One Year

Harv’s in the kitchen making mu shu pork.  I am happy.  Yesterday he went to the Chinese market and got some fresh fish.  The really fresh ones…the ones they throw on the floor to kill them.  The fish was fabulous, but I can’t take the throwing.  I also had to leave the kitchen last night when Ryan started asking to suck on the fish eyeballs.  As I walked down the hall I could hear Harvey telling him, “Don’t swallow them.  Just suck on them.”  I was born in Missouri folks.  I don’t do eyeballs.  It’s a wonder that I could even eat the fish after that.

So it’s been one whole year since we officially started waiting for our baby girl.  Every day I have watched that little ticker on my sidebar add a day.  It feels longer than a year.  I guess it is really since we started her paperwork in May of ‘10.  The reality of missing her first birthday is sinking in.  Ryan wants to have a party for her.  I have to think about what would be fun and how we can capture some kind of celebration to share with her without going over the top.  Any ideas?

Erik’s new thing is games.  All morning as we were getting ready for school he kept asking to play a game with me.  When we got home we played Memory for the first time.  He loved it and seemed to catch on pretty quickly.  Things got a little rough when I matched the cute frogs and started to put them in my pile.  I clearly explained the rules and that they were mine.  It was as if I had instantly become my Aunt Sue, who in her lifetime, never allowed any child, at any time, at any game, at any age, no matter the tears, win a game.  Despite the tears, I held my ground (and my frogs) and the game continued.  He won anyway.

   This is what our floor looks like most days.

 

 

 

 

 

  Erik was not happy that I had not brought a picnic lunch for the park after soccer yesterday so we had a picnic in the living room.

   Ryan’s favorite book this year is his cursive handbook.  It’s always reassuring to know he is really mine!

 

The Earth

(as if you couldn’t tell)

 

‘Crust’, ‘Mantle’, and ‘Core’

 

We got started on our volcano today…of course there will be rocks shooting out etc…

Close the Lid!!

Did you hear about that slacker mother who didn’t get around to feeding her children frozen fish sticks until nearly 8pm?  She seemed to feel kind of bad about that until she had to fish her scissors out of the clean toilet.  She was way over it once she had to then retrieve a motorcycle helmet out of yet another used toilet.  Now she has to go boil planet Earth.  Saving grace is that the Little Couple is back on tonight! 

Guess Who’s Talking…

“Why did you run into the wall?”

“I DON’T want that around his neck!”

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Whhhhhhhhhhy?”

“I’m not talking to you ever again…can you help me?”

“Let’s play baseball.  You be Flannery and I’ll be Bruce Boche.”

“Let’s go in the grass and jump on each other because we’re happy!”

“It was my idea…BUT Erik broke it!”

“Get your foot out of your mouth!”

“Is that food?  Get it OUT of your mouth!”

“We DON’T eat Legos!”

“Why is there candy in your hair?”

“Get that out of your mouth!  We don’t eat our shoes!”

“You’re the best gril EVER!”

“Dear God, thank for the food, and my scooter, and Legos, and playing in the dirt.  Amen.”

It’s Time for Science

    We are finally settling into a routine.  We started science with our new book last week.  I may finally learn something about chemistry.  I’ve had a few horrible flashbacks of my days in high school chemistry class.  And by days, I mean days because I didn’t make it a full month to actually be able to say “my month in chemistry class.”  When I shared my traumatic failure Harvey comforted me by sharing how he was the only one in his class to get 100% on the final in his high school honors chemistry class.  So Ryan and I are off together hoping at least one of us can learn the difference between atoms and molecules and all that other stuff in chemistry.

Making molecules

(you put atoms together to make molecules!!)

 

I’m telling you, if my chemistry teacher had brought in a bag or two of marshmallows things could have been different. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to some Mentos and soda!

A Day at the Park

Okay, so it was just an hour, but we had fun nonetheless.

  life on the edge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My great buy at the garage sale!

(the chandelier is still available…)

Getting Groovy

 So yesterday was a start in the right direction.  After we dropped off Ryan at school I decided to go home through the side streets rather than the freeway.  As soon as I hit the main road I realized what a bad idea that was.  Apparently other drivers also use this main road during rush hour.  We were sitting through green lights because not enough cars could get through the light ahead.  I decided I’d outsmart all of the other drivers and take side streets running parallel until we got to where I wanted to get on the freeway.  I ended up at the end of a dead end street.  Fortunately, there was a great little park I didn’t know.  We decided to play while everyone else headed off to work.  This was how I was hoping to spend mornings with just Erik.  We had a grand time.  After we got home we headed to soccer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 SCORE!

 

  Then we found a shady spot and had lunch…a very fun way to spend our morning. 

 

 

 

 

I just might be getting my groove back…

Fall Ball

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stella Has Not Found Her Groove!

  Yesterday was our garage sale.  It was fun, but completely exhausted me.  We got up at 6am to set everything up.  We sold all of the big items and actually sold quite a bit of everything else.  After my aunt and uncle and our aunties left, Ryan and I stayed out determined to sell the patio set and something else.  A neighbor came by and bought the laundry cart.  We added the $3 to our stash and started to clean up.  By then I realized I had sunscreened the boys but not myself.  On a positive note I was able to show the boys exactly why I bother them with sunscreen by my lobster neck.  Bummer!  As we were packing up some neighbor boys came back for lemonade (fourth time) and brought another neighbor and his mom.  It was great because she took Ryan to her house for awhile to play.  I went to get him later and got a tour of her brand new basement.  Oh how I want a basement!  When I got back I noticed the table was gone.  I thought someone had stolen it.  (In retrospect that clearly wasn’t going to happen.)  I went in and a neighbor wanted only the table.  Harv talked him into taking the chairs anyway and we added a big $5 to the stash.  On a positive note, we don’t have to deal with moving it…

 

Happy

 

Harv and Ryan had to leave early for soccer.  It was Ryan’s first time as goalie.

 

 Trying out the new gloves

 

 

 

 

     

Eating the gloves.

(which by the way, are not ours)

 

Stopping the ball.

Throwing the ball.

 

Again with the gloves.

 

 

So today…

We went to early church and then came home to get something to eat.  I hurried over to a friend’s house to visit with her and her sister who was going back home.  After our visit, Erik and I headed over to Ryan’s baseball game.  After baseball we ran to the car so I could help Ryan change into his soccer uniform for soccer pictures across town (time: 1:37 pictures: 1:45).  They made it and I really don’t want to know how.  Erik and I went home and we got ready for a pirate/swim party at a friend’s house.  I checked the email for the third time and saw that I was supposed to bring a side dish…I called Harv to see when he was getting home so we could get there early and I could go get a side dish.  Harv and Ryan rode their bikes over and I piled things in the car.  Harv and Ryan parked their bikes as I pulled up.  As I walked up with my camera bag on one shoulder and my beach bag overflowing with towels on the other my friend and her parents walked out the front door.  They looked at me sadly and said, “It was yesterday!”  So there stood our family all donned for a swim party with no party to go to.  We said our pitiful apologies (for my insanity…remember I looked at the invitation 3x, including an hour before we left) and went home.  Fortunately everyone was in good spirits Erik had a meltdown and I took him home.  Ryan and Harv rode around the park and them came home.  On a positive note, another neighbor boy dropped by and stayed and played baseball with Ryan and Harv for an hour and a half and I got things ready for school tomorrow.  I called my neighbor to say her son was on his way and watched from the corner as he and Ryan rode to his house.  My neighbor and I waved from afar and Ryan rode home.  Ever since the neighborhood block party it really is feeling like a close knit neighborhood.  I am so excited to be getting to know our neighbors and for Ryan to have these nice boys to play with.

But it’s clear I have not found my groove yet this fall!  I’m going to have to work on my scheduling skills!