tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17623400612108496272024-03-19T11:26:53.851-07:00Dossy and BossyDossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-73584430210219525912014-11-07T18:19:00.002-08:002014-11-07T18:19:48.345-08:00Oh bloggie, I miss you so.Well, I know no one will see this but me, but I miss this blog. I miss who I was when I used to write it, which feels like a million lifetimes ago. So I am revisiting it. I love you, bloggie. I'm sorry for breaking up with you and cheating on you with Facebook. Yes, you're a lot of work and pretty high maintenance, but we had such good times together. Please take me back and lets make some new memories together?<br />
I promise to try to do better on posting.<br />
<br />Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-48727818217566057842011-05-03T10:23:00.000-07:002011-05-03T10:35:37.067-07:00Who knew?So, the problem with falling behind on posting on your blog is that you end up with all these great stories and photos & no time to present them...in short, a glut of material. I wanted to try to post about Easter and the visits to Moms' and all kinds of things, but I don't think I have time today, so this will have to do: pictures of Dillon's new haircut.<br /><br />But it's not just an ordinary haircut. Jeffery "Dark Horse" Doss once again proved that, with him, all things are possible; in short, he cut our son's hair for the 1st time on the weekend! I didn't even know he COULD cut hair. I don't think he did either. He was doing his own with the buzzer thingie and Dilly really wanted to get in on the action, so I gave consent (his hair was looking rather straggly). I was very impressed by the clean-cut Pickle that came out of that bathroom. Behold:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zFQajjN6_VXGAeJ5-98ftOIJQGbyu3-gVhNhC0fzEWeIuLssczQiVFpjgCWZXWnhIJD9zThMVxveyPKItuT0FpYO9lzHbRzTXVuHioTemUtXlKXe53nuSLYlXysEMqhQ44Ae3rQU66M/s1600/IMG_6215.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602544073624632098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zFQajjN6_VXGAeJ5-98ftOIJQGbyu3-gVhNhC0fzEWeIuLssczQiVFpjgCWZXWnhIJD9zThMVxveyPKItuT0FpYO9lzHbRzTXVuHioTemUtXlKXe53nuSLYlXysEMqhQ44Ae3rQU66M/s320/IMG_6215.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ojIL1FXOH7Fml_lQg1qBkIOQJ7Lr6oc307_BBVez40IZ_nNydRzeSPAY6l36T2xWqSewVr9-L9eM-maat2XO0GGYNdUKH0fNUi4DvcLLRZFNATYt0EgV0kXWWm9u8FPC_IgrvFt3huw/s1600/IMG_6214.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602544065329232050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ojIL1FXOH7Fml_lQg1qBkIOQJ7Lr6oc307_BBVez40IZ_nNydRzeSPAY6l36T2xWqSewVr9-L9eM-maat2XO0GGYNdUKH0fNUi4DvcLLRZFNATYt0EgV0kXWWm9u8FPC_IgrvFt3huw/s320/IMG_6214.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmMX8rAzXvu3cyH1pDhvgtC6PII31pSF-WXVaut8WrycVYQRSgL00xOnQikf2rN_pCW8UrGBlKAKgyOw7SzisZ2yMNVDNl9TzMneRHMsekqtXS_WqBDYwxwYYeYY96z2yFBCbiH94RIg/s1600/IMG_6213.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602544061343540002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmMX8rAzXvu3cyH1pDhvgtC6PII31pSF-WXVaut8WrycVYQRSgL00xOnQikf2rN_pCW8UrGBlKAKgyOw7SzisZ2yMNVDNl9TzMneRHMsekqtXS_WqBDYwxwYYeYY96z2yFBCbiH94RIg/s320/IMG_6213.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgusSp0Jopxkc7ZC3jWkbcpqy2KVMuUqSLuyJNRf0RTl9ZksxmWEKh1YhIPTbKO_0pqzdE3Ilni0b4xGEtPwyc_P2ksgq__ehilybJYp0faSxS9DPZg8euOcCeCs9zFw-uuStWejdpnA9o/s1600/IMG_6212.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602543612987632002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgusSp0Jopxkc7ZC3jWkbcpqy2KVMuUqSLuyJNRf0RTl9ZksxmWEKh1YhIPTbKO_0pqzdE3Ilni0b4xGEtPwyc_P2ksgq__ehilybJYp0faSxS9DPZg8euOcCeCs9zFw-uuStWejdpnA9o/s320/IMG_6212.JPG" border="0" /></a> I think this pose says it all. Here's lookin at you, kid. All he needs are the finger guns. Kapow!<img class="gl_align_left" alt="Align Left" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" border="0" /> More later.</div></div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-81575521157542109842011-03-17T10:33:00.001-07:002011-03-18T08:50:29.825-07:00My JapanAs with most things in life, it's when what we have taken for granted starts to go downhill that we begin to appreciate how much it means to us. I have found this to be true of Japan. I moved away from it and made a whole new life here in the U.S over 10 years ago, and in many ways it's been "out of sight, out of mind." I used to marvel sometimes that I didn't miss it more, having grown up there. But it's sure been on my mind for the past week.<br /><br />So here it is: I miss Japan. I miss it and cry for it because of the unimaginable suffering of the bereaved and displaced. I know this same sad scenario has played out many times over the past years in different countries, images of people wandering the streets without homes or missing family, and it's always been terrible to see, but this is different. These people feel like <em>my</em> long lost relatives. <em>I</em> lived in small villages by the ocean. Those destroyed houses you see on the news, I stayed in any number of ones just like them all my young life. They are my people too, and I grieve for them and pray for them. And I'm proud of them. I see articles about how no one is looting, how desperate people are still lining up for food & water, patiently; how hundreds of men are basically sacrificing their lives at the nuclear power plants to try and save everyone else, and I think, yes, those are my people too, I'm proud to say that I was born there.<br /><br />May my family there be safe and fed and warm, may everyone else be as well, and may God be with those who lost so much. And mostly, may it all end well and heal, not least so that I can take my little family back to the place that gave me so much and show them all about where Mommy came from.<br /><br />I am posting a poem that I wrote long ago, while I still lived there, about Japan. (Thanks, Nikki, for digging it up for me!) It's poor poetry, but I happen to like this one almost best of all, because I said what I came to say in it. If you don't speak Japanese and want to know what the weird words mean, I included a glossary at the bottom. Enjoy.<br /><br /><div align="center">My Japan:</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">Weeping willow, tall and fair<br />Woodland fern, and maidenhair.<br />Aged Bonsai, twisted limb<br />Greenest bud on newest stem;</div><div align="center"><br />Orange skies at close of day,<br />Semis sing the night away.<br />Morning glories, fading fast<br />Small blue buds and spider grass. </div><div align="center"><br />Bamboo forest, small and proud<br />Long brown leaves, strewn on the ground.<br />Little sisters run & chase;<br />Grass stained shorts, a purple face.<br />Swinging high, swinging low<br />This is the way the summers go. </div><div align="center"><br />I see the moon, the moon sees me;<br />Homeward walk, outlined tree;<br />Birthday candles, hanabi,<br />Cool yukata, matsuri.</div><div align="center"><br />Glowing lanterns, strung on high,<br />Dancing platforms tower by.<br />Catch a goldfish; catch him twice;<br />Pink and green and yellow ice. </div><div align="center"><br />"Gaijin da!" "This is a pen";<br />Ice-cream for a hundred yen.<br />Kiokabe, stifling heat,<br />Tickling fan and crispy sheet. </div><div align="center"><br />Yellow nightlight, shoji door,<br />Bean bag pillow on the floor.<br />Now I lay me down to sleep,<br />True contentment, joy complete.<br />Father singing sweet and low,<br />This is the way the summers go. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Glossary for those who don't speak Japanese:</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Semis: cicadas</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Hanabi: fireworks</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Yukata: summer kimono</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Matsuri: festival</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">"Gaijin da!": "It's a foreigner"</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Kiyokabe: traditional wall covering in older Japanese homes</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Shoji doors: rice paper doors</span></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-15140290745487762482011-02-14T11:54:00.000-08:002011-02-14T12:14:25.580-08:00Both sides of the coinSo, today is V day. I know it's not cool to like it, and everyone goes on and on about how it's just canned sentiment and romance commercialized, big bucks for the florists and Hallmark, a money-maker in the cold months for the restaurants, etc. And I'm sure it's all true. I kinda feel two ways about the holiday: on the one hand, I dislike anything forced when it comes to romance or love. (Jeff will joyfully confirm this.) I don't like being told when I should feel loving toward my other half, or when we should celebrate our love. What if you had a big ugly fight on the night of Feb. 13th? (we didn't). (but still). What if you want to make May 4th your big celebration of love? Or whatever. So that's on the one hand.<br /><br />But I think, in support of it, that sometimes, as busy as we all get, it's nice to have a day that takes you by the hand and sits you down and smacks you in the face with sentiment and chocolate. It's a day that makes you really parse out your feelings for your significant other, and maybe makes you appreciate him/her a little more than you usually do. Maybe it's a good thing to schedule in some <em>amore</em>, especially because there's really precious little time for it the rest of the year. You know? I find that when I'm writing in the card, or planning the dinner we're having, it's a good reminder of what my husband means to me...makes me tap into & express the things that just become passing, unexpressed thoughts all too often.<br /><br />So Happy Valentines Day to all of you. Everyone can celebrate it, because we all have people that we love.<br />In closing, here is something for you, Jeffery Doss: a picture that I love of us, which I was trying to print out & give to you as a gift. The #$()*&@%^# printer won't print the thing, so I am reduced to posting it here, with all my love.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gQXkGu_IDRzLhVijTsd0MrjWvkaXA2xDO3MluR3MEfNdFpo65IAdmdyF5u7P5le3hrauvFIe0PaSSUOKKkguLgKAVqlrpCtjgSpD3A4fo27KqLnW7CzqX_8ZiINkZhM6_nblPqF4tHw/s1600/013.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573640658919341746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gQXkGu_IDRzLhVijTsd0MrjWvkaXA2xDO3MluR3MEfNdFpo65IAdmdyF5u7P5le3hrauvFIe0PaSSUOKKkguLgKAVqlrpCtjgSpD3A4fo27KqLnW7CzqX_8ZiINkZhM6_nblPqF4tHw/s320/013.jpg" border="0" /></a>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-88852186108682371762011-02-04T10:30:00.000-08:002011-02-04T10:40:20.199-08:00The Snow DayWe got SNOW! FINALLY! We've been having below zero weather for days now...it's gotten down to about 4 or 5 degrees at night sometimes, which for those in Japan is about -15...anyway, we finally got snow!! I was so excited that I stayed way up past my usual bed time just watching it. I felt like the snow sentinel...if I watched it, it wouldn't stop snowing and we would have a nice little blanket of snow in the A.M. And we did!! I took the kids out to play in it, and they had a pretty good time. Then Noah started throwing snowballs at Dilly, who immediately began screaming because snow got on him, and then Zoe started crying because her hands were cold (you know, that painful cold that you get when you've been in snow), so I took her in. Then Dilly was crying about his hands too, and they both screamed merrily in the house for about 10 minutes straight. It was quite humourous and I laughed.<br />Anyway, enough about my stress free life and wonderful children; here are the pictures (mobile uploads) that Jeff sent home. Alas, I have no camera to record the winter wonderland, because my dear husband took my van to work this A.M with cameras inside. Oh well.<br />Enjoy!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsHttQyKfiRAY4rMQNl73x_yoLL35lHj5IQjA0CR-xc9syol6U13SCpBS6gXjx1VhqzO6p5LxnsZHDCuCVmcHOgSu8gw7bY3T6mx83MrPSMuU59bbUVPE5zutTrCBeIHC3nY0eg0oPBo/s1600/GetAttachment02.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569905729229145522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 160px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsHttQyKfiRAY4rMQNl73x_yoLL35lHj5IQjA0CR-xc9syol6U13SCpBS6gXjx1VhqzO6p5LxnsZHDCuCVmcHOgSu8gw7bY3T6mx83MrPSMuU59bbUVPE5zutTrCBeIHC3nY0eg0oPBo/s320/GetAttachment02.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivl_rYep7JozLh1JW9ABtZLB7BDeRgFsqLxhyphenhyphenLUeaoUqTLAs8PU3o5GhhutFikG4QeS_Ag_rGzmWlg-BfYc54C66ZD3R_75Ndu2dHDhzK2zr0-W6G3T5e1cHbo0JrKxR68fZfRRjmP1gE/s1600/GetAttachment01.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569905730826011762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 160px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivl_rYep7JozLh1JW9ABtZLB7BDeRgFsqLxhyphenhyphenLUeaoUqTLAs8PU3o5GhhutFikG4QeS_Ag_rGzmWlg-BfYc54C66ZD3R_75Ndu2dHDhzK2zr0-W6G3T5e1cHbo0JrKxR68fZfRRjmP1gE/s320/GetAttachment01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div> </div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-85819080671132793442010-12-22T08:33:00.001-08:002010-12-22T08:54:45.981-08:00Merry Christmas to all!Well, folks, it's that time of year: I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We are going to visit my Mom in Dallas, along with most of the other siblings, for our Christmas celebrations & exertions this year. This will be the first time in many, many years that the Rudows (previously and currently) and Jungs, etc, will be together for a holiday! Yay! We are all very excited.<br />I would like to say to Amber & Steven & children that you will be MISSED. It's sad that we couldn't work it out for you to attend also, but I know there will be a way some other time if we keep working on it. We will think of you, gossip about you, and drink a toast to you. And you really can't ask for more than that.<br /><br />In closing, I would like to post here a poem that I re-wrote for my husband last year. The thought began stirring in my brain when I observed all that he does for our family, and with a little concentration & foolishness it came together nicely. I would like to say thank you, my dearest dear, for all the happy Christmases you have given me. We've been through a lot the past year or two, but we're always going to be ok as long as we have each other to love and live for. I love you with all my heart. Merry Christmas!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Not a creature was stirring, except for Jeff Doss.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Because Daddy Jeffery had placed them there.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">The children were nestled all snug in their beds,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">While visions of boojie danced in Zoe’s little head.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">And mamma in her mismatching nightclothes was down<br />In her bed while Beauty still puttered around.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Mom sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Away to the window she flew like a flash,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Tore open the curtains and threw up the sash.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">The moon on the breast of the new-fallen grass</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Gave the lustre of mid-day to the crack of Dad’s ass.<br />As he bent over what to her eyes should appear,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">But a red lawnmower, shiny and clear.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">With a little hand movement, snappy and quick,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">He roared that lawn engine and woke up Aunt Nick.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">More rapid than eagles his mower-blades came!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Mom gibbered, and shouted, and called him a name!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Did it sway him? Did it stop him? Never! He stood<br />And as he shouted, I knew he was the true Christmas dude: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">"Now Dyson! Now Cascade! Now Windex will fix em!<br />On Comet! On Clorox! C’mon, Pledge, we’ll Blitz em!<br />To the end of the yard, and all through the hall,<br />Now clean away! Mow away! Mop away, all!"</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">The sound of the lawn mower rose to the sky.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">And after the lawn, to the duplex he flew,<br />With his ratty grey pants on, to clean up there too.<br /><br />And then, in a twinkling, he buzzed all around<br />Cleaning the windows and cleaning the ground<br />Cleaning the dishes, around the sponge flew,<br />Changing the lightbulbs and cleaning Miu’s poo.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">He was dressed, as I said, in ratty old sweats,<br />His T-shirt was stained and his underwear ripped<br />A bundle of garbage he had flung on his back,<br />And after he cleaned he was going to unpack.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">His eyes-how they twinkled! his smile, how easy!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">His head how it gleamed, his nose, it was greasy!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">His lovely plump lips drawn up like a bow,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">But his teeth, they weren’t quite as white as the snow.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">The half of a cookie he held tight in his teeth,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">As he plugged up the tree and put up the wreath.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">He had a nice face and a little round belly,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">And laying his finger inside of his nose,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">He pulled out a booger as big as a rose!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">He sprang to his computer, crunched the numbers he kept,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">Making everything perfect while his family slept.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">But I heard him exclaim finally, dousing the light,</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#cc0000;">"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"<br /><br /></span>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-59116831881693044772010-12-01T09:04:00.000-08:002010-12-01T10:58:44.441-08:00Hah, BumhugSo I was feeling a little bah humbug the other day. I think that as I get older this feeling comes to me more frequently...I would say 'for some reason', but I know the reason. Holidays, while fun and something to look forward to all year long, are just a lot of work sometimes. The workload increases exponentially with every extra family member you have, so with every child...etc. I think, too, that it's a product of growing up in Japan, where, despite Amanda's information to the contrary this year, people do not usually celebrate Thanksgiving...ergo Christmas becomes the one big holiday, and maybe even MORE fun. I sometimes feel that Turkey day #1, with all the trimmings, followed less than 6 weeks later by Turkey day #2, with all the trimmings, just becomes an overload of turkey.<br /><br />I won't get into the presents issue, because it's impossible to raise the discussion without taking both sides of the issue (What a waste of money! Give it all to the starving Armenians! Presents are an expression of love and they make the day very special! Also, I personally demand presents of every loved one and acquaintance that I possess, so let's not be hypocritical, Susanna!) etc etc. But no one can deny that if you have to buy for more than, like, your boyfriend, it can be a little stressful. But I also ADORE shopping over the holidays, when the stores are all lit up and cozy and you can drink Starbucks while you peruse the merchandise, until your husband calls you from home asking <em>Where are you</em> but not in a nice way and you can hear the boys disemboweling each other in the back ground while the baby screams merrily......<br /><br />Sigh. I'm so confused.<br /><br />Lets just say I have to stay on top of my mood sometimes, to ensure the proper level of merriment.<br /><br />But think about this, oh you imagineers (don't sue me, Disney): What if you could check into a hotel over the holidays? A big, huge, sparkly, Christmassy hotel, pre-decorated the way the way you like, with a Christmas tree in the lobby and the promise of a ready-made turkey on Christmas day? What if the stores we love were around the corner, and when you woke up you could purchase your Starbucks in the lobby of this wonderland while the Kenny G Musak of Tidings and Joy played in the background, and what if afterward, toting said Starbucks, you could walk to the mall (in your fabulous shoes) which was <em>right around the corner from the hotel and then you could shop till you dropped and then come home to the hotel and have a massage while your doting husband waited for you in the bar with a cinnamon appletini???</em> What about them apples? What is a cinnamon appletini? Also, where are my children in all this?<br /><br />I know. It was a VERY nice daydream. But waking up Christmas morning, when the work is mostly done and the tree is decorated and the kids are all starry-eyed over their decorated house and their painstakingly wrapped presents is pretty great too. Or we could go crash Moms'.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-37975862440485320092010-11-30T14:52:00.000-08:002010-11-30T16:12:48.690-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!<div align="left">Happy Thanksgiving, all! I feel kinda bad about not keeping up with this here bloggie of mine, but I stop short of apologizing...I sorta feel that when one has three young children, one shouldn't have to feel too badly about neglecting the things of lesser importance in life. And by that, I mean you. No, not really. You are VERY important to me...I can say this with almost 100% certainty, because I believe that almost no one except my immediate family reads this, SEEING THAT NO ONE EVER POSTS A COMMENT except my siblings and sometimes a parent. So you are important to me & I am thankful for YOU! See how I brought the conversation back around to Thanksgiving? Aren't I a skilled and cunning linguist? Ha ha ha. Say that fast 10 times. </div><div align="left"><br />Moving right along: we have just returned from Mom's & DC's in Dallas, where we spent a little "mini holiday vacay" over Thanksgiving. We did the following, not necessarily in this order:</div><div align="left"><br />--Made a FABULOUS Thanksgiving meal that we and about 7 other family/guests consumed with relish on the day of, followed by deep and weighty discussions about Black Friday sales.</div><div align="left"><br />--Some of the more enterprising of us (hint: not me) went out to said sales at different ungodly hours of the night and morning. Jeff left his warm bed at 1:30 AM to shop, and Mom & DC, not to be outdone, went at 5:30 AM. </div><div align="left"><br />--We took the kids to various "new" parks, always a popular activity.</div><div align="left"><br />--We went to "A Dickens of a Christmas", which was a sort of happening in downtown McKinney, complete with elaborate Christmas pageant & all sorts of family fun...carousels, pony rides, little petting zoo, etc. We consumed hot chocolate, corn dogs, a sort of Greek taco with lamb & Mediterranean ranch on it (which was really very good), and Mom's personal favorite, a (small) Santa sleigh entirely made of milk chocolate & filled with chocolate mousse! Yum! </div><div align="left"><br />--The following night we went on "the Polar Express", which we purchased tickets to a couple weeks before even going up to Dallas, as it was billed as a sort of wonderland for kids, complete with snacks & hot chocolate, a performance before & during the train ride, a Christmas tree maze, etc. Well, we dragged Mom & DC & Abi all down there with us, and to make a long story short, it maybe wasn't exactly what we had pictured. At least the kids loved it...they didn't care. There was the slightly tacky "intro show" which featured young girl singers, a la Miley Cyrus, belting out Christmas tunes with more vigor than expertise, dressed in what I can only describe as "Slutty Santa Chic". The "tree maze" was a walkway, slightly zig zagged, that led to the train itself. The train was old & quite neat....you had to climb stairs to get up into it, and it had these great old sleigh type seats, and they had decorated it nicely. The ride was fun because the kids enjoyed it so very much....they were really just jumping for joy of it. There was a loudspeaker over which a lady broadcasted a sort of running series of Christmas singalongs, instructions to the passengers (one of which was to have a man and woman get into the aisle and dance the Jingle Bell Rock, which Jeff obligingly did...I was proud of him!), and there was a terrific reading of "The Night Before Christmas" by way of an encore. Mom & DC & Abs were right there along with us, having a great old time, greeted by Santa when he came by, etc, and it was really quite terrific actually. </div><div align="left"><br />--I had a nice time talking & working out (gasp) and generally 'fellowshipping' with Abi the Beautiful and Gracious, who also assisted me quite a bit with the kids all weekend, Lord love her.<br />So all in all a very good weekend. I may have mentioned that Dillon broke our camera, but I took some pics on my phone, or the crapcam, to borrow a Dave Barry-ism. Enjoy! (The first ones are actually from Halloween & before.)</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwLpR9m7Qd5xPSxXLo22Ut5kjFi13ysmSxcMFqGA83piCBBgUr0xvRCscfqoMWQSyGCKh6JjEKM4Mtzn7uzE4H2WeDYek37rbfjmvPqYW6Psqsh72dsr-3jwMgYXCyERReuFubtAXoUw/s1600/100.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496816296344258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwLpR9m7Qd5xPSxXLo22Ut5kjFi13ysmSxcMFqGA83piCBBgUr0xvRCscfqoMWQSyGCKh6JjEKM4Mtzn7uzE4H2WeDYek37rbfjmvPqYW6Psqsh72dsr-3jwMgYXCyERReuFubtAXoUw/s320/100.jpg" border="0" /></a> Zoe Boe saying hi from Texas<br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuJvegTgEVeSdZjdkuAGIsZ-2dCKBuyw2QUZIV5cbjRtMu3h6IGZsScX-euU2VTpj7B3Nb8_MefgFsSwg9apEWBENuEb4nBQlgXGHZX9sWQjAmvWFXp1d0r6Cl8b7eMD8CDJG6h_QzII/s1600/101.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496812398381810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuJvegTgEVeSdZjdkuAGIsZ-2dCKBuyw2QUZIV5cbjRtMu3h6IGZsScX-euU2VTpj7B3Nb8_MefgFsSwg9apEWBENuEb4nBQlgXGHZX9sWQjAmvWFXp1d0r6Cl8b7eMD8CDJG6h_QzII/s320/101.jpg" border="0" /></a> Halloween pics: Zoe was a ladybug<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwS9m2VsK3VXzf_TWlXQK1WmfvJp7GGTZPNbV-q6UhaUcnI7SJyZolMKxoJmaRLL1eoQLt1f8twLbCjq-0iSp_K5Fmrm0crpLLFPxv1NIyUEOYKXbx2Rcj7vo0G2W-WJVXJA8R5kHs-Ac/s1600/105.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496338321398802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwS9m2VsK3VXzf_TWlXQK1WmfvJp7GGTZPNbV-q6UhaUcnI7SJyZolMKxoJmaRLL1eoQLt1f8twLbCjq-0iSp_K5Fmrm0crpLLFPxv1NIyUEOYKXbx2Rcj7vo0G2W-WJVXJA8R5kHs-Ac/s320/105.jpg" border="0" /></a> Noah was "clawman" (Wolverine)<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAps8Szlcsub3-2RiXGUvfl_5Aek3yu-8QitqZyRSR0-mLYnFMdzeg1XnQLT5JVdrPNfw_vngZaUiF5AnwarMqLJqaZxXNhCaoPtY2JuoFe4uZqANykMP-L04KOBDWEXkWuJUv6LCfXE/s1600/107.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496321069701026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAps8Szlcsub3-2RiXGUvfl_5Aek3yu-8QitqZyRSR0-mLYnFMdzeg1XnQLT5JVdrPNfw_vngZaUiF5AnwarMqLJqaZxXNhCaoPtY2JuoFe4uZqANykMP-L04KOBDWEXkWuJUv6LCfXE/s320/107.jpg" border="0" /></a> Dillon was supposed to be Batman but the costume we got him did not fit, sadly. So he had to settle for Noah's costume last year, a spider. I think he was underwhelmed.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVH0tT5KKSyXiOJlrbZvVb802ncPzKm9aCQah_vTjbBXPjoEuFqZSaI9MT159ViG5QlsRx5ib6oeOAV7Cg5NO1gYv-Y7RzN_s52bY-8iGPXDA7s4IMBU1iOV-EPfkq1mopLHIorjyn8M/s1600/108.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496307866249170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVH0tT5KKSyXiOJlrbZvVb802ncPzKm9aCQah_vTjbBXPjoEuFqZSaI9MT159ViG5QlsRx5ib6oeOAV7Cg5NO1gYv-Y7RzN_s52bY-8iGPXDA7s4IMBU1iOV-EPfkq1mopLHIorjyn8M/s320/108.jpg" border="0" /></a> We went to the "Zoo Boo", and this was one of the attractions.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63M3O1TAWcd7gqF7N1UTh8F0YmDbPPaGH77F6FwVk1vzvMc5lClfTOCaWT3xMKlI45O5sMPrj1PoZ5R1SmnpmRQiuoGOS_b5mTq5ms3J4P7UAvuE3H7aH8MtGcHf7d1HHs9ULv736Fy8/s1600/113.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496288999732226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63M3O1TAWcd7gqF7N1UTh8F0YmDbPPaGH77F6FwVk1vzvMc5lClfTOCaWT3xMKlI45O5sMPrj1PoZ5R1SmnpmRQiuoGOS_b5mTq5ms3J4P7UAvuE3H7aH8MtGcHf7d1HHs9ULv736Fy8/s320/113.jpg" border="0" /></a> This was a drum with a fake fire in it, and I thought the picture came out nice.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqG7YmbNkx7t_lrlOd3L7yWlZbXDyA2BKmj9U2mUBHQMAVO2pP59it5vIRq67Eb7T01GBDPXj9cAVEP_ZFQWuPNHaGaTku4MUD1xBWrNrtI-szyKL5wfJkeINLRfJLC7cK6_mUy74zCDc/s1600/121.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545496280409940530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqG7YmbNkx7t_lrlOd3L7yWlZbXDyA2BKmj9U2mUBHQMAVO2pP59it5vIRq67Eb7T01GBDPXj9cAVEP_ZFQWuPNHaGaTku4MUD1xBWrNrtI-szyKL5wfJkeINLRfJLC7cK6_mUy74zCDc/s320/121.jpg" border="0" /></a> This was the only picture we got of a day adventure we took to a Renaissance Festival, which was AWESOME. We may dress up next time.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOmSg_OE9pmiO6ojZGc_7NH-yvT7fHCRd8qUGwyT7AydlEH2PdsbVqhTPJ268x0nRGrHnSWaMDyxuAMe_nIdst2UuydNdwx5ogKFhwU06RW72TFlC-GR_jLYVqIsk08xsXOpu5te4oVLU/s1600/129.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545495383806608962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOmSg_OE9pmiO6ojZGc_7NH-yvT7fHCRd8qUGwyT7AydlEH2PdsbVqhTPJ268x0nRGrHnSWaMDyxuAMe_nIdst2UuydNdwx5ogKFhwU06RW72TFlC-GR_jLYVqIsk08xsXOpu5te4oVLU/s320/129.jpg" border="0" /></a>And here's the Thanksgiving pics. <br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyLGhjXW76ayruXk9uJs6vt4v1pG3Ox_BbXg52e3HnzGL71oe5Ar_v0IDuWax4D9ZaELtCJo2m0zLplRRiWQrmEY6SzEtC7J-3yF0Y3qxKfYJxXws-psEh9UtMT_fQibGJYy0bUAXvUs/s1600/125.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545495379469492962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyLGhjXW76ayruXk9uJs6vt4v1pG3Ox_BbXg52e3HnzGL71oe5Ar_v0IDuWax4D9ZaELtCJo2m0zLplRRiWQrmEY6SzEtC7J-3yF0Y3qxKfYJxXws-psEh9UtMT_fQibGJYy0bUAXvUs/s320/125.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA7k0g3Y8IJdl9V55LMnqoQayS1YXScMbmQLWMe-NXb1TCQ-yZ1aHFhVa9J12bd2snN3WJLfoB11Wnkq3IESowz7o2oqBNoG-r66Utnd8f5uNDk4TdmdEpOKccIubQIrEnAysCvtYyMAM/s1600/124.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545495372767738498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA7k0g3Y8IJdl9V55LMnqoQayS1YXScMbmQLWMe-NXb1TCQ-yZ1aHFhVa9J12bd2snN3WJLfoB11Wnkq3IESowz7o2oqBNoG-r66Utnd8f5uNDk4TdmdEpOKccIubQIrEnAysCvtYyMAM/s320/124.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguU73hNDE53P9FpF9Hr3uFkkAHmdngh1uPVM6NsFNmFpuAm2cj3KJzI5bWec9RO4T36-INxQLdmZoVSQ7hyBX3qNAKRj8jBqkKtmq3_QV_22InzmIn9fkBsxVtFeTpsXOvCNnTkieq5kY/s1600/123.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545495368097425538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguU73hNDE53P9FpF9Hr3uFkkAHmdngh1uPVM6NsFNmFpuAm2cj3KJzI5bWec9RO4T36-INxQLdmZoVSQ7hyBX3qNAKRj8jBqkKtmq3_QV_22InzmIn9fkBsxVtFeTpsXOvCNnTkieq5kY/s320/123.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP6MVnWmuMP1tkPau3J-zO-67IzuVFK97GqVBgeqWlcsgPdVFPLPz-cUL6nPdlKkzwj4qSAUHBWyfrP1kjzfHsf2VpbYoGP7uRWCv7tiOxxqwJx4S-4NWfh8yNS2QlTw968LsPUK9S9o/s1600/122.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545495356887123410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP6MVnWmuMP1tkPau3J-zO-67IzuVFK97GqVBgeqWlcsgPdVFPLPz-cUL6nPdlKkzwj4qSAUHBWyfrP1kjzfHsf2VpbYoGP7uRWCv7tiOxxqwJx4S-4NWfh8yNS2QlTw968LsPUK9S9o/s320/122.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-80490462265421170962010-10-20T08:27:00.000-07:002010-10-20T14:11:20.480-07:00<div align="left">Aloha, witches. And warlocks. It's almost that time again, Hallowed E'en, night of the dead and the massive insulin spike. We're getting ready for it in the best Doss tradition, by painstakingly deciding what to "be" and then, with all my accumulated skills of sewing & creating, going to the local Walmart and buying the kids ready made superhero costumes. It's A LOT of work, but it's so rewarding, you know?<br />Anyhoo, here are a few updates on us recently:</div><div align="left"><br />--We did a 5 mile Walk for Heart Disease the other weekend, our whole family, along with some other people from Jeff's work and a couple thousand strangers. It was invigorating, in fact, albiet a bit stressful as Dilly threw his umpteenth fit because he had to sit in a stroller (Horrors!) and Zoe went to sleep in Daddy's arms....not so bad, that, but Noah wouldn't get out of the stroller and Dillon can't be trusted, so Jeff had to carry her, sleeping, the last 2 miles. I think he had a backache. I guess that's what we get for trying to do small marathons with small children. I liked it though....it was certainly out of the norm. </div><div align="left"><br />--We've been up to visit Mom, Grandpa, & DC in their new, gorgeous home in McKinney. It's really lovely...high ceilings, lots of crown moulding everywhere, lots of nice windows with trees outside, etc. I mean, this is a home that I wish we could buy & live in! So happy for them. While we were up there DC & Robert were going out to a movie ("The Owls of Gonohreaa" or something) and I blythely invited myself along with no tact whatsoever...and DC not only obligingly let me come, but insisted on paying for me. I told him it was ok, cuz he was my Dad, but that he'd better not make a habit of it. Joking aside, it was pretty nice to see a movie...it's been awhile. Jeff put all the kids to bed for me, bless his tired heart. He's been working pretty brutal hours recently. </div><div align="left"><br />--On the kid front, everyone is doing well. Noah is getting really turned on to learning & seems to have acclimated to his school nicely, THANK GOD. I was getting a little worried there at the beginning. He's trying to read everything in sight & sits there practicing his alphabet FOR FUN. I'm very proud of him.<br />Miz Boe is getting very big and ladylike. She can walk very well now, although she has this funny, old-lady-with-bad-hips sort of gait. Of course now she thinks she's going to be walking everywhere & getting in to everything, just because she can. At least she's not a Dilly #2, climbing the walls. And speaking of the young devil:<br />Dilly is well physically, but seems to be breaking out in a recent rash of misbehavior and especially naughty escapades. I sometimes dispair of that child. He's very smart and maybe gets bored, and we all know about an idle mind; consider these examples:</div><div align="left"><br />1. I often let the kids outside to play in the sprinkler, and since our backyard is fenced, I let them play by themselves. And no matter how much I adjure them by the living God not to, Dilly ALWAYS takes off his pullup and revels in the mud. When I say revels, he takes a full-on mud bath, face to feet, and lets not forget the crotch. It's so gross & I'm sure it's a miracle he doesn't have worms. He eats it too, spitting it out with astonishment on his face, like he had NO IDEA it tastes like....well, dirt. Please see the picture below, exhibit A. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4QHhjDDydUnvTP-NAO5Ah6RR0crZEQUCnFdaSgHGbzHCiKvP1VCTqaBr5rDOZgyMTiXrkYSpceLGMsresLX4ZPGBToMF8Twp0XD9Sk3_wg49bS6pPZlvPBWNxMkKi_TACazMAD8sd1U/s1600/IMG_5442.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530164234458970466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4QHhjDDydUnvTP-NAO5Ah6RR0crZEQUCnFdaSgHGbzHCiKvP1VCTqaBr5rDOZgyMTiXrkYSpceLGMsresLX4ZPGBToMF8Twp0XD9Sk3_wg49bS6pPZlvPBWNxMkKi_TACazMAD8sd1U/s320/IMG_5442.JPG" border="0" /></a><em>Feel free to pull this up and view it in life size. Please note the expression on the face. </em></div><p align="left">2. He has broken & damaged numerous things, the last one being our beloved camera. It's not that he's trying to be naughty, but he doesn't know how to obey when told not to touch things. </p><p align="left"><br />3. And this is the piece de restistance: the other night he went to sleep very early & awoke, unfortunately, at about 11:00 PM, bright eyed & bushy tailed, ready for action. Jeff & I were exhausted & told him to lay in his bed, and then (unwisely) went to sleep with him still awake. I woke up about 45 min. later to find him gone. I had a feeling I knew where he was, and I wasn't wrong: he was in my makeup again. He ADORES my makeup.....it's all in this big drawer in our bathroom & he's never allowed to touch it, and consequently he desires it above all things in this life. I guess it's like the most fun shiny finger paints ever. So I go in there, and I just gasped. My breath was literally taken away by the scope of his perfidy. It was like a movie scene of a crime or something, in it's grandness. My makeup was EVERYWHERE, spread all over. Powders were overturned, lip gloss wands were strewn promiscuously about, leaking gloss everywhere, and there were small, Dilly-sized hand prints, pink, all over our uncleanable, flat paint walls. He had taken 2 tubes of my lipstick and done hand artwork all over the walls. But that wasn't all. There, amid the wreckage of my makeup, staring at me like a deer in the headlights, stood my STARK NAKED son. He had removed his pjs & diaper, and was fully covered, head to toe, in a dusty pink lipstick. He had taken off his diaper and lovingly rubbed it into his crotch and fronie, which were both a lovely rose-pink, and sparkly to boot. It was in his hair, on his neck, everywhere. I CANNOT OVERSTATE THE CASE. Also, in places he was a shimmery golden color. Through my horror it occured to me that he had actually done a very good job of evenly spreading the lipstick all over himself...it was a smooth tone, very hard to achieve. But then, OH MY GOD OH MY GOD YOU BAD BAD BOY etc.<br />I washed him for 20 minutes with a scrubby and grease-cutting dishwasher liquid to get it off him. Companies make makeup hard to remove. I didn't spank him or anything. It was just too late in the night and I was too weary to care about punishment. But I did cry a little because of my destroyed make up & the mess. Jeff later told Dilly that he had made me cry, and he was so upset that he hasn't gotten into it again. We'll see how long that lasts.<br />Alright, I have no more time now. There are other stories, but this will have to do. I think, if you love us, you'll pray that we live through Dillon's childhood. Also, that he lives. </p><div align="center"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgttELnfrlH31pBQef-oawMHD1cgMKldpFBGOmKQ6tPJ3vhcyVtJjc0WAifx2mMFYHghBIgusfQc9Smm0PZQB23va1fjyHiLgyNB_w2Px1vQjmcH12VVt9hyphenhyphenm5DEtuDzbiZrGyeasBbkIk/s1600/IMG_5453.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530164217328594850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgttELnfrlH31pBQef-oawMHD1cgMKldpFBGOmKQ6tPJ3vhcyVtJjc0WAifx2mMFYHghBIgusfQc9Smm0PZQB23va1fjyHiLgyNB_w2Px1vQjmcH12VVt9hyphenhyphenm5DEtuDzbiZrGyeasBbkIk/s320/IMG_5453.JPG" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a>Mom & Dad, a little worse for wear<br /></p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPhAFF79wmLomGq9Tcc1ApF8CpR8Zv3hZnESk2JDX1UO9Wh5jcmo7JO07-Y8cfdnBx3B6QoWgCf74LuDdeA1VXfid47lEq4B5IBlD-AGrOgRqyc4hoXi4KIl5xWefSEg7OG1rN4f_Oxk/s1600/IMG_5450.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530164210812781218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPhAFF79wmLomGq9Tcc1ApF8CpR8Zv3hZnESk2JDX1UO9Wh5jcmo7JO07-Y8cfdnBx3B6QoWgCf74LuDdeA1VXfid47lEq4B5IBlD-AGrOgRqyc4hoXi4KIl5xWefSEg7OG1rN4f_Oxk/s320/IMG_5450.JPG" border="0" /></a> Noah the Barbarian<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pfcZUmVVfODHTcClGk_T8GX_bzreffU0Ap-3dTrNuBT8qkVn_rBEgx4bQF4Lw_ShWb9KbcRlMGfljnRX1nvvqUhMF5iKNB8Zhh-9n78nEbRducz0UKRnnV2gOuG-KHQVHMYtFhsc4Tc/s1600/IMG_5449.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530164203293211586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pfcZUmVVfODHTcClGk_T8GX_bzreffU0Ap-3dTrNuBT8qkVn_rBEgx4bQF4Lw_ShWb9KbcRlMGfljnRX1nvvqUhMF5iKNB8Zhh-9n78nEbRducz0UKRnnV2gOuG-KHQVHMYtFhsc4Tc/s320/IMG_5449.JPG" border="0" /></a>This has an explanation: that thing on his head it is a net, like a little butterfly net. Dilly was convinced that it was the perfect touch to make him a superhero, and very happily posed for these 2 pictures. The pose he created himself, naturally.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRk2z4tR3YcGUfAbtjJsgnVaDMW84sjtyS9RXDbsrR49QjLrgSVVQkk5lIZx2lDweI6Vn4vSq0fUAbg5cbbs0PGxSVdXvYoqxTsUJfTi5iGlh-4ib4uSDMBq0FyivzBwZQIcL_TwR627I/s1600/IMG_5448.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530164193740682130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRk2z4tR3YcGUfAbtjJsgnVaDMW84sjtyS9RXDbsrR49QjLrgSVVQkk5lIZx2lDweI6Vn4vSq0fUAbg5cbbs0PGxSVdXvYoqxTsUJfTi5iGlh-4ib4uSDMBq0FyivzBwZQIcL_TwR627I/s320/IMG_5448.JPG" border="0" /></a>I just think this is the cutest thing in the world.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0dCzI53w4fvMhQrRiD5o9iMnvZAlQbugoDkVmXdBMMzoccMbuLNGgOrXthyTCnahc0oOHmPxLMyOq2mB2-Q9BZSy_S9HvTWSg-xz_6-W6Z11Mbc9wOZHxIeelr-03OkTFQw6QpNWtrM/s1600/IMG_5470.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530163208219123634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0dCzI53w4fvMhQrRiD5o9iMnvZAlQbugoDkVmXdBMMzoccMbuLNGgOrXthyTCnahc0oOHmPxLMyOq2mB2-Q9BZSy_S9HvTWSg-xz_6-W6Z11Mbc9wOZHxIeelr-03OkTFQw6QpNWtrM/s320/IMG_5470.JPG" border="0" /></a>Starting out on our "walk" for heart health.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoF3kjmZhPk6eLz_fU98N5c8PmYURCrKOcqqHzJIISqDp1Q4rPMmey6kQsvtI8dZyOWrWGgPRnTSxeEwIMEXPcg2hY_H_Sut9bXR9XnCc8f2bFHsN4jyLVQVRQh1SP1sMhs1uIta40tEk/s1600/IMG_5458.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530163199990327042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoF3kjmZhPk6eLz_fU98N5c8PmYURCrKOcqqHzJIISqDp1Q4rPMmey6kQsvtI8dZyOWrWGgPRnTSxeEwIMEXPcg2hY_H_Sut9bXR9XnCc8f2bFHsN4jyLVQVRQh1SP1sMhs1uIta40tEk/s320/IMG_5458.JPG" border="0" /></a> Someone took this pic for us...one of the few we have with all of us in the pic.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOcYjTOKsxhz-VCHFI2K3tK9DlX6dFVcjpAWlhQW74Qa6zsd1YBVn4qwWvRAR2P5Q6Gb9EHNSHHw82J9TrlZN_DIE2GQiFA6jL7MEkqEPdOA9UP8wbjlQamIgkw05YhTR7xf-ke0ZNYA/s1600/IMG_5457.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530163196350308946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOcYjTOKsxhz-VCHFI2K3tK9DlX6dFVcjpAWlhQW74Qa6zsd1YBVn4qwWvRAR2P5Q6Gb9EHNSHHw82J9TrlZN_DIE2GQiFA6jL7MEkqEPdOA9UP8wbjlQamIgkw05YhTR7xf-ke0ZNYA/s320/IMG_5457.JPG" border="0" /></a> I think this one is a little better. I took it.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwq9EMJf-FiBVfiKg2SYlj07SMX-COD6YcVc6BYObovlEzFNME4CUqySWU1_jPv42nVltAZDdMCqyyrrk_Rfxno6sTL_y37inZJtjn8IU0GLUMlgMmglGVddTBOm1BJ_dWap5M2klQZA/s1600/IMG_5476.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530163193559359634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwq9EMJf-FiBVfiKg2SYlj07SMX-COD6YcVc6BYObovlEzFNME4CUqySWU1_jPv42nVltAZDdMCqyyrrk_Rfxno6sTL_y37inZJtjn8IU0GLUMlgMmglGVddTBOm1BJ_dWap5M2klQZA/s320/IMG_5476.JPG" border="0" /></a> Pretty Aunty Abi, who doted on the kids when we were up visiting Mom.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2eSuh2yce3Myw7bBFDmJKmYNc0KkqokUJJ46OH_fOH7xPR4BBCvd9tpzSnV0Rv0uGU9Esorq35jOmeRJ6QcDYgPV5wthnRaW-aPFDzZqzADeHh-ujHkK23OZbAQHehwuWqJOmAwtPGU4/s1600/IMG_5475.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530163183567533746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2eSuh2yce3Myw7bBFDmJKmYNc0KkqokUJJ46OH_fOH7xPR4BBCvd9tpzSnV0Rv0uGU9Esorq35jOmeRJ6QcDYgPV5wthnRaW-aPFDzZqzADeHh-ujHkK23OZbAQHehwuWqJOmAwtPGU4/s320/IMG_5475.JPG" border="0" /></a>Family fun at a lake near where Mom & DC live. We had a picnic! Yay.<br /></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-83079015057535021332010-09-23T15:17:00.000-07:002010-09-23T15:20:51.066-07:00BatpeopleToday I'm in the computer room & Noah is helping me clean up. I had to insist that he did so because his legos were all over the floor. So he takes off his gear & does it, telling me that he's Batman, just like a new Netflix show that he & Dillon were watching. So Noah finishes up his part of the mess, and it's Dillon's turn. I tell Noah, "Batman, go call Dillon to come here."<br /><br />He dutifully calls:<br /><br />"Batwoman!"<br /><br />And Dillon comes running.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-18402554760320944952010-09-22T19:57:00.001-07:002010-09-22T20:03:57.052-07:00The sweetest thingThe other night I had had a VERY long day with the kids....seemed like they were all acting out much more than usual. I just felt worn out. I was putting them to bed and Dillon, out of nowhere, says this:<br />"Mama, you're the best mama I never seen".<br /><br />I gave Noah a piece of yellow construction paper with stars on it that he could practice cutting on (he has to use scissors in kindergarten), and went out somewhere for a while. When I came back the stars were up on our fridge, neatly cut out. Jeff told me that he gave them to him because, "You and Mommy are stars to take care of us."<br /><br />At dinner tonight I put together some leftovers for the kids to eat. Dillon starts to say something:<br /><br />"Mama, you...."<br /><br />and stops. Noah leans over & I can hear him whispering, prompting him:<br /><br />Noah, whispering: "You're the best cook"<br /><br />Dillon, triumphantly: "Mama, you're the <em>fatness cook</em>!"Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-78030366901792103912010-08-26T10:05:00.000-07:002010-08-26T14:06:52.893-07:00My Holiday: San AntonioOne thing I really like about having other people come to visit us is that it seems that it makes us more adventurous. We end up deciding to do things that we might not otherwise have thought to do on our own...or if we thought about it, we decided forget it, it's too much work with three small children. But then someone else shows up & suddenly the possiblities are endless. Case in point: we went cave hiking with Paula. The pros were that it's a super neat thing to do & Jeff & I have been dying to see one of these Texas caves for a long time. The cons: it's a very steep, wet, hour-long hike, we have 3 children under the age of 5, and Paula is claustrophobic. None of these things moved us. We went boldly where young children probably should not go, to the Natural Bridge Caverns.<br />It's a series of caves that has a trail running through it, and there are several hike "tours" that you can pay to go on. The one we went on was billed as the easiest one...it was about 45 minutes of hiking & went down to 180 feet below the surface at it's lowest point. So long story short, this is how we did it: Jeff carried Zoe in the carrier, I ended up carrying Dillon most of the way on my hip, and Noah walked, and was a trooper for pretty much the whole time. Paula pushed through too, even though she had to stop every 10 minutes or so with shortness of breath. I have a very good picture of her clinging to a railing for dear life that I intend to post. Did I mention that it was 80+ degrees down there, with 99% humidity? But what views!! It was amazing to see these caverns under the earth...you felt like you had fallen into a JRR Tolkein story at times. They named these huge caverns all sorts of fanciful names, like "The Hall of the Mountain King" or "The Valley of the Fallen Lords". I was just in awe of these incredible formations that take millions of years to form!! Of course, it's hard to get good pictures while you're balancing a 30 lb child on your hip, but I did my best.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEdzgrInhqhNxifHG-cEU1wXeQQIqzPVNsorK99Jr4AORauFFVurRZaly8nMv7laqoc2Wesqh75rVXmhS6AicUGEVKUGhMVATo239MJNBxgXLmf6hku2bU6xQYLPI2Bv3a6-ERe5KAR8/s1600/IMG_4879.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509803577509588514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEdzgrInhqhNxifHG-cEU1wXeQQIqzPVNsorK99Jr4AORauFFVurRZaly8nMv7laqoc2Wesqh75rVXmhS6AicUGEVKUGhMVATo239MJNBxgXLmf6hku2bU6xQYLPI2Bv3a6-ERe5KAR8/s320/IMG_4879.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFB8LZSq4FlwkHPttoHJC3CcT0X6yD2y-T98qTd-nTKqGKAjm4c8zDUluMgxb8t4GWC-Tb01bqgYOsWarpHft7JlguXb3xNKZwNnN-0-P3jzTEPbKskaUch6-TT3YGIRje0rvVEUGiBE/s1600/IMG_4887.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509803573520728994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFB8LZSq4FlwkHPttoHJC3CcT0X6yD2y-T98qTd-nTKqGKAjm4c8zDUluMgxb8t4GWC-Tb01bqgYOsWarpHft7JlguXb3xNKZwNnN-0-P3jzTEPbKskaUch6-TT3YGIRje0rvVEUGiBE/s320/IMG_4887.JPG" border="0" /></a> On the way down to the caves<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXaoKfIdjTmDdcB3jMFLnMGkrcAqe2fnIJHT5qBKRN722I30mJhpMpoV_rRBqEgNOePV1jPsCuK_CUmE77XRvnvR5NZuKCC6WvMubxa5f0TucLcLqs5JsC2WLbSzsYfVecZNPs7b_0Is/s1600/IMG_4890.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509803563268959122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXaoKfIdjTmDdcB3jMFLnMGkrcAqe2fnIJHT5qBKRN722I30mJhpMpoV_rRBqEgNOePV1jPsCuK_CUmE77XRvnvR5NZuKCC6WvMubxa5f0TucLcLqs5JsC2WLbSzsYfVecZNPs7b_0Is/s320/IMG_4890.JPG" border="0" /></a> Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. The entrance.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtSHY2VGPN15hPjo0hyphenhyphenwwCYIkLV7kyTaRG0H0awT4bq3DQqq8pMm4ZWWmh0B5Bpi2q6AJjedcwURvUmxJ2iGllG8x0JKNIFAs9HJTQsV_e3LLvEZbnBWbWehCyNBFLPZofLNd8YaJNdzA/s1600/IMG_4895.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509803557627306530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtSHY2VGPN15hPjo0hyphenhyphenwwCYIkLV7kyTaRG0H0awT4bq3DQqq8pMm4ZWWmh0B5Bpi2q6AJjedcwURvUmxJ2iGllG8x0JKNIFAs9HJTQsV_e3LLvEZbnBWbWehCyNBFLPZofLNd8YaJNdzA/s320/IMG_4895.JPG" border="0" /></a>Everyone smile! This is fun! This is FUN! (Also, please note my highly appropriate hiking clothing.)<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBY-aLw4eVh4iKoQ6wucP_nsymHmp2ac6TZodFaRc8oP00M5OsFUT105oERkce_gegCApDkoAoCl6aZrcaQtfI6QefvA_hF-4IPyl0VvvApnhWFQhP8f0awQV9lJURwfmw6_kGeElVds8/s1600/IMG_4897.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509802617356925378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBY-aLw4eVh4iKoQ6wucP_nsymHmp2ac6TZodFaRc8oP00M5OsFUT105oERkce_gegCApDkoAoCl6aZrcaQtfI6QefvA_hF-4IPyl0VvvApnhWFQhP8f0awQV9lJURwfmw6_kGeElVds8/s320/IMG_4897.JPG" border="0" /></a> A tight squeeze. I have to admit, when I saw this passage, even I got a little claustrophobic.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ZSzQhR0grGmBWpCvQQp3RnmKv1MUOLDVg-8nV8-6lVlUiWTxCxTqXr9RkzZToflloV_74px09qpKsPzONfPXg-IpHiT-ymqsmXgz2lOBh-DskTVf7dAD-cvG5bxwyHHOneAR0sfxLqU/s1600/IMG_4903.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509802606575100018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ZSzQhR0grGmBWpCvQQp3RnmKv1MUOLDVg-8nV8-6lVlUiWTxCxTqXr9RkzZToflloV_74px09qpKsPzONfPXg-IpHiT-ymqsmXgz2lOBh-DskTVf7dAD-cvG5bxwyHHOneAR0sfxLqU/s320/IMG_4903.JPG" border="0" /></a> Neat lookin rocks<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-M-NB9cXMX1IaenW8nZNUllJS_xSM28Y33MohvH_DQ0z3SHJo76FjnKXeMDSYILPlz9N_MIpoaGfJFg3hqtTfpCNk3U8mtxhJn5or625vX3HuZFj5kBCofN6CMKPuZokZYqWblHgHgI4/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509802588225462450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-M-NB9cXMX1IaenW8nZNUllJS_xSM28Y33MohvH_DQ0z3SHJo76FjnKXeMDSYILPlz9N_MIpoaGfJFg3hqtTfpCNk3U8mtxhJn5or625vX3HuZFj5kBCofN6CMKPuZokZYqWblHgHgI4/s320/IMG_4916.JPG" border="0" /></a> Alien<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymuLDB7lUhXL0QvWF5tsxRUHvCDQI5GvlvCCTFbxB20Kns1Yx2oV9d1IhPzFFJPwfA_Ubnklo1bKtkC9Vsg9y6E4aD0lMluADwd-MWlPZ3Fy3UI2QHQB34e1HTAX364PojYJSc7QX0BI/s1600/IMG_4923.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509802579147401202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymuLDB7lUhXL0QvWF5tsxRUHvCDQI5GvlvCCTFbxB20Kns1Yx2oV9d1IhPzFFJPwfA_Ubnklo1bKtkC9Vsg9y6E4aD0lMluADwd-MWlPZ3Fy3UI2QHQB34e1HTAX364PojYJSc7QX0BI/s320/IMG_4923.JPG" border="0" /></a> Looks a little plastic, doesn't it?<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6iWJJ8AbNxCTHgqgrIXtwNxpON3VhunXqBVZmPGYwTXrx0T3mF3r8ZZ6cX75oA3CtZTbwToqhM3jTStT-vKHfqmEjyVI6CFR3NCEmfSrfIZwgNvkgaa8uVkc117lC1DkbCkgTpvgpgE/s1600/IMG_4938.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509800508261192434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6iWJJ8AbNxCTHgqgrIXtwNxpON3VhunXqBVZmPGYwTXrx0T3mF3r8ZZ6cX75oA3CtZTbwToqhM3jTStT-vKHfqmEjyVI6CFR3NCEmfSrfIZwgNvkgaa8uVkc117lC1DkbCkgTpvgpgE/s320/IMG_4938.JPG" border="0" /></a>A naturally occuring underground pool<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0pNEHbFBzMIa-IUooPzY0CXKh3LkBJnut3Swd8d3oF3LluIDu5EdXoovnAFZCtNH4eauOE2EjBvLlePUXHw5AMP6XqhY58_Z8rD7AT9C5W1qwzm9b0xXcXyEtHgHhIEn5XnNVKAU3z4/s1600/IMG_4939.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509800498135481186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0pNEHbFBzMIa-IUooPzY0CXKh3LkBJnut3Swd8d3oF3LluIDu5EdXoovnAFZCtNH4eauOE2EjBvLlePUXHw5AMP6XqhY58_Z8rD7AT9C5W1qwzm9b0xXcXyEtHgHhIEn5XnNVKAU3z4/s320/IMG_4939.JPG" border="0" /></a> Paula trying to smile through her pain<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6UsV2mZImgarvlLRmxIyb-AZphCB7BONFDgPYKhoIuVymm3zrzr5I_DmMN2zfnf1_cX3hFu_PStCJV8tA8IResS1iD8O-TYDrsI8i7c-ORJLiHFsb5UX0Pec0OK4bFB2bu0MCfhA78Ew/s1600/IMG_4943.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509800496253903682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6UsV2mZImgarvlLRmxIyb-AZphCB7BONFDgPYKhoIuVymm3zrzr5I_DmMN2zfnf1_cX3hFu_PStCJV8tA8IResS1iD8O-TYDrsI8i7c-ORJLiHFsb5UX0Pec0OK4bFB2bu0MCfhA78Ew/s320/IMG_4943.JPG" border="0" /></a> That's better</div><div></div><div align="left">I didn't mention this, but this was a mini-break-trip to San Antonio that we did on the weekend before we were to leave for CA. We had intended to stop there on our way to CA, but decided that it would be more time efficient to go there the previous weekend & just drive home, since it's only 3 hours away from us.<br />The next stop was a wild animal park which is practically adjoining the cave site. There's all this acreage & they let all kinds of wildlife roam free over it, and you stay in your car & drive around, trying to feed the overstuffed animals from your hand, praying to God that the Texas Longhorn doesn't scratch your new car paintjob or the 7 foot tall ostrich with a bad attitude doesn't decide to peck your left eye out as dessert. I didn't feed any of the animals from my hand personally...too chicken. Jeff did, though, although he drew the line at the ostrich...who really did act as if he came from the Juvie Ostrich Hall pretty recently. It was a neat experience to see all these animals up close & personal, even if they were stupefied from being stuffed to the gills and sunstroke (it was about 100 degrees that day). We saw all kinds of deer, many varieties of moo cow, ostriches, giraffes (they kept those penned up, I guess they're too valuable to risk being roadkill), zebras, etc. Neat!<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmK4PJQ-377WT549LiVlNQu6q-A4eNnQX4eoNDgpTUxNKeyS_CHdwQRaH6o5Vf1hmcFTRex079TcIC7DrRS8MJ1dAEdvvWduJ68qikJeDg9UT_MCtK8AT_Cqfhf8UYaf3JplG3Mr80vA/s1600/IMG_4963.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509800473892653810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmK4PJQ-377WT549LiVlNQu6q-A4eNnQX4eoNDgpTUxNKeyS_CHdwQRaH6o5Vf1hmcFTRex079TcIC7DrRS8MJ1dAEdvvWduJ68qikJeDg9UT_MCtK8AT_Cqfhf8UYaf3JplG3Mr80vA/s320/IMG_4963.JPG" border="0" /></a> The wild animals<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK6V-tJmQJSuTtVpQ31LzfP7wRIfR3uhsYo8a-tM_mt7AW8o60_lKkKfmyHHTU8xYAxhApYierKsnARo_bWcIXznSnHnkIJ8JzoEhClx5aCIpJwBrcjDOptI-Ku8wi52ghq3WQqsNXo20/s1600/IMG_4967.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509800460253826866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK6V-tJmQJSuTtVpQ31LzfP7wRIfR3uhsYo8a-tM_mt7AW8o60_lKkKfmyHHTU8xYAxhApYierKsnARo_bWcIXznSnHnkIJ8JzoEhClx5aCIpJwBrcjDOptI-Ku8wi52ghq3WQqsNXo20/s320/IMG_4967.JPG" border="0" /></a>Moo<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoXutOb8_PrOCtlgbX7Ld2kYRmNf6JVBtdkoK_rx1ZmlReQ38ydoWhpvRFZg-2V-xZOh8m29Rx-57MMqiDihKavGzGa4Yl41bR9ptIASpiddSOS0uszLJJb34Y3pdDCPdNDZMwFhndZ0/s1600/IMG_4974.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509799017879991538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoXutOb8_PrOCtlgbX7Ld2kYRmNf6JVBtdkoK_rx1ZmlReQ38ydoWhpvRFZg-2V-xZOh8m29Rx-57MMqiDihKavGzGa4Yl41bR9ptIASpiddSOS0uszLJJb34Y3pdDCPdNDZMwFhndZ0/s320/IMG_4974.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUX-VoK12cif1C7u0dfqIEh-9O6Nb-l6zOr_dwz5G5wh5XKOiYCP4vCKOZptZ0e6kvkF6ySxap6fOqm-Q-g3O4Ev_L06u2D3-zVWfSDIo32BvrMpb3W6DrP1CB6RKfqDbNDb3uA3HVJg/s1600/IMG_4977.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509799010579772114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUX-VoK12cif1C7u0dfqIEh-9O6Nb-l6zOr_dwz5G5wh5XKOiYCP4vCKOZptZ0e6kvkF6ySxap6fOqm-Q-g3O4Ev_L06u2D3-zVWfSDIo32BvrMpb3W6DrP1CB6RKfqDbNDb3uA3HVJg/s320/IMG_4977.JPG" border="0" /></a> Daddy and Noah feeding the animals<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvUHBbhC7e22GiDSQzf4rD3lSmkAWxNNgUzy_uFTU0KwRGJRz3gCIoHSPnDtJ0ExYZH3F8bbR20T4S9GvCUp7buP_qzrKlVX4Ir3rkQdf3b2IHGebohnw1SvfgI5EsnSY4CW_aMS9GRs/s1600/IMG_4984.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509798997995429442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvUHBbhC7e22GiDSQzf4rD3lSmkAWxNNgUzy_uFTU0KwRGJRz3gCIoHSPnDtJ0ExYZH3F8bbR20T4S9GvCUp7buP_qzrKlVX4Ir3rkQdf3b2IHGebohnw1SvfgI5EsnSY4CW_aMS9GRs/s320/IMG_4984.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHdUT1KzD1GLTdZx727tFH9NqjpTjSUaGRM5SkYPBlDpuA5R6oZyau1PJH799yNs0VrK2t8QrDLOF8O3g6zixIkN8xLPfZL9eMClBzY4A9FpJLIwPK6J8Pto71FVkxTaiyOK22WKcoLU/s1600/IMG_4986.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509798990858686338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHdUT1KzD1GLTdZx727tFH9NqjpTjSUaGRM5SkYPBlDpuA5R6oZyau1PJH799yNs0VrK2t8QrDLOF8O3g6zixIkN8xLPfZL9eMClBzY4A9FpJLIwPK6J8Pto71FVkxTaiyOK22WKcoLU/s320/IMG_4986.JPG" border="0" /></a> Whatchoo lookin at?</div><div align="left"><br />Next we drove into San Antonio proper and checked into the AWESOME hotel that we had booked online. We got it for a very good price on one of these discount sites, and it was a Marriott...I have generally VERY good experiences with Marriott. Anyway, it was just beautiful, with a terrific pool and lovely landscaped areas, courtyard with fountain, etc. We left our bags & proceeded to take the kids down to the Riverwalk, which is the river that runs through the city with restaurants & bars and shops all along both sides of it. We took a little tourist boat on a "cruise" up & down the waterways, with the boatman giving us a running monologue of the history of the buildings & the river, etc. Interesting! Not so great was the waiting in line for a good HOUR before getting on the thing...note to self: maybe doing the Riverwalk on a Saturday night in July isn't the best thing in the world. The kids were pretty worn out after this big day, to say the least. I was too, truth be told. We slept well.<br />So the next day we went to the Alamo & Paula delighted in the history of it, looking at the displays, etc, to her hearts' content. (We had been there before). To be honest, although it's very interesting historically, I find these historical gravesites and battlefields kind of depressing...it's sad to read the gruesome histories of what went on, and how many people died, even if it's supposed to be "glorious". Anyway...we sweated it out there for awhile (what a hot summer!), and then made our way back to Waco. And that's our big weekend in San Antonio.<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYJUu1y8Spx497egZmAlZVcTNAd5DcoFDlt5Yj96aeS6YEVnw45M5BthlRNJc8bESWb2r7b1M5boz6AfgoUdDsKV9XrrcnmrYVUy9hwAq_ONEzwonw-f5JqplXLIRf1GXJFrb4mykYQk/s1600/IMG_4990.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509798986587275458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYJUu1y8Spx497egZmAlZVcTNAd5DcoFDlt5Yj96aeS6YEVnw45M5BthlRNJc8bESWb2r7b1M5boz6AfgoUdDsKV9XrrcnmrYVUy9hwAq_ONEzwonw-f5JqplXLIRf1GXJFrb4mykYQk/s320/IMG_4990.JPG" border="0" /></a> The beautiful fountain at our hotel<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwSQoozlieVvDQyggRTzTiRbITfV72udF3UXWJ67iYpSq9Pd7sCn8FM8N4HhHR02CMObGO9mAoMYwYBk6OixSEota7EkqbTiX-eyV3A7MxMFHtt93GNNE4aWHO0e_LSunEm8LAFe2ke0/s1600/IMG_4993.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509797199252965186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwSQoozlieVvDQyggRTzTiRbITfV72udF3UXWJ67iYpSq9Pd7sCn8FM8N4HhHR02CMObGO9mAoMYwYBk6OixSEota7EkqbTiX-eyV3A7MxMFHtt93GNNE4aWHO0e_LSunEm8LAFe2ke0/s320/IMG_4993.JPG" border="0" /></a> I waxed artsy with the photos of the beautiful hotel we stayed at:<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIEf2pASTN_Ntym0fUsLgzKBHXAnnZCRc8RcJn_KoJc3etJunvEScZCqrzEevFFWTVu2mdmALtLTm9YX2Hbf4vIOo6Zo8TT27tkGT6Qx4MOBO1dVnd15dGo-WBKH-MzJLUWzk6hkqEpZY/s1600/IMG_4994.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509797186881194178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIEf2pASTN_Ntym0fUsLgzKBHXAnnZCRc8RcJn_KoJc3etJunvEScZCqrzEevFFWTVu2mdmALtLTm9YX2Hbf4vIOo6Zo8TT27tkGT6Qx4MOBO1dVnd15dGo-WBKH-MzJLUWzk6hkqEpZY/s320/IMG_4994.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQafiqKwqpvk-qX8SYWnh-JXITrUz9tX5y5FyijEapg4fHp8-SeWgmTcFArVrkAJPAjtgHdy0LVwgCrRXBEjdQfJEAOwC3CyXz1kP97QBgJ6CsWiEx5OccQNPENQqpMPPVcVlYrHv5ZQ/s1600/IMG_5003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509797183881901090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQafiqKwqpvk-qX8SYWnh-JXITrUz9tX5y5FyijEapg4fHp8-SeWgmTcFArVrkAJPAjtgHdy0LVwgCrRXBEjdQfJEAOwC3CyXz1kP97QBgJ6CsWiEx5OccQNPENQqpMPPVcVlYrHv5ZQ/s320/IMG_5003.JPG" border="0" /></a> Noah and Dillon (who's clearly had enough) at a Davy Crockett memorial pool at the Alamo<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaECvaDYQ51kJHLtmgKXMeXMymrmg4jsPBgO5n4qsLcSWsB6X0qTB2UmebDWIyKHNOVZny98jktqgxiSm_B8KBQFsdII8a3cPB6WTcjtSItS6c4MILa7fqLt7wkkukjNAIWLrm8N1nHY/s1600/IMG_5008.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509797176422479330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaECvaDYQ51kJHLtmgKXMeXMymrmg4jsPBgO5n4qsLcSWsB6X0qTB2UmebDWIyKHNOVZny98jktqgxiSm_B8KBQFsdII8a3cPB6WTcjtSItS6c4MILa7fqLt7wkkukjNAIWLrm8N1nHY/s320/IMG_5008.JPG" border="0" /></a> Ahh! Some sugary sweetness after a long hot morning<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKYoF9vRNwBso_R388crX8Ge6VSBHuMN-93z00WTr5T_Ol8pfjhSN2DBT1Nj7GVjHmsMM_Cnt5wt2YSjyL0-KuTYONbg28946-hidATWWrCHEXAq_-xyReJQf9YaFMrSphZHVhCRG1XU/s1600/IMG_5015.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509797166949358978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKYoF9vRNwBso_R388crX8Ge6VSBHuMN-93z00WTr5T_Ol8pfjhSN2DBT1Nj7GVjHmsMM_Cnt5wt2YSjyL0-KuTYONbg28946-hidATWWrCHEXAq_-xyReJQf9YaFMrSphZHVhCRG1XU/s320/IMG_5015.JPG" border="0" /></a> Always look for the silver lining: a cloud that was beautiful at the end of our day. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-64932870582415328022010-08-25T09:56:00.000-07:002010-08-25T14:24:20.820-07:00My Holiday:I remember reading a Peter and Jane book once that was about Peter going back to school and writing an essay entitled something like "My Holiday", wherein he encapsulated his summer at the seashore or some equally British. We Americans go on vacation & go to the beach. Also, have you noticed that in the similarly titled series, "Dick and Jane", that the writers in both instances have used the names "Peter" and "Dick", which are both nicknames for male genetalia?<br /><br />Why am I on this subject?<br /><br />I digress. I'm trying to write a little travelogue of our...well...travels, to California. Jeff and I had planned to drive there for awhile, as we had not been able to afford to do so for quite some time. Yay for pay raises! In our family we have this "special day highwater season" which starts with Noah's birthday on July 23rd and ends with Jeff's birthday on Sept. 1st. Included are mine, Zoe and Paula's birthdays, and our anniversary. Cha Ching! All this to say we often try to go on vacation around this time...makes it all more festive.<br />This year was a particularly big year for Paula, being her 60th birthday. So Jeff and I decided to fly her out here, because seeing us and helping me to take care of our kids for a week or two is SUCH a special present, and then we all were going to drive back to CA together. Which is what we did. I had a very nice visit with Paula (Jeff was still working, this was about 2 weeks prior to driving to CA), and she caught up on her Grandmother time with the kids. We had Noah's birthday celebration during this time, too. Guess where we went? And they all said: CHUCK E CHEESE! Of course. He turned 5, but for deep dark reasons still INSISTS that he's 4, because per him, if you're 5 you have to go to school. No matter that he already IS in school and enjoying it...I guess it's the idea of the thing that he objects to. It's something we're working on. Anyway, here's some pics of the birthday:<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH7d4ISKkGB-R4fwAzt4B1MoJr17AyFfCn2-TTHWJGkDTQd3mpCb2CGPqpkEG6qpSh8SIPI9eB7CcDJi5EeTO5JAVaS8Ojy_L7RK_J3S26K6GA16T21o8HqnfV-VCFrYSF2Vxr2ETXD30/s1600/IMG_4876.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509460445447817010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH7d4ISKkGB-R4fwAzt4B1MoJr17AyFfCn2-TTHWJGkDTQd3mpCb2CGPqpkEG6qpSh8SIPI9eB7CcDJi5EeTO5JAVaS8Ojy_L7RK_J3S26K6GA16T21o8HqnfV-VCFrYSF2Vxr2ETXD30/s320/IMG_4876.JPG" border="0" /></a> The birthday cake Noah had his heart set on. Look at it closely...it's quite a cake. Bonus points because the toys on it are all actual toys and are being used by both boys! Do you know how much Spiderman toys cost? About as much as this cake. Score.<br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuQLXQtJwHnbmqEtoitnl4XFxA7pXA8Lw_dEOfqcDe97sJ8hJ80Xbs4wmwkru-PIDQ8a-F5V9VI3kRoDcNQom7qYb-hpm7ACnX3oC3bCpxR3YQX4TOqYQot5HiBe7ip9BdHDNVaR8XfvA/s1600/IMG_4858.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509458638389436146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuQLXQtJwHnbmqEtoitnl4XFxA7pXA8Lw_dEOfqcDe97sJ8hJ80Xbs4wmwkru-PIDQ8a-F5V9VI3kRoDcNQom7qYb-hpm7ACnX3oC3bCpxR3YQX4TOqYQot5HiBe7ip9BdHDNVaR8XfvA/s320/IMG_4858.JPG" border="0" /></a> Noah wanted the Chuck E Cheese crown more than anything in the world, and here he is proudly wearing it. </div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6PaTI61QcPdznATWolbMODrJqFDlMeUL9l2XmQtA3I4LFWmYdu919ivxUpYTTYmSpvBOuIU1vNTl0m65eAljXHPSKwSitI4CeVy0Bg7OOZZvo1okAhUD12eJ5-DyFtRlEIBI9BwK3zI/s1600/IMG_4856.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509458631848809298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6PaTI61QcPdznATWolbMODrJqFDlMeUL9l2XmQtA3I4LFWmYdu919ivxUpYTTYmSpvBOuIU1vNTl0m65eAljXHPSKwSitI4CeVy0Bg7OOZZvo1okAhUD12eJ5-DyFtRlEIBI9BwK3zI/s320/IMG_4856.JPG" border="0" /></a> Yee haw pardner. He struck this pose ENTIRELY ON HIS OWN and held it while we took pictures. The outfit was a present.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjP0PuSDVhkBvsO0k943ItfGUYNkblcsMDzK1qQvpFoB5gxDfyLCLU885jZ5VfAu-8grpm5gH046Y2gem_aaWwPEtzKc018u3xNUxDRK73byOKcLmemTScL2Pk333kOTQg5DNdfVMxoHI/s1600/IMG_4854.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509458625399789234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjP0PuSDVhkBvsO0k943ItfGUYNkblcsMDzK1qQvpFoB5gxDfyLCLU885jZ5VfAu-8grpm5gH046Y2gem_aaWwPEtzKc018u3xNUxDRK73byOKcLmemTScL2Pk333kOTQg5DNdfVMxoHI/s320/IMG_4854.JPG" border="0" /></a> Happy Birthday Boy<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOkKjQKXhlXt2_KHAtiLGLTTl9J34weNCig04dNna58TeSMHFHM-cXphZRgMukaBqoMqX6W9H3uQYS-KnL2u2w2WjtSkEiMAtjXVACpk2g61_He6OwcgMk1ph2awFwGRxJNAQc66gnLU/s1600/IMG_4835.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509458620739192306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOkKjQKXhlXt2_KHAtiLGLTTl9J34weNCig04dNna58TeSMHFHM-cXphZRgMukaBqoMqX6W9H3uQYS-KnL2u2w2WjtSkEiMAtjXVACpk2g61_He6OwcgMk1ph2awFwGRxJNAQc66gnLU/s320/IMG_4835.JPG" border="0" /></a> Miss Zoe with Dilly's consolation prize cars. Grandma Paula got Dilly a present too, so he wouldn't feel left out.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o6HAa1ae7lB5QR1SmwzQDcvv4yX1j7TdWZdon70RO8TQU2n2aRpEDHdlO9_DCVufib4ixjg_0ZvddXH3zzha-rKPXAGylbUNn7hTvSG-YkFnLQEG0kK43DcnejG6aSQGiEq3vhIYx5A/s1600/IMG_4828.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509458606335625922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o6HAa1ae7lB5QR1SmwzQDcvv4yX1j7TdWZdon70RO8TQU2n2aRpEDHdlO9_DCVufib4ixjg_0ZvddXH3zzha-rKPXAGylbUNn7hTvSG-YkFnLQEG0kK43DcnejG6aSQGiEq3vhIYx5A/s320/IMG_4828.JPG" border="0" /></a> The pièce de résistance: a big boy bike! </div><div> </div><div align="left">I was going to write more and publish more pictures, but unfortunately I am out of time today. More tomorrow, children permitting.<br /></div></div><br /></div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-29036394602855996082010-08-19T08:21:00.001-07:002010-08-19T08:32:49.040-07:00UpdateSo Kia fixed our DVD player, just in time for our marathon drive to and from California. Yay! I'll tell you, now that it works, that thing is worth it's weight in GOLD. Even the baby will watch it & it helps a little with entertaining her, which is priceless.<br />We literally did something, an outing, etc, every day that we were in California, which means that we burned the candle at both ends and ended up sick at the end of the trip...but it was worth it. Had really fun times and made really good memories.<br />When I can get the pics uploaded to the computer I will post a travelogue.<br /><br />And now I must continue with the myriad preparations for handing my beloved first born son over to strangers to keep for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week....a process otherwise known as getting ready for school. I find it so disconcerting to think that for the first 5 years of his life he was mine, but now everything in those 7 hours he's away I will have no control over. I have no say in the cirriculum or the rules that he will have to abide by...I don't even know what really goes on in a kindergarten class, because I never attended traditional school myself.<br /><br />Are we freaking out, preciousss? Yesss. We Is.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-88895138679351101162010-07-21T13:38:00.000-07:002010-07-21T14:14:13.210-07:00Of Cabbages and Kings, and why Texas is Boiling Hot, and Whether the Farking Kia People Are Going to Fix My DVD Player AlreadySo first things first: BOOTS! In July! I am a shoe (word that rhymes with chore), and recently we were out at a mall in Austin and we found this TERRIFIC store. It's a Dillards (like Macys, for you California folk), and Dillards is not usually a store I shop in, because it's frikkin expensive and has very few sales. However, the merchandise is really high-end & desirable. So we found this funky little mall that has a clearance Dillards...like a Ross exploded in it. There's just racks and racks of stuff that is on a final sale, like 70 to 80% off. And guess what I found??? Behold:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYO5MYz2e5UVgafDEcMTlUgG3dUrUTs6ZUDh8hj-uyQIYx8VJCDVGrnXy7eLhdHde6MtLgaB7o7MYNQgY6VllKNVugqImR2oyEwaBpgmy0PeUlGLDaus1QgJ3fQvsg3BAopxCMl-5TFA/s1600/sofft+boots.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496463429175064018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 170px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYO5MYz2e5UVgafDEcMTlUgG3dUrUTs6ZUDh8hj-uyQIYx8VJCDVGrnXy7eLhdHde6MtLgaB7o7MYNQgY6VllKNVugqImR2oyEwaBpgmy0PeUlGLDaus1QgJ3fQvsg3BAopxCMl-5TFA/s320/sofft+boots.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />These are a brand called "Sofft"...and they are soft! And comfortable! And my humongous size! And black! And just $50! They usually sell for over $200. I had to share my joy with you. Adrianne, I expect a congratulatory comment. Also, Mom, Amber and Melinda. Remaining other sisters, you may or may not, as you do not share a size with us and Sasquatch.<br /><br />Next: We are gearing up for our annual trip to California. Yay! When we first moved out of CA, we went back as much as 3 times per year. It's down to one time, now, as finances permit. But we are going! And sadly, our DVD system in the new Kia, which was purchased with precisely this kind of trip in mind, is not working. We have had the people who installed it out to fix it twice now. I am full of righteous indignation over this, and have all the customer service people bowing low in shame to me. As they should. If they can't fix it, I may have to make them upgrade the system or give us a new van. Sigh. I will let you know the outcome.<br /><br />But, you know, BOOTS!! Life is worth living, after all.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-14897984343679045602010-07-06T15:15:00.000-07:002010-07-06T16:33:58.070-07:00Independence DaySo this is a little post to tell you about our Fourth celebrations, and, thematically, to inform you (that don't already know) that I am now "free and independent", because we have bitten the bullet and purchased a van. Yes, we have a new van. Didn't take very long, did it, after Jeff got promoted? Those of you who know me well will agree that we really needed a 2nd car, and a mini-van will be particularly useful to us, as it's much cheaper to drive to California, for example, than fly 5 people there. What a big family we've become!<br />So the big question you must ask yourself before you buy your new vehicle is, WHAT COLOR SHOULD IT BE? The answer: red. We bought a red Kia Sedona, which seats 8. Most everyone in our family got a little say in what they wanted, namely: Jeff wanted it to be a van; I wanted it to be a Kia & to have an entertainment system (DVD player); and Noah wanted it to be red. Dillon wanted candy and Zoe wanted booje. So, not really helpful on the last two there. But we all are happy with it, except for Zoe, who absolutely detests riding in her car seat and starts screaming upon sight of it.<br /> Yes, I wanted the DVD player in it...if you've ever been on a multiple-day car trip with small children, you'll know why. And wonderfully, we got the system installed at a big discount because the Kia dealer here couldn't locate the van we wanted with the entertainment system factory-installed, so they had a local company do it....you can't tell the difference, and the cost was significantly less! So much for the bells and whistles. Jeff did a lot of research on the Kia Sedona, and it's really a great van, great bang for the buck. So far it drives really well and everything is working great. I guess I'm now that person, the mother of 3 who drives a mini-van. Not so bad after all. You've just got to yield to the inevitable, surrender to the madness, people.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikedaMbNupZW-v4nWU4gplHxEPvQqLy_V6guisUFqrs7_Fxy1QmVSYubaR-TdQ6dITgeSwDeM22PDu4IjQ4AbRULiJRivKrBq7X5VuQamnB4_oSj4VdgYZqAYIyBi1JC3Q5K6-ioy_uXg/s1600/018.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490937827162644194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikedaMbNupZW-v4nWU4gplHxEPvQqLy_V6guisUFqrs7_Fxy1QmVSYubaR-TdQ6dITgeSwDeM22PDu4IjQ4AbRULiJRivKrBq7X5VuQamnB4_oSj4VdgYZqAYIyBi1JC3Q5K6-ioy_uXg/s320/018.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzq7boMiv5WjhFCAJ_AKhbU1QhogJ9_ldN3wMqou0GoCJwJMnSjygOBgMJ84XPfqpzof3RVE0T-f57S5Jrvw-rUgnfgUScth1j2hQbsL4fr880XmVN2UvNV51OhshjzmPc3esd3nZgMw/s1600/015.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490937821837224370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzq7boMiv5WjhFCAJ_AKhbU1QhogJ9_ldN3wMqou0GoCJwJMnSjygOBgMJ84XPfqpzof3RVE0T-f57S5Jrvw-rUgnfgUScth1j2hQbsL4fr880XmVN2UvNV51OhshjzmPc3esd3nZgMw/s320/015.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div>On to other things: our 1st Fourth of July in Waco. It can be summed up in this small sentence: <em>don't watch the fireworks from the bridge</em>. Thank you. We'll be here all week. Try the veal.</div><div><br />Seriously: it was a little scary. Every year, apparently, they do a fireworks extravaganza from the Brazos River, and the "party" scene encompases this large area, which includes 2 older suspension bridges which they still have open. Kinda neat & festive, right? We thought so too. We ate dinner (term used losely...some HIGHLY overpriced cold cheeseburgers and some not-so-bad corndogs), wandered around, kids jumped in the bouncy houses, etc, just generally took in the scenery. Not so bad. Pretty crowded. Then we decide to go up on the bridge. So we do, and we bunk down, along with many others, on one of the ledges at the side, to wait for the fireworks. This was about 9PM. The foot traffic on the bridge was pretty heavy: it was like a promenade, people walking up & down, with folks waiting for the fireworks on the side. But the foot traffic just kept getting heavier and heavier, and as time went on, it was mostly young (teenage) black kids...like the whole black youth of Waco turned out on that particular bridge to party hardy. Long story short, every 15 min. or so some idiot would set off a LARGE FIRECRACKER right in the middle of the bridge, sending about, oh, 500 kids (mostly young, possibly drunk/stoned teenagers) screaming and running in any direction. It was a terrific recipe for someone to get stampeded or injured, not to mention burned by the firecrackers. We were right in the middle of the bridge, and it made me pretty nervous. But by the time this started happening there were so many people on the bridge that getting off was going to take a long time, and we had waited quite awhile for the fireworks, so we decided to stay and hope for the best. Obviously we're still here, so nothing untoward happened, but still...I can see how the mob mentality gets ahold of large groups. There was a moment where we were all trying to get off the bridge at once, when the fireworks were over, and somehow the whole bridge started to sway with the weight and momentum of so many people walking on it, and there was a bad minute where you COULDN'T HELP but sway it, to walk that way, and of course there was a sea of people in front and behind, so we were just trapped on the thing. Claustrophobic. Some kids started to scream and push, etc. Moral of story: we're probably not going to be doing that again on the 4th.<br />(The below pic is of the boys sitting on the suspension wires of the bridge while Jeff holds them both. My boys.)<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfgGykQW7t9wg3F_W9DvByRUgmLmeSYlGVIdhrZA8dslvLuKX9Ns8WrY0kkaP23h5tjbv9Ixbc3ENUeFCBF_hg1ud0y-OTXX64Dy3jY1y31YDzlPq1T2fvOamzNUrXnrTlmmbvldAiYw/s1600/046.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490937817376871010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfgGykQW7t9wg3F_W9DvByRUgmLmeSYlGVIdhrZA8dslvLuKX9Ns8WrY0kkaP23h5tjbv9Ixbc3ENUeFCBF_hg1ud0y-OTXX64Dy3jY1y31YDzlPq1T2fvOamzNUrXnrTlmmbvldAiYw/s320/046.jpg" border="0" /></a> Yesterday Jeff had off also, and we had a nice relaxing BBQ. I drank too much for the 1st time in a long while. Jeff caught it on camera:<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrip8-ViLrqb4BieeP2cn3ZTTVbKiOzDjpevoiI-CZwgK4Fe3jBvAqCoHYR9vn1ux4p82b56fzgjS9xHNfyIv0dlMM9rzpdG7t8JTJPmstaNCsHUJjKjfmHZdRMS-TG-SDJW0-PzRqVUg/s1600/IMG_4745.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490937812961817058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrip8-ViLrqb4BieeP2cn3ZTTVbKiOzDjpevoiI-CZwgK4Fe3jBvAqCoHYR9vn1ux4p82b56fzgjS9xHNfyIv0dlMM9rzpdG7t8JTJPmstaNCsHUJjKjfmHZdRMS-TG-SDJW0-PzRqVUg/s320/IMG_4745.JPG" border="0" /></a> When I fall off the wagon, man, I really fall. Notice the cookies.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfrK7qFGtoDl-2NFaH7GY0AIthGO_RawZGyZAdn5MY3rRwkRINgjS2lcuYWqjo9MTtQbWJGjReiAV4dhg9hQPUfTfAxakl6FQZeBWDmptDUlhyphenhyphenYXIoyl3aMtbomA9O1kZo42Ag_MXX6Yw/s1600/IMG_4751.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490937803597191474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfrK7qFGtoDl-2NFaH7GY0AIthGO_RawZGyZAdn5MY3rRwkRINgjS2lcuYWqjo9MTtQbWJGjReiAV4dhg9hQPUfTfAxakl6FQZeBWDmptDUlhyphenhyphenYXIoyl3aMtbomA9O1kZo42Ag_MXX6Yw/s320/IMG_4751.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />And lastly, Miss Zoe Boe wishes you all a suspension-bridge-free Fourth of July, with a half masticated cookie in her mouth. Peace out. </div></div></div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-19452364227310997952010-06-23T09:37:00.001-07:002010-06-23T09:49:12.224-07:00BraggingSo I can see from Amber's much posting that I will have to really get back on top of the blog in order to keep up...good job my dear!<br /><br />So on to my brag: my husband has once again proved he is a Corporate American Rock Star. We found out last week that he got a promotion that he had applied for! The position is 2 levels above the supervisor position that he got hired in with (only 6 months ago!), and I'm just pleased as punch for him and for us too, of course.<br /><br />And Mom is coming to live just 2 hours away from us in a month or two! Everything is really looking up! I'm using a lot of exclamation points! Because I can!<br /><br />Ok, I'll stop now.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-1398262823098635232010-06-11T12:45:00.000-07:002010-06-11T18:06:30.534-07:00So much to say, so little time:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgImsR3HsJ5W__nCdw4YzA2OFKCBpyAwLLBjAI6eVvl1nk4QEjuqBDF4hSGj_WGnegFSzybUAiuyK3I8yaXSkRFF0_ATnIbXGF5jG_d7hM35gOIruO3yPAGCV6ELhnMkRL5KuhPYSSgeOs/s1600/IMG_4667.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481687104941212658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgImsR3HsJ5W__nCdw4YzA2OFKCBpyAwLLBjAI6eVvl1nk4QEjuqBDF4hSGj_WGnegFSzybUAiuyK3I8yaXSkRFF0_ATnIbXGF5jG_d7hM35gOIruO3yPAGCV6ELhnMkRL5KuhPYSSgeOs/s320/IMG_4667.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-w3ngoVENuBSHed9m3QG7Ihzar4cxkhdb6Ri_zgDMMVwdDQvJbkt5qrt1hPO0THrpCN9Fk223Q7Z2RMTbDzCkPwMMRHY60LDxUtuR-SjsW6H5TsvIhXy78IxEVy8779yrVpHh_n8KmU/s1600/IMG_4702.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481687089196486434" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-w3ngoVENuBSHed9m3QG7Ihzar4cxkhdb6Ri_zgDMMVwdDQvJbkt5qrt1hPO0THrpCN9Fk223Q7Z2RMTbDzCkPwMMRHY60LDxUtuR-SjsW6H5TsvIhXy78IxEVy8779yrVpHh_n8KmU/s320/IMG_4702.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4ROXX_V2AJCu0ZrQdMiJN5FDUVbnav3e9yNDxur36HE8mqitpsGfImgGIcSsYvSxBdWBOAJH-J4cf9ovP__8zpeh-DayO1h-0cE-7ft_N0N_QxYN9FVukc7AgV42ngn9D_ElqYV21LI/s1600/PICT6404.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661717324455154" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4ROXX_V2AJCu0ZrQdMiJN5FDUVbnav3e9yNDxur36HE8mqitpsGfImgGIcSsYvSxBdWBOAJH-J4cf9ovP__8zpeh-DayO1h-0cE-7ft_N0N_QxYN9FVukc7AgV42ngn9D_ElqYV21LI/s320/PICT6404.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAYDKtp6HqZ0yd_4joB_KwkJh9e99uA2_EeDnhdGP0UWsqooFGkvcWjqGZz-B-_O8pxYe4y_lVLEv1mV5NUCcRmXs0ozT0tY92wmfuAQ0zs4RNrG2ACENoK-D3tzODa8zm-qI8c-BMUnc/s1600/PICT6392.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481661710145786994" style="FLOAT: left; 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MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46Vgyqq4s3SuouwyOaRx-eR_pz_VHJWDZAlIaTRcUWH7oAK9AJrtBjMUDJmvBY8fC-wfWB9CchVGqAbHMzDIbpKjVwRblDa8Pq05EUogIKjM3pYY0WSiwhDz0WtfXw9PIPsFCk1e77tA/s320/IMG_4630.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pIomfh47Sr2GobSJ3PCl11csEFfk_YeNdWbPc1rf-scoMmRdGpohooCwYOn8AHdSoDaixsZWbsdodeA5xtNOnwHaA_ObM2x29PBy5EUpKP-jvCpzjBkac2ttb7nh_3r4Gxs72rEIJH0/s1600/IMG_4629.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481658792997472978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pIomfh47Sr2GobSJ3PCl11csEFfk_YeNdWbPc1rf-scoMmRdGpohooCwYOn8AHdSoDaixsZWbsdodeA5xtNOnwHaA_ObM2x29PBy5EUpKP-jvCpzjBkac2ttb7nh_3r4Gxs72rEIJH0/s320/IMG_4629.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiISwurD9v_620ysza0DGBn7cHoqVumCC_ah_rgQYf19-OPNWhc5EyGvEtNSXaGDZ7QBSfo79KwjmVhY8muXxPTbi_5cRz51f4eSke-eQI97LFcEYKEE0WUxLietq6VKtoxsKAB7T4VtA8/s1600/IMG_4627.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481658784635208530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiISwurD9v_620ysza0DGBn7cHoqVumCC_ah_rgQYf19-OPNWhc5EyGvEtNSXaGDZ7QBSfo79KwjmVhY8muXxPTbi_5cRz51f4eSke-eQI97LFcEYKEE0WUxLietq6VKtoxsKAB7T4VtA8/s320/IMG_4627.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGX2GzuE4QVI6fw1dP_TXpPE770xe9n_fXfeKyKNMOJMV6cextu8BMe5jizfTJU1DKodSevm2AtyJN9KimenDLe5UusE715tcdW2avfljE6AQ_Qp6dg9K9nfMg5EJDidns-PQ4Rdi_bnA/s1600/IMG_4687.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481607986476288306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGX2GzuE4QVI6fw1dP_TXpPE770xe9n_fXfeKyKNMOJMV6cextu8BMe5jizfTJU1DKodSevm2AtyJN9KimenDLe5UusE715tcdW2avfljE6AQ_Qp6dg9K9nfMg5EJDidns-PQ4Rdi_bnA/s320/IMG_4687.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrD3Nd1gkIpBZp8eBqdZYOTvQL9rwCLSSUgnAMHJqZ9saAVu-bblVgQcPB7ZUAPAtrER67duEW0tcXPxzRzIitpX9NMFkUXz7k4xg_ug2zKACAHY9M1PVJ9LD-SdAXNsf2-ig58SDa24/s1600/IMG_4677.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481607975831971266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrD3Nd1gkIpBZp8eBqdZYOTvQL9rwCLSSUgnAMHJqZ9saAVu-bblVgQcPB7ZUAPAtrER67duEW0tcXPxzRzIitpX9NMFkUXz7k4xg_ug2zKACAHY9M1PVJ9LD-SdAXNsf2-ig58SDa24/s320/IMG_4677.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEPOdFvO4WI1lUzBksw1EEjj-oeBfP37a5IhmIrTKI1XL6NktpN10T8cNeyVQ1iefr-2D1WUl_ZMx1ooD4oe7A30jNqDRfZZHzmFY1EK1z2kcjyahVh7eXw39pDbfBvLxaGOGV87ipWc/s1600/IMG_4668.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481607969869744802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEPOdFvO4WI1lUzBksw1EEjj-oeBfP37a5IhmIrTKI1XL6NktpN10T8cNeyVQ1iefr-2D1WUl_ZMx1ooD4oe7A30jNqDRfZZHzmFY1EK1z2kcjyahVh7eXw39pDbfBvLxaGOGV87ipWc/s320/IMG_4668.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6EEjQkyzo1pWQYihkHIdKUNE3fH2i9wf3IbJi_Lwhff8Y9jDSpDCWlxBc4H6o5IH_fwOe7pJ2XXwwr1EdwOBzAtoeaMY0Zwc5l6hvmu_XjMQYTfVva72e57Y6sZYECQltQdyujtRuBQ/s1600/IMG_4670.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481607960615501858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6EEjQkyzo1pWQYihkHIdKUNE3fH2i9wf3IbJi_Lwhff8Y9jDSpDCWlxBc4H6o5IH_fwOe7pJ2XXwwr1EdwOBzAtoeaMY0Zwc5l6hvmu_XjMQYTfVva72e57Y6sZYECQltQdyujtRuBQ/s320/IMG_4670.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh19ZbWPJ-VCEq5H9kRNKIiTs8QSoH5MNTuP0qWT6PFvvwi7ozUgvdZQBogMBkIw7-6d1VK1fCUGsqlN42qP4N3M8_ukVQftkEQpa4HqlTTYRNaiWqNweJgCI9dm_SJEUgY9MPGF6aQ3ZE/s1600/IMG_4735.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481607949659658354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh19ZbWPJ-VCEq5H9kRNKIiTs8QSoH5MNTuP0qWT6PFvvwi7ozUgvdZQBogMBkIw7-6d1VK1fCUGsqlN42qP4N3M8_ukVQftkEQpa4HqlTTYRNaiWqNweJgCI9dm_SJEUgY9MPGF6aQ3ZE/s320/IMG_4735.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>I have not blogged in awhile. But I must post some pictures of a recent visit with Amber & Stephen (we miss you guys!) and Co., and a few random ones since I last posted on Easter. Quick updates: </div><br /><br /><br /><div>--Noah is doing very well, learning to write and read, and is starting a correspondence with Auntie Adie which is well-greased by the incentive of dollars included in the letters from her. Thank you, Aunty!</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>--Dillon is also growing up rapidly, with his latest obsession being doing 24 piece jigsaw dinosaur puzzles ALL BY SELF. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>--Zoe is saying 3 words: "Mama", "Dada", and "Uh oh". She crawls and is also pulling herself to a standing position on the furniture.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>--Mom and Dad are doing ok, too. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-46979486919004620342010-04-06T12:47:00.000-07:002010-04-06T13:31:13.772-07:00Happy Easter!<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5SoKCwgNiWMs0kZTsDVl8qQcF9fyOLgUqKa3H0hixqy53L0LUqoiv-jIb8KJLGYwfIBRxlwFMepRS4u4VscqE7ZcprFdX1F3PJFOKrWiqXAoqNaEHIdVc4leAKb4jbj9JyM_-THTqSM/s1600/IMG_4350.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457120381780158546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5SoKCwgNiWMs0kZTsDVl8qQcF9fyOLgUqKa3H0hixqy53L0LUqoiv-jIb8KJLGYwfIBRxlwFMepRS4u4VscqE7ZcprFdX1F3PJFOKrWiqXAoqNaEHIdVc4leAKb4jbj9JyM_-THTqSM/s320/IMG_4350.JPG" border="0" /></a> The inscription reads: "This is Noah's Pirate Stand". Noah wrote this ALL BY HIMSELF, with Mom providing the spelling. I did not show him how to write any of the letters. He just started writing his name last week & is progressing rapidly! So proud. </div><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHiQ3hLCeuYgjzkUF_DRCLcmzfNcu98cGWyI7suWE1kVS0Q5RSq46g6HJ5ollP_JZUqN_jrs-OLCyXWpv9ie0ike_DkYvujwOyFNAep6i43xy_pzVX0zyKVRA33qfETrRCbsT-ldJrgCQ/s1600/IMG_4349.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457120365016136498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHiQ3hLCeuYgjzkUF_DRCLcmzfNcu98cGWyI7suWE1kVS0Q5RSq46g6HJ5ollP_JZUqN_jrs-OLCyXWpv9ie0ike_DkYvujwOyFNAep6i43xy_pzVX0zyKVRA33qfETrRCbsT-ldJrgCQ/s320/IMG_4349.JPG" border="0" /></a> Miss sunshine, looking dapper & delightful.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdilPZmGWvWhVpu6HYUvoC957AZx_CUW753u_0AOAebIE9Z0mpipu6fW3xn3-pHqHsJ9XJGIkCGgYi0JDYnkIb6By7SQF32zqOi0o8oLi9gy1w4r62z9RXr7x0yBTWoJrX2O50rEc6mI0/s1600/IMG_4357.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457120362608791410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdilPZmGWvWhVpu6HYUvoC957AZx_CUW753u_0AOAebIE9Z0mpipu6fW3xn3-pHqHsJ9XJGIkCGgYi0JDYnkIb6By7SQF32zqOi0o8oLi9gy1w4r62z9RXr7x0yBTWoJrX2O50rEc6mI0/s320/IMG_4357.JPG" border="0" /></a>Mr. Pickle, showing us the inside of the cup and of the platter.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjmqYY7F4ZZ-9yn7ILJugm3XDM0ZKKAFwoFTSATCUtRrpZDeE_BswcCOl43daWmGbqZP6ONyd_ct2bSTm_eFXBSYUeRyYExdsJf_ku8Of_U2zzlCPnice-8pmI7ySPtbi1y_f29kBpPf0/s1600/IMG_4358.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457120351320105778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjmqYY7F4ZZ-9yn7ILJugm3XDM0ZKKAFwoFTSATCUtRrpZDeE_BswcCOl43daWmGbqZP6ONyd_ct2bSTm_eFXBSYUeRyYExdsJf_ku8Of_U2zzlCPnice-8pmI7ySPtbi1y_f29kBpPf0/s320/IMG_4358.JPG" border="0" /></a> And now, for the yearly Easter Egg Extravaganza Tutorial:</div><div>1. Line up all your colors in matching cups and look expectantly at camera.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHbjqHaTvoBwslYvhOrtol0zrQRgLUZvWjLLHyW06Qx_5wZs4PW1P8-s7HeeadYce_aaYUfcti-B7FFnwG0TczEy_sQlQOvcnFi2wlA6aXXVXcPP2SgIztK_WV_nkQIc-08M9vERntnY/s1600/IMG_4359.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457120344911113746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHbjqHaTvoBwslYvhOrtol0zrQRgLUZvWjLLHyW06Qx_5wZs4PW1P8-s7HeeadYce_aaYUfcti-B7FFnwG0TczEy_sQlQOvcnFi2wlA6aXXVXcPP2SgIztK_WV_nkQIc-08M9vERntnY/s320/IMG_4359.JPG" border="0" /></a> 2. Take off your clothes.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7ue622_116aUqVlHv1nyqxIQZh2oLtI0rsK0lPeRMtgMux3DN2bTEKGvagYS7P4Im05Ug1jcmAvBJf2nhRR4DnR2lRi09r27SJ8o91oQUZfw0ukz9QRcGlcdqSgkevzgHjThOKc0Cmc/s1600/IMG_4363.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457119465375596274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7ue622_116aUqVlHv1nyqxIQZh2oLtI0rsK0lPeRMtgMux3DN2bTEKGvagYS7P4Im05Ug1jcmAvBJf2nhRR4DnR2lRi09r27SJ8o91oQUZfw0ukz9QRcGlcdqSgkevzgHjThOKc0Cmc/s320/IMG_4363.JPG" border="0" /></a>3. Do the obligatory taste test to ensure a good year.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCbEZhVFIZ59yCqKHxWxT3wVb5Fi1a5xoYhNah37GDxX4w0jssYRdbt9li_NdiIgRIBuZjTVDhjGDb5n2mHxLuZRmak5WBiXLsYw54P7zG_2S9pszcuNQvqHfsNTMkAd_tLUWUGPb8raw/s1600/IMG_4372.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457119459731525250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCbEZhVFIZ59yCqKHxWxT3wVb5Fi1a5xoYhNah37GDxX4w0jssYRdbt9li_NdiIgRIBuZjTVDhjGDb5n2mHxLuZRmak5WBiXLsYw54P7zG_2S9pszcuNQvqHfsNTMkAd_tLUWUGPb8raw/s320/IMG_4372.JPG" border="0" /></a> 5. Drink liberally until you are sauced to the tonsils.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0RXJCOddg5sgLIV7skqlleVK0IchwGA4vZBvLjoU5DouCO-KFhSBVXMd3s99bHe4TJHllLn_D2bA5vvMy5hCmDrZsjW3M5AhZwJUoNBPVXQSQjarISaP-kc61452Pq_OHgAb5BXypGI/s1600/IMG_4377.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457119450306592626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0RXJCOddg5sgLIV7skqlleVK0IchwGA4vZBvLjoU5DouCO-KFhSBVXMd3s99bHe4TJHllLn_D2bA5vvMy5hCmDrZsjW3M5AhZwJUoNBPVXQSQjarISaP-kc61452Pq_OHgAb5BXypGI/s320/IMG_4377.JPG" border="0" /></a>6. Display mutant green hands.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qKa1rnhK-pwiYXJGYbAsEoN7UyVXt-5USlau4g7AzXzeTsaqTFGt04GVFnx3d-JR_488x6kVri8XLnMTl67gZicdU2wO17LTH3ElLlS_AA8SuMcWukkrU83P25cqNt-A_zgbNIuEYDA/s1600/IMG_4381.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457119444005502482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qKa1rnhK-pwiYXJGYbAsEoN7UyVXt-5USlau4g7AzXzeTsaqTFGt04GVFnx3d-JR_488x6kVri8XLnMTl67gZicdU2wO17LTH3ElLlS_AA8SuMcWukkrU83P25cqNt-A_zgbNIuEYDA/s320/IMG_4381.JPG" border="0" /></a> 6b. Display radioactive yellow eggs also.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy55AR6RJrI8n3I0soPpjEgcDhW6j8XkfObd8pS4mHRT0v8mrUYKt6ZfTuEhVyaXafIT2C2Nl0H92s_ph2ZYkrErnW1G7k6Dy8DaLUbDGXNep0UjsOOypZPbMIfSnkj1eMFx9tggwnRJY/s1600/IMG_4382.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457119431315047698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy55AR6RJrI8n3I0soPpjEgcDhW6j8XkfObd8pS4mHRT0v8mrUYKt6ZfTuEhVyaXafIT2C2Nl0H92s_ph2ZYkrErnW1G7k6Dy8DaLUbDGXNep0UjsOOypZPbMIfSnkj1eMFx9tggwnRJY/s320/IMG_4382.JPG" border="0" /></a> 7. Dance with abandon, joyously, bringing to mind the following gem: </div><div>"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'</div><div> He chortled in his joy."<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAl2eR7Hs_q4FCUJj2u4y-YWd3RLGcjq4kXBIa_pn7RrRAcXiSiQgWEklbO8aQIUgXtankqFpIetcumIOg2YgEGaY0OuN9L0wIrUdGQNh8k1Ggk_QbihbdOtDeRWCSuPgHtVhAsb1Ms2w/s1600/IMG_4395.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457118145054988898" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAl2eR7Hs_q4FCUJj2u4y-YWd3RLGcjq4kXBIa_pn7RrRAcXiSiQgWEklbO8aQIUgXtankqFpIetcumIOg2YgEGaY0OuN9L0wIrUdGQNh8k1Ggk_QbihbdOtDeRWCSuPgHtVhAsb1Ms2w/s320/IMG_4395.JPG" border="0" /></a> Mission Completa<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyu5qOLwF49-xkntDGYtE4HAv_ebf5EqxwbSPPQ2f5uO_TFyqtKIfPeNN07WPvkP2ewMPC1wI_2_ZM053LF3fSzZZFxv-iKcEV7fgteRGOheBpiZNTsSclkXgp7SuPrpgJRiK3vjtOjMI/s1600/IMG_4399.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457118137176095986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyu5qOLwF49-xkntDGYtE4HAv_ebf5EqxwbSPPQ2f5uO_TFyqtKIfPeNN07WPvkP2ewMPC1wI_2_ZM053LF3fSzZZFxv-iKcEV7fgteRGOheBpiZNTsSclkXgp7SuPrpgJRiK3vjtOjMI/s320/IMG_4399.JPG" border="0" /></a> Early easter morning....too early for some.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHYTYlyaHugGjhjfV6Lc09i3xPCrlNV_FfmZjEPjjukShzetRksyUct7lVHx3GoKyifwDOihyphenhyphenCEaVtk7wl34ot-HKDHIvJxSWvnYdZPwoYk_a7dzD12NKcd4VNYKm1i_VWJ8XxmO2fpw/s1600/IMG_4398.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457118125318808114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHYTYlyaHugGjhjfV6Lc09i3xPCrlNV_FfmZjEPjjukShzetRksyUct7lVHx3GoKyifwDOihyphenhyphenCEaVtk7wl34ot-HKDHIvJxSWvnYdZPwoYk_a7dzD12NKcd4VNYKm1i_VWJ8XxmO2fpw/s320/IMG_4398.JPG" border="0" /></a> ...But not for others!</div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFwAgkv5Qb-H5Ek6eVtzSoHKfY8mAHNd837IVZztcnuuPLc4boayaNzlFka3ILvBPQM8eygINl79TXCwsF_zqauy922QwLoIPkK9R5vKpIG25uDsTJ77ylIYJZmoPzFt7ufuUH6Y71azU/s1600/IMG_4404.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457118121588190002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFwAgkv5Qb-H5Ek6eVtzSoHKfY8mAHNd837IVZztcnuuPLc4boayaNzlFka3ILvBPQM8eygINl79TXCwsF_zqauy922QwLoIPkK9R5vKpIG25uDsTJ77ylIYJZmoPzFt7ufuUH6Y71azU/s320/IMG_4404.JPG" border="0" /></a> Digging into the loot.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnI2f40ULJ6TaG1efPpa1dUQaL2roo44jub7JEDmmrvP0sLPUHyJTAMweUfIKFEuHgR15O0YRhZMDvGx5TaOxrMLdIqFL8xiT0x3BS9zQu6oIzJVEhDuL7c7vdKkoexcgrQV_TnbCyBQ/s1600/IMG_4409.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457118112975631922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnI2f40ULJ6TaG1efPpa1dUQaL2roo44jub7JEDmmrvP0sLPUHyJTAMweUfIKFEuHgR15O0YRhZMDvGx5TaOxrMLdIqFL8xiT0x3BS9zQu6oIzJVEhDuL7c7vdKkoexcgrQV_TnbCyBQ/s320/IMG_4409.JPG" border="0" /></a> The coveted Starbucks Chocolate Chip cookie, only had on special occasions. Noah remarked, "Mommy, how did the Easter Bunny get us STARBUCKS?" Hmmm. Can't you just see a huge white rabbit walking through the Starbucks drive thru, Noah?<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvL-Q22QTy2zkOKUqU7i2ZViobCQvApzrCuH3ZhC5LnkidjSPcW_Vh7DHqOTyP-oVMLKezz9t9BqsUPSpawkTdfSd1g6sOeaHaoHR3UOL9L7TwXEViW9oFcp77FDBimrwmlcfyaRdIZWo/s1600/IMG_4411.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457117065517310562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvL-Q22QTy2zkOKUqU7i2ZViobCQvApzrCuH3ZhC5LnkidjSPcW_Vh7DHqOTyP-oVMLKezz9t9BqsUPSpawkTdfSd1g6sOeaHaoHR3UOL9L7TwXEViW9oFcp77FDBimrwmlcfyaRdIZWo/s320/IMG_4411.JPG" border="0" /></a> The baskets. I got them for $5 each at Walmart & stocked them with a few extras, like bubbles, etc.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHd4YUJecvrsfEwSCR69z-T7jF1G3YhKaNLgbdYThTSTKNdCwmUci2q2QdEc2UTxcg6a-Q3PaQeH7ZVV3iwfchDCmUHvKCGW3chqZfhDwankaleYXfBhyphenhyphen0uPQV_imAftDIAVIUL68vmRc/s1600/IMG_4422.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457117059076207490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHd4YUJecvrsfEwSCR69z-T7jF1G3YhKaNLgbdYThTSTKNdCwmUci2q2QdEc2UTxcg6a-Q3PaQeH7ZVV3iwfchDCmUHvKCGW3chqZfhDwankaleYXfBhyphenhyphen0uPQV_imAftDIAVIUL68vmRc/s320/IMG_4422.JPG" border="0" /></a>Happy boy, searching for the Easter eggs.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bZCYLxNDhmMZtjxDtFJ-wIJVAiez8PytRRhgZYZJHfIL1ovhD4-0Baph8JjMyRBLcPfbJPLbIPc42Rpx7RLvtFItS_iDtYbqYrtXwru0VJR8ChVHbW5s45Nx_qRUuCCe51q3bB714FM/s1600/IMG_4428.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457117045889999090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bZCYLxNDhmMZtjxDtFJ-wIJVAiez8PytRRhgZYZJHfIL1ovhD4-0Baph8JjMyRBLcPfbJPLbIPc42Rpx7RLvtFItS_iDtYbqYrtXwru0VJR8ChVHbW5s45Nx_qRUuCCe51q3bB714FM/s320/IMG_4428.JPG" border="0" /></a> AWESIM! (that's Dilly's "awesome")<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzapaAuh-n0z785Myh3V5sCnyAK4x6MW0jY4_0fuQC43l9chHHO5eRc3q9mivK99NOCgULUmLKmbNp87HkedP5k0Lys5SgUxCBHenaQahMmOP0vv5cXf0xj5BliwH2g2JHAznhNiKGmA/s1600/IMG_4429.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457117036300446226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzapaAuh-n0z785Myh3V5sCnyAK4x6MW0jY4_0fuQC43l9chHHO5eRc3q9mivK99NOCgULUmLKmbNp87HkedP5k0Lys5SgUxCBHenaQahMmOP0vv5cXf0xj5BliwH2g2JHAznhNiKGmA/s320/IMG_4429.JPG" border="0" /></a>Pointing out the merchandise.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhPSQQgii3PdVNU_SR4Od3vhn8gMBWp9VgOAPO2rrg9Oc3Jlb9eRW7ghiyZIp4Rp5zqkPB7hkHg4se50G66TQ6wdr4Zf3c6jv_55auwJGGfM18tiEoBw30YpasjnnyB-LYDkzO_Tc68E/s1600/IMG_4433.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457117031512378226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhPSQQgii3PdVNU_SR4Od3vhn8gMBWp9VgOAPO2rrg9Oc3Jlb9eRW7ghiyZIp4Rp5zqkPB7hkHg4se50G66TQ6wdr4Zf3c6jv_55auwJGGfM18tiEoBw30YpasjnnyB-LYDkzO_Tc68E/s320/IMG_4433.JPG" border="0" /></a>Found another one!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLPnrIFEGInEdl9QBKMRrJy2OU3AUqUOO1fLF1HY_yJfXhd40ymYu1iYr30rnOPn9pw9rVORARQdHJB2DCWntCOZdmiSg-d74RrrOpj1xmrFc4t8ggPqr1te3T7Dma3oUKDQcnJrWRSs/s1600/IMG_4435.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457115380430410450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLPnrIFEGInEdl9QBKMRrJy2OU3AUqUOO1fLF1HY_yJfXhd40ymYu1iYr30rnOPn9pw9rVORARQdHJB2DCWntCOZdmiSg-d74RrrOpj1xmrFc4t8ggPqr1te3T7Dma3oUKDQcnJrWRSs/s320/IMG_4435.JPG" border="0" /></a> Zoe looks on, dreaming of days to come.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JExISZNJXoSc488_lgXwSS_dtn0uIQ4oNCMcuxwOrJoXJZQTdIvlFFL03ZgDx6jVJtGZGkaFg2lp8_erAzPLy7JQsZqjmaiGFxIwkWjkUaipqoOCG8yUatMKmD_Z9fN4FGR8YFthhwY/s1600/IMG_4438.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457115374824214626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JExISZNJXoSc488_lgXwSS_dtn0uIQ4oNCMcuxwOrJoXJZQTdIvlFFL03ZgDx6jVJtGZGkaFg2lp8_erAzPLy7JQsZqjmaiGFxIwkWjkUaipqoOCG8yUatMKmD_Z9fN4FGR8YFthhwY/s320/IMG_4438.JPG" border="0" /></a>AHH! The joy of completion!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDOlyYXDhZR7BhSjbH4OhBBHU0XIbGG_A59tRVcBFRHTElzKuSrcfcppDnErp4hzfPo5Gsdkv2Ub6mnJCKvzVOjTbr4wIRavZmUvG36bGXzJFnonMPM1Lr14khT23CXR5w1P2A1iPhWY/s1600/IMG_4443.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457115363880661810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDOlyYXDhZR7BhSjbH4OhBBHU0XIbGG_A59tRVcBFRHTElzKuSrcfcppDnErp4hzfPo5Gsdkv2Ub6mnJCKvzVOjTbr4wIRavZmUvG36bGXzJFnonMPM1Lr14khT23CXR5w1P2A1iPhWY/s320/IMG_4443.JPG" border="0" /></a>And finally, the Easter outfits. We dressed up to go to dinner at Cracker Barrel, or known in our house as "The Pancake Place". It's a BIG deal. We don't get out very much. <br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhRupQnprpgd0RZhqu8f8SqzPhRxd5gzzo9Fop9R87WetPr1SQB3P1YdorIAb3whm77VCPi8ncpIjRpkiWfEGt8ySaOJA0fjlB41msDn6ZC2G0aWwli0UgvkjMewMg5DeqSRWUC5UOVg/s1600/IMG_4445.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457115359045327266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhRupQnprpgd0RZhqu8f8SqzPhRxd5gzzo9Fop9R87WetPr1SQB3P1YdorIAb3whm77VCPi8ncpIjRpkiWfEGt8ySaOJA0fjlB41msDn6ZC2G0aWwli0UgvkjMewMg5DeqSRWUC5UOVg/s320/IMG_4445.JPG" border="0" /></a>I got Noah's & Dilly's shirt new at this frou frou department store, along with several other summer things for all three of them, for.....wait for it....$13!!! This is like $100 worth of stuff! Am I a frugalista or what? Huh? Huh? <br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7P0BU4PxmF41nXsUKHmO4tDMv9Xw2BaFY1pt5QOEQUDcT86WFWKY6W1NisrKNpER2rxX7A2HjGxORCAiE7ImjBZYuJEmSKNri75ulXk4toWrcl0d6NvemJoCuGxFBmsW2RCwW88MezW4/s1600/IMG_4447.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457115349750913330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7P0BU4PxmF41nXsUKHmO4tDMv9Xw2BaFY1pt5QOEQUDcT86WFWKY6W1NisrKNpER2rxX7A2HjGxORCAiE7ImjBZYuJEmSKNri75ulXk4toWrcl0d6NvemJoCuGxFBmsW2RCwW88MezW4/s320/IMG_4447.JPG" border="0" /></a> Lastly, Dilly bids you adieu, and adds, "Y'all come back now, Y'hear?"<br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-18196525899418004862010-03-26T10:57:00.000-07:002010-03-26T11:00:58.520-07:00How do you get to Animals, by Noah James<em>Foreward: This is a verbatim transcription of a conversation (monologue) by Noah the other night. He had a box full of stuffed animals and was pulling them out, one by one.</em><br /><br />You have to pay for my animals. You have to give me real money to pay for these animals.<br /><br />Well, dis is called a kitten. Here’s how you take care of him. You get his kitten food, you get a little cage so he could go poop & pee & then you get a water so he could bent down & drink. You pet him when he’s so sad. Meow meow.<br /><br />And then here’s a small bunny. When he grows up you let him outside & he hops. Boing boing.<br /><br />And this is called a mouse. Here’s how you take care of him: you get him some cheese & you put him to sleep after he gets cheese.<br /><br />Mom: How do you put him to sleep?<br /><br />You just feed him more & more cheese until he’s full & den he goes to sleep.<br /><br />Dis is called a blue jay. He flies around. You have to get a cage to take care of him & when he gets bigger you let him fly in the wild<br /><br />Dis is called a fish. You put him in a fish tank & he swims around, he rings his fish bell when he’s hungry.<br /><br />And then dis is called a duck. You hold him & here’s how you feed him: you feed him duck food. Here’s how you put him to sleep: more & more duck food. When he’s bigger you let him fly out in the wild<br /><br />Dis is called a bear. He plays baseball. You have to be careful because bears play baseball & then they could knock something down. And then bears wear a baseball hat to throw a baseball.<br /><br />Dis is called a Gorilla. When he’s strong & big you let him swing out into the wild<br /><br />Dis is called a big bunny. He has sensitive hearing and he has big ears to hear far away. And then here’s how you take care of him: you get a big bunny cage & close the door so he can’t get out. When he’s big & changes into a giant, you let him hop out of the door. Boing boing boing.<br /><br />Dis is called a frog: You put him in a frog cage. He’s a tired frog. This frog is always tired. So when it’s time for him to eat you just do the clock & he wakes up. And then you feed him some frog food. And then when he’s big you just let him hop out of the door into the wild.<br /><br />And then here’s a leopard. He could jump far away & run so fast. PHEW!<br />Dilly: he’s not a leopard.<br />Mom: What is he?<br />Dilly: A draguar<br />And then here’s his bed. Here’s how you feed him. You feed him macaroni & cheese. When he’s really really really big. And den when he’s full he goes to sleep. & when he’s big big big & turns into a daddy you just let him jump over your fence & run him out.<br /><br />And then here’s a turtle. You just let him swim around in a turtle tank. And when he’s hungry you feed him cheetos & he swims around catching them. And he’s a fast swimmer to catch his favorite food, which is cheetos. And then when he’s tired you just sing him a lullaby like this one:<br /><br />Turtle go to sleep<br />Ah you have the tired eyes<br />For you to go to sleep<br /><br />And den when he wakes up you just give him more food.<br />And den when he’s big & you can’t take care of him anymore you just let him out of the wild and then he crawls to his real home over the fence, until he came to his mommy & daddy.<br /><br /><br />That’s it!<br /><br />I have one more pet in here called a donkey & a horse. Here’s a donkey. Here’s what you feed him: you feed him carrots. And den when he’s big you just let him run out in the wild.<br />Dis is called a horse. You feed him oatmeal & let him run around in your back yard & den you could let him give you a ride. And den put him in a stable so he’ll be warm in the rain. Here’s one problem about horses: they’re really hard to take care of because they could run so fast that they might run away. And then when they grow up to be such big horsies you have to let them go.<br /><br />I sink I’m going to be a safariar when I grow up, and learn about every animals. Safariars are the best because they stay in the rain forest looking for men that need their help. And I get to have a sword and a shield and a knife & everything! And those are for the animals that are trying to get me, like lions or tigers or jagiars.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-49755351892971627232010-03-24T14:23:00.000-07:002010-03-24T15:14:51.076-07:00Great ExpectationsSo, appropos of nothing, I would like to introduce this thought I had out into the yawning void of the internet, namely: I think Disney is doing a great disservice to our children. They are actively encouraging them to buy into the concept that "You can do <em>anything</em> if you just believe in yourself". So many Disney songs and cartoons tout that very concept.<br /><br />But consider: it's simply not true. Dillon, for example, often believes himself to be a dinosaur. Noah firmly believes he can do karate and eat high fructose corn syrup all day long. Many people on American Idol believe they can sing. I used to believe I could be a ballerina. THESE THINGS JUST WILL NEVER BE TRUE, mon enfants, no matter how much the parties involved believe in them. Are you with me?<br /><br />And then these poor children watch these movies, these songs, and that theme is ingrained in them. They get unrealistic expectations of life...and then they get depressed when they get older. <br /><br />"I was supposed to be an Astronaut! I was supposed to be a movie star! I was supposed to be the President of the United States!" (Ahem, Jeffery Doss)<br /><br />And when it doesn't work out, they feel discouraged or even belligerent & disgusted with their lives. This does not make for a satsfied hoi-polli. I should know. I was supposed to be a princess of Jesus, ruling and reigning, COMPLETE WITH FLYING ABILITY by the time I was 25. I was ROBBED, people. I'm now 32 and can barely get my sizeable ass off the couch.<br /><br />Oh but seriously, my amigos, don't you agree? There seems to be (in the States, mind you) a serious disconnect between what people percieve is their right to happiness & acheviement, and what is the reality of the situation. I blame Disney. And then, of course, when people grow up & they're neither rich or famous or even particularly good looking, they feel like their life is a let-down.<br /><br />I saw this documentary one time about this, and it was very interesting. It was saying that people a couple hundred years ago used to be much more happy, even though they, like, lived in holes in the ground and pooped in their own backyards. Why? Because that was <em>all they expected out of life. </em>Expectations exceeding reality = unhappiness.<br /><br />I have found this to be true in my own life. I have been experiencing, more and more lately, a quiet sense of satisfaction when I look around at my life. Thinking of my kids and my husband, my small life in my small town, gives me a sort of mellow joy. I really feel proud of our financial & life decisions...I feel proud and happy of the piece of the American dream that we have. But get this: I don't remember really feeling this way much when Jeff was making about twice as much money and we owned a house. Why is this? Maybe because I've adjusted my expectations. Our period of unemployment gave me a perspective on just how bad things could be, and how lucky we are to have what we have. I've adjusted my expectations on sleep, eating, free time, and life in general. I've surrendered to the babies, and I like it just fine. I find I'm much happier, actually. Go figure.<br /><br />In closing, I would like to dedicate this post to a person who I believe is a fine example of making peace with one's situation & finding contentment when & where he can: Christopher, who's birthday it is today. I guess I posted for you after all.<br /><br />Excuse me...I have to go now. The kids are asking for a Disney movie.Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-75399000609430546242010-03-19T11:01:00.001-07:002010-03-19T11:28:31.579-07:00Mother of the YearSo...I must relate a story here that will do me no favors, but it's too good and weird to pass up.<br /><br />Yesterday we had kind of a big day, for us. I took the car & dropped Jeff off & then we went out to the park later on. Nice day, nice park, nice time. We were there for probably 2 hours or so. Then we came home & the baby had to be put to bed, and then I had to make dinner, etc, etc, ad nauseum, and throughout I kept thinking every little while: "I have to change Dillon". But I would get busy with something else and I didn't. (Alright, competent mothers, here's the part where you can pat yourself on the back at my expense. I do say, members of the jury, in my own defense, he didn't have poop on. No. MUCH WORSE. )<br /><br />So after he's had the same diaper on for about 6 hours or so, I finally changed him. This is what I found in his diaper:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAPdKvO-Tl56GlKBnPkHpGwQM3j1vXrkPH5gOLI9vCDS3b6X5bgpLqtgN3Pz24h4cvwPiGywfdT9ZKCpOvK58wGwEoiJUvZBjHQYQkAYxS73I1Lv0M5dMNvQKGc85We2r8PzR6Z0zYXE/s1600-h/IMG_4345.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450413222921698882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAPdKvO-Tl56GlKBnPkHpGwQM3j1vXrkPH5gOLI9vCDS3b6X5bgpLqtgN3Pz24h4cvwPiGywfdT9ZKCpOvK58wGwEoiJUvZBjHQYQkAYxS73I1Lv0M5dMNvQKGc85We2r8PzR6Z0zYXE/s320/IMG_4345.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>ROCKS!!! And not, like, poop rocks. ACTUAL GEOLOGICAL ROCKS. A whole, oh, let's say...2 handfulls. At first I DID think they were poop, but no. He had somehow gotten a load of rocks into his pants at the park and had had them in his diaper for hours. I mean, think about the implications. He sat in his car seat as we rode home from the park, ate dinner with them there, play time, everything. The things were IMBEDDED in his butt. And he never said a word!<br /><br />And yet he complains bitterly when he has a poop on, and won't sit on it or anything.<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder about that child.<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder about myself.</div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-78057848157406004832010-03-17T15:44:00.000-07:002010-03-17T17:06:40.152-07:00Overdue Pictures<div align="left">Well, folks, this is just a hodge-podge of pictures, old and new, that I've been meaning to post for some time now. Some of them (the swing pics) are our backyard, some are from the Waco Zoo, and some from our little home. Enjoy! </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd0hL_Gx80UD-H9NPrUtP_eEbk9MXjG3vdkmJTbITTp-OD-i_vR5FGHUwE-tXMdGPsFl11T7nJ_7Xg9KuymDR0i6-CinPee64QigB_rusAGjpkqrJSpgzsIDPzPDbRz_CvWL_VKSnlcuk/s1600-h/IMG_4333.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449753903402559426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd0hL_Gx80UD-H9NPrUtP_eEbk9MXjG3vdkmJTbITTp-OD-i_vR5FGHUwE-tXMdGPsFl11T7nJ_7Xg9KuymDR0i6-CinPee64QigB_rusAGjpkqrJSpgzsIDPzPDbRz_CvWL_VKSnlcuk/s320/IMG_4333.JPG" border="0" /></a> Dillon's "Cool Tricks"...(what he actually calls it)...which he performs anywhere and everywhere, all over the house, on the dining room table, etc. </div><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgtZZVt3qCeufC3CcCq6Mq7p5jpO0nXAH4vNX43993_xZqwWemsTwTngqbf234MBEetFBw2AqPRmzxm0d3W1RutdllBoNqXM7H-O1AE5BeC__RpUDsvxMG4yDxsJcRg6YQ-GOd-38Zyo/s1600-h/IMG_4338.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449753513490753490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgtZZVt3qCeufC3CcCq6Mq7p5jpO0nXAH4vNX43993_xZqwWemsTwTngqbf234MBEetFBw2AqPRmzxm0d3W1RutdllBoNqXM7H-O1AE5BeC__RpUDsvxMG4yDxsJcRg6YQ-GOd-38Zyo/s320/IMG_4338.JPG" border="0" /></a>Miss Zoe Boe, pretty in pink.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKkqibWFtggbfuGddjLffrfjEJDOIEoqTj1eStELxbb4WyFUjTy-xNJDf0nvpTWgCxDPQammFWg9WGWts5OZ5gzTN70lkRVHmpqzQwqzOeD1-fFq7Vmsvhy6JanLhuoKKCoKNgG0hH_k/s1600-h/IMG_4329.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449753502924960626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKkqibWFtggbfuGddjLffrfjEJDOIEoqTj1eStELxbb4WyFUjTy-xNJDf0nvpTWgCxDPQammFWg9WGWts5OZ5gzTN70lkRVHmpqzQwqzOeD1-fFq7Vmsvhy6JanLhuoKKCoKNgG0hH_k/s320/IMG_4329.JPG" border="0" /></a> The many faces of Zoe (please notice the precious hat)<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBH-rwmkQ5nP5kb55iTGb-u3z8oB6wm9sXzut0daY-YnUgGY3t548_y4RYm7jf_g_Wp5pwo8vrWrt1juW-DCWCFR9XeIVI3xjkmM4hByWGo1G1V0Wl3z3MVbw-dV5OvJCtOzX3APkqrk/s1600-h/IMG_4325.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449753493557137554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBH-rwmkQ5nP5kb55iTGb-u3z8oB6wm9sXzut0daY-YnUgGY3t548_y4RYm7jf_g_Wp5pwo8vrWrt1juW-DCWCFR9XeIVI3xjkmM4hByWGo1G1V0Wl3z3MVbw-dV5OvJCtOzX3APkqrk/s320/IMG_4325.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG6LtfnF8LQS56GubNr1OmBspW3h8kCKet8hXYY1oygO-x3LceiEaSMRLypcDeOuD9RKmOC5jXo9j0fgsRGlxYPfenDqrNIb6AsQhsGt8sg4gvhtRJgE97HHfjbXiD9XGdMbUH0WIe98w/s1600-h/IMG_4311.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449753488531637378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG6LtfnF8LQS56GubNr1OmBspW3h8kCKet8hXYY1oygO-x3LceiEaSMRLypcDeOuD9RKmOC5jXo9j0fgsRGlxYPfenDqrNIb6AsQhsGt8sg4gvhtRJgE97HHfjbXiD9XGdMbUH0WIe98w/s320/IMG_4311.JPG" border="0" /></a>Little Miss Pink. Isn't she lovely?<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZQTZ7FIuyqi7bth58y9NsCqnTPOooy5Son-QHvrZk2CU8d3fHxoiTGrFXgMLT_nNjwW0XeTW3DaeteaXcv4o0C9xp65eU20LK1MErRtPm5SR8CH2UwFWNLDGBCbn-3ji4P3xUxe3TVc/s1600-h/IMG_4292.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449751598372917490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZQTZ7FIuyqi7bth58y9NsCqnTPOooy5Son-QHvrZk2CU8d3fHxoiTGrFXgMLT_nNjwW0XeTW3DaeteaXcv4o0C9xp65eU20LK1MErRtPm5SR8CH2UwFWNLDGBCbn-3ji4P3xUxe3TVc/s320/IMG_4292.JPG" border="0" /></a>Noah "Dances with Wolves" Doss, gettin down with the spirit of the drums at the Mayborn Museum, a VERY good place to take small children.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mRlVHXrU990whim9j6kcRXUAtTpnMJqP8SKpd_rkv4EJ6pefWddZTx2rtlzAqaq3awWyjNtgakcc24oS_vPsq6ulh7FtfHm0bhuNLbIGtbZsAURhQO_NTVB0WpC3fN340j7NSvIE7oo/s1600-h/IMG_4287.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449751593753017298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mRlVHXrU990whim9j6kcRXUAtTpnMJqP8SKpd_rkv4EJ6pefWddZTx2rtlzAqaq3awWyjNtgakcc24oS_vPsq6ulh7FtfHm0bhuNLbIGtbZsAURhQO_NTVB0WpC3fN340j7NSvIE7oo/s320/IMG_4287.JPG" border="0" /></a>Baby Eienstein </div><div>(Note to self: throw away the poopy diaper before taking picture)<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-rkJV5wvIGUrc1-QXTWD20GS_viSVUteMWsyJG6VChYvQ8Sy7ZX_ikkR-yyQs_QGFxSHuce_MB8yk_yxU6GE0BtCZ9UzTRRaRetzJ-U2A6_Cx_5BK2gIC4Fx_rxx8m9U1897LsMeoIM/s1600-h/IMG_4253.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449751588697134034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-rkJV5wvIGUrc1-QXTWD20GS_viSVUteMWsyJG6VChYvQ8Sy7ZX_ikkR-yyQs_QGFxSHuce_MB8yk_yxU6GE0BtCZ9UzTRRaRetzJ-U2A6_Cx_5BK2gIC4Fx_rxx8m9U1897LsMeoIM/s320/IMG_4253.JPG" border="0" /></a> Let brotherly love continue<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCFd23YorOiLjg3IU7-n4ct7f3NFPen9EWwC0SzRgMugIIRQ9SZC3mIIr-73CbTsbIw6ms2yCV9pwQ0YDuGdTZf7l2s_iNFBVoAHYFB4cbTBf7Dcki_dq_SK9VHpPiIOMbXyLL52aC_g/s1600-h/IMG_4226.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449751581627520594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCFd23YorOiLjg3IU7-n4ct7f3NFPen9EWwC0SzRgMugIIRQ9SZC3mIIr-73CbTsbIw6ms2yCV9pwQ0YDuGdTZf7l2s_iNFBVoAHYFB4cbTBf7Dcki_dq_SK9VHpPiIOMbXyLL52aC_g/s320/IMG_4226.JPG" border="0" /></a>Some Waco Zoo shots: Dilly huging the ancient Chinese horse statue replica...or perhaps trying not to fall off. </div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjst8J3RandhZYZp6V6tu3zfTemAVNEoIWJhghoOFdFgL5n5yFC5Vxa9VcsTiJ6JXAYxj3WCPQAdZu4F4YNxLFd5rrbI_0sfVyIpgAyzSJ5ynSsLN6pOQAWFPpf-pVRZX0Mn75APm4LeKk/s1600-h/IMG_4223.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449751576199004914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjst8J3RandhZYZp6V6tu3zfTemAVNEoIWJhghoOFdFgL5n5yFC5Vxa9VcsTiJ6JXAYxj3WCPQAdZu4F4YNxLFd5rrbI_0sfVyIpgAyzSJ5ynSsLN6pOQAWFPpf-pVRZX0Mn75APm4LeKk/s320/IMG_4223.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div><em>Mom: Dilly, what was you doing?</em></div><div><em>Dilly: Dat's me pullin Chona's hair right dere.</em></div><div><em>Mom: Why was you pulling his hair?</em></div><div><em>Dilly: Cuz i was riding on dis lizard. Dat's NAUGHTY! </em></div><div><em>Mom: Who was naughty?</em></div><div><em>Dilly: Me's naughty. Yeah, I's naughty. I was having my jacket on.<br /></em></div><div>There you have it, folks. A full confession, straight from the horse's mouth.<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRNQDfDAlJ1h84HC-D0qmEya9BZxmHnD0i-CGF4qkNXA4YqErEWZrMjWqb0QS6uBjTvrkUEC654SW0qEZoXI0d7asWqodBc9vw3Khqtk1GO-aUJgg2FRrEq21YbOPdh0WQyofXOjLOdM/s1600-h/IMG_4212.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449738759609555762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRNQDfDAlJ1h84HC-D0qmEya9BZxmHnD0i-CGF4qkNXA4YqErEWZrMjWqb0QS6uBjTvrkUEC654SW0qEZoXI0d7asWqodBc9vw3Khqtk1GO-aUJgg2FRrEq21YbOPdh0WQyofXOjLOdM/s320/IMG_4212.JPG" border="0" /></a>My handsome husband, with White Rhinos looking on.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguBawze-VCgj4ODNg4VUEwn7F2H2IoM7OZoZ56KqRVQuVClB6_ESAMeE0UROhzVkjo12whSbfKxEDvLHEP6g_1Wy1Fy9Z7X10Y5h898BuznQ-RV7Ha90a9W44z3v8z1WZRaLRx3n1h8_8/s1600-h/IMG_4210.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449738749889573378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguBawze-VCgj4ODNg4VUEwn7F2H2IoM7OZoZ56KqRVQuVClB6_ESAMeE0UROhzVkjo12whSbfKxEDvLHEP6g_1Wy1Fy9Z7X10Y5h898BuznQ-RV7Ha90a9W44z3v8z1WZRaLRx3n1h8_8/s320/IMG_4210.JPG" border="0" /></a> Winner of "Most Unfortunately Named Deer Ever"<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGn9dERAxGmmBu-mI0TSYjbiImfE_cwdELmF47ItY25Md6L8Ap_Okt3thK1zM-eeps8C4wXHVHR7EOwzvCc4bJ-sNrUlcLyYMX7N_7ns435vPRAMaT8NheS-BdidTbpxHZqvO5dLUUycA/s1600-h/IMG_4201.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449738739307553634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGn9dERAxGmmBu-mI0TSYjbiImfE_cwdELmF47ItY25Md6L8Ap_Okt3thK1zM-eeps8C4wXHVHR7EOwzvCc4bJ-sNrUlcLyYMX7N_7ns435vPRAMaT8NheS-BdidTbpxHZqvO5dLUUycA/s320/IMG_4201.JPG" border="0" /></a>AHHHHH....urination station. (Pull up the picture and look closely)<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JtVv5mIQSXo3wqTRBtdkx-SkYvpws6ohszAZfVJaUXOSchuLR2qenMtocl3hsx6KOd1m4CWwYTVF412D9LZlHD_EAJkhWMzwPx6i4-XGgR3huQQ3kuCYrkp3DcnkqVKe2b2J2o6zLxw/s1600-h/IMG_4199.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449738730396052626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JtVv5mIQSXo3wqTRBtdkx-SkYvpws6ohszAZfVJaUXOSchuLR2qenMtocl3hsx6KOd1m4CWwYTVF412D9LZlHD_EAJkhWMzwPx6i4-XGgR3huQQ3kuCYrkp3DcnkqVKe2b2J2o6zLxw/s320/IMG_4199.JPG" border="0" /></a>A bad picture of the boys, but the bison in the background looked awesome.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9KFVAuRLxyYHx0jrpGg3ZXODf9Z6el01oQQL2QhKZ8UM_Jbr_xcuL2XeiLuFErtNu0RALCsEGNtDso6MUBi8LxDbuhUmNndBxOlN8UZAxIBPhSlLBZn0LyNaW8n_zyp5dlZau5qMQKE/s1600-h/IMG_4209.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449738716736954850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9KFVAuRLxyYHx0jrpGg3ZXODf9Z6el01oQQL2QhKZ8UM_Jbr_xcuL2XeiLuFErtNu0RALCsEGNtDso6MUBi8LxDbuhUmNndBxOlN8UZAxIBPhSlLBZn0LyNaW8n_zyp5dlZau5qMQKE/s320/IMG_4209.JPG" border="0" /></a>Giraffe in the savannah land<br /><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-50575718305536895312010-03-12T14:11:00.001-08:002010-03-12T14:25:51.467-08:00Re: NothingSo....a minor miracle. ALL my progeny are sleeping! AT THE SAME TIME! RIGHT NOW! It's never happened before, in the daytime. Of course, I'm so excited that I keep running into the room, checking to make sure they continue to sleep, and that the baby doesn't wake up & start growling or something & wake the others up, that unfortunately I cannot do anything productive with the time. But it's AWESOME, all the same.<br />I hope you're having a great Friday. We're having some lovely spring weather here, in Waco, and there are flowers blooming in our never-been-mowed backyard. They're weed flowers, of course, but they're the same kind of weed flowers that we had in Japan, and it evokes many good memories of making weed-flower crowns as a child. Ah, bliss. Spring seems to be making an appearance. For me, all seasons start out with a sort of a deep satisfaction & excitement....when it's winter I'm so pleased to pull on my long sleeves and sweaters, and when it's spring I relish the feeling of the wind & sun on my fish-belly-white arms. It gives me a feeling of renewal, you know? And then in a few weeks I get sick of it & start bitching about the humidity. But for now, I'm happy!<br />Have a good weekend!Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1762340061210849627.post-21162030617415124772010-03-09T14:17:00.000-08:002010-03-09T14:24:00.580-08:00Sleeping it offSo about a month or two ago I put the baby in her swing because she was overtired and wouldn't go to sleep any other way, and put on the "Kiddy Viddie" and tried to leave her alone & get the kids to be quiet too. It worked, and she went to sleep. A few minutes later I look over at her & gave a quiet screech of horror, because I thought she was falling out of her chair. Behold:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2ts_TtcZGxdF3XrUa4AjLEYUCNp41ohuSdZQ2aVgV9eeWdA2IIrCh9ki6ERtjm4AafryQIyWQeQQyXShZSgZK8d7xKk49JVhRjxXxiCKL8oHYZW_4zeAaxZCoKTPgKXSI07C5UZoTc8/s1600-h/IMG_4194.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446762493500880034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2ts_TtcZGxdF3XrUa4AjLEYUCNp41ohuSdZQ2aVgV9eeWdA2IIrCh9ki6ERtjm4AafryQIyWQeQQyXShZSgZK8d7xKk49JVhRjxXxiCKL8oHYZW_4zeAaxZCoKTPgKXSI07C5UZoTc8/s320/IMG_4194.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3yuu8rqsOU73XceovEzxHzBa1itL3Mamy8krNAJQ3TUVBYHi_MYw9_sKb5r1fjbFY78EQ4qpeKZo2BXILVz9UPBNyMo2vcerIV_yazfIT8DXTMipTXipfiXWNKNYF4UuLsg-ttxAx9I/s1600-h/IMG_4193.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446762487715755314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3yuu8rqsOU73XceovEzxHzBa1itL3Mamy8krNAJQ3TUVBYHi_MYw9_sKb5r1fjbFY78EQ4qpeKZo2BXILVz9UPBNyMo2vcerIV_yazfIT8DXTMipTXipfiXWNKNYF4UuLsg-ttxAx9I/s320/IMG_4193.JPG" border="0" /></a> Notice the precious feet. She looks like a bunny rabbit on a bender. Sound asleep, and holding onto the swing tray as she slept on it. Awww!<br /><br /><div></div></div>Dossy and Bossyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01133792263727026618noreply@blogger.com1