it's a book

The kids and I gave this book to Dan for Father's Day.

I saw it somewhere online and knew I had to have it. I couldn't just buy it for myself though. That would be selfish.

So I bought it and saved it until I could give it to Dan. I knew he'd share.



If I didn't think it would be dishonest to take a picture of each page for you I would.

Here's the gist. A monkey is teaching a computer-loving jackass what a book is. I read it to my neighbor and she laughed her booty off. It's got some funny stuff.

I really want to show you the last page because it's the best part. I won't ruin it for you though. You'll have to get your own copy (or just come over and Dan will share).

Have you seen this book?



It's one of my favorites. Notice that the illustrator is the author of It's A Book. Maybe that's why I like it so much. (He also illustrated this book, another of my favorites.)

Here's the aftermath of some huffing and puffing by the big bad wolf (whose real name is Alexander T. Wolf, in case you didn't know).



I love it.

Twig utensils and a pig bum.

So there you go.

A few good books for your weekend reading enjoyment (if you're into reading picture books on the weekend).

If you're not, I can't help you.

and on that farm he had a guanaco

We visited the farm last week (since I was lucky enough to win a free family pass). Danny loved the baby chicks. He couldn't get enough of them. He also liked seeing the baby ducks and the "oinks."

I loved that it was cloudy and windy and started to rain on a summer evening. That's my favorite time to go to the farm.

Neither kid wanted to take a free pony ride though. I don't know what's up with that. Bunch of fraidy cats I guess.



Cate liked most of the animals too. She just looks super grouchy in this picture. She really did have fun running around seeing the animals and pretending to talk to them in their various languages. Cock-a-doodle-dooing at the roosters and oinking at the pigs. It was very cute.

Dan met up with a guanaco. It's not his first time. He used to work at this very farm many years ago. He was trying to help wrangle a wild guanaco that had gotten lose. He didn't fare very well in the end.



A few things I like about this picture (taken in the summer of 1999):

Dan was still in his 20's.
He had a wicked farmer's tan.
I'm glad I have a picture of the wood paneling that used to be in our bedroom.
My husband looks amazing, even after a harrowing near-death experience.


the end.

leaving on a jet plane

found it here and I want to buy it but I won't

That's my family.

I'm the armless blond mommy with the hourglass figure and gorgeous eyelashes.

That's obvious, right?

My 20 year high school reunion is our destination.

I'm using my last wrinkle treatment, turning my gray hairs brown and wishing I'd tried a little harder to shed a few pounds this summer. I didn't want to try too hard with that last one. I don't want to be totally unrecognizable to my classmates after all. I hope they appreciate that I kept these extra pounds on for their benefit.

I bought Cate some big honkin' hair bows so she'll fit right in with the rest of the southern belles when we get there. Well, at least the southern belles in the 3 and under crowd.

And I'm saying lots of prayers that my kids just snooze the flight away and keep themselves entertained during our 3 hour layover.

Just a few things I'm wondering about...

Do you clean your house before you leave on vacation? Especially the bathrooms. I do. Or do you just come home to a stinky, messy house with moldy toilets?

Should I bother to bring a book or two for myself to read on the plane (or the 3 day drive for our return trip home)? Am I crazy to think that there might be some point in time when both kids are asleep or otherwise occupied so I can read? I'm thinking skip the books. It's just wishful thinking.

Is it really so bad to slip your kids a little Benadryl so they'll chill out on the flight? I've never tried. Yet. Or do they make a child-appropriate version of NyQuil? Or Ambien?

How many times do you think Cate will ask "Are we there yet?" before we even get to the airport? She seems to enjoy that question and sometimes asks it before she's been buckled into her car seat.

Will my zucchini plant take over the entire backyard without me there to keep it in check? If any neighbors start missing pets or small children, I recommend they start their search there. That thing is ginormous.

* * * *

Dan thinks the 3 day drive home will be worse than the plane ride. I think he's wrong. I'm dreading the flight. I've flown with these kids before. I've waited in airports with them too. It's not pretty.

I'm excited for my kids to see the house I grew up in. It'll be there first time there, and quite possibly their last. We'll go up to my dad's office and let them see all his bug collections and maybe let them hold and pet a Madagascar hissing cockroach (if Grandpa still has them...cockroaches are indestructible and live forever, right?).

Hopefully we'll get lemonade at Toomer's corner (goodness knows it'll be hotter than blazes out and we'll be thirsty) and go see the elementary school where I lost a tooth while eating watermelon in kindergarten. And the junior high school where I got 100% on my bug collection (that's pretty much expected when your dad's an entomologist right?). And the high school where chemistry, physics and AP biology helped me realize that maybe being a brain surgeon wasn't a realistic goal for myself.

I'm thrilled to see my high school friends and hoping that someone else has more wrinkles and gray hairs than me. Really crossing my fingers for that one.

Of course the highlight of the trip could possibly be the three (or heaven help us, FOUR) day trip home. I'm really hoping for a stop or two for a roller coaster along the way. It'll do wonders for my sanity. I'm sure of it.

It's a good thing Grama Bama and Grandpa will be along for the ride. They can absorb some of the whining and crying and cries of ARE WE THERE YET?

And I'm not so sure all of that noise will be coming from the kids.

Wish us luck. We're gonna need it.

pioneer recipe: apple candy

I think I've started a tradition. Remember last year's Pioneer Day recipe? Washboard cookies. They were yummy.

I decided to try something else this year. I found a recipe for apple candy that looked pretty easy so I gave it a try. I have no idea why I've now become obsessed with pioneer recipes. I might change my mind when I run out of sweet yummy ones.

The recipe just below apple candy was called Bread and Milk. As if pouring milk over bread and eating it wasn't bad enough, the recipe calls for adding crumbled cheese and onions. Gross. I won't be making that next year...or ever.

Apple Candy

2 tablespoons gelatin

1 1/4 cups cold applesauce

2 cups sugar

1 cup chopped nuts

1 tablespoon vanilla

Soak gelatin in cold applesauce for 10 minutes. Combine remaining applesauce and sugar and boil 10 minutes. Add gelatin and applesauce mixture and boil 15 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add nuts and vanilla, and pour into slightly greased pan. Let set overnight in refrigerator. Then cut in squares and roll in powdered sugar.

My notes: I didn't read ahead and chill the applesauce. I'm not sure it mattered in the end. All that boiling and constant stirring is no fun. I'd make a horrible candy maker. Hot boiling sugar is a little scary to me. Don't start this recipe right before dinner time. It'll probably delay your meal by quite a bit. Read ahead and plan...unlike me. Good thing Dan is perfectly capable of reheating pizza in the microwave or we would have starved while I stood there stirring the hot boiling sugar mixture.

I have no idea why it's necessary for this to sit in the fridge overnight. It was very hard after only a few minutes in there. I really wanted a taste so I pulled it out and then promptly broke a knife trying to get it out of the pan. Parchment paper on the bottom and then cooking spray on top would have been a good idea. Live and learn.

As for the "cut into squares and roll in powdered sugar part," I don't think so. See that hammer up there? That's what I used instead. It was kind of fun to bang the crud out of a big slab of hardened sugar. I'm not sure what I did wrong to have it turn out so hard and uncuttable but it's ok. It tasted pretty good. Danny and Cate both thought so.

And since I enjoy playing with my food...

Pioneer apple candy in the shape of the great state of Utah! I'm a weirdo. I know.

Happy Pioneer Day!

on his ninth birthday

My third nephew. Trevor.

He was born late at night. It was his grandma's birthday too.

We live an hour away and didn't go to the hospital. Wait and drive up for Sunday dinner and see him then.

As we turned the corner onto his street, we passed a car. His parents in the front, their baby in the back. Rolling down windows and chatting we found out he had a fever. Headed to the hospital.

We visited after dinner. Bearing gifts. Little blue baby clothes for a tiny baby boy. Can't hold him. Sleeping? Not allowed? I don't know. I just remember not holding him.

Prayers for a quick recovery said in my heart.

Days passed. Drove up to get his big brothers and bring them to our house for a few days while his mom and dad stay with him in the hospital. A call to turn around and bring them back. Baby not doing well. Big brothers need to be with their family.

Children's hospital this time. Sadness. Holding back tears. Heart beating fast. Wondering how those big brothers will understand. They were only 11 and 6.

Aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, Grandma. Waiting room. Waiting and waiting. Holding back the tears. Silent prayers.

Seeing the baby. So many wires. Tubes. Eyes closed. So swollen.

Took the big brothers down to the cafeteria for a break. From the 6-year-old, "I just don't get it. Trevor came to earth, got a body and then he dies." A statement. An observation. But also a question. I don't remember what I told him. Hopefully something comforting. I just don't remember.

Moved to a private room. No more wires. No tubes. Eyes closed. No holding back the tears. Aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, a mom and a dad, Grandma. All together. A family prayer. Peace. Comfort. Sadness.

And then he was gone. Held in the arms of his father.

Tears. Sadness. Wondering why.

Then I held him. Regret not getting the chance to hold him while his spirit was still with us. While his little heart was beating. While his eyes were open. While his warm body slept.

A kiss on his forehead. Then handed gently to another loved one waiting to say goodbye.

He'd be 9 today. I can't even imagine what he'd look like. His mom? His dad? His big brothers?

Someday I'll know. I'm sure of it.

I don't know the sadness of losing a baby. I didn't know then. I don't know now. What I do know is how much I love my own babies. Feeling that love now, I can't imagine how it must have felt to have to let one of them go after only 10 days of holding, feeding, caring, crying, worrying, sleeping.

10 days.

I thought of baby Trevor when each of my own babies reached 10 days old. I thought about how much I cherished them already and how I would feel if they were taken away from me. And then I put it out of my mind because I just couldn't imagine.

Remembering a sweet baby today.

And silent prayers of gratitude for my own babies.

That I have them to love and hold and tickle until they cry.

on his first birthday

Happy birthday, dear Ray Ray.

Happy birthday to you.

Love,

Your Favorite Aunt

(sorry to the other aunts but it's true)

in case you hadn't heard

found it here

And because I'm such a big deal over here, I'm going to tell you a few things.

And you are going to think these things are pretty awesome (and not at all lame and you won't wonder why on earth I'm blogging about such things because I'm a big deal and the things I tell you are awesome).

Plus, I'm not a very big deal anywhere else so I figure while I've got you here (since you obviously think I'm a big deal too or else you'd be somewhere else) I might as well share.

Here goes.

I hate it when I go to punch the period on my phone and I punch the :) button instead. Then I send the text before I realized I punched the :) button. It irks me. I hate the :) thing. Then when it goes through as a text it looks like a smiling green alien head. Who thinks up this stuff?

I sent a text to my mom the other day telling her to text Dan something. I guess I didn't spell Dan correctly and my phone spelled Saab instead. I texted my mom and told her to ask Saab something. It was funny.

I ordered a side salad at Chick-fil-A a while back. Danny saw the little broccoli pieces and wanted to eat one. I gave it to him and he popped it right into his mouth. He loves broccoli so I wasn't surprised. Cooked broccoli (what he loves so dearly) and raw broccoli are two very different things. He spit it back out onto his hand and then dropped it back into my salad. Before I said anything to him Cate said, "Oooooo, broccoli!" and grabbed the piece that he had JUST SPIT OUT OF HIS MOUTH and ate it. I'm not even kidding. We're not going to be winning any awards for dinner time etiquette any time soon.

I do laundry almost every day. It's not really necessary but sometimes I just can't help myself. I like the sight of an empty dirty clothes hamper. Except ours isn't a hamper. It's a big drawer that my grandpa built next to the dryer. I really like it when it's empty.

My favorite house is for sale.

It's perfect and symmetrical and across the street from the big park. I need to go to an open house so I can see inside.

Cate wanted to make me some water cake in her pink kitchen one day. I'm pretty sure that was her way of justifying the use of real water in her toy kitchen (something that she knows I frown upon). She's a clever little baker.

There was a kid in the Danny and Cate's art class named Nixon. Another one named Finn. Jarrett was invited to a birthday party for a kid named Kodiak. What is up with these names? Don't their parents know that they're never going to find key chains or those tiny license plates for their bikes with their names on them? I had a hard enough time finding ones with Cathy instead of Kathy. I'm well aware that Cate might have a hard time too.

Sometimes when I feel like I have too much to do, too many responsibilities, too much to think about (you get the idea), I end up doing nothing instead. That usually doesn't make me feel better about all the stuff I have to do.

Danny mentioned the mini pepperoni that I bought a while back. He thought it was funny that I put the minis on a pizza for him and Cate and the regular size on a pizza for me and Dan. I reminded him that Dan put some of the minis on his salad. I said, "Isn't that funny?" Danny replied, "I know! He's the funniest dad ever!" Too cute.

I went to IKEA with Candis. I had some stuff I wanted to find for Cate's bedroom. I found a few of them. Look what I found for my dining room wall. Maybe two of them side by side.

And this little number made me miss being a teacher and having my own classroom to decorate.

A little red file cabinet. I want it. Someday...

Know what else makes me miss my classroom? School supplies for sale in July. I was in Target today and I heard a young girl complain to her mom, "Oh, no! School stuff already?" I smiled because it was kind of funny and because school stuff makes me happy.

Cate calls straight pretzels crazy pretzels. I guess straight instead of twisty is pretty crazy to a three-year-old.

I was teaching a lesson to the young women a few Sundays ago about overcoming opposition. I shared about when my kids drive me crazy. That was my example of opposition in my life. Sheesh. So now I feel like a crappy mom because I shared that my kids are a trial in my life. Isn't that lovely?

Dan's practicing his ukulele right now. Getting ready for camp. I'm most looking forward to his rendition of Goober Peas. That's a good one.

Sometimes when I'm craving chocolate late at night (and there's none in the house because I have no self control over such things anymore) I just click over to Pinterest and add to my Chocolate Goodness board. Yum. It's not as satisfying as a big chocolate brownie though.

My garden is growing. The zucchini plant is ginormous. I'm getting excited for the pear and cherry tomatoes to stop being tiny and green. My grandma always had pear tomatoes in her garden. That's why I wanted to plant them in mine.

July is not my favorite month.

We visited the family last night to celebrate a cousin turning 7. Danny practiced his moves with the 4-year-old cousin. They were swinging punches and doing what looked like ninja hand moves at each other on the deck. I went out to tell him to be careful and to knock it off. He said, "Mommy, we're just practicing our moves." Then he got smacked in the face (not by me) and the practicing was all done. Little boys are funny.

As soon as we got in the car to drive home (which takes a little over an hour), Cate said, "Are we there yet?" I asked Dan if she was kidding and he said yes. I'm starting to question the decision to road trip it back from Alabama in a few weeks. I might not make it home alive.

That's all for now.

lovely, love my family

Tonight's installment of Friday Night Videos:


The Roots singing "Lovely, Love My Family"

On the rare occasion that the t.v. is on (hee hee, that's a joke) and tuned in to Nick Jr. (is there any other channel?) and this little "commercial" just happens to come on, I stand up and boogie with my kids. Danny will usually join in because he loves a good dance party. Cate just tells us to stop dancing. I ignore her. How can I not dance to this song? I don't have a clue.

I think I saw this for the first time when Cate was just a wee babe. I had grand ideas of dressing up for Halloween as some kind of Yo Gabba Gabba! family. I figured Dan could be DJ Lance Rock and I could be his lady with the platform heels and knee socks. Danny would be Muno and baby Cate could be Muno's baby brother, GoGo. Nobody knows that GoGo is a boy right? It's ok to cross-dress in a Halloween costume if you're a baby.

And then I remembered that I don't like dressing up for Halloween and I don't know how to sew.

My favorite parts of this video are the sousaphone player and the pick in the drummer's afro. The sousaphone player reminds me of marching band. I really loved marching band. The drummer's afro pick is just cool.

Plus, this song helps me remember that I lovely, love my family too.

WIWW

Some people write blog posts about what they wore on Wednesday and call it "What I Wore Wednesday." Have you seen that before? That baffled me the first time I saw it and it still does. I can't imagine taking a picture of what I wore on Wednesday and having anybody care about it. Do you try to dress nicely on Wednesday just so you can post about it? I just don't get it. And then they list the stores where they bought the clothes and how much they cost. Really? Do you save all your receipts and keep them handy for when you need to look up the prices for your What I Wore Wednesday post?

Here's something much more interesting. Where I Went Wednesday. Isn't that a stellar idea? Keep track of everywhere you go on Wednesday and blog about it. Riveting! (I'm hoping that I'll look back at this some day and just laugh. That's my goal. Remember stuff and laugh about it later because I certainly wasn't laughing on Wednesday.)

Here's my yesterday.

Where I Went Wednesday

To Cate's bedroom at 4:30 in the morning. She was standing on the floor crying and saying, "There's white stuff!" That means her night time pull-up exploded. I'm pretty sure I had her go to the bathroom before bed but maybe I forgot. It happens. I got her cleaned up and back in bed (but not before I had to read her another bedtime story...by the light of the night light and without my glasses on. Oh, that was a fun one.)

Where I did NOT go at this point, back to sleep. Sometimes I just cannot get my brain to turn off. It's frustrating. And exhausting.

To the bathroom at 6:45 and then the kitchen to eat breakfast. No sleep for the weary. Then to the front room to sit and wait for Judy's text. I turned on the news but I just can't watch that stuff anymore. No shows on my DVR to watch because it's summer and summer t.v. is the pits.

To Aunt Judy's house a little before 8:00 to tend baby Ray Ray (who will turn one in a week). He was already awake so I just packed him up and came back to my house when his mama left for work. His big brothers were already at my house because of the sleepover the night before. The sleepover that resulted in three boys not going to bed until some time after 11:00.

To the loony bin from this point on for the remainder of the day. Cranky three-year-old, shushing everyone in sight so the baby could nap (and nap he did...for THREE hours), light saber fighting in the front yard, snacks, snacks and more snacks, whining, tattling. You get the idea.

To the library after the baby woke up so Dan could put Cate down for Quiet Time. I took all four boys with me. I needed to check out a book for a Young Women activity that evening. Dan had tried to check it out for me the day before. He couldn't find his card and they were going to make him pay $3 for a replacement. He didn't want to do that so he came home and searched all over for his card. No luck. I figured I could just go get a library card (since I've lived here for 12 years and still don't have one, maybe it's time) and check it out myself.

Apparently, you need a copy of your utility bill and your drivers license to get a library card. I did not know that. (Sure, I could have thought about it ahead of time and looked it up or called to see what I would need but when you're in the loony bin you don't think about such things.)

The library lady told me I could just walk across the street to the city building and get a copy of my bill. Right. I'm standing here holding a baby with three little boys around me and you think I'm going across the street for a copy of my bill? Not going to happen. I'm usually not one to be confrontational or huffy or rude but by this point in the day (and it was only 3:00ish) I'd had it. When she told me my drivers license wasn't enough to prove I live in this city I said, "Are you kidding me?" She said no. So I left. Not sure if I'll be going back.

To get a snow cones because it was hot out and I figured the more we drove around the less time I'd have to spend entertaining a baby once we got back to his house. The big boys got Bahama Mama and Danny got blue bubble gum. Baby Ray Ray sat in the back seat grunting and whining the whole ride home because he knows what snow cones are and he wanted what the big boys were having.

To Aunt Judy's house where Millie (the neighbor girl) came running out to greet us. She entertained the baby so I didn't have to. Hallelujah! We sat outside on a blanket and ate the Starburst candies she brought over. Danny and Kris and a neighbor friend played Monkey in the Middle. I'd never heard of that game before. It pretty much looks like Keep Away. Poor Danny ended up being the monkey in the middle way too often so I told the big kids to be nice and let him have a turn throwing the ball. Then they kept throwing the ball into the street.

To my house once Uncle Dave came home to relieve me of my duties where I found Cate still asleep (approaching 6:00) and Dan examining the insides of his eyelids from the comfort of the recliner in the front room. I sent Danny to his room and plopped down on the couch with my computer.

I relieved some of my stress and attempted to rid myself of the residue of the loony bin by pinning. You pin don't you? You don't? You really should. You can follow me if you want. I pin a lot. I'm a very stressed out person. I like to numb my brain sometimes. Pinning is free and it's nothing I have to go confess to the bishop later. And I find lots of recipes for yummy treats that I shouldn't bake and crafty things that I'll never make. It's fun. Plus, where else are you going to learn how to make your very own mac and cheese Halloween costume? That's useful stuff, people.

To church for a Young Women activity. We made final preparations for Girls Camp. It's next week. I'm going to be away from the kidlets for 3 nights. I hear there will be s'mores so I think I'll be ok.

To my house where kids went to bed and I ended up on the couch again, pinning my little heart out until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

And that's where I went on Wednesday.


Did you go anywhere more fun than me?

Or did you go to the loony bin too?

Or maybe your loony bin is where you go for fun.

Most importantly, does your loony bin have snow cones?

Mine does.

she's got all A's

I have this friend.

She's a lot like me.

Those kind of people make the best friends, of course.

My friend bought a new brassiere last month.

She's had a few babies and lost a few pounds in the last few years.

Her old brasseries just hadn't been fitting like they did in the olden days.

Time for new ones.

This time, instead of just picking the same size off the rack and hurrying to pay (since buying that kind of thing is embarrassing to her), she picked a few different sizes and actually tried them on in the dressing room.

That was also terribly embarrassing to her but she knew it was necessary.

She discovered something that day in the dressing room.

Something she kind of already knew.

Her body is not the same as it was in the olden days and her cups do not runneth over as much as she liked to pretend they did.

She made the purchase and went home to relay the news to her adoring husband (because a new brassiere is news).

She was bemoaning the state of her shrunken parts when he lovingly told her,

"My darling, you've been trying to get all A's your whole life. Now you've got them. Be happy!"

It must be nice for her to be married to a man that is so quick to look at the bright side of things.

To find the positive in every situation.

To lighten her mood and help her count her blessings.

To keep her on the sunny side of life.

To help her realize her accomplishments.

To see the glass half full.

Or in this case, the cup half full.

Actually, more like less than half full but whatever.

At least she's got all A's.


p.s. You didn't actually think I'd post a picture on of my friend in her new purchase did you? I'm certain she wouldn't approve. Just a picture of my adorable kids and some...um...melons.

nine on the ninth

first: Woke up at 9:41 because my kind and loving husband let me sleep in. I then sat in the front room watching Cate twirl around and do summersaults all over the floor. I don't think she sat still for 5 minutes straight.

second: Looked at this bowl of gross looking bananas and figured I'd better do some baking. Later in the day I made banana bread with three of them and stuck the rest in the freezer. Is it ok to freeze gross looking bananas? I've never done it before. The thought of making three batches of banana bread didn't appeal to me. Neither did the thought of watching little fruit flies buzzing all over my kitchen.

third: Applied the wrinkle patches my sister gave me for my birthday. I think they worked. The hideous wrinkles aren't gone but I'm pretty sure they plumped up a tiny bit. I'm satisfied. I'll use the last two patches in a few weeks so my face will be freshly plumped up for my high school reunion. Yikes.

fourth: Played a few rounds of Words With Friends with my bro-in-law. He proclaimed it the world's slowest Scrabble game EVER. Maybe so. If you're interested in playing an excruciatingly slow game with me, look me up. I'd love to kick your trash too. I take no prisoners.

fifth: Examined the garden. The zucchini plant is ginormous. The tomato plants look like they're ready to take over the world. And I'm wondering if that banana pepper is ready to be picked. Arlene? I'm looking at you.

sixth: Put down Cate for her Quiet Time (don't make the mistake of calling it a nap). She still had on her nightgown because sometimes we just don't bother to get dressed for the day around here. Snuggled in beside her you will find Idda and Mo. Right beside Mo, but cropped out of this picture, Piss. I am not even kidding you. She named one of her dolls Piss.

seventh: Took the kids to the splash pad for the first time ever. Oh, glorious splash pad, I love you so! Why did we wait so long? The kids get wet. It's not too far away from our house. It's free! And the best part, I don't have to wear a swimsuit! We'll be back. Who wants to come?

eighth: Ate dinner at Denny's and saw a rainbow out our window. Kids eat free on Saturdays and we are super duper classy folk. In our defense, we did try to eat at Purple Pig Pizza first but they only accept cash. By the time we got back from the ATM, they were closed...at 7:20 on a Saturday night. Not sure what's up with that but maybe it's a good thing. See that building on the right in the picture? That's Walgreens. The sign in front was advertising that walk-ins are welcome for Shingles Shots. Am I missing something? I understand having a sign advertising flu shots but shingles?

ninth: Made peanut butter fingers at 10:15 on a Saturday night. I lead a glamorous and exciting life. The picture is from this morning. Better lighting. Sunday morning peanut butter fingers taste just as good as the Saturday night ones though. You have my word.


A few bonus pictures from the splash pad because my kids are just so dang cute.






A bonus tid bit from today because Cate is just so dang funny.


me: Catie Bug, come get dressed.

her: Say the secret words first.

me: What are the secret words.

her: DADDY'S BIG TUMMY!


She kills me. In a good way of course.

friday night videos: a walk in the snow

January 20, 2010

Cate turned 19 months old the next day. She'd only been walking for about 6 weeks.

A late bloomer.

I love watching that new walk. A little bit bow legged. Like she still has to think about each step.

Those boots. I loved those boots.

That hat. Grandma made it. It fit her for a long time.

I love hearing the crunch crunch of the snow.

I miss the snow.

I don't like summer.

I know most people love summer.

I don't.

The heat. The dread of wearing a swimsuit. The sun. The looooooooong days.

Did I already mention the heat?

We're heading into the hottest days of the year right now.

Some people lament the fact that summer is just flying by so quickly.

Not me.

I miss the snow.

to my future son-in-law

Make sure you buy a big bed.

I'm talking BIG.

Maybe even double BIG
(if you can find that size at your local mattress store).

The love of your life needs her space when she sleeps.

So much so that she might even kick you out of bed
(while she's sleeping, not because she's mad and wants you to go sleep on the couch).

She's done it before
(like to her daddy this weekend...he ended up on the floor).

She'll probably do it again.

Consider yourself warned.

She might even snuggle up into your arm pit and push you to the very edge
(of the bed and your sanity)
in further attempts to have the whole bed to herself
(like she did to her mother this weekend).

Oh, yeah. And she snores.

Have fun!

One more thing,

she might eat pop tarts in bed too.

Nobody around here has bothered to teach her that's not acceptable behavior.

Sorry about that.



And just in case my future daughter-in-law is reading this too...

same goes for you.

Except the snoring part.

This handsome guy grits his teeth instead.

three cheers for the red, white and blue

Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue!

Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue!

The flag of America forever!

Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hip Hip Hooray!

the road to love and poutine with a twist

We took a little trip to Dan's school yesterday. He needed to enlist the help of the best darn organizer he knows (that'd be me) to work in his classroom. We brought the kiddies along so we'd have someone there to pester us while we tried to get some work done. Plus, it's a different school than he was at last year and we thought they'd like to see where their daddy works. Turns out, they don't really care much about where their daddy works.

We had a little fun in the mirror just outside Dan's office. Behold, the moods of Danny.

Happy



Shy



Grouchy.



That pretty much sums it up for him. And of course, Cate made her trademark silly face as much as possible.

My main task today was unloading boxes of books and trying to organize them somehow. There were text books and teacher books. Binders. Binders. More binders. And then I found these little pink and red books. All I can figure is that they're some kind of teenage romance series. Why on earth my husband (who teaches a bunch of special ed middle schoolers) has teenage romance books in his possession I'll never know. Maybe I don't want to know. I don't know.



Some titles include Chance of a Lifetime, A Love to Share, Love in Bloom, Follow Your Dream, Kiss and Make Up. Don't those sound like something teenagers want to read? If the titles aren't enough to interest them, just look at the artwork on the cover. That's sure to reel them right in.

Here's my favorite:



The Road to Love

The roller skates. The one piece belted jump suit. Holding hands, ready to spin each other around on the shiny roller rink floor.

Check out the teaser on the back.



I picked a few other books from Dan's shelf to bring home for some light reading this weekend. I'm not really sure I could have found something from the shelf that would qualify as heavy reading so light it is.

I borrowed Stargirl, a book about Helen Keller and one of my favorites, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. That last one's an oldie but a goodie for sure. (I'm not sure I worded that sentence correctly but Stargirl is definitely not a book about Helen Keller. What I meant was I borrowed Stargirl AND a book about Helen Keller AND Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret but it didn't sound right having to say AND so many times. You get the idea.)



On our way home from the school we stopped for a late lunch at one of my favourite restaurants. I figured since it would be Canada Day soon (and it's today, eh?) we should enjoy a Canadian favourite in honour of our favourite Canadian (that'd be Grama Bama, of course).

Have you ever heard of poutine? It's from Quebec. Grama Bama is not from Quebec so she's probably never eaten poutine. But watch how I tie all this in together anyway (and also see how I can come up with any excuse possible to eat some cheesy fries with ultimate dipping sauce).

Poutine is beef gravy on fries with cheese curds.

We ate fries. There was cheese on them (not the curd kind, melted and gooey instead). The ultimate dipping sauce is kind of like gravy.

Poutine with a twist! Utah style!



Happy Canada Day, eh?