Cage Baby

Ella always describes babies in cribs as "cage babies". She even calls Maicy's crib "her cage". As in "can she get out of her cage yet?" I wonder if this will redefine her definition of cage baby. We're dog sitting this week, and Maicy seemed to have found her hiding spot in Kizzie's cage. Too cute!

"Emily Montana"

Emily went to a birthday party last week, and the invitation directed her to come Hannah Montana style, incognito with wigs, glasses, or a costume. Well, we had the glasses, but no wig. Instead I bought a bottle of black hairspray and went to town on her hair.

The hairspray actually came out really pretty. Instead of black, her hair was a very dark brown, streaked with blonde. People would pay to do that. At first I just sprayed the back underside of her hair. Very cool. But she wanted it all over, so all over is what she got.

The party host did not recognize her, nor did the neighbors across the street, which was so cool for Emily. Everyone else oooh and ahhhed. I loved that she looked like me.

The fun lasted a few hours, and then it was a 7 time shampoo run in the shower at 10p that night.

Neighbors

I love where I live. Extra-small towns are great for getting to know people, and our neighborhood seems to define the definition of community. This afternoon, the neighbor across the street came over with her daughter and we sat out on the back patio talking while the kids played. Nothing fancy, just general chit chat. Friendliness.

Tonight Jeff and I sat out on the porch for our nightly drink. We sat and watched the world go by, talked about nothing, talked about neighbors, and how much we liked living here. After a while, the other neighbors across the street (next door to the girl above) came over with their own drinks/water, grabbed a couple of chairs, and we just sat out and talked for a couple of hours. Nothing fancy, just getting to know you type stuff. What fun.

I've never lived anywhere before that had a community, and now I know what people mean when they talk about being part of one. Everyone watches out for each other, everyone is ready for conversation, everyone is friendly. Where I lived before, neighbors either stared or glared at each other (or both) but rarely talked and never made small talk. People just kept themselves shut up in their house all day long and if they were outside, they would pretend they didn't see anyone else. I'm so glad I'm not a part of that anymore!

Camping

We went camping last weekend in Wisconsin. What a fun thing to do as a family. We arrived late Monday and left Friday morning. We stayed in "our" new trailer, actually borrowed from in laws but it's new to us. I was glad to have the trailer because we were completely alone in the 100+ spot campground for the first three nights, and I wanted to lock myself up tight. The nearest "help" was over a mile away, in the resort area of the grounds. Yikes, but soooooo nice and peaceful and quiet.

Our spot was across from the playground so the kids could cross the road and play whenever they wished. Once more people started rolling in on Thursday, we made sure they stayed close and didn't wander off without telling us. The first thing we did after setting up out trailer was take a walk through the prairie. The prairie is HUGE and full of native grasses and flowers and had mowed trails that wound through the prairie and into the woods. So beautiful and quiet. That first night we saw baby fox and a ton of deer. After our walk we microwaved some hot dogs (too hungry to wait for the fire) put the kids to bed, and then sat out under the stars. Ahhh.

The next morning Emily discovered caterpillars and spent the morning catching as many as she could. She would stalk across the sites looking for them and each "find" was a treasure. She even got Maicy in on the action.

After catching caterpillars we went for another prairie walk and then Emily and I rode our and I woke up and rode our bikes to the lapidary in the main resort area. Lapidary is a very fancy word for "bead shop". There we made two bead bracelets and Emily created a pair of earrings. Very fun and she stayed focused the whole time. She loved the elderly volunteers that wandered in and fawned over her creations. After the lapidary it was time for a long nap for the kids and a workout session at the gym for Mommy. Ahhhhh. That night we took another long walk in the prairie, but this time we brought the dog. BAD IDEA. He pooped out near the end and would NOT move. I had to run back to the site to get the truck and Jeff had to hog carry him about 1/4 mile back to the truck. We threw him in the back and he did not budge until the next morning . I was afraid to go get him, but there he was, refreshed and alive.

Another late bedtime for the kids, and we woke up the next morning with the same "nothing to do" on our agenda. We lazed around the site until lunch time and then drove to the main resort to have ice cream at the little internet cafe. Jeff did some work and the kids and I hung out around the fish pond. We even took an exciting (serious sarcasm) trip to a small flourescent rock collection. TACKY but Emily liked it for about 5 seconds. That evening we attempted to climb the 120 step STRAIGHT UP tower, but Emily chickened out. Thankfully, because I was getting really claustrophobic. We attempted an outdoor challenge/obstacle course, but all failed at that as well.

The campground country store was about 1/2 mile down the dirt road from our site, so Emily rode her bike down there several times with a fist full of change. All the penny candy she could want, and a slush puppy to end the day.

Thursday was more of the same. Prairie walks, caterpillar catching, and trips to the country store. After lunch we wandered over to the Ceramics shop, which was closed, but found that Emily could do "china painting". Which really was just applying pretty decals to a cup and saucer and firing it overnight in the kiln. But it was fun for her, and now we have a nice china memory of the trip. That afteroon, we went down to the lake to swim at the beach. Most of the lake is drop off, so Ithink the beach was an afterthought. And it was REALLY seaweedy. BLECH. Not that the kids minded!

After swimming it was time to head back to a campground FULL of campers. They were everywhere ! Campers, tents, trailers, 32foot bus motorhomes, church groups, everything you can think of. Down the road a bit was some friends of ours that had just pulled in, so we took their 4 kids plus our two kids for an extremely long prairie/woods walk. One little boy tried to call in some turkeys (??????), we looked for deer, found a secret, hidden, silent trail that went up along the power lines. Along the trail was a pine cross tied together with rich purple fabric scraps. Eerily beautiful. We made our way back to the prairie, scared some deer, and returned 4 tired kids to their parents. They were still setting up, so we went back to our site, the kids played soccer and ball, and Jeff and I played frisbee. Barefoot, I might add, which did NOT please our fellow camper friend, since he was the PT that brought my ankle back to health after the surgery.

We returned the kids back to their site again, Emily chose to eat a 2nd dinner over there, and then we all had dessert. My family made their way back to the trailer, the kids went to bed, and Jeff and I sat up over a fire and played UNO amidst the noise of ALL the campers. We really missed being alone as we had been the past few nights. Then we turned into seriously big sissies and crawled into our locked trailer, turned on the A/C, and took showers. Remember the days when we'd tent camp in AZ in the middle of nowhere? And port-a-pots and running water was a luxury?

Friday morning was wake up, take a prairie walk, ride to the general store for more penny candy, and then pack up and head home. And it's been non-stop ever since!! But a great time was had by all, and we're already wanting to return.

And it's still Tuesday??

I've yet to participate in a Tuesday Top 10 on a Tuesday...perhaps this is a first.

Ten Things I Did Today (or, a day in the life)...courtesy of Cat.

1) Woke up and watched an unseen episode of SpongeBob with Emily. That show makes me laugh, she loves it, so it works out well to watch it together. Fed the kids breakfast, got Emily lubed up and ready for camp and out the door at 8:30, got myself and Maicy ready and hit the road at 9am for a trip to the gym.

2) Spoke with my Dad who's in the hospital.

3) Had a lovely work out. 30 mins of weightlifting. I pushed myself on the leg press, did 30 reps at 150. Phew. Worked legs on 4 machines, arms, shoulders (STILL trying to make some sort of definition occur in my delts) and ignored my abs. Smiled at a very cute older man and got a scowl in return (HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!!!). Did 40 mins of elliptical...hill climbing level 5. Wonderful stuff. Burned about 450 cals total. YAY!

4) Hit Target for some non-essentials that I always seem to find, ran home and made the youngest lunch, which she promptly threw on the floor. Ran her up to bed, sat down by myself and ate 1/2 bag salad with croutons and light ranch. YUM.

5) Talked on the phone to the lady who had Emily, she told me she was going to take the kids to play and then out to lunch. May was still asleep so I....get this....TOOK A NAP.

6) Emily came home, argued with her for being rude to the neighbor girl ("but she's not the boss of me!!"), agreed to meet Jane and the kids at the beach, went to McDs for an iced coffee, received a call from Jane saying the beach was closed due to e-coli contamination. YUCK YUCK YUCK SICK. Decided right then and there not to get a season pass to the beach and sign up for the waterpark instead.

7) Met Jane, transferred kids, and took 3 girls to the spray park instead for an hours worth of fun. Brought 2 kids home, gave them baths. Every single product that went on their bodies was from BBW.

8) Set the kids in front of the TV and jumped in the shower. Used Arbonne scrub, Arbonne face mask, got out applied Arbonne lotion, Arbonne body spray, Arbonne serum, face cream, and mascara. All in preparation for my JOB AT BATH & BODY WORKS. Truth is, I prefer Arbonne. I should be selling Arbonne, not BBW. I've spent enough at BBW over the years (including tonight). They make billions annually, they don't need my contribution to turn a dime. I just hope I don't have a customer asking me what scent I'm wearing.

9) Spoke with my Dad who's in the hospital.

10) Fed the kids, picked up the babysitter, did a 2 hour turn at BBW, and came home to a QUIET HOUSE. Gotta love that. Drinking a beer, doing my 10, and heading to bed. Tomorrow, more of the same.

Quite possibly the best picture ever taken.....

Last Day of School

 

Today is the last day of kindergarten for Emster. I cried, because kindergarten is such a milestone and now it's OVER! WAH! Here's a first day vs last day comparison.

Uhhhhh

Emily's curiosity had her asking me how Maicy was created. So I told her that Daddy and I created her. "Well how?" I said well, we joined together and uh, she was created. HOW???? I said well something went from Daddy to Mommy's tummy. "WHAT?" Uh... "A KISS" she said? I said, well, from some other part of Daddy. She pauses and says "Am I old enough to hear this next part?"

LOL....I said not right now baby, maybe later.

The Best (somewhat dirty) Joke EVER....

Q: Why did the pervert cross the road?
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A: Because his d*** was stuck in the chicken.



HA HA HA HAHHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Church

So today was church day, as Sundays usually are, and of course we went. I walked into the sanctuary and thought "hmmm smells pretty nasty in here, some kid must have a dirty diaper." I checked the diaper of the nearest and only diapered child in there (mine), and it was clean. Chalked it up instead it must be some mildewy carpet trying to recover from a recent rainstorm, and forgot about it.

Halfway through the service, I took May to the nursery, came back and was once again knocked over by the strong odor in the sanctuary. Again, I figured it was mildew and sat back down. Right about then, Pastor stands up and says this...

"No, it's not your imagination, it does stink in here. An animal crawled into the duct work and died, so now every time the air kicks on, it gets blown through the sanctuary".

OH MY GOD.

So strong is the power of suggestion, that I thought I was going to puke right there. It was fine before when I thought it was mildew, but now that it was a dead animal?! All I could do is sit there and think about all the dead animal molecules I was sucking up with every breath. I became greener and greener.

SERIOUSLY? YUCK.

Whizzer!

What a great day. Colleen had free tickets to Six Flags so we made an impromptu trip up there after school. What a blast. Emily was thrilled beyond belief to finally be going there!

She cried and cried and cried and did NOT want to go on the first ride, the Whizzer. Colleen and I were the big mean Mommies that MADE her go. She bawled and bawled but right before we got on, she calmed down. She sat in my lap and the seatbelt went around both of us. The ride started and she was a bit afraid, but by the middle she was whooping and hollering and waving her hands in the air. She had SO much fun. She jumped off that ride grinning from ear to ear, high fiving everyone, it was great. Colleen took a picture to commemorate her first roller coaster ride.

After that the kids had some down time riding the calm rides while Colleen's 13 year old son went with me on the thrill rides. What fun!!! Those extreme coasters are a blast!