Archive for May 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Elbow Room

The previous owners of this house landscaped everything as if nothing would grow. I think the house is now 6 years old and all trees, shrubs, and flowers are full grown and fighting each other for space to breathe.


Everything that is planted and they way it's arranged is nothing that we would ever do, but we're trying to work with it and just make it look better. We started pulling shrubs out a couple of days ago and are planning on doing more work tonight. We don't want to throw perfectly good plants away, but we don't know where to go with most.

I counted 26 (or 29?) boxwoods that are in the front of our house. I haven't even started counting the day lilies, which are all big enough to be separated into smaller plants. There's no telling what shape the yard will be in for Vance's birthday party tomorrow night. Which now thinking could work to our advantage. No one is going home without taking a shrub with them!

Perfect!

Preschool Grad

Vance graduated from preschool on Monday. It's been a busy Vance week.









Vance just asked if we could get a horn for his bike. Yes he's growing up, but looks as if he's still taking his time, which is okay with me.

One more birthday party to go and Birthday Season will be done for us.

Thank God.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Happy Birthday Vance!


5 is different than 4.

4 is still little. 4 still has some chub in the cheeks that remind of us 3.

5 is starting to grow up. 5 is less of a baby. 5 turns into 6.

We thought we had been teaching him and turns out he has been teaching us all along. He has been the perfect child to introduce us into parenthood. As if he knew we were scared as hell and didn't know what we were doing. He has always been patient. Always a thinker. Always an observer. He is caring and the best big brother a little sister could ask for. He is such a special little boy and we couldn't be prouder of him.

Happy 5th birthday Vance! We love you!


Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Florida: A Trip

This should definitely be labeled a trip and not a vacation. Funny, Vaughn is still two years old and a bit on the volatile side even in Florida.

We were hoping that something magical would happen while in flight on the way to Florida, but nope. Same old Vaughn when we landed. Definitely no behavior enhancements were made while crossing all those states below.

The kids love the beach.

Vaughn has no fear and made many attempts to go out to sea on her own.

Don't let this picture fool you. We had to drag them out of the water just to come and eat a snack. They stayed this way for about 23 seconds.

While this wasn't the typical relaxing vacation, it was still nice to get away and enjoy the sun. We saw dolphins swimming and even found live starfish while wading in the water. We had perfect weather and the kids had a great time.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

If bees are going to invade your backyard, I'd say the perfect time for that to happen is the day before leaving for vacation.

The bees came on Tuesday and we left early (early!) on Wednesday morning for the Sunshine State. We returned home yesterday afternoon and the bees had already packed their bags and moved on. (Which is perfect because I hadn't intended inviting thousands of bees to Vance's birthday party, which will be going down this weekend.)

Here's a couple of pics from our trip. I'll be back with more once I get things organized around here.



Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Bees!

This was what was going on at our house today around 1:30. I didn't realize these were our soon-to-be guests.

At least I hope they're guests. I don't need them sticking around permanently.


This was a couple hours later when Vance and I were playing out back.


Interestingly and quite freakishly, this happened at my parent's house almost exactly 2 years ago. They left a couple days later, but returned and she had to have a beekeeper come and remove them.



Let's all hope that they find somewhere else to go in a couple of days.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Holy Molars

Here's Short & Feisty demonstrating what's been going on around here lately.



I swear these 2 year molars have been coming in for the past year, but they're finally just starting to break through her gums. (Of course, all of them at once.) I'm pretty sure it's directly related to her high fever last week, the runny nose, the waking up at night, the drooling, the chewing of fingers, the crankiness, and the horrible sound she's been making that I have yet to give a name to but know enough to get the hell out of whatever store I'm in because it's getting ready to go down when I hear it.

It's one I should try to get on tape to prove how awful it is, but it's pretty random and usually means it's time for more meds. It's like a throaty, animal in pain type of scream.

I never knew that when I became a parent that the arrival of new teeth would be such a bitch.

Justin and I cannot wait until these suckers are all the way through and we can finally meet our real daughter. I'm sure she won't be as harsh as this little person we've been living with for the past 2 years.

Morning Routine



Vance writing while he eats breakfast before going to preschool.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Gassed Up

When the weather turns to Grilling Season we always face the same problem: We've run out of gas.

Normally an easy fix, but we're us and "easy" things are always more challenging. We were gratefully given a free grill, but the knee slapper is that you can't use the exchangeable propane tanks. It must be refilled.

Before we moved back here we were going to get a new grill, but then with the chaos of having a baby and not having a house yet, we forgot about the grill. (Priorities, I tell ya...)

Fast forward two years later and we still own the same grill. Springtime sends me driving around industrial parts of town that I normally never visit in search of propane.

I scored some last Friday, so we're back in the grilling business. Unfortunately for the grill, the first thing we grilled was organic, all natural, nitrate, and nitrite free hot dogs. I'm sure it was hoping for something meatier and manlier.

Maybe Justin too.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Convos

Vance and Vaughn have begun having conversations. They're very one-sided, but they're still conversations and are extremely funny to listen to.


Vance: "Vaughn, are you setting dinosaur traps?"

Vaughn: "Yeah".

Vance: "Vaughn, what kind of dinos are you trying to catch? Troodons? Vaughn, say troodon."

Vaughn: "Don".

Vance: "Good job, sweetie! You said troodon! Mom, Vaughn just said troodon!"

Me: "Yes, I heard. Good job Vaughnie."

Vance: "Vaughn, do you know that troodons are the smartest dinosaur? Say right."

Vaughn: "Right!"

And it keeps going like that all day long.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

A small 4 year old

Vaughn woke up sick on her birthday. I could word it many different ways but it's easier to say that it just sucked. We canceled our birthday plans for her and even a play date that we were supposed to host the day after. No cake, no candles, no birthday girl pictures.


I took her to the doctor and no reasons were found for being sick. Which is great, but would have been nice to know what's wrong and given medicine to fix her. I'm thinking it's just her 2 year molars coming in. Poor thing has been miserable and has been clinging to Justin and I, which is a whole lotta fun.

While we were at the doctor's, she went ahead and did the 2 year check-up so we didn't have to come back for our scheduled appointment. Vaughn is still The Big Lovely Lady (BLL) and the doctor compared her to being a small 4 year old.

Sidebar: The doctor told me that it's hard for parents with kids who look older because the general public assumes that they are in fact older and should behave differently and will often make comments on their assumptions. Hmmm....Didn't that happen to me last
week?!?
So, the BLL is in the 96th percentile for weight and the 98th percentile for height. And I'm in the 100th percentile for being in shock that our big, little baby is 2.

I went to the dentist yesterday and the hygienist gave me a hug. Was it my shoes? My never having a cavity? Maybe that's how she celebrates Cinco de Mayo. Who knows, but it's Thursday and it's sunny and it's pizza night. Hugs for everyone!






Monday, May 03, 2010

Happy Birthday Vaughn!

Isn't it crazy that this little baby



was inside this little tummy


And grew into this little lady?



Happy 2nd birthday Vaughn!

 

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