Kids First, Right?

KIDS

On Friday, Bean stayed home from school. He yacked for a good chunk of the day but was "all's well" Saturday morning. Moose also puked in the evening (but just once). After spending the day cooped up in the house (I was under the weather as well - so Husband got to wait on everyone and get puked on), I took the boys to the park Saturday for lunch while Husband volunteered at our church "clean up" day - a nice break from (a) the house and (b) puke.

Moose shot right up this slide, which is pretty tall for a shorty like him:

Oh, the static-electric hair and that smile. Doesn't he just melt you?

Bean wanted to try out the "see saw," which was pretty darn lousy. It just bounces a metal seat against your rump. What happened to REAL see saws? We couldn't make sense of it but took a picture anyway.

On September 30, Bean tested for his high white belt. He was victorious and we celebrated with a root beer float at Smash Burger.

CHICKENS

After two weeks, we got our first dozen eggs!


Here are their offerings after Day 1.

Production is very slow lately. I'm not sure if it's the weather or what. They seem happy enough, but they are not laying. Now, maybe it IS the weather, maybe they ARE unhappy. I don't know and haven't cared enough to look into seriously, but it is a little annoying. We've never gotten more than two eggs a day ... so one may turn out to be a rooster (hard to tell when they're juveniles, even to the trained eye sometimes). They don't make much noise, though. We'll see.

HOUSE

Ever had a sewer back up?

Gross. Our neighbors recommended some great plumbers, but they're not a clean up crew. We've never used so much bleach in our lives.

On the house front, we're very casually looking at homes. We went to an open house today - BEAUTIFUL home, nice lot size and neighborhood, close to a huge park. However, it's a little close to a busy road. No rush on our part.

CRAFTING

I've been working on lots of things. These are for a Disney-themed swap. A few of your lucky people will be receiving complete A to Z Disney Dessert Recipe Books for Christmas :)

Robin Hood's English Bread Pudding:

The Jungle Book: King Louie's Banana Cookies (incomplete, but I had the camera handy):

Finding Nemo - Dessert Sushi Rolls (Nemo is watermarked behind the recipe):

A cute card made for a caffeine-themed swap:

Some happy penguins done outside of my usual style (I think), so I'm pretty proud of it:

The folded card is and tied in front of the open card (this is for a wing-themed swap, same as the penguins):

Chicken Pictures

Some Pretties

We moved to Louisiana and my crafting bug was zapped for months. I went to a crop and left early. All the crafting and the North Dakota accent made me "homesick" for my friends back in Texas (note: homesick for friends, not for Texas). Then my in-laws came to visit and my sister-in-law just started scrapping. I found myself re-energized and joined a few swaps to keep myself crafting.
These are recipe cards made for a swap entitled "It Starts with a Mix." I cut and stamped and colored and punched and picked out pretty paper from my stash. It was more fun than I remember :) Click on the pictures to make them larger and read the recipes.

The Last Month in Pictures

You'll find Bean's first day of school, pictures from my in-laws' visit, shots from Gators & Friends Alligator Park and Exotic Zoo, a few pics from our adventure to Artspace, a drawing Bean made of himself (it's adorable), and pictures of the new kittens!

The visit with my in-laws was very nice - lots of extra help with the kids, new people to run errands with, motivation to cook a few meals, etc. Good things. We tried some new restaurants (umm, The Blind Tiger = amazing). My sister-in-law is now scrapbooking! Yeah! We have the same paper cutter, and I hope to drag her out to scrapbook retreats once she wraps up this college gig. Gator & Friends was surprisingly nice. Just big enough to entertain everyone, and you get to feed just about everything (except the alligators, of course). Artspace was also pretty neat. I wish my boys liked crafting more, but it still wasn't a bad way to spend some time in air conditioning.

Bean is doing great in school - he's had good days every single day. He also very busy twice a week with karate and is has made marked improvements there. He's one of the youngest there, but he's really come a long way from his first few practices.

Moose started school on September 1 and LOVES it. No tears, no bad reports. He happily comes back home with me, where he promptly takes a good nap. He is also doing speech twice a week - sometimes he talks, sometimes he doesn't. He never says much, regardless.

I started volunteering in Bean's school library - once a week for two hours. It's great! Everyone in the library is very nice, and it's so cool to see what the kids are reading. We were certainly busy the whole time. It was nice to stimulate my brain a bit. I am also busy writing, meeting up with fabulous people twice a week to stay motivated. I am crafting again and looking forward to a crop later this month. I'm in FOUR swaps, and I am loving every minute of creating.

I've also decided to start pursuing my Tastefully Simple business again. We would really love a new vehicle in the near future, and it'd be nice to have a big down payment or possibly even pay cash. I have a Success Event with fellow consultants on Monday, so I'm hoping to take off after that. (Don't worry, I'm not looking to badger YOU to death about it.)

Husband remains on casual status, so he does fun stuff like move furniture and assemble desk. He's home so much. It's going to be a big adjustment when he goes back to REAL work. He did start work on my chicken coop. There's a small picture of the lumber and such in the collage too! Local elections are soon and the "chicken issue" is being pushed by some voters and politicians. It'd be awesome if they made a decision similar to most city's policies. I mean, how are chickens legal in BROOKLYN and L.A. and NEW ORLEANS but are a gray area in Shreveport. PROTECT SHREVEPORT CITY CHICKENS! Hilarious (but I mean it!).

Thanks to my in-laws for the great visit. You're welcome anytime!

Your Concerns about the HUGE Piano and, oh, Cancer

We have results! Seminoma. Oh, exciting, right? It is a very treatable form and the least aggressive of the testicular cancers. Husband has a CT scan tomorrow to see if it has spread, and I assume that we'll also receive a treatment plan from there if more is necessary. (There is a chance that the tumor alone contained the cancer, and he's clear.) Husband, the excellent patient that he is, insists that he can feel the cancer spreading. Oy.

The piano is sitting in our living room. We were underweight for our last move, so that means we have the weight available to buy a piano and get the military to move it without having to pay for it each time. So, yes, it is a huge hunk of furniture, but it's something we really wanted and we have the means to move it around with us.

1928 versus 2009

My husband's aunt emailed the family a few old pictures. This one is of her mother and her grandparents in 1928 (my husband's grandma and his great-great-grandparents):

She said the picture reminded her of me and Husband:

Pictures!

Here are a few shoots of the boys from last month. Photographer is Jessica Wood. It was much easier to upload the collage than upload the pictures individually. I'm lazy busy.

Couches

Our couches were the first real pieces of furniture I ever purchased. They were brand new, from an outlet store, and not terribly expensive. Still, though, they weren't from Goodwill and they weren't inherited ... so that's a big deal for a recent college graduate.

When Bean as a wee baby, our mothers slept on them. When you remove the back cushions, the couch is actually the size of a twin bed, so that worked out well.

Both our wee babies have puked on them. Many times. Many a drink and snack have been split upon them.

They're drab green. Mrs. House of Toys think they're a dark khaki, but no one else agrees.

One time, Bean took a ballpoint pen and drew a long line down the back of one. Some rubbing alcohol got the ink out pretty well ... and took some color off too. It wasn't a noticeable place, though, so no biggie.

Then, my sweet Moose did this:

And this:

And a few other large marks in areas that are quite obvious. Even if I flip the cushion (which also features a stain that won't go away ... I've run it through the washing machine with zero luck), there is still ink on the front unflippable side and the skirt.

I tried rubbing alcohol. It's a different type of pen and possibly a different kind of ink, so it did nothing. I tried a Magic Eraser. It erased the color about as well as the ink.

I'm going to buy some Goof Off and give that a try.

Husband does not know about the ink yet, but we discussed buying new couches before putting the house up for sale previously. They are starting to look a bit shabby, and I don't want buyers distracted by dingy couches.

I looked at a few shops online and didn't find a single thing I really liked. The only set I found that I kind of liked looked a lot like the couches I have now ... except beige. I try to avoid beige.

I wonder if they make couches in Apple Green. If you think about it, Apple Green is just like a happy version of drab green.

Let's just hope the Goof Off works.

A couple days ago, Moose took crayon to the hallways walls and doors. All in about two minutes. Ironic that someone so illiterate likes to write so much.

He can also hum and babble his way through the theme song for Wonder Pets.

I'm so proud.

Bean's Valentine's Day

Here is Bean celebrating Valentine's Day with his classmates (I don't think you can make any of their faces out too well, so I think it's OK to post). Also, there are the valentines that Bean and I worked on. Let me tell you, three stickers are no comparison to HUGE suckers and BIG boxes of chalk candy. One girl gave GIFT BAGS to the entire class. What am I missing here? In 22 years we went from paper and an occasional sucker to entire GIFT BAGS? Wow. Anyway, it was a fun party. I helped the kids make valentine cards for their parents.

Colorado Pictures

A few pictures of our quick weekend in Colorado:

First Black Eye

I think this is the first black eye for either boy. Here is Moose on Day 1. It didn't look so bad and was quite a ways off his face. He hit the edge of a train table at House of Toys.

But by the next day, it looked like this:

And on Day 3:

It looks like he's wearing some fabulous eye shadow (and it still does almost a week later).

One of each ...

Here's a shot of Bean's new glasses. He always makes the most fabulous faces for pictures. There's a hint of blue to them. Who cares what they look like, as long as that wonky eye gets straightened out.

Here's a shot of Moose doing one of his favorite things, taking as many books off the bookshelf as possible. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but it's all the rage for him.

My Big Kid

Remember my sweet Moose, who looked like this: And sometimes like this:
One last look:As of Thursday, he now looks like this and is clearly unhappy about it:
Yes, he was unhappy at the hair cut place, but he was back to his regular self once we got home. I keep wanting to brush his hair out of his eyes, but I don't need to. It was very hard for me to get his hair cut, but I think he's quite happy with it. The day after, he took like five steps in a row on three different occasions. I guess the hair was just weighing him down.

Bean also got his hair cleaned up (we're growing it out on top, I got it cut way too short the last time) and has his new glasses. I don't think he's been still enough for me to a get a picture of him in them, though :)

What Winter Looks Like

Here are the boys playing outside on December 23. (Please note, this is the DAY BEFORE the pictures you are about to see later in this post.) I was cleaning up the backyard, hacking down shrubs that were dead for the season, trimming up some bushes, and raking hoards of whatever our landscape had dropped. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

Bean played nicely in the sandbox:
When I got the camera out, Bean decided to pout elsewhere. I absolutely love this picture of him, though:
Here are the boys (and the girl dog) the next day. No joke. It's about 10 a.m. or so:
Here is Bean sitting in his walker (Husband's idea) and saying, "Mama, I will smile ... but after this, you get me the hell out. Got it?" It's his first real snow:I didn't take many pictures on Christmas. Seriously, I think I took 10 total. These are the best of the few:
Here are Bean and Husband the day after Christmas with their snowman. Note how much snow fell. Seriously, people, this was a REAL snow:
After far too many days of playing inside (and despite 2.0's pneumonia), we decided to drive to Dallas and check out the Children's Museum. Here is Moose on a mission (he nabbed some eggs from the chicken coop and was attempting to "plant" them in the "field."):
And Bean in the water play area (can you say PETRI DISH):
Here's the whole family on Thermal Cam! Note how orange Moose is ... the kid is a heating pad! Of course, I seem to be the least orange. No surprise there (ice queen, yeah, I've heard it all before):