Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Dad'll do it!

David finished his summer school semester today!!! Yea! Now he gets 2 weeks off before the Fall semester starts.
We are excited to have him home... at least for awhile. I know he's excited to be home too!

All the studying this week left his brain a little mushy... he returned the kid's new book from Mardels to the public library on Tuesday. Thank goodness the librarian was kind enough to give it back to him the next day :)










Me and my new bud Maddox. Thanks for sharing your tools and letting me pound you on the head with a ball.... (Daddy taught me how to play Dodge-Ball this week - sport not endorsed by Mommy)










A 3 month old in a walker??? Yeah... not my idea

"Is this suppose to be fun, daddy?"







Friday, July 25, 2008

All smiles!


And the Award for "Best Baby" goes to...... Leah Claire!

We really did get lucky with baby #3. She is such an easy baby. If she's crying, she's either hungry, sleepy, or dirty. That's it, seriously. I know we'll have our trials with her down the line, but for now I'm just thankful for my sweet little chunky baby girl!















Hello Ladies!

(Kara and Danny's wedding is in 14 days! Ella and Devon will be the flower girl and ring bearer. We're all very excited to be a part of the BIG day!)


I almost didn't catch this pic of Ella reading to Leah Claire. She's always so sweet to her little sister. Her little brother on the other hand??? That's a different story :)







Thank you for dusting my servant children!

Note to Ella: Dusting spray is not air freshener.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

New Tricks!

Leah Claire found her feet this week!





















Ella and Devon finding their feet!


















The Curtsingers came over to make aprons and pizzas on Monday.
Fun-fun, yum-yum!


Sunday, July 20, 2008

Saturday nite

The kids and I went on a date Saturday nite. Dinner and the Park. The perfect casual Saturday evening. (It's been awhile since I've been on a real date obviously.)

When we arrived at the park, I found my park bench and pulled Leah out of her car seat and up in my lap. About 10 minutes into the play session, Devon needed to go potty. I suggested that we just go home. (Park bathrooms = dirty, stinky, gross.) Of course the code wor
d, "home," sent him immediately climbing up the ladder and ignoring my suggestion. So... he went on playing. Five minutes later....

"Mommy, poo-poo's coming!"

My thought process - Oh, please don't poop in your underwear. Please don't ..... Don't panic, maybe if we can get to the bathroom he can make it in time. Who am I kidding? He's already walking bow leg-ged.


So as Devon headed toward me, I called for Ella, and motioned my one free arm (other arm was holding Leah) for us all to run. I opened the dreaded park bathroom door... dirty, stinky, gross! I moved a rock over to keep the door open, instructed Ella to sit on the concrete beside the open door, and plopped Leah in her lap. (Ella is only 3.) Devon waited by the toilet.

Thought process -
Please let it be solid.

I attempted to pull down his pants... dirty, stinky, GROSS! A half-formed brownish-orange mass smeared down his leg. I quickly pulled off his shoes, then shorts, and then his nasty underwear. I propped him up on the toilet.

Thought process -
I need wet-wipes and lots of them!

I left Devon on the toilet, Ella and Leah on the concrete, and ran for the baby-bag which was still on the bench. (No, I didn't want to leave my children for 1/2 a second, but I had too.) I raced back in the bathroom to find Devon off the toilet with poop all over his fingers.

Thought process -
Stay calm. A happy poop-covered toddler is better than a crying poop-covered toddler.

I started wiping every visible orange streak on his body.
"Ella, are you and Leah, ok?

This phrase had already been repeated multiple times by now. I continued to wipe.

Dry-heav
e, wipe, dry-heave, wipe.

I put Devon's shorts and shoes back on, tossed his spider-man underwear in the trash can, and loaded everyone back in the van.
"Devon, please don't touch anything. Why don't you just pray."

He kept his fingers inter-locked the whole way home.

Ella refused to take a bath with him that nite.



Tuesday, July 15, 2008

WAY BACK Wednesday


I've caught a lot of flack from my husband regarding this pic. Please tell me someone out there remembers the "oh, so cool" doily-collar look. Actually, I'm not really sure if this was a trend or my mother's attempt to create a matching look for our 1987 Christmas pictures. Either way, David swears it must have been an Amish fashion faux pas. [DAVID - I'm from PRYOR, not Chouteau! They are 2 separate towns!] So anyway... this random blog with my oh so catchy title is for you luva! We look adorable in our doilies and sweat shirts (heeheee). And get ready, I'm sure I will lay the curse of matching outfits on our 3 as well someday!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Crafts and Gibberish

Why do I think it's funny when my children's language turns into a strange combo of lisps and Ebonics? Do I endorse this gibberish? Oh, please... of course I do. It's my daily dose of entertainment!


Ella's language "oops" consist of words that should be in the dictionary such as "bur-rry" for cold and "sparkley" for when her feet fall asleep. She also has a hard time pronouncing her "K"s, "Q"s and "C"s. They often take on a "T" sound.

Devon's major phonics fault is that he calls his little sister Weah instead of Leah. He also has a strange fetish of making up nonsense words. His favorite word is bull-pay. We have no idea what a bull-pay is or does.. but he thinks it's just hysterical.

I'm super anxious to hear Leah talk. Right now she's making lots of noises and grunts. She's found her tongue, but has no idea what it is. It's been hanging off the side of her lip quite often. :)


Now, let me refer back to my Ebonics comment. My children have taken on a strange blend of country and gangsta. (I'm pretty sure this is not Ebonics, but it's the closest language form I could correlate it to.) Ella has a definite drawl to most of her words and Devon likes to point his finger and give his words a little rude at-ti-tude.

Here's an example of Devon's gangsta side.
In the book, "The Little Red Hen", the little red hen finally asks, "Who will help my eat the bread?" Of course, instead of replying "Not I" like the many times before, the farm animals joyously say "I WILL!" Wherein the little red hen retorts, "NO! I will eat it myself." Well, this is Devon's take on the little red hen's response...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

July week 2




I'm not the "craftiest" person, I admit it. I don't scrap book, I don't sew, I don't make fun baskets of goodies for people at Christmas... I'm just not good at it. Plus, I don't like the idea of little craft supplies scattered all over the house. So when I decided to start doing crafts with Ella, I needed a little help. I found a Bible Story Crafts and Projects book up in my dusty Elementary Ed file and thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm sooo glad the book encouraged me to do the craft on my own first. My first ever, tissue paper flower took me 20 minutes to make. It was a bit too difficult for my 3 year old as well. Our next project - paper cup animals, paper plate bean tambourines. And soon to come... toilet paper roll binoculars and fruit loop necklaces.

We sponge-rolled Ella's hair for the first time this week. It was darling! She wants me to "do curlers" every nite now. What a little priss-pot! I love it!

Here's just a little delayed Forth of July movie... "Happy Birthday America!"

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The 4th of July!















Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Happy 30th Birthday Sis!




Tracy Curtsinger is the BIG 3-0 today!

Happy Birthday "Cakey Net Herman" aka Tracy Lennett Sherman.

God Bless America!


My vision of the perfect patriotic pose didn't quite happen today :)
Oh, well.... (giggle, giggle)