Clearly, She Needed a Hero

More pictures from LittleMan's awesome Dinosaur birthday party to come, but I just had to share this one right away! It was pretty obvious that the Princess was going to be no help. LittleMan quickly put his new rescue vehicle into action when he recognized that Little Mermaid was in distress.

Halloween 2009

I decided that I wait too long hoping for the most clever ideas and titles and stories to blog about and in doing so, I don't share the everyday of our life. So here are the Halloween pictures from this year. We had the best Halloween ever! My sister, brother-in-law and sweet Baby Graham visited and we enjoyed a Pumpkin Patch, Carving Pumpkins and good ol' fashion Trick-or-Treating.

Things I loved most about Halloween 2009:

• PrincessGirl wanted to be a Princess
• LittleMan announced his Peanut Allergy to every person that answered the door. He said, "Twik or Tweet, No Nuts Pweese! Dey make my ear go bigger, bigger, bigger!"
• Baby Graham enjoyed his first Halloween as a little stinker in the cutest skunk costume that my sister made!
• Unka Alan got to carve his first pumpkin ever and he is almost 40 years old!
• DaddyMan enjoyed the holiday just as much as he always has - his goal is to always have the best candy and again, he did not disappoint!
• Baby Graham was so tuckered out from our big day that he fell asleep in the wagon during the Trick-or-Treat walk.
  
  

PrincessGirl, Baby Graham, LittleMan
My little Princess and Spider

The "No Nuts Please" Champ

Pretty Princess

Well, He Was Confused

Today while I was finishing up at school following Meet Your Teacher, DaddyMan finished up smoking the brisket that he had going AND making a delicious meat dish that I can't say the name of AND making tabouli AND cleaning up the whole kitchen from the mess AND appling another coat of wax to the new floors.

He went to put a load of clothes in the washer (I know you are lusting after him right now but stop it because that is wrong of you and because he is all mine!) at which point LittleMan said to DaddyMan,

"Hey, You are not The Mommy!"

Confused, indeed.

PS - I have a feeling that tomorrow I will post about the first day of first grade, but after that, how about a few pictures of the new floors? Yes, you say? Well stay tuned.

I got Wii-ed!

This is why they have that warning about attaching the safety strap to your wrist.

It only takes one day and twelve hundred dollars

So all summer I've been working with LittleMan on using the potty.

These are things we tried with absolutely zero success:

• allowing LittleMan to pick out awesome underwear
• giving up the Pull Ups and going in underwear
• going naked
• going to the potty every 7 minutes
• moving the potty to the living room
• trying to sink Cheerios
• talking about how big boys use the toilet

In addition to this, LittleMan spent an entire day talking about one of his girlfriend's (Shout out, Margaret!) panties! (I feel compelled to tell you that LittleMan never saw Margaret's panties, but that did not stop him from speaking about them for the better part of a random Tuesday.)

Despite all of my efforts, there were no results! None, nadda, nothing.

Well, Monday I dropped him off for his first day back at daycare.

When I called to check on him that afternoon, I was told that he had an "accident" at nap time.

Honestly, I thought he may have punched someone, got his finger stuck in something, twisted himself up in his Lightning McQueen blanket, etc. so I asked what happened. His sweet little teacher said, "Well we couldn't get him to use the toilet before nap, so he woke up with a wet PullUp."

What?

Was that the first time he had a wet PullUp?

He used the toilet?

You mean, he actually peed in the toiled, not just went in there and looked at it?

I have to tell you the questions raced through my head like no body's business! I was confused. I was amazed. I was in awe. I have to be honest here and tell you, I was a little bit angry.

Apparently he used the toilet twice that morning, had previously mentioned nap time accident and used the toilet again in the afternoon.

That's right people, write your check and drop your kid off. In just one day, there will be toilet success!

(Disclaimer: Actual amount of check did include sister's tuition for 3 weeks as well. Just in case you were thinking that I was smoking crack or had hit the lottery or was taking my child to some obscenely overpriced DayCare facility just so they would teach him to use the toilet in one hour... however there was a point in the summer when I had loaded the washer with 7 pairs of wet football, soccer and basketball underwear and mopped up 3 puddles of pee where I might have actually considered an overpriced solution to the toilet woes we were experiencing!)

Just keepin' it real people, just keepin' it real!

Heard Around These Here Parts

So recent days have been full of activity, hard work, and some funny stuff. I like this little blog because I am in charge here and can say what I want. With that said, I feel compelled to tell you that my sister has called me (lovingly, I'm sure) "The Embellisher" on 3 or 73 occasions. This may be because sometimes I like to add flowery details to my stories that may or may not be actually what happened in effort to make the audience more interested in what I am saying. But friends, what you are about to read, it is true. Not embellished. At all. Real life stuff.

Picture DaddyMan and I working on something in the kitchen while PrincessGirl and LittleMan were playing outside. The back door was open. Suddenly, DaddyMan hollers, "PrincessGirl, STOP HITTING YOUR BROTHER ON THE HEAD WITH THAT PINATA STICK RIGHT NOW!" This is followed by her going to time out for the longest time I've ever witnessed (except for when we forgot she was in time out) and a lengthy discussion about how the heads of real live people are NEVER filled with candy and prizes and how regardless of how hard you hit them on top of the head, the most interesting thing that will come out is guts and bloody.

Picture TheMommy awakened by a distant cry that seems to be getting closer and sounds like LittleMan but even in TheMommy's slumbered stupor, she knows LittleMan's crying could not be getting closer because he cannot open his bedroom door by himself. Imagine the darkness of 4 AM and the cry of a traumatized 2 1/2 year old boy that has learned to open his bedroom door just this very moment as he says, "My dyinks come out ob my mouf, my messy all ober my bed." Because of the smell that accompanied LittleMan, aforementioned slumbered stupor did not keep TheMommy from realizing that LittleMan had thrown up for the first time. A lot. Of Chicken Express. And Sweet Tea. And Marshmallows. Don't judge, it was the 4th or by this time 5th of July.

Well we are back in our house after the Great And Only Floor Replacement That Will Ever Take Place Ever and I intend to post some pictures of the process and the beautiful finished product real soon.

That "real soon" part above may actually be embellished a little bit or even a lot.

More Flags, More Fun For Sure

Summer Vacation Day 1
I cooked up this awesome plan for my first day of summer vacation. I decided that since LittleMan could go to Daycare for the final day, it would be a perfect day for PrincessGirl and I to go to 6 Flags. After all, if I was going to make her into a roller coaster lover, I'd better get started. I measured her height to make sure we weren't going to be stuck in Looney Toon Land all day and sure enough, she was tall enough to take on some of the fun coasters that I have grown up loving.

We dropped LittleMan off at daycare and hit the park. We were there when it opened and got our party started. When we first went to scan our tickets, we learned that PrincessGirl's free ticket was not good until June 15, she looked at me and said, "We're not going home are we?" and I bought her a ticket. We get our bag checked and learn that we will not be allowed to take our aerosol sunscreen into the park so we hosed off really well and "checked" our sunscreen.

Let the rides begin: We rode El Sombrero, Conquistador and then a test, would she be tall enough for the La Vibora (aka: Bob Sled). Sure enough, she meets the height requirement and loved it. At this point, I realize she cannot be stopped. We travel through the park riding everything we come in contact with. PrincessGirl is brave and is having the time of her life. There are no lines, the weather is really nice - it is a perfect day.

I had to make her take a break to eat lunch. She inhaled half of a corn dog and some fries before telling me to hurry up so we could go ride some more stuff. On Tony Hawk's Big Spin, PrincessGirl exclaimed, "I'M DROOLING!" and when asked if she was ok she said, "THIS IS AWESOME!" I took that as a yes.

As our day came to an end, we decided that we would get a Popsicle and make our way to the Judge Roy Scream. When we got to the front of the line, I discovered that my little Brighton change purse that had been in my pocket all day was not there. I was crushed! It contained my ID, my Bank of America Check Card and about $100. I quickly send DaddyMan a text asking him to cancel the card and PrincessGirl and I made our way to Lost and Found with desperate hopes that the little change purse had been turned in. It was not there, but the security person offered to phone the ride where I thought I lost it. I remembered it being in my pocket on the Roaring Rapids. She phoned the ride and it had indeed been turned in there. She sent an officer to the ride to get it and would you believe that everything was in there? That was almost as thrilling as taking my little girl on her first roller coaster.

It was a great day and I'm so glad that we spent some time enjoying girl day at 6 Flags.

I love you, Summer Vacation!

Adventure, Discovery, and a Call to Arms!

Hi there. DaddyMan back for another guest post.

So, we went camping this weekend. Yep, we went camping last weekend too. We would go camping again next weekend, but that is Memorial Day and things tend to get too crowded for our taste so we have snobbily labeled all major Spring-Summer-Fall holidays as "amateur weekends". The real truth is that we would love to go, but are afraid to commit and reserve as far in advance as those require. But, I digress as I will often through this excessively lengthy post.

You see, Wife and I are campers. We are really good campers. We graduated to pro status before the children were even born. We are trailer campers now and have been ever since that wind and hail storm around Quanah when we were leaving the camp and stuff behind at 0230 and Wife said that she would never sleep in a tent again.

I am thinking of obtaining a sponsor now that we are professionals. Some times, I actually believe that I could win at least the North American camping championship if not the World title. I know that the tournaments are fierce, but I could be a contender.

I picture myself in Tiger Woods fashion with the announcer in the background...

"The crowd goes silent as A dreary and bleary eyed DaddyMan has just exited the camper wearing yesterday's shorts and flops. It appears that he is scratching a mosquito bite on his Shamu white belly and just stumbled on a pebble as he has forgotten to put on his glasses with all the pressure this morning. Wait... It appears that he has just discovered a piece of chicken from last night's spectacular meal still stuck in his two day stubble. "Right you are Bob, and how delicious that memory is..." Looks like he is headed to the cooler... "Bob, what do you think his choice will be? Milk, water, what else could be in there?" OHHHH! Looks like a Diet Coke and a Dr. Pepper!!! Wife must not be going for coffee this morning and the kids must not be awake yet!"

Anyhoo, that continues for a while, but I will not.

The point to my professional career - whoops excuse me again. I know what you are thinking. You think that the "Park Hosts" are the professional campers. You would be wrong. Those guys are simply the R&D team for the professional campers. You seldom see the pro teams out like that. Their schedules are much too busy. It's much like rodeo and Nascar. They have to fly from campsite to campsite and make appearances at All~Mart and Camping World. Most of the time their sites are stocked and ready to go via their "camp crew". Camp Crew Chief is not a bad gig either, but I think there are some genetic qualifications involved.

The point to my professional career, or rather the thing that is keeping me back is that I am seriously too much of a weenie to camp without my A/C. I'll give my sweat and blood for camping the other 16 hours of the day, but for my solid 8, I am sleeping at 70 degrees or less. I firmly believe that if I am as good a camper as I think I am, I should be able to get sponsored by someone with thermo in their name. Or... Maybe... an electricity company. OK, now I'm thinking.

OK, so all of that you just read? That was the preamble. Told you before there were a lot of words coming...

Now you know we are campers and that we went camping. Let me tell you about that part. We went to Lake Arrowhead State Park. I can sum it up like this. It has all the snakes, ants, spiders, and mosquitoes of Caddo Lake (on the LA (that's Louisiana for our big city friends) border) with none of those pesky tall trees, swamp, and shade that usually accompany such camping delicacies Not to bad-talk, it has coyotes, armadillos, beavers, racoons, beautiful flowers, and PrincessGirl added 5 new birds to her checklist. None of the sites are close to water (not always a bad thing), none of the sites are bad, none are spectacular (no need to always wish for that perfect site)!, and an official prarie dog town - bonus points. I really like the wagon wheel layout as it makes it seem less crowded. Lake Arrowhead facility & trail map The fishing looked awesome as people were pulling in cats, nice blacks, and good crappie stringers. The fishing piers are super nice and packed daily. Ditto the boat ramps. The swimming beach was adequate, and the facilities (a.k.a. poop house) were really nice.

Griffin got his first really good and bloody skinned knee and breath knock-out, Wife got bitten or rubbed against something (bug or bush of doom respectively) ferocious as she had a blister the size of Puerto Rico on her shoulder, I got a splinter a full 1.5" long on my arse. THAT is what makes the memories. I am sad that Karsen doesn't have any really good memories from the trip, but enlighted by the fact that she does not have a face-scar from it.

The point of this trip was a maintenance trip. Lesson/Tip #1 - Even in N Texas you need to winterize. I blew a faucet and cracked a second toilet valve. So we fixed all of that and cleaned up some other stuff. READY for the 2009 season!

I am getting to the meat (no pun intended) of this post so here we go. We have a camper with a three burner stove, an oven, a ceramic toilet and a microwave. There was no reason for us to learn how to cook "out of doors" because it is like our house in there. Call to arms #1. Dude, if you have ever camped, ever cooked, ever eaten anything out of doors - you owe it to yourself, your family, and Lewis and Clark to take a C-note down to the All~Mart, Dick's Sporting Goods, Bass Pro, or Cabella's and purchase your weight in cast iron. A little history with which to tempt you with is that the only manufactured goods returning with Lewis and Clark were their guns and their cast iron pots.

There are two items I am about to reveal. First and foremost is the 12" 6 Qt dutch oven. - the one with the legs and rim on the lid Second is the pie iron. Both are loved by our friends the Willis', but with which we were unfamiliar in a camp like setting. I tell you now friends and people, go and get yourself some of these. Do not wait as after this post I am sure they will sell out WORLDWIDE. While you are there, get an official charcoal starter - it seems like an extravagance, but is worth its weight in gold. Everything else you can make due.

Time is up, here is the hard hitting truth. It might be a good idea to practice on canned biscuits, but you do not have to. Take your pre-seasoned dutch oven out of the box and make this . There is nothing else needed. You WILL be SOLD from this one recipe alone.

So that night, we built a fire. A big roaring fire. Karsen built the perfect one match fire. I asked her where she learned it and she said from the book we read her. I have no idea what she is talking about, but I would like to listen to that book as it was an amazing one match fire. I could have started it with the spark from our fire starter it was that good.

Our take for supper was fajitas. So fajita meat, the accutriments, and tortillas. Pile these in a pie iron and cook over fire. Now that is delicious, amazing, and wonderous! For some reason, the bread works even better - more later.

For the next trick, I call on "pudgie pie". There is no link, because everyone thinks theirs is the original - no exception taken. I remembered someone's choice for butter bread on outside, spread peanut buter inside, add chocolate and marshmallow and cook. I am not sure what happens inside of that cast iron clam shell, but this thing is something like a cross between smores and smack. The bread turns into amazing deliciousness instead of just toasted bread. I do not know how to describe. It is too decadent to even speak of outside of that mysterious camping world. I am just saying that pie irons are something I am seriously remiss that I have not owned for nearly 40 years. It's just something you have to see for yourself.

OK, back to the dutch oven. The pizza cleaned up in a breeze. Easier than bacon grease and egg smut on my indoors pans. This morning I whipped up a German Pancake. I cannot tell you what this is - we didn't know and still don't. I cannot discribe it without pictures of which I have none. I can only tell you WOW! You must experience it yourself. The cooking and the enjoyment are things that I want you to experience for yourself and do not want to ruin the surprise. I will recommend that you put a skillet of bacon on top of the pancake to cook.

Again, the clean-up is easier than from a burrito breakfast. Even cooked eggs fall off of well-seasoned cast iron.

The prelogue is long, the body is longer, the ending is short. So may it be. This weekend I realize that we are not the ultimate campers. But at least we now have the tools to become so - watch out pros. We are coming for you!

I urge you. Go! Now! Go for your sake, go for food's sake, go in rememberance of Lewis and Clark and all the delicious Oppossum stew they may have enjoyed!

PS. Can anyone identify this? It was delicious and buttery, but I have been feeling a little odd since the mushroom burger.

I Wish I Didn't Know

I have this problem.

It is probably not worth blogging about, but still, this my blog and I'm pretty much in charge here, so there.

The problem is with a certain discount big box retailer that has these United States by the um... tail. And, so that my family is not put on some sort of "watch" list for mentioning this problem right here on the world wide web, said big box retail store shall be referred to as "All~Mart" for the remainder of this post.

You see, there are pretty much three categories of people; those that love All~Mart, those that hate All~Mart and those that hate All~Mart but have no choice but to shop there. Until today, I could only understand categories two and three.

The reason I could only identify with the haters was because I had never been to a pretty All~Mart. The All~Mart in my home town is not pretty. The All~Mart where I went to college is not pretty. The All~Marts in my favorite 3 beach towns are not pretty. The All~Mart in my favorite mountain town is not pretty. And, you may have guessed this by now, forgive the redundancy, please sir, the All~Mart near my modest home is not pretty.

Today, I was feeling kinda feisty and wanted to expand my horizons and those of my children, so we went to a different All~Mart. Please don't be jealous, everyone must have cultural experiences. We traveled to an area that I had heard tell of. It was a land where a pretty All~Mart supposedly stood. And I feel it I owe it to my readers to inform you both, it is absolutely true.

The parking lot was not littered with used diapers, wayward shopping carts or fast food bags full of left over, discarded greasy boxes.

The greeter was friendly and offered both PrincessGirl and LittleMan a bright yellow sticker. The shopping carts seemed to each have four working wheels and one working seat belt.

I had a return to make so I had the privilege of being promptly served with a smile at the customer service counter.

The products were of a slightly higher quality than those of the not pretty All~Marts I was accustomed to. The displays were all neat and orderly.

My children seemed to sit up a bit straighter and did not yell at one another or grab at shirts from the rounders. Speaking of the rounders, I witnessed an associate hanging and organizing the garments in the ladies department.

I was greeted in a friendly manner by the check out lady and upon our exit PrincessGirl and LittleMan both earned another yellow sticker.

You may be thinking, what is the problem? You may be thinking, where is this All~Mart of which she blogs? You may be thinking, she has lost her mind, surely she is not speaking of an actual All~Mart but rather one she dreamt about last night.

I am telling you the truth.

And now the problem.

The pretty All~Mart is not in my neighborhood. It is not even in a neighborhood that I'm likely to ever live in. I drove around one neighborhood when we left the All~Mart because I was seriously thinking about moving so I could be closer to this All~Mart. You see this All~Mart is surrounded by homes that are almost one million dollars.

Dear Mr. All~Mart Store Location Decision Maker,
I am speaking on behalf of my middle class self and three or seven of my middle class friends when I ask you to please consider putting one of your pretty All~Mart stores in our middle class neighborhood. We promise to return all shopping carts to the shopping cart stalls, not throw out our dirty diapers in the parking lot and never allow our children to heelly skate around on your pretty All~Mart faux wood floors. We will take care of a pretty All~Mart if you will do us the honor of putting one near by. I can assure you that if you trust us with a pretty All~Mart, we will do our part to rid this nation of all All~Mart hate.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
The Mommy

It's good to have goals!

I talk a lot to PrincessGirl. She has a lot of questions about certain things. I try to be as honest with her as is age appropriate. She is very interested in the price of things lately. For instance, the other day, she asked me how much my car cost. "Did it cost $1, Mommy?" Nope, more than one. Not sure she would really understand values much beyond those she could count (100 is her highest), I told her my car cost 30 dollars. Thinking that in her perspective, 30 would be a lot. She then asked me why I wasted so much money on our crashed up car. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this.

PrincessGirl loves little prizes. (Go with me, I'm going to tie all this together soon.) When we go to Target, she gets to pick a little prize out of that $1 section. I was beginning to suspect that she was spoiled or a little ungrateful because she had grown to expect a prize anytime we went somewhere. So the other day when she asked for a little prize, I asked her if she had any money. She looked at like me like I was crazy and said no. I reminded her she had a bank full of money at home. I went on to tell PrincessGirl that if she wanted that toy, I'd buy it for her, but she would have to pay me out of her bank when we got home. I was just going to have her give me 3 quarters. I figured that was fair because it was like trading for a Sonic Dr. Pepper during HappyHour.

Again, PrincessGirl looked at me like I was crazy. (Maybe that is what we ought to work on instead of gratefulness.)

She proceeded to tell me that the money in her bank at home is for her to buy a Slugbug when she is a grown up girl. She may have $37 in that bank. Working with the information she has, (Mommy's car costs 30), it looks like she'll have enough to drive her Slugbug through Sonic, pick up a drink and get a little prize or two at Target. It is good to have goals.

In these uncertain economic times

Dear Mr./Ms. Manufacturer of Discount Products,

My family is trying to make some cut backs in the household budget and we have decided to try some of your products that you present to the average American consumer as quality choices that are equal to the name brands that we love with a smaller price tag.

We have experienced success with the following products:

We have saved some money and it has been nice.

We have experienced a few problems that I'd like to bring to your attention.

Your discount diapers are a joke. I will admit that I have been a diaper snob for the last six years. I have used the two main national brands buying the one that was on sale at the time. But I avoided your discount diapers because there was no way I was taking a chance with the problems that could come from one of your diapers not living up to your claims of being just as good as the name brand guys.

But in these uncertain economic times, I was willing to take a chance because I like the feeling of the savings and this particular product could mean a savings of about $8 per week.

Know what I got from taking this chance? I got to change the sheet on LittleMan's bed 3 mornings in a row. I got to wash a couple pair of shorts that were, let's just say, "soiled". And the last straw was when I got buy $8 worth of diaper cream for the rash on LittleMan's bottom.

And one thing I know for certain is that even in these uncertain economic times, the one thing I simply can't afford is discount diapers.

So there!

PS - I heard on the radio today that President Obama is calling for his cabinet to shave 100 million dollars from the national budget. I also heard that this would be like a family that makes $100,000 per year saving $3. So for the record, I'm doing my part just by buying the discount waffles and face scrub.

My Beautiful Life

Is my life an episode of Last Comic Standing?

One of LittleMan's favorite things to say is, "Is dat funny?"
He will throw a ball and say, "Is dat funny?"
He'll let jello slip out of his mouth and say, "Is dat funny?"
He'll run real fast and crash into the sofa and say, "Is dat funny?"
He really wants for us to think he is funny and he's willing to try anything to get a laugh.

PrincessGirl likes to tell the knock knock jokes. She used to say ding dong instead of knock knock but since starting kindergarten, she has embraced the classic presentation. Also, she has expanded her joke repertoire. You see, before kindergarten she had but one knock knock joke. It went like this...

Knock, knock!
Whose there?
Carrot...
Carrot who?
YOU!

This little exchange was followed with great laughter on the part of PrincessGirl but the recipient of the joke was just left with a confused look on her face.

Today is a new day. She has a new knock knock joke. She told it today on our way to Furr's Cafeteria after church. It went like this...

Knock, knock!
Whose there?
A pig who jumped and threw a ball at his baby brother's head.
A pig who jumped and threw a ball at his baby brother's head who?
All the pigs in the whole barnyard!

This was followed by LOTS of laughter and PrincessGirl saying, "Now that's a funny knock knock joke!"

LittleMan said, "Is dat funny?"

We all said yes!

You see, it is all laughs around here.

Thanks Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick

Let me set the stage by telling you that my Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick somehow come up with the most WONDERFUL Christmas presents ever! A couple of years ago, Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick (AKA: The Greats) gave PrincessGirl a Subway backpack.

PrincessGirl loves it - still. I can't tell you how many plastic sandwiches she has prepared over the years. Garage Sale after Garage Sale, the SubWay backpack has not only survived but it has been uttered at least four times, "Mommy, that is my best backpack in the world because you can see all the plastic yummy thru the plastic backpack!"

Well this year, The Greats came thru with what I was sure would replace the SubWay backpack. People, may I present the Hamster Ball?

PrincessGirl and LittleMan were instantly in love with their hamster balls. DaddyMan and I were amused by their entertainment. It was NUTS! Our kids carried those hamster balls everywhere. Grocery store, hamster ball. McDonalds, hamster ball. Target, hamster ball. Church, well, you get the picture. That is until the batteries died. We are fairly sure they cannot be replaced. The hamster balls were replaced with other toys and we thought we had seen the last of them. About 3 weeks ago, the dead hamster balls reappeared. Mind you, they are dead - no batteries - just laying there in the balls.

I was so taken by the kids love for the Hamster Balls that I actually suggested that we look into getting real actual live hamsters. DaddyMan began what DaddyMan always does when we are considering a purchase, he hit google. It was promptly (about 3 hours and 300,000 links later) it was determined that gerbils would be better for our family. And so that is the long version of how Samson and Delilah (both male for all friends of Bob Barker) came to live in our house.

We have slowly introduced Samson and Delilah to the gerbil ball. We all sit in the hallway on the tile and watch the little guys go! Occasionally, one of them will poop. Occasionally the poop will come out of the ball and cause me to bring out the bleach. Tonight was one of those nights when one gerbil pooped and the poop came out of the ball. I didn't jump up and get the bleach right away because it was down the hall from us. PrincessGirl and LittleMan were sitting in the hallway watching the gerbils and eating Nerds candy. We were all laughing. It was a blast!

But then LittleMan reached over and picked up what looked like a little gerbil poop off the floor and quickly put it in his mouth. I threw up a little bit in my mouth before DaddyMan could tell me it was only a Nerd not a poop.

Thanks Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick. I'm going to go brush my teeth, oh, and bleach the floor.

Yo Quiero Un Libro En Espanol, Por Favor

So the kindergarten students participate in this wonderful program called "Love Me, Read To Me" where each day they bring home a book for parents to read and record on a reading log with a goal of 100 books by the time the kindergarten program rolls around in early April.

PrincessGirl was absent one day this week due to illness so today she had the privilege of bringing home two books. One was titled Jessica by Keven Henkes.

The other was titled Vamos a leer sobre...George Washington.

Imagine my surprise as we got all cozy in PrincessGirl's lime green jersey knit sheets surrounded by her favorite stuffed friends and I pulled out a 30 page non-fiction literary treasure about our nation's first president written in Espanol.

That's not even the best part. Here's how the conversation went:

Mommy - PrincessGirl, why did you chose this book in Spanish?

PG - Well we're not really supposed to bring home a book in Spanish unless our parents send a note. But I wanted to read about our first president.

Mommy - Well, I don't think I sent a note requesting el libro Espanol.

PG - We probably shouldn't tell Mrs. Incredible.

Mommy - Oh! If I read you this book in Spanish, we are writing it down!

PG - Well, maybe you can just send a note and then I won't have to be sneaky.

Mommy - I don't think that's gonna happen!

So just in case any of you were wondering, El 30 de abril de 1789 George Washington se convirtio en el primer Presidente de los Estados Unidos.

And if Mrs. Incredible happens to read this, I did record the libro. It is number 97.

Because it is a shame that I have not let my readers know...

I can't believe that I have not updated my readers (both of them) on things of importance in our home. I know your finger must be blistered and tired from hitting the refresh button all those times in hopes of a news flash on the Salyards Blaaugh. So I aim to entertain you at this point with a list of things that have happened around here lately.

1. My parents came to visit at a time when I needed them both so much and didn't even know it. LittleMan had a pretty bad few days and it all seemed to have come to a head when the 6 of us ventured out for some flap jacks and chicks in a basket at Cracker Barrel. Who gets angry at Cracker Barrel? There's the fire place, those golf tee games, the pancakes, seasonal sweaters and rocking chairs, how could anyone get angry. But he did! Boy, did he! (This is such a big deal that I think it might even make my dad leave a comment.)
   
2. I had another wreck, this time the victim was a parked car. I'm thinking of putting a cow catcher on the front of the minivan. That wouldn't be ugly, would it? My parents were going to go home but I met them at HobbyLobby and shed a few tears and asked them to stay one more night because I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And they said yes and my dad mixed me a drink in the back of his truck and my mom bought me something really nice! Those two, they are people that know what I need, when I need it! I do love them both so!
   
3. We painted our bedroom (last room of the house to get a change from "builder beige" which the house came with) and put our pretty bedding on our bed and hung our new drapes and I feel like a princess when I crawl into bed now - amazingly beautiful. (Thanks mom and dad for the bedding you gave us for Christmas and mirror - see above where my mom bought me something really nice).
4. Our floors are still not done, but we feel we are making great progress with the insurance company and the builder/tile/thin set people. Meanwhile, both children know that if a toy goes too far into the kitchen, they must stop and go put on shoes before venturing onto the broken up tiles that shift beneath their feet to retrieve said stray toy.
5. PrincessGirl has luck almost as good as her mom's if you call 2 wrecks in 6 weeks and getting the Chicken Pox twice after having the vaccine good luck.
6. Our pastor at our new church just started a series called "Dare to Love" and the kick off was the movie Fireproof. If you haven't seen it call me and I'll loan you our DVD (we bought it because we could not go to the church to watch it with everyone else because they frown on bringing your child to church child care with the Chicken Pox) because if you are married or know someone who is married, you oughta watch it.
7. PrincessGirl lost her first tooth. The tooth fairy brought her two "golden dollars" for the first tooth. I think the Tooth Fairy better take it easy cause I did some counting in PrincessGirl's mouth the other day and at that rate, the Tooth Fairy could drop $40 under PrincessGirl's pillow in the coming years. And to me, a worn out, bloody, tiny, little ol' tooth just doesn't seem like it is worth two golden dollars. But I shouldn't judge. I've been known to drop five golden dollars on a cup of coffee.
   
8. LittleMan is learning to be sweeter every day and we are reading about and praying about shaping his will without crushing it. Next time you see him, ask him to give you a "kiss so nice". It will warm your heart and make you smile.
   
9. I feel like God has put it on my heart to read the Bible all the way through. I am reading The NIV Chronological Bible. I intend to compose an entire post about this subject and want to keep you all (and by all, again, I mean both) updated on my progress.

That is all for now because sometimes I like to leave a list of 9 things just because you might be expecting 10 and guess what people? Every once in a while, we need to shake things up, that's what!

*Disclaimer for those of you that think it is fun to edit my posts: The run-on sentences in this post are there to incorporate the writing trait of voice. I believe it is clever and gets my rambling point across clearly when the run-on is used intentionally. Thank you and good night.

If you noticed, why didn't you tell me?

So I decided that I wanted a new look for the ol' blog for the new year. I looked through some of my picture files and found one from our many outings to see fire works over the Fourth of July holiday. I loved it that my kids looked so sweet together and my husband looked so happy.


Look closer!


Did you notice that my kids were both looking off...in a rather embarrassed way?


Did you notice that my husband looked really happy???


Did you notice the reflection of what my husband was looking at in his glasses?

Happy 4th of July, y'all. Do join us for the festivities next year, ok?

How to know if it is "Uummm Uummm Good!"

So today at school, I overheard someone in the main office talking about Chicken~n~Dumplins and I immediately knew what the Salyards family would be having for dinner. You see, my mom makes some of the best Chicken~n~Dumplins I have ever tasted and it is WAY easy. I made her recipe even easier tonight. My mouth was watering as I smelled the pot of delicious bubblin (I'm leavin out the g in ing on purpose cause I type like I think/talk and right now thinkin and typin about the dumplins, I'm thinkin I don't need no g's)on my stove top. I knew it was gonna be good y'all. Read that sentence with your best Paula Deen voice.

Well, we sat down to dinner and Kindergarten PrincessGirl who only takes cheese sandwiches or purchases grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch promptly asked if she could take some of that yummy stuff in her lunch box tomorrow.

That, my friends, is how you know your dumplins are Uummm Uummm Good!

Want to make some for your family? Here's what you do:
Go to SuperTarget.
Get a roasted chicken, some 2-3 cans chicken stock, and 2-3 cans of biscuts.
Go home.
Pour chicken stock in your big soup pot and bring it to a boil.
While it is getting hot, cut your biscuts into quarters.
Drop biscut pieces into the boiling goodness. Biscuts will begin to get puffy.
While this is happening, cut up the chicken (this is where I cheated, Cookie usually boils her chicken or at least chicken breasts.)
Add the chicken to the pot.
Put in some thyme, cracked pepper and a couple of bay leaves.
When it looks good to you, eat it!

Happy New Year, Y'all!