fishing dog

Don't know if you remember, I surprised Chris with a bird dog for Christmas. It's the first time I've really pulled off a surprise with him. He just knows. Since Christmas, Misty has not been so fun for me. She knows she is CHRIS' dog. And that means she only listens to Chris. And not me. Ever. It's really annoying. So of course I love it when she decides to ignore him too. Last week he decided to take her fishing. You'll notice that there is not a fishing pole in sight. This is because every time Chris cast the line... Misty wanted to retrieve it. Misty would be the creature that is FAR out in the water. Swimming. And not listening.

mom's taxi

I'm not sure how it happened. It has to have been a gradual trend... like the frog that will jump out of boiling water, but will stay in warm water as it gets hotter and hotter until POP!! He's done. Part of nearly every day includes some degree of running kids from point A to point B and back again. This fall Tuesdays... well Tuesdays are wild! I'm going to have to really love my crockpot on Tuesdays or we will all starve. If we don't eat by 5pm, we will eat one at a time and I won't eat until 7:30 or 8. I've managed to allow 1 drop off or pick up every 15 minutes from 5:30 to 7, with only one exception. It goes something like this: Drop off Alex at Piano/ guitar lesson. 15 minutes later Drop Hannah off at TaVaci (performance group practice), 15 minutes later pick Alex up. 15 minutes to go meet Jeffery (usually at the house). Then I have 30 minutes!! Then pick Hannah up and in 15 minutes, I go take Alex to scouts... This week I'll be organizing the carpool!!

The Purple Toe

If you play soccer, you will probably at some point jam your big toe. Even when you know not to kick the ball with your toes, there are still a lot of other feet and shin guards to watch out for. And if you play 3 games with a swollen purple toe, your mom will buy you a lemonade slushy. Even though she doesn't like slushies and would rather steal a bite of an ice cream cone. Chocolate ice cream... yum ... I digress.

Alex has been trying to hang tough, and there are only 2 games left. Maybe we can tape it up for the next game? There's not much else Dr. Mom can do for toes. Just the slushy.

So here are some pics of Alex playing soccer. I know it looks like he's walking, but I promise he was moving. Yes, he is a full head taller than anyone else on the team. He was head and shoulders taller than anyone on the Cowley team tonight. If he'll let me... I'll post an actual purple toe picture, but apparently tonight the toe is camera shy.

Does that BUG you??

Last weekend we became the proud parents of a little praying mantis. The lucky little guy (or girl- who knows?) has 2 mommies and 3 daddies all second guessing each other on the proper care and keeping of a carnivorous bug. After a couple of habitat changes and a few shouting matches over diet (do you think earwigs will give it a tummy ache?).... I googled it tonight.

Seems we are doing okay instinctively. Okay, to be perfectly honest... I married Mr. National Geographic. HE knew what he was doing, and the rest of us were just guessing. Only thing we missed was a water source. Two choices here. 1) the spritz the jar daily method; or 2) the wet sponge method.

Given the fact that I don't want the lid off the jar any more often than necessary, I was leaning toward the sponge method... except that I don't use them and have none laying around. Fortunately, Hannah and Jeff got those little capsules of compressed sponge (add water and watch it grow!!) from Jack's 4th birthday party Friday night. Perfect bug-watering-devices! It's head is buried so deeply I can't tell if it's thirsty or trying to kill the blue shark sponge.

We haven't actually witnessed a kill, but the grasshopper carcasses are piling up. Now the hard part- breaking the news to the kids that the life expectancy of a praying mantis is only 12 months.

well laid plans.....

Okay... it was totally supposed to be a soccer picture day. We had to be out the door by 8:30 to get to the Cowley field so Hannah could warm up before her early game. I planned on doing "crazy soccer hair" and then taking cute pictures to post. Well.... it was cold. and windy. and early. So we baked muffins instead of doing really cute hair. We were running late by that time (shocking, I know). So she got simple flippy ponytails and a muffin on the way out the door. And I forgot the camera.

No problem, my cell takes good pics. Except that Jeffery was boycotting soccer today by playing Uno on my phone in the van during both games. So you get no soccer pics today, and I will try to do better next week. We have split games this week, so Alex plays Monday, Hannah plays Tuesday and then they both play Thursday and Saturday. 4 more chances for me to remember the camera for both kids! Wish me luck....

So instead of soccer photos, you get the link to this totally cool blog that I'm now hooked on because blog-surfing is the only thing I've accomplished today. She writes so well and is absolutely hilarious.... (btw... can't even think that word without translating it into Jeff's pronunciation-- Hir-rail-ious). The recipes look good, and she adapts, as I do, for special dietary restrictions. I think Hannah and I will try brownies in the crock pot Monday for FHE.

Soccer vs Wheel of Fortune

The rec dept sponsors a short fall soccer season here. Alex played in Kindergarten, and then it was not fun to take Jeff anymore. Alex wasn't all that into it, so we didn't worry about soccer again and stuck to spring Tball. Fast forward 5 years, and Alex played last year, with a friend's mom as coach and it was okay. THIS year, however... Hannah and Alex are both playing on opposing schedules, with an expanded season. Instead of 4 Saturdays like last year, they play Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Saturday mornings for 3 weeks.

A few unforeseen challenges with this situation. A) it is a really cold and rainy fall, and soccer must be played outdoors. B) Sometimes Hannah plays in Lovell, while Alex plays in Cowely, or vice versa. They don't play at the same time, but the warm up time overlaps enough that all I do is drive back and forth and don't get to watch any soccer. But the mother of all challenges is C) the games are scheduled EVERY Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30. Anyone who knows Jeffery knows that this is a not acceptable because Wheel of Fortune is on at 6:30. Tonight was a major meltdown moment, because he already missed it once this week, and he doesn't want to miss it again. His solution?? Let's call Cindy! LOL

Most of you know that the Croy/ Karlinsy backyard faces the park, and I think it was the closest house he could think of to aliviate the emergency. So we called them up with our 911 Vanna-Emergency and they were so kind to oblige. We hurried across the park for 28 minutes of Wheel time, and then caught the 2nd half of Alex's game. You know, he's a social kid, and is happy to go and do about anything as long as there are people there...but we don't mess with his Pat and Vanna fix!

Shopping for Paint

This is how we spend time in Home Depot while they mix up gallons and gallons of paint for us!

painting the house

I spent most of August painting the exterior of the house. I started with replacing some bad siding in the back with my friend Kathleen and Alex. He is great at demolition, and Kathleen gives me courage to try things I'd never do on my own. Another friend, Jane, helped me with 3 full days of prep and paint in the heat (100+ temps). Chris and Uncle Bill Karlinsy get credit for the 28 foot extension ladder work. No way do I go that high!! Anyway, it turned out nice!

Marching Band

Jeffery had his first Marching Band performance Friday night. The microphones weren't working, the performance was cut short, and his big 'Gong solo' didn't happen. But Jeff didn't care because he has an official marching band uniform!!

Initiation

This is my initiation into Blogging... Please be patient and I'll try to figure it out. I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be like scrapbooking for me. I bought a lot of stuff, and would get the stuff out and stare at it. Then I would put it all away for a few more months without putting anything together. Hopefully this will be as easy as promised and I'll actually get 'er done. I'm the walking commercial for digital photos stuck in the camera for months (okay, years.) Luckily, my phone takes great pics too!