My Movie Maker

Today, Jonah was playing with his big bin of animals that includes a number of dinosaurs. As he played, I heard him say something to the effect of, "....DVD and BlueRay.com" amidst animal grunts and noises. I couldn't help but laugh out loud amazed at the things he picks up. He heard me snicker and said, "Are you laughing because I'm making a movie."

Here's an interview with the director:

My Practical Joker

This afternoon I hear Jonah go, "Ewww! Ewww!" and as I peek into the living room from the kitchen Jonah says, "I think it's pee" as he points to a little puddle on the couch.  Luckily, it's leather.  I asked him if he pee'd on the couch and he says, "I think Elisabeth did it." A bit perplexed, I checked her diaper.  I find that Elisabeth's diaper is a bit twisted so I think, "Okay, maybe it was her." I checked Jonah's pants too. Nothing. So I wipe up the little puddle on the couch. "I doesn't smell like pee," I say out loud to myself.  A few minutes later, Jonah says, "There's pee on the carpet."  Surprised, I say, "Really. Where?" and he shows me.  At this point, I'm starting to think he is whipping it out and peeing where he wills, 'cause his pants are dry, and, by this point, I'm convinced it is not Elisabeth. After yesterday, can you blame me? Then he starts saying, "I tricked you. I tricked you."  And, I'm thinking, "some trick, peeing all over the place."  I am so dismayed that I haven't even gotten to angry.  As I start to get serious about discussing another potty incident, I notice him motioning to the watering can that I had used to water the plants and again saying, "I tricked you" with a smile.  As I look in the now empty watering can, it dawns on me - I have a practical joker on my hands.  (Sigh) (Smirk with eye roll)

Dirty Jobs: Motherhood

If Mike Row has not hosted a Dirty Jobs episode on motherhood, he really should. I don't know how many times I have had to deal with poop and puke, and, no doubt, any mom would say the same.
Today, was another one of those times.  I took the kids to Lake Crabtree County Park to picnic and walk. While we were at the playground, Jonah chose to poop in his britches. I say chose, because he is completely potty trained and there was absolutely no excuse. While I do not want to read into it and think the worst, it did "seem" like he did not want to be there (it was hot and he doesn't like being all sweaty) and decided to force a departure. So I made him walk (you know that awkward I've got poop in my pants penguin walk) over to the restroom. Well, he makes those messes but still needs my help to clean it up. I did make him participate which is a hard choice for me because it just prolongs the situation (the bathrooms were very hot and stuffy), but it needs to be an inconvenience to him so that he thinks about that the next time he considers making a decision like that. So I found myself rinsing out underwear in the toilet and cleaning him up. This is not how I prefer to spend my afternoon, particularly when there is no excuse. I took us back over to the playground despite the fact that I was sweating profusely and ready to go. Elisabeth still wanted to play and I did not want to punish her for his poor choices. They ended up playing for quite a while. The consequences of his choice was that we would not be playing with playdough today, which is his favorite thing. Hopefully, he'll make better choices tomorrow and get to play with playdough.

Elisabeth's 2nd Birthday Party

Many of our friends were able to stop by Elisabeth's party and help us celebrate with Barney balloons, pizza, and, of course, cake. Happy Birthday my darling girl! You are a bringer of joy and beauty wherever you go.





Click here for more party pics!

Birthday Girl

Elisabeth is now two years old!  Grammie flew in for her birthday and we all went out to Red Robin for a special family dinner.  I took the camera, and I am so glad that I did.  Elisabeth laughed and had a grand time.  She made a myriad of expressions and loved on her grammie.  There are so many great pictures; I just can't choose a few.  So here is a slideshow of our evening.

Hatteras National Seashore

After a nice relaxing afternoon with friends at the beach, we headed north to Morehead City for the night and then, as my husband puts it, had a day of adventure (as opposed to a day of vacation) traveling up the Hatteras National Seashore. We got up and out early, drove to Cedar Point to catch the ferry ride to Ocracoke Island. Once on the island (the ferry ride is over two hours long), we took some lunch at the Jolly Roger Pub and Marina and then drove over to the Ocracoke Lighthouse which was undergoing renovation.

After an ice cream stop and a brief view of the Banker Ponies at the Ocracoke Pony Pens, we drove north to catch a much shorter and free ferry over to Hatteras Island.

On Hatteras Island, we drove by the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum making a note to visit there when we get a more extended stay in the area. We drove north to the Hatteras Lighthouse, the most famous of all the North Carolina Lighthouses as it shows up on state driver's licenses and automobile license plates.

There are height requirements for climbing to the top, so we sat and listened to a program on Blackbeard, the most infamous pirate who ever lived. I found it interesting that he braided slow burning fuses into his beard and would set them smoldering during his attacks to intimidate those he preyed upon.
We made it to Nags Head and decided to stop and picnic at Jockey's Ridge State Park before heading home. We hiked out onto the dunes and watched some hang gliders. For me, this was the highlight of the day.

An Afternoon at the Beach

Happy Birthday to Great Grandma Theresa

Father's Day 2010: Enter the LEGO

A few days after moving, I found myself at the local mall with the kids. As a reward for good behavior, I took Jonah to the LEGO Store with no particular goal in mind other than letting Jonah play with the LEGO's and looking in amazement at all the wonderful things you can build with LEGO these days. While in the store, it occurred to me that I hadn't thought of anything for Kelly for Father's Day which was fast approaching. With all the business of the move and getting settled, I was afraid I was going to forget completely about it until the day before and have nothing to give him. And that's when it occurred to me that I could get a LEGO set for him and it would be something he and Jonah could do together. As I considered which specific set to buy within my budget, I was torn between getting something more Jonah's speed or getting something I knew Kelly would like. Since it was Father's Day after all, I decided the later was the more prudent strategy. So I purchased the first lego set for our family - LEGO Star Wars Midi-Scale Millennium Falcon #7778. I did get a base plate and a grab bag of mixed legos for Jonah to play with should the completed Star Wars model become hands off. 

After the gift was given, while Kelly was following directions and building the set, he says to me, "You should try this; it's very relaxing." So the gift was a hit with both father and son.

We are happy to be entering a phase where the kids enjoy the same toys that we do. (smile)

Camping with the Carr's at Kerr Lake

Here it is the 4th of July and I'm just now posting about Memorial Day weekend. Oh well....

Despite an impending yard sale and move, we didn't want to spend the whole holiday weekend at home where there would be constant reminders that the dogs were gone. The weather forecast kept us from going on Friday night, but we did go on Saturday for one night. We made reservation for Kerr Lake State Recreation Area a couple of weeks before. We went with our friends, the Carr Family, who were camping for the first time with their baby boy. We had pretty scenery, great company, awesome weather, and access to swimming. We hope to go camping again soon.