Bitty: Mom, why don’t they want old people at this park?
Me: Er, I’m sure they don’t mind having older people here.
Bitty: But there’s a sign! It says No Old People.
Me: Where did you see this? How do you know it’s for old people?
Bitty: Because the guy in the picture is holding a cane…
{I’ll let you decide: No Hiking Sign or No Old People Sign ; }
We currently have our tent set up in the backyard and I’m becoming concerned that it may be there for a really long time.
The first night out, the BLT camped out together. Same thing the next night. I snuck out a few times to listen to them and could hear T Bub giving play-by-play of Doctor Who episodes. I guess those are the new ‘campfire stories’, and the girls were thoroughly engrossed, only asking questions every few minutes:
“Wait, why didn’t the Doctor just use the sonic screwdriver to open the door?”
“Because it doesn’t work on wood.”
Of course.
Now however, the kids are asking for sleep overs in the tent. They’ve been trying to work out a schedule of who can sleep in it on what nights and so forth. Which is great, but for one exception: Bitty. At six, Bitty has yet to have her first sleep over and I sure as heck am not having it in a tent. A six year old sleep over sounds like a whole lot of trouble, and a six year old sleep over IN A TENT sounds like a nightmare.
Here’s what I imagine a sleep over involving six years olds to be*:
*this may not be a realistic representation of two six year olds having a sleep over, but what do I know.
So, I came up with a solution - I would sleep out in the tent with her. She wasn’t exactly jumping up and down in excitement at this news and frankly, I wasn’t all that excited either. While I love camping, I realize the part I love the most is the part where we go somewhere; sleeping in my backyard on a blowup bed is not my idea of a jolly good time.
Side Note: My use of the words ‘jolly good time’ show I’ve been spending too much time watching the London Olympics.
Thankfully for me, a thunderstorm blew in, the siren went off, and at midnight, I dragged Bitty back in the house where we could both sleep in our own beds. All was right with the world until Lovely L invited another friend to sleep over and we started this whole process all over again.
“WHY CAN’T I HAVE A SLEEPOVER IN THE TENT?”
*sigh* I guess I’ll be sleeping in the tent again ; )
I will admit, I haven’t been the most diligent on keeping up with my scrapbooking.
Both T Bub and Lovely L have a ‘first year’ scrapbook. But poor Bitty B? I’m pretty sure I might have completed a ‘first day of life’ page for her scrapbook. Yep, that’s it. The girl gets one page in her scrapbook. I’m thinking that that’s just what happens when you’re the third kid, though…
The truth is that I am way too much of a perfectionist. That, coupled with the cost of all the bits, pieces and paper that I wanted, made scrapbooking an almost impossible task for me.
An example?
Here was my process: Go to scrap store. Spend 20 bucks on various stickers and paper. Spend 12 hours on one page meticulously placing pictures and stickers on page.
Anal retentive does not even begin to describe my scrapbooking…
In the end, I’d usually be left with some paper, and a bunch of expensive stickers. On the bright side, my two daughters love the fact that they now have hundreds of stickers at their disposal…
Here’s where I show you my newest scrapbooking venture:
Cute, right?
For serious, I made that on my computer!
That’s not even the best part: This took about 20 minutes total to learn the software and then put the whole page together.
And guess what? You will have a chance to win this same software, called the My Memories Suite, next week! I know, I know… awesome…
Until I post the giveaway, you can go check out more super awesomeness on the My Memories website. You’ll find tons of cute layouts and scrapbooking kits and even some premade layouts like the one I used to make Bitty’s page.
Her expression in the middle picture is killing me ; )
So here’s a list of things to do with your kids at the State Fair.*
*activities not available at every state fair ; )
{Impersonate a local sports team mascot}
{Eat food on a stick}
{Join a band}
{Get yourself on television}
{Be a contestant on a radio quiz show. T Bub won!}
{Play carnival games}
{Pick up a *free* air guitar}
{Eat your weight in kettle corn}
{Meet local news celebrities. Hey, is Julie Nelson eyeballing MC?!?}
{Pet newborn farm animals}
{Find more favorite fair goodies to eat – Bitty had a brain freeze from her gelato}
{Try with minimal success to get kids to stand still and be nice for a photo op}
{Did I mention deep fried food on a stick? T Bub: deep fried Oreos. MC: deep fried Snickers bar. On a stick}
Last week, it was so humid outside that when we woke up and came downstairs, we couldn’t see out of any of our windows. They were completely covered in condensation. It was like being on the outside of a greenhouse looking in, but we were in our house looking out.
So I sent the BLT outside (in their p.j.’s) to check it out. It only took them a minute to figure out they could ‘write’ on the condensation.
As for me? I think I’ll stay indoors. ; )
Ah! Sweet spray paint, is there nothing you can't fix?
And by fix, I mean cover with your spray paint goodness…
Bitty B's smoky yellow ceiling fan? Now a crisp clean white. {Thank you spray paint!}
My shiny brass fireplace surround? Hidden behind a beautiful sheen of oil rubbed bronze. {Thank you spray paint!}
I'm not sure what the original color on my floor vent was, but it too is covered by oil rubbed bronze. {Thank you spray paint!}
I could go on and on, but instead I will share with you the story of my front porch. When we last saw my front porch, it was lookin’ a little sad.
Sad and Blah. And messy.
But I had a vision: A vision of a {clean} bright space that would welcome instead of causing my neighbors to raise their collective eyebrows at the crazy mess that was my front porch.
I decided to tackle the table first.
Hmm. Due to high humidity the day I disassembled the table, I had to quickly wipe the condensation off the lens of my camera and quickly take another picture before it fogged back over.
I removed all the legs and gave them a coat of Krylon’s white primer. Had I thought about it, I would have lightly sanded them first, but as usual I rushed straight in with the paint.
Because I have no patience, that’s why.
I then tried to remove the glass from the tabletop. When it was clear that the two pieces were NOT going to part easily, I decided to tape newspaper to the tabletop and just spray away.
But before I could do that, the wind ripped my newspaper OFF the tabletop. I briefly thought about going inside to find more, but the humidity had water-logged my brain and I started spraying away without the newspaper protecting the glass.
I was on a roll, people. Newspaper be darned!
Plus, I couldn’t wait to see the color I picked out for the table in all it’s spray painted glory.
So with my Krylon Satin Jade spray paint, I went to town on my primed table. After it dried, I pieced it back together, used Windex and a glass scraper to clean the paint off the glass and reveled in my bright new front porch:
I picked Jade because it reminded me of the color of the 1950’s metal patio sets that my neighbors had when I was growing up in rural Indiana.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, here ya go:
{I think every elderly relative had a set of these on their porch… : ) }
My new Jade table definitely brightens up the corner of my front porch. And a quick coat of Kryon’s white took care of the funky silver planter. This leaves me with just one question:
What color do I paint the chairs? ; )
Well, what do you think?
After Christmas, my favorite holiday… no,wait… Lemme start again.
After Christmas and Halloween, my next favorite holiday is the Fourth of July. I thought I would share with you our Fourth of July {in Pictures}
{Lovely L and Bitty watching the parade. We did not set out a blanket the day before. MC and I sat up on a little hill and let the kids find a place on the curb. As newbies, we’re just not used to having to plan a day ahead for our parade spot yet}
{My patriotic watermelon. I way I figured it, watermelons have a similar rind to pumpkins. Why not carve it?}
{Then, back to our house for a barbecue, bocce ball and sparklers}
{Playing with fire. I mean, sparklers}
{The fireworks are shot off at the end of our neighborhood. Our city puts on a great firework show with all our favorites. My favorite? The one that explodes and looks like glitter. Also, it makes a sizzling noise like bacon}
And there you have our Fourth of July. What fun stuff did you get to do this Fourth?
While preparing my backyard for our Fourth of July celebration, I noticed a small strip of paint had peeled off the stoop of the back door. Wanting the backyard to look its best for the party, I got out some sandpaper and paint and prepared to do a Quick Repair.
As I sandpapered the stoop, more and more paint chipped off. I realized my Quick Repair was turning into a Big Job.
Ugh.
I decided to walk away from the now Big Job of repairing the stoop and headed out front to pull out some seedlings that had taken root in the gutter over the garage. Dragging the ladder out of the garage, I set it up and began pulling weeds and tiny little trees that had nestled themselves in the gunk that had settled at the bottom of the gutter.
It was then that I noticed that the gutter was not actually attached to the fascia right below the roofline. It was just hanging there, loose and unattached.
Ugh.
MC was in the backyard, cutting up all the branches from our recent tree adventures. He had been watching me mess with the stoop earlier, and warily watched as I walked over to him with more bad news.
I told him what I had found out about the gutter and he asked if I could please not give him any more bad news until after the Fourth so he could enjoy the holiday weekend.
So, I headed back to finish the stoop. As I scraped the paint near the doorframe, I saw what looked like a small hole in the door itself. I scratched at it a little bit. Then I poked it.
{HOLY SCHNIKES.}
Uhh… Hmm. Okay… well…
I used a screwdriver to clear out the hole in the door. I looked at it for a long time before walking over to MC.
Uh… hon? I just wanted you to know that I… well.. uh… There was an earthworm in our door. That’s all. I’m gonna fill the hole in now and then paint over it. K?
I am not kidding, people. As I scraped the debris out of the door, I nearly had a heart attack when the screwdriver came out of the hole with a wiggly critter on it. A WORM. In my door. That is seriously nuts.
Oh. And disgusting.
Since I was already messing with the stoop, I decided to pull off a strip of metal that had at one time been the track for a sliding screen door. The metal strip came off with relative ease, but pulling it off had left all the screw heads sticking up out of the stoop.
This is why all my Quick Repairs turn into Big Jobs.
I eventually got the screws pulled out, the hole in the door and one in the door frame filled with putty and the stoop sanded down. I laid down a couple coats of paint yesterday when I realized I was painting the stoop with white paint that clearly states Interior on the front of it.
Ugh.
At least it’s white now. And you can’t see any holes.
Have you ever run into a project that didn’t quite turn out like you expected?
Let me explain: In my family we have a tradition of giving things names… I drive a Yukon that we call Mr. T, praying mantis’ are all called Oscar, those big black carpenter bees are Albert…
And the bunnies that live in my yard are all called, you guessed it, Dennis Hopper.
And Dennis Hopper is eating everything in my yard:
Sure he looks all soft and fuzzy. Look at those cute little ears standing up at attention, those clear bright eyes, his sweet little mouth munching on… MY FLOWERS!
He tries to hide when he realizes he’s been spotted:
But we know he’s there, grazing on my flowers and vegetables in the garden. We even left a ton of dandelions in the yard for him to chew on; we know he loves those…
He’s gotten pretty bold too. Almost any time of day I might hear one of the kids yell, ‘Dennis Hopper!’ Usually followed by, ‘can I chase him out of the yard?’
Now, please note that I am a wildlife lover. Last year when a six point buck walked just outside our yard, I called all the kids to quietly come watch him. When ducklings cross the road on their way to the pond, I’ve stood in the road to ensure their safe passage. Why, just yesterday, I picked up this thing and put it back on the grass to get it out of the road:
Which, by the way, I will never do again.
Note to readers: Do not be stupid like me and attempt to pick up a snapping turtle, unless you don’t entirely enjoy having all ten fingers firmly attached to your hands. (Yes, I managed to keep all of mine. Barely.)
Back to Dennis Hopper. I love the idea of sharing our yard with the critters that naturally live there. When we see bunnies hopping around the backyard, minding their own business and not eating my plants, the kids are not allowed to run outside and freak them out. After all, our backyard is their home. But…
Would it be too much to ask for you to QUIT EATING MY PLANTS!
Since I’m pretty sure that Dennis Hopper can’t differentiate between wild plants and the plants that I’ve put there for the express purpose of my personal backyard enjoyment, I imagine we’ll be chasing him around the yard quite a bit this summer.
Hopefully, he’ll leave enough of my plants alone so that I’ll actually get to see some of them bloom. Maybe. ; )
In this informational post, I will teach you how to position your family in order to take the perfect picture. One that will grace your wall for years, reminding you of the special times you spent together…
We recently had the opportunity to take the whole family to a Twins baseball game. It was a great game (the Twins won) and T Bub and Lovely L were able to get a few autographs. After the game, fans twelve and under were able to go down and run the bases.
We headed down to the field and proceeded to park ourselves in the back of a long line. I say park, because we literally didn’t move for awhile.
It was while standing in this line that I had a flash of inspiration: I could get a picture of the kids in their Twins gear, frame it, and give it to MC as a gift for Father’s Day! I collected the BLT and posed them with the stadium in the background.
This didn’t go down like I thought it would: T Bub is horrified and embarrassed that I’m making him stand with his sisters. Bitty is not looking at the camera and Lovely L is too low. I regroup: Okay guys, smile nice, I tell them, I want to frame this!
T Bub looks like he’s going to cry if I continue to make him crouch down next to his sisters, Bitty keeps looking behind me and, at the last minute, Lovely L leans out of the picture.
OH MY GOSH! You guys, this shouldn’t be this hard! Let’s try this again – just smile nice, okay?
Alright, not tooooo bad, I just need Bitty to smile for me. Okay B? Just smile…
At this point Bitty started singing the Twins song and dancing. Lovely L has held her cute smile the whole time, but I think T Bub has finally broken down.
So much for taking the perfect picture. Or even taking a picture worthy of framing. What I learned from this experience is that the thrill of having a great picture is not enough when you’re 12, 11 and 5. You need something more to be willing to sit still and smile pretty with your siblings.
And that something is called a bribe. I’d love to say that I’m able to get my kids to do what I want solely out of their love and devotion to me. But I’d be lying. Through. My. Teeth. Want an example? Here’s last year’s Father’s Day picture:
Three happy, smiling kids that let me pose them for well over an hour. How? Bribery. Plain and simple.
