Pictures and a hair cut

It's already late and I have to take care of a few things for Claire for school tomorrow, so I'll have to make this short. Yesterday evening, while hubby was at Scouts, the kids and I finished painting the old swing set a neighbor gave us. It looks a ton better. While we were out, we got very sweaty and sticky. William is a particularly sweaty person, so his long hair is always wet when we go outside. So I decided to just cut his hair myself last night and save the $10 having it professionally cut. I put William on the deck and quickly cut his hair. By the end, he was pretty unhappy about having hair stuck to his sweaty body and started crying while trying to get the hair off. So I stripped him down to his diaper and got out the hose. While he ran around the back yard laughing, I sprayed him from head to toe. I'm sure that if anyone drove by at that point, they would think that I'm this really mean mother, squirting my young child like that, but he loved it. Claire joined in a few minutes later and got fairly wet. Due to the nasty mosquitoes coming out, I quickly took the kids inside and William starts telling me he's cold. I went to get him dressed only to realize that he had pollen from the grass and hair still all over him. So I put him in the bath tub, turned on the warm water and he then proceeded to scream and cry that he was cold. I found this ironic - the ice cold hose water was great fun, but the warm bath water made him cold and miserable. I guess I can never win.


These pictures are of William (before the haircut) lounging, sleeping, and studying Dad's "National Geographic". The last picture is of William's Lego creation. Notice the symmetry and organization - he left it on the couch just like that.

A couple of thoughts

I thought of a few funny things that I wanted to write about; they happened yesterday. Poor William is having a very hard time with his business down under. For some reason, he gets constipated for a couple of days and then in one day, we have an explosion. Now I'm sure you're wondering at this point, "Why is the world is she writing this?" and I promise I have point. So last night while he was crying and working hard, I took off his diaper to give him some more room to work. I was about to put him and Claire in the bath, so they were both naked at this point. I asked Ryan to go find the baby potty since William won't sit on the big toilet and see if that helps him go. So while Ryan is rummaging around the attic for the little potty, I have a crisis on my hands. William runs off to his room and pees on the floor and while I'm trying to get him back in the bathroom where there is at least linoleum and not carpet, he climbs on his bed and pees again - this time emptying his bladder on his down comforter, two blankets, and pillow. All the while, he's crying because his bum hurts, Claire is dancing around naked in the bathtub and I'm trying desperately to control the urine situation. I'm also trying to get a diaper to put it back on William since Ryan is taking his sweet time in the attic, completely oblivious to the chaos in the house. While I'm taking sheets off of the bed to keep it from soaking to the mattress, William is now in the living room using the couch as support as he tries, to once again, poop. I find him crying then rush him back to the bathroom, pooping as he runs. I tell naked Claire to go find Dad, and put William back on the big potty. Now mind you, this all happened in less than a minute. I finally chase Ryan down, grab the potty, put William on it and success!! Only one carpet spot, two blankets, a pillow and comforter later, and we are done. William is sweaty with a tear-streaked face, I am flustered and upset, naked Claire is still happily dancing around the empty bathtub, and Ryan asks, "what happened down here"? So with both kids in the tub, the poo flushed down the big toilet and the pee cleaned up, I can now bathe a screaming William (I wouldn't let him take his blanket in the bathtub).

I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was not fun. The other funny thing that was really not funny at the time involved our alarm clock. A student in Ryan's lab graduated and left this fancy alarm clock in his cubicle for anyone to take. So Ryan took it because it had a radio on it and our current alarm clock didn't. This alarm clock has two alarms, a radio and some other buttons that we don't know what they do. So last night, we climb in bed around midnight, exhausted, and just as we both fall asleep, the alarm goes off. NO!!!! Ryan turns it off, and we go back to sleep. A few minutes later, after we had both fallen asleep, it goes off again! By this point I'm getting angry and am about to pull the plug and throw it out the back door. Ryan turns on the lamp and starts punching all of the buttons, trying to reset it. I lay there with my eyes squinted shut, waiting for the clicking sound of the buttons to stop. Notice that I didn't restart it myself - I think Ryan instinctively knew that this new alarm clock was his idea and that if I touched it, it would end up in the backyard or trash. So he fixed it and we apprehensively went back to sleep.

When I think about it, these two events are really quite boring and these types of things happen all of the time, but when you think back about your everyday life over the past years, it's hard to remember what is was you did all day. I remember big events and a few other things, but the everyday happenings and details are lost in my memory. That's why I like this blog - it's a chance to write about these little events that I know I will forget in a year from now (or sooner). Just a thought.

September

My husband and I have discovered something: September is the "catch-all" month. Fall is my favorite season; I love the changing of the leaves, the cooler weather, the fall decorations, the start of school, etc. I love making my home warm and cozy on those cool nights. I love baking pumpkin bread and other delicious treats that makes my home smell like cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. I also love to go to small towns during their fall festivals and browse through all of the homemade items, candles, ornaments, etc. I love pulling out the sweaters and warm flannel sheets. For many, many reasons, I love this upcoming season.

However, back to my original discovery of September being the month for everything. Because of all of the holidays in the upcoming months, everyone and every organization wants to have all of their activities, orientations, meetings, camp-outs, etc. all in the one month of September. Ryan and I had plans to go to a couple of historic towns nearby to visit during their fall festivals. We also had plans to go to the Botanical Garden to enjoy the cooler weather as we browse the late blooms. It was also when we wanted to go on a one night camp-out. We had all of these fabulous plans. But then life happens. So now we have something almost every weekend (except for when my in-laws come in a few weeks, it will be our excuse to get out of all of these obligations for a week) that will keep us from enjoying our family outings and the fall season. Of course there are some activities I am looking forward to (all of my ladies' nights, book group, etc). But now that the husband is the Scoutmaster for our ward, it is taking over all of our free nights and weekends. Oh well, maybe I should just accept the fact that September will ALWAYS be busy; maybe there will be some time in October to enjoy the season as a family.

In the end, I'm ready for fall and all of it's wonderful events and changes.

New Piano and Groundhogs Part Two

The big day has come! Our piano arrived safe and sound this morning; we have been playing it non-stop. It is beautiful and we are ecstatic that it's here! This evening for Family Home Evening, we just sang Primary songs and had a short lesson on 'prayer'. Claire was in an ornery mood so when Ryan asked her if she thinks Heavenly Father hears our prayers, she said "No, he doesn't hear them. He's never given me anything I've asked for." She wasn't bitter or anything, she just said it matter-of-factly. It was kind of funny, but of course we had to correct her and remind her of things that Heavenly Father has done for our family. Then we sang a lot of songs and Ryan and I played some piano/clarinet duets. It has been so wonderful to have a piano in my home for the first time since I left home almost 10 years ago. And it doesn't hurt that it is a fabulous piano with a beautiful touch and tone. We are very happy with our purchase.

They drove the truck right up to our front door through our yard - yes, we gave them permission to.

The ramp from the truck to our door.
Notice the hideous linoleum - it will be removed when we replace the carpet.

Man that thing looks heavy, I'm just glad I'm not moving it!

So happy! The first song on the new piano!

A little music to end the day by Ryan.

I did take a break this afternoon from playing while I went to Wal-Mart, The Home Depot and Old Time Pottery on an important mission. The name of the mission is "Operation: Jerry Groundhog". A groundhog has moved in under our deck and is reeking havoc on our garden. It has eaten every ripe tomato, eaten and destroyed our pumpkin vine roots so that the vines are dying, eaten all of our parsley and eaten all of the flowers off of our annuals in the front flower bed. Needless to say, we are not happy with our new neighbor. So Ryan has done a little research in how to get rid of a groundhog - legally. This morning we tried to drown it out by pumping it's burrow full of water, but I don't know if it was in there and nothing happened except that our garden got very muddy. So I was ready to pull out the big guns (metaphorically speaking of course, the real guns might come out later if this doesn't work though). My ammo included multiple rags doused in ammonia (I about knocked myself out doing this) thrown under the deck and around the garden, an ugly wind ornament that is supposed to scare them away (they don't like moving things), lots of Epsom salt dumped everywhere and then the real good stuff was a $15 bottle of Critter Ridder sprinkled everywhere. The Critter Ridder is heavy duty black pepper and pepper oil and all sort of nasty pepper stuff.

I had to go to three stores to find everything though. Seeing as how Christmas is almost here (are you kidding me?) all of the summer/garden stuff is gone and Halloween, Thanksgiving and yes, Christmas stuff is everywhere. Old Time Pottery is usually full of tacky lawn ornaments, but it has all been replaced with giant nutcrackers, tacky tree ornaments and badly painted nick knacks. So I had to settle for the only wind-blown lawn thing they had - an ugly tractor wind spinner. After I put it in the garden, Ryan ripped off the tractor and gave it to William. I wonder what Ryan would have done if I had bought that giant plastic frog? So we will see what becomes of Jerry the groundhog. Curse all of this wildlife!! Who knew it could be so annoying? Squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, deer; what's next? We will keep you posted.

The lovely tractor wind-spinner (before Ryan dismantled it)

Groudhogs and Stuff

My crazy beetles

Well, I promised that I would post some pictures of Claire's room when I was finished painting. So I am going to include some of those and some of my kids being crazy beetles. I finally finished putting the baseboards back in Claire's room and moving her furniture in at about 11pm last night. Her room looks great and could be a room from a new house - not a 40-year-old one. I think I'm going to take a break before I tackle the next room though; I need a break and so do my arms.

Sanding the baseboards

Priming

The dingy white walls

So Ryan and I had an appointment today to look at pianos. A big store in Missouri is closing it's business Monday and we went to see if we could find a good deal. We did find a great deal, bought one, and it will be here Monday. We are very excited - one of the reasons we bought a house was so that we could have a piano. Most apartments in St. Louis don't allow musical instruments due to noise issues with old buildings.

As we were pulling into our driveway, we see a groundhog run into our garden and under our deck, where it apparently has its burrow. So that would explain all of the half-eaten tomatoes and the dying pumpkin vines. We did have one ripe tomato this morning that had not be eaten by bugs or the groundhog, but Ryan stepped on it where Claire had dropped it in the grass after begging to hold it while Ryan and I investigated the rest of the tomatoes. At this rate, we'll never get a veggie out of this garden.

The finished room

Painting Woes

I have been absent in the virtual world for the past several days. So this morning, I have decided to catch up on everyone. So I read my round of blogs and checked my email. Let me just say that I have some very talented and fun blog friends. I hope my posts are as interesting to read as theirs. My school girl is now at school, and my little baby is having his breakfast. My husband is still asleep (he was up until after midnight returning an email to a professor) and I am taking a short breather (literally) before heading back into the stinking dungeon (Claire's half-way painted bedroom).

We bought our home in March and moved in in April. The home was a foreclosure, so it needed some loving and attention. Thankfully, it wasn't trashed, as some foreclosures are - but it required a lot of work to get livable. Since the summer began, I have been focusing much of my home improvement efforts on the yard. I have used this as an excuse not to paint and update the interior. So Monday I have the bright idea that I am going to paint Claire's room. Her room has by far the grossest paint job. I don't think it has been painted in the 40 years or so this house has been standing. So I happily went about removing the yucky, brown trim and buying a lot of paint and paint supplies. I have managed to sand and prime the trim, prime the bedroom/closet/ceiling and paint half of it. Unfortunately, I am almost out of paint and I still have more than half the room to paint. It would be nice if I knew what I were doing.

All of poor Claire's belonging are in the living room and she has had to sleep in William's bed the past two night. So my goal today is to finish painting, paint the baseboards, replace the baseboards and put her room back together. Seeing as how it's almost 9am - I had better get to work. I have pictures, but I'll post them later.

First Day of School

I woke up this morning at 7am to the sound of my alarm clock. The bus was to come at 7:50, so I would have plenty of time to get Claire dressed, fed and ready for her first day. As soon as I sat up in bed, Claire came bounding in, already dresses and ready to go. After breakfast, fixing her hair, some cartoons and a morning family prayer, she was ready to go. She went outside at 7:45 to wait in our back yard, where the bus would come. Claire was angry when the bus didn't come right away. I had tried to tell her that we were early, the bus would probably be a little late since it's the first day and to be patient, but it all fell on deaf ears. We kept having to tell her to stand away from the road since there were cars driving by with people on their way to work. We were joined by our neighbors, a 2nd grader and her Dad. The bus was old news to them, but I had my camera out, taking pictures. After all, the first child's first day of Kindergarten only happens once. So the bus came and went, no tears were shed, and everyone was happy! The only one distraught was William because he wanted to get on the "bussy" too.

While Claire was gone (it was a short day, only two hours of school), William either followed me around or wanted to be held. I think he's going to be lonely without his pal, Claire. We went to water the garden while we waited for Claire to arrive and William got a hold of the hose when I went to turn it off. He began washing his toy cars and soaked himself. He also managed to soak my shorts. When the bus pulled up to our driveway, William started calling out "Quare! Quare!" (how he pronounces "Claire") very excitedly. He was glad to have her home. She was happy and had lots to tell me. We looked at the papers she brought home; the first of many, I'm sure. Then she put on her swimsuit and joined William out on the deck for some water fun. William chased Claire around the deck, hosing her completely down. He got me too while trying to take pictures. Some of the pictures I'm including were taken from the safety of the dining room.



We then had lunch, Claire and I made chocolate chip cookies, we ate a lot of cookies and then took a short nap on the couch while watching SpongeBob. Dinner was next (chicken, pasta salad, green beans, and leftover biscuits); it was moderately successful. Then came some playtime, bath time, and bed time. It was a fun and busy day. I'm so glad that we live in a place that has a good school for my little girl. School can be so scary and awful sometimes. I feel bad I have to put her through it, but it's necessary and it has its good points. Those first few years were a lot of fun. I hope she always enjoys learning, even when school gets stressful down the road.

Moving Day

My husband Ryan came home to a vanity/desk set in the living room, a mattress in the hallway and closet doors in the garage. His comment was "Whoa. Well the bedrooms look nice." I have been busy doing a little rearranging. I removed my old vanity that Claire never used from her tiny bedroom (which is now in the living room) giving her twice as much floor space. Then I had the bright idea to move the dresser that Claire and William share into William's closet to give him more floor space for his new train table. Well, I got the dresser in the closet, but with the doors, I couldn't get the drawers in, let alone open them. So that wouldn't work, but it was so nice in there. Of course I did the next logical thing, I took the doors down. They were those silly doors that slide so that you can only access half of the closet at a time. Taking them down seemed easy enough until I tried to do it. I was sitting on the dresser, now in the closet, with a screw driver in hand trying to remove screws holding the door up that I think haven't been removed in the past two decades. At this point, I smell something burning. A few of my stray frizzy hairs are frying on the hot light bulb directly over my head. So after dropping several screws, burning a few hairs, saying a few choice words under my breath, getting my flip flops smashed and stuck under the doors, ripping off some of the wood veneer of the door trying to remove my smashed flip flops and nearly killing William with a rouge dresser drawer, I got the doors off. Then there was trying to get the doors into the garage (I only hit a few walls and the wood floor once).So now I have to figure out what to do with the extra furniture. That's a job for tomorrow.

Tonight we had baked potato soup with baking powder biscuits. Claire helped peel the carrots, turn on the microwave to cook the bacon, chop the onions (in the food processor) and she made the biscuits all by herself (I measured of course). They turned out beautiful and the soup was delicious. I love good home cooking; there's nothing better. It was great to see Claire so proud of her biscuits and table setting. We made a big mess in the kitchen, but it was worth it to have her help.

Tomorrow is Claire's first day of kindergarten. She is going to ride the bus for the first time. I'll post a blog on it tomorrow along with pictures. Speaking of pictures, here are some now.

These are all from our day at the Botanical Garden

A few thoughts

Ryan and the kids are gone taking Kirsten to the airport. It has been fun having her here, but I know she's ready to get back to her life in Oregon and I'm ready for the kids to sleep in separate rooms again. William has been sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor of his room while Claire slept in his bed. She was a little too big for the little mattress. So William kept rolling off of the mattress and one night, I found him whimpering from under his train table. He woke up underneath it and didn't know where he was. So he ended up spending most of last night in our bed, which means that Ryan slept on his side of the bed, William slept on my side, and I was smashed in the middle, trying to figure out which pillow to put my head on. Needless to say, I was up early and out of that bed this morning.

I have not been true to my writing the past few days because of having company over. We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden yesterday, after going to see the Cahokia Mounds (ancient mounds built by indigenous people of the Mississippi plains) yesterday. It was so hot outside, that we didn't stay at the mounds for long. The gardens were beautiful and very inspiring. We spent most of the time in the Children's Garden at the water-play area. After getting very wet, we saw a few more things and then came home. The gardens are our family's favorite place to go. Today, I mowed the lawn and did laundry while Kirsten packed, Ryan worked and the kids watched way too many cartoons. I haven't uploaded any of the most recent pictures, so I'll include a few of everyday life from last week. I just looked at the temperature outside and it's 103 degrees, and then tack on the NASTY humidity. No wonder I about passed out trying to mow the lawn this morning!!

William taking a morning bath

All clean and ready for some clothes

Taking a nap in Mom's arms after a long day of playing hard

Dancing to the SpongeBob Squarepants song, they have a silly dance they do

A fun-filled day

Saturday was a lot of fun; we stayed very busy. Our day began with some major gardening and then onto some squirrel chasing. We have a bird feeder that two squirrels are always trying to eat out of. When we can, we chase them away, which usually works for an hour or two. Well on this particular morning, it was a little more exciting. The squirrel ran to the neighboring tree where we threw balls at it and chased it into a hole in the side of the trunk. At that point, Ryan spayed water in the hole until the squirrel was flushed out. The poor thing was terrified and looked like a drowned rat. It ran across the street to the tree it lived in. We thought surely it won't come back, but a few hours later, it was dry and it was hungry. Here is a picture of the squirrel fighting team.

We then played in the pool for a while. William was our little dare-devil.

The kids attacking me.After the pool, we went to Union Station in downtown St. Louis where we had dinner.

Kirsten and Claire jumped on the jumpee-thing and had a great time. William tried and was happy running around the trampoline until they put the harness on. Then he started screaming, did a front flip, and ended up screaming on his face. It was pretty funny.

Kirsten doing a flip.

ClaireA little candy shopping.


Claire feeding the fish.

We came home happy and tired.