Pete's State Swim Haircut

Swim team tradition is to shave all the boys heads the night before the meet.


Picture 1: "Stop taking pictures Mom!"



Picture 2: Buzz-buzz!!



Picture 3: Pete re-thinking his decision!



Picture 4: Dad D and I finishing up on Mr. Clean!



Picture 5: Ta-da!!

Dill's Birthday morning

I've blogged before about our family tradition of waking our children up early on the morning of their birthday and giving them a gift. Here is our celebration for Dill's 9th birthday.... in pictures.

Dill in the last second before waking up to his whole family standing in his bedroom...



Dill grimacing during the family singing ♫♫♪♪♫ Happy Birthday to you!! ♫♫♪♪♫ (off key)



Showing a little excitement when he sees the word "TOY" on the bag...



Not overly thrilled about the new game in the bag...



Celebration is over....



P.S. .... The game Treasure island actually ended up being a favorite of Dill's. We've played it LOTS at our house since that morning!! :)

The Light Tunnel

Recently, the family and I went to the zoo for the festival of lights they have every year for the holidays. Dad B and Dad D had all the kids gathered with them as we walked thru the light tunnel so Pepper and I had a minute to ourselves. We entered the tunnel and it felt like we were the only two people in the world. I am thinking how nice it is to have a few minutes to ourselves and looked over lovingly at Pepper to tell her how romantic I thought it was. Before I could say anything she leans into me and says, "I gotta pee." :)

Butt, Butt....

A woman (I'll keep her nameless, but she IS a relation!!) was standing in the doorway coming into a holiday party I was attending and asked, "Do any dogs live here?" "Hmmm, no I haven't seen one but I haven't been here that long. Do you want me to ask?" Very seriously and wide eyed, she explained "Well no, its just that I am wearing my hemorrhoid cream, and it attracts dogs."

Dill is sick today.... he feels miserable but the things he says are so cute! This morning, while Pepper was getting ready for work, he came and got into bed with me. He said he felt like he had to throw up. Hmmm...... with my white sheets, down comforter, big cotton blanket.... I knew I did not want to have to put them all in the wash on a Thursday! I went to the kitchen and grabbed the wok. "The wok?" you may question. But really, it is the best choice. It has a great handle so it can be positioned quickly and its non-stick coating cleans up easily. It has a huge opening on top and does not smell after it is easily rinsed out. It also fits under the bathroom sink faucet (unlike our waste basket) and can be tossed right into the dishwasher when it is no longer needed. Plus, I got it at Ikea for $4.98, so if something really goes wrong, I could just throw it away and replace it. So, Dill and his wok and I are in bed with the dog and the cat. He moans a little and says, "Oh, I do not agree with my stomach!" He is sort of laying on his side and I say, "Do you want me to rub your tummy to make it feel better?" He thinks about the offer for a second and then says, "No, that's ok. The cat's purring is already massaging my butt." Ok then, no Mom can compete with that! We are both sort of drifting in and out of sleep when he suddenly jumps out of bed and runs into the adjoining bathroom. I am still putting on my slippers and grabbing the wok when he says, "I think my throw up is coming out the other end!!" Poor guy! :(

Christmas, 2010

Pepper and I took the kids on a quick 2 day trip to Ohio to visit with my family for the holidays. Spent time at my cousins house and saw lots of people I hadn't seen in a long time. Visited with GG and stopped by the cemetery my parents are at. Also spent lots of time hanging out at a hotel to let the kids play in the pool. Here is a picture of my sisters and I enjoying our favorite new drink!! (lemonade, sprite and cat-daddy moonshine... yummy!!!)

I've been thinking about how I spent Christmas. I watched the kids in the Church Christmas Pageant... spent the night waiting for Santa at Dad B and Dad D's.... stopped in to visit Nana and Grandpa. Kids got lots of gifts from lots of different family members and hugs and good wishes and attention for doing a great job in the church play. Nana helped me give Pepper a great surprise. I did not peek at any of my gifts or even try to guess what they were. I have had a fantastic Christmas and enjoyed all the friends and family we visited. Tomorrow we are all headed to visit more family and I realized something..... I got exactly what I needed and wanted-- and that was before I even ripped open any wrapping paper. :)
 

Christmas Day 2010...

I've been thinking about how I spent Christmas. I watched the kids in the Church Christmas Pageant... spent the night waiting for Santa at Dad B and Dad D's.... stopped in to visit Nana and Grandpa. Kids got lots of gifts from lots of different family members and hugs and good wishes and attention for doing a great job in the church play. Nana helped me give Pepper a great surprise. I did not peek at any of my gifts or even try to guess what they were. I have had a fantastic Christmas and enjoyed all the friends and family we visited. Tomorrow we are all headed to visit more family and I realized something..... I got exactly what I needed and wanted-- and that was before I even ripped open any wrapping paper. :)

Repainting the bathroom

We have a rather old house. When we moved in it had been remodeled due to a fire. The carpet and the walls were white. It made the house look big and clean.... And plain.

It did not take long before we started painting. We have a bright yellow kitchen (Pepper believes all kitchens should be yellow). She found a book about specialized designs that you can do with paint. So our TV room is this cool looking textured paint that looks like dark green suede. Our hallway is this funky brown that Pepper made using different paints and brown paper grocery bags. It took awhile for me to get used to because it looks like tree bark. But I like it.

Our downstairs bathroom was all me. I saw the color combination in Pepper’s book and picked out the colors. I read how to do the design. In the book it was a cheery yellow that faded into a lime green toward the bottom of the walls. It looked like bottled sunshine in the book. It did not end up looking that way on our bathroom walls. It looked more like a clown’s dressing room!

Repainting the bathroom has been on my list of things to do since before the lime green paint dried. It kept getting put off because there were so many other things we wanted to do in the house…. Or needed to do.

Enter…. Kirby. Our loveable little puppy looked too cute to stick her in her cage while we ran out for a couple hours. I decided to put her in the bathroom so she would have more space and it was my first step toward leaving her out to roam around the house while we weren’t home. Kirby did not see getting to stay in the bathroom while we were gone as a promotion. She took down the vertical blinds, chewed up the bin we kept towels in and ripped quite violently at the shower curtain. She bent the shower rod and shredded the curtain liner.

"before"


Pepper and I spent the last couple days making some changes... I am much happier with the results this time. :)

"after"