I finished the socks I've been knitting! How flippin cool am I?  Okay, so the yarn was self-striping, I don't get that credit.  But everything else was all me.  I followed the pattern on this website, which also has a handy dandy photo tutorial as well.  So like when I wasn't getting how to do the heel part, I could refer to the pictures. 

I am slightly irked - I goofed on the last two stitches, so the seam is a little knobby at the very end.  But all in all, really great for a first timer who had almost no help (I say almost, as the preschool director who also runs a morning knitting group helped me figure out how to use the double pointed needles.  To which I'm eternally grateful!)

Here they are, laid out on my laptop, and then on my teeny little feet!  I have to say, they're very warm and cushy. 

Friday, September 26, 2008 10:04:04 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Behind the Thumb...

Dear Mama...can you get me a sandbox please?  I only have a pile of dirt to dig in.

The day we discovered why we kept going through a loaf of bread a day - what you don't see is after that, she feeds it to the dog.  Her expression is one of "What?  You mean I'm not supposed to be doing this?"

And a shot of the butterfly Maura caught today.  In the butterfly net.  When she was actually chasing butterflies. Sean and I were impressed.  After this picture, we gently let the butterfly go free and he flew along his merry way.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:48:46 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Last year, I tried growning tomatoes.  It did work, but I didn't like them where I had them.  This year, I cleared out the area and planted petunias the kids gave me for Mother's Day and some alyssum (the little white flowers.)  My thought was that it would be a nice way to walk up to the side door.  Since I planted alyssum seeds, I didn't want to pull budding plants.  So waited a bit to weed it.  And discovered a few weeks later that I had petunias, alyssum, and tomato plants.  Oh, and weeds.  Definitely weeds. 

I decided "Oh what the heck, let's see what happens." and left the tomato plants.

Lo and behold - I now have several green tomatoes.  So I eased the poor neglected plants into tomato stands.  I'm hoping the tomatoes ripen nicely, and then I can make salsa to can with homegrown tomatoes!  It is amazing that anything survives in those planter boxes.  I neglect them horribly and the soil isn't great.  I'm hoping to improve that with my compost. 

Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:42:37 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

I snapped this picture of Maura on the 4th.  Such a pretty girl!

Monday, July 07, 2008 8:42:32 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

So, in case you thought I was whining for no good reason in the post about our home improvement fun, here are some pictures...

We had to remove the old closet...the kids loved this part -

This doesn't even show all the layers of wallpaper we were dealing with.  But it does show how the old plaster was coming off...

And the ceiling tiles that had to go away...

The kids were all excited about getting to do more demolition - Josh got them each a dust mask and protective eye wear.  Safety first!

Maura watched the proceedings from outside, in the fresh air.

Miriam of course helped out.  And note that we did get the old green carpet out too.  It's ironic to think all this happened because we didn't want that stupid carpeting anymore...

And finally, drywall!

The boys helped out a lot with the walls.  Special thanks to Josh's very tall friend Dave and our neighbor Aaron with all the cool tools, who helped out with the ceiling. 

Now all I have to do is tape and mud and prime and paint...and then maybe, fnally, possibly, we can put down floors?

Monday, July 07, 2008 8:40:35 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

You may not fly the new hamster cage around even though it does sort of look like a space craft.

Monday, July 07, 2008 6:12:43 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Sean and Mim were outside and I went out to check on them.  I told Collin to keep an eye on Maura, who was watching Spongebob and therefore, not really going anywhere.

Chatted with my neighbors for a bit, shooed kids inside for dinner.  Maura met me at the door....where I noticed she had something tied around her waist.

Collin decided to put a "tracking device" on her - aka some of the spy gear Sean was playing with today.  He tied it on with some holiday garland, which I'd been making fun little headwear for the girls with.  Since he didn't have scissors, she had it trailing behind her.

In a sense, it was quite ingenious.  All he had to do was push a button and she'd start beeping.  But I don't think he's quite up to actually babysitting her yet....

And for the record, she thought it was great.  A fun accessory that made noise.  As the second picture shows, it made her giggle. tee hee!

Monday, June 23, 2008 10:57:55 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Here she is, all big girl at school this morning.

Monday, May 19, 2008 9:34:39 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

That's a three month supply of Maura's seizure meds.

We had to switch to the online pharmacy delivery service if we wanted the insurance to keep covering it.  Not the most ideal, but not terrible either.  Except that at the pharmacy,  I could get a small bottle to put some of the medication in so I could easily transport it in my purse (she gets it three times a day, so it's good to have it on hand at all times.)

Today, I had one of the boxes with the big bottle in the diaper bag, as I don't have a smaller one right now that will work.  Then promptly forgot I had the gianormous bottle in said bag and wondered why the diaper bag felt so heavy.  Duh.

Collin asked me a few weeks ago how much longer Maura would have to take her medicine.  "Two years." I said.  "And that's if she doesn't have another seizure."

"Whoa."

Whoa indeed.  At least it works for us and has no lousy side effects. 

And in other news - look at my girl swing!

Friday, May 09, 2008 4:31:05 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

That's what she was saying when I took this picture - I'm constantly amazed at how her little brain works!

Thursday, April 17, 2008 8:07:43 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Maura had a big first today.  Today, for the first time in her life...she got her nails painted.

She was admiring my orange nails so I asked if she wanted some.  She didn't quite get the idea, and slightly freaked when I went after her big toe with some weird thing.  But then...she saw her orange toenail...her face lit up as only a little girly girl's can.

So we did the rest. 

After we ooo'ed and ahh'ed over her toes, I told her to show daddy and ask him if he liked them.  She went over to him, tapped him on the back and said "Do you like?" 

I couldn't just stop at her toes.  I did her nails too.  Well, her fingers, not her thumbs.  She's a thumbsucker.  In an ironic twist of fate, in using my more wholesome nail polish from Whole Foods, I painted her nails in University of Michigan colors.  Everyone around here will think I did it on purpose!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 7:29:29 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Josh was involved yet again with this conference called CodeMash, which is held at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. Last year, we met him down there and had a great time since it's a big kid friendly but not boring for the adults indoor water park.  The kids have gone on about the place ever since.

So last week, we let them know that Dad was going away this week and we'd join him once again at the Kalahari.  Oh joy!  Oh rapture!  Oh shoot, where did I put my bathing suit?

Friday, I loaded up the kids in the van and we headed to Ohio.  I reminisced about all the times I drove the Ohio Turnpike to and from college - before it had the nice rest stops with the Starbucks.  We stopped at that one since everyone had to use the facilities.  Then we got to the resort and as we walked in, Collin said "Hey, Dad's been bald for a year!"

See, last year, Josh placed a bet at the conference and if he lost it, he'd have to shave his head.  He lost the bet.  It was funny to walk in and watch the kids react to his lack of hair.

Anyhoo...

Friday night went a lot the same as the year before.  We ate McDonald's while checking out our really cool suite.  We went downstairs and stared at the waterpark.  We went to the Candy Hut and spent WAY too much money on candy.  Though this year, Collin was able to make up his mind quicker than last year.  Then we herded them back up to the room and tried to get them to go to sleep.

Saturday morning, Collin was sent to get donuts from the shop down in the lobby while Josh and I tried to wake up.  We then packed up the room so we wouldn't miss check out, got kids in bathing suits, and herded them down to the waterpark.  About twenty minutes into it, I started feeling queasy.  A week of not getting enough sleep caught up with me.  So Josh played SuperDad and herded kids about the waterpark and let me lay on a chair and relax.

It was one of those times I realized that my kids are indeed growing up.  I could let the boys run off to one area and keep a vague eye on them from my chair and not worry.  It's sad, but at the same time, really nice.  Especially as Josh didn't have to keep tabs on all four at all times.  Let me tell you, the place is so big and can get so crowded, it's very easy to lose a child.  We know.  We kept losing Miriam.  Luckily, I got her a bright rainbow colored swimsuit that was easy to pick out of a crowd.

Now Maura loves the water.  LOVES!  So this was joy and torture all in one for her.  Pure joy while in the water, toture every time we got out to go to a different area.  This is her during one of the torture times.

Then we went for a late lunch...which meant more sobbing from Maura, who kept trying to go back to the waterpark as I was trying to get the girls dressed.  At least Josh apologized for me being stuck with herself.  I kept saying "We're going to get juice.  Do you want to eat?", which distracted her enough for me to get the swimsuit off and a pull up and shirt on.  When we got out of the locker room, I put her pants on. Really, sometimes I think dressing a drunk octopus would be easier than dressing Maura.

But we had lunch and then I abandoned the family to get a hot rock massage while they got a sundae bigger than my head apparently.  Thirty minutes of massage and calm and peace really did make me feel much better, so I wrestled Maura while Josh took the older three mini golfing - 

Maura and I watched them for a few minutes, until she tried to climb the rope fence they had.  So I took her back up to the main lobby and into the gift shop.  We played with several of the stuffed animals, but Maura then chose the one she wanted.  How did I know she wanted it?  Because she tried to shoplift it.  I did get her back in and we paid for her new creature, which I started refering to as "safety hazard" since she kept trying to trip people in the busy lobby with it.

What did she pick out?  A giant snake of course.

Sure, she was a hazard to everyone around us, but she was a cute hazard.  And she kept trying to make the snake hiss, which is very cool since she doesn't use the letter S.  And she mostly tried to trip teens, who thought she was cute, so no one got mad.

We caught up with the rest of the gang after their game of golf, and I took the girls pottery painting while Josh took the boys to the arcade.  I met up with them there, where they were trying to win like 1000 tickets with four quarters, or something unrealistic like that.  Collin and I went off to get something.  When we came back, Josh had this huge wad of tickets.  How?  Well, Sean - the avid button pusher - walked up to this one game that someone didn't finish.  He pushed the big red button and hit the jackpot.  Won 600+ tickets.  Yes, I was impressed.  Sean was inspired.  We played some more and really, we need to get Sean to pick lottery numbers for us.  Where ever he went, he won a decent amount.  Finally, we ran out of tokens and had 800+ tickets.  Not bad.  But not good enough for my Future Gamblers of America.  Collin and Sean went around, poking into coin returns and such.  Sean came back and said "Jackpot!"  He had found enough tokens to play that big button pushing game again.  And he won another like 100+ tickets.  As we put the tickets into the counter machine, my little button pusher wandered off to the game next to us and pushed that button...and won more tickets.

We ended up wtih 1014 tickets.  Still not enough to get a BIG prize, but enough to get something for everyone.  Which, after a half hour of painful negotiations, we were able to do. 

Finally, we lured the kids out to the van and made our way back home...after stopping at the rest stop with the Starbucks.  Because I was one tired mama with a two hour drive ahead of me.  Josh had to drive the Suburban back, so we kept each other awake chatted on our cell phone headsets all the way home.

I still need a nap.  The kids had to be forced to go to bed tonight.  Ah youth.  Next year though, we're going to stay two nights.  There's just too much to do in a 24 hour time frame.

Sunday, January 13, 2008 11:38:49 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

I had something all typed up about Christmas, but then it disappeared...I hate that.  Sure, I could type stuff up in Word and then transfer it to here, but where's the risk?  The adventure? 

But back to Christmas 2007, Holmes Style -

I mentioned something about the play kitchen and its many parts.This is Josh, Christmas Eve, surrounded by said many parts. 

That smile on his face?  The cause of the smile is not from parental love and joy and thinking about how much fun Maura's going to have with it.  It's more of a "I hate you so much right now for buying this" smile.

Three hours and a bunch of "fricken frackins" later, he did complete the kitchen.  And Maura loves it.  He's contemplating forgiving me for getting the kitchen.  Of course, it was now past midnight and Miriam's dollhouse still needed assembling.  Josh looked at it for a moment and then said "You know, I'd really hate to rob her of the joy of helping me put this together."  He did help me wrap the box though.  And Miriam helped him put the dollhouse together the next day. As you can see, Mim didn't seem to mind that it was still in the box -

On the Wii front, we did manage to surprise the boys.  We were slightly mean - we got a Lego Star Wars game that they were D-Y-I-N-G for, and they asked for the Xbox 360 version (as we have an Xbox).  I bought it for the Wii instead.  They ripped open the gift, got all excited, then Collin said "Wait!  This is for a Wii!"

Oopsie.  "We can exchange it." I said.  They bought it.  We go on with opening gifts, etc, and the second to the last gift the boys were to open was the other Wii game - a Pokemon game that doesn't come in Xbox form.  They opened it, there was a moment of confusion, and then this -

That is the face of a boy figuring out that we got a Wii.  But since we're mean, we made them sweat it out while the girls opened up their last gifts, then let them at the last box containing the Wii.

The Wii has been a hit.  Of course, we work it to our advantage.  Josh set it up on the old tv in the playroom.  So now, if they want to play it, they have to pick up the floor in their first.  You should see how quickly they clean that room up now! 

Maura has been enjoying her play kitchen.  Josh and I have been enjoying watching her little brain working.  See, she's decided she needs to work with real food in her kitchen.  Which led to her raiding my kitchen.  The first night, she got a hold of the pre-made pie crust dough.  She mixed that up in the pan for a while, until the packaging broke.  Next thing I know, she's dragging my rolling pin out of my kitchen towards hers! 

The next night, she made cookies.  Her recipe - find an open box of cookies, dump into little pan, stir with spatula, feed to parents.

Yesterday and today, she's been making potatoes.  Which means I won't be.  But I don't mind the raided pantry - I'm just amazed at how much she's gotten this particular pretend play concept!

Sunday, December 30, 2007 10:50:13 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Here's some more pictures of our snow fun yesterday -

All four, acting their usual goofy selves -

Collin and Sean working on a snow fort -

Miriam and her Snow Mary (yes, she designed her snow person after Jesus's mother...hey, we're Catholic!)

Josh with a face full of snow - Sean's payback for Josh accidentally giving Sean a face full of snow.  Josh took his punishment well, seeing as Sean used the shovel to throw the snow with!

Monday, December 17, 2007 11:25:12 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Maura has always been a sensory seeker.  In layman's terms, she loves touching and feeling things.

This can be fun.  Like at the fabric store, she goes around and pets all the bolts of fabric.  Going "oooo" at times.  Then there are the times when it's embarrassing.  Like at the post office, when she's licking the glass doors. 

Today, she took it to a whole new level.  She was all excited to see snow.  "Noh! Noh!"  We all went out earlier in the day.  Kids ran around, Maura didn't fall over too much, the dog whined in the house because we wouldn't let him back out. Later on, the boys wanted to go work on their snow fort.  Miriam wanted to work on her snowman.  We said okay.  They threw on their gear and Maura came into the living room with her scarf around her neck, carrying her snowpants.  Josh said, "I guess I'm going back out too."

A little later, he asked for the camera.  And took these shots of Maura doing her little sensory seeking thing.  I now know why he was laughing so hard when asking for the camera...

Sunday, December 16, 2007 8:16:53 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]