Puppy love?

Is this my puppy love? The puppy really enjoys Matthew and Matthew happily greets him with many "hi's", but the puppy knocks him down, which Matthew doesn't like. And it will just get bigger...so many decisions to make.

It's been a long day for all of us. Most of the family traveled to the funeral and back. Phil, on the other hand, stayed behind to help the electrician run the new wiring to the dining room. It's not finished in there, but the wires have been run. I'll be excited when the plug ins are in and the light is hung. I think the hall light got put in the hall. (I haven't checked yet.) A fuse box got put in outside, eliminating the chance of fire, as well as flood lights. The ice storm last year half ripped some power lines off the house. Those finally got fixed too. So it was a very productive day at home.

The other day as we were leaving the house Matthew noticed them feeding the cattle. His response was, "Wow!" He gets so excited about cattle. Every time he sees them he has to moo. It was a trying day for Matthew since he didn't get to play much and spent most of the day in the car, but he did really well overall. He charmed the relatives by blowing kisses. Matthew blows kisses to one of the little girls at daycare almost everyday when she leaves and she does it back! It's young love...

Survival

I survived today and so did the rest of us. It was hectic and crazy and emotionally charged, but I think we fought the good fight and won some ground. Amen.

I have to say I was delighted to turn on the computer for the first time this evening and see that I had 3 comments. Yes, it's a small thing, but it pleased me.

Mallory's mom told me today about the encounter she had with Matthew yesterday. She was picking up her daughter from daycare and they were saying goodbye to Matthew. He replied, "Bye, my momma's at work." The mom responded, "Yeah, your Mommy is at work." Matthew: "Yeah, my mommy." She said that you could tell he really wanted me, but he wasn't going to cry. I was just totally blown away that he spoke a clear sentence to someone and included a word like work. I really didn't think he understood work. I know I say, "Mommy's got to go to work now." and so does the daycare (and of course he's gone with me many times this fall), but to actually use it back to someone appropriately, wow. For me that's so exciting.

Isabelle went a got shots today and for the first time EVER she hasn't been bouncing off the walls. They said she might be tired and sore, but wow, I didn't think there was anything in the world that could halt the brat kitten so effectively. I'm sure she'll be back in the game tomorrow.

Don't rock the boat

Have any of you had a day where everything was totally going well and suddenly it was like you were just broadsided by junk? Well that would be my day. Sorry to not be upbeat, but it's getting a little tough. I don't feel to humorous right now. For awhile now, not great stuff has been happening with my Grandmom, that is pulling the whole family into the turmoil of insanity. I won't say more about it because this will become a rant session, but know it's not good. For you that pray, please hold my family in your prayers, especially my Mom. I know a brighter day is coming, but at some points it feels so far away. Tomorrow I will go support my mom with the next step of the puzzle. While trying to get stuff sorted out for tomorrow, my Aunt Bobbie called to say my Aunt Phyllis had passed away. We'll be going to Mom's home town Saturday for the funeral. When it rains, it really pours doesn't it?

Now that I got that out of the way, let me tell you about the better parts of the day. I left the living room today today to heat up lunch and when I came back in Matthew was doing this.

I mean obviously the table is growing grass and the best way to mow it is to crawl on top and proceed from there. Good grief. He even pushes the lawnmower up the slide. Obviously the plastic slide grows alot of grass too. I'm glad he works so hard to keep his grass patches mowed down.

He is also decided he really likes to color. His favorite thing to color is this.

That's right. Now paper, I give him that and he crumples it up and throws it away and proceeds to decorate his table. His brand new table I might add. But the crayons are washable. It really isn't a big deal, unless he does it at daycare...

I have my hands full with him! The daycare report wasn't the best. He decided to sit on a little girl's head and refused to get off. I swear, he's not my child. Where he gets this stuff, I don't know. I swear a long cruise, a desert beach somewhere is just sounding better and better. But it's doubtful I'll have the chance (or money!) for that luxury, so maybe the next best thing would be adopting a puppy or maybe 2? What do you think? A little puppy love bandage?

A better day

Matthew didn't hit anyone today. Thank goodness! My big talk must have stuck with him. Haha. We ate lunch with my dad today. Every time I hear Matthew rattle off a couple sentences I can't really understand, all I can think of is Jim Carey as Count Olaef saying, "I don't speak Monkey." (This is in the movie Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events. He's talking to Sunny, who's around Matthew's age.) Well, I explained all this to Dad, and the next time Matthew said something we didn't understand Dad said that to him. Matthew whipped his head around and told Dad all about it. It was so funny. Dad laughed so hard. The two of them are so comical together. I didn't tell Dad, but in the movie after Count Olaef says that to Sunny, she says back something to the effect of this man is an idiot. Of course it's written so we understand her. I also like that later she tells another guy that her teeth are at his service. Good movie.

Back to Matthew, over the weekend he was ignoring his food and just sucking down his drink. Phil tried to take it away from him and Matthew said, "I'm drinking this." He even said it just like a teenager would. We're in for trouble, I just know it!

An adorable puppy showed up at my parents house this morning. It has the softest coat you can imagine. It is going to be a big mixed breed dog with a thick coat. It would be so perfect for an outside dog. The vet clinic told Dad, after Matthew loved on it, it could have worms and that we should be very careful with Matthew's exposure to it so he doesn't get worms. Great, one more thing for me to worry about. And I wanted to adopt it. Of course, it'd just be one more pet to take care of. But we used to have 2 dogs and did ok. I'd better make a decision fast though, because Dad is totally ready to be puppy free.

I forgot to tell about how Phil decided to resolve his big decision. After much thought, he had a retired Army man cut his hair last Thursday. The man did a pretty good job, although I'm pretty sure he'd still rather have Sue cut it!

Tornado days

My son is allllllll boy. I picked him up from daycare today and the report was, "He was a tornado today." Does that make your heart sink like it did mine? He apparently zoomed all over the room falling off of stuff. At one point Amanda and his legs were sticking out of the exersaucer. He would hold hands with Mallory and then they'd both get mad at each other and start attacking each other. I just don't know why he's sooooo violent. We don't hit each other, so why all the violence? Phil says he's just a boy, but I want him to stop. Apparently time outs aren't driving the point home and neither is my vow to take his books away. Argh.

So we came home and he was doing this.
Yes, he has learned to slide down the slide backwards and stand up in his swing. He also likes to swing on his knees facing the wrong way of course. I'm thrilled beyond belief, I assure you.

Maybe he is just really having cabin fever like all the other kids at school. Matthew believes in at least an hour of running outside, but with it in the teens, it's just too cold. Plus snowflakes have been falling the last 2 days.

I did make it to my eye appt. The verdict was my eyes were nice and healthy. The doctor wanted to know why I waited so long to be seen, so I explained. He said to argue with them next time because I have to been seen within 48 hours next time. Or go to my own eye doctor. He has prescribed a certain solution to use and says to use a new contact case and of course fresh lens and see how it goes. At first I'll only be able to wear them to work. I have to build up. So I guess tomorrow's the big day. I'm a little nervous truth be told. But if it comes right back I'm calling up and saying, "but Dr. Smith said to come back in right away." Matthew was actually very good through my hour there. The only bad part was they had to dialate my eyes. I don't remember having it done before. According to him, I have to have it done at least every 3 years since I'm so near sighted. It was interesting trying to go grocery shopping with my near vision all messed up. Three hours later my eyes looked like this.

Kindof freaky. I just prayed the the cashier's wouldn't think I was on drugs running around with a toddler. I wanted to tell them, "really, I just came from the eye doctor, he dilated my eyes," but I kept my mouth shut.

Right now a coffee cake is baking in my oven. On Country Girl's blog she posted the recipe her German relatives brought over with them. It smells fabulous and the batter was fabulous. I have high hopes. I'm not big on coffee cakes, but I couldn't pass up trying this one. I've already been informed by my husband that I have to save him some because apparently he likes coffee cakes. Didn't know that. Now I do. You learn something everyday about the person you are married to.

Long weekend

King of the water bottle. Wearing his "bracelet" he found in the room. We found 1 straw, 1 penny, one round plastic shape that goes in a sorting toy, a spiky ball, and a plastic connector that he is wearing on his wrist.

Hey water bottle, how are you?

Looking south from my room's mini patio.

South from the patio, but not zoomed in.

Looking straight ahead. We faced the Chinese zen garden.

Looking north.

Matthew playing with the lei they gave me at the party.


Thursday night we flew out of here, but not before Matthew decided to "swim" in the dirt at daycare and stick a huge handful of dirt in his mouth. I saw him do that since I was also on the playground with my own group of brats, I mean afterschool kids! They passed Matthew over the fence to me while he was spitting mud out of his mouth. I guess they couldn't handle it and he couldn't handle the dirt either.

We got to Phil's finally at 10 pm and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but 2 Little Tykes peddle cars in good shape at the dumpster. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm not too proud to dumpster dive. I'm a dumpster diver and I'm proud of it. There was also a cute little corner desk in sad shape I saved for my aunt. The couch looked pretty good in the dark, but that's one thing I'm a little leary about saving. You never know what happened on that couch and probably don't want to know or have it in your house. Phil, on the other hand, was mortified. He is ashamed to be married to a proud dumpster diver. I made him carry one of the cars in and he was practically running back in saying (and I quote), "I hope no one is looking." I must be a major trial to the man. I feel a little sorry for him. So our vacation was off to a great start in my opinion.

I didn't feel that way the next morning at 5:30 am, when the alarm was going off. But we made it out of the house at 7 am and to our destination by 10:15 am, so that was good. It was a very nice lodge, set in very pretty surroundings, but winter is not the ideal time to go to the lake. In fact it's kindof mean to a person that grew up spending summers on the lake. Matthew and I got settled in and planned to go shopping and out to eat with the other wives. It didn't happen. The whole event so was unorganized that we all stayed in our rooms waiting for the guys. We ended up being put in a great location within the hotel and a cool room. One wall of the room was rock. It had a high vaulted ceiling. We had a fridge, which was nice. I could keep opened of bottles of apple juice in it. The tub was narrow and small, but that was my biggest complaint.

At 6 pm we made our appearance at the lula party. The wives that attended received an "I love me" award and a gerber daisy in a vase. (Us wives call the wall that all our husbands awards go on their "I love me" wall.) So now that I have 4 certificates thanking me for my contributions to this and that, all army related, I could start my own "I love me" wall, but I prefer to mix mine in with his and make his look more impressive. I decided it was time to take Matthew back to the room after he got mad at me and threw a plastic coconut ball at the back of a pregnant lady's head. He was furious I took him away from his dad, but he fell asleep pretty quickly. Phil's recruiting station had the task of cleaning up the party so he had to stay longer.

Saturday we went shopping briefly. I got a 48 cent lip balm at Bath and Body Works. Phil called me a big spender. We ate at a mexican restraunt and all went well till the very end. We were finishing paying the bill, when Matthew crawled under the table and decided to stand straight up. He did so with enough force, the whole table shook and the sound was loud. The high society ladies at the next table were saying, "Did he hit his head?" And of course he started bawling. Second time in 2 days I just wanted to sink through the floor.

We got back and I started getting ready for the ball. I had several failures before I got my hair fixed. We finally call around enough, we confirmed where the daycare was and when it would be available that night. We dropped Matthew off and he just ran away straight to a huge ball. Phil started pushing me out the door and said bye to Matthew. Matthew didn't cry or anything. Which is why I started cry, I guess. I held it back, but I have to admit, it was harder for me then him. We stood in lines for the next hour and half and went through receiving lines. Finally, it started and I could sit down. The ball was fun, but it didn't run as smoothly as it should. An example is they insisted the men sit down when they were all protesting they weren't supposed to yet. A high ranking officer saluted the fallen soldier's table with wine instead of the water that was even written in the program.

Everyone said the food would be awful, but thankfully it was good. We paid $35 a plate so I'd hoped it would be good. What do you get for $35 a plate? For me it was a fillet of salmon, some bland rice, green beans, a roll, and a piece of cheesecake. For Phil it was a 3 strips of beef, a baked potato, green beans, a roll, and a piece of cheesecake. After it was over around 9:30 pm we sprung Matthew from daycare. He was lying in a bean bag with his blanket, watching a movie with the other kids. The moment he saw Phil he shrieked and started to struggle to get out of the bean bag. Once he was out, he was running for the door. He was out of there. He wasn't even going to wait for his shoes. As he was trucking by the kids, one of the boys called out, "Goodbye Matthew." He must have made a friend, but he had no time to spare getting out of there to say goodbye. We gathered up his diaper bag and shoes and headed off for the room. Matthew refused to let his dad have me (which I admit hurt my feelings). We changed and decided we weren't ready to call it a night, so we went bowling. Bowling might have been the most fun thing we did the whole weekend. Matthew is so strong, he was able to lift a bowling ball off the ball return! I was amazed.

Sunday we woke up and it was snowing in earnest. There had been a dusting the night before, but this was a little more. Phil had classes at 9 am and wasn't supposed to be able to leave till noon, but they dismissed them at 9:20 due to the snow. I had been getting ready and packing, so by 9:50 we were back on the road. We got to Phil's around 1 pm. Isabel was so happy to see us. I could hear her meowing before I was all the way down the stairs. She's never been left alone before. We unloaded and relaxed for a few more hours, until I decided I better go back home before it got too late and I was too tired to drive. When I got home, I could hear Pan meowing the minute I stepped into the back porch. Even a veteran of being left alone was happy to see us. When I woke up this morning Pan was sleeping on my chest and Missy was sleeping on my legs. Do you think they didn't want me going anywhere?

Today Matthew and I unpacked and went to school. It started snowing in earnest when I was at school, but I still don't think it will amount to much. I hope not. I have to attempt my stupid eye appointment again. Wish me luck!

Vacation?

Ok, so now they've decided to reveal that tomorrow's party is a Hawaiian theme party. Yeah, like I have tons of that just laying around. Matthew had an Hawaiian shirt, but he's outgrown it. And there is no time to shop now. So, I've packed my flip flops and called it a day. Vacation, grumble, grumble...

Vacation!!!!!!!

But is a vacation really a vacation for the Mom or is it just more work? We are off tonight for the Ozarks. Phil has that conference and we're along for the ride. Hopefully it is lots of fun and a much needed break from the craziness around here. Well, not so much here, but in the closely extended family. I am leaving you with a couple pictures of Matthew I took around Christmas time that I don't believe I ever posted. Just too cute to miss out on if I can say so myself. See you next week!

(In case you wonder what he's doing, it's an version of his stiff body, grrr, I'm so mad pose he'd do for fun starting at about 6 months old. It never failed to freak me out, but this is cute.)

The elusive track?

Track for a pocket door?

Since I was stuck at home today, and didn't have anything better to do with my time, I decided that it was high time to stick my head in the hole and see if I could prove that at one time our arch sported an pocket door. When I looked to the right I think I hit the bulls-eye. I think the track is still in place and if there was a hole on the other wall we might just find the door walled up inside. Hard to tell. And I'm not going to try and knock a big hole to find out. I've vetoed the idea of trying to have a pocket door put back in, but I would like to install some french doors. I think it'd look elegant.

Matthew was a mess today. He was dragging things everywhere, trying to hit, bite, and steal scissors to snip fingers off with. I was sortof glad to dump him off at daycare. Boy does he like Bailey! In the truck he will do things to try and make her pay attention. She ran in to see the dining room and he wanted her to hold him. He is really going to hate it when she gets married and has her own children. He'll be very green with envy!

It was an important appointment

All weekend long I talked about how I'd finally get to go to my important eye appointment Tuesday. All Monday evening I planned how to keep Matthew sane. I tried to go to bed earlier (couldn't sleep). I got up at 5:50 am to make sure we were there on time. We were walking out the door at 7 am and it occurred to me. We traded cars at the last minute yesterday and Phil didn't hand me the key to the Celica. Surely he wouldn't leave me without a key. The answer is yes, yes he would and I have no way to get anywhere, but by my own 2 feet. But luckily I got a different lady that rescheduled me for next Tuesday. Yea for that. Unfortunately this still means I have to wear my glasses to the ball. Sigh.

Completed demolition

Matthew and Phil looking casual. You can see where the bad patch job is on the ceiling from an old heat grate. The other hole is from where Phil accidently knocked a piece of drywall off. It must have been put up well, NOT!

Another view of the real ceiling. Having a higher ceiling, and a real plaster one at that, makes such a difference in the room. Pictures can't even begin to express that. Can't wait till our new front door is where it's suppose to be!

Looking down that mysterious hole. I think this narrow hole was to allow a pocket door. Phil says no because there's no door and no track. What do you think?


We finished getting all the 2x4's, that made up the false ceiling frame work, down today. We decided the safest place to store the wood was in Phil's garage. I think the garage is what sold Phil on the house. It's a really nice 2 car garage and it's slowly being taken over by all the "too nice to throw out" materials we keep pulling out of the house. One day we'll find another place for them to go and he'll have the garage all to himself. Now I need to start steaming wallpaper off the ceiling and the last foot of the wall. We almost kept the false ceiling up because we didn't want to have exposed steam heat pipes and guess what? No pipes. We almost lived with a style that was not our taste for something that simply wasn't there. Nothing scary turned up, except for the silly patch job from where they took an grate out that allowed hot air to rise up into a bedroom. We figured it'd be patched badly since the wood they used upstairs was interesting. It won't be hard to fix right.

Matthew had a big day of trying to help tear stuff out and climbing ladders. He protested being kept out of the room. He just didn't understand why his help was not helpful. He had a great time escorting us out to the garage to put the wood away. He also "drove" the lawn mower a bit, as well as riding his outside bike. He walked all the way across the brome field. He tried to help Mom clean up the aftermath, but he just wasn't up to her standards. He couldn't figure out why that was so either. It's tough being so little.

Cup phones

Matthew's new shoes.

The cup phone. He loves to pretend it's a phone. He also likes to yell into it with it pressed up against his face.


Today, Phil and I decided that it was high time to go on a date night. We loaded Matthew up and took him down to the grandparents. It is my Grandmom's 91st birthday tomorrow, so we swung by her house to give her a present. Then it was off to see the movie Paul Blart Mall Cop. It was pretty good. We ate at Chili's and went back to pick up the tired son. A fun time was had by all.

Big decision

The big decision of the day is Phil's. It's live altering. It's "shake you to your core" serious. The lady who cuts Phil's hair is going to be on vacation for the next 3 weeks. That means by time she gets back he'll have gone at least 5 weeks, if not closer to 6. It will be really shaggy and not in keeping with the army regulations by then. The big decision is whether or not to let one of the other ladies in the shop touch his hair. (You see, no matter who it is that touches his hair, it always goes bad. No one else seems to be able to cut it right and that's the truth. He isn't making it up. I've seen what other people have done to his hair and it isn't pretty.) He really wants to wait it out, but I don't think he'll be able to. Tune in later to see what he decides!

We've gotten alot of the ceiling frame work taken down tonight. Matthew wasn't sure he liked us doing it. What a difference it makes in the feel of the room already. I suppose next week I'll be busy steaming off wallpaper.

Helping dad. Every time Matthew could escape into the dining room today, he was climbing the ladder. He'd go all the way to the top and only climb down because someone caught him and made him.

The ceiling when I got home.

How it looks now.

Matthew is busily working on saying more words. Tonight he copied Phil and said five and three. He told a girl at afterschool, "I don't know." For the first time tonight he actually sat on his potty chair for awhile twice! It was a real shame he didn't pee. If he had, he would have really understood what it was all about. But I was really proud he tried. I had him try because in an attempt to distract us from the ceiling, he had pulled down his pants and his diaper. Hopefully, he'll actually get on a roll soon. I'd love to have him potty trained by 2.

And the ceiling comes down

A man hard at work tearing out the false ceiling.

He is so mature for the picture isn't he?


It's actually kindof scary for me. You never know in a house this old what you are going to find when you tear something out. Sometimes you might wish you'd left well enough alone. So far nothing scary. Phil stuck his head up above the false ceiling and looked around with the flash light. He said it looks pretty good. Well, this means more wallpaper to steam off (of course it's on the ceiling-you knew it would be) and more to patch probably. Then we'll actually have to settle on a paint color because we won't have anymore excuses for not painting. So if anyone has an idea let me know. I was thinking about maybe a rich buttery yellow only very pale. Just a thought. I've been tossing a light lime green around for the living room. I used to know exactly what I wanted when it came to paint colors. I insisted we paint 2 of the walls a rich red in our old house and loved it. I think most everyone else did too.

Matthew said, "Where's my shoe?" today. The lucky little guy got to stay home all day. Phil ended up being done early and stayed with him. I felt bad when I left because Matthew started crying and Phil had to peel him off of me. I guess Matthew's with me a little toooo much. Matthew saw me kissing his Dad on the cheek, so I decided to get silly with it. I said, "Matthew, come cover Dad in kisses!" I demonstrated kissing his cheek repeatedly. Well Matthew must have thought it looked like fun because he came over, imitated me, and never stopped. Off and on all afternoon he covered his Dad in kisses. Ahhhhh...lucky man.

Yea!

This morning Matthew decided to get up bright and early. I mean, Mom had to get her ball dress fitted today so we need to get a early start right? Like 5:55 am early. Ick. I told him I wasn't going to start getting up that early and to go back to bed. For the next hour I slipped in and out of sleep, while Matthew complained. At 7 we got up and ate breakfast. Then he got dressed and I took a shower. After I was ready, he decided it was high time to show off his horse riding abilities. He did really well until he decided he was so good he could ride with his legs up and no hands. This resulted in him almost falling off the back of the horse. He decided to stop riding the rocking horse for awhile after that.

We went to get my dress taken in and the lady commented I must have lost alot of weight. She said that she was going to have to take in about 4 inches. I know I've lost weight since having Matthew, but it must be more then I thought for, somehow.

But the Yea! for the day is that Phil surprised me with the news that he is on his way home and he actually has a 4 day weekend! Normally they don't get a full 4 day like everyone else. Matthew will be so pleased when he wakes up tomorrow! Please don't let it be around 6 again...

New day, new point of view

Can you tell anything different about our house? Anything at all? Maybe on the second floor. Maybe it's the windows...Yes, the shades are up! That's the project Mom and I did right before I plummeted off the face of the earth. I'm sooooo thrilled. I mean who doesn't have shades and curtains in their house???

My new glasses! Snazzy.
Is it a photo showing off glasses OR a Canon ad?

I'm a 19 month old monster of love today!

Mom, don't you have enough pics YET???

This is how he sleeps. Blankets pressed to face. It freaks me out! And it's exactly the way I sleep too...


Well, for quite a while now, I've gotten so frustrated with how slow the dining room has been going, I've lost sight of how much I love this house. It probably doesn't help that I've been reading other people's blogs and I always gravitate towards the ones that have big new perfectly decorated houses. It really makes it so obvious how much different my house is from what I'd like it to be. Which drives the point home how little I make now because I stay home with Matthew and how little I contribute to the finances and how that's slowed house progress and...I could go on and on and spiral down into a deep dark funk. Well, anyway, today two of the parents that came to pick up their kids told me how great my house was starting to look. In fact one parent said, "You're house is just looking lovelier and lovelier. I have always loved that house. When you started doing the roof, ah, just so perfect." Talk about re-instilling pride in your home. Ok, so maybe my house isn't perfect and all designer yet. And maybe it's only a measly 1800 sq feet. It's mine and 100 years old! I've totally forgotten to say that it's officially 100 this year. Brand new homes are lovely, but they are cookie cutter houses and in some ways aren't built as well and with as much care to details. I guess I can't deny the country girl in me that calls to old farms and homes. Which makes me think how everyone wears different hats. I know that the country girl lives in me and a fashion diva, but I mostly end up as a frumpy dumpy jeans girl. My husband would say I look like a preppy girl. I hope people see me more as that then what I see myself as!

It is my custom to try and take pictures of Matthew on the 13th every month so that I can see how much he grew over the month. I started out taking them in our big living room chair, but since Phil took it with him, it makes that not possible. So I ran around the house trying to take pictures of him and he evaded. I think he's getting grown up enough that he doesn't want Mommy flashing his eyes so much, but he better get used to it. It probably isn't stopping for many a year yet. Then his child will get the glory of my flash and improved picture taking skills.

Recouping

I am recovering nicely. I've finally had some solid food and don't feel too strange for having had it. I (with some guilt) took the day off. Ever since I got sick, Matthew has been also having major gastric distress in his diapers, so he probably needed to stay home today anyway. Hopefully he is finally done with that business! Since we spent the day resting at my parents (Phil had to leave to go back to work and I couldn't handle Matthew on my own, so he took me to my parents to finish recouping-Mom couldn't come up because she has a form of this nasty stuff too! And now Phil I believe is getting it also...) we don't have much news, but we'll leave you with some delightful pictures.

This first one should be titled: Chocolate anyone? In October, at school, someone most have given him chocolate. These 1st 3 are off my phone.

Hanging out with Great Grandmom, waiting for the motorcycle riders that never showed up in September.
Looking cute on Great Grandmom's porch swing with my Grandparents the same night.

It's hard work making your way through brome stubble. Sometimes you just have to get off, push, and finally pick up your bike and wheel it back out to the lawn grass...

Modern Texas Ranger trying to avoid his diaper change, while stealing a moment to reach out and touch someone...
Devil cat? You decide.

What a night part 2

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's just too exciting around here. I am ready to go on vacation now. Anyone know of a wonderful beach I can lie on for about a month?

Yesterday my mom, Matthew, and I went and picked up my new glasses. I think they are actually pretty nice. We then went to eat at Applebee's and hastily shopped for some new clothes for me that I needed desperately. When we got back to my house Phil was home (Yea!) and Mom and I did a project I'll talk about later. In the evening, it all went downhill. I started feeling sick and thought I'd overate. I went to bed and then it began. In a nutshell, either I had exactly what Matthew had only more severe, or I had food poisoning. Either way I am feeling most unpleasant today. So for the next day or so I will be recovering and won't be doing much on the blog. I hope that the rest of you are having a much more pleasant weekend. Talk to you all soon.

Matthew's imaginary phone conversations

If you happened to catch Matthew playing with his cell phone these are some of the conversations that you'd likely overhear.

Puts phone to ear, grunts uh...uh...uh...uh...uh...uh...uh...uh...uh...uh...uh and shuts phone

Puts phone to ear, no...no...no...no...no...no...no...no...no...no...no...no...no and shuts phone

Puts phone to ear, meow...meow...meow...meow...meow...meow...meow...meow and shuts phone

(I don't know about you, but I've never talked cat on a phone to anyone. It might be interesting to hear the reaction! "How are you today?, Meow, are you feeling well?, Meow, why are you saying that?, Meow")

Yesterday, as is the normal lately, Matthew was building and rebuilding with his mega bloks. At one point he came over with what looked like the Mega Blok equivilient of a Academy Award or something. So I raised my arm in the arm and said, "Yea!" Matthew thought that was funny and copied me. Later, while supposedly eating his lunch, he started raising his fork in the air and saying, "Yea!" You just never know what you are going to start.

Also while eating lunch yesterday, he emphatically told the dog "no" (with the pointed finger) several times for just sitting there. He has also squatted down to stare eye to eye with the cat in her litterbox and told her the same thing. He had to explain to him that the cat most certainly should be doing what she was doing!