The "Little Boy Walk"

It's official, yesterday Gman started doing the classic, little boy doddle along walk that is very cute, but very slow: One foot on the curb, one foot not.

Memory Lane Monday

Al's first attempts to walk at 11 mos. He held out another month before being a full-fledged walker.

Answer to "What's in the Box?"

I think Jane forgot to come back and answer the riddle for everyone.
;-)

My car is inside that pile of boxes from last week's Memory Lane Monday pic. That pic was taken at approx 7 am. I think we had worked a late shift the night before is why we look so unhappy to be awakened so early to come see what was outside. A few nights before that, Jane and I "forked" Rob's lawn--put a few hundred plastic forks in the ground and then strung them together with a couple balls of yarn criss-crossing the lawn/driveway/van. Clearly, we got off easy.

Longaberger

I was trying to get a pic of Gman in the shirt I bought him. I kept telling him to look up, over and over and over. He just would NOT look up. Princess thought she'd 'help' him:


Any ways....here's the shirt.

I just got back now from being there for a few days attending my first Longaberger Bee (consultants convention). Too tired to blog now...this post was actually scheduled to post while I was gone but didn't. Hope all is well with you and yours!

Country Mouse, City Mouse Tales

I am a city girl married to a country guy (in his heart anyways). While, I don't think I could live happily more than a 15 minute drive from the grocery store/shopping/movies/etc., sometimes I think it would be nice to live where people know you better than the occasional wave. Craig recently told me a story from his high school days that truly exemplifies the small town life and the simplicity thereof.

He was driving home from a date or practice or something one night in his red T-Bird. The Sheriff came up behind him with sirens & lights, so he pulled over totally baffled as to why the Sheriff was after him. Apparently, news was a red T-Bird was stolen that day in the next county. (In Kentucky, you aren't from a "town" unless its' population is like 100,000+. When asked where you are from, you give your county name.)
So, did the Sheriff run his plates? No
Have Craig get out of the car to undergo questioning & possible search? No
Sheriff walked up to the window & asked: "Who's your Dad?"
Craig answered.
Sheriff: OK, get on home.

And there you go. That's simple. You know who the good ones are just by knowing who their father is.

Memory Lane Monday (#1)

I love the Friday Flashbacks that many of you do, so I'm starting my own.

In early 1990, I briefly moved in with the Youngs in AZ because my folks thought moving from warmish Alabama to 2 feet of snow in Colorado was a good idea.

Jane can go last and tell the answers, but for everyone else:
What's in the box? And why would Rob & Josh do this to us?

Princess's favorite book

This morning, I hear her screams and pleas. "G, leave my book alone. That's MY book. Mooooommmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyy! G took my favorite book!
Is it Green Egg's and Ham?
Llama Llama Red Pajama?
Mickey Mouse's Prince & the Pauper?
Those are crowd pleasers with our 2 youngest, but no. Her fave is Dean Koontz's The Good Guy.

Now, mind you, at this point, she can only read 4 words: and, the, is, stop
Not bad for a 4 year old if you ask me.
For the last 6 weeks, she has been going through this book PAGE BY PAGE and every time she finds one of these words, she shouts it out.
And! The! The! And! Is!
She has asked Craig to read parts to her. He did a lot of paraphrasing, skipping and just plain making stuff up, but he did it because that's what daddies do. She even has a bookmark (Daddy's airplane ticket, because that's what he used when he read it) so she can keep her place from day to day. Yesterday, the bookmark came out and she vocalized her dismay, "Oh No, I lost my page! Oh wait! This is it" and so she continued:
And! The! The! And! Is!

Pose with a statue

This is the statue at Cardinal Hill--Gman's preschool, OT and speech therapy place. It sits on the island in the middle of the parking lot. We went there every week for over a year--twice most weeks for preschool. Gman never noticed it until our last trip there, and he was all about sitting on the bench with the statue.

Happy Birthday, Al!

I can't believe it is 12 years since I first held you in my arms!
Hope you have a great birthday!








Al @ 2-3 mos. old.


We had his party at the baseball batting cages on Sunday. It was supposed to be a pool party, but alas the weather did not cooperate.
Somehow, the 2-yr old in the house managed to be left alone unsupervised in the kitchen for a couple minutes:

I own a World Record!

I just applied for it on July 7th and today, July 14th, it is in my hot lil' hands!

I don't know why every one said it would take a year?
;-) Actually the fact that mine was a renewal probably had a little to do with it.

Now Craig has to be EXTRA nice to me until his shows up, lest I succumb to my desire to travel to far, far away lands, sans the 3 munchkins.

Image of patience

....followed by "Image of the lack thereof."
We took the little ones to a b'day party at Chuck E. Cheese (btw, she calls it Chucky Cheezits, her favorite cracker). Princess and Gman sat soooo perfectly still for the entire time it took to take their picture in the booth. I laughed hysterically when I saw it:

We tried again with them sitting on our laps to boost them up...they refused to sit still again, especially G.

PS--Gman just walked in. When he saw the first pic on the screen, he yelled "Picture M*** and G***** heads!" Laughed all over again!

Happy Birthday, Kiddo!

Today is my little brother's birthday!

This is my favorite pic of him....he's 2 or 3.

Hope it's a great one, Jess, and that you are having a blast in LV,NV!!

Miley Cyrus can control the weather

Yesterday, we were driving in the pouring rain. Princess asked if I would turn up the music so she could hear the "Hannah Tana" songs better. A few minutes later, it stopped raining.

Princess (In high-pitch, 4yr old shrill voice): "Mom!! The rain clouds stopped raining so they could hear the Hannah Tana songs! Rain clouds like Hannah Tana, too! We should listen to Hannah Tana every time its raining so they will stop raining to listen to her. The birds, planes and cows like her too."

The To-Do list

Is just about done!! I'm soooo very glad! The 2 "biggies" we decided to contract out....painting the MBa and finish the painting in the office (that alone is 3 coats!). The only "tiny" thing left can't be done til the painting is done.

We basically lost 2 days of the 3 childless days. There's only 1 post office in town that does passports on the weekends...the one waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy across town. We get up early to be there the second they open the passport window. I was having a GREAT hair day! We get there. The only passport clerk took the day off. Rest of day was lost--me with a hellacious migraine; Craig with a hellacious round of golf. (He said he was only 1 over...but that's really referring to the fact that he left with 1 more golf ball than he came with)

We did finally get the passport done on Monday AM....not a good hair day either. Then we drove 3 hrs to get kids, hung out at the inlaws for awhile, then drove home.

As for the 2 "Medium" things still on the list--work on Gman's first year picture collage and sew Al's quilt--both are in the initial stages. But now that the little kids are back from visiting the grandparents, heaven only knows....

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

If it's 7/7, then it must be our anniversary!
I love you!
Thanks for 6 great years. And a special "thank you" for spending our childless days on a stay-cation doing "To-Do's"
Love ya the most!

All that and a party, too!

End of Childless Day 1
All that and we went to a July 4th cookout!
PS--Had a great time, Stacy & Bhody! Thanks!
PPS--I like lists, too!

Happy Birthday America!
Remember to thank a soldier!

Craig and I are enjoying Day 1 of our childless "stay-cation." Getting lots of "To-do" projects done and planning to have some fun, too.

How'd that happen?

Kind of an odd spot to stash a dollop of toothpaste, don't ya think?

I caught Gman in the MBa getting out his toothbrushing supplies. The pink thing in the back is a little chair from Princess's desk....the kind of chair that is the perfect height to help a 2 year old reach the faucet.

Karaoke

We were getting in the van the other day and the convo goes as such:
Al: Hey, Mom, look! Its a grand karaoke!
Me: A what? Dude, what are you talking about?
Al: That car next to us. It's a karaoke.
This is what he points to:


Me: (try not to fall out of the van laughing)