Sense and Sensibility

I am amazed at how sensible my children are.  Well, how sensible they can be.  For instance, when asked if we should get Mommy a smoothie (I had a wisdom tooth extracted), Orry replied, "We can either go and get one and spend money or we can make one at home for free."  Beaming with pride, Troy turned the van around and headed straight home.  They ended up making a delicious strawberry and blueberry yogurt smoothie for me.  I won't say it was free, but it was already paid for.  Clearly the most sensible thing to do.

Another example.  Annie has been sleeping with the boys.  I wasn't too thrilled about the transition, but it's been working out.  However, on some nights the boys just won't settle down in a timely fashion.  Annie will remove herself from their bed and their room and ask to sleep in our bed.  A girl needs her beauty rest after all.  We don't really mind her sleeping in our bed.  She's pretty easy to move to her crib once she is asleep.

But the example that I'm most proud of has to be this last grocery shopping trip.  Before I explain I should tell you that this weekend was a stranger one.  I was gone for most of it and therefore the weekly shopping wasn't done.  My poor kids and husband had to fend for themselves.  Little pleasure was taken in eating the leftovers and odd canned things in the pantry.  So when I took them shopping I told them that we would buy anything that they wanted.  Anything.  They were so excited about this.  I was sort of regretting that those words came out of my mouth and also a bit bewildered that they did...

The first extravagance was taken in the produce section.  Honey crisp apples, green grapes, strawberries, and clementine oranges.  Not too bad.  If we were going to go buck wild, I was happy that it was happening in such a healthy place.  But alas, we weren't done.  We ended up buying string cheese, hot dogs, pretzel twists, Cheez-its (Junior Scrabble edition), Cocoa Puffs, and "baby" yogurt.  In the end I was pleasantly surprised.  We managed to walk by the Little Debbie section, the cookie section, the ice cream section, and the candy aisle without anyone asking for anything.  This grocery store even has a bulk jelly bean display.  Nothing.  Not a peep.  Needless to say, I was impressed.

My kids haven't been the only ones to impress me lately.  Lately, I've found that Troy has seen the light.  He's had some sense knocked into him.  He...

trimmed his mustache and beard!  I feel like I've got my handsome husband back from a trip in the wilderness.  I'm happy that I don't have to watch him drink coffee with a straw or constantly explain to him that he has crumbs in his beard.  I'm sure that the hot weather will help to keep up the trend and the cooler months will not help my plight, but I'm happy with it for now.  

Sweetness

It's been a mild winter here in Texas.  And plenty of rain has fallen to help relieve some of the drought-like conditions.  So what do you get when you add rain and sunshine in the deep South.  Mosquitoes.  Yuck.

And this is what you get when you add one mosquito and Annie-cakes.

This picture was just too cute not to throw in here...

She got bitten right above her right eye.  She must taste real sweet to those pesky skeeters.  And I know what you're thinking.  You want a Baby Ruth.  And now I've found my segue.

Yesterday we solemnly celebrated Ash Wednesday.  Here's a little information on the holiday, if you will.  In the Old Testament, ashes were sprinkled on the head and over the whole body as a sign of mourning and penance.  Pope Urban II (c. 1035-1099) is credited with recommending that Catholics receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. During the Reformation, most Protestant Churches eliminated the use of ashes.  In recent years, however, many of these Churches have resumed the practice.*

And so, our little family received ashes yesterday.  Some of us for the first time.  During the service, we listened to "The Invitation to a Holy Lent".  You can read it here by clicking the Table of Contents and then clicking Ash Wednesday.  To sum it up, it's an invitation to observe a holy Lent through self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self denial.  You got it, we're giving up something for Lent.

And here's where the Baby Ruth fits right in.  I asked Orry what he might like to give up.  He had a really hard time coming up with something.  Partly because 40 days seems like a lifetime to a child.  Partly because the idea of sacrificing something is hard to wrap your head around at that age.  But never the less, we came to the consensus that we would give up sweets.  Cakes, cookies, and donuts.  But not ice cream.  Oh ho ho ho, no.  Not ice cream...

Annie is giving up painting her fingernails and toenails this Lenten season.  I told her that it's because she loves Jesus.  To which she replied, "Jesus!".  Troy is giving up lunch.  And I'm giving up cake, cookies, donuts, painting my fingernails and toenails, sleeping in past 6am, and movies.  Well, that last one is still up in the air.  Troy protested when I told him that idea because if I don't watch movies, he doesn't watch movies.  I know that one would be really hard for us, but isn't that the point?  Isaac hasn't chosen anything yet.  But he won't be eating any sweets (except ice cream) like the rest of us.

But this Lenten season we are going to try something new.  We are going to give up laziness.  We are going to finish all our projects that we start.  We are going to pick up after ourselves and not leave tasks for "later".  We are going to get through our chores in a timely fashion regardless of how much we don't want to do them.
And by we, I am mainly talking about myself, but I will do my best to see to it that everyone else participates.

Boy, after all this I think I will need a candy bar on top of a cookie on top of a cake, with a donut on the side. But I won't need the ice cream...

*Taken from The Little Black Book: Six Minute Meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent (Cycle B)

The Terrific Twos

Merriam-Webster defines terrific as 1 a : very bad : frightful

That about sums up how I feel about my kids turning 2.  Every time it's been like a light switch.  As soon as they turn two, the tantrums start (or reach a culmination) and the flexing of the "independence muscle" begins.

This weekend, Annie turned two.  Yippee.  Let the good times roll.  Along with my eyes.

Now, terrific is also defined as 2 : extraordinary.

Now that sums up my general experience of being a mother to 3 terrific kids.  The past 5.5 years have been a blast.  We've had a lot of fun and we still have most of our hair (Well, I have all of mine.  Troy on the other hand...).  And we aren't done.  Not by a long shot.  Thinking about how extraordinary it is go through life this way puts a smile on my face.  Sometimes a crooked smile, but a smile nonetheless.

I think Merriam Webster saved the best definition for last.  3 : unusually fine : magnificent.

That perfectly sums up the last two years with my baby girl.  When I had my first boy, I was over the moon.  I didn't really want a girl.  Too much screaming over boy bands and too much drama.  I wanted a boy.  Seemed like they were low maintenance.  Then when we had our second boy, we were thrilled because we wanted brothers.  Life was good and I was still thinking that it wasn't necessary to have a girl.  But regardless of our wants or plans, we were blessed with our third child and it was a girl.  Yippee.  But what I didn't realize was how magnificent it would be to raise a little girl.  She's so much fun and so cute that I almost can't stand it.  Unusually fine, indeed.

So, Happy Birthday, baby cakes.  You bring me more joy than you could possible know.  You are one of the most terrific kiddos and we all love you lots!

Resolutions

I asked Orry what his resolutions would be this year.  He asked what a resolution was.  Trying to keep it simple, I said that it was a goal that you would like to achieve or something that you would like to change about yourself or something that you think you can do better throughout the year.  Orry's resolution for the year is make everyone happy.  A lofty aspiration, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try.  He went on to say that he would like to make kids happy.  Maybe even have a parade that kids would enjoy and throw beads.  Sounds familiar...

I asked Isaac what his resolution was going to be.  I wasn't expecting much, to be honest.  From what I can gather, it has something to do with dinosaurs.  I'm imagining that he would like to visit more dinosaur museums and maybe go on a real dino dig.  Maybe that's just my resolution for him...

I asked Annie what her resolution was.  I got nothing.  Well, that's not true.  I got a goofy grin.

I asked Troy what he resolved to do this year.  He mentioned trying to get his kids' names right every time.  We both have a hard time calling each kid by his or her right name.  Just the other day, Troy called Annie "Telcia".  He would also like to eat less meat and dairy.  And there's more excercise and better communication with his siblings.

I asked myself what my resolutions would be for the year.  Here's what I've got.  I'm going to send out birthday cards and do my best to get them to people on time.  I'm going to make sure that Troy and I celebrate Valentine's Day and our anniversary with something special because we typically tend to not do anything on those days.  The big one for me is that I'm going to try to not buy new clothes this whole year.  Shoes, underwear, and socks are not included, but everything else is fair game.  Thrift stores and consignment, here we come!

I'm sure there will be more as we go through the year trying to be the best we can be.  And that's okay with me.  I'm really excited about having another great year.  Have you made a resolution this year?  Well, go on, let's hear it!

For the Love of Dinosaurs

Our vacation was awesomely wonderful!  But like all good things, it had to come to an end.  So on the 30th of December, we rolled out super early and headed back home.  

About halfway between Twin Falls, ID and Albuquerque, NM there is a little place called Price, UT.  In Price, there is a dinosaur museum.  For us, it seemed to be the perfect place to stop and let the little ones stretch their legs and get out their wiggles.  And it was.   

The kids were in their jammies, but we didn't care.

We got to dig in a cool sand pit.  I found a nickel.

There was archaeology, as well as paleontology.  (Orry said his favorite part was "the killer man".)

And there were some dinosaurs that we had never seen before.  Like the Gastonia (shown above) and the Chasmosaurus (shown below).

We completed the first leg of the return journey and made it to Albuquerque by 11pm that same day.  We stayed up late, playing with the cousins.  In the morning, we played some more before heading out of town.  Now, with the remaining 14 hours to Houston, we decided to take it slower and go the distance over the course of 2 days.  The 31st was a pretty good driving day.  We made it to a hotel in Childress, TX by 9pm and spent the last few hours of the year watching movies and resting up.  We had a great night in a comfortable, quiet room.  Little did we know that we would need that good rest and comfort to help us get through the first 7 hours of our journey home.  In the end, our 7 hour leg took us 12 hours...

When Isaac woke up that morning, he wasn't feeling that hot.  He complained of belly ache and nausea.  Sometimes these symptoms are common with people with UC, so we chalked it up to that.  Once he felt okay enough to travel, we headed out.  It was 9:30am.  Before leaving, we decided to stop in Glen Rose, TX, home of Dinosaur Valley State Park and Dinosaur World.  It would extend our trip by an hour, but we thought it was worth the effort.  But a couple of hours into our trip we started to hit some "road bumps".  

First off, Isaac threw up a couple of times after eating some of those yummy clementine oranges.  So we nixed the oranges and kept on truckin'.  Then Orry had to go.  I mean, he really had to GO.  Now, if you've ever had the pleasure of traveling through Texas, you would know that sometimes rest areas and towns are hard to come by.  So it was with this part of our trip.  We ended up pulling over twice to let him go.  He felt better, so we moved along, but all the stopping was starting to wear on our nerves.  Then it happened.  Annie was crying about having to poop.  And so began Poopapalooza.  Annie couldn't hold it.  A mess was made.  Lucky for us, we were one mile from an exit at this point.  We pulled into a Burger King and I had the honor of taking her to the bathroom to clean her up.  15 minutes later, she's clean and we go out to the car to find out that Orry had to go again.  So we waited, all the time wondering what could have made our kids feel so lousy.  Then it happened again.  That distinct cry from Annie signaling that another mess was made.  Yep, round two.  So as Orry comes out the bathroom, Annie and I go back in.  20 minutes later, we're back on the road, worse for the wear.  

Now that would be fine if that was the end of it.  But it wasn't.  Three miles down the road, Annie had to go again.  Hello, CVS.  Meet Annie.  We ran to the bathroom, this time she was going to make it in time.  Yes.  No.  She didn't have to go.  False alarm?  I don't know.  Sometimes with babies you just don't know.  So we walked around the store for two minutes.  In hindsight it was two minutes too long and there was another accident and more crying.  Now, here's a side note.  When they tell you that bathroom floors are dirty, they are right.  They are dirty because of people like Annie and me.  Poop was everywhere.  It was the worst yet.  It took about 40 minutes to get it all cleaned up and for Annie to sit long enough to rule out there being any more trouble.  I wised up, finally.  I got some diapers (which we didn't need to use, thank goodness)  and we hit the road.  

We had planned on getting to Dinosaur World around 1pm.  We arrived at 4:15.  The park closed at 5.  Dinosaur World is a mile circuit of "life sized" dinosaurs.  We ran.  Literally.

Half of our pictures look like this because of the running.

Was it worth it?

I'll let you be the judge of that.  

But, with 100% certainty, I can say that it's so good to be home.  

Full Circle

Recently I've been pushing shopping carts down aisle after aisle looking for dinosaurs.  Nothing like hectic Christmas shopping to remind you of that Christmas feeling...

While browsing, I came across a keyboard that's shaped like a cat's face.  Annie took to it immediately.  For heaven's sake, it meows the notes!  I immediately realized that I've come full circle.

One Christmas, I received a Casio keyboard.  Man, I loved that thing.  Strange because we had a real piano.  That small, white, noise machine was so awesome!  Well, to me it was.  To my mom, it was just a small, white, noise machine.  There was a demo song programmed on the keyboard.  You can listen to it here (at the 0:35 mark).  I loved jammin' to that song.  Twenty something years later, my mom can still hum that song.  Perfectly.  Poor Mom.

While mulling over the idea of buying such a wretchedly awesome thing, a fellow shopper commented on how annoying toys with batteries were for the parents.  I agreed.  Then she proceeded to say something to the effect of "Well, I had to put up with it.  Now it's their turn."  Yep.  Full circle.

Another full circle moment: Orry brought home the note announcing the arrival of Santa's Gift Shop at his school.  Yep.  I remember picking out one mallard shaped wooden box for my dad.  Part of the reason I remember it so well is because he still has it.  (This should be the part where I apologize to my parents and simultaneously thank them for all they put with.)  So I shelled out some bucks for Orry to go and have that experience that I so dearly remember.  I told him to only get a gift for Isaac and Annie.  He came back with a 2" walking baseball, a baby rattle, and a gift for himself.  Oh, pay back is a...

But it's the Christmas season, after all.  A time of giving.  A time to celebrate and revel in the happiness of children.  And a time to really appreciate all that our parents did for us.  Nothing like paying your dues to get you into that Christmas spirit...

Hallelujah!

My baby girl is growing up.

She's growing up despite how much I try to get her to grow down.

She can put on her shoes (and yours if you're not looking) all by herself.

She can run really fast (into the street if you're not looking).

And now she can use the potty!

I have no potty training horror stories to tell this time around.  No poop trail starting upstairs and ending downstairs.  But we are fairly new at this.  Maybe I'll spare you the details of our adventures, if there are any "adventures" in the future.  

Troy finally convinced me to start in on the training.  We had 2 or 3 days of cleaning up puddles, but here we are, 2 days with no accidents and counting.  I'm really amazed at how easy it's been with her.  But then again, she's got two brothers to look up to.  And she really digs their under-roos.  I just don't know if Hello Kitty can compete with Lightning McQueen.  

So here's to you, my big little girl!  (Just don't flush a whole roll of toilet paper down toilet when I'm not looking)

The Line Up

We had a Luigi (minus the mustache because a certain little boy complained to the point of tears about how itchy the glue was on his face).

Look at that shiner.

Our resident Pterodactyl was present.

And bringing up the rear were the Bees.

There was Baby Bee.

And Momma Bee and the Beekeeper.

Can you see our grumbly bee?

We had a great Halloween.  Troy took all the kiddos door to door while I made dinner and handed out candy.  We finally had to turn out the lights since we ran out of candy and had to put the kids to bed.  October was a lot of fun, but alas, on to November!

Black and Blue, and Bitten, Too...

Two of my three kids look a little monstrous on this Halloween day.  They are so timely...  It's just too bad that their costumes are already done. 

Otherwise, Orry could go as a boxer.

On Friday, Orry was running during recess and fell, face first, on the blacktop.  I got the dreaded call from the school nurse, who explained what had happened and told me that she gave him an ice pack.  I didn't have to go and get him, but I was warned that his face was already bruised and swollen.  

And Annie could go as a mild version of Sloth from The Goonies.

Our last significant rainfall here in Houston was on Oct. 9th.  And with that rainfall came the hatching of flood water mosquitoes.  Annie must be very sweet because she surely got bitten about 4 or 5 times all across her forehead.  One of the bites happens to be on her eyebrow.  She has a bad reaction to mosquito bites and swells a lot.  I think I'll have to douse her in bug repellent before we go out tonight.

Luckily, Isaac is still looking like Isaac.

This is about as close as he will get to looking like a monster this Halloween.  

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!  Be safe and be sure to brush and floss before going to bed.  And beware of large mosquitoes and menacing blacktop while you're out there!

Mr. Sandman Bring Me a Dream

Oh, babies.  So wonderful.  So adorable.  So lovable.  What angels they are.

When they are sleeping...

So peaceful.

So quiet.

Angels.

But getting them to sleep.  Oh oh oh oh oh...  That's when the wings come off and the golden halos get tossed into the trash.  They can be downright monsters when it comes to bedtime (or even naptime).  

In this household, we've had our fair share of struggles with bedtime.  I'm sure every parent living and deceased has had trouble at some point with getting their sweet little angel to just close their eyes and go the *bleep* to sleep.  Our troubles with bedtime seem to come and go.  

Annie is our little angel when it comes to sleep.  It took well over a year to get to where she is now.  I did the bad thing of nursing her to get her to sleep.  And we did the co-sleeping thing for way too long.  Finally we wised up and made the transition to having her sleep in her crib.  Now, when it's bedtime, you merely lay her down on her pillow, make sure she has her blankie, cover her with a nice fuzzy blanket, place a few of her "friends" around her, then turn out the light and shut the door.  Easy as pie.  For now...

Orry has gone through many a phase.  He co-slept as well, but not for nearly as long.  He transitioned to his own bed pretty early on.  While the bed was okay for a while, he regressed.  Then there was a time where he preferred his crib.  That didn't last that long.  Then there was sleeping with his brother, which went well for a while.  Isaac also has gone through different sleeping phases.  Co-sleeping with Mommy and Daddy.  Co-sleeping with Brother.  No crib sleeping, though, since there aren't many cribs in Korea.  Isaac's phases are better defined by how he's put to sleep.  There were times where you could just put him in bed and say goodnight and he would stay and go to sleep.  Then there were those times where he wanted to rub your eyebrows until he fell asleep (or until you had no more eyebrows, whichever came first).

Currently, the boys are having a hard time falling asleep on their own.  They want the stories.  So we read the stories.  Then they want a last sip of water.  So they get their last sip of water.  You turn the lights out and leave.  Isaac comes out of the room about 5, 6, 7, 10 times before you finally just go in there and lie down with him.  When they finally get you in there, lying down with them, they ask for a story.  No story?  How about a song?  Maybe There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly?  Or Puff the Magic Dragon?  Now tickle our backs.  Please.  Scratch our backs.  Please.  And before you know it, we are all sleeping.  

I don't know about you, but when I'm dead tired and I fall asleep back there around 9pm, I don't feel like getting back up to finish cleaning the kitchen or cleaning the living room.  Finish the laundry?  Psh, yeah right.  My night is over.  But it's starting to get out of hand.  I'm really far behind on my laundry.  I'm even further behind on talking to my husband.  Things have to change.

So tonight we put our feet down.  Stories?  Yes.  Prayers?  Double yes.  Songs?  Okay, yes, but I'm sitting up to sing them to you and then I'm outta here.  There was pleading and lots of tears, but we had a talk.  I told them that I had to do my work, but that more importantly, I had to spend time with Daddy.  They tried to  negotiate, but I held my ground.  It was a better night than most, I have to say.  Do we have a long way to go?  Quite possibly.

Hopefully we'll get this under control. Then we can work on getting them, and by them I mean Isaac, to stay in their beds all night long.  Here's to hoping.  

Storytellers

This week Annie and I tried something that we have never tried before.  Story time at the local public library.

Scrunch face!

We arrived a little late but didn't miss out on the fun.  There were plenty of parents there and lots of toddlers.  They were reading stories about dogs.  Dancing and singing seemed to be on the docket more than actual stories and the kids were encouraged to get up and move their bodies.  Get out their wiggles, if you will.

Annie wasn't too keen on letting her guard down in front of all those people.  She eventually moved off of my lap and onto the floor, but no singing or clapping happened.  She's a shy girl.

After reading our stories about dogs and singing songs about smashed bananas, we checked out our own books.  Of course we got the necessary non-fiction books about dinosaurs, but we also found some good ones about monsters, dogs, cats, and airplanes.

I love reading stories to my kids, but I'm no storyteller.  To me, a storyteller is someone who can tell you a story without a book and with so much emotion and detail that you feel as if you were there in the story all along.  I can't even remember how the Three Billy Goats Gruff ends.  Heck, I can't even get the punchlines to jokes right...

But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try.  And it doesn't mean that I shouldn't encourage my kids to do their best to tell their own stories.

So that is what I will work on for next time (or just some time in the future).  I'll try to have Orry tell you the story about his "black eye".

I doubt Annie is going to be telling too many stories just yet, but maybe I can challenge Orry to tell this story from Annie's point of view.

And Isaac...well...

Maybe we'll just have to settle for stories from Orry...

Chewing the Fat

At the dentist's office, not the GI's office

As many of you already know, Isaac was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis back in October of 2010.  Currently is doing well and we just had a follow up appointment on Friday to check on his progress after he came down off the steroids.  He's having healthy bowel movements and is not complaining about any pain.  If you saw him you would think he's a normal three year old living a happy life.

But if you looked at his chart, you would notice something a little off-putting.  He hasn't gained any weight for almost a year now.  He hasn't lost any weight either, so that's good.  He's just not getting over the 29 pound mark.  So now that we have his disease under control, it's time to address the issue of his weight.  We've been instructed to put him on a high calorie diet.

Some things we are going to do are put him back on whole cow's milk instead of almond milk which is naturally low in calories, start to mix a little bit of olive oil into his meals, feed him meat, give him more peanut butter and cheese, and start supplementing with Pediasure or Carnation Instant Breakfast.

As an adult it is strange to think of a diet with few restrictions.  Fat is the best way to boost calories.  It's a good way to get the most calories out of the least amount of food.  As an adult who tries to make good, healthy eating decisions for my family with the hope of raising them with good food habits, I balk at the idea of a high fat diet.  But alas, it is what we are going to try to help Isaac gain some weight.

Annie also could use some extra poundage.  She just had her 18 month check up.  She's at the top of the curve in height, coming in at over 32 inches tall.  But she is at the very bottom of the curve for weight, only weighing 20 pounds.  I feel that some of that is genetics.  I was pretty lanky as a child, also staying close to the bottom of the growth curve as far as my weight was concerned (my head circumference was another story).

So here's where I need your help.  I need some good snack ideas!  Here is one that I found on our travels in Austin.  Apple smiles.  We don't like red apples so we used green and we really like chocolate peanut butter so we called ours "monster smiles".  But I need more ideas for good, healthy-fat filled snacks (does that make sense).  I'm incredibly opposed to buying store bought snacks like Little Debbies.  I just don't like all the artificial ingredients added in there.  But maybe you know of some store bought snacks that are natural, healthy, and high in calories and would save me some time.  Otherwise I might have to make these more often:

Mini cake donuts dipped in dark chocolate with sprinkles

One of the challenges I will face is making sure that the kids get the calories, but that the grown-ups do not.  So I think snacks are a great way to help boost the calories of some but not others.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks ahead of time for your ideas!!

Repurpose!

Repurposing has got to be hands down my favorite of the three R's.  Wait, repurposing isn't actually one of the three R's.  Let's see.  There's reducing, reusing, and recycling.  Well, it should be one of them.  There should be four R's.

There are two dish towels inside each hot pad.

I can see how you could lump repurposing into the reuse category.  After all, when you repurpose something, you are reusing some or all of its parts.  But it's more than just reusing your shopping bags or reusing your plastic containers, it's finding a different purpose for your stuff.  My kiddos old cloth diapers have found new purpose as cleaning rags.  My old kitchen towels have found new purpose as hot pads.

I love the challenge of repurposing.  I asked Orry what he thought one of Daddy's old work shirts should become.  In my mind I imagined it would make a cute stuffed bunny, but he said it should make a scarecrow.  Good idea.  We'll have to implement that plan this fall if our pumpkins make it that long.

Pass me a cloth napkin! 

The other thing I love about repurposing is being able to keep using things that you really love.  I have a top that I got in Korea and I love it for that reason alone.  The bottom edge started to fray and instead of just boxing it up and looking at it longingly for the rest of my life, I repurposed it into a dress for Annie.  It's far from the cutest dress I've ever seen, but its sentimental value sure gives it a boost.

I am far from being the expert at repurposing.  Most times I just donate the things I don't want or don't have a use for anymore.  But I want to challenge myself everyday to think of new ways to use old things.  I also want to challenge my kids to do the same.  So let's get our creative juices flowing!  Leave some comments with ideas for ways to repurpose or ask for some inspiring ideas for something you have lying around.

Here are some links I found to help us get started:

• http://www.craftynest.com/category/repurposing/

• http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/02/waste-not-want-not/

• http://trash2treasure.wordpress.com/category/repurposing-ideas/

• http://simpleorganic.net/refashion-repurposing-t-shirts-and-more/

Let's have fun creating a cleaner world!

Entertaining Annie

Tonight and tomorrow morning, it's just us girls.  Troy has taken the boys on a camping trip.  I think his exact reason for it being a boys only trip had something to do with his boys learning not to be scared of bugs and nature and stuff.  I'm sure we'll all hear about it tomorrow.

So for 20 hours it's just Annie and me.  Sweet bliss.

Tangled

What I've come to realize is that I don't know what to do with just Annie!  We danced and we rolled around on the floor.  We picked up some toys and had some dinner.  She got a bath and some clean pajamas.  And then I was really at a loss about what to do with her for the next hour and a half before her bedtime. 

You see, the boys are the ones that entertain her, for the most part.  She is one of the gang.  Wherever they go, she goes.  Whatever trouble the boys get caught doing, her hands are usually just as red.    Three peas in a pod.  And it's easy that way.

After Annie went to bed, I did the cleaning.  I worked on my sewing and crafting.  I got my fix of late night TV.  And tomorrow I will be ready to take on the challenge of what to do with my littlest little.

Annie without the curls