Happy 4th and Miscellany: a pictoral montage

Jeff, barbequeing on the 4th

Nice!

Don't our backyard look fine? Jeff has been taking good care of it in hopes that it will sell our house faster.

A very pregnant Suz preparing other good things for the 4th BBQ

Our annual trip to Western Playland amusement park, and Dillion's first time on the rides.

Happy boys. Noah rode with Dillon on every kiddy ride...a necessary precaution, because Dilly will take it into his head to literally climb out of his chair at any given moment.

Riding a yellow vintage car is serious business.

Look at me, Mom! No hands!

And brother held his hand for the rest of the ride. What is more astounding (and sweet) is that Dilly let him. They really do love each other.

Not too sure about this ride.

Here come the fireworks! Get ready....get set...

GO!!!!

A word on this pic: last year Adrianne visited us for the 4th and I posted a, perhaps, not so flattering picture of her on that date. Well, in the spirit of fair play, aunty Adie, go ahead & laugh at this one. Even though I look as retarded as they come, it was so good I couldn't pass it up.

Our handsome pickle

Proof positive that Dillon is my son: he loves to put my shoes on & prance around. Any shoes, actually. And you've gotta love the pose!

Pictured here with Noah's shoes on, and VERY pleased about it.

Daddy with a big old grin & glasses on. Jeff & I both recently had to have glasses made for reading...getting old.

I woke one morning & this was the first thing I saw in the living room. Can you say AWWW with me? I love this photo.

An action shot on the 'Slip & Slide', a terrific & free way to spend our 100+ degree El Paso days.

"Man, that's gotta hurt"

What's with the hand?

And below, a little day-in-the-life story of brotherly interaction. We'll call it "For the Love of the Vaccuum Cleaner":

"Whaaaa! Brother has the vaccuum cleaner that I covet more than life itself! Whaaa! I'm a brat!"

"I shared! There, aren't you proud of me? Aren't I the best boy on the face of the earth? Isn't Dilly the naughiest?"

"Ahhhh. I got what I wanted. All is peace on earth...at least for the next 20 seconds until I see something else I want".

The end.

Our handsome boy posing in his pyjamas. We love you all & hope you had a good 4th of July!

Another funny:

Dillon is getting bigger now...he had a growth spurt recently & is taller and in general more grown up, learning to talk, etc. However, in terms of social development, he is like a little wild animal. Unfortunately. He has no concept of obedience and will climb on anything that will support him (and anything that won't), and has almost killed or gravely injured himself on numerous occasions. This is an example of personality in children superseding parental training, because we have tried everything we know of to make him mind us...and it seems like a losing battle at this point. Here is a perfect example:

Dilly wakes up earlier than the rest of us and one of us (Jeff or myself) have to get up with him. So one A.M Jeff does the honors and somehow (very easily, in fact) Dill gives him the slip and Jeff knows he is somewhere quietly doing what he shouldn't. So he's looking for him and finds him....up on our kitchen counter, having dragged a chair over by way of getting up there. He is standing on said counter, door to the "tootee" cabinet (cookie cabinet) open, double-fisting some Madeline cookies from a box that I hid up there. Cookies all over his face, the floor, the counter, etc. Mouth full. Looks at Jeff like a deer caught in the headlights, stares for a minute, and then reaches one grubby hand out to him & politely inquires,

"Tootee?"

The miscreant himself, sporting a black eye given him by loving big brother (he pushed him & Dilly fell into the corner of a table.)

A little something

Well hi there folks. It's been awhile, and guess what? I still don't have anything of any import to say. My long silence can be attributed to the "If you can't say anything nice...etc" school of thought. But we're still here, alive & breathing.

But I felt bad for my long silence, so here is a sweet nothing for you:

It's very hot here & we've taken to filling our little blow-up pool & going swimming outside. The kids get in & out & before you know it, the pool is filled with bits of grass & leaves (Noah calls them "leafis"), etc. And for some reason known only to the 3-year old mind, Noah calls the flotsam: "Majin Folks"

Usage: "Hey! What are these majin folks? Get them outta here!"
"Mama, now Dilly just put all these majin folks in the water!"

Have a great summer, and may your pool be free of majin folks.

Good Parenting 101

For your Monday:

Jeff & I are such great parents that I would like to post here an anecdote that illustrates this. And when I say that we are great parents, I mean that we are often NOT AT ALL great parents. And when I say Jeff and I, I, of course, mean Jeff. Consider:

The following is a lovely rhyme that my husband has imparted to the impressionable brain of our eldest son:

"Once upon a time when the moon was green
Around the corner came a pooping machine.
A shot was fired, a scream was heard,
A man got killed by a flying turd"

Noah doesn't fully understand the verbiage and sings it this way:

"Once upon a time when the moon was green
Around the corner came a pooping machine."

(so far so good, pooping is something any child worth his salt understands. However, the rest sort of deviates:)

"An old man got killed by a turtle"
"ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"

The end.

Easter:

I will not monologue on Easter...it was probably the same as your Easter, except that we had friends (Justin & Linda & kids) over to help us celebrate it. We put our own baskets together for economy's sake, & it was good. Enjoy the pics!

The basket

Dilly looking cute & bruised (he did it to himself, I promise!)

Noah dilligently searching for the eggs

Dillon, not dilligent at all, with the only egg he found because we actively told him where it was.

He was more into the ball. Notice the egg in his hand, tho.

Ahh, mission accomplished!

Dilly, on the "egg dyeing night", giving you the finger.

Rather dorky all round...notice the faces & strange hand gestures.

(The following pics were taken within seconds of each other. Please note the hand:)

"First, you take the freshly dyed egg...."

"Then you bite it to ensure that the maximum amount of dye is transferred to your mouth & teeth. Also, to ensure the egg is hard-boiled."

"Take a moment to ponder the secrets of the universe. Also swallow the vomit that is rising in your gorge."

"Repeat steps one through three until mouth is thoroughly dyed."

Noah, demonstrating the correct way to do it.

Complete!

Of many things:

Firstly: Happy Birthday Momma! I'm only a VERY LITTLE late in posting on this, but I figured it didn't really matter because you don't get on this blog very much. But I hope you see this & know how much I love you & Jeff & the kids too....we miss you & are so thankful for all you've done for us. Whenever we have a "child freakout" or a medical question where pregancy is concerned I always know I can call you up & get an educated, well-though out answer....or if you don't know, you research for me & send me all sorts of things you find! It's always above & beyond, and not everyone would do that.
Of course, that's just one of the things that make you special. I could go on & on...but time & space fail me. So Happy Birthday and may you have a wonderful, exciting 55th year. I hope to see more of you...don't know how that will work, but I pray that it does, somehow. Thanks for everything, especially recently.

On the job front: Thank you, everybody, for all your kind inquiries & words & wishes. Jeff is assiduously job searching still, and has some promising leads which I will not jinx by speaking of them here. But I think that if it's meant to be, it will be. I'm counting on it. Will let you know more soon.

My Vacation

So I'm here in San Jose visiting Adrianne....she very kindly had me up for a visit, (and generously paid for me to come), and Jeff very kindly agreed to watch the kids for me while I'm gone. This is probably the only time for the next couple years that the stars align like this to enable me to go off alone, so I'm appreciating & enjoying every moment of it. We've done some fun things...not the least of which is decorating her new apartment, pictures shown below. We also drove into San Francisco & walked around these great streets together...all sorts of interesting shops & things to see. Of great culinary interest to me has been the raiding of the Japanese market, as I've been craving Japanese food all my pregnancy & haven't been able to indulge, as El Paso doesn't have anything like that. Today we went to the beach, brought our lunch, and hung out together on the sand. It was so relaxing! I was telling Adrianne that a big part of the vacation is the ability to just get myself ready & leave the house in a matter of about 15 minutes, without packing everything but the kitchen sink & just KNOWING that you forgot something vital for the young ones. Today was my last full day, I fly home to my babies & my "Beauty" tomorrow. Thanks for a wonderful time, Adrianne!
Anyway...below are some pics. Enjoy.

Aint we fine? I had to use Adr's umbrella because the sun was too much for me...90 degrees!

Beautiful sis in a great new dress, just bought that day...a vacation treat to herself.

Barefoot & pregnant & in cooling off in the freezing water.

A sunken ship that had been "exhumed" and was on display at the end of the pier.

Adrianne the beautiful, again.

Suz the pregnant & parasolled.

A beach a little farther down...had a great little boardwalk with terrific shops. We walked around & I got a harmonica & kazoo as omiyage (gifts) for the kids.

One of the great pieces we found at Home Goods for Adr's apartment.

A rather artistic view of her wall as seen from the kitchen "bar"

The living room & kitchen

And...the living room again. Better Homes & Gardens, here we come.