The Chaser's Main sail - it was nice to be sitting under it.

I think I'm going to have to have a birthday sail of my own next year! heehee!














The birthday boy again. I hardly ever get pictures of David, because he really hates being in front of a camera. But I got lucky and got a few of him on this trip!










The boys folded up the jib sail quite nicely. I got to help fold up the main sail. And, I also got to help with the jib sail while we were on the water. I was on the port side, Dad was on starboard. I had NO idea what I was doing, but everyone was really patient.







Ahhhh - the weary sailors, home from sea.

Okay. The not-all-that-tired sailors home from a couple of hours on the reservoir. Man, I had a good time. There is something about the physical aspects of sailing a ship that intrigue me as well as motivate me. And, I just like the feel of it all. Granted, we weren't in "real" water, nor were we in terribly daunting winds. But I can see how addicting this activity could be. There is always something to learn and perfect. I still think Robert needs to sail to the Keys and go diving and fishing. I'll be your first mate! :-)

VACAY!

We're on vacation this week!!!!

Jmk made a last-minute-type decision about mid-week last week. He was taking this week off from work!

Now, that's totally fine with me. Because with gas prices the way they are, this is going to be a great vacation. No, we're not actually going anywhere. BUT, we're going to relax the rules for a week. We're not going to worry about chores and stuff. We're going to go to the zoo if we feel like it. Or, we're not. We're going to go pay waaaaay too much for ice cream at the ice cream shop. Jmk is going to play some golf if he feels like it. I went sailing with my brothers and my dad yesterday afternoon.

I'm going to blog a lot or not at all. We're going to go to the pool or play in the sprinklers or hose down the dog. We're going to have nacho night a LOT and we're going to eat popcorn at 9:30 in the morning. (no lie - the kids are watching Hermie and Friends Christmas movie right this minute while eating popcorn).

We're going to do all the fun things that "being on vacation" lets one do, but we get to sleep in our own beds, we don't have a road trip to deal with, and we don't have to pay for gas or a hotel room. We're going to take pictures (Robert, if you won't kill me, I'm going to keep your camera kidnapped for just one more week, then I'll give it back. I promise!) and we're going to have picnics on the porch. We're going to go to the water park or we're not. We're going to take naps in the afternoon and we're going to get some yard work done. We're going to have fun and we're not going waste this wonderful week of having Daddy home all the time!!! :-)

Maybe we will do stuff and maybe we won't. There are almost no rules - we're on vacation!!!

Thank you MooMoo! Bock Bock!

You know, if they don't bring back those Cadbury creme egg commercials, there's going to be a whole generation of folks who have no idea what "Tank you Eastah Bunny! Bock Bock!" means. But I digress.


This huge bowl of yummy blueberries came from MooMoo and GaGa's bushes on their side yard. And this was the bowl that I picked. The one that MooMoo picked for us while I was picking berries was even bigger than that one. We have a freezer full of blueberries, and there are still berries ripening on the bushes as I type! YUM-MO!!!

This is the quintessential organic blueberry. Yum, yum, yum. Poodle did a great job picking berries this year. And Toot finally got the hang of it before we had to leave. Although he did pick a few... ahem... not so ripe berries in the process. :-) But they were cute about the picking process, and didn't even seem to mind the buzzing bumblebees on the bushes near us. It was a very productive hour on Thursday morning.

Thank you again M&G!!!

Sharing pics

A few pics to share.... sort of to make up for the lack of my having my camera on Mother's Day!










Toot seems to be either in a serious discussion regarding the growth patterns of bermuda grass or he really just wants to get down and go play.










I thought this was a cool shot - Jmk took it with Robert's camera. To me this represents one of the neat things about the growth process. Watching them learn how to do things like swing themselves.










My love bugs. :-)

God or Adam?

First, we would appreciate your prayers for our poor, pitiful, sniffly house. No one is desperately sick. But in the past two weeks, we've dealt with two different cold viruses and Poodle has also had a fever virus. It's ridiculous. Every one of us missed church last Sunday. Blugh. I'm sick of us all being sick.

Anyway, yesterday, I learned something I didn't know. Well, at least something I didn't remember. We were watching this Children's Bible DVD thingy yesterday, and it was discussing how God brought the animals to Adam for him to name them all. And I mentioned to Poodle that this is why a giraffe is a giraffe and why a zebra is a zebra, etc. Then, the DVD talked about Eve and how she came to be and then it moved on.

Poodle turns to me and says "but who gave Eve her name?".

Hmmm. I looked at Poodle. Who named Eve, I wondered. God or Adam? Hmmm. I looked at the t.v. as though it would magically give me the answer. Amazingly, it didn't. Huh. I looked at Poodle again and admitted that I wasn't sure. Honestly, I felt sort of dumb at that point. So, I got out my Bible.

Do you know?

Genesis 3:20:
And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

I'm glad I looked it up. My first answer would have been wrong.

Have you loved your sibling today?

I guess they're covered. :-)

The boots, btw, are constant with him. They're Poodle's boots, but Toot likes to wear them. We guess it's because he can get them on and off easily all by himself. ::shrug:: You'd think I'd get myself to a store and buy the boy some boots so he wouldn't walk around in pink ones.

It's on the list!

44 Years

Mom and Dad - may your life together only be sweeter as each day passes. And may your love for each other grow bigger than you thought possible.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Pics with Robert's camera

Isn't this cool? Robert actually took this one (I don't have those kinds of skills) - and all that "blurriness" was not photoshopped in. He manipulated his camera to do that. In a very low light situation to boot. He's good!










Hey, Phillip! :-) We're training him early.











Now, I did fiddle with this and the next picture a bit. Obviously, the sepia tones aren't from the camera. Although, Mr. D1 might do that for all I know.










He's just a dude. What can I tell ya.

A Father's Love

Grateful hat tip to Patty Sartor for this beautiful link.

Go see the video.

It's an extraordinary portrayal of a father's love for his son. And no matter the devotion you see in this video, our Heavenly Father loves us infinitely more than that. Which is incomprehensible to me who is infinitely unworthy of that love.

And, just be aware that you will probably need a tissue or two.

Where the pictures are.

My dear brother has let me borrow his very cool Nikon D1, and I have been so impressed with what it does and can do. Even in the hands of a total novice. It really makes me want to save my dollars to get a "real" camera one of these days. (Granted, it will take awhile to afford something like that, but like my dad says, nothing of any value ever comes easy). Anyway, most of the recent pics of the kids are on Robert's camera. I have gotten a card reader so as to retrieve said pictures, but haven't gotten around to getting them off of the camera and on to the computer.

We're having Singing School at church this week (for non-PB's, think VBS but for all ages and with the concentration focused on learning more about shaped note singing). So, that along with the crud that I got from the kids has me tired and yucky. And not wanting to do anything after the kids go to bed. Thus, the pictures remain.

This picture, btw, was one that Poodle took of me while I was taking pictures of her. Did I mention how cool this camera was? A camera like this can't replace the wonderful convenience of a purse-sized point and shoot digital camera. But for some wow-look-at-that-flower kinds of photos, it's awfully nice to have a tech-wise brother with some really groovy toys.

The Sickies

What is it about fast food play yards? Don't get me wrong - I like Chick-fil-A. The company, the founder, and the food. The place is as clean as can be expected, and the employees are nice. But for at least 50% of the times we go, the kids come back with a virus of some sort. We had a play date for lunch last Friday. By Sunday night, Poodle was running fever. Tooter's fever started last night.

I mean, it's just a mild cold. Not a big deal, and they aren't feeling that bad. But until the fever is good and gone, I don't want to take them anywhere. Nor do I want them getting outside and getting overheated. Blugh. The thing is, CFA (and play!) takes great pains to try to prevent this type of thing by putting sanitizing wipes right at the door to the play area. But most folks don't see them or remember to wipe their hands down. (I'm guilty of that myself!)

Yeah - I have no real point here. Just thought I'd share my whining with you. I know you're SO glad of it. ;-)

Overheard one Sunday morning

Scene: Poodle is at the table drawing a picture to give to one of her friends at church.

Mom: What are you drawing honey?
Poodle: A picture for Abigail.
Mom: I see - and what is that a picture of?
Poodle: I don't know yet.
Mom: Ah. So it's a work in progress, huh?
Poodle: No, it's a picture.

There's Dumb. There's Dumber....

Then there's me.

I had a complete brain shut-down on Monday, and I pulled weeds in the backyard without any gloves on. Nature girl that I am, I also managed to discard of some poison ivy in the process. Just wrapped it all around my hands. Now they are totally swollen and blistered up.

I really do know the "leaves of three" rule, but honestly, I'm just not used to paying that much attention to individual weeds. Getting back to nature, for me, involves sand and salt water. Not the woods. I'm no good at that, even though I ought to be better since I have two brothers who are Eagle Scouts.

At least I'm not AS allergic to poison ivy as my brothers are. Robert specifically. He can pick up a stick that at one time laid on top of the ivy and break out. It's practically a systemic reaction with him.

Anyway, my hands are swollen enough that I can wear my grandfather's wedding ring on the middle finger on my right hand. Gra did not have small hands.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Possible new skin problems

Toot's eczema seems to have gotten worse lately, and we have been attributing it to more skin being exposed as the weather has warmed, more pollen in the air, being outside more often, etc. But, it's just different somehow. He'll be outside for no more than 20 minutes and come back inside and will be red, bumpy, and severely itchy all over his exposed skin. It's just not the normal pattern of eczema. He still has the eczema hotspots, but this extra irritation just seemed different to me.

He has had red "raccoon" eyes a lot lately. His little face just gets so red and irritated. And the only thing that seems to help is being inside a lot. Not being outside for several days in a row. BUT, that's not a doable thing during the warmer weather.

So, I got to thinking that we might be dealing with something else in addition to eczema. My dad has a severe sun allergy, and I developed some less serious problems when I hit adulthood. (And, according to my mom, after she read this, my paternal grandmother Honey also had issues later in her life with sun allergies). I went to looking to self-diagnose as so many of us are wont to do these days, and I may have found Toot's issue with the sun. PMLE.

Here's a description of it.

Here are some pictures of what it does. I think Jmk will discover some of the pictures of the smaller children look very much like Toot when he comes in from playing outside. These aren't pleasant pictures, so don't feel like you have to go look at them.

They say this is more common in women, somewhat less common with children, and not as common with males. ::shrug:: So, who knows if this is a real issue with Toot. The descriptions seem to be spot on. I sort of hope that this IS the problem right now, because it's not a major thing. It's certainly major to his comfort, but not his health. Except for the problem of mixing it with his eczema. When he gets the open sores from scratching hot spots, and that gets mixed with a PMLE breakout, then the risk of infection increases. Because the area of broken skin increases.

Anyway, we'll just need to stock up on some quality broad spectrum sunscreen, maybe with the Helioplex formula, and see if that helps. He is so very hot natured, that I don't know if he can handle being in long shirts and pants during the summer, like my dad is able to do. Plus, I don't want him to feel different. I don't want going out to play to be the world's biggest hassle. And, it won't be. This is just his thing. He could have much worse problems, and I'm grateful that this is the worst that we have to deal with.

Tooter'isms

To quote my dear friend and church sister, Karen, "my brain is like a sieve". So, I need to get these down as I think of them/hear them. These are really more interesting to Jmk and me than anyone else, and this list will be updated as new words arise. Kind of like we did with the Poodle'isms from way back when.

Hay-ku (thank you)
Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy - waaaatch, Mommy
Sherek (shrek)
Mee-na (fiona)
Coooukie (cookie)
Moo-The. Moothee. (movie)
GaGa!!! (said loudly and earnestly, no matter where we are. Including church).
Ay-MEN! (also - loudly and earnestly. No matter who was doing the praying).
Hackee! (Mickey)  (or Hah-cah!)
Daithee (Daisey)
Manna/Manee (Banana)
Kiss da hurt!
All beddah.
Sure!  Banks!  (sure!  thanks!)
No banks.
Boonana.
Herculices
Pinickiko (Pinnochio)
Pidernam (Spiderman)
I figgure out.  Noosh.
Good job Tooter.  "You're welcome".
Freckest.  (Breakfast)  5-30-09



And more to come as we hear them.

Distraction and such.

My brother let me borrow his fancy pants Nikon camera this past weekend, and I'm terribly distracted with it. It's probably going to limit my picture sharing ability, because I don't have a card reader to get the pictures off of it! Well, that, and I'm still trying to figure out most of it. This is a really fancy camera. Quite cool.

Anyway, I'll try not to be too remiss in sharing munchkin photos. Because I know that the grandparents just LOVE hearing me ramble about the drama of the climate, but they really just want to see pictures of their grandbabies. I know. :-)

Plus, Winkflash is having a sale on their photo memory books, which is how I "scrapbook". So I've got till the end of May to get 2007 finished. I know good and well that if I actually tried to scrapbook for real, I would never get a year finished. So, these photo memory books are a quick way for me to keep up with family pictures. Ehhhh. Whatever works, you know?

Anyway, this was a realllllly long post to just say that I'll try to get some more daily-doings of the monkeys up and showing as soon as I can!

Just turn the light off.

You know, there are soooo many opinions about global warming. Or climate change. Or whatever the current PC term is these days. And, as it is with all things that are politically charged, the opinions run the gamut from Global Warming Is Going To Be The End Of The World all the way to Global Warming Is An Absolute Hoax.

Regardless of any of that, what bugs me the most about all those discussions is the absolute drama of all of it. Do you know what my parents made me do when I was growing up? Turn off the lights when I wasn't in the room. Do you know why? Because not doing so wasted electricity. Do you know why they didn't want to waste electricity? Because they were taught by their parents to avoid being wasteful. To be conservative with the things you have. To avoid spending money needlessly. To. Be. Temperate.

We didn't run the air conditioning at 62 in the summer or the heat at 82 in the winter for the same reason.

I could go on, but you get my point. Sometimes I think all the global warming/climate change brouhaha is nothing more than people needing things to be more dramatic than they should be. We are told, in the Holy Scriptures, to be temperate. (Titus 1 and 2 refer to it). And our good common sense (as well as our parents and grandparents) tell us that most things are fine, as long as they come/are used in moderation.
So why can't we just say, folks, turn off the lights when you're not using them so you don't waste electricity. Don't drive to drop off a package down the street when you can walk instead, so you don't waste gas. Reuse things when possible so you don't waste what you have. Why can't we simply say any of those things any more?

Why does it have to be SO full of guilt-ridden drama?
Sheesh.

For you Birmingham, AL Folks

Give Michael's a call when you feel like eating out "fancy" and see if Tommy G is playing that night. He plays live sax there, from time to time! (You go, Uncle Tommy!)

I'll see your tacky and raise you a pair of Hanes

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Kathleen sent out some pictures of her kids doing various and sundry kid-type things. All precious - she has three kids from 5 on down. The constant theme throughout the pictures, by way of her captions, was the general tackiness of their activities and such. Now, please note that I found nothing in the pictures at all "tacky", mostly because I have pictures of my kids doing pretty much everything hers were doing.

However, I'm quite sure that I have trumped her tacky.

This afternoon, as we were waiting on Miss Claire to come for our speech therapy session, the kids wanted to play outside. Due to the copious amounts of rain we had, the backyard was a sludge fest, so they went to the front yard/driveway. I, however, really needed to fold clothes. Soooo......

I proceded to open the back door of the van, and fold a load of clothes right there where the whole neighborhood could see me. And, it was a load of whites, so I was folding my and the Mr.'s unmentionables.
The only thing that would have made it more of a punchline for a redneck joke would have been if I had also been barefoot, nursing a newborn.
Tacky is in the eye of the Hanes-folding beholder. :-)

Why Ballet?

Amy and I were talking during the picnic on Mother's Day about the need for more adult ballet classes that are really affordable. And at good times during the day to not only accommodate working girls but also those of us who want to go during the day. (Don't think this conversation didn't get me to thinking about donating some teaching time if someone else would donate some studio space for some inexpensive classes. But anyway.....)

And it got me to thinking about why ballet produces such amazing physiques. Granted, some of it is genetics. I don't know that Mary Lou Retton would have turned out to be the steel waif that Gelsey Kirkland is. Maybe, maybe not. Their lives were spent training for two entirely different things. But, there are things about ballet that produce muscle tone when you're not even "trying". However, there has to be some effort to pay attention to technique, which is why there isn't a ballet class on every corner. It's hard to just let go and have fun when you're needing to concentrate on what you're doing in order to get the best results.

My brain goes crazy from that point thinking about all the things that a "fun" ballet class would have to include if it was to be productive also. However, it made me want to share a few things, "secrets" if you will, about why a ballet dancer looks the way she or he does.

~Pointing your toes. This doesn't just make your foot look good at the end of your leg. That is why dancers do it. But the other result of pointing your toes is an extra workout for your calf muscles. Going up and down on your toes a million times definitely gives your calves a workout. Add to that pointing your toes every time your foot leaves the floor, and you've doubled your workout. Keep your leg straight when those toes are pointed (even when your foot is still on the floor) also engages the muscles in your upper leg.
~Core body work. The reason dancers look so graceful is that they seem to be able to do crazy things with no effort. Believe me, there is a LOT of effort goes into standing en pointe in attitude derrière. But a good dancer makes it look as simple as sitting on a couch watching Dancing With The Stars. How does she do that? A core that is as strong as any Olympic athlete. Ballet dancers aren't going to win any medals for lifting weights, trust me. But the muscles from their sternum to their hips (and just below if you want to include the glute muscles) are incredibly strong. They are used constantly during classes, and the stronger your core is, the better your dancing is going to be. That goes for pretty much any kind of physical traning, but it is "extra true" for dancing of all types. The beauty of that for regular people is a strong core usually equals a flatter tummy and a slimmer back. Not to mention better posture.
~Stretching. Dancers have to be super limber in order to put their legs and arms in the positions that they are required to perform. Thus, they have to stretch a lot, every day, in order to get there and stay there. The benefit of that kind of stretching is longer muscles. Longer muscles that build up over time give you that impossibly graceful, strong appearance that even a 5 foot nothing person can still have. Ballet dancers don't just appear to be "skin and bones". They appear to be "muscle and bones".
~Arm positions. First, second, third, fourth, fifth. We all know the names of the arm and foot positions, but doing them is what gives ballet movement another measure of grace and beauty. However, doing them over and over during class is what produces those back muscles and arm muscles that look like they have been airbrushed on. Hold your arm out to the side in a slight curve, and don't let your elbow dip down. Now hold it there for three minutes........ uh-huh - see what I mean? Combine that with some barre work that has your legs going all over the place, and you get a full-body workout, head to toe (literally), on pretty much every exercise you do.

Ballet is an incredible exercise experience. If you are needing to bulk up and add serious strength to your body for sports, then you'll have to add some weight-training to your day. Ballet doesn't produce bulky muscles. (with the exception of men when they get into the more advanced levels, and then their legs can get pretty big). But, for most women, having long, slim, strong as steel muscles is just the ticket. And if you think about those little "secrets" listed above when you are doing your own workouts, you might just begin to see some of the ballet benefits too!