It's that time of year...

The Family Reunion is this Saturday, and the extend family is coming in to town. Mom's not going to the Reunion, so my aunt and uncle and cousins came to visit her tonight. It was a lot of fun.

If the government chooses to overmanage the wages of war in Iraq, there is a real danger that when this new generation of veterans, whose ranks grow every day, could come home to a place where their fellow Americans have little idea what they have gone through.

I'm not sure what I think about this, but I thought it was interesting.

Also, we saw Shrek today.

It was a very, very long weekend for us.

The Husband left town at noon on Friday, and didn't get back home untill 2 this morning. And he also didn't sleep at all Saturday night.

Why?

I'll give you three guesses.

Need a hint??



He replaced the clutch, which is awesome! I drove it today, and it's like a whole new car!!

And, he did this...

All the way up.

All the way down.
We have airbags!


One more, just because I *heart* Photoshop.

I heart Sisters

Went out with the sisters last night to celebrate Naomi's graduation and engagement. It was the best!

Friday night my sister had a graduation party. Near the end of it, the Pretty, Pretty Princess game was brought out. The Child loved it.



And he was really good at it too. It's a nice, concrete game for a kid his age. Of course, it does involve jewelry- RJ and Michael were quick to voice their objections. So this next pic is to mollify the Husband.

Two Waffle Monday

Because the Child was distracted by my cereal, and the dog ate the first waffle.

Celebratory cupcakes on the night of their engagement...

photo courtesy the Fam.

Also...

Congratulations to my sister for graduating from nursing school!!

And...

My mom's having surgery on her arm today. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Ugly Mug

Is there anything better on a Sunday morning?

p.s.- my coffee is called "Saving Grace" which I think is funny on so many levels, and oddly appropriate for a Sunday morning. Do I get extra heaven points for having Saving Grace coffee this morning and not my usual Starbucks?

The "S" is for Supercalifragilisticksexpialidocious.

Homemade scones. I was totally SuperHomemaker for like, a whole hour.

Weekend pictures, even though it's Wednesday

How ironic. He's wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles underwear. RJ found this turtle while he was mowing the lawn.


Eating at the Villa. All of us got the same thing to eat- Fettuccine Alfredo. It's just that good.


He loves his foil swan.

Playing x-box with the big boys.

My Monday Morning

RJ got me an appliance for Mother's Day. A coffee grinder. He knows me well, and chooses his appliances wisely.

I haven't made coffee at home in over a month. True story.

Big News for the Fam

I get a new brother-in-law!!

update: Fine. My loving husband pointed out that I'm getting a brother-in-law. I'm totally rolling my eyes at him.

This Deserves It's Own Post

I am so stinkin' excited about this! It's a Leica! A LEICA! Never in my wildest imagination did I think I'd be able to use a camera this nice. It was bought in 1937 by my grandfather , and then my Uncle Charles used it.

And, of course, I have no film. Yet. I have managed to find the manual for it online, so I'm figuring out what most of the knobs and levers are for.


Isn't it beautiful?!

My Life as a Dressmaker

Most of my blog readers know that my Amy is getting married.
What you might not know is that I'm the Best Lady aka The Matron of Honor.
And what you further might not know is that I'm wearing a red dress.
And what you even further might not know is that I'm making my red dress.

That's right. I'm sewing it. With a little help from my mother, who is the zipper-putting-in Queen, while I am the zipper-messing-up Genius.

The dress pattern and material have been untouched untill today. Today I cut out the pattern, and pinned it to the lining, which involved lengthening the skirt and shortening the neckline. And this afternoon, I plan on visiting my mom and borrowing her pinking shears and asking her a question about the instructions. It seems like a simple and straightforward dress, and I'm confident that I can do it.

Silly Wednesday

My friends, the 'hawk is back!



And also, the dog is cute.

***

So yesterday, we were at work. Shocking, I know, because we are at work every day.
I was dust-mopping the sanctuary, and the Child comes up to me and says, "Look, Mama!" and holds up a nasty, but fortunately not chewed, peice of gum that I had swept up. "Oh gross!", I said.
Then he said, "And look!", and pulled up his shirt to show me his belly button. In which he had conveniently stored a mini M&M. A brown one.

***
Last night in the car, we had this conversation...

Daddy: My bad, yo.
X: My bad, lo!
Mama: No, Yo, like yellow.
X: oh! lello!
Mama: no, yyyy-yellow.
X: oh, yellow!
Mama: good job!
X: My bad, yellow!
X: My bad, blue!
X: My bad, purple!

Super

This was me and Favorite at 5:30 on Thursday. At the airport. Yes, that's right, I rock as a friend.
So she went to China, and I was teasing her a little bit about taking chips and the makings for cheese dip with her, and on the way to the airport, we were passed by an SUV with the license plate that said "chz dip" or something like that. Very funny. Especially at 5 in the morning.



RJ as Adam, the Child as monkey. (click the link, it's worth it!)



When I was pregnant with the Child, we decided not to find out if it was a boy or girl, and my mom and my sisters bought a set of Superman underoos and a pack of Strawberry shortcake panties for my unborn child. Well, he's finally potty trained, and also big enough to wear the whole set. He loves to be Superman!

Here is an interesting article. It's about how the deaths of soldiers are honored. Or not.

Today's Post is Brought to You by the Letter P

I was awakened this morning by, "Mama, come look!". It was 7:45.

So I go look, and lo and behold, the Monkey has peed his bed. Not a big deal, and it's the first time he's done it.

So I say, "Oh, you peed in your bed, that's ok, sometimes that happens."

And he says, all offended, "No, I didn't!"

It took me a while to convince him. I'm not sure what he thought happened to make a big wet spot on his bed.

So we changed his clothes and cleaned him up and then snuggled back into bed because he was shivering.

He said, "How come that happened?"
So I went through possible scenarios, like a dream or too much to drink or couldn't wake up.

At first, he was insistent that it wasn't a dream, but later he said, "There was a big monster, and I peed on him!"

Interesting.

Speaking of vivid dreams, I had some crazy ones last night. One even woke me up, it was so creepy and real.

Nap Time?

Thank goodness it's a new week. The last two weeks have been the worst ever.

And, in hopes of a good start to this week... another installment of "look what's blooming in my yard." (It's always fun for me because most of the things that bloom I had nothing to do with because I've only lived here for a relatively short time. But all the irises I planted last spring, so it's exciting to see them come up!)

Ice Cream Mustache

I think he had fun at Mama-G's this weekend.

Worth Thousands

It was storming outside, and I walked into the bedroom and he was sprawled on the bed, watching the storm. He said, "I'm listening to the storm."




We re-arranged our furniture yesterday, and this chair ended up in the kitchen on its way to another room. The Child ended up having a time-out in the chair, but he wasn't as amused about being in the kitchen as I was.


Taa-daa!

Cutie Pie Wednesday

The Giant Bunny belonged to RJ when he was little. It was given to the Child as an Easter gift.

Easter

The Child playing bubbles with his Aunt and Uncle yesterday.

Clean Saturday

I was in the back getting ready to go to work, and I heard, "Mama! Come look at me!" And this is what I found...

He says that he's "rolled over".

In other news...

I fixed our washer! This morning! Before 9 on a Saturday! It turns out that it was just horribly overbalanced, and hadn't self-corrected when all the clothes were out. I guess it just got stuck. Thank goodness we didn't call a repair person- that would have been embarrassing! "um... lady? It's not actually broken. That'll be $200"

Oh wait...

Make that 7 purely aesthetic underwear changes.

This Post Brought to You by the Number 0

Number of days without pull-ups: 1
Packages of underwear bought: 4 (TMNT, Star Wars, Cars and Thomas the Train)
Number of times the Child pulled his pants down to show off new underwear: 4 (that I saw)
Number of accidents: 2
Number of stamps on the potty chart: 4
Number of minutes spent crying this morning because he didn't want to try to pee: 5
Number of minutes it actually took to pee: .5
Number of purely aesthetic underwear changes: 2 ("how about trains? No, I want Mater")

And the purely ironic bit...

Number of working washing machines in my home: 0

I heart Thunderstorms

But I will admit that last nights was a bit much. We were at BCLR, in the youth area, and the hail sounded like popcorn on the roof!

The Child was totally unafriad, though. He even evacuated to the hallway with his little friends, and was so excited about the lightning that we saw on the way home. "Another one! Look, another one! Mama, another one! More lightning!"

Totally unafraid, that is, untill we got safely home. Then he was all, "It's scary! There's a monster!"

So our electricity went out and we got to light candles all over. Best thing ever!







So around three in the morning, I was awakend by a little voice in the next room shouting, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"

I stumbled out of bed to be greeted by the light on in the hallway, and a wide-awake toddler. "Mama! The lights are back on! I need to blow my candle out!"

So he leapt out of bed, and we blew out his candle. As I was tucking him back in, he said, "Oh, Mama, the fan is back on! And the hall is back on! And your room! And the bathroom! And the kitchen! And the den!"

At least he went back to sleep. And didn't come get in our bed.

Which, by the way, he is doing almost all the time now! He only hollers for me in the middle of the night to come fix his covers. It's so great!

Look What's Bloomed in My Yard Monday