This, That and the Other

Well, as usual, it has been awhile, so here is a bit of an update since the last post...

We got a dog...Zeke...

Jace thought he was a dog....

Emerie thought SHE was a dog....

We sold the dog..... Although, I did beat my last record of being a 24-hour pet owner to 4 days! Wow! It only took me wasting money on pets twice to realize I'm not an indoor pet person.

Had a REALLY weird banana...

Attempted FHE...you can see how smooth that went...Emerie, apparently, has a bit more to learn about reverance.

Attended our first 4th of July family reunion in three years, had a blast and wore Jace out to the point of falling asleep in the middle of the campground.

Jace attended his first superhero baseball camp...oh wait...he just chooses to dress like this...still




Met my first trio of crime-fighting midgets...Jace is the super-cool one in the middle.

We moved.

Hallie turned 8....

Kevin and I went on our first date in a LONG time...caught the Secondhand Serenade concert...awesome...and came home to find our kids like this...kinda precious...love 'em

Emerie turned 2-years-old...

I recently realized she is not some crazy monster, but only a regular two-year-old after spending time with a variety of friends and family who also have two-year-olds demonstrating very similar misdemeanors.

Emerie wore this birthday lei and carried this balloon around for a good two days no matter where we went.

Lastly, a documentation of me being bored...

VERY bored....

Happy Summer!

Top 3 Reasons I’m Barely Updating the Blog

1. Jace has two distinct modes...compulsive DS gamer or "what can I do to annoy the ladies in my life?" (a.k.a. Mom, Hallie & Emerie...no one is safe). I was trying to do some sit-ups the other morning, but didn't get far because I first had Emerie climb on my stomach and then I was rewarded with Jace continually banging me on the head with a video game box. Can you say, "super fun!?!" So, I have to continually ask myself, "Do I want to foster a gaming, social reject in order to have some quiet time or do I suffer through the wiles of my sinister 4-year-old?"



2. Who needs conditioner when you can use cheese soup, cold cereal or really anything that comes in a bowl and can be dumped on one's head? These options, unfortunately, do not rinse out quite as easily.


3. Heaven help me if I happen to leave open the pantry doors or leave something in chubby little arms reach of my little tornado. She's dumped all the good stuff...multiple times...cocoa, powdered sugar, m&m's, etc. If it's a super pain to clean up, well, then that's what she's looking for. We watched "Marley and Me" this weekend, and we decided she is the toddler form of Marley. I'm sure she'd poop in the ocean and tear up the couch with her teeth if we gave her the chance.

So, between running around trying to keep up and finding time to mend my mentally unstable self, I haven't found a whole lot of time for blogging. I’m guessing you probably thought I would list ALL three of my children, yet I only mention two…well, let me clear it up for you…when it comes to destruction and mental stress, Emerie delivers as if she were two individual monsters. She is the most devious 20-month-old I’ve ever met….or should I say, “dealt with.” Quick example…while Kevin is working on his laptop on the couch Emerie will pull out the power cord, so he’ll have to wrestle with her to get it back, but as soon as he gets the cord, she will hurry and put her finger over the hole where he needs to plug it back in. Seriously, no lie.

I keep asking myself why she can’t say anything more than “uh-oh” when she has such advanced scheming skills. She has definitely drained me of any feeling of control I thought I had. I think by sheer mind-power she willed my first crazy, gray hair to pop two inches out of the top of my head. What can I say? Children are amazing creatures.

Queen of Procrastinators

Soooooooo, Jean took our pictures in August...that's right, I said August, and I've finally gotten around to sharing some of my favorites. She did a fabulous job, so it was hard to narrow down which ones to share. Oh, and to answer the question in your mind, no, that is not me in the tutu.

You may notice Kevin is missing in the picture...well, he is still in "the picture" but just couldn't make it for "this picture." Like I said before, Jean did a FANTASTIC job...I really do have the best sister-in-law in the world...you may now dry your eyes.

Instant Collagen Effect

If you are feeling like you need a little more fullness in your lips but don't have the extra cash to spend on collagen injections right now, you can just follow Emerie's example and smack your face on a hard surface floor.

If you don't think you can bring yourself to do it on your own, I'm sure Jace would be happy to help. He didn't seem to mind too much in this case.

Finally Walking!!!!

Well....kinda.

Emerie is now 14 1/2 months old and this is how she opts to get around. We have been able to get her to take a few steps, but I believe she may be a bit bull-headed like her daddy. I'm so mild mannered I know it couldn't possibly be from me. She gets around fast enough, though. As soon as the pantry is opened she's there dumping out cocoa, powdered sugar, knocking cans over, etc. Then to top it off, she takes things, like boxes of jello, from the pantry and dumps them in the garbage if the lid happens to be open. It's like she's in a slam dunk contest, and from the looks of things, she'd smoke the competition. It's a good thing she's so squishy and cute...I just have to forgive her.

As for Jace, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Faith, Trust & Tooth Fairy Dust

So I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned how important it was for Hallie to finally start losing teeth--to her dismay, she did not lose any during Kindergarten. She had to wait clear until first grade before she lost her very first one….and this is when it happened…she became completely obsessed with the tooth fairy. Can you guess what she is being for Halloween this year?

Anyway, back to my babbling…after her first visit from the tooth fairy she was sold. The next lost tooth was accompanied with a note under her pillow that went along the lines of “I don’t want any money. I just want to meet you…yadda, yadda, yadda.” While this touched my little heart it caused “Starla” (Hallie’s personal tooth fairy) to pen back with “I’m sorry, but it is against regulations in the Fairy Handbook to meet humans.” There were several other correspondences coinciding with more lost teeth. Then Hallie’s mouth went on a kind of hiatus for about six months. Well, she once again lost another tooth. What will this bring? I asked myself. I could not have been more surprised OR amused when I read the note for Starla.

Now, before you read the note here is some background information from this past week. Hallie’s school is constantly asking for money. This week they are acquiring “pledges” for a walk-a-thon fundraiser. Hallie has been relentlessly bugging us to give her money for this cause…OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Now, read on…

The note accompanying Hallie’s newly lost tooth read:

Dear Starla I have lost my tooth. Of course. Please show me a picture. Thank you. You are my best friend. What is your last name? Sign it right here ____________________. Please give me ten dollars I want to get pleges to my school. Thank you and ten or twenty is good.

Seriously, can you say car salesman? Sadly, she only got a dollar.

TIME FLIES

I know the old adage is “time flies when you’re having fun,” but I found during July and now August it also has the ability to fly when “fun” is not necessarily the first word that comes to mind.

We did celebrate Hallie’s 7th birthday in July with a little Tinkerbell party—I’m so happy she is currently out of the “I want to act like a valley-girl-teenager” stage. The attitude and jargon that came along with this phase about drove me to an early Prozac addiction—I’m trying to save that for high school.

She finally got the Barbie mp3 player she'd been wanting--it was fun to see her excitement, though.

We did begin August with a bang…Emerie turned one! Once again, where has the time gone? She’s not even close to walking, but that’s okay with me…she’s got a Russian march meets River Dance thing goin’ on. Perhaps her smokin’ hot thigh rolls will stay around a bit longer, though.

She still has not eaten her first piece of cake. The only thing that came from this experience was the opportunity to wash green icing out of her hair.

This has nothing to do with anything other than I love how she just "chills" every time I put her in the bath, and here she is again just chillin' with Kevin.

As for Jace, nothing too exciting to report…he spends the majority of his time in superhero mode. If there are superpowers involved count him in. Every once in awhile he likes to be “Octopus Prime” (transformer) or likes to play games like “Old Maybe.” It’s also always a safe bet he’ll give me attitude daily…I’ve heard “WHATEVER” and “I don’t like having a mom” more in the last month than most parents probably hear in a lifetime. But, “WHATEVER.”

I bet for those of you who knew about our 24-hour pet dachsund you'd never have imagined we would get another pet. Who knew? At least this one has a short life span.

Here is my favorite quality time with Jace, and I'm not talking about the slip-n-slide either.

No fabulous vacations or camping trips to report, but we had a few fun simple times throughout the summer...here are my kids having backyard fun with their cousin Taylor.

Everybody's first visit to the Living Planet Aquarium...I guess the octopus getting its food out of Mr. Potato Head was kinda cool. This visit definitely fits under the summer "filler" category.

When it comes to this past summer, I don’t know, but I think I want a refund…I did NOT get my money’s worth.