Ten Things

1. Clocks. If Squirms had a list of her favorite things, clocks would be at the top. We watch the Curious George episode with a cuckoo clock and tower clock several times a week; she has an impressive ability to find a clock in the background of any book illustration; and she likes to play with, and set my alarm to random times, the clock on my nightstand. She prefers analog clocks, I actually haven't been able to convince her yet that a digital clock is a clock.
This morning I looked for stores near us that sell and repair clocks. Remembering her reaction to her great grandparents Grandfather Clock, and Samford Tower Clock, I'm going to attempt to take her for a visit so she can look at lots of different clocks.

2. Rockets. This would be the other item on Squirm's list of favorite things. She is her father's daughter.

3. Have I mentioned that on the way back from Alabama several weeks ago, we taught her to recognize transmission lines?

4. The Great is beginning to eat food! He's still not completely comfortable with the idea of swallowing food, but we have made it to three items he will eat.

5. He is also getting his first tooth! And is so tall that we've had to lower his crib to the lowest setting. He loves to pull himself up on his crib, the couch, the side of the bath tub, really anything that he can use to stand, including his big sister.

6. I ordered the fourth Inspector Morse book. And I've warned R that it will arrive this weekend. And that I will be unavailable to reality.

7. Last night during dinner, R asked me "do you want to take the canoe out this weekend, maybe Friday?" and I heard "would you like to hold our two children, both angry because they need to wear life vests and be still, while I paddle us around the river in the hot sun? and, will you be able to refrain from having a mental break down thinking about gar fish, alligators, pythons, and sharks when our two year old somehow falls into the water, or capsizes the canoe?"
I have learned that with age, I have become more and more less-adventurous. And that R, who is still really cool, is usually right about us having fun and being able to do things - like taking a canoe trip.
I said "Yes, that sounds fun".

8. Two of our favorite people took their boat to the Keys this week; and are stopping to see us this weekend as they travel back. I'm trying to come up with a plan that might strand them here for a couple of days.

9. We are getting more and more excited about C and TPIII's (or RPIII....I need to come up with a permanent name for him!) upcoming wedding! I love getting to hear details about flowers, bridesmaids' gowns, and house hunting! I seem unable to type, or text, about C's wedding without using exclamation points!!

10. Squirms just reminded me why I don't write blog posts while the kids are awake.

Gems

Last weekend we spent some family time in the backyard. And today Squirms helped R wash the car. Both were wonderful opportunities for great pictures.

Swinging! 

Dad and his helper.

Yes, she has her own small rake, carrying grass clippings.

Hi Mom!

Squirms loves dirt. And I love her tiny pony tail.

LOVE this one.

The sky was rather interesting....I didn't use any editing features.

No rolling hill, mountains, or forests - but we do have great views of the sky.

A bit of blue to the East.

Washing the car. R said she was actually really good at cleaning the car!

And liked the suds bucket.

Really liked the suds bucket.

She didn't like dad putting his sponge in the water, this was her sponge bucket.

Tanner and Shelbs

Tanner's new knee has healed! He has been released into the central Florida wild (our back yard). He and Shelby Ann have been given their freedom and I have declared war on dog hair in our house. 

Step One: The dogs are outside. The dogs will remain outside.
Step Two: Look around the house, decide which room to clean first....or maybe their bedding and inside crates should be cleaned first....or maybe the nursery....oh definitely the kitchen....
Step Three: Cry.
Step Four: Wash their bedding while continually vacuuming the laundry room. Clean the dryer lint trap every five minutes to prevent fire.
Step Five: Consider giving Tanner sedatives so he'll survive the afternoon thunderstorm.
Step Six: Wish the washing machine good luck and go see The Great. He says that he needs attention.

Squirms and I will miss smothering the dogs with hugs while they relax on the living room rug....but I won't miss having to vacuum the living room rug each time I put the Great down to play. Have fun out there sweet puppies; and please don't let anymore snakes take up residence in our garden.

Roomba! Roomba!

I take the title of Trophy Wife pretty seriously. My friends are all like "I refinished an antique dresser this weekend" and "I love making my own cleaning supplies" and "Oh, this wreath? I made it; I saw it on Pinterest". I say "Oh, this? I ordered it from PotteryBarn." 

Tiny feet that love to run.

For Mother's Day the Great gave me a card that had his hand print on it. It was the tiniest, most adorable, chunky hand print I'd ever seen. It gave me an idea for a Father's Day gift.

Tiny feet that love to jump.

I googled "how to...." and followed instructions from a fellow blogger - a blog about imagination and such. I am very good at following instructions. I am very terrible at making things. The poor footprints are baking for the fourth day in a row (yes, it's the day after Father's Day) because I can't seem to get them to completely dry out; and we're just going to give in and paint them today.

Day One of Baking

Happy Father's Day to a man who is thankfully way better at being a father than I am at making crafts.

We Love Daddy! Actually, she was shouting "Roomba! Roomba!" because her brother likes to push the button to turn on the roomba. Probably because our eight month old thinks I should vacuum more.

Still Posting About Alabama

Apparently, slalom is spelled "Slalom". Oops.

It's been a long week. We all had trouble adjusting back into our central Florida life. Poor Squirms keeps asking if we're going to Grandpa's house or to "ride boat?". She's also forgotten what the word "no" means. This weekend we visited the neighborhood pool and the beach so we'd feel more like floridians....and so Squirms could "go slimming". We discovered that the Great really likes to play in the sand.

We are thankful we got to spend so much time with family during our trip, and were especially happy our favorite Welsh relatives were in town. Aunt MRD and Uncle R opened their home and took care of me, H, and L when we visited Wales, and they let R and I (and our friends) stay there too several years ago. As a thank you for introducing us to Welsh Men's Choir music, we wanted them to meet our kids.

And, although I don't have those pictures downloaded (if we took any?) we got to see AnniePants and her sweet family; Mr. and Dr. E (R's college roomie and his wife whom we love); and cousins LGC and her amazing kids. It's so refreshing for R and me to see this group of friends.

Great-Grandma has a calming effect on Squirms. Maybe she could share her secret?

Now. My great aunt and uncle detest and absolutely hate are not fans of having their photo taken. However, we were able to sneak a couple of pictures when they weren't looking, and they did actually agree to have photos taken with the kids. So. I'm going to post them on the internet. Hopefully they will still speak to me.

H and Uncle R

By the pool, Aunt MRD, H, and Uncle R

Squirms was quite taken with her great-grandparents grandfather clock and was very excited each time it chimed. They also let her try out their pool and her great-grandpa took her on a tour of the back yard to see his tractors and garden.

Noise!! Noise!! Clock!! Clock!!

She didn't want us helping, or following too close - swimming on her own.

The tractor is loud. I ran away crying. Tractors are to be looked at from a safe distance.

 Photo shoot.

My son is outside my daughter's room, yelling like a pterodactyl so she'll get up from her nap and play. Is that coffee heated up yet?

Sunday thru Tuesday (last week of course)

More running! Hurry up Grandpa.

I thought jogging approximately three days a week since February would mean that I'd be able to water ski without too much trouble last week. I was wrong. Very wrong. My legs, back, and arms were very confused last Sunday at why they were sitting in Smith Lake, why I was trying to hold onto a rope attached to a very powerful boat, and couldn't seem to figure out how to use a slalom ski. After the third try, I started asking my father to throw me a second ski. Of course, being my father, he refused and just kept saying one more time. My uncle kept yelling "Keep your eyes open" (I have contacts and always close my eyes while being pulled up) and "point the ski at the back of the boat". He was right of course, but all I could think was "Wow. My body has completely forgotten how to do this. It's not like riding a bike!"

I already love you! You're my new favorite cousin P!

I finally made it up and managed to hold on until we reached the pier, where I got to look like I knew what I was doing in front of Squirms who was sitting with her father on the pier waving at mommy. I was deeply happy that I did actually ski; but the revelations I had about the physical abilities of my body while trying to get up are going to haunt me.

No. 1

 If, at age 16, I had considered whether I'd be a better skier than my father when I was 31 and he was 59, I probably would have assumed that Yes, I would be able to create a spray just as tall as he does, and probably stay up longer. My 16 year old self would have been wrong. My almost-sixty year old father is still a better skier than me. Watching him slalom, I was just as impressed as when I was a little girl - back and forth, the tallest spray I've ever seen. The only change seemed to be a bit of a grimace  on his face when he crossed the wake.

Great Grandpa and the Great at Bear Creek

Besides my life evaluations while attempting to ski, there were other lovely things that happened last Sunday. The Great had his first visit to Bear Creek No. 1, the church where my grandpa grew up and where the family gathers each year to bring flowers for graves and visit with each other.

I'll have to contract Aunt H to do Squirm's future birthday parties.

And we celebrated my cousin's high school graduation and college plans. Aunt H had a Martha Stewart-worthy table spread, with a delicious strawberry cake, chocolate chip cookies with very good chocolate chips (the remainders of which I finished on our Tuesday lake visit), and other treats. She also had made frames and a place for us to write notes for GEP (the graduate). GEP has plans to go on two different mission trips this summer so I felt my note didn't need to include lots of wisdom, just encouragement.

Kisses, kisses everywhere!

We spent Monday at my parents house, R and I relaxed while everyone else chased the kids around. Granny came to visit us and rocked the Great to sleep. Monday night my man took me to Birmingham, just the two of us, for dinner and a stay at the hotel where we stayed the night of our wedding. Tuesday marked eight years of marriage and he surprised me with a photo album with eight pictures (one from each year) and a bronze cuff stamped with the longitude and latitude of where he proposed. I am considering writing a "How to be a Great Husband" book - just a journal of his daily actions.

First boat ride!

Tuesday we were back at the lake, enjoying Auntie L's day off work. This time I used two skis, and waited until the end of the day to try - since I could barely walk from the soreness due to Sunday's attempts, I was pleased that I got back into the water. I re-discovered that R can slalom, by dropping a ski!, and we learned that Squirms now loves to "go slimming", or swimming as most speaking the english language call it.

Borrowing Gran's visor

Whew. This post is getting long and we've only made it to Tuesday. We thoroughly enjoyed dad's new boat - I was surprised by how fast it is - and got to introduce the children and R to the giant fish at Rock Creek. I'll stop now to avoid being too mushy about how beautiful and peaceful and colorful and calming and pure the lake is, and just post more pictures.

Granny and the Great

Auntie L loves me

Grandpa, is that a tractor?

Mullet blowing in the wind

This boat ride stuff is okay.....but I want to go slimming!

Samford Lawn Visit

Last Saturday we traveled to Alabama and stopped in the loveliest village on the plains. We spent an hour out of the truck, playing in the grass and meeting old friends.

Samford Hall....or as we now call it, Mary Poppin's Castle

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, a chocolate chip cookie dough malt from Toomer's Drugs, walking around the campus where R and I met, and Squirm's reaction to hearing the clock (Mary Poppin's clock) chime.

Trees!

Hanging out on the lawn made me think of AnniePant's graduation day, clocking into work at the Library, and watching the Christmas tree lighting.

Say "War Eagle"

And it was the Great's first visit!!

Please don't make me get back in the car seat.

The Great is officially crawling now, and officially pulling himself up to standing position. When I try to place him on the floor in a sitting position he refuses to bend and just stands while holding onto my fingers. We are suspicious that he is unsatisfied with crawling and wants to run as soon as possible.

It's fun to visit campus as a family. And, I didn't have to go into a computer lab!

We take a lot of pictures these days of Squirms running. Perhaps this is why the Great thinks running is the best mode of transportation. Later this week I'll try to post more of her running while on our trip.

"running....running"