A Couple Of Pictures...

...that won't be making the Christmas Card this year.













You'd think she was telling him that his dog ran away instead of merely encouraging him to smile and be happy so that Mommy will quit with the camera already.

Those Kids. A little after Thanksgiving chuckle for everyone.

You know - "Those Kids". The ones that enter conversations like this. "Did you see those kids at the party?" "No, which kids?" "Oh, YOU know, - those kids." "Oooohhhh - yeah. Can you believe those kids?"

Last Friday, my children were "those kids". Grandparent warning: I'm about to talk bad about "Those Who Do No Wrong", so look away! ::wink::

We had a Fall Festival party with the CHEC group on Friday. Let me tell you what, the mom who put this shindig on really goes above and beyond. Umpteen stations/games - crafts, balloon darts, bingo, candy walk, go fish, bobbing for apples, and on and on. Pizza, fruit, munchies, cookies, cupcakes, drinks - it was all fantastic. The other moms all pitched in a little bit, but this was primarily organized and executed by the mom whose house we went to. KUDOS Amy!!!
(Rabbit chasing moment - it reminded me of a birthday party my mom did for me MANY years ago, where she organized a treasure hunt all over the yard and woods behind the house. The preparation involved in the Fall Festival reminded me of that party).

So, anyway, we get there Friday morning. Go into the back yard where everyone was playing. Tooter makes a beeline for the slide, and Poodle is quickly behind him. He slides, she slides, they repeat several times, every one is having a blast. I put my stuff down inside the house, and come back outside. Say hello to a few moms and then Tooter walks in front of a swing-in-use. WHAM! He gets clocked on his head and nose. SPLAT. Down he goes.

I go get him, and a couple of minutes later, blood starts coming from his nose. He's hurting, and I keep trying to wipe the blood, because he's starting to get it everywhere, including his eyelashes. Of course, the wiping doesn't make him feel fabulous, and forGET about putting ice on his nose. Not having that. He then proceeds to cry loudly and with authority for the next 20 minutes. (yeah..... I know he has a bloody nose. But the last 10 minutes of the crying was pretty forced on his part. Drama. Both kids).

Then, Poodle gets a bit confused during the group pictures (not sure what was going on, and Mommy was dealing with Toot), and gets a little pouty. Then, gets pouty again just before lunch. Because I didn't know she wanted me to help her get out of the tire swing. (ugh). We get through the rest of the party (which, may I say again was very well planned), and at this point the kids are both tired, Tooter is way past his nap, and Poodle is wired for sound from all the playing.

Folks are starting to leave, so I grab the 3 coats (it was cold when we left the house, warm when we left the party), my huge "mommy bag" (i.e. a large bag that does double duty as a purse and diaper bag), two of the gift bags and Toot's goody bag. Poodle is carrying her goody bag. Tooter, who has decided he is WAY too old to be carried around is wriggling to get out of my arms that are otherwise overloaded with stuff.

But first! Poodle must go say "bye" to two of the girls still there. Twice. Then she gets distracted by toys in one of the bedrooms, because I got distracted saying goodbye to one mommy. Tooter then proceeds to head into the bathroom to "play".

I get Poodle extracted from the bedroom, and open the door to the bathroom to get Toot, and he's stuffing toilet paper into the toilet. Horrors.
So, I throw down the things that I'm carrying at the moment, drop my keys on the bathroom counter, and rescue the poor toilet from the clogged fate that Tooter intends it to suffer. (Amy, if you read this blog - I apologize for the softball sized soggy mess that I left in your wastebasket!)

I grab Tooter, tell Poodle to follow me NOW, and we start trudging towards the car with my arms full of wiggly Toot and the aformentioned stuff, and an unhappy Poodle whining behind me because I'm making her leave. Mm-hmm. Their behavior was just SO exemplary that day.

We struggle all the way to the van, and I put Toot down to get my keys. Off he runs. A friend is putting her two boys into her car at the same, and I notice the striking difference in the sets of kids. It's hard not to. They are quietly and politely saying good bye to my children and quietly and politely getting into their car without their mother having to even raise an eyebrow. My little ones closely resemble the lemurs from Madascagar. Caffeinated lemurs. (Oy Vey everybody!)

Meanwhile, I'm tearing thru my mommy bag and sweating buckets from the stress with the frantic look of a crazy woman in my eyes. Oh - yeah - back to my escapees. They're all over the yards adjacent to the cars and I can NOT find my keys. My internal language has now reached new lows, and I dump everything on the ground next to the van, kneel down and tell Poodle that if she doesn't follow me quietly and without arguing that..... well - I'm sure I promised some terrible and ominous punishment. Then I go racing to rescue Tooter from his exploring, and we go BACK into the house while I try to find my keys.

Ahhhh. Right. Bathroom. Okay. Wait for little one currently in said bathroom to finish. Go in, get keys, trudge back to the car with a squirmy, whining Tooter still in my arms, and an unhappy (actually just very tired - but she LOOKED unhappy) Poodle following me obediently for the first time that day.

We get into the van, and Tooter is asleep literally 3 1/2 minutes after we leave the house. We only have 8 minutes of a drive home. I think I intermittently fussed at them and fumed the whole way home.

Yep - my kids were THOSE KIDS that day.

But, then, we had an absolutely lovely visit with a couple on Sunday afternoon who brought their brood of four (ages 6,5,3,1.... I think) - and even though mine were sans nap, they played so nicely and were well behaved with children that they had never met before that afternoon.
So, the monkeys redeemed themselves, but I still had to get Friday on record. Commiseration is a good thing. Sort of like chocolate at the end of a long day!

Quick......

Define the word "area" so that a four year old can understand you - without using the word "area".

MAN, was I tongue-tied on that one. My brain needs some exercise!

Why We Love Thanksgiving

Excerpted from a page in Good Housekeeping, November 2007:

"Unlike other holidays, Thanksgiving has no costumes or fireworks, no cards or presents. There's nothing to distract from simple gratitude. We pause to thank God for things we don't often consider: food on the table, a roof over our heads, family. I look at each person seated around our table and feel more grateful than ever."

Mm-hmm. Well said.

I hope you all have a Thanksgiving full of gratitude, full of love, and abounding in God's peace.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOTER!!!

I can not believe you're a two year old wee man today. But here we are..... two years since that precious day you were born.

My heart overflows to be able to look at you and say Happy Birthday to you. Your daddy and I are more blessed then we ever deserved!

Life, Blogs, and Birthdays

I have been trying since Friday to finish a post about the Fall Festival that the kids went to, and I can NOT find time to finish it.

Part of the reason is my wonderful, fabulous dad came and picked up both kids on Saturday, and they played with my wonderful, fabulous parents at their house for most of the day on Saturday.

I honestly can not remember the last time I was away from both kids for that long. (6 hours) Well - probably for the last Junior Miss program. Funny, because I spent most of the time Saturday that the kids were gone working on the choreography for the Fitness routine for the upcoming Junior Miss program, and got it FINISHED. Huge weight off my shoulders. I still need to really learn it, fine-tune it, video it, and get it ready to distribute to the contestants...... BUT, the major choreography is done. I had to tell two friends from Birmingham who were in town that they couldn't come by to visit, but I got it finished! (I still feel bad R&M!)

Sweet Tooter was really quite distressed when GaGa dropped them off and tried to actually leave Toot at home ::gasp:: with his mother. He ran back to the door and grabbed hold of GaGa's neck and held on for dear life. Saying "eeeeee", his non-speaking way of saying "don't go GaGa! You're way more fun than Mommy!" I've never seen either of the kids react that way to someone trying to leave.

Mom, Dad - THANK YOU for that much needed and MUCH appreciated break. I know the kids loved being with you as much as I loved the time to get some things accomplished. It was a sacrifice of time for you, and I appreciate it so much.

Mr. Tooter has a birthday tomorrow - poor thing still hasn't had a proper birthday party because his birthday is so close to Thanksgiving, and he still isn't going to get one this year. But, he's turning two, so he doesn't really know what's going on. Next year, though, we'll have some big fun for him!

Almost there!

Gun season opens this weekend. My DH, although he's doing a good job to hide it, has some serious ants in his pants to get out in the woods early-early on Saturday morning. I thought I'd share some "4-EE Wheel" pictures (as Poodle says) just to keep the excitement brewing.
:-)








For those who are wondering - yes, there is a slightly noticeable "smooshed grass" track in the backyard. But, hey, the kids love the riding.

Small price to pay for excited eyes and giggles.

Deer Season has arrived!

I don't get it.

Facebook, that is.

Okay - I have a facebook page. I got one months ago, when I was fiddling with different ways to share pictures. It turned out to be not-so-convenient because it required sign-in's and all that.

But, in the process, I ended up with a Facebook page.

Then, people found me. Just a few, mind you - and they are all sweet, dear people! So, now I have "friends" on my Facebook page, network, whatever you call it. Each time someone adds me as a friend, I have to okay it or agree to it or whatever it is. In the process, I end up going to see my own page.

And let me tell you - Facebook is a busy place! People are starting to substitute Facebook for email and webpages, etc. It is probably even taking over some blogging time.

I had a local college recruiter tell me that she hardly ever emails her prospective students any more - they almost always communicate by "face'ing" each other.

sigh......

I don't know - maybe it takes less time than email? I know I spent a solid hour last night trying to catch up on old emails and current ones that needed immediate attention. An hour. Think about it - we only get 24 of them in a day, and I spent an entire one last night just on email. Not to mention the time I spent during the day.

Are we any closer than we were before all this techno-communication? I'm sure we are to those who are far away, but with family and close friends?

I don't know..... maybe. I realize I'm being a bit of a silicon valley scrooge - I'm stubborn as can be about cell phone texting! But I still love to see updates of my friends and their kids on their blogs. It's a conundrum for me. My dad has no desire to get a personal email (he gets enough email at work), and I don't blame him a BIT. He has no need to spend an extra hour (or four) of his day answering mail or coming home at night and spending another hour in front of the computer merely talking to people.


Oh, pickles. I'm sure I'll be a lot more laid back about all things virtual when being in front of the computer doesn't drive my kids to distraction. As it is doing at this very moment, I might add. I think it's time to go "Face" with some really short, blond people who haven't been kissed and snuggled NEARLY enough this morning.

And, oh yeah - I'm still on Facebook. But my page gets very dusty in between visits!

Check Ups - Check!

The Zoo Babies had their annual check-ups yesterday. All is well! We got to meet our new pediatrician who took over our retiring pediatrician's patients back in June. And she is lovely! An added bonus is that her eldest daughter who is five has struggled with severe eczema all her life also (and still has problems), so Dr. P understands the struggle that we're having with Tooter.

It's nice to have someone with a true sympathy for the daily frustration and battle.

All their lab work came back "perfect", and they are growing like the little flowers that they are. ::awwwww:: ;-)

In all seriousness, though, everything is on track - and we give all the glory to God for their good health!

To Our Veterans Everywhere

Thank you for your service and your loyalty. For your bravery and your sacrifice.

We always want them home, but we always need them there. THANK YOU!

You're looking for what?

So, last night, we went over to Patty and Rodney's house for an impromptu burger grilling. Patty and I have ideas of getting all the kids familiar with each other so that there could be some possible date night trading some time in the future.

The kids have "eaten" (Grace was the only one to actually finish anything at all), and the grown-ups are sitting in the kitchen enjoying some great burgers et al, and Poodle comes buzzing through the kitchen with an I'm-on-a-mission look in her eyes. And she let's us all know:
"I'm looking for my diarrhea".

Excuse me?

The four of us are laughing, she has NO idea what is so terribly funny, and I get the impression from her that she thinks we're all a bit looney.

I tell her to let me know when she finds it, because let's face it, I'm really curious to see what poor object has been renamed diarrhea.

She scoots around a corner, bends over and picks up the missing object, and declares with pride "I found it!"

Poor Grace's flower-adorned DIARY is the recipient of this unfortunate nickname, and I dare say Poodle may never live it down.

Happy Birthday MooMoo!!!

We love you!!! And hope that you have a wonderful day today!

Since our schedule cleared...

I thought I'd post this picture from Robert's birthday dinner last week! We went to a local Indian restaurant, and we all got to try some fantastic food that we had never had before. It's one of Robert's favorite places, and I can understand why. Super nice. They were really accommodating of the kids, too.

This was supposed to be a picture just of Robert, Jaime, and Baby Audrey - but as you can see, Poodle didn't want them to feel lonely. ::ahem::

Now, as to why our schedule cleared today. Poodle had a bit of an upset tummy last night. Threw up about 30 minutes after she went to bed - but, didn't run any fever at all, and hasn't thrown up since. I feel like she just ate something that disagreed with her (maybe too many cashews yesterday afternoon!), but just in case, I decided to keep them home from our community service project this morning with the CHEC group. I think there is a bit of a tummy bug going around, and in the slim chance that she did have it, I didn't want to pass it on to anyone else. We were supposed to help them stuff goody bags for their big fundraiser this weekend. Hopefully we'll be able to go back soon!

Treat or Trick - 2007

The Zoo Babies getting ready to Trick or Treat this year!

Poodle was a ballerina. (I swear - totally her idea. Absolutely no help, hints, or nudges from me at all. She even put together her own costume!)

Tooter..... okay. Long story. lol.... See, he WAS just going to ride in the stroller. Let's face it - trick or treating at not quite 2 years old is more for the parents than the kids. But, this was Poodle's first year to go ToT'ing, and she was so excited, and she just felt like Toot HAD to be dressed up as something. And then I found this old (and too small) costume in the back of his closet that MooMoo had bought last year just for a dress up thing for funsies..... and, well, one thing led to another - and by the time Jmk got home from work on Halloween day, Toot was officially declared a Manny Bug! (No, he was NOT a Lady Bug. He was a Manny Bug).

So, anyway, the kids went ToT'ing for the first time ever, and were home before dark, and managed to be in bed only about 30 minutes past their regular bed time. It was a lot of fun, and Poodle was SO proud of herself. When she finished her first house, her exact words were "I did it!!!" And she was laughing and skipping and having the best time. It was so fun! And she keeps talking about all her "nice neighbors". I think Jmk and I had a pretty good time too.

Poodle was really excited about getting to go this year! I think she was a little nervous, but was SO proud of herself after she got thru with the first house! I'll hopefully get October pictures up sometime this week so you can see more of her escapades.

This would be arabesque a' la babyballerina for those playing at home.

The trick or treaters at work.

Actually, this is the only house where we let Toot go to the door. We know Mr. Sammy well enough that if Toot had beebopped into his house, we wouldn't have been completely embarrassed.

For MooMoo & GaGa

All the little ballerina pictures must have you reminiscing. I thought you'd enjoy seeing this. (Click on the picture to see a bigger image, if you need to).

:-)

Website Update

Good afternoon!

I've got pictures up from September and from Poodle's birthday. Website address is described above. Happy Friday!!!

I'm jealous.

Okay, see, some 7'ish years ago, my mom gave each of her munchkins the complete set of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. For whatever reason, I never got around to reading them.

Well, I just did.

First, let me say that these books are so wonderful!!! I am really looking forward to my kids reading them. Almost as much as I'm looking forward to Poodle reading the Anne of Green Gables series. No.... I think just as much! Anyway, they are just great, and being able to read all of them - not just The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - has been SO much fun. Even if I am "30'something".

Now, the whole jealousy thing. I am jealous. Of little Lucy. Queen Lucy. Specifically, the relationship that she has with Aslan. Obviously, she is an example of the type of relationship - the type of overwhelming, all encompassing relationship - that we can have with our Lord, Christ. One where the mere mention of His name brings swelling love into our hearts, and we become fully distracted trying to seek Him.

Oh, I became so aware of the utter lukewarm'ness of my faith and my feelings. I told Jmk about how I was feeling somewhere around Prince Caspian, and he totally knew what I was talking about.

I need to be walking closer in my daily life and I need to be less adult and more childlike in my faith in order to love Him more. The love that brings joy and true happiness. Lucy-love!