and he was a model student again. Grrr.
Katrina, all on her own and with great enthusiasm, totally asked if we could clean the home school room and make it all beautiful today. And...who am i to say no to that? So we went in together and made it look much better. Not perfect, but considerably closer to beautiful.
So. In between all the store runs and photo-book editing and class-going and homeschool-room-cleaning, i didn't take any pictures at all. But then Beth came over and showed me all of her old pictures of when she was a baby and was all little and cute. And so, taking that theme and running with it, that up there is me when i was all cute and little.
+ 3 - 3 | § ¶Memorial Day
This morning we went to a parade for Memorial Day. The parade started with a few veterans marching in the front, which was great. I have been trying to explain to Houston and Katrina why we have Memorial Day. I've been telling them all about how lots of men and women are soldiers and fight to protect people and make is so that we can live in a country that is free. We talked about Uncle Rick, who is a soldier, and my grandpa, who was in the Army. And i was really happy that Houston didn't ask about the current war.
Once the veterans were past, it was all about advertising and throwing out candy. In previous years, i've encouraged my kids to stay by the curb and catch whatever candy comes to them, which also serves to make them more interested in the actual parade, rather than just being in it for the candy. This year, it became obvious pretty quickly that if they didn't stand up and move forward, they were not only not going to get any candy at all, but they wouldn't even be able to really see the parade, what with all the kids standing in front of them. So they got to stand in the road for the first time ever. It kind of killed me to let them do it. I hate that parades are all about candy. I hate it when kids are so eager for candy that they are eventually standing in the middle of the road holding their hands out and begging. I miss the old parades that were around when we were kids. But...ah well. They had fun.
Katrina is not exceptionally adept at actually getting the candy anyhow. She gets about one piece for every five pieces anyone else gets, which is awesome, because then there's less candy to figure out what to do with it. She was just thrilled to see her cousins, watch the occasional interesting thing go by, and get a little bit of candy. Zane actually enjoyed the parade a lot, which kind of shocked me. He watched everything go by and was fascinated by the bands, the fire trucks, and all the other things that made loud noises, which i had totally expected to make him cry. Plus he got a
frisbee.
In fact, all of the kids got a frisbee, so we spent the afternoon throwing frisbees around. Well, throwing them around or making ourselves into angels.
+ 0 - 6 | § ¶65 years
My grandparents have been married 65 years. We celebrated their anniversary today. Sixty five years is a lot of years to be married. (Huh. Interesting side note that i just noticed: The year Juanito and i got married was my parents' 25th anniversary and my grandparents' 50th. If the pattern continues, Houston would have to be getting married when he's 16. I'm thinking that we'll go ahead and break that pattern now.)
To celebrate, we went out to my cousin Jenny's house for dinner. They have a huge yard and lots of friendly neighbors with fun trampolines and stuff. So while we adults sat around and talked for hours, the little kids ran hither and yon - climbing trees, riding bikes (or cars), playing in the sandbox. Or, if you are Zane, standing in a large field of ground cover for a good fifteen minutes for no apparent reason, occasionally lifting your shirt to point at your tummy. And eventually, eating s'mores.
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+ 1 - 5 | § ¶I don't think i did anything exciting for my fifteenth birthday.
Today, that's the only picture i took of people that i know and love. I took about 800 pictures of people i don't know at all. My hand hurts. Also? Today i had a lesson in different cultures.
Houston's teacher's neighbor's daughter had her 15th birthday - either today or close enough to today to celebrate it today. Apparently, in the Spanish culture, that's a big deal. Houston's teacher was in charge of hiring the photographer, so she hired me. Hurrah!
The thing was set to start at 12:30, so i showed up at noon. (Actually, a little before noon, because i didn't know exactly where it was and i didn't want to be late. So it was actually 11:45. But i was suupposed to be there at noon.) Nobody else was there when i got there. The parking lot was completely empty. Huh. I double-checked the address. I waited. At noon, one other car pulled up, tried the doors, and then drove over next to me and asked if i was there for the Quince Anera. We both waited. At about 12:15, someone came with the keys to the church, so we could at least go inside. A few more white people showed up between 12:30 and 1:00. The rest of the group trickled in between 1:15 and 2:00. The girl whose birthday it was...got there at about 2:30, which is the time we were SUPPOSED to be starting the reception. (There were still people arriving at the reception at 6:00.)
The Quince Anera itself was crazy. It's like a huge wedding, but louder and WAY less organized and with no groom. There was a church service, dinner, a tiara, a limo, a Father-Daughter dance, a cake - which she cut and then got her face smooshed into, a toast, a total of 24 attendants, toasts, and lots of other random things. Random to me. Not to them. Do you think i'm allowed to show pictures? Huh. I'm going to. Here are a few to give you an idea: This is the sitting area where she sat for about half an hour. Here's what her dress. Here are some of the decorations. See the cake back there? It's a wedding cake. These are the attendants. And this is the coach that she got wheeled in on during the waltz thingy.
So...it was interesting. And LONG. Houston's teacher had planned for us to be able to leave around 4:00. I started trying to leave at about 5:30, but they kept asking me to stay for ______. I didn't leave until 8:15. I am tired.
And also, sad. Because on the ONE day that i am gone all day? Houston learned how to ride a bike. That sucks.
+ 5 - 1 | § ¶Here's what's happening in your neck of the woods....
Today was Kinderfest at Houston's school. As far as i can tell, the name is made up to make it sound like a great big party. In actually, it means that Bill Steffens, the chief meteorologist at NBC in Grand Rapids, comes to the school and talks to the kindergarteners for an hour, and then they eat pizza. I think they're trying to do something to make up for the fact that everyone else in the school gets to have field day.
The parents were invited to Kinderfest as well (um, required, in fact), so i got to go. And really, Bill Steffens was remarkably interesting. I was totally impressed at how well he made it interesting for both the kids and the grownups. He told us all kinds of interesting things...like:
- The Wizard Of Oz was written while L. Frank Baum was vacationing in Holland, Michigan.
- The tornado in the Wizard of Oz movie was so well done that no other movie ever showed a tornado again until Twister - and they used CI. The Wizard tornado was made using a long sock-type device and some vacuum cleaners that blew the dust up at it.
- This was possibly the snowiest winter EVER in America.
- Lots of other facts about Michigan, especially pertaining to weather, that i can no longer remember. Also lots of stuff about other places, especially in America.
My dad will be jealous. I got to meet his hero. Seriously. He watches the Weather Channel more than anything else.
Also, my mom came over today to help us get out front garden in shape. Unlike LAST time, when it poured on us, today was gorgeous and sunny. And the garden looks awesome. Thanks, Mom!
+ 0 - 5 | § ¶A quote from Katrina, and also, crabbiness
Katrina: "Mama? Do you curl your hair?"
Me: "Not most of the time, no."
Katrina: "Well, when you're a little bit pretty, you do."
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+ 5 - 2 | § ¶Still Coughing.
This morning Katrina woke up at 6:30, came into our room, and started playing and talking and looking out the window. She cheerfully chatted just enough to keep me from falling asleep again, which meant that i coughed and coughed pretty much the entire time. At 7:00, our next-door-neighbor started mowing his lawn. And raking his sidewalk. So that was fun. And then, at about 7:30, Katrina crawled into bed next to me and fell asleep. Even though i was hacking up a lung next to her. And then she slept through Zane waking up and crying and me getting out of bed and going downstairs. So...i'm thinking that maybe she needs to sleep a little later, rather than waking me up at the crack of dawn.
But at least she wakes up cheerful.
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+ 5 - 0 | § ¶Real signs. Not the fake baby sign crap.
Zane is starting to actually communicate with sign language. He tells me things! The other day he was on my lap while i was typing on the computer, and he started signing fish. I looked where he was pointing...and sure enough, there was a fish in the corner of the screen. He points out the window and signs "bird" frequently. His newest words are "car, stop, cat, dog, shoes, stars, book, window, walk, apple." There might be more, but those are the ones i can think of right now. He is picking up several new words a day now, so i can hardly keep up with what he knows. Of course, he can't communicate with people outside of our family yet, but a nice side effect is that Juanito and the other kids are learning some sign language too.
I have been coughing my head off. Blech.
+ 4 - 3 | § ¶First Position! And Plie.
Katrina's been learning the ballet positions in her dance class. This is third position. She's also learning to walk across the floor like a ballerina, with her hands all elegantly out and her chin up. Also, how to march backwards. She loves doing the positions. As long as she's standing still, she's the best in the class. Once they start moving...she makes a valiant effort. The other kids lift their knees way up and march with big steps. Katrina picks her knees up a little and kind of inches across the floor. In all honesty, she's about equal with most of the class - just those two girls who show up every week in new matching ballet costumes that seem to have a freakishly high ability to skip and hop and march backwards perfectly.
All afternoon, we've been practicing arabesques and plies and positions and whatever that walking thing is called. Houston is amazingly bad at walking like a ballerina. I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
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+ 3 - 5 | § ¶Reclusive or not?
So yesterday i was in the bathroom, and suddenly a big spider crawled up the sink just inches away from me. I yelled, "Hey Houston! Come here and look at this spider!" I was all proud of myself for not screaming or running out of the room. I was all, "See? I'm getting better. Look at me embracing my son's fascination with creepy crawly things." Houston studied it, then asked me what i was going to do with it. I told him i was just leaving it there. I didn't want to actually touch the thing, after all. And killing it involves squishing and crunching and that's gross. And a teensy bit sad for the spider. And then we were all, "Hey! Let's look up what kind of spider it was!"
So i got on Google and started searching for a spider that matched this spider's description. The only one i could find that looked a lot like the one in our bathroom was this one. Do you know what that one is? A brown recluse spider. So i started looking it up, and learned that they often hang out in bathrooms. And also? They bite you, and you hardly notice a thing. And then, later, the bite starts festering. And then it eats a huge gaping hole in your skin and gets completely disgusting and eventually leaves a horrible, disfiguring scar. (The pictures of the bites? HORRIBLE. I may be scarred for life.) Also, they're not usually found in Michigan.
I called Juanito at work, and he was all, "Really? Huh. Hey! Next time you see it, yell for me and i'll come running, ok?"
And then he came home and went to bed and a little while later i went to take a shower. And as i'm standing in the shower, i look over and there it was again! Looking at me! So i grabbed a towel and flung it around myself and ran for my camera and stood on the toilet and took lots of pictures of it.
And then, this morning, i reached into the basket with the hairbrushes and stuff, and suddenly, the same spider ran out straight at me!
Probably it's not really a brown recluse spider, but until somebody can give me some conclusive evidence to the contrary, i'm going to go ahead and err on the side of caution. Because i do NOT want one of those huge gaping holes. Nor do i want my children horribly disfigured. And really? Who knows what some of my crazy neighbors are keeping for pets these days.
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+ 1 - 5 | § ¶Kites!
Today was the Grand Haven Kite Festival. For many years now, i have heard about the kite festival AFTER it is already over. Finally, this year i looked it up way ahead of time and put it on my calendar so that we could go. And then we almost didn't go anyhow, because the kids and i were going to go camping with some friends, but that was canceled because of sickness and possible rain and people not being able to go, so we got to go to see the kites after all, which was exciting. Beth came with us too, which made it So Much Better, because just going by myself with the kids is fun for a lot of things, but for things like this? It's just so much better with another grown up. Especially when it's Beth!
The kites were really cool. There were big kites and long kites and circle kites and kites that could do tricks. Also lots of windsocks. Over in one area, there was a kite show going on, where they'd play music while either one person flew their kite doing all kinds of amazing tricks (That one Houston is watching was the coolest single kite by far. It made me want to learn how to fly a kite. Except, um, not really.) or a whole group of people flew a whole bunch of kites in a sort of choreographed dance. It was amazing. I have no idea how they kept their kites from becoming hopelessly tangled up.
Speaking of the music.... When we got there, we found a little patch of sand and sat down. And then realized that we were totally behind some people and couldn't see very well. So we moved over a bit into what looked like a prime watching spot. And then realized that the reason that nobody was sitting there was because it was right in front of the speakers, which were pumping out ear-blastingly loud music. Music so loud that, even though we were sitting right next to each other, we had to yell at each other to be heard - and even then it was hard to hear each other. Poor Zane, who hates loud noises so much that when i'm reading books and get to a part with a person saying something loudly or a making a loud noise, so i raise my voice a bit to show that the person is yelling - when i do that? He will totally cringe and shrink against me and whimper. So the blastingly loud music had him absolutely sobbing. I tried to keep my hands over his ears, but even so, every time the music would hit a sudden loud note, he would jump and cry again. Eventually we got smart and moved away, back to the back and over from the speaker - and suddenly we realized that we were so much happier. Especially Zane. Except that he was also extremely tired from missing his nap, so all he wanted to do was sit in the stroller and not be bothered anyhow.
Katrina saw the sand, when we got there, and went into raptures. She was playing with the sand that had blown out by the street where we parked. Then she saw the beach, and could not contain her glee. She rolled in it, made sand angels, tossed it in the air (even though she was repeatedly asked to STOP ALREADY!), and buried herself. She was in heaven.
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+ 3 - 3 | § ¶Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!
We went to the park today. It was a park we haven't been to in a few years. I had forgotten about it - about WHY we hadn't been frequenting this particular park. I spent the entire time following Zane around, trying to keep him off the high, high ladder of death and instead steering him toward the only mostly terrifying ladder of certain paralysis. Incidentally, the high, high ladder of death? Swayed as you climbed to the top of it. I let Zane climb that slide once, followed closely by me, and i was terrified that we were both going to plunge to our deaths, which would be bad enough, but then who would take Houston and Katrina home? What would become of them? But i digress. Since i followed Zane around the entire time, trying desperately to interest him in safer toys, like the rocking seal (which held his interest for about 10 seconds, and then he was off to find more things he could climb), i saw the other two kids only in passing. I mean, i knew where they were, and i was keeping my eye on them, but they weren't actually close enough for me to photograph most of the time. So when i got home and looked at my pictures, i realized that it totally looks like i had one kid today. That's ok, though. Houston found a friend and taught him how to climb OVER the top of the slide (which is strictly forbidden!), and his friend taught him lovely phrases like, "I'm climbing up your booty!" and "Dirty underpants!" Awesome.
Incidentally, when i blog about how i took my kids to the park today and to the gardens yesterday and blah blah blah, i feel like i'm all, "Look at me! I take my kids to fun places! I'm such a great mom!" Really? It's total laziness. When we go to the park, they get along better. They are happier. They are entertained. And they're not making such a mess in the house. Which means that i don't have to work as hard. So we're all just happier. Nothing to do with trying for the "Greatest Mom Ever" Award. I lost that one a LONG time ago.
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+ 4 - 2 | § ¶Fashionista
Katrina has been picking out her own outfits lately. Sometimes, i'm very impressed with how well she puts things together. The shirt and pants match, or the tights match the dress, and it's totally cute. And then other times, i just have to make myself not giggle and remind myself that really? Nobody really cares when a 4-year-old is dressed funny. Because outfits like this one are not exactly what i would pick out. Pay special attention to the fact that the dress is barely covering her bum, the headband that has been put in totally wonky (it was later pulled down around her neck like a necklace), and the knee-high socks. Awesome. At least she has flair.
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+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Obama! Obama!
In high school, i went to see President Reagan speak. It was during the 1988 elections, and he was trying to convince us all to vote for the first George Bush. I wasn't actually old enough to vote yet, and i didn't really care much about politics, but it got me out of school for half a day AND i got to see the president. Exciting!
But TODAY! Today i got to go to a rally for Obama, and that was WAY more exciting! Because! It's Obama! And he's just awesome! Seriously! Have you seen the "Yes We Can" video?
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+ 2 - 4 | § ¶I'm a space cadet, but we had fun anyhow.
We had one of those perfect days today - sunny, warm, sunny.... And we had to go to my parents' house anyhow, to bring back the clippers that i had borrowed from them to trim back all our bushes. I forgot the clippers. But we had fun playing outside in the sun and the grass and the long driveway and huge yard. Zane, who was Mr. Serious when he was anywhere near my mom, had a blast riding the old bike that i used to ride up and down the driveway. Houston rode the scooter up and back and up and back, stopping often to throw himself off of the scooter and pretend that it was an accident. He was highly affronted when i dared to suggest that he had fallen off on purpose. Katrina flitted between helping my mom in the garden, playing on the next-door-neighbor's swingset, and playing with random bikes and toys from the garage. And, despite a few bicker sessions, it was a great time.
Oh!
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+ 4 - 3 | § ¶Hills and Trees
Katrina had her dance class this morning. I love watching her do dance class. She watches the teacher really carefully and imitates her remarkably well. She points her toes and does a kick-butt ballet first position and tries really hard to skip. Skipping...has not yet been mastered. Juanito and totally cracked up when she was trying to skip across the gym, valiantly attempting to "march, hop" on each foot, and nearly pitched over onto her face. She was undeterred and turned around with a huge smile on her face, proud that she had tried so hard. Hurrah for her!
After class, we let the kids run up and down the hill for a little while before bringing Houston to school. There is nothing more fun than running up and down a hill. At least, not if you're a little kid, there isn't.
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+ 0 - 6 | § ¶Mother's Day
One day, when i was in second grade or so, my mom was totally sick. Couldn't possibly get out of bed to make our lunches for school. So she sent us to the kitchen to make our own lunches. I happily made myself a sandwich with white bread, butter, and several spoonfuls of sugar. And then probably tossed in a few Little Debbie HoHos or some cookies or something for snacks.
I think that's the only time i ever - in all my years of school - ever made my own lunch. I could be wrong. I tend to unintentionally edit my life sometimes and forget things that happened. So maybe i made most of my lunches by the time i got to high school. But i really don't think i did.
That means that my mom made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for me five days a week for 9 months of the year for 12 years. That's a lot of sandwiches. And that's not even counting all the breakfasts and lunches and dinners that WEREN'T in paper bags or lunchboxes.
I think that deserves a day to say thanks. Thanks, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.
+ 0 - 6 | § ¶Swamp, take 2
This morning started out brisk enough that i dressed all of the kids in long sleeves and jeans, and i even brought sweatshirts along to the T-ball game. By the time we actually were sitting in the bleachers, i realized that it was sunny and warm enough that we could have all been perfectly comfortable in short sleeves. Hurrah! How nice to have made the wrong decision the other way for a change. Usually i'm the one dressing the kids in shorts on the day when it randomly starts to snow.
Houston is getting more and more confident out in the T-ball game. He hits and runs and fields as well as the next guy. Well, unless you're counting that freakishly good kid on the team we played against today. The one who actually caught a fly ball? And managed to run with it to third base for a double play? Yeah. If you're not counting HIM, Houston is just as good as anyone else out there. And i would say that he is totally enjoying himself, because he certainly seems to like it...but then tonight he prayed, "And please, God, help me to like playing T-ball pretty soon." So...there's that.
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+ 3 - 3 | § ¶Cottage Cheese
Zane thinks it's hilarious to smear food in his hair. In a fun little twist, he also thinks that getting his hair washed is the equivalent of waterboarding. Just after i took that picture, i threw him into the bathtub and washed his hair. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I dried him off, put on his pajamas, and went to brush his teeth. And there, five short minutes after totally cleaning his hair, he walked past Katrina's toothbrush full of toothpaste and got a big glob of sticky toothpaste in his hair. Perfect.
One of the things that makes me smile right now is the way that Katrina pronounces certain words. She is generally pretty perfect with her speech, but when something is a compound word, that tends to throw her off. The three best examples i can think of right now are "clothcloth" (washcloth), "packpack" (backpack), and "krispkrispy" (Rice Krispies). Also, Tinkerbell has been "Jinglebell," "Twinkerbell," and "Twinklebell." Not that that's a compound word.
Also? Beth is totally evil and has forced me to watch "The Office," which i said for years was a totally stupid show. I stand by that statement, uh, kind of. If you've never seen the show before, it's totally stupid. But once you know the characters, it is a really hilarious show. Shoot. (I am the queen of not getting into things until WAY after everyone else is. I started watching Lost after the second or third season was finished (whichever was before the current one), i got into 24 after the fourth year, and Harry Potter after book 4 came out. I am nothing if not stubborn about starting new series.)
+ 3 - 4 | § ¶Katrina
Katrina is into poses. Any time she wants to look cute and she sees the camera pointed in her direction, she poses. Sometimes the poses are hilarious.
She is also into picking out her own clothes. Most days she does a remarkably good job of this. Other days i have to force myself to not giggle every time i look at her. The shirt she's wearing today? The one where you can totally see her tummy? She "loves that shirt!" She begged to keep it for just one more year. This makes her...um...third year of wearing that shirt. Let me check... Yup. three years.
Also?
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+ 4 - 4 | § ¶Crabby
This morning i was really crabby. At around 10:30 i sent an email to a couple of people telling them why i was crabby. It went something like this:
I am entirely crabby today. May i list all the reasons so that then i can just get over myself and stop being a brat? Ok then.
1. Zane woke me up at the crack of dawn.
2. Katrina woke up minutes later.
3. When i tried to entertain them by putting a movie on (so that i could hopefully sleep for a couple more minutes), Zane decided to instead entertain himself by hitting me in the head with things, climbing all over me with his pokey feet, and tossing the laundry (that i just folded last night) out of the baskets (and onto me).
4. I gave the kids cereal for breakfast. Katrina ate a little and then declared herself finished. Zane was still hungry so i gave it to him. Minutes later, Katrina declared herself hungry starving. And then Zane dumped his cereal (with milk) all over his tray and the floor.
5. Katrina, who is tired, has been crying about every little thing.
6. Houston is dancing around the edge of being wild. Not actually being too rough, but being a pest to Katrina.
7. My computer crashed. Again.
8. The kids are determined to drag out all kinds of things to make a mess, and don't seem to understand when i tell them, "No...you can make a mess out here only after you show me that you can clean up your messes. When i have to clean everything up, then i get to declare that there are no messes."
9. The homeschool room is a mess. Again.
10. Houston asked me where the beanbags were. I told him they were behind the beanbag board. He claimed he was completely unable to find the beanbag board. I told him to look for it. He said he HAD looked EVERYwhere. I got up from where i was reading Zane a book, glanced into the homeschool room...and there it was, almost glowing in its obviousness.
11. Houston then dumped all of the beanbags onto the floor and started to refill the bag with his cars.
12. Graham keeps barking. At everything.
13. Did i mention that i'm tired? And kind of getting a headache?
A few minutes ago, Katrina told me that she was going upstairs. "So that you can stop bothering me, Mama."
So that was this morning.
i'm still talking...
+ 5 - 1 | § ¶Short
Today our kids were cute and we had fun playing outside and doing some yardwork. I even ventured out into pruning my rosebushes. Without my mom's supervision. Because i am such a grown up.
But i don't really have anything interesting to say, and since there is a mountain of laundry waiting for me to fold it, i am going to do that instead.
+ 1 - 8 | § ¶Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away....
Days like today, when it is warm enough outside to play and run? I love days like this. So do my kids. They ran up and down the sidewalk, chasing each other, chasing Corbyn (our next-door-neighbor), and generally having fun being outside after several days of cold and rain. Sunshine is good for the soul.
i'm still talking...
+ 2 - 6 | § ¶Long, long, long
Today was Houston's second T-ball game. This one was MUCH better than last week's. He had a brief, "I don't want to play!" moment just before he went up to bat for the first time, but from that point on, he played and did whatever the coaches told him to do. And he seemed to have fun doing it too, which is good. He was up to bat twice. The first time he hit the ball and then stood there for several seconds until the coach was all, "GO! Run, Houston!" And then he started running slowly until he remembered that he was racing the ball to get to the plate, and then he ran fast. Sadly, when he got to third base it was time to switch and go to the outfield. In all honesty, he didn't seem to care.
The second time he was up, he hit the ball, ran like crazy, and got to run home. His first ever run! He got there and kind of stood on the base to make sure he'd hit the right place. Not exactly a victory dance. But he got lots of cheers and high-fives, so that was all good.
In the outfield, he still spends most of his time amusing himself in all kinds of random ways. When the ball came his direction, he ran after it and threw it (with remarkable aim and good throws) to the first baseman. But he seems to realize that most of the time, he doesn't have to do anything. He hears the batter hit the ball, glances around for where the ball seems to be going, and then if it isn't coming to him, he goes back to whatever he was doing.
As i'm watching him out there, i'm repeatedly reminded of Brian Regan's sketch.
i'm still talking...
+ 1 - 7 | § ¶Rain!
My mom and i went out for lunch today (for my birthday - hurrah!), and then we came back home and started working on the garden and yard. My mom was digging up weeds (which i don't trust myself to do the first time in spring, because i'm sure that i'd end up digging up half of the flowers as well) and planting some new flowers while i was trimming our bushes WAY down, because we want to plant a vegetable garden right next to it this summer and it needs to be able to see the sun. Katrina was happily helping out - finding shingles and other garbage, digging up weeds with close supervision. And then...we heard some thunder rolling in. We worked faster. A few drops of rain fell. We tried to stick it out. And then? It started POURING. We all dashed into the house.
And then it stopped, so we went back out. The wild turkey made another appearance, waddling down the sidewalk across the street. And then, without any warning at all, it starting pouring buckets again. So we gave up. Sigh. At least we tried. And the garden looks a little better than it did. And there are some cute flowers planted now. And the hedge is comically half-trimmed.
i'm still talking...
+ 6 - 1 | § ¶My name is Zoom, and i live on the moon....
First thing this morning, Houston woke up, came to our room, and said, "Happy birthday, Mama!" Seriously? That is an awesome start to the day. He remembered all by himself! Aw.
Juanito took Houston and Zane with him to go get Katrina (who had a fabulous time at her sleepover), while i slept in a little bit and then took a leisurely shower with no children popping into the bathroom at odd moments.
Juanito made me an ice cream cake, which was very yummy but really melty (because our freezer is apparently really not set cold enough). While he was making it, Zane sneaked up to the table and snatched a cookie and had it in his mouth before Juanito realized it. A bit later, i found Zane in the kitchen, carefully unwrapping a chocolate and trying to stuff the wrapper back into the bag so that there would be no evidence. When he saw me he froze and tried to assume an innocent face. So by noon, he'd had an Oreo, a piece of chocolate, and a piece of ice cream cake. Breakfast of champions, i tell ya.
i'm still talking...