Knock Knock

It seems we have a fear of doors in the family.

Several months ago, we were at a Subway restaurant, just me and the kids, and Katie went into the bathroom by herself while I ordered. All of a sudden I heard this terrible shrieking. She had panicked while trying to open the door. It had one of those pull down handles, and she wasn't turning it the whole way before trying to open; therefore, it wasn't opening and she thought she was trapped.

Then Nicholas did the same thing a few weeks ago at an ice-cream place.

But even better was his experience with automatic doors. Even though he is quite the heavy child, he doesn't weigh enough yet to trigger the automatic doors at our local library. And at this particular library there are two sets of automatic doors with just a tiny space in between. He had been told to wait for me while I finished checking out, but being the ever "testing the limits" child, he walked out the first set of doors when they opened for someone leaving, but then the doors closed, and he couldn't get back in, nor could he go further out. He was trapped. And the look on his terrified face was priceless.

Since then he is scared to go in any doors. He attaches himself firmly to my side at all automatic entrances, and he wants his bedroom door open at all times, in case it should lock on him mysteriously. He can't comprehend that the door won't magically lock, but he would have to turn the lock himself.

So for now, we have two kids that will not enter rooms with those special handles, and one child who has fears of all doors.

Probably not such a bad thing for that young daredevil.

Question???

Have any of you ever seen the inside of a cell phone??

Well I have. And it ain't pretty!!

Goodnight to all, we have had an exhausting week and it is now 8 P.M. and my kiddos are sound asleep.

Nicholas and the Gators

T-ball season #2 started a few weeks ago, and Nicholas now plays for the Gators with Coach Mike. Yep, that would be Daddy. He is loving it even more this time, and I think part of it may be that he is playing with 3 of his friends.

And this would be the sweaty little boy, after running the bases.

And I had to add this photo of his friend, Andrew. It is just too silly!

May Pole Quilt

Love this quilt soooo much, and it goes out in the mail tomorrow. It has a massive number of quilting mistakes, since it was sooo very very big and heavy, but it still came out beautiful.

Hope the recipient enjoys!!

Am I The Only One Who Can Do Math?

Go here and read about what I consider to be a half-worthless move by the FDA.

In order to get a 1000mg dose of acetaminophen, I could pay $15 for a doctor copay, and then pay whatever insane copay my insurance says on a prescription, or I could just take 3 of the new Tylenol pills that will be coming out, since that will equal 975mg.

My guess, is that anyone who is smart enough to do the math, and not concerned with the possibility of liver damage, will take the 3 pills out of a regular over the counter bottle of Tylenol. After all, how long have we had this product on the market and been taking it at the 1000mg dose.

Another case of the government wasting a lot of time and money.

Our New Pet

We seem to have added a rabbit to our household. When I built the garden here I thought for sure I wouldn't have the problem of rabbits and deer that I had in Ohio. After all, we never see rabbits here. And I mean NEVER!

But look who hangs out at our house all the time these days. The kids named him Nibbles, and then this past weekend we found he has a friend, who we have called Bits.

Get it?? Nibbles and Bits!!

Anyway, my thought has been that there is more than enough in the garden to share with our little friends, and while I try to deter them, I am not going to go all out to get rid of them. Primarily they eat our lettuce which we found bitter to begin with, and they like to eat down my pepper plants, which makes me a little angry. But they don't touch the cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans or cantaloupe.

So here is a picture of Nibbles lounging outside our bedroom window.

Oh Baby!

We are wonderfully lucky to have had the opportunity to watch our favorite new baby and neighbor, Benjamin. He spent several hours with us last Saturday while his parents took the Infant CPR class. Needless to say, this is how he looked 90% of the time we had him, but that didn't stop us from passing him around the room from loving arms to loving arms. It is funny how light and little he is. We laughed at the fact that he is basically the same size now as Nicholas when he was born. The kids loved his tiny feet.

And notice the change of clothes. That would be because he peed through the first outfit onto Katie no less. She actually giggled and just went and changed her clothes.

2 Things Learned

1. Don't pay bills when tired online. You will accidentally hit the go back button several times instead of the confirm button. Then you get to type in all the information again....and again.....and AGAIN!! You would think I would learn after the first time.

2. When your 4 year old learns to whistle, you will be overjoyed at his new found skill. Then after several days of nonstop whistling, the enjoyment fades.

Ballet Rehearsal

Katie backstage at dress rehearsal. They were busy playing Simon Says with one of the young teachers. What you don't see is the big girls to the left playing along with them. Apparently ballerinas never grow up.

Katie to the left of front in her ballet dance. They do such a marvelous job, and she had such a great teacher this year. Plus I got lucky to have her right up front and center for both dances this year.

Katie in her tap dance. Not that you can tell which one she is. (Towards the middle somewhere)

But I love this picture because it shows just how hard they worked this year. Look at their feet all in unison. They are really remarkable for 6, 7, and 8 year olds.

Katie front right doing her tap again. She has been practicing both her dances every day for the past week since they didn't have class. She told me she wants to be perfect. And then yesterday, she said that she wishes they could do their dance 10 times.

The child loves to perform, and is dying to get into one of those white tutus, and pointe shoes.

Sorry dear, you'll have to wait a few years to have a white tutu, but the pointe shoes will be coming soon I have a feeling.

Little Girl Quilt

I think this is one of my favorite quilts that I have ever made. It uses the Butterfly Fling fabric panel (that I cut into 4 main squares), and a charm pack of the same line.

So cute!

And I got brave enough to finally try stippling an entire project, and it came out beautiful.

And here is the back. A really adorable purple heart print.

I have Katie to thank for that one.

Happy Hurricane Season!

Only here...

Do you have a friend call you on June 1st to wish you a happy hurricane season.

She should have added happy swarming mosquitoes that will suck 8 pints of blood from you, as well as happy screaming children day, since the mosquitoes terrify them until they scream and tremble in terror.

SAD!

Nick Gymnastics Video

Gymnastics video

Sorry it is sideways at first.

Lately

Not much blogging lately. We have been busy, busy, busy.

Did I mention we have been busy??

1st there was this cute little bundle of joy being born to our friends and neighbors.

2nd there was recital rehearsal.

3rd was gymnastics olympic day.

Doesn't he look proud to win his medal?


And she is pretty darn cute too.

Then we had Nick's final t-ball game.


Sitting in the dugout before the game.

This looks more like him.

Nick at bat. The shirt has come out, and he's ready. This hit went all the way out to the outfield. The boy can swing!

And then I spent my weekend making these. The summer t-ball season starts today, and Mike has some plans for using them with the kids.

Until September

I am without my favorite show now until September. I was a mean mama last night who refused to put my children to bed and read to them, instead making Daddy do it. They were not happy!

But I got to mostly enjoy the 2 hour Grey's Anatomy season finale by myself. And mostly I did enjoy. And now for my 2 favorite moments of last night.

For once a show totally surprised me. I had no idea that it was George who was the John Doe. And the way it was revealed, it was even more incredible.

And then I love the Meredith/ Derek wedding on a post-it. Especially the vows.
1. To love each other, even when we hate each other.
2. No running away
3. And to take care of each other even when we are old, smelly, and senile.

Isn't that what marriage is?? To take the good, bad, and ugly and stay together no matter what??

I know that I am very lucky. I have a husband who loves me all the time, or at least 99% of the time. And I love him back. I know he is always going to be there. And as for the old, smelly, and senile part....I'm sure our marriage would stay just as strong. But luckily that is a long way off.

So here is hoping your marriage is as wonderful as mine, and that you too will cherish each moment you have together.

Nicholas Plays T-ball

We first experienced our city t-ball with Katie when she was 3. To this day she is great friends with a girl that she met there. She had a phenomenal coach, and although t-ball wasn't her "thing", she did have fun testing it out.

Now it is Nicholas' turn. We signed him up this past fall to play, but it got cancelled due to the hurricane, and subsequent destruction of the park they were to play their games. So I resigned him up this spring, and so far he is having a good time.


His team is called the Marlins, and he enjoys being part of the guys, with a few girls thrown into the mix.

Here he is playing defense.

And finally getting to catch the ball.

Tablerunner Finished

So pretty, so Soire'e.

No More Training Wheels

Adorable

We drove down to Galveston yesterday to walk the beach and collect seashells and rocks.

As we were driving, Mike and I were talking about places we would like to go see...the Grand Canyon, Boston, Philadelphia...

Katie piped up in the back: I would like to see Boston Market.

Sadly, her favorite restaurant closed here recently, and apparently it must exist in the actual city of Boston...right?

Finally Finished

3 years, 2 moves, 7 hours of stitch ripping and one rotary blade injury later.

I am finally done with the quilt (except for binding) that I have been working on for my niece. Now that she is going to be 3, I guess it will have to be used for a picnic blanket, or doll's blanket or something.

But I am happy with the results.