at the parade

relaxing
{like every decent parade spectator should}

keeping an eye out for the firetrucks
{in his genuine cowboy boots and hat}

smiling as the band goes by
{and wishing he hadn't missed out on that experience in high school}

the best float in the parade
{won the award for Most Purply}

We love a parade.
{but only when we get a spot in the shade}


p.s. I totally made up the part about the award. I don't really know if that float won anything. It certainly should have and Most Purply seemed appropriate.

fun for kids: homemade paint

I made sidewalk paint for Danny and Cate on Saturday. They didn't actually paint on the sidewalk though. It was more like driveway paint. All you need is cornstarch, water, food coloring and paintbrushes. Clothes that are ok to get dirty would be helpful too. I haven't tried to wash theirs yet so I'm not sure how badly the driveway paint stains.

I'm feeling pretty clever because I used a plastic egg carton instead of lots of little bowls to hold the paint. I ended up having to put the whole thing into a tupperware container because the two middle egg spots have little holes in the bottoms. That's ok though. It was still very clever of me.


Turns out you can paint more than just the driveway with homemade driveway paint. Danny painted a leaf, a rock and a tree trunk.


Cate tried to paint Scratchy.


And if you happen to enjoy eating paintbrushes, homemade driveway paint is a lot better for you than regular paint (at least that's what I'm hoping). No lasting side effects that I can see yet.


When all the colors got completely mixed up in the egg carton, we just dumped the whole thing into the tupperware. Cate liked that better anyway.


As the paint dried, it turned into goop. You know that stuff you used to make when you were a kid. Cornstarch and water mixed together. Roll it in a ball in the palm of your hand. After you leave it for a few seconds it turns liquidy. Then you roll it again and it's a solid. Then back to liquid. Did anyone else make that stuff or was it just me?

Clean up was easy. We just abandoned the tupperware container and let it dry. I banged it on the counter and it turned into lots of little chunks, kind of like chalk dust. Then I dumped it into the trash. I'm not sure how easily it cleans off the driveway though. I haven't attempted that yet.
We'll be making this paint again soon. It kept Danny and Cate busy for almost 20 whole minutes!

Then Danny walked away and stepped on a spider. Cate decided maybe she wasn't done with the fun. She picked up a paintbrush and brushed the spider and his guts right onto her foot.
The fun never ends around here.

playing catch-up

This is kind of like potpourri but with more pictures and less random thoughts. I feel like I've been going insane lately. Kids not taking naps and going to bed late leaves no time to blog. Somehow I've managed to find time to blog about the really important stuff (like chocolate peanut butter balls and begging for birthday gifts).

I'm pretty much the most horrible slacker mom though because I didn't even write a post to Cate on her birthday telling her how wonderful she is and how blessed I am to have her in my life. I tell her that every day though so I think she'll forgive me. I'll save that post for her third birthday.

So here we go with the catch-up. It's about 2 weeks' worth so get ready to be bored to tears.

Monday (not Cate's birthday, the one before that)

Cate learned how to say something new. I'm not happy about it. When she didn't want to do something, she said, "No wah-noooooo" in a very whiny voice. It means I don't want to. I'm trying to teach her to just say no thanks instead because no wah-noooooo in a very whiny voice gets very old very fast. Trust me. When she says no thanks, she says thanks while shaking her head no. It's terribly cute.


Tuesday

Grandma came to stay with us for a few days. She needed to attend a conference for work and we let her crash at our pad. We're so good to her. Dan and I even let her sleep in our bed (not with us, of course...that would be weird). Partly because we didn't want her to have to sleep on the mattress we set up in the front room. Partly because we were hoping that if Cate decided to cry for 2 hours in the middle of the night (like she did the night before), then maybe Grandma would take care of her and we wouldn't have to (or maybe I should say so Dan wouldn't have to).

We took Grandma to a fancy restaurant to really wine and dine her and show her how classy we are. Maybe you've heard of it. Denny's. Top notch. So fancy that they let kids eat for free on Tuesdays. Then we accompanied her to Costco for a little shopping. I know. We really know how to treat our guests. Nothing but the best for the ones we love. If we had really wanted to wow her, we would have bought her a gourmet berry smoothie for dessert at Costco. Maybe next time. That'll give her something to look forward to.


After the kids were alseep (which was way later than I was hoping for), the grown-ups stayed up way too late playing cards. I believe we played Mormon poker but I'm not sure. I haven't played cards like that since my college days. Dan and Grandma got lots of practice playing on the cruise last fall. I pretty much lost big time. I blame some of that on Dan's cheating though (that one was for you, Grama Bama).

Wednesday

I can't remember much about Wednesday. That's probably a good thing. I do remember noticing some drainage coming out of Cate's ear. Aren't you glad I shared that little tidbit? It was a windy day. A huge tree branch almost bonked Dan on the head. He narrowly escaped. Grandma accompanied me to a church meeting.

Thursday

Candis invited me to a birthday lunch at her house. We were playing in the front yard before that and some salesmen came over and tried to sell us some books. I really hate it when that happens. They were from Europe (supposedly). The one guy who did all the talking had a pretty good accent going. We turned them down, after listening to the whole schpiel.

Grandma left to go back to her house in the afternoon. We miss her still.

Friday

Cate woke up crying at 4:00 because she had puked in her bed. Danny woke up crying at 5:45 for no reason (as far as I could tell). Later that morning (after I had recovered a little from my delirious state of no sleep), I went to Judy's house with the kids. Cate puked on Judy's couch. I cleaned it up but Dave said it was still stinky a few days later. Sorry about that, Hunsakers. Dan came over and took Cate home with him.

I organized Judy's hall closet, a few kitchen drawers and under her kitchen sink. I was very productive with the sick little girl gone.

I took Danny to see Toy Story 3 with James and Candis a little later in the afternoon. He was very excited to go. He's seen part 1 and part 2 many times before. He's got the Woody dolls and the Buzz dolls in many different sizes.

I was really hoping he could sit still and enjoy the movie, unlike the last time he was in a movie theater. He did not disappoint. He was great. I had to keep one hand on his seat the whole time to keep it from folding him in half though. Danny loved the movie. When we were walking out of the theater he said, "Dat was a dooooooooood moobie!" (that was a goooooood movie) I loved it too. I even had a few tears in my eyes at the end.

Saturday

My dear mother, Grama Bama, called to wish me a happy birthday at 7:12 in the morning. She was probably hoping to wake me up. Ha! You have to call way earlier than that to wake me up. Danny had already woken me up a good hour and a half earlier. I don't know what's going on with these kids of mine and all this early morning waking up stuff. It really needs to stop.

My dad called to wish me a happy birthday at 7:14.

I spent a few of the morning hours shopping. Dan took the kids to the park and then helped them wrap and color all over my birthday presents.

The rest of Saturday is kind of a blur. Or maybe I've just blocked it from my memory. My brain is trying to protect me from the trauma of it all. I'm not sure if any naps took place. I'd bet they did not. I do know that Danny was crying because I took off the dirty old bandaid that had been on his finger for way too long. He freaked. Cate was crabby and cranky all day (except when she was at the park or being held by me or Dan).

The kids helped me open my presents. I'm pretty sure this was before dinner. By that point in the day I didn't care. As far as I can remember, the kids ate birthday cupcakes for dinner. Anything to make them happy, right?

I'm going to just skip on past the rest of my birthday evening. It was all about a crabby little girl and a grouchy old me. Dan tried to make the day good for me. He really did. A sick kid just didn't help much. Danny was mostly wonderful though (aside from the dirty bandaid meltdown).

I finished the night by eating the Ben & Jerry's NYSFC that Christina had gifted to me earlier in the day. It hit the spot. Danny helped me eat it. I hope he knows how much that means I love him if I'm willing to share my Ben & Jerry's with him. We even saved some for Dan (but I ate it myself the next day).

Sunday

Happy Father's Day! Dan slept in and so did the kids (for the first time in a long time). That just shows who they love more. On my birthday they wake up early. On Dan's special day they sleep in past 9:00. Whatever.

After church we went up to Aunt Cindy's house for some Father's Day/Cate's birthday/my birthday celebration time. Cate and I got lots of great presents. Thanks, family!

We ate yummy dinner and then yummy cupcakes. I didn't take one single picture of the cupcakes though. See, slacker mom. They were cute though (if I do say so myself). Cousin Rusty seemed to enjoy his.

Danny had a blast playing dress up with Ricky and Billy. He just wasn't very thrilled to have his picture taken.

I got to hold baby Tommy and remember that on my shoulder is my least favorite place to hold a newborn baby. No offense to the baby, of course. It's not their fault I suck at holding them up there. It just freaks me out a little. Like I have no control. They're floppy. I'm always worried they're going to just flop right off of me.

And being the extra grand slacker mom that I am, I forgot to take a picture of Dan with his kids on Father's Day. Shame on me.

Monday

Cate's birthday. I went into her room to retrieve her from her crib. I said, "Cate, it's your birthday! Happy birthday! You're two!" Guess what she said. You guessed it. "No wah-noooooo!" That was a good predictor of how that day was going to go. I spent the morning just trying to keep her happy. I called the doctor and made an appointment for that afternoon. I was hoping they'd have some kind of magic pill to bring my happy kid back.

Danny and Cate "helped" Dan put together Cate's new kitchen.

I left the boys working on the kitchen to take Cate to the doctor.

Of course, Cate saved all her smiles and happiness for the doctor. Sheesh. Diagnosis: ear infection in one ear. She does have tubes but the doctor thinks one of them might be clogged. Good grief. Ear drops for a week (those are absolutely no fun to administer) and antibiotic for 10 days.

We came home and I got dinner stuff ready. We were expecting Judy's family and my friend, Michelle (the one who got her hair cut with me) and her family for dinner. We ate pizza. Cate blew out her candles. We ate cupcakes. She opened presents.

Then we played outside in the back yard. The big boys played on the slippery slide. Cate just watched. She doesn't like to get wet. Not even a sprinkle.

Later we cleaned up and went to bed (probably way too late again). The longest day of the year turned out to feel like just that...a very long day. Maybe we should have named Cate Summer Solstice instead. That would have been very clever of us. It's better than Sessfordina.

That's all. Catch-up is over. I feel much better.

You might beg to differ though.

snips and snails

what cate did this afternoon

...instead of taking a nap
(for at least the fifth day in a row)

browsed the Victoria's Secret swimsuit catalog
(looking for something suitable for me, not her...at least that's what I'm hoping)

I have no idea why that catalog ended up in our mailbox.
It was addressed to Current Resident.
Maybe we're still on their mailing list from when Grandma used to order stuff.
I don't know. Let's just leave it at that.

played with Danny's dump truck
(and his garbage truck and his tractors and a few of his tools)

pushed her doll around in her new vintage baby buggy
(that her Grauntie Nancy gave unto her for her birthday)

scattered toy food, plates and utensils all over the floor
(while thoroughly enjoying the new vintage kitchen that Grama Bama gave unto her)

other things she did this afternoon instead of taking a nap:

kept me company in the bathroom, twice
wandered around
asked for Det-det (cousin Jarrett)
ate a lot of cheese
took one bite of a banana
played with Danny's Star Wars legos
pulled the elastic band out of her hair, twice

and then finally she crashed
at 4:30
in her Cinderella chair

I heard a thud about 30 minutes later.
This is what I found.

Here's what Danny did, starting around 5:00.

I'm predicting a 10:00 bedtime tonight.
(if I'm lucky)

Oh, joy.

chocolatey peanut buttery pretzely goodness

chocolate peanut butter pretzel balls

Make them.
Eat them.
Share them...or not.
Thank me later.

My review:

Plan to double the recipe. Maybe triple.
Eat a few. Give most of them away.
Your friends will love you for it.
(but only if they love chocolate and peanut butter...and if they don't, why are you still friends?)
Try them with milk chocolate chips.
Make sure the pretzel pieces are small.
Refrigeration is an important step.
Make them smallish (a melon baller works well).
Stick the whole thing in your mouth at once. No bites.
I doubled the salt. I love salty and sweet together.
Increase the powdered sugar a smidge too.

Most importantly, eat them quickly.

A moment on the lips, a life time on the hips.

I've got enough on my hips as it is.
I don't need to stick little chocolate peanut butter pretzel balls on there too.

happy birthday to me

I'm not even technically 37 yet. I've still got 10 more hours to go.
{and you've got 10 more hours to enter my special birthday giveaway}

Already the doom and gloom and temper tantrums and fits have begun.

I blame it on the odd number.

And on the three-year-old who woke up before 6:00 this morning.
And on the almost two-year-old who spent yesterday puking and feeling crummy
and is continuing to feel crummy, crabby and cranky today.

I think I'll skip the birthday cake.

Let's just stick a candle in my Ben and Jerry's and call it a day.

a special birthday giveaway

an adorable little three-year-old me, June 1976

My birthday is in 2 days. I'll be 37. I've been ok with all my other birthdays in the thirties. I'm feeling differently about this one.

I don't like being an odd age. I like even numbers. Some of my family members (and maybe a few friends) know this weirdness about me. I'm convinced that the years when I'm an even age will be better than the odd ones. I can't really look back and prove anything was worse in my life in the odd years. It's just a feeling. I'm coming up on an odd one so I'm feeling it again.

I was ok with 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. 36 was sort of ok because it was pretty close to 35 and that's not terribly old. But 37 is really close to 40. It's practically knocking on 40's door, asking to borrow some Depends and a squirt of denture cream. (No offense to the 37 and older crowd. It's just how I feel about me.)

So I'm going to try something on this here blog to ease my way into being an odd number (and the possibility of a year filled with doom and gloom and overall bad luck).

Doesn't it seem like the coooool bloggers are hosting giveaways nowadays (although not all of them are cool and some of the cool ones never do it). But I totally want to be cool (or at least make people think I am).

So here it goes.

My very first giveaway ever!

But I'm doing things a little differently.

For my very first giveaway ever, I want you to tell me what you would like to giveaway to me for my birthday.

See how that's different? Instead of me giving you something, you get to give me something (or at least tell me what you would like to give me if money grew on trees and you really did care enough to send the very best).

Keep in mind, forty by forty might be officially over, but I've got some skinny jeans that I have to keep fitting into for at least another 3 years. I'll give them up when I'm 40 because I'm pretty sure that's the cut off for wearing skinny jeans.

A little warning: if any of you tell me you'd like to give me a knuckle sandwich, a hurts donut, a swirly, a package of Depends or a tube of denture cream, you will be deleted, unfriended and off my Christmas card list. Forever.

To enter my first giveaway ever, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. And since I'm feeling generous, you can enter as many times as you want. No limit to the number of birthday gifts, wishes or pleasantries you can bestow upon me.

And since you're all giving stuff to me, I don't even have to pick a winner. I'm the winner!

You have until Saturday at 11:54 p.m. to enter. I'm hoping for good stuff here, people. Don't let me down.

It's going to be a rough year.

discombobulated

Sometimes I'm amazed at the ability of my computer's little camera to really capture the way I feel.

This picture just about sums it up.

Kids are wearing me out.

Summer just might be the death of me.

the end

when I look at her

I think to myself where did my baby go?

I want to pinch her chubby thighs. But I don't because that would be mean.

I am amazed at how many new words she's saying every day.
(and that I can understand most of them)

I love that she has started to love singing.
(in her own little way)

I love that she can play with her big brother now.
It's usually Star Wars and it usually ends in someone crying but I'll take what I can get.

I'm happy that she loves books.
And even happier that she wakes up almost every day calling for Danny
(instead of me) so he will come into her room and put books into her crib.

I remember that I need to teach her how to whisper.
The people behind us at church today got to hear her say "Mommy mean"
every time I wanted her to do something she didn't want to do.

I can't believe she's almost two.

I'm glad she says danks (thanks) a lot.
She's a very grateful child.

I love that her hair is getting longer and curlier and blonder.

I can't stop thinking about what a pretty little lady she has become.

I feel lucky to be the mom of a daughter.

I smile because she's mine.

All mine.
(except for when she's really cranky...then she's all Dan's)

family photo booth

Our neighbor got married yesterday.

We went to her reception last night.

We ate little pieces of cake with little forks.

We stepped inside the photo booth.

Here's the breakdown.

Grumpy Danny
Me with eyes really wide open (I have no idea why)
Dan looking quite handsome
Cute Cate

Danny warming up to the fun of the photo booth
Me looking like a dork, eyes still wide open
Scared Dan
Cate getting squished

Then Dan said, "Let's hold 'em upside down!"

So...

Danny being held too far upside down so he's out of the shot
Gravity is enhancing the bags under my eyes...lovely
Dan looks like he's having fun, right?
So does Cate, right?

Danny's sweet smiling face (finally)

The bags are still under my eyes, without gravity to blame this time.

Scary Dan
Cate's belly...still having fun, right?


Best 15 seconds of my day.