Simon and George (the cat, not George the neighbor)

We've had relatively sunny weather as of late, although it is still in the very low thirties in the mornings. This is "George" the famous cat from previous posts (around 12/05). Simon is his favorite person. George lost favor by erroneously assuming the living room was his litter box and the back and undersides of my newly restored chairs his scratching posts. Therefore, he lives outside. Tomorrow we have grandparents, aunts, and cousins coming for Simon's birthday on Saturday. I'm sure we'll have more picts of the bowling alley party. This is our back porch, with the $5 lounge chairs we got at a local garage sale last fall. Happy almost-weekend!

Tavin's Birthday!!

Tavin is 10 years old today. Funny, I don't recall myself aging 10 years. She had a great time at her skating party Saturday. Tavin can go really fast, but ultimately, it just meant that she crashed harder. I wished I had taken pictures of the dark purple discoloration of her entire right knee. We had a great time Saturday. Tavin had 8 friends with her. After 3 hours of skating/blading there were groans and whimpers all around. The biggest one came from the poor gal taking the returned skates when she received the birthday girls' pair. Tavin is beautiful and talented, but she can stink up some shoes!






Lucy is very pleased to be able to climb onto the table chairs, and was allowed to feed herself some of Tavin's birthday cake. Simon stayed home with daddy and Lucy. He has never skated and has not really expressed any desire to do so, but he did practice his casting.











Simon is very excited about fishing again in the spring. This particular friend was on skates for the first time ever....and just about to be off of them!

I'm glad to be able to post pictures, now I need to figure out how to arrange them how I want them! But it's better than just black and white letters, in my opinion.

Lucy's first snow

It's about time we get some snow out here! What's even worse is that the old homestead has more snow than we do and we have a few hundred more feet of elevation. Oh well. Here's some pictures of Lucy enjoying herself.

She actually has pretty good mobility in that snow suit, which I've had for nearly 3 years, new, packed away because it was so cheap I had to buy it.

This is our house. Notice Lucy's tracks. She reminds me of the Family Circus cartoons where you see all the circuituous routes the children take rather than straight lines.

Jerusalem has bugs like this?

I have a neighbor that recently told me to look up "Jerusalem Cricket" on the web for a picture of a very ugly looking creature that never should have made it onto Noah's ark. Unfortunately, she said they have been showing up here and I am just so please to learn more about freak entomology. Here's a link to a lovely picture and description. If I find one, you'll hear about it, trust me.
kaweahoaks.com/html/jerusalem_cricket.html

Pictures! At last

Finally! I can post pictures! This was the horrible Saturday before Christmas, when the abdominal emissions began. I'll get some more pictures now, with my new laptop toy and digital camera, which for some reason wouldn't work on the desktop computer. Poor Simon. Luckily, the bucket wasn't required in the car. He made it to the downstairs bathroom at home. Barely.

Could I have the definition, please?

I have to share a rare comment that was made in our home a few days ago. I know LeAnn has raised some boys that made "Mennonite" comments, but I've never had one come from my children until now. Tavin and Simon were arguing over whose turn it was, or some other rare conflict, and when Simon didn't bow to his older sisters' wishes she said, "That's not very Mennonite."

Unfortunately, she couldn't tell me what made it so, or what would have been the "Mennonite" thing to do. I think she was going for chivalrous, which at this point is a concept that Simon really couldn't care less about when it comes to his big sister!

Sympathy anxiety attack

Yesterday I took Simon to the dentist for his first "repair" work. Unfortunately for him his mother didn't get him in for his first cleanings until years after she meant to do it, and the ultimate result is a couple of visits to repair teeth that will surely fall out before they can work off the debt they are incurring. I did find a reputable place that freely uses Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) and has t.v.s and headphones over every chair. Simon did very well as he spent just over 2 hours in the chair, whilst his mother was fretting in the waiting room. I hate going to the dentist. I hate the sound of drills. One more appointment, and he's done. :) We have been successful largely due to the fact that Simon doesn't really know what was done, only that he got a cool prize and could watch all the "Spongebob" that he wanted!

They don't sell these bubbles at Walmart!

We spent a relatively uneventful New Year's Eve at home with just us. We watched "Black Beauty" and had banana splits. The children were extremely dismayed to go to bed at 9pm, but we explained that we weren't going to stay up until midnight either, since I had to work the next day and they had school today. To be true to our word, Kevin and I went to bed at 11:45, but we still new when it was midnight because of the fireworks, and ruckus around us. It made me so glad we didn't have a dog. At least we started the new year in good health, Lucy just has a runny nose and cold, which I really don't consider sick. But, out of consideration for the nursery kiddos at church I kept her home with me on Sunday, just in case other moms don't like to see snotty bubbles being blown out of their kids' noses with each expiration!