Honest, we do watch her.  It's not like I set her down and let her roam anywhere she wants, to do anything she wants.  But she's so dang fast!  And then once we find her being naughty, well, I have no good defense there.  My first impulse is to get the camera.

If having a third has taught me anything, it's that even when I'm absolutely sure I could never forget a certain moment, or look, or even naughty event, I might.  It might get lost somewhere in the attic of my mind and I know it will only take one picture to put me back in that time when...

she unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper, and couldn't have been more proud of herself!

Parenting Success

One of our goals as parents is to help our children along the road to being independent people.  So I wonder if this counts.  While I was cleaning up the kitchen the other day, Adalyn crawled in, opened the pantry door, pulled down the box of Crispix, dumped a snack sized amount out, and ate it.  She also made a big pile of crumbs which then trailed after her as she crawled away.

And just so you don't think I'm an awful Mom who does not feed her children, I will say that I did put some in a bowl for her, which she promptly dumped and crushed along with the other bits.  You may at some point wonder why I would let her do this, obviously she was in full view since I took pictures.  And in my defense I would say that there is a trade off for all things.  If I wanted the dishes done, I needed to have her distracted and she seemed pretty happy in her own messy Crispix world.  So the dishes got washed and shortly after that, the floors were vacuumed.

She's a fun girl, and so independent : /  Oh well, if anyone in the house appreciated this new skill it was Possum, who got to clean up her mess.

Pirates

This morning, darling Willa was showing Adalyn her geode.  We had picked them up at Lake George 2 years ago and the kids still talk about it.  After a thorough inspection by her baby sister, Willa turned to me and asked, "Mommy, who put the crystals in the rock?"  Truth be told, I actually don't know how they formed there so I said, "God did, in a way." 

She pondered this for a moment and I continued, "Isn't it amazing that He would hide such beautiful crystals in such an ordinary looking rock?"

She then turned to me and whispered, "I think He was hiding them from pirates."

Hmmm, yes, pirates indeed. 

 I couldn't help but laugh and she giggled too but in her 5 yr. old reality, I think she does consider this a possibility.  She is such a funny little girl, as if these morning bedhead pics don't say it all.  And who knows, maybe God was hiding them from Pirates.

The Best Thing About a New TV is...

The BOX!

SO I was blog hopping yesterday and came across an idea for a post.  Take a picture every hour you are awake and post it.  It promised me I would view my day differently.  Feeling adventurous I decided to give it a try.  And so my day began with my necessary cup of coffee.  Makes me look forward to the morning already.
Then the children awoke, miraculously each in their own beds.  Then it's a race downstairs for breakfast.

My breakfast consisted of leftover party food, in this case mini-ruebens and toast that the babe did not want.  Tasty to me but I doubt any of your mouths are watering.

What was truly miraculous about today was that we were out the door before 9am.  A beautiful sunny Spring morning, I had decided that we should get Possum some exercise, so off to Turning Point Park we went.  A park not too far from here that is smallish but really neat. The kids refer to it as Turtle Park, for all the turtles we see there in the Summer.  We stumbled into a patch of Lily-of-the-Valley here and they are just shy of blooming but I bet when they do, the fragrance will be in the air!  This is my favorite vista from this walk.  Down below, the city built a boardwalk over the water and it's a lovely walk/ride and great for birding(not that I can distinguish too many different kinds).  There are a pair of nesting swans there too, though I could not see them from so far.

5 yr. old legs were starting to wane a bit by now so a rest was welcomed.  FYI-Ady is with us, she is riding on my chest with a front carrier and I've determined that she is now too heavy to travel thusly.  Funny story...nearly at the end I realized that I did not have Possums leash.  Like any dog owner I know, I let him off-leash if there are few people about and I'm reasonably sure I can vocally command him.  So we had to turn back only to find the fallen leash about 50 feet from the car.  Ady definitely cannot ride in a front carrier anymore!

Once home, it was time for laundry sorting, something the kids were not excited about doing but helped none-the-less.

And then, b/c Ady was still sleeping and the sun was starting to really work its way into a warming trend, I decided to vacuum the car out.  The Winter is tough on cars here since no one wants to be outside for too long b/c they might freeze.  The girls 'helped' me wash the floor mats.

Then a quick lunch(sorry no photo) and into the car to go take Papa(my Dad) to an appt.  Here's where the photos go blank for a bit.  For example, I did not have my camera handy in Target, while the older 2 were trying on bathing suits, Ady crawled underneath the door  to the changing room and was nearly to the full length mirrors before I caught her, twice.  Nor in Wegmans next, nor to the TV store after that to pick up a cable.  Then back to the Dr. to pick Papa up and drop him off.  Again, no photos, just use your imagination.

On to dinner, grilled chicken w/ roasted squash and asparagus and cous cous.  While prepping that, I realize that Ady has found the stash of dog bones and has taken one out to Possums bed and now I am trying to prevent her from actually eating the bone.  Ahhh, she's a fun girl.

After Dinner, it's on to the craziest week ever known as Splash Week.  The YMCA offers free swim classes all week.  But it is extremely popular and crowded and chaotic.  But I have a hard time passing up free so off we go.

After swim it's showers at home and bedtime.  Just in time to see Ady learn that she can climb up Denver's ladder a bit.(oh great).  And to hear Daddy read a bit from a Nancy Drew mystery book.

I end the night, completely exhausted and wishing I hadn't tried to do so much.  But, still, photographing the day has given me an appreciation for my efforts.  A reassurance that I am not just spinning my wheels.  Truth be told, this last photo only lasted about 20 minutes before I realized that the wash had to be changed over, and if I had any shot of posting this within the next 3 days, it was going to have to be tonight.  So try it if you want.  Photograph your day and let us know how you spent it!

Party Hardy

So the big festivities this week were centered around Wayne turning 40. At work they got him an absolutely delicious cake.

And at home we had a big party, our biggest party ever, in fact.   40 people in our house made quite a crowd!  It was not a surprise party, as I could not possibly come up with a legitimate excuse for getting the house ready, nor would I have been able to do it by myself considering we had stuffy, sick kids throughout the week.

He received many wonderful gifts.  Some useful(Thank you Hilton Spindlers for the Prune Juice, Reader glasses, arthritis medicine, muscle rub...)  along with a few gift cards for fun things.

And some closer to home, cute as a button presents like these two little flowers picked with such love for their Daddy.  And little flags and cards, made by hand.  (I love little 5 yr. old stick people, don't you?)  The one on the card is leaping, as we were informed by Willa.

There was yummy cake, home made of course.  The recipe I used was from the dear lady who runs Smitten Kitchen.  Wonderful, wonderful recipes every time!

The big surprise of the night was a new TV that I bought for Wayne.  It had been on our wish list but nothing he had been expecting.  I can't believe I was able to keep mum about it!  But he loves surprises and he was completely surprised by this.  By noon this morning, it was set up and I think I may have lost him for a while.  We're trying to decide if we should hang it above our fireplace or not.

I was so glad to do it for him too.

It was a fabulous party and Wayne had such a wonderful time.  So many family and friends came.  We really had looked forward to it all week and it was so worth it.  Thank you to everyone who was able to make it and especially to my Mom and Sister-in-law(well almost) who did so much to help pull it off.  Many people brought food  but they far and away helped so much with food and I never would have had time to prep all of it.  My almost sister-in-law miraculously managed to avoid the camera the entire night!  An impressive feat considering that my Aunt, The Hilton Village Photographer, acted as my photographer, thank you A.M.! 

Needless to say we are all pretty slow today.  I think maybe we'll stretch out in front of a movie on our new TV this afternoon and maybe even catch a nap.

Happy Big 4-0!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life, the buttons to my calculator, the doorknob to my door, the ink to my printer, the flame to my candle, the map to my road trip.  

You make everything more fun.  

You make everything better when it's wrong.  

You make this crazy ride make sense.  Happy birthday you darling, darling man.