January 27, 2010

My Meathead

I crack up when I watch reruns of All in the Family.  With Archie & Edith Bunker - one of my favorite sitcom couples EVER!!!!!  Despite the front they put on of nonsensical insensitivity, they obviously deeply care for one another!
Another relationship on that show involved
Archie and "Meathead"... REMEMBER?
Well, Luke got a little creative during lunch with one of his favorite meals...
it made me think of that term of endearment.
Here's MY little "Meathead"!!!!
***keep in mind- my camera wasn't exactly close by,
so by the time I took this photo, the meat became
grossly warm from his cheek heat.
GUESS WHAT THOUGH??? He ATE it anyway!
made me laugh


January 25, 2010

A Bouquet of Cheer

Who needs a dozen dollies when she has a husband to bring her a bouquet of flowers?!?!?!!!
WOWEE
Talk about a pick me up!

One Tired Mommy

A few days ago, I posted about Lydia being sick and tiredNow... I'm tired.  Last night she was awake from somewhere around 1am to 4am.  Just fussing and fidgeting.  Screaming out at times to be helped and held.  I have compassion, but my patience was being exhausted.  I just wish a dozen dollies could cure MY attitude-
Pbbllltt........

January 22, 2010

One Tired Toddler

This week, Lydia was diagnosed with croup.
It passed rather uneventfully- THANK GOODNESS!

We're now leftover with just a lot of
tears and raging rhinorrhea.
(better than another type of 'rrhea being explosive, right?!)
Of course, nothing a little time and
a dozen dollies can't heal!

January 20, 2010

Show Week

For a year now, Luke and (eventually) Lydia have enjoyed classes at The Little Gym.  We LOVE our experience there!  It's everything a parent hopes a learning environment could and should be for their kids. This week is "Show Week"- the end of a semester. Luke finished up Karate (complete with breaking a board) and Lydia finished up Silly Beasts. Here are some photos.









January 17, 2010

Tubing Time

Saturday we went TUBING at Perfect North Slopes.
It was SUCH A BLAST!

Luke spent most of his enery flopping around on the tubes while we were in line... more time upside down than on his feet.  I admit I had a few (ungraceful) spills too.  Plus I did my very BEST to knock Craig off his feet.  It was a great time with GREAT friends!

Here we have our Marisa & her boyfriend Zack,
the family for which I babysit,
my sister Gina & her daughter Hope,
and Craig, Luke & myself.

Here was PART of our "chain"

Here's Ben!!  Can you tell he loved it?!


Here's something I learned... PERFECT North Slopes
 is actually named for a family with the last name "Perfect"
I NEVER GUESSED THAT!   Cool to know

January 16, 2010

Grazed By A Goober

HILARIOUS!!!!!!
I LOVE TO LAUGH,
O B V I O U S L Y!
AND ONE OF MY MOST VERY FAVORITE
PERSONS TO LAUGH AT IS
ME!!!!!!
Yes, that's right... true happiness is being able to find humor first in your own life.
Well, this evening... HUMOR came flying across the room at me!

Tonight, Craig and I enjoyed dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.

Out of nowhere... mid-meal,
I was hit directly on the top of my head by a hurling PEANUT!!!  YES, you read correctly... a busted goober came whizzing across the crowded restaurant and bounced right off my noggin!!!
Of course, NO ONE saw it!
Not even CRAIG!
I know, because I asked him and then hastily glanced around the room hunting for the guilty (yet SHARP) shooter.  Plus, at first I wasn't even sure what hit me, literally.

Then right there on the floor next to our table laid the shrapnel and here, my friends, is a photo to prove my assault:

I CURSE YOU, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER!



Here's a classic reference
for my 'pun' lovin' friends!


January 14, 2010

uninteresting blah

I'm still here.
I've just been wrapped up in an uneventful and uninteresting blah...
A lot of "clean this" "clean that"
kind of action going on lately.
Check back soon. (please)

January 10, 2010

Belle Baker


I'm So Excited about something I just discovered!

I have MANY favorite songs... as we all do.
One in particular I hold dear to my heart, "Blue Skies".
First, here's a silly version of the song.


But now... the awesome news!
(in case you didn't already read it in the description on youtube)

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE......

"Blue Skies was composed by Irving Berlin in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy. Although the show only ran for 39 performances, Blue Skies was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star,
Belle Baker."

Did you catch that?!?!?!
This terrific and uplifting song was
written for BETSY!!!!!!! YAHOO!!!!!!
I'm SO HAPPY to know this!


So as I attempted to find an original recording by
Miss Belle Baker, I came across a different song that she had recorded...
song title: Laughing At Life
YAY * ME   
Here are the perfectly fitting lyrics:

Laughing at Life
(written by: The Kenneys and The Todds)

Don’t mind the rain drops
Wait ‘til the rain stops
Smile through your tears, laughing at life
No road is lonely, if you will only
Lose all your blues laughing at life
Live for tomorrow, be happy today
Laugh all your sorrows away
Start now and cheer up
The skies will clear up
Lose all your blues laughing at life

January 9, 2010

My Girly Girl

Lydia loves everything girly!
These days, I can't
take my eyes OFF her!!

AT LEAST she's attempting to use
things the correct way though.
I'm just glad she didn't poke
her eye out with the mascara wand!

January 7, 2010

To Read Or Not To Read

Occdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

HAVING sNow MUCH FUN!

"Push Us, Mom!"

What A Ride!



Luke took a turn doing the pushing...

GOING...

GOING...

GONE.


In the end, Lydia lasted for about an hour.  Then she began saying, "I'm FREEZING, Mom!"
Luke continued HIS winter wonderland fun in the backyard for just about another hour.


Afterward- rather than hot chocolate, I prepared a yummy cake.



I believe this cold weather is COMPLETELY worth it, for even just ONE experience with the snow each year.

Shoeless

Today, I sold Lydia's shoes right off her feet at Once Upon A Child to buy a bigger size.  WOO HOO!!! It took approximately 5 minutes of her being shoeless to complete the transaction.  I proudly claim title as
HILLBILLY  MOM  OF  THE  DAY
for that move!  YAY ME

That was pretty much the highlight of our day,
so... not much to share.

I would suggest you take a peak at my OTHER blog though.
I posted a doozy of a photo for DAY 7.

January 5, 2010

ONE INCH of FANTASTIC FUN


We FINALLY got the right kind of snow, and the kids were DETERMINED to make the most of it...
all ONE inch of it!

This was Lydia's first time experiencing "sledding".  Fortunately she was a HUGE fan!



THANK GOODNESS FOR
THE SKI MASK!  Right?!



January 4, 2010

A Penny For CRAIG'S Thoughts

All in favor of Craig starting a blog titled:

"Today at school I..."

type AYE

hee hee

Another Blog? Yep!

I will now have a 2nd
blog site along with this one
if you're interested!

Back To Bloggin'

I'm back!!!
Or at least I THINK I'm ready to
fit blogging into my schedule again!


Here are some incidences over the last couple of weeks that I might have normally "blogged" about...

I decided for the first time EVER to use my "self-cleaning" oven feature. I'm typically an Easy Off oven cleaner kind of gal, but I attempted this new technique anyway. Midway through I called my mom in a panic, because there were flames a foot high in my oven and smoke was POURING out of the vents! ACK!!! As we discussed what actions I should take, the flames dissipated and I was simply left with a super stinky smell- leading me to OPEN MY WINDOWS in 20 degree weather! DRAMA  DRAMA  DRAMA
Know this too, that I keep an up-to-date extinguisher stocked in my kitchen, because sadly this isn't the first time I've caused an indoor bonfire!

I'm certainly no "Betsy" Crocker!

I overheard Luke talking with Lydia while he was riding his bike around his Papaw’s basement. He told her, “When you stop falling off of your bike, it means you've figured out the BIKING SYSTEM.” I personally have never referred to cycling as a “system”, but I suppose there MUST be some sort of rational process to it.
It was cute.

Lydia attempted to pour REAL pink lemonade into her TOY baby bottle to feed her new dolly. You can guess that all it did was result in a huge sticky puddle all over the floor.
---As if I don’t have enough messes around the house right now to clean up. UGH! 

Lately I’ve been so impressed and proud of Luke as he’s attempting to add super big words to his vocabulary. He of course is simply regurgitating what he’s hearing around him. Craig especially has had to be more cautious with his sarcastic and sometimes unsophisticated choice of descriptors. Craig likes to (jokingly) scold me with a “Woman!” every now and then. Well don’t you know, Luke’s tried to join in on that one much to my dismay! CRAIG is having to be the one working on correcting this one! Grrrr!!!!!! Luke did make me chuckle especially hard the other day though as he combined two different expressions- He said, “I’m hopesoing that we can...”
You know what he means?
He’s HOPING that we can…
and
Are we going to…? He HOPES SO!!!


I LOVE MY KIDS!!!!!!


I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!!!

Also, I want to share a (big) handful of photos. I certainly have many to choose from. Digital cameras and reasonably priced prints are a blessing and a curse!!!!!
FYI: I think you can click on the photos if you want to see them larger.

Luke needed a new bank...
VOILA! BIG BOY to the rescue

My Family! YAY!

Here's Craig trying to sabotage my photos...  AGAIN!

We went to downtown Cincinnati to watch
Santa scale down the Macy's building.  FUN.
Well... COLD, but FUN!


Lydia's new flapper dress!

Luke's Marble Race Tower and Bow & Arrow

Lydia's matching dress for her and a dolly

Lydia exhausted on Christmas Day!

Monkey Bread on Christmas morning
for all of my MONKEYS

Luke received a really cool mosaic set!

Lydia lovin' more dolly time.
I just don't know WHERE she gets her
outstanding mothering skills! (wink)

Don't they actually look
like they get along??!?!?!!!

All Luke asked for was a
Paddleball for Christmas!
WISH GRANTED!

Merry Christmas from Papaw!

Now, where's the snow?!?!

MY VERY FAVORITE PHOTO!!!!
Their Christmas Eve PJs

More smiles.

More of Lydia's favorites...  from SNOW WHITE

You know they're growing up when they start sticking their tongue out for the camera.  UGH



That's (finally) all, folks!