Luxury Living 2012

It's Spring Break, so Grandpa and Grandma went on a little vacation with their friends.  You know what that means for our family...luxury living!!!  Even though their house is only a couple miles from ours, we simply must move in for the week, you know, to take care of their elderly dog.  Here is Bennett upon our arrival a little while ago.  She is excited!  She is also wearing Grandpa's clip on suglasses for some reason.  One of the reasons we so enjoy luxury living is because Grandpa and Grandpa have a big tv and it actually has shows on it.  Oh!  Look what's on.  Fox News.  Surprise, surpise.  Sorry, Gramps, but there will be no Fox News on the screen this week.  Instead, we currently have "Finding Bigfoot" going on.  And we're eating your frozen pizza supply.  Let the fun begin!

A New Vista

One full week later and I think the strep is finally behind us.  We're still a wee bit draggy and we all have a mild, lingering cough.  But for the most part, all are well in our family.  We decided to venture out into this beautiful Saturday afternoon to explore a new vista in hiking.

Bennett and Ainsley enjoy hiking, but sometimes they need a little kick in the pants to get them out the door and enthusiastic.  Our tool of bribery is Corn Nuts.  "Hey, girls!  Let's go hiking!  We'll buy you some Corn Nuts..." (stated in a sing songy voice)...works every time!

We picked up some Corn Nuts and headed out to Grandpa C's family's tree farm.  We had heard tale of this farm but we'd never been there before.  It was pretty cool.  Here is Dad and the girls in the pine forest.  It reminded me of Colorado.  If only.

We love hiking because it allows us to be nature detectives.  We saw several cool "mysteries" on our hike today.  We found lots and lots of animal tracks.  There were probably four or five different types and they were all right in the same area.  Ainsley thinks there must have been an animal stampede in that spot as all of the animals rushed to the pond for water.  Maybe, Ains!

 We saw the remains of a deer, scattered all about.  It was fun to think of different scenarios to explain how it's bones got to where they were.  The best scenario centered around a bald eagle fight over the bones, which explains several mysterious black feathers we found near the deer.  Nature will just keep you guessing!

 We hiked back to a lovely pond.  It was pretty big and Dad started dreaming of how Grandpa C. should put a little cabin beside it.  We always have big dreams for Grandpa. 

And here is a photo of Bennett's head gear of choice today.  Interesting.

Star Wars? Well, I Never...

Here comes another post.  Can you tell that I gave up Facebook for Lent?  Obviously, I have more time on my hands these days.  Sad but true.  Anyway, sickness continues.  Dad stayed home from work today, Bennett missed another day of school.  Neither felt good enough to move around much, and we don't have cable.  We do, however, have the Star Wars trilogy on VHS.  Why?  I really don't know.  We are not sci-fi people in the least.  We're not anti-sci-fi, we've just never been super into it.  Last summer we saw the Star Wars trilogy at a garage sale and Dad thought we should pick it up, you know, for a rainy day when we might have strep throat and nothing better to watch.  Today, the day came.  I truly never thought it would, but it did.

Dad and Bennett watched the first tape, "Star Wars," this morning.  No one in our family had ever seen Star Wars before.  Not even Dad.  Not even in the 80s.  Never.  It was a new vista.  A few observations: 1.  Who knew Indiana Jones was in Star Wars!?  2.  Luke Skywalker is not as cute as I thought he should be.  3.  Princess Leia is not as young looking as I expected.  4.  I've confirmed that I'm for sure not into sci-fi.  I won't be watching "The Empire Strikes Back" or "Return of the Jedi."

Observation 5.  It's now 4:52 p.m. and Dad and the girls are...watching "The Empire Strikes Back?!"  What!?  I don't get it.  They apparently like it.  They even moved the loveseat over to the center of the living room so everyone could sit in utmost comfort to watch the second video.  And on top of that, they are dialoging more throughout the movie in regards to the plot than I've ever seen them do while watching any movie.  Seriously.  In all my days I would never have guessed these three would be watching and enjoying the Star Wars trilogy together.  Illness does strange things to people, I guess.

Signs of Spring

Spring is almost here!  Hooray!  What a beautiful springish day we had today.  Even the strep throat couldn't keep us completely down.  We ventured outside for a little while during the afternoon to soak up some sun, breathe fresh air and to look for signs of spring. 

 The first sign of spring is Ainsley "painting" the pole to the basketball hoop.  Painting this pole with muddy water has long been a favorite hobby of hers, and she has wasted no time getting right back at it this season.  I did make her use clean water today, and only a little.  I'm just not ready for the mess yet.  She's looking pretty good in this picture.  I think the meds have finally kicked in and she'll be back to school tomorrow.  Hooray!

And the second sign of spring is our frienemy, the wasp.  No sooner had Bennett opened the door to step outside and we saw a wasp fly by.  Delightful.  Bennett is terrified of stinging insects and she decided she would not be coming outside today.  I managed to get her to at least stand in the driveway and she ended up playing outside for about 10 minutes but the "what if the wasp stings me" talks began and my attempts to reassure her of safety were ineffective.  My argument was this: "Bennett!  I am pretty old!  Do you know how many times I've been stung in all my years!?!   Only three!"  Her response to me was, "Hey, I've already been stung three times!"  She is clearly much younger than I, and so her sting frequency does appear to be higher than mine, to date.   Needless to say, the girl went indoors, which is fine since she still doesn't seem to be feeling too hot.  And in other news, Dad has officially fallen completely ill with his touch of the strep.  Poor, poor boy.   Now that I think of it, the third sign of spring in our family always seems to be illness in Feb/March.  We're right on track!

Alright...Time For Some Intervention

As a parent, I try to follow this rule:  Say "yes" as often as you can, and when you say "no" mean it.  Well, the time has come that I must say no.  The wall decorating has gone too far, and I mean it!

Example 1 - Jewelry never needs to be attached to a wall with ticky tack.  I'm sorry, Ainsley, but this is coming down.

Example 2 - The things on your wall should not frighten those who live in your home.  Ethel is frightening.  I do not know who illustrated this girl on a phonics classroom card, but she should never have been drawn.  I have found Ethel hanging up and I have thrown her away a few times, but a little girl in our family seems to continually resurrect her from the trash.  Ethel, good bye.  You will be disposed of in a place where you cannot be found. 

Mr. Mom

What seemed to be a minor tickle in the throat on Friday, has turned out to be strep for three out of four in our house.  Maybe I am a huge wimp or maybe I'm biased, but I believe that I have taken the hardest hit.  I have basically been lying around for the past three days doing nothing but coughing and running a fever and feeling terrible.  Actually, now that I think of it, I would say Dad has taken the biggest hit, and he's the one out of four who has not fallen ill.  It reminds me a lot of this video link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8zj5Uiz-Ck&feature=related

It is not a good thing for a mom to be sick.  It's not that dads aren't helpful or don't do a good job, but they just do things differently.  And in this house where Dad works long hours to provide the bread and butter, that leaves me doing most of the day in/day out stuff, and it's my pleasure to do so!  But when Dad has to step in as a my sub, even with a very good attitude, things sort of fall apart just a little.    For instance, 1.) There was some sort of dad-sanctioned beach party in the living room while I was a feverish zombie.  The aftermath is pretty bad.  2.)I think the only foods consumed in our home over the past 48 hours have been saltines, canned soup, fish sticks and mac and cheese. 3.) Bath time...oh goodness.  It took about two years from start to finish...so I might be exagerating, but it felt like two years...as Ainsley took a very lengthy shower and ran us out of hot water for Bennett's turn.  Crying galore.  Then let's proceed to the hair combing.  Bless his heart, but Dad doesn't realize there is a process to combing a child's hair when the child has masses of hair like Bennett.  Scream and cryfest continues.  There were things that went well.  He successfully got them out the door to church, enjoyed a party with them and got them into bed.  I must not overlook those things.  But I'm pretty sure Dad was feeling a lot like Michael Keaton did in the below photo by the end of the weekend.

Not fun times.  But thank you, Dad, for being the servant-hearted man that you are and for doing a hard task while I am able to do virtually nothing.  Hopefully the meds will kick in full-force and I'll be back to making less processed foods that taste good and combing hair by tomorrow!   A heads up though...it might be saltines for dinner one more time tonight.

Taking Orders From a Nightgown??

A few weeks ago, Ainsley came into our room in the middle of the night.  She was fairly upset due to a nightmare she had been having.  We made her a little cozy bed on the floor and she slept well for the rest of the night.  In the morning, I was asking her about her middle of the night scare and she said, "I had this terrible dream!  I woke up, and I wanted to stop having the bad dream, but my nightgown said "Keep Dreaming!"  Well, this is obedience taken to the next level, I guess.  I'm glad she came to our room for a difference set of instructions that night!

First Hike of 2012!

 Boy, are we itching to get outdoors!  Over the weekend, the weather was mild enough for us to take our first hike of 2012.  It was a little lakeside mosey in search of the elusive buckeye tree we ran across last fall.  We did not find the buckeye tree, but we did have fun!

 Dad and Ainsley "hanging" out at the the beach house just off the trail.

Optical Illusion!  This photo might be the only time these children have ever appeared to be long-legged.   It's good to see these little smiles outside of our four walls!

What To Do

What can one do on a cold winter's night with no television to watch and no DS allowed on a weeknight?  Draw!

Bennett worked on this for a LONG time this afternoon and evening.  After she drew it in pencil she asked if I would trace it all for her in permanent, fine-point permanent marker.  Um, no thank you.

Out of Hand

A couple of weeks ago, Bennett asked if she could hang a couple of posters in her room because her little bulletin board was full.  I said it would be fine.  I should have realized what would happen next.  KABOOM!

POSTER EXPLOSION.  This is what can be seen as of today.  This is just one wall, mind you. 

 Here is another wall.  I think things are getting a bit out of hand.

And it doesn't stop there.  Ainsley has the fever as well.  So far her "signs" are limited to one side of her bedroom door.  I have also confiscated all Scotch tape and hidden it.  I feel the need to regain some control.  Who taught these girls that paper was such an acceptable form of wall decor?

I think we can safely point the finger at their father.  Here we have the south wall of the garage...

 ...and the north wall of the garage.  Ridiculous. 

 As as I close, a little creepiness for your morning blog read.  As I was taking pictures of Bennett's walls, I stumbled on to...you guessed it...Rubber Fetus.  R.F. is snuggled up in two tiny Santa caps this morning.  Weird.

I also found Repunzel resting on a soup dish.  She appears to be "Tangled" up in fuzzy googly-eyed somethings.  Double weird.