FIFTY

Hear ye, hear ye blogging world! My mom is FIFTY!

I've been wishing I was in Utah to make her life miserable, but thankfully someone else is doing the job. For the past few days she has had some new "surprises" when she wakes up in the morning. She forwarded these pictures to me. The sign here says "50 years in the sun too much?"
Here's another picture...caution tape everywhere. There was a sign that went along with this one too but I can't remember what it said. Another morning there was a walker and tons of Depends diapers all over the yard.

Mom, it all amounts to this. You're really old now. But we love you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Have I Told You?

That I am getting a little irritated with all my rugs being made into "logs?" (Jansen's creations)

How good a peach from Georgia tastes? (Nate just returned from there...he was taking his Step 2 Clinical Skills Exam.)

How much I love living with this guy? (Except when I ask him if he wants to join me in having some ice cream and he says he'd rather have a salad.)

Bitty Carrots

The kiddos love getting the bitty carrots from our bitty garden. They pretty much had them for breakfast the other morning!

Goodale Park

Just another fun afternoon of pictures to share:

How We Faired

My father taught me some very important skills. He taught me how to properly fill a Slurpee (you NEVER just fill a Slurpee and walk away. It's highway robbery. You must bounce it and tap it and stir it and refill it). He also trained me in the art of SkeeBall. I was REALLY good at a young age...those tickets would come flowing out of that machine like water from a hose. Honestly, my abilities are pretty much nonexistent now, but I am thrilled to see that my children are picking up the art of SkeeBall:

There was a train car at the fair. And there was a boy at the fair. And the boy loved the train car.
Can you tell?

I love the look of wonder in her eyes.

Mmmmm...fair food. I had one too.

It's difficult to see but there is a bear behind the fence blowing a trumpet. Well, I think he's actually drinking some sweet liquid from a container that looks just like a trumpet.

Letdown

I'm so sad my mom and Aunt Robin left yesterday.

The day after company leaves is always such a letdown and I wanted so badly to wake up and have these two waiting for us downstairs, McDonald's breakfast in hand. Instead I have to relearn the art of feeding, entertaining, clothing, and calming my children by myself (with help from Nate of course)...something I seem to have forgotten how to do in the few short days they were here. And it's a gloomy day here to boot! Somehow I will survive... :)

Chowhound

Well, if it's fruit anyway.

Here she is throwing back some prunes:

What? Never seen a girl with a mouth full of prunes before?

Nate and Natalie like to walk down our street to a little pathway that has wild blackberries. I am always a little concerned when Nate tells me just how many he let Natalie eat.

She just loves going outside with daddy.

Random Story: I had my most embarrassing moment of motherhood today. I took Jansen and Natalie to play at the park at the end of our street and things didn't start off well when a man and his daughter and dog arrived and the kids were infatuated with the dog. I don't know what the etiquette is in those situations so I let Natalie pet him a few times and then had to continually move her away, distract her, ask her to stop feeding it grass, etc. It seemed that the man was getting a slight bit annoyed. Jansen in the meantime is playing on the playground and toting around my water bottle. I saw him drink some and then spit it out just for fun and didn't think much of it but things were not fun anymore when I suddenly looked up and he was up at the highest point on the playground equipment and spit some water over the edge. RIGHT INTO THE FACE OF THE DOG MAN who was pushing his daughter on the swings. He was wearing glasses. It was like in the movies. He did a little sputter and quickly snatched his glasses off and wiped at his face and I looked on in horror. Jansen did not mean to do it at all and had no idea the crime he had just committed. I apologized profusely and we quickly left the park because it was just plain awkward after that.

Sidewalk Paint

I got this idea from my cousin's fabulous blog that a bunch of mommy's contribute to (ifyoucaretoshare.blogspot.com). You mix one part cornstarch with one part water (so if you did 1/2 cup cornstarch you would add 1/2 cup water) and then food coloring and mix well and you have fun sidewalk paint! It has always washed right off. I get paintbrushes from the dollar store and we go to town on our sidewalk (and sometimes our garage, don't tell Nate).

Another great face from Natalie...it compliments her seemingly-always-crazy-looking hair. I'm really losing my drive to fix her hair in the morning...she often grabs at it and tears and pulls moments after I finish. Defeat.

Just One of the Reasons

...she makes me laugh every day. She's trying to put those sunglasses on that cat. It's like she HAS NO PERCEPTION of size or something. I guess kids gain that skill with age but it seems so silly to me that she would think those huge glasses would fit on that little cat!

Nope, not gonna work.

It's a Bike Parade!

A friend of mine organized a wonderful little bike parade for the kids on Wednesday.

We did a little decorating on the bikes...

And got ourselves pumped up for the ride...

She can't quite pedal on her own but maybe by the end of the summer.

I love these fun summer activities!

4th

Well, here's what we did. The kids had a great time at the Hilliard parade, which I don't think had a single float, and the parents enjoyed each other's company.

Jansen's best buddies:

I seem to have a knack for catching strange looks on Natalie's face.

Mouth full of gum and candy:

Fireworks that night...

Yep, I Am

12 weeks, due January 20!

The Wilds

On Friday we went to The Wilds (private, non-profit conservation center located on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed mine land in rural southeastern Ohio).

Jansen had a little notebook and pen and he would stop and draw different things that he saw. I would like to claim that I suggested the idea to him as an enrichment activity while on our outing, but he actually saw it on Curious George that morning. We love Curious George. He helps mommy get ready in the mornings.

We spent a lot of time on shuttle buses with big windows. Natalie was all over the place, but happy. This is her copying Jansen with her own paper and pen drawings.

See the giraffes in the background? We also saw rhinos, zebras, camels, bison, etc.

His MEAN Face

Jansen is learning more about the good guys and bad guys these days. He still has no interest in any superheroes (it's all about steam engines and doggies over here) but every once in awhile he will pretend to be a "bad guy" and it makes me laugh so hard...because he just doesn't fit the part. This is his "mean" face and it reminds me so much of Nate because neither of them can frown or look mean for more than a second or two...then they just burst into a smile.