Ride With Me!

This is for all of those moms who find themselves driving to the store last minute because their kids remembered something they need for school the next day. Enjoy!

Monkey Dance

This is what Rachel calls a "Monkey Dance". Looks like a lot of running around to me. We had Mom's group at my house this morning. 10 moms and 7 kids. That's not a bad ratio considering if all of the kids from school, preschool, and parent's day out were with those 10 moms that would have been 23 kids! The kid to parent ration in our church is high! We went through 2 whole pots of coffee. That's 24 cups for those of you doing the math at home. One person who shall remain nameless polished off 4 cups by herself. When it was time to go home, we peeled her off the ceiling. Just kidding!! There was also discussion about a questionable hand gesture by a 13 month old, but that's a story for another day. A morning with the girls is always fun!

For old time's sake

I have nothing new to report today. No funny kid story, no new photos, nothing...nada...zilch. So for old time's sake here is the Sesame street clip that I was talking about in the previous post. Come on...you know you love Sesame Street! In fact, you will probably want to head on over to YouTube and watch all of the vintage Sesame street clips. Remember the Yip Yip aliens!!!

Rachel the Builder?

Today after church we ventured over to Jim & Sarah's for Josiah's 4th birthday party. We had a Bob the Builder theme complete with hardhats and tool belts. Sarah had a building made out of cardboard boxes down in the basement and let the kids paint it. I personally thought she had lost her mind by letting over a dozen kids ages 2 and up down in the basement with paint, but they all had a great time and it was a lot of fun. (And the mess was at a minimum) The group shot makes me think of the old Sesame Street cartoon with the pinball machine. You know - the one with the disco type music "1..2..3..4..5 (pause)..6..7..8..9..10.(pause)11..12. And that's just the little kids; it doesn't include the older siblings that were there. Crazy fun!

Rachel and her friend Rylan get ready for some demo!

Crazy town!!

Movin' on up

Today Rachel moved up to a toddler bed. Her crib converts to one, but we had never got around to doing it. She never tried to climb out of her crib, but it was time for her to be able to get in and out of bed by herself. She was quite proud of the fact that Mommy didn't have to put her in bed tonight. She did it all by herself.

Clean out that crib!

One last jump and romp!

I'm such a big girl!

Grilling season is now open!

We kicked off the season with chicken on the grill with a Hawaiian marinade. YUM!! Wasn't sure we would have enough propane to cook the bird, but as you can see we made it. Heather and the boys came over to help us get the grilling season going.

Jacob was all about the jelly on the biscuits. Heather wanted to know what my recipe was. I proceeded to open the freezer and pull out the Wal-mart brand of frozen biscuits. That's right, I like easy!

This is Aaron & Bryson's choice form of entertainment. After quite a while they were forced to put down all electronics and come outside with everyone else. Oh The Horror! They actually had to play outside with something that doesn't require batteries.

All Hayden and Rachel wanted to do was play outside. They played in the sandbox, on the swings, ran laps around the dog. Good times! They were both filthy at the end of the evening.

Was Dusty about the hit the courts? No...the carpenter bees were buzzing around the deck and this is his choice weapon of mass destruction - my Prince tennis racquet. Worked though; he nailed one and it didn't come back around.

Now in honor of Paul, who couldn't join us this evening, I post a photo of my half eaten dessert. Chocolate Eclair dessert made by Heather. Mmmmmmmmmmm...I do believe that Heather took home a hefty portion of what was left. So there should be some waiting at home for you, Paul. If not - blame Heather!

Learn to use the force you have...

Hayden & Jacob spent the morning with us today. First up - Lightsaber duel to the death! Well not really to the death, but the lamp almost bit the dust a couple of times. :) I was holding my own with 2 lightsabers until they all ganged up on me and took me out with a move that is illegal in 6 galaxies!

After that we had to pose for our best Star Wars poster photo. I've discovered that the Painter boys must be used to having photos taken because Hayden let out a maniacal laugh everytime the timer light on the camera went off.

After saving the galaxy we went outside for some fun in the sandbox. Heather brought back Chicken Pad Thai from Thai One On and all was right in the world. :)

Sunny Days!

O Happy Day...we now have air conditioning in the car again. We're also a little lighter in the wallet for it, but you do what you've got to do. Rachel and I spent a couple hours out in the backyard enjoying the sun. We built some sandcastles and then had a picnic lunch up on the play fort. Then as a precautionary measure I scooped doggy poo out of the yard. Not the highlight of the day to be sure. But Hayden is coming over to play with Rachel tomorrow morning and I'd rather not be scraping off little shoes!

Not much to tell

Hmmm....not too much to report from here. I've been to Mom's group. The highlight of my day was the chocolate gravy. That's right...chocolate gravy. Mmmm. Went to Target, came home, had lunch, took Aaron to soccer practice, took the car to the shop. Riveting stuff! Tomorrow the car will be in the shop having the air conditioner repaired and I will have an exciting day of house work and the like. Don't you wish your life was this exciting!

So you don't feel like checking out the blog was a total bust, here's a cute photo for you. Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks. :)

Kid Pics

I had the photo equipment set up yesterday for a shoot that I was doing. So while the gear was set up, I ran Aaron and Rachel through for some spring photos. Sometimes when I'm doing other little kids, I have to work pretty hard to get them to smile or even be interested in taking a photo. My kid on the other hand says "Cheese" continuously until we're done. I guess that's what happens when you grow up with a camera-happy mom. :)

Soggy Soccer

This morning was Aaron's 1st soccer game of the season. Rain + no lightning = game on! Not only was it soggy, but chilly as well. Dusty had the good fortune of filling in for one coach that wasn't there. He was thrilled. :) Hopefully things will be looking up next week.

We're shaking & we're famous!

OK...so we're not really famous, but more on that later. We were among those shook awake this morning. Dusty was already awake and getting ready for work. I was not dead asleep, but I wasn't fully conscious either. We have a decorative metal wall hanging above our bed and it rattles when the neighbors slam their car doors. So you can imagine what it sounded like this morning. I was on my hands and knees on the bed trying to figure out what was going on....thunderstorm....tornado....earthquake?? A 5.4 earthquake; nothing big if you're from California, but it doesn't happen here that often!

On to the famous part!

We are on the cover of the May 2008 Indiana Baptist magazine. I used to work for the Indiana Baptist state office. One of the ladies there, Bev, called several weeks ago wanting photos for the May issue. The theme was Celebrate Family and she didn't want to use stock photography. I sent in several family portraits of church members that I had taken as well as a casual one of us. Well, they choose us for the cover, and here we are. We didn't tell anyone we were going to be on the cover. We just waited to let it show up in the church members mailboxes. It's been funny. I've already got a couple of calls today wondering why I'm in their mailbox. :)

Random Thursday

Sorry, no photo. Just some random thoughts for today.

• I love freecycle
• God always provides the money when we need it
• I may complain about gas and food prices, but we go where we want and no one's ever hungry
• Less stuff is better
• If a 32 year old woman can win the Biggest Loser, I can drop some weight! (Seriously, did you see her!)
• Black Hefty bags are my friend
• You can't beat an evening with good friends

13 Seasons & Counting

Aaron's 1st practice of the soccer season was yesterday. I dug up the photo from his very first soccer practice. It was from April 2002 and he was 4 years old. Aaron is now in his 13th season with our church's soccer league. (We play 2 seasons a year) That very 1st season he broke his arm during his 2nd game. Fortunately we've had no major injuries since then!

Aaron - far left - Age: 4 - April 2002

Aaron - Age: 10 - Yesterday

Eagles & Armadillos

Ahhh....a day of sunshine. Rachel and I took advantage of it with a nice walk. We talked about the blue sky and all of the things God created. While passing Eagle Elementary she saw a painting of an eagle on the school sign. Then she informed me of this little tidbit. "Mommy, armadillos are afraid of eagles." What??? Where did that come from. Must have been the topic of the day on Go, Diego, Go.

Here a kid, there a kid...

I will start by saying I am spoiled. I know it; I make no excuses; I'm fully aware of it. We have 2 kids and one of them is in school all day. The other takes 2 hour naps in the afternoon. It's really not that hard to tote one around to the grocery store or wherever we need to go. Sometimes, she'll have a meltdown and then it's a bit troublesome. But really it's not that big of a deal. There - that's out of the way. :)

I got to watch Jackson, Gabrielle, and Conner this morning while Dacia took Brady to the doctor. She also took Cooper with her as well. For those of you counting at home, yes, that is 5. Jackson is 4, Gabrielle and Conner are 2 year old twins, and Cooper and Brady are 6-month old twins. Dacia has said that she should just put a sign on her head when she goes out that reads, "Yes, they are all mine. Yes, I do have my hands full. Yes, I know what causes that!" She's a great mom and I really admire her.

The kids were all great and they played very well together. While playing with Rachel, Gabrielle, and Conner I thought, "Hmmm....wonder if this is what's its like to have triplets" When one wants juice, they all want juice. If one wants a snack they all need a snack. And then when I had them all on the sofa taking a photo I thought, " Multiply this party by 2 and you have an episode of Jon and Kate plus 8!" We had fun. Dacia and Brad will be moving back home to Georgia this June, and I will miss them....a lot!

Today's Self Portrait

This is what I looked like zooming from one end of the church building to the other during the middle of the Pure Girls event today. And "No" I don't have jaundice. Just forgot to change the white balance setting on the camera. Back to Pure Girls: it went off wonderfully! There were over 200 girls and their moms and everyone had a great time

I got to be part of a great team of women from our church who helped it all to happen. Here's a little of what these great ladies did: prepared decorations, ordered food, set up tables, determined we needed more tables, set up more tables, decorated tables, decorated the stage area, stocked bathrooms, greeted and registered participants, handed out T-shirts, directed participants to their seats, served drinks, prepared food for 200+ people, served that food, cleaned up from that meal, ran video presentations, took photos, passed out gift bags, tore down over 32 tables, moved chairs back for worship service, tore down decorations, cleaned, vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, took out trash, vacuumed, took out trash, laughed together, and enjoyed helping this event to happen.

They're all great and I'm glad to call them my friends!

Just because

So why do I have beach photos up today? I know you're asking that right now. Because I don't have any other photos to post from today. The beach makes me happy! These are some of my favorite photos. Take your pick. Note to self: start planning a vacation for this summer!

I took some photos today of some kids from our church and their cousins. A couple of 3 year olds, a 1 year old, and a baby. Good times! We made it through just fine. The group shot was a bit dicey, but I'm sure I'll have something presentable in the end.

Tomorrow, I'm helping with an event at our church called "Pure Girls". It's for girls ages 8-12 and their moms. A lot of the focus will be on modesty and the girls finding their worth in the right places. It's a state-wide event and we have over 200 moms and girls coming. It should be a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll be kept on our toes all day!

In case you were wondering...

...yes we do have another child. I realize Rachel gets a lot of photo time here. She's still experiencing all the "firsts", like 1st haircut. I really don't think Aaron would like it if I toted in my camera and started shooting away when he's at Great Clips. Aaron will be starting another season of soccer in a week and I'll be sure to share some photos then. In the meantime, here he is sprinting home from the bus stop in the rain today. No Mom, I didn't go and pick him up; I made him walk home in the rain. (And he was just walking, slowly, until I told him to hurry up)

An Elmo Fixation

So what do you do when your cousins are over playing. Jam into the recliner and watch Sesame Street! That's entertainment.

Bad,Bad,Bad

In my bedroom yesterday and heard Rachel say, "Mommy I think I need to throw away my eggs now." Turn around and saw this:

Easter was 2 1/2 weeks ago and yes, they are real! My immediate response was, "Where did you find those!" I know that I had not been smelling anything particularly vile. I don't know if she brought them in from the backyard, because she had been out there playing earlier. I'd hate to think they've been hidden in the house this entire time. Who knows??? YUCK!!!

Just a little off the top...

or more accurately - off the back. I took Rachel for her 1st real haircut today. I had cut her hair at home, but only the bangs. Her hair is so unruly to start with, and it was really getting to be just one big flyaway mess. So they trimmed her up a bit. Nothing too drastic.

Before - hair flying every which way!

This is the way to cut a kids hair: put them in a fun chair and turn on the cartoons!

After - This is the shot to freak my mom out with! It's not really that short.

Still plenty of wave and curl

Still plenty of hair to blow in the breeze

Sunshine!

I love it...warmth and sun! I even drug the bike out of storage today. After I hosed off the cobwebs and dust, aired up the tires, and sprayed a little WD-40, I was ready to go. Took 2 turns around the cul-de-sac and remembered how uncomfortable a bike seat can be. The church is doing a bike ride in May to raise money for the mission trip. That ride will be 10 miles. If I'm doing that, I'm going to have to work up to it!

Rachel enjoyed the weather with her buddy Hayden and dueling Little Tykes cars.

She must have been planning on driving like a NASCAR driver - hence the helmet!

Shredding makes me happy...

We did some decluttering at Mom's house while I was there. You know the kind; the "Why do I still have this?" kind of decluttering. Also caught up on document destruction! Hey, you probably keep way too much paperwork too. Admit it and let's move on. :) We put the shredder to the test and the file cabinet is much happier now. I'm extremely motiviated now and I will be attacking my file cabinet tomorrow. Heather P - I'm coming to your house, I have a Hefty bag and I'm not afraid to use it!

Off to get the crew

I'm off to Illinois to get the kids. Be back in a couple of days. Meanwhile here's a couple of photos from my cousin's wedding last weekend. The photos I like best are usually the unposed photo that the subject doesn't know you're taking. As you can see, my family has a good time and likes to be with one another. There's always something to laugh about.

Uncle Leroy, Mom and Aunt Ginger

Whatever Ginger said, it must have been good.