whatever

sunday 7:30 AM
i got out of the shower.
craig was still in bed.
annie comes into the bathroom –
pointing to her tongue
“mommy i get ice cream in my mouth!
mmmmmmm”
i said “ice cream?”
this is what i found – still in my towel.

naughty.

friday was low key.
in an effort to have a good day i just let everyone hang out.
after lunch my mom showed up (surprise)with my grandma on their way to new mexico for a 5 day trip. out of the blue she asked if lauren could go too.
i thought about it.
i weighed the importance of a piano recital (her 5th recital) and a trip to somewhere i will probably never take her with her grandma and her 2 great grandmas.
it was a no-brainer.
once in a lifetime for her maybe?
i hope she comes home with memories of her grandmothers that she will cherish (at least someday)
so my mom, my grandma and lauren left within 15 minutes to pick up my other grandma and head out driving to new mexico.
i hope they have a fabulous time.
they don’t come back till wednesday.

we continued to hang out.
we enjoyed our hot chocolate in the afternoon.
craig showed up early from work.
he took the afternoon off.
he took the boys golfing.
talby had now been left twice in one day – new mexico and now golfing.
she was sad.
we headed to the kitchen to make a surprise dessert for everyone.
cooking makes her happy.
we made oreo pie.

we went to the recital for scott.
he did wonderful.
he asks to quit but i think he is too good.
and he only asks to quit when he wants to watch tv instead of practice.
he does like to play.
on the way there in the car he shouted “i need it quiet in here!!! i need to think about my song!”
he was nervous.
but he did great!

and WHEN did my middle child grow so big that he can reach the upper cabinets without help?!!
he’s a good boy unloading the dishwasher.
sean stop growing up so fast!

these pictures . . .
i know there are too many
i have a hard time choosing less
but these pictures make it look like our first day of summer was good.
don’t be fooled.
but these moments were good.
so they will remember those right?
not the long time-outs
and the chores they hate.
i hope so.
after piano lessons we got Sonic
yum.
then we went to the park.
i laid a blanket in the grass.
had my magazine all ready.
i was going to relax.
within minutes they were gone all the way across the field to the creek.
they asked permission but it was one by one till it was just annie and i
and she really wanted to go!
can’t be left out of anything.
so we went too.
exploring in the sunshine . . .
it was just so pretty.
they were too brave for me.
even annie begged long enough to “go swimming” and i let lauren and scott take her in … to wade her feet.
it made for nice pictures.
with all the rain the water was flowing nicely.
they all got very wet.
lauren and scott were hunting for creatures.
they found a water snake!!
but she couldn’t catch it.
thank goodness.
then suddenly the fun was over.
everyone was done.
no reason just . . . bored?
we went home and our bad day continued.
bummer.

but it’s only day #1
it can only get better.

any great creative ideas for some fun with my kids?

and wait till you see the bathroom art project.
lauren drew some amazing stuff.
she surprised me. . .
how talented she really is.
not bragging just proud.
so maybe that is bragging?
whatever.

it’s late.
i need sleep.
without dreams of ants coming out of every crack in my house.
the refrigerator was covered with ants in my dream – inside and out. how sick is that?
i even got out of bed in the night and turned on the light because the dreams seemed too real.
so i need better sleep tonight!

i have wanted to start this project for awhile.
but i was nervous.
yesterday i decided to
just do it!
i am letting the kids draw on the bathroom walls.
talby was unsure at first.
she drew a beautiful cat.
then a dinosaur with lots of kids riding on it’s back.
she looked at me and said “is daddy going to be mad?”
(hopefully not)
sean and scott drew more.
i plan on drawing it over with a black marker and maybe painting some of it.
she is working on the giraffe under the light switch.
a very original bathroom.
i love it already.

2 new pages i finished for talby’s book.
the “play” one is a bad pic. – bad lighting i guess.
for the play i painted green
then put letter stickers on
waited for it to dry
(i hate waiting)
then painted the white
THEN pulled off the letters
the ‘be’ words are rub-ons
i was giddy with myself.
i have seen this done many times but hadn’t tried it.
i will have to control myself to not have every title this way from now on.
just picking the patterns for the quilt side of this page made me
happy all afternoon.
i love color and patterns.

this was annie tonight.
she came outside
all on her own
in the plastic dress-up feather puffy high heels
into the driveway.
i said “HI!! what are you doing?”
she answered “i go’d to walmart and got M&M’s”
so matter-of-fact.
as if she really had.
and then we sat & shared imaginary M&M’s.

later we did go to walmart.
all 7 of us.
it was surprisingly pleasant.
they all brought their money & each picked a toy.
everyone was very happy.
(i did find it funny when we were ALL in the women’s underwear department together.)

craig then treated us to his special chocolate chip pancakes for dinner.
yummy.

before dinner on saturday night talby said “mom we have a surprise for you”
and for once i really was surprised.
sean and talby had quietly made a fort all by themselves.
it was under the fooz ball table.
very cute.
i told craig “it’s very sweet & they are playing so nicely … until a certain 2 yr. old finds them.”
i think it was about 3 minutes later we heard screaming from the fort.
they had been found.

then the two older kids couldn’t resist and they had to get involved (which means ruin)

but it was nice while it lasted.

our weekend was filled with
gardening, mowing,
golfing, cleaning,
laying in the sun,
blowing bubbles with the wind,
scott’s birthday “party” going to see shrek with 2 friends,
long walks and swinging on the porch swing – love that craig.

sean went to a dinner theater yesterday for a field trip.
they saw the play of Treasure Island (in some form)
he was telling me all about it when i was putting him to bed (get to stay up longer when you talk to mom).
he said “you should have been there mom! i had everything in the cafeteria . . . hot dogs, macaroni, applesauce and fries AND
we got to eat with this thing that was a fork and a spoon!!!”
seriously .
the spork was the highlight of his week.
i love him.

funny picture of annie.
a little light reading.

i am sure i am not the first person to do this.
but i do feel quite smart that i came up with it on my own.
last year i took talby and annie with me on a road trip to chicago by myself.
we had the dvds, cds, snacks, books & tons of toys but when all those didn’t work and the crying started i would crank the air on high and start the bubbles.
it is magical.
instant glee.
i mean really . . . who could be mad when there are bubbles all around you?
it also keeps sleepy babies awake so they can take their naps in their bed at home and not a five minute nap in the car.
i laughed as cars passed us yesterday.
i thought “you think it looks funny? you should hear it?!!”
the screams of joy were way too loud.
but they were happy, awake, buckled safely in & not fighting.
sometimes screaming is okay.
i cannot be held responsible for accidents that you may have if you try this in your car.

this morning at the creek annie was throwing rocks into the water.
she kept shouting
“HOE-WEEE BOW!! DATS A BEEEEG WOCK!!”
translation: Holy cow that’s a big rock.
about 50 times.
so cute.