The Difference Between You and Me

When I play with the camera, I

When Joseph plays with the camera, he performs a

It takes all kinds, right? :)

(I hope he doesn't mind me posting his 5:00 shadow and pearly whites....)

Go Buckeyes!!

Joseph and I went to the SHOE!

We attended our first (and, honestly, probably last) OSU football game in October. It was really fun -- the stadium is GINORMOUS, the fans are infectious and the marching band is AMAZING. And the football team was pretty good, too. :) There were a few LONG passes for touchdowns that were pretty exciting. And we won by a landslide. It was a little on the chilly side, but my smart husband had a blanket handy and enough cash to buy us some hot chocolate.

The kids stayed home with Aunt Heather, though they wanted to come and cheer on the buckeyes! This is Baby A's Halloween costume - she and I had nasty colds so we stayed home from the trunk-or-treat, but I dressed her up to take a picture anyway. Don't mind the spaghetti sauce on her cheeks. Just keepin' it real.

Projects Galore!

I decided to figure out how to bake bread. I have LOVED taking time off' from teaching piano lessons. And with K-girl in school all day I seem to get so much more done -- probably because my day starts at 7:00 instead of 9:00. I know, I'm still spoiled. Early morning seminary is going to kill me. ANYWAY - the bread. The bread is fabulous. Many thanks to Heidi & Tracey for the recipe!

We needed a place to sit in our bedroom, and I found one of those twin-sized bookshelf headboards on Craigslist for free. My handy brother was in town that weekend, and helped me saw off the bottom 3 feet -- after a little paint this is what I ended up with!

J-boy has his own room here -- I decided it was time for the girls to share. So I tried to figure out what J-boy's passionate about to help with the decorating. It's definitely dresss-up. Remember this?? So he needed a spot for his super-hero-ness. :)

And last but not least, I finally got tired of the kitchen table all scratched up and ugly. I think this one put me over the edge - I have an awful cold/fever/chills/ear drum explosion ick, and life is always a little miserable for everyone when mom is sick. I don't mean to be a big baby about it - I generally consider myself a tough it out kind of girl -- bring on the natural childbirth and all that. But I'm wallowing in misery. At least the table is black.

In a month or two I'm going to buy some new paint to re-paint the top -- it looks great in the picture, but it's not so great in person. But I'm tired, so it'll wait. And then eventually I'll take the sander to the edges and distress it a little. I figure if I wait my kids will do some natural distressing for me. :) Back to bed.

Apple picking

Two encounters with food at it's point of origin!! First the tomatoes and peppers, and now apples! Wow!

Heather and Ryan and L went with us to a nearby apple orchard a few weeks ago -- the apples were so amazingly good right off the tree. We picked Jonagolds and Golden Delicious, and got gloriously wet in the process. It was during an OSU football game (we're quite amazed at how the city comes to a complete stand still for football games!), so we had the place to ourselves for the most part. I think the getting wet just might have been the most fun. Although driving Sadie the Sienna through the muddy mess was pretty fun, too.

I loved it when K-girl asked me if she could eat a Silverjonny appleseed apple. :)

I also love that we get to do these fun things with my sister & her family! They are so much fun!

One last taste of summer...

I don't know what it is with me, but I have this need to let my pictures and memories age a little before I can commit to blogging them. Okay, I'm just a HORRIBLE PROCRASTINATOR and I'm either into the blog or out of the blog, and I guess the last month has been an out-of one. So I give you the end of September a month late.

My sweet dad insists that I have tomato plants. Last year I said "No tomatoes!" All I know how to do is rot the poor things. But Joseph brought home starts from a family at church (after I'd turned down an offer of starts from the same generous family a week earlier). I refuse to care for something that will rot. The little guys sat in their yogurt cups on my kitchen counter for weeks till dad came to visit. He rescued them and put them in big pots with lots of good soil and bid them grow.

This year was a little more of the same, but we had an actual patch of dirt to fill with tomato plants. Dad put in two little tomato starts, and they GREW! We got quite the tomato crop out of those two little plants. Our next door neighbor and land lady gave us some pepper plants, so we grew salsa this year. I had to buy the garlic and onions, but it was really quite amazing to eat something that grew right next to our back door. Thanks for the tomatoes, Dad!!! They were delicious!

J-boy got to play soccer this year - one of the awesome moms in our new circle of friends made her own little soccer league for 3-4-year-olds. She is a brave, patient woman. :) This was the last game & trophy ceremony. I love the picture on the bottom left - the kid on the bottom left corner is laying on top of the goal. It was kind of like wrestling-soccer. The coach had to call time-outs to remind the boys (and one girl) that hitting wasn't part of the game. J-boy had a great time, and adores his trophy.

It was a good summer.

K-lady turns SEVEN!

It's been a big couple of weeks for Ms. K! The week before school started we had a complete frenzy of activities -- squishing in all the last summer outings we possibly could. We visited a small local airport for a tour, we went to the zoo, we enjoyed picnic lunches in the park, & had one last summer visit to the Science Center. By the time the first day of school rolled around, I think we all breathed a sigh of relief that we could take a break from all the crazy fun and calm down into a normal routine.

K started first grade this year -- the first day of school was so exciting. She could hardly sleep the night before, and woke up around 6 am (school starts at 8:15, so that was a little early). She got ready & had extra time on her hands, so I painted her nails and we chit chatted for a while. My sister came over to stay with J-boy and Baby A so I could walk K into school without my usual menagerie tagging along (what a nice sister!). I knew K was a little anxious when I tried to share a little scripture with her before we left the house -- I read her a sweet little scripture about being able to call on God wherever and whenever, and told K that I knew it was true, and that God can help her at school or at home or anywhere she might be, she can just say a little prayer in her head and heart, and He'll hear her. K looked at me and said, "Mom. Idon'tcare. Let's go." Way to deflate my spiritual mom moment. :)

Then at school we parked the car and were walking towards the playground. My sweet girl reached up to hold my hand, then she let go quickly. Two steps later she reached up to hold my hand again, and quickly let go again, shaking her head and hand. Three times she did this! She was to wait on the playground with her class. The other kids ran around and played, laughing and shouting, but she was so somber and serious - standing uncertain at the cone labeled with her teachers' name. I tried to talk to her, but she gave me one word answers at best. I teared up at one point, thinking about how brave and scared she was, but put a stop to that as fast as I could - she would really detest me if I cried on the playground! :)

Once the uncertainties and unknowns of her new school went away, she settled happily into school. She was a bit grumpy and rude with me after school for the first week or so. I realized that she and I really only work together - we hardly ever play. I take her on outings and she has a good time, but that doesn't necessarily translate to, "Gee, mom took me to the zoo! I love mom!" Usually it ends up being more like, "Mom wouldn't let me get that 7 foot stuffed python at the zoo! She's so mean!" So we had a play date that Friday night - dinner, a movie, and scrapbooking. It was so nice to have a good positive time with her. She woke up the next morning, and the first thing she said was, "Mom, I had SO much fun last night!" That made up for the "Idon'tcare." :)

K's birthday was next on the calendar! K requested breakfast in bed (fruit loops, kiwi slices, fruit dip & pink milk), we took treats to school (lollipops), then we went to Red Robin for dinner and had Heather & Ryan & L over for cake and ice cream and presents. We didn't get to play too much after school because I needed to finish that silly cake! Grrr. But K made it worth it by coming into the kitchen at random times and sighing and fawning over it: "Mom, it's the most beautiful cake ever! I just love it!!!" :) She got a kid camera for her birthday, so you'll probably be seeing some original pics by K soon. She takes it every where and is very kind about sharing with J & A (on occasion). In the interest of my sanity, we've implemented a new party policy -- 'odd' years get a friend outing or sleep over, so K-lady had one friend spend the night last Friday - they had a grand old time and were only a little grumpy on Saturday. :)

Misc. K Facts:
Favorite color: turqoise
Favorite animal: puppies and cats
Favorite subject at school: recess
Favorite subject at home: Barbies, Polly's & Ponies, (but she has been known to play cars and super heroes to placate her brother)

The Good, The Bad, and....

The Good:
There is a beautiful Conservatory in our new city that has a free community night once a month! It's a beautiful place - gorgeous indoor gardens covering everything from the desert to the Himalayan mountains to the tropical rainforest. There's butterfly gardens, and there is currently a gorgeous collection of Dale Chihuly's beautiful glass art on display.

The Bad:
I dutifully printed out directions and thought I knew where I was going. But between freeway closures and detours and a complete lack of any sense of direction, it took me about 50 minutes to drive what google maps said was an 18 minute drive.
Also, I guess late August is not a good time for butterflies. The few we saw were all kind of dying.

The Ugly:
(You knew it was coming. Brace yourself.)
Due to our extended travel time, we arrive flustered and anxious. One of my children (who will remain nameless) needs to use the restroom. We unload, pack up the stroller and stride off to the building, thinking that if we can just find the front door.....
We can't find the front door. I'm too frazzeled to read the whole sign, so I just follow the arrows to the side entrance, which is locked and deserted. My child is about to wet his/her pants. In complete desperation I cast my eyes about, toss said child over the rail into the bushes and let him/her just pee in the bushes. Not a soul in sight. Dreadful, yes. But I felt it was better than wet britches.
Until the voice came over the intercom, saying, "Ma'm, that's not a bathroom."
Video cameras in the corners and an intercom so security detail can give me a lesson in proper waste disposal.
Oh, the mortification! Oh, the shame!

Just lovely. Er, I mean, Ugly.