He's baaaaaaack!!!

I'm thrilled to say that after a marathon sleeping night on Saturday(with about 4 interruptions) from 5:30pm-9:20am, Colby is FINALLY back to himself! I'm sad to report that I didn't realize that he was still feeling yucky late last week and chalked his ultra-clingy behavior up to a phase and dealt with it accordingly (read - way less sympathetic than it turns out that I ought to have).

With the return to self have come several new skills! He can now climb the stairs upright while holding onto the handrail and he can get up on the couch without any assistance. He is attempting to say dog (daaaa), more (mo! mo!), boom!(boo), and has almost mastered hi and bye. Uh-oh and mama remain his only intelligible-to-all words, but he's coming right along. In other news, he can now find his belly button (and in fact enjoys walking around for a good part of the day with his shirt up and his finger stuck into it...lovely!) and he can find yours, too! (This is humorous when he's busy finding Steve's. Not so humorous when he wants to find mine!) We're working on ears next. He's sillier than ever these days - and it amuses me to see him trying to make me laugh by making funny faces and doing little dances all over the place.

I finally got a couple pictures of the kids both smiling (although Colby's is hidden behind his bink in one). They were having a ball sitting on these little chairs together in our kitchen the other night and then repeated it last night.

Geocaching...lots of geo...not so much cache...

On Saturday, Steve's parents came and watched the kids for us so we could get out for awhile. Originally we planned to take the canoe out on its maiden voyage and go fishing (which we haven't done since before Kailin came home). With the weather forecast calling for periodic showers and thunderstorms, we thought better of it and decided to head out on our maiden geocaching voyage. *Geocaching is a game of sorts where people hide a cache and then log the geographical coordinates online. Using a GPS unit, you search and find the caches (which more often than not contain nothing more than a log book and a bunch of chotschky (I'm sure I murdered that spelling!) aimed at kids - but it's about the finding the cache - not what's in it)

First we headed to the bank to have the forms for Colby's readoption notarized. As we walked out of the bank, I noticed that my beloved hiking boots felt funny. Looking down it became apparent that the sole of my right boot had become disengaged from the rest of the boot and was flapping about every time I took a step. We decided to proceed and sought our first cache right here in Belgium. It proved to be easy to find, but it was exhilarating nonetheless.

The short walk to and from the car made it clear that my boot would not last the day and we searched the car for a lace, duct tape (doubtful, but you never know what you'll find in our car!), ANYTHING we could use to fix my boot. We then realized we were really close to the hardware store and had just decided to go in for some electrical tape when I balked (hoping that I might be able to have them resoled) and also remembered my trusty lawn mowing shoes in the garage.

Home we came and Steve circled the cul de sac and parked out of sight. I sneaked into the garage, started changing my shoes, but then heard noises in the back hall and quickly grabbed the other shoe, left the boot I'd already taken off and bolted (quietly lowering the garage door on my way out). Back in the car, I changed the other shoe and we drove off only to see Kailin merrily waving at us in the window. So much for stealth (but hooray for no tears!).

Back on our way. We were headed next for Harrington Beach State Park. About the time we drove up to the ranger station, we realized that we'd taken the car. This would not normally be an issue except, you guessed it, our parks sticker is on the Jeep. We slunk up to the ranger station and sheepishly explained the situation to the ranger. I think she's probably had the wool pulled over her eyes more than once because she was quite explicit about where we could turn around immediately and leave. Ha.

Laughing at ourselves, we decided to try for a cache in the Lake Church cemetery before we headed home AGAIN and back to the park. We both find cemeteries interesting places, and one in such a small town is particularly so. We recognized many of the last names, and enjoyed looking at the design and craftsmanship of the headstones - both old and new. We believe we found the location of where the cache once was, but unfortunately we think it's been removed.

We headed home yet again - noting that while some people call home multiple times while they're supposed to be out enjoying (ironically enough - we are NOT those people - EVER), we actually GO home several times while we're supposed to be out enjoying. Ha ha. In stealth mode again, we parked the car to the left of the house and jumped in the Jeep. We decided this time that we'd better call Steve's mom and let her know that we'd taken the Jeep in the case that they looked out and noticed it was gone. No sense in having anyone think there'd been a broad day car heist in our little town. Colby was wailing in the background (I'd had to put him down for his morning nap before Steve's parents arrived and we'd left before he awoke), but Steve's mom assured me that she was getting him a snack and he'd be fine. I took her word for it and hung up.

Back to the park. We parked near Puckett's Pond and found our first cache without issue. I noted to Steve that the Goldenrod bugs were making their nests (look like spit wads) on the Goldenrod. He noted that he'd always thought that they WERE spit wads. Ha ha. We moved on to a second, multipart cache. We first set off to find what is known as a microcache (as it sounds, it's a tiny tiny cache) which would contain the coordinates of the final cache. From the description, we knew about where we were headed, and we were excited to find the microcache with little problem.

Steve entered the new coordinates into his GPS and we set off overland for the next cache. I'd thought about wearing pants instead of shorts, but voted in favor of the shorts given the temps and foolishly believing that we'd be sticking mostly to the trails(since we were in a State Park and the locations of the caches have to be approved by the ranger). I'd say probably about 30 yards into the new search, we were both covered in "spit wads". They felt cool and oh well. No pain, no gain. About that time we saw an interesting bird - it looked a little bit like a skunk. I've since checked my bird book and it was a bobolink. There were several and they were neat to see. Then Steve spotted this really cool looking dragonfly. We were marching merrily along until we got to a thicket of primroses....with thorns. Steve continued to march merrily along citing his leg hair as a perfect defense against the thorns. I marched with more care, but equally merrily.

I don't know how far into the walk we hit the first patch, but suffice it to say that some of the Goldenrod bugs had obviously nested before others because we'd hit patches of Goldenrod where there were just black larvae all over. EEEEEEWWWWWWWW. Black larvae all over ME. EEEEEEEEWWWWWWW. I'm not normally all the squeamish, but BLACK LARVAE ALL OVER ME!!!!!!!

With much anticipation, we finally approached our destination (after MUCH overland travel - half a mile give or take, which doesn't sound like much unless you are traversing through thigh high vegetation in shorts and 80 degree unforgiving sun). We began looking for the medium sized plastic box we were sure we would find, but alas, all we found were more black larvae (black larvae stains on my legs and socks - ICK), and these odd bugs - not sure what they are, but they huddled together and moved as a crowd when Steve got too near.

We headed back, opting to stick to the trail we'd crossed over at one point on our route. I felt like we were heading too far south and I was right. No matter, we reached a "trail closed" sign before too long and we turned back. It started to sprinkle, but it felt good. By the time we made it back to the car, I knew I was getting sunburned (foolish pasty white girl forgot sunscreen) and I was also getting hungry.

We got some lunch and then decided to drive down to the bog where we'd planned to go fishing and just check it out. I was glad that we hadn't taken the time to load up the canoe and string the rods when we got there and couldn't even get to the bog because the trail was washed out. When we paused briefly to decide if we'd wade through the path or turn around no less than 25 hummingbird sized mosquitoes landed on me and immediately started sucking me dry!! I made a break for the car and gladly climbed in to head home. Well, I gladly climbed in - I don't know that I was glad to head home. Ha ha.

It was a nice day away and even though we found more geo than cache, it was fun and I know we'll be heading out again. We've decided that since poor Jerome never seems to make it out of the hotel room on our international trips (might have something to do with perpetually having to care for an infant we don't really know while we're out and about...), we're going to re-christen him (for the time being) Jerome the geocaching gnome! Here he is finding his first cache (which was our second, but please don't tell him!).

Smashmallows

I've noticed that Kailin's treat of choice lately has changed from "M's" (okay, the apostrophe doesn't belong there - the M&Ms aren't doing anything and they don't own anything, and yet if I take it out and look like I'm aware of those facts, the phrase appears as though perhaps my daughter's treat of choice is a woman's magazine rather than a chocolate treat. I will apparently opt to look like I am slightly idiotic rather than confuse you about Kailin's choice in shopping trip goodies.) to "smashmallows". It doesn't matter where we go - Target, Aldi, Pick 'n Save, Walmart... she wants "smashmallows". Don't get me wrong - she'll EAT M's anytime. She's excited about M's. But our immediate quest in the store is now to find the smashmallows. Here's the problem. While the smashmallows (I'm done with the quotes) have less sugar and certainly less fat than the M's and therefore are a better choice in my opinion, smashmallows are actually not packaged as kid snacks. They come only in 9000 cup bags. Perhaps that might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but come on - even with summer upon us and chances for s'mores abounding, there are only just so many smashmallows one needs around the house. The game now is to allow her to FIND the smashmallows, but then convince her that we have a large supply already at home in an attempt to avoid adding another bag to the stash. I think so far my success rate is about 50%. She really doesn't often ask for anything (else), so I'm not too worried about stockpiling the smashmallows. We can start eating Rice Krispies treats for dessert every night if things start to get out of hand....

Ooh what a relief it is!

Kailin woke up screaming (shrieking to be more exact) from her nap yesterday after just 47 minutes. 47 minutes is NEVER long enough for her nap, but considering that she was up and in our room no less than 4 times the night before and had gotten up for the day before 6am...47 minutes really wasn't going to cut it!

I ran upstairs to see if she was having a bad dream, and in hopes of preventing her from waking the rest of the crew. We had a "bad nap day" on Tuesday and I was NOT up for another one! I found her sitting up, facing the head of her bed, looking disoriented. I comforted her, picked her up, held her like a baby, and started rocking. Just as her eyes started to flicker closed I thought "I'm sooo relieved that she's going back to sleep!" and just then, she was relieved, too. Literally. She let loose and peed all over the both of us. I rushed her into the bathroom and stood her in the tub - to contain the mess more than anything. Stripped her, ran and got more clothes, put her on the toilet to finish, redressed her and began the rocking process again. To my utter amazement, she went back to sleep and slept another 2+ hours! She has no recollection at all of the incident and was shocked to find her pants in the sink (where I'd forgotten them in the glow of getting her back to sleep) after nap. Ha.

Thankfully, I'm horrible about putting clean laundry away and could come downstairs and change - otherwise all of my clothes would've been locked in with the boys til they got up and I'd have had to be "Polly pee pee pants" for another couple hours!! So heed that advice, girls - it's okay to ignore your chores. Sooner or later it'll be to your benefit to have done so! (how's that for rationalization?)

On our way to swimming last night, she was saying something to me from the back seat. We'd been talking about Emma going to Heaven (This is a common discussion when we're headed north to Cedar Grove since we pass the daycare. Logical, right? Kailin was convinced for a long time that the children's daycare near us was where her Grandma's dog, Zoe, goes to daycare and also where Emma lives. I've since helped her to understand that it's a people daycare and also that Emma doesn't live anywhere anymore. She died and went to Heaven with God and Grandpa Steve. So now she usually says, "Mom, that's a PEOPLE daycare!" every time we pass it, but it still sparks the conversation about Emma going to Heaven all the same.). It sounded to me like she was saying, "Did you put her there, a wife?" which made no sense at all. So I kept asking her what she was saying and then making arbitrary guesses as to what the word that I was hearing as "wife" really was. Finally, in frustration, she said, "Mom. It's like a fffffff. You know, like fffff...like a letter. Like F, Mom. FFFFFFFFFFFFFF!" Thanks Kailin, that cleared it all up for me. ha ha ha ha ha.

Speaking of swimming - she's doing great. We're in a moms and tots class, so there's not a whole lot of real instruction going on. The next level is without parents, though, so I knew she would benefit from some getting used to the pool with me there this time around. She's blowing bubbles now and letting me put her under up to her ears (as long as she isn't on her back - that's still a no go). We were working on "kick and dig" last night. She was having fun with it although she'd still really prefer just to putz around than to do any real work. Oh well - you're only 2 once.

Being more like dough

I made a loaf of bread (well okay it was pizza dough - but the process is just like bread) the other day. After the first rise it was beautifully mounded up in the bowl and then I went in and punched it all down flat. As it was deflating I mentioned to Steve that it's kind of almost sad that you nurture the bread along by giving it yeast and warm water and letting it rest and not disturbing it and then as soon as it's beautifully puffy you beat it back down to where it started. He chuckled and we went on about our day. But you know, I've been thinking a lot about that bread and I've decided that I'd like to be more like dough. Don't confuse that with a desire to be doughier - I'm plenty doughy enough as it is!! (also not to be confused with HAVING dough - we are FAR FAR FAR from being doughy in that sense!!)

When you really look at it, we're all a bit like dough. I'd just like to work to better recognize ALL of my stages. God gives us flour and water and yeast (metaphorically anyway!) and lets us rest awhile and we puff up and times are good and we're beautiful and round and happy (some of us, myself for one, are rounder than others....ha ha ha). But if we stopped there - if we baked the bread after the first rise, it would fail. It's full of just air and not strong enough to be baked. So God gives us an opportunity to grow again. He gives us a struggle of some kind that seems to deflate us and leaves us perhaps feeling like we'll never get anywhere. But He always gives us the inner strength to rise again. Yes, folks, there's the bad pun/metaphor you've been waiting for. But really - He does. And we do rise again - and like the dough, we're stronger for it.

This is the end of the line for the bread. We bake it after the second rise. Why? Because if you continue to punch down and knead bread it becomes tough and less airy. Not a good thing for bread. We like our bread a little crusty on the outside, but light and airy on the inside. I'm not ready to be just a little crusty on the outside and filled with airy goodness on the inside. I'm glad God made me tough dough. --That He's allowed me to rise again and again and that I've been punched down and kneaded more than just once. I sometimes forget during a struggle in life that there is good reason for it. I will emerge stronger. I will. It's not an option. It's a fact and I need to learn to appreciate all the stages of being dough and stop focusing on the times when I'm flat and when life is beautiful and round and work on appreciating the process a little more.

I was watching Evan Almighty the other night and something from the movie has really stuck with me. Morgan Freeman (who plays God) says to the main character's wife, "When someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience or opportunities to be patient? When someone prays for courage, do you think God gives them courage or opportunities to be courageous? When someone prays for their family to be closer, do you think God gives them warm fuzzy feelings or the chance to love each other?" I'm sure I got the wording a little wrong, but the gist of it is there - I think for me and my beliefs, that hit the nail on the head and was a lightbulb moment for me all at the same time. Who knew that a movie and a loaf of bread (pizza dough) would give me such an opportunity to grow in my faith and in life? Now the key will be remembering to apply it in daily life - especially that patience bit!!

A Father's Day to remember

Father's Day dawned early for Steve. Well, 6am anyway. Kailin was up. I got up with her, but Steve was downstairs shortly thereafter. Colby, however, slept in until 7:20. He needed it. The poor guy is still a bit out of sorts after his fever frenzy last week. Steve got his gifts and his card. Kailin, despite my urgings that Daddy loves green, chose pink paper for her artwork, but of course Steve loved it all the same.

We set a game plan. We'd finish breakfast and then I'd shower (neither of us got showers on Saturday, so it needed to be addressed!) Steve would stay home with the kids while I ran to Target and went grocery shopping. Then he'd try to mow the lawn while I watched the kids and then we'd have lunch and he could play his new Wii game (Blazing Angels - a WWII flying game) during their afternoon naps. Then we'd decide whether Colby was up for an outing and maybe take the kids to the park. Colby, due to illness (and nap schedule), declined to make a card this year.

We ate breakfast and I showered and then we reformulated the game plan. Isn't that how it always works when you have kids? I would take Kailin with me so that Steve could mow the lawn while Colby napped since it was becoming rather obvious that we misjudged the time a little (lot) bit. With new plan in hand, I prepared to leave just in time for Steve to remember that we were out of gas for the lawn mower. Re-reformulate (good thing reformulated plans don't cost as much as reformulated gas does!!) I will put Colby down for his nap while Steve goes to get gas (I HATE getting gas in one of those little containers. It makes me nervous.). Then Kailin and I will go and we will proceed with the old new plan. Kailin throws a tantrum because she can't get her crocs on (as I'm trying to get up the stairs with Colby) and when I tell her to take it all the way off and try again, she hits me with it in frustration. I wonder to myself whether or not I will actually be going anywhere. Set Colby down and remove offending crocs for a timeout. Commence screaming tantrum (her not me!) which I'm certain was heard by the tri-county area. Put Colby down for his nap and return downstairs to discuss why we don't hit with shoes (or anything else) and confirm with her that IF I take her to the stores with me, she will refrain from further tantrums and will be a good listener (fat chance). She agrees. Steve returns and as I head out the door, Sugar starts barking hysterically from the basement which causes Colby to start crying. I apologize to Steve for the possibility that he will not, in fact, get the lawn mowed at all, and RUN out the door with Kailin in tow.

I'm happy to say that the shopping excursion was mostly uneventful and even somewhat pleasurable. I stopped on the way home and got Kailin a chicken sandwich and small fries from McDonald's as a treat (it was also nearly nap time by the time we made it home and I was anxious for her to eat quickly and get to bed).

To make a long story short, we prodded her to eat and then she stuffed a large bite of chicken sandwich into her already full of french fries mouth and gagged and puked right into Steve's hands. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!! She declared that she was done with lunch and we put both kids to bed.

When they awoke, we decided that we all needed an outing, so we trooped off to the park. Kailin had a good time, but I think she wasn't feeling quite herself as she didn't swing very long and seemed a little unsure about what to do with herself. As you can see, Colby wasn't really into it, either. He preferred to play in the stones over anything else and it wasn't long before we decided to abandon the park and "go McDonald's, get some ice cream". Colby didn't want his, so Kailin got two. Ha. Guess he was saving room for corn.

Steve gave the kids a bath while I cooked dinner. While we were eating dinner he asked Colby if he'd told me what he did in the tub. I said that he hadn't. Steve said, "he blew bubbles!" I was surprised that he got his face wet. Steve said, "He wasn't making them with his face...." Oh. He went on to say that when he got Colby out of the tub and was drying him off, he felt some "activity" down there and was a little concerned that perhaps he'd be both puked on and pooped on not only in the same day - but both on Father's Day no less. Luckily it was a false alarm. Needless to say, Father's Day for Steve ended with a mad scramble to get both kids to bed and relax. Ha ha. Better luck next year!

Count Cornula strikes again!!

We had coke chicken, corn on the cob, and watermelon for Father's Day dinner. Do you know where this story is going? Ha ha.


It was quite cute. I called for "my hungry Gannaways" which is our typical call to dinner. They came a troopin' in and Colby immediately went to the pantry and selected a box of crackers for himself. I asked him to put it back which he dutifully did, but then reselected it immediately and presented it to me. Then he spied the corn cooling on the countertop and all bets were off as he raced to try and grab one of the still steaming cobs! Kailin, meanwhile, said, "COBS!!! I love cobs!!!" (I'm thinking that there ought not to be three commas in that sentence, but I'm not worrying about syntax on a Monday morning - that's for sure!) I convinced them both to wait (one by reasoning and one by forcible removal from the area) until the "cobs" cooled.





We sat down to eat and I again made the mistake of putting the corn (and watermelon) on the table. Colby was asserting that he would prefer to nix his chicken and eat only corn and then maybe some watermelon. Steve asserted otherwise! Finally it was time for corn. I don't know how well this picture will illustrate it, but he actually took a chunk right out of the cob part this time! AND he chewed it up and swallowed it before we could get in there and remove it. I guess he won't be hurting for roughage anytime soon! Needless to say, he enjoyed his corn thoroughly. We actually videotaped part of it to get the sound effect of him tearing into it and also managed to catch Steve saying "Hey, give me back the cob!!" It was pretty funny.

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!!

Colby gave us quite a scare this week. He came down with a 104 fever on Tuesday evening, but was otherwise acting pretty much fine (maybe a bit more clingy than normal, but his appetite was fine). We medicated and put him to bed.

Wednesday it was 103 when he woke up, but again - he was mostly fine. Appetite- pretty much normal. Fluid intake - normal. Diapers - normal. Activity level other than during a fever spike - normal. I let it go (well, that is to say that I medicated every 3 hours alternating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen but did not call the Dr.) because he was still acting fine and I've read time and time again to judge by the behavior of the child not the temperature.

Well, I threw that out the window at 11pm when I temped him when he woke crying and it was 105.2!!! I've never had a child with a temp that high and it scared the dickens out of me. I gave him ibuprofen and rocked him for half an hour to let it kick in. Temped him again. 104.2. I got Steve up. I hate those horrible parent moments when you are caught between believing that perhaps you are being an alarmist and praying that you don't let it go and find something horrible has happened come morning and regret it and blame yourself for life. Guess I'd rather have some people think I'm an alarmist (or a spaz) than have the latter, so I trooped downstairs to look up the 24 hour nurse line for our insurance. They told me to take him to urgent care, then said maybe if he was behaving normally, I should just call our Dr.'s on call service. I called and the dr on call (Dr. Wilfong - who was fantastic) called me back fairly instantaneously and after diligently listening to me go on and on about what was going on, determined that my gut was right - he was probably fine, just had a virus going on, and that I was doing everything I should be for him. (holy run-on sentence, Batman!) He did say that Colby should be seen Thursday morning, though. We all went back to bed (Colby was already in bed sleeping peacefully while I fretted about him) whereupon Steve went to sleep and I laid awake til nearly 2 despite the reassurance from Dr. Wilfong.

Around 4, Colby woke crying again and when I went in he was COLD. The fever had broken! I covered him up and rocked him some and then went back to bed. He woke up at 5:45 crying, but I think he was just cold again since he was dressed so lightly. He immediately fell asleep in my arms. He felt warm, but not hot. He was shivering pretty bad, though. His temp was 100, so that wasn't so bad.

Okay, I wrote all of the above on Thursday. Now it's Saturday and he's STILL got a fever. It's pretty low grade now and not really affecting him too much, so I'm thankful for that part. He is still very moody and sleepy a lot, though, so that's been making for some interesting days these past few days. Kailin's spiked a 100 or so temp a couple of times, but other than that she SEEMS to be escaping it so far. I'm going to pray that it misses her - for her sake and mine!

And He baptized us all!!

That title has multiple meanings...

Yesterday we baptized Colby and then while taking pictures after the service, he baptized all of us right back! He was quite enamored with the baptismal font and although he did stop short (or was stopped by us - depending on how you look at it) of splashing in it, he did dip in more than once and smear it around on himself and everyone else in the area. It gave us all a good laugh. Maybe it's in indication that he's headed for seminary someday - only time will tell!

The second meaning of the title pertains more to the He and not the he (Colby). God saw fit to celebrate Colby's baptism by showering down His rain; baptizing us ALL. That's how I'm choosing to look at it or else I'd have to be annoyed that we had what could easily be called a truly rotten rainy day yesterday!!!! It POURED buckets (that's an understatement) from about the time we were thinking of leaving the church all the way through everyone trying to get into the house (with children in tow) and into the time when it became obvious that there would be no one enjoying the festivities outside and that everyone would be enjoying them INSIDE which was my worst nightmare. In the end, everyone seemed to have a good time despite the lack of personal space and we kept the temperature to just below intolerable heat. Ha ha. I'm thankful that God gave us a day to be together and to celebrate Colby coming home to the States and home to Faith and our church. Maybe we needed the push of the rain to truly enjoy being close with one another. Although it was crazy there for awhile, I do truly enjoy having my house full of our family and feeling the warmth (yesterday it was LITERAL) that emanates from having your family surrounding you. How blessed I am to have such a wonderful group of people to call my family.

The whole weekend was pretty crazy, actually. Saturday was supposed to be an easy (ha ha) day of getting ready. My mom was coming to watch the kids so Steve could clean and I could work on food. That plan got off to a not so great start when my mom learned of a freeway closure that was going to severely impact her ability to get here. Thankfully Mom is tenacious, so she set off on a different route, but that did put her about an hour and a half behind. Meanwhile, I was working on making 10lbs of potato salad and a triple batch of baked beans. Steve worked on cleaning. Mom finally made it and Kailin immediately glommed onto her and was out of my hair (Colby was sleeping). When the potato salad was done and Colby was up, Kailin, Mom, and I headed off to the local cheese factory (no joke) to get some cheese for the festivities. We got what we needed and headed home for lunch and naps (for the kids - sadly not for the adults). After throwing together the quadruple batch of pistachio fluff, Mom and I went off in search of cupcake papers at "the little store" here in town. We were going to walk, but then saw that it was looking a little dicey outside, so we drove instead. We made it home in plenty of time, but it wasn't long before the day turned from party prep to weather watch. A supercell storm system descended on our area - one the weather guys (regular programming was interrupted in favor of continuous weather coverage) said was the worst they'd seen in this area in over 20 years. Tornado warnings abounded (though none for our county), flash flood warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings.... the map had so many different colors on it, it was hard to tell who needed to run for high ground and who needed to go into the basement! So my mom was trying to figure out how she could get home and we were trying to figure out how (or if) we could safely get Steve's brother and sister-in-law and their baby here for the night. Reports came from my mom's house that there was golf ball sized hail in the backyard. In the end, my mom left after dinner; promising to turn around immediately (and not look for a different way around) if she saw any standing water whatsoever and Jason, Sara, and Eva made it a little over half way here and decided to take refuge with Mike, Jodi, Olivia and Nicholas instead of braving it the rest of the way. That turned out to be a great decision since they closed the freeway due to flooding soon after. Our basement has stayed dry thus far and we hope that will continue to be the case. More rains are predicted for today, but nothing as severe or vast in quantity (the area got over 7" of rain this weekend). Our prayers go out to all the families whose basements are flooded or whose trees are uprooted, or homes destroyed. Let's hope this week brings a calmer state (the weather and in my house!!).

Awwww....quackerjacks!

I completely forgot to have Kailin take a picture with her sombrero and Chinese dress yesterday! That's not entirely the truth. I remembered, but in the morning before church it was waaaayyyy too crazy busy to have her do it. My intention was to have her do it when we got home, but I guess I was smokin' something when I thought that - not sure how I thought I'd work that in around trying to rush in the door and get the food on and make sure no one floated away in the torrential downpour... anyway - it didn't happen. If I can get her in a better mood than she's in today (shouldn't be hard since anything would be an improvement over the wicked ugliness that is my darling daughter today), I'll try to get both on her and snap a shot. In the mean time, I thought you'd get a kick out of this picture of her wearing her duck sunglasses and tooting her duck call whistle thingy.

Ni hao, Senorita!

I soooo wish I had a picture of this....

Tonight after I gave the kids baths, I was trying Colby's outfit for Sunday (his baptism) on him. (As a side note - do any of you with Chinese children know what the name for a traditional Chinese boys outfit would be? I Googled it with no luck.) It fit perfectly and I was glad that no one had anything below a size 2 or I'd have bought it and then we'd have been in trouble! He looks adorable, by the way, so stay tuned for pictures sometime after Sunday. I digress....

It occurred to me that I probably ought to figure out which of Kailin's Chinese outfits she'd be wearing on Sunday. She had other plans. She was intent on wearing a huge straw sombrero that we have(whilst running around naked - quite a picture). We struck a deal. She could put the sombrero on after each and every Chinese outfit she allowed me to put on her (there were 3). Let me tell you she was quite a sight!!! If I hadn't been so desperate to just get through it and get the kids dinner and to bed (it's been raining here all week and the reality of cooped up kids was VERY evident tonight - Steve's at dog training, and Mommy was on her last frazzled nerve after a very long day), I'd have gone downstairs for the camera. I'll have to see if I can get her to put it on quick on Sunday so you can have a visual. It cracked me up.

As a side note, 2 of the 3 outfits were a bit large and although she wanted to wear one of them for Sunday I explained that she needed to grow some more (the second too large outfit was rejected because "I don't like that tag, Mommy." - telling her we could remove it was futile. That outfit is forever out of the realm of possibility....at least in her mind.). She said, "okay, I'll wear it for Chinese New Year." No joke. Not a thing gets by that girl, I tell you. She is as sharp as they come and her memory continues to amaze me. We haven't talked about CNY for a LONG while - although as I'm typing this I'm realizing that Kailan talks about it and they wear red the whole episode. Hmmm... okay, I'll give her partial credit for absorbing it from the show (which she hasn't watched in weeks to be sure - maybe longer) but full credit for relating it to herself as a holiday we would be celebrating. Fair enough?

On that note... Zai jian, Senor!

More mysteries

It's only one more, actually. And I will preface the mystery by saying that I do not shower with my glasses on or with my contacts in and I am, to be honest, blind as a bat. So perhaps this is a mystery known only to me in which case you all can tell me that and then it will be solved as a personal limitation rather than a universal mystery.

How is it possible for me to miss only the strip of hair in the CENTER OF MY SHIN when I'm shaving my legs?? Further, how have I missed the same said strip TWICE IN A ROW??? Even in my blind state, I should be able to hit THAT location, right??

Anyway, as you all contemplate the reasons behind this mystery, I will be spending nap time today braiding and applying pretty beads to the leg hairs in the middle of my right shin.

Feeling breezy

I've been listening to the radio more often lately (I usually listen to kids music with the kids, but I've been letting the older two go out in the backyard while the little ones sleep in the morning.). There's a song right now that goes, "It's good to be us, it's good to be breezy...." It occurred to me that I didn't know what that meant. Did it mean "footloose and fancy free" or "go with the flow" or "light and airy"? All sorts of mental images went through my mind and the possibilities seemed somewhat endless. That was until I was standing close enough to the radio to hear "It's good to be us...It's good to be BREATHING." What a waste. It is indeed good to be breathing, but now what will I spend my time contemplating??

I hope you're having a breezy sort of day.