the simple life

Little Farrell

My 7 year old asked for more "grown up things" for her room. When asked for an example, she said, "Oh, you know, maybe a Ben Harper poster or something?"

YES. YES YES YES, and also a poster that says, "I AM THE MOST AWESOME CHILD IN THE UNIVERSE". (that one's my idea, not hers)

Seriously, it was one of my prouder parenting moments.

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This morning, Ezra stripped completely naked and went streaking throughout the house.  He came downstairs to our bedroom, with the kids right on his heels laughing and pointing. 

I told Dustin, "I think he's channeling his inner Will Farrell."  (We always joke about how Will Farrell always ends up naked, or in his undies in all of his movies)

Annabelle, who has no clue who Will Farrell is, laughed hysterically and said, "Exactly!  He's definitely channeling his Little Farrell!" 

Um, I don't think I want to know what a "Little Farrell" is.  :D

down for the count

for the record, i'm not slacking.

computer got a virus, and is down for the count.

boo.  hiss.

no blogging for me until we get our computer fixed, or buy a new one...which probably isn't going to be anytime soon. 

don't forget about me!  :D  i'll try to keep up with all of you online through the library internet for now, but time is super limited there...

*hoping Ed McMahon shows up on my doorstep pretty darn quick.

In other news: I wish it was lent right now.  I would totally get bonus points with the Big Guy for giving up my biggest addiction, the internet (after Little Debbies, of course). 

when toddlers attack.

Julian's pre-K teacher came over yesterday.  They do "home visits" 2 or 3 times during the year, and it was time for the  "end of year" visit.  :)

Her birthday was today, so Julian asked if I would make cupcakes for her.  I assured him that I would, but the night before the meeting was also Annabelle's music program at school so I wasn't able to  make it to the store.

I woke up to a very disgruntled 5 year old who insisted that I whip up  cupcakes from something in the kitchen.  We ended up finishing these strawberry cupcakes as she knocked at the front door.  We even made lemonade, because when it's 85 degrees outside and humid (and your home's air conditioner and car's air conditioner are broken), well, you deserve to have as much ice cold lemonade as you can stand.

Ms. E. was very surprised.  :)

It's a strange thing to have your child's teacher in your home.  I found that even though her stay would be less than 20 minutes, I cleaned the house in a frenzy.  I was afraid for her to see the crumbs beside the stove in the kitchen (the kitchen that she didn't once enter).  I even hid the dirty laundry in the downstairs bedroom.  You know, in case she decided to give herself a tour of our home.  (she did not)

Everything was going well, and I looked like the world's perfect mother/hostess, and then Ezra walked up with a pink water pistol (no idea where it came from), pointed it directly into the teacher's face and shot her repeatedly with his best set of "angry eyes" in place.  You know the ones:

Thankfully, it was empty.  I don't have a strong stance on toy guns, though we don't usually keep them in the house.  I did feel like my 2-year old's  enthusiasm for shooting Ms. E. in the face brought the June Cleaver ambiance that I had created down a few notches.

And then Ms. E. told me that Julian was one of the most creative children she had ever taught.  Okay, that may seem like blatant bragging, but if I were bragging, I would tell you that she actually said, THE MOST CREATIVE" child she has ever taught.  See?  I wasn't really bragging at all! 

After that, she basically threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't continue to encourage that creativity in him as he grew up.  Fearing for my life, I assured her that I would.  I then vowed to myself to never buy the generic 97 cent box of colored pencils ever again.  It's only the high dollar stuff from here on out.  Look out Crayola, here we come!  ; )

I would dare say that aside from the assaulting 2 year old tyrant, I walked away from the meeting convinced that we're not doing such a bad job of raising these monkeys at all.  
Thank goodness she didn't ask to see the rest of the house.

pictures I did not take #5

{inspired by Unphotographable, i have a running list in my head of pictures that i did not take, but wish that i had.  i hope to always remember them, but knowing that may not be likely, i've decided to record them here.}


This is a picture that I did not take of a FedEx truck, pulled onto the side of the highway in Arkansas. Across the highway from the truck, the FedEx driver stood in full uniform at the edge of a small lake, with a tackle box at his feet and a fishing pole in his hand.  He stood casually, patiently, as though he had nowhere else to be.

She's going to be CS Lewis when she grows up

Dustin's been sharing "Narnia" stories with the kids from memory.  Every night, before tucking them in, he searches deep into the recesses of his mind to share bits and pieces of his favorite stories from his childhood, no book necessary.

A couple of days ago Annabelle woke up and came to ask me for a pen.  I told her that she should just use one of her colored pencils or markers, as pens vanish quickly around here.

She said that she couldn't, she had something important to write.

When pressed further, she said, "Well, I'm going to write a story about a place called "Narnia".  Daddy's been telling us these "Narnia" stories at bedtime and I've just GOT to write them down."

Sweet girl, she thinks she's stumbled upon a goldmine of an idea.  Too bad C.S. Lewis beat her to it.  

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In other news: I failed miserably at the color project last month.  Yellow is quite scarce in the Bartell household and I think I need to do something about that.  I'm continuing to search for yellows throughout May, and possibly June!  As for the rest of May, search for PURPLES!!  

Sorry for this late post, it was confirmed that our computer has a virus explaining the slooooooow loading issues.  We may just use May and June for purples until we get this computer thing worked out.  I know I may need 2 months for purple as well.  It's obvious that I have a color bias in this household, which worked out perfectly for green blue and pink!  :) 

I neeeeeeed it, fawth-uh. Muth-uh? I reeeally neeeeed it.

If you click on this link, be prepared to see the coolest bike ever.  
It would solve all problems of "How do I ride bikes with my kids, with Ezra who is little, and Julian who will occasionally get tired of riding and want me to carry his bike while pushing my own?" 

Just throw those kids in the bike bucket!  :D 

Also, if you click on this link, I'll be entered to WIN THIS BIKE, which is way better and easier than asking one of you to spot me $1300 so I can buy it.  ;) 

Oh, and hello?  FAVORITE COLOR! 

pictures I did not take #4

{inspired by Unphotographable, i have a running list in my head of pictures that i did not take, but wish that i had.  i hope to always remember them, but knowing that may not be likely, i've decided to record them here.}


This is a picture that I did not take of a tiny little girl walking down the sidewalk in San Miguel de Allende.  The sidewalks around the center of town have large display lights in them that shine up onto the buildings.  This little girl, wearing a yellow dress, stood directly over one of the lights, causing her dress to be completely illuminated.  She looked like a tiny firefly.

Martha Stewart, you little prankster.

I was flipping through April's issue of Martha Stewart Living, and noticed "Martha's Calendar" toward the beginning of the magazine.

Martha's calendar always makes me a little exhausted.
"Flip mattresses"
"Turn compost pile"
"Clean chandeliers using a natural-fiber duster".

Does she ever have a day for "wear pajama pants  into Walgreen's to pick up a pint of Haagen Dazs"? 

If you'll notice her agenda for April 1st (April Fool's Day), you'll see that Martha actually scheduled a reminder to herself to, "PLAY PRANKS TODAY." 

I love this.  You don't even know how much I love that Martha scheduled "playing pranks" into her eventful day of recording a television show, a radio show, and washing storm windows.

I'm thinking Martha's idea of a prank is to sneak into her Everyday Food Magazine's  Test Kitchen and switch the  label on the Kosher Salt jar with the label on the Organic fine sea salt jar, then sit back and watch the hijinks erupt. 

 

pictures I did not take #3

{inspired by Unphotographable, i have a running list in my head of pictures that i did not take, but wish that i had.  i hope to always remember them, but knowing that may not be likely, i've decided to record them here.}


This is a picture that I did not take of a very large, intimidating looking man, head bobbing to the loud bass filled music in his car as he sat at the red light next to my car.  I glanced in his direction, but tried to avoid eye contact.  Not because I was intimidated, but for fear of busting out in laughter.  He was driving a Barbie pink Dodge Neon.

10 on Tuesday!

1.  It's almost Farmer's Market season!  (#1 of things to miss about Des Moines when we eventually move)

2.  I'm wanting a clothesline.  And a bicycle.  And a tan.  I'm so ready for warm temps.

3. I wish there were a safe/natural cleaner that smelled like...bleach.  Man, I love that stuff.

4. I couldn't sleep last night.  Around 4am, I woke up, wondered around the house, read from my library book, ate some chips and salsa, checked on the kids, watched TV.  Nothing.
Stumbled upon a Sudoku puzzle that I had been working on earlier, finished it, and TADA! I was ready for bed.  

5. ACL lineup was released today!  I have high hopes of raising a ridiculous amount of money for a ticket and the trip to Austin.  We may not have toilet paper, but by gosh, Mama needs to see Bon Iver, live.  (also Ben Harper, Pearl Jam, Devotchka, Lisa Hannigan, Dr. Dog, the Decemberists, Toadies, etc. etc. etc.)

6.  I watch some of my shows online via Hulu or whatever, but I can never just sit and watch a program on the computer.  I usually fold laundry or purge magazines, but mostly, I play sudoku online, or put together jigsaw puzzles. 

7. We've been trying a new flavor of Stride or Orbitz gum every time we stop at the store (instead of picking the usual spearmint flavors).  Last flavor: Stride "Always Mandarin".  zesty!

8.  Dustin can't play video games without busting out into song every 5 minutes.  Always, "Eye of the Tiger".

9. we celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Earth Day (April 22nd).  We spent a quiet evening at home, nothing out of the ordinary, except for chocolate covered strawberries for dessert and our favorite Izze drinks with dinner.  The kids want to celebrate EVERYTHING with this combo now. 
It's the simple things, right? 

10. trying to finish up my yellow photos for April!   This one has been REALLY difficult.  I have no yellow in this house.   I made the mistake of filling this bowl with baby oranges and placing them in the middle of the dining table.  Ezra (able to peel them on his own), probably ate 6 oranges a day before I realized he was sneaking them into his bedroom and hiding the peels in the closet floor. 
As my Mom would say, "At least he won't have scurvy".