Easter

I know, Easter was almost a full month ago, but I thought I'd post a bit about it anyway- better late than never...

My parents drove over for Easter weekend and we tackled the big project of building a fence to seperate the storage part of our back yard from the nice part. I suppose many of you might think it wasn't THAT big of a project, especially since we bought the pre-made fence pannels. However, since it involved a jackhammer to dig the holes (we have a solid layer of clay under our topsoil, I mean topsand), cement to set the posts, and a gate kit without it's instructions, I think it was a HUGE project!

I'm so glad mom and dad were there to help and celebrate Easter. My mom brought NJ some stuff to dye eggs (which I'd already decided I wasn't brave enough to attempt with a two-year-old) and then got him to help peel them. Although, she could not get him to eat them. My only regret for the weekend is that I didn't get a picture of the boys in their matching Easter outfits prior to leaving the house. Within minutes of getting to church Gunner had a full blowout and so, spent most of Easter in the faded romper I keep in the diaper bag for just such emergencies...

An Airplane Cake

I'm so excited! NJ's 2 year old birthday party is tomorrow! His birthday was actually in August, but with the crazy travel, doing a birthday party in August just wasn't going to happen.

I was really sad about it until my husband suggested that we just do it in September- why didn't I think of that myself?

NJ's always been fascinated by airplanes so I decided months ago that it had to be an airplane party. My favorite part of all this is, by far, making NJ's cake! My mom always made us shaped cakes when we were little and I love the thought of continuing the tradition. (Maybe after I finish scanning all of my mom's old photos in I'll post of pics of hers too!) My mom acted as a babysitter and sous-chef, baking the cake and mixing the ice for me (I seriously could not have gotten this done on my own).

I started by searching the internet until I found a plane I liked. Then I blew it up on my printer, transferred the pattern onto wax paper, cut out the wax paper, laid that on the cake and cut out the cake. Then I drew on some of the interior lines with a toothpick and started icing the darkest parts first. Each time I was ready for more icing, I asked mom to make it a little lighter. I used a pastry bag to just make little stars all over the cake and that’s it! Didn’t it turn out nice? I’m so excited for tomorrow!!

An Almost Funny Valentine's Day Story

I think every parent has one or two main fears when it comes to their kid. Some moms hover over their infants bed to watch for signs that he's stopped breathing. Some moms constantly run to the doctor, convinced their child has a new disease. Personally, I'm always afraid NJ will be kidnapped. The thought haunts me and will even keep me up at night (that's a big deal for me) occasionally. I try to lay it all before God and trust that he will watch over my son, but that piece in the back of my brain will sometimes remind me that God never promised us that our children will always be safe. We live in a fallen world and often suffer the consequences of someone else's actions...

Anyway, I had a horrible kidnapped dream Friday night. I think we were at some sort of street fair. The point is that someone took NJ and I spent my dream running up and down the streets screaming his name and breaking down sobbing. -not one of my favorite dreams. When I woke up, it was to the sound of NJ coughing and crying. I've got to tell you, I have never been so happy to hear my baby cough and cry. So, that's how my Valentine's Day began. A little traumatic, but I woke up, so it's all good. Still, that kind of dream tends to haunt me the rest of the day.

Fast forward a few hours. I've got the radio on and NJ and I are playing and vacuuming the family room (he LOVES the vacuum). Out of the corner of my eye I catch some sort of movement in the kitchen. My first thought is that NJ threw something- he does this a lot, but when I turned, he was standing right behind me. As I'm trying to convince myself that my eyes were just playing tricks on me, the memory of my dream seeps back in and I decide that I better check it out anyway. I operate under a general rule of thumb that it's better to face my attackers head on than let them sneak up behind me and slit my throat without me ever seeing it coming. So, I slowly walk around the bar and then TOTALLY FREAK OUT when there's actually someone there!

Now let me stop here and tell you that my husband and I have a strict no-sneaking-up-on-someone-in-their-own-house policy. People get shot doing stupid things like that! So when I say I totally freaked out, I mean I screamed, the adrenaline kicked in and, fortunately for my husband, I stifled the fight reflex by immediately sobbing. I honestly don't know what I would have done had his face not been the first thing I saw.

Turns out he had gotten off work 2 hours early and gone to get me flowers on the way home from work. But he hates going places in uniform, so he was wearing his workout clothes, which were, of course, black. All he needed was a ski mask and he would have been the perfect perpetrator.

Apparently, he wasn't planning on sneaking up on me, but when I didn't hear him come in, he thought it would be cute to get NJ to take me the flowers, so he was trying to get him to come over and take the flowers before I noticed. Unfortunately, Nj was too enthralled with he vacuum, and like me, hadn't heard daddy come in over the ambient noise.

In the end, NJ did carry a bouquet of flowers, although I had to encourage him to come to me- he was a little apprehensive with mommy sobbing. Someday I'll probably laugh about Valentine's Day 2009.

The Sweet Smell of Routine

It's so close I can almost taste it! My hubby has changed shift 6 times since the new year and every time he does, it throws my world upside down. I used to think that however hard it was on me it had to be harder on him- after all he was the one who was trying to modify his sleeping patterns. But now I'm coming to think that maybe it's not so hard on him because it doesn't seem to bother him so much (or maybe I complain enough for both of us and he doesn't want to add to it?). It could be very simply that his personality handles a lack of routine better than mine- it's hard to know.

Anyway, today starts what is supposed to be six months of the same shift. So maybe I'll be able to get back to some semblance of a routine. Maybe I'll get back to regularly cooking one a real meal (which I define as a main dish, a veggie, bread, and a salad) each day. Maybe I'll get my house cleaned up, maybe I'll get my next real estate newsletter out...

Yes, as much as I'd like to think I'd spontaneous, I need routine and I'm super excited about its return.

Hair, Through the Years

I'm one of those people who loves change. In fact, I have to change my hair at least once every six months. It's been long, it's been short. It's been light, it's been dark. Every time I go to my beautician I ask her to do something different- you know, I'm one of those people who CONSTANTLY changes their hair. You just never know what I'm going to look like next!!! LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA!

For some reason it occurred to me to document the crazy progression of hair in a blog (strange things occur to me when I'm trying to get to sleep). So, I set about to kill and hour scrounging up a few pics of me over the years. Besides the fact that it was incredibly difficult to find pictures where I didn't have all my hair back in a pony tail, I noticed the strangest thing: my hair has changed very little! Sure, there was a year or so of short hair, but I always seem to come back to the same old look... *sigh* Man! What if I'm not spontaneous either!?!?!


Oh wait, that middle one is actually my mom on her wedding day... hey, maybe it's genetic...

Christmas 2008

This year for Christmas all the family came to my house: My mom and dad, My sister and her husband and two sons, and my sister's three in-laws! Unfortunately, B's mom and sister couldn't make it, but I suppose it worked out, because this way no one had to sleep in the common areas. Of course, mom and dad got suck out in the camper, but then it sounded like they had to fight to keep their spot from some of the folk sleeping in the house, so maybe it wasn't so bad after all. So, even though 9 adults and 3 kids in one house sounds like the set of a Will Ferrell Christmas Special, it was smooth and delightful. Everyone pitched in and helped out and we even managed to find enough chairs to all sit down to one big meal each day!

On Christmas day, NJ had a fabulous time opening gifts and otherwise tried to monopolize his Granny whenever possible. The Men fried a turkey, the women made everything else, and we all, plus a few extras, sat down to a beautiful Christmas feast!

A few days later, a few of us took the kids to the West Wetlands park. If you've never been there, let me tell you, it's crazy cool! The park is a giant castle with rubber floors. We all had such a great time! NJ got to slide, which he LOVED so much he dove in on his belly one time, and I even got to be a little silly (I'm refering to my climbing, not my coat- it really was quite chilly!)


But then, my little baby boy tripped on some faux decking and busted his lip!

Daddy swooped, Mommy ran to get tissue (wondering if all the blood was going to stain his adorable cream coat), and Aunt D took photos. What a heart breaker photo! Look at my little man! He was so brave and tough...

...and really, quite happy to play a few minutes later! Isn't strange how, as a mom, your child's pain hurts you far longer than it does them?

The Cat's Home

A few people have now commented on my lack of blogging as of late and I have to say, it's such a complement! I mean, this means people are actually reading all this junk! Crazy!! There's even been a complaint at my lack of Picasa photos... All I have to say is that cat's home! ...and I'll try to do better.

Cousin Love

I love to see NJ have so much fun with his cousins!

In this first picture NJ and Z got to laughing at each other- it was rather infectious!

In this second pic, we were trying to do our grocery shopping with all three babies. We were at HEB and were making really good use of the tasting opportunities whenever they were offered.

A Felt Lion

My mom saw this great show on TV about easy Halloween costumes you can make from a hoodie. I had already decided I would just buy NJ a costume, but my sister wanted to make costumes for her boys. Since I was going to be in Austin with her in October, I agreed that we should make costumes together. These kind of projects are always impossible for me when I'm alone, but turn into a lot of fun when I'm with her.

So, we dug through all of Deanna's craft supplies, made a few trips around town to get just the right color of felt, experimented, stared at pictures of the real thing and then did a ridiculous amount of gluing. In the end, I think the costume turned out really cute! Stay tuned for some pic of NJ wearing it!

A Sad State of Affairs

It's that time again.... B's 3 hours later, Deanna's 2 hours later, and my mom goes to bed early, so I'm awake with no one but the dog to talk to and honestly, he's more interested in chasing crickets outside than sitting down for a heart to heart. It's a sad state of affairs. I'd watch TV but I had a moment of insanity about a month ago and canceled the cable- to my sanity's credit, I didn't know B was going to boat school at the time.

I guess I'll go iron.

The Paper Parade

The cat is still away but I'm tired of all play. So, I've gone to work on cleaning up and cleaning out. It seems to scare my hubby a little when I call and tell him things like, "guess what, there's room for a guest to put a few items in the guest room closet now" or "hey, we'll be able to use the weight bench in the garage now" because the only way to accomplish such feats is to get rid of some of his stuff.

The thing is, he's a Thing-Keeper (ever heard of a Thing-Finder?). He subscribes to the philosophy that you should keep everything possible in case you need it one day. It might not be so bad, but he inherited tons (literally) of stuff from his father and grandfather, so now our 2,223 ft2 house with 3-car garage is FULL to the brim. Every time my mom comes over she groans at the quantity of stuff and marvels at the fact that even with a three car garage we are unable to access everything.

B actually had me promise, literally, before we got married, to never throw anything of his away without permission. I was a silly naive girl in love and thought it wouldn't bother me. But nevermind that! About a year ago I told him I was formally rescinding that promise- not that I was going to make a clean sweep of his closet, but that I was taking matters into my own hands. Since he couldn't figure out what to keep and what to toss, I was going to make some educated guesses. But from time to time I also tell him that I'm on the verge of flipping out and throwing everything of his away... so you can see why he gets nervous. I suppose the moral of the story for him is that you have expect some collateral damage when you leave your wive alone for a month with your one year old...

Just for fun, and to validate my flip out, I'm going to provide an example: the paper parade. I've taken a quick tally of the file boxes and cabinets we own and would like to report that we have 81 inches of family files (which include all the bank records, the insurance paperwork, the old pay stubs, etc.), 35 inches of computer related stuff (manuals for drivers and such), 35 inches for all my files (church stuff, old school stuff, real estate stuff- BTW, I'm a Realtor), 17 inches of blank paper, labels, and tabs, and (drum roll please) 193 inches of Brian's junk that I can't make heads or tails of. What could be in these files? It's not bank records and pay stubs, so what is it??? I see newspaper, old love letters (at least they're from me), kids drawings (I hope they're his and don't belong to some other family he's got stashed away somewhere), and work stuff. Really, do we have to keep it all?

So, just to summarize, we essentially have a 361 inch high pile of paper- that's over 30 feet folks! It's time to do something drastic.

My Favorite Gifts

My husband and I were talking several days ago about gifts. I wanted to better understand how he thinks (dangerous, I know) and what makes a good gift in his mind. He and I don't have the best record when it comes to gifts for each other, so I asked him to think of some of his favorite gifts, given or received, and explain what made them such great gifts. He asked me to do the same, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites:

First, I have to tell you that it's a hard call. My mom is constantly doing wonderful things for me (cooking food for my freezer, refinishing furniture, making me tablecloths, weeding my yard...) and my sister is constantly assembling wonderful packages (The How to Sew Basics, The New Gardener Collection, The Moving Prep Pack). In the end, I chose to write here about the stories I wanted writen down.

The Finals Prep Pack: The details on this one are a little murky, but the emotions and feelings attached to it are still very strong. During my first year in college my sister did many wonderful things for me. Deanna is four years older than me and before that year we hadn't really been friends- in fact I often referred to her as my third parent (shhh, don't tell her). But during that year she really reached out to me and we started a real friendship that has grown to be the closest and longest lasting friendship I've ever had. She sent me letters in the mail, emailed a lot, and sent me flowers on my birthday (who doesn't love getting called to the front desk of the dorm to pick up their Birthday flowers???). But the thing that really stood out came the week before finals. I got a shoe-box in the mail from my sister and it was full of snack food, post-it notes, and new pens, pencils, and highlighters! (yes, D and I have always been nerds). It really resonated with me- like someone understood the magnitude of what I was about to undertake. The gift really launched me into great cram week, but more, it created another connection with my sister.

The Skateboard: I was in elementary school, I think, and my dad and I were at the mall doing some shopping. I'm pretty sure mom was with us too, but she was somewhere else in the store when we got up to some shenanigans. We were in a sporting goods store and had found a skateboard with a radio mounted on the underside. I didn't know how to skateboard, but had a friend who did and was mildly interested. So I found a good station, hopped on and dad helped me as and tried my luck on the thing right there in the middle of the store with the radio singing.

Several weeks later, it was Christmas and mom and dad had created a scavenger hunt of sorts for me to find my big gift. When I found the radio skateboard at the end of the hunt I was more than a little surprised- after all, I hadn't put it on my Christmas list. My mom explained to me how dad had wanted to get it for me, but it was really ok if I wanted to exchange it for something else. Even now, I think my mom looks back on that gift as one of the most ridiculous things dad's ever done. I won't tell you I didn't think about returning it, but in the end I kept it and tried to learn to skateboard. I never did get the hang of skateboarding, and I remember the day I sent it to goodwill, but the gift still stands out in my memory as one of my favorites. It was a risky gift (they're usually some of the best), and it tells you a lot about my dad. He was, and still is, one of the most generous gifters I've known. I love the impulsiveness of the gift, that he wanted me to learn something new, that he got me something he wanted me to have, even though mom thought it was strange, and most of all, the happy moment that inspired it.

The Painted Pot: The first Christmas after we got married we had a lot of bills and not so much salary. We had moved to Michigan in June and I was VERY excited to be going home for the holidays. For some totally unknown reason I decided to paint my sister a flower pot for her house as her Christmas present. I was going through a Marjolein Bastin phase (ok, so maybe I’m still there- a little) and spent hours and hours and hours and hours working on birds, butterflies and a rabbit painted in a Bastin style. I went to crazy ends to pack the pot in my carry-on, not trusting the baggage handlers with it, and was so proud when Deanna opened it. She still keeps it out (or at least she does when I’m in town) and every time I see it I wonder what inspired it. I guess what I like so much about this gift is that I really put effort into something, it turned out nice, and the receiver seemed to really like it!

The Canon Powershot A530: Once you get married, giving each other gifts takes on a whole new meaning because when your husband buys you something he's really spending your money just as much as he's spending his own. In the end, how much of a gift is it to spend my money to buy me something I've already picked out? Add to that the fact that my husband makes it a habit to wait until the very last second to figure out what he wants to give anyone for any gift-worthy holiday. Quite often this results in a gift coupon or a picture of the gift that will be arriving sometime in the next five to eight business days.

However, for my Birthday in 2006, B stepped it up. I had been complaining about our digital camera and talking about how I wanted a new one but hadn't had the energy to go research them. So, B did all the research and picked out the perfect camera for me. I love that he took the initiative and that he used his time to figure out what we needed. But here's the best part: B had shopped ahead of time, so he was able to get a good deal and, on my Birthday, the actual, physical camera was there, waiting to be unwrapped.

The Cat's Away

Well, it's official. I took my hubby to the airport this morning for a month of training in Georgia. Now, what is it that mice do all day anyway? I'm torn between an urge to clean everything from the top of the fan blades to the shower floor and an urge to sit down in front of the TV for four weeks of straight mindless eating. The problem is that I'm in between Netflix deliveries and I canceled the cable ("we never watch TV"), which means I only get 2.25 channels. The truth is that on a good day I only get to see B for two to four hours, so really, only two to four hours of each of the next 27 days will be any different. Otherwise it's business as usual. I suppose I should just try to stay on schedule and do everything like normal. It's so hard to get motivated to exercise and cook a well balanced meal when he's gone. Anyone know why that is????

So, in the end, this mouse is blogging. I'll admit I wasn't into it just a few months ago, but my sister let me read her first post and I was impressed by how interesting it was. Even though I talk to her almost everyday, sometimes several times per day, I love reading her blog. Then I started reading Gretchen's blog. I've only met her a few times, but I love her sense of humor and her brutal honesty. It's a crazy high standard we moms hold ourselves to and Gretchen frequently reminds me that life just doesn't work like that.

The next step in my blog conversion was noticing that I had TWO followers. Sure, my sis has signed up, but she's obliged, right? It wasn't until Raegan, one of my sister's friends, who I only get to see a few times per year, so graciously signed up that I suddenly felt like blogging was less crazy than talking to the dog, which is what I'm doing when I'm not blogging.

I only need to close with a disclaimer that my blog isn't anywhere near the caliber of Deanna's or Gretchen's. My blog will simply be a stream of consciousness that allows the rambling in my mind to settle onto something black and white. Enjoy!

Elk Camp Highlights

...Ok, my conscience tells me that I'm being lame relying on other's posts and need to write a few of my own thoughts on elk camp. It's hard after Deanna has said it all so well, but maybe I've got something I can add...

In the interest of convincing myself to do it all again next year I'm going to try to focus on all the fun parts and conveniently skip over all the hard work. Surely NJ will be walking by next September... Surely a walker will be less work than a crawler... don't tell me if I'm wrong because it would be so sad to have all my extended family at elk camp while I sit at home by myself with my baby- I mean my two year old. See, the best part about elk camp is the family. We've never really done a formal family reunion, so this is as close as i get. There's something about living in the woods that bonds you. The guys are getting to be guys, flinging arrows at a walking hunk of meat (I should mention that one of the hunters was actually my aunt Charlene- you go girl!) and the women get to sit around, scrapbook, and chat (and change diapers, make dinners, sweep campers, search for runaway dogs/children). Seriously, there were a few days that we managed to get our two babies' afternoon naps to overlap for an hour. Deanna and I got two or three speed scrapbooking sessions in and I managed to complete two layouts. If you've never done speed scrapbooking, let me give you some pointers. First, don't bother to pull out all your embellishments until you've narrowed the pictures down and chosen your background paper. If you do, you may very well find yourself spending all your time getting the junk out and putting it all away instead of focusing on completing a layout. Second, don't get too picky. It's like a pop quiz- The trick is to go with your 1st instinct. Third, apply your double sided tape as soon as possible. This helps you stick with that 1st instinct and it prevents the wind from carrying your photos away. (yes, this is me being funny- you get what you pay for...)

What else can I add to my sister's summary? The food was, indeed, remarkable. It was a lot of work, and I did end up creating an Access database for it, but if you know me, you know that I look for excuses to use Access over Excel, so I'm not sure that's saying much. In fact, all it may tell you is that I'm going crazy being a full time mom and needed a good project to sink my teeth into. Either way, it worked out well. I can't think of any other way to cook three meals a day for 9 people out of a camper with a 2ft by 3ft fridge (ok, so there were actually three refrigerators, but Deanna’s was smaller and mom’s only stayed cold when it felt like it). It's interesting to me as I look back at it- I felt like I was doing a lot of work. I was stressed by the responsibility of it all. Yet each time we sat down to eat, I looked at the food on the table and realized mom had done most of the cooking. Sure I counted up how many plates we needed and occasionally dumped biscuits out of a can to cook in the oven, but mom made all the casseroles and then did the veggies most of the time too. huh. Someday, I hope to be half as productive as my mom!

Of course, mom left her dog at home and I had to devote considerable energy to trying to keep my dog from wandering off. We started out with Max on a leash, but he looked so sad being tethered to the camper while the great outdoors awaited. So, we experimentally let him off his leash and the sweet little thing barely left our side. I suspect it was because the forest was big and full of unknown dangers... Of course, within a day or so, his investigative work led him beyond the confines of the camp where he found countless treasures like a very good stick, and old bone, and the big prize: a hoof with a little bit of yuck left on it. Well, after discoveries like that you know he was inspired to search the great unknown. Twice I thought I'd really lost him- picture me walking in progressively larger circles around the camp yelling, "MAX!" Once he went up the road where there was another campsite. I'm thinking he was pretty confused at that point because when one of the guys road up on the quad and called to him, Max came right over in spite of his deep fear of loud noisy machines. But the worst time was when he came trotting back into camp with a bloody smile- literally. I guess he finally caught some sort of varmint or found the drippings from the elk Larry had killed the night before. He was pretty impressed with himself and I was furious. From then on out he didn't get much off-leash time. Overall, I think Max would say it was a good trip though. Prior to elk camp he really didn't want to get too close to the camper even though it was our 2nd trip in it. Now Max doesn't like me being in the camper without him. Maybe he just really likes the taste of elk.

Ah, the taste of elk... that was the purpose for the trip after all. Happily, B was successful and we'll be tasting his elk soon too, although I like mine significantly less rare than Max likes his. I have to say I had my doubts. B told me he wanted to get his elk opening day and then relax and hang out with family the rest of the week. We'd even tossed around the idea of doing some day trips around the area and checking in on some friends we don't get to see often enough. But day after day, no elk. It was a hard year for the hunters. The moon was so full that the elk stayed up all night and slept all day. Elk look incredibly similar to everything else when they're lying down, so it's close to impossible to see them when they're sleeping. Plus it had rained several times the week before, which meant there were plenty of puddles for the elk to drink from. So, they didn't need to walk to the "tanks" (big muddy ponds) to get a drink. Larry, the expert, full time hunter (and part time electrician) got his first elk most of the way through the week. However, none of the rest of the guys were having any luck. I think they all saw some bulls (boy elk), but they all had cow (lady elk) tags. We had to leave on Sunday, so on Saturday afternoon I told B, "If you're not bringing a elk with you, don't bother coming back!" Not really- I'm not THAT mean. But I did point out that this was the last possible chance. Wouldn't you know it, that night, September 20th, 2008, at 6:49pm, I got a text message:

"i shot one shes down send others!"

It's hard to explain how happy I was for him, how proud I was of him. I had to read the text twice to make sure I didn't just imagine it. I ran to tell Mom and Deanna and then physically jumped up and down a few times! A lot of archery hunting is skill- you have to make sure the elk don't see you, or hear you, or even smell you before you get within 40 yards of them and then you have to be on mark with your arrow or you'll pierce them but not kill them. But a lot of it's luck too. We had 8 hunters at camp with us and most of them didn't even get an opportunity to fling an arrow. But on that Saturday night, one nice lady elk was playing hard to get with one handsome bull. He was making all sorts of noise trying to show off and she had come to the tank to check him out. B said he waited and waited for her to get in just the right spot. When he took the shot, she was a 25 yards and went down right away! What a triumph!

B getting his elk saved the trip for me. I'm not sure why I thought it was so much work- must have been something about the 5 babies, 13 adults, 2 dogs, 5 campers, 20 lawn chairs, 5 tents, 12 days, 33 meals, 300 plates and 5 quads. But when B got his elk, it all seemed worth it. The only thing that could have made it better is if all the hunters had the same chance to bring home an elk.