the simple life

sesame street headaches, and a little (big) trip

watching Sesame Street is exhausting.  mostly because of Ezra's compulsive need to say "Elmo" over and over and over, and his equal need of hearing it repeated back to him by whoever happens to be in the room.

today he actually fell to the ground and cried because I stopped repeating "Elmo" after 8 times, and this physically pained him. 

last week Robert DeNiro was on the show with Elmo and he was teaching Elmo how to use his imagination (to be an actor).  he imagined himself as a puppy (and appeared suddenly as a puppy), and again as a cabbage.  (Hearing Robert DeNiro pronounce Riboflavin was a highlight of my morning)

then, he imagined himself as a "fuzzy monster with a good imagination", which turned out that he was imagining himself to be Elmo.

in doing so, 2 Elmo's appeared on screen.  Elmo, the original, and Elmo, with a Robert DeNiro voice.

seeing two Elmo's on screen laughing and talking together was too much for Ezra, nearly causing his head to explore.

Fortunately, the scene switched over to the Count, so that we could learn the number of the day.

11.  Eleven is the number of the day.   I casually mention that 11 is one of my most favorite numbers and Julian gives me a sad, almost pitying look and says, "Mama, eleven is only 2 little lines."   It seemed to really disappoint him that I couldn't choose a more exotic number to be my favorite. 

by the way, Ezra, Charlie and I are headed to Arkansas tomorrow and we are SO excited to see the big kids! Fingers crossed for an easy trip, as the last trip from Arkansas to Iowa resulted in a headache that didn't go away for almost a week. 

I didn't think it was possible for a baby to scream for 7 consecutive hours, but let me assure you that it is VERY possible.  and Ezra made it seem effortless.  Slight chance that we will stop half way for a hotel room, and maybe a couple of sippy cups of rum.  okay, not ezra, but ME DEFINITELY.

i'll update as soon as i can once i make it to arkansas :)

oh yeah, and my sister's baby is coming!!!!!!!!  lots of sweet pictures of Baby Jonas to come SOON!

see you then!

relationship quirk

i observed something interesting today:

if i notice that the hamster's cage needs cleaning, and I say to Dustin, "You really need to clean out Kiki's cage when you get the chance, it's pretty bad,", we both just automatically assume that this is his responsibility until it gets done.

or if he notices that Ezra needs a diaper change (he normally changes it himself) but if he notices it and says, "Oh man, you really need to change Ezra's diaper," again, we both just assume that it's my responsibility.

it's like calling dibs on the front sit of your Mama's car.  if you call dibs, you get the front seat.  it doesn't matter that whoever gets there first could sit in the front seat if they wanted to, it wouldn't be right because they didn't have dibs.

armed with this new found knowledge, I'm tempted to wake up and hand a list to Dustin of everything that I don't want to do during the day, and see if he just accepts it as his responsibility. 
something like this...

 "Good morning babe.  You really need to get up with the kids, make breakfast, clean that nasty bathroom, do a few loads of laundry, bathe Charlie, clean out that chocolate mess in the front seat of my car, pick up some groceries, fret about dinner for a few hours....and shave my legs."

you never know until you try, right?

the post where Old Navy throws up on my blog

if you are shopping for a new baby boy or girl right now, i just wanted to suggest checking out Old Navy's new lines, especially "Creature Comforts".

i was in the store near me yesterday and i was so panicky that i would:
a. not stop the horrible squealing noises that i was making.  seriously, i think i was making people uncomfortable.
b. not be able to make it out the store without stashing a few things in my purse.  i don't make a habit of shoplifting, but i had already spent the $10 (all i can be trusted with) i had brought with me in Target, so the temptation was valid. 

the colors are a little red/white/blue themed, but muted, not like wearing American flags and stuff.
plus there are lots and lots of birds and (for the boys) western and hawaiian shirts (done right).

here's just a few of my favorites:

this is my most favorite boy's shirt and it's ON SALE right now for $8.99!
the bad news, is they didn't have it in Ezra's size (18-24 months), and not online either.
i'm going to check out the other Old Navy near me this week (fingers crossed).
i'm tempted to pick up a 0-3 months for my new nephew, Jonas! (coming SOON)
i'm not into matchy-matchy, but i would SO make an exception!

i hope baby birdies never go out of style.  at least not in the world of baby fashion. 
(Elizabeth, i thought of Bridget when I saw this line )

"Tweet me nice".  

ruffly bubble bodysuits!  lots of colors for these too :)

pretty much all of these halter tops and sun dresses (in the blues and greens)

there were lots more, but it would be easier for you to just go look at Old Navy, instead of me posting it all here ;)

i will say that i intentionally avoided Gap, because i was afraid of the whole "wanting to steal things" feeling.  looking online now, it's a good thing i did.

okay, i've got that out of my system.   carry on. 

P.S.  Dear Old Navy, I did not steal anything from your store.  But congratulations on carrying clothes that are cute enough to tempt me.  Now if we could only talk about your women's line...
Are ruffly bubble bodysuits for women inappropriate?  because i'm tempted.

LOOK AT THIS QUILT!!!!!!

Isn't this the most gorgeous quilt you have ever seen?
I think so.
and somebody's GIVING this away.

Check out this blog for the details.

and if i don't win, i will exchange almost anything i own (with the exception of living beings) for somebody to make one for me!  seriously. 

it's so very pretty, and i promise i would put it to good use.  ;)

good night sweetheart

my little activist

My parents visited this week, for a couple of days and then returned to Arkansas with the two big kids.  Dustin has been pouting for the last 24 hours, occasionally walking down the hallway muttering, "Where's my Jujee?  Where's my baby girl?"

*photo by Annabelle

Fortunately he has a baby monster (ezra) and a yard full of baby bunnies to keep him occupied.

While my parents were here, we introduced them to the bunnies, by bringing one inside.

My dad made several "animal eating" jokes, mostly at my expense.  Since switching to a mostly vegetarian diet, I haven't tried to eat in an actual restaurant, so it was fun trying to find something on the menu at say...Dave's Famous BBQ joint, or a local Mexican place. 

So he made several jokes about the bunnies, mostly revolving around "Rabbit Stew!", and talking about how his Granny could whip up something amazing with those little guys.

The kids took his joking to heart, and Annabelle began to lecture him on the poor manners of people who kill living things.  (this from the child who had bacon and chicken strips earlier that day)   Julian, however, took a different approach. 

He ran downstairs and grabbed a few notecards, and "wrote" several notes to Poppy.  He returned upstairs and said, "Poppy, I made something for you and ONLY you."

We thought it was going to be a sweet birthday card or something along those lines. 

Instead, it was a notecard with 6 stickers of baby animals (rabbit, chicken, duck, etc.).

Apparently this was a list of animals that Julian didn't want Poppy to kill or eat anymore.

The notes included several small drawings of Poppy loving animals and a giant exclamation mark (to show that he was serious).

on the drive to the BBQ place, Julian piped up (quite randomly) to say, "I don't like to eat on the side of candy.  I like to eat on the side of healthy things.  Like my favorite foods are tomatoes and avocadoes and berries and corn on the cob...(and continued listing all of the healthy foods that he could think of)    Upon entering the restaurant, however, he launched into a campaign about why I should give him quarters for the gumball machines.

He really made us laugh with all of his little healthy "nagging". 

Later that night, Dad made another joke about the rabbits and Dustin threatened him with  "Don't make Juju get out the animal flash cards again!"

three little bunnies!

look what we found yesterday... (insert high pitched squealing here)

i was in my office and i heard some tapping at the window.  i assumed it was a bird, because they fly into the window a lot, but when i looked over, i saw a tiny baby bunny thumping to get inside. 

my office is in the basement, and there is a deep enclosed pit like thing around the window to allow light inside, so the bunny must have fallen inside this pit.  it's hard to describe, sorry.

anyways, i told Dustin what i saw, so he went outside, and next to the pit like hole, he saw a little baby bunny under our electric meter.  he caught the bunny and we all went crazy for it. 

Dustin is so much like a kid when he sees baby animals.  he is convinced that we can take care of it and keep it as a pet, regardless of whether it is a bunny, a bird, a baby snake (ick).  he went CRAZY for this little guy though. 

i told him that i saw the Mama bunny (who is ALWAYS in our yard)  hovering around the window, and i'm sure she wants her baby back, but Dustin was convinced that the Mama kicked the baby out of the house, and told it to go live on it's own now. 

after much loving of the baby bunny, we took him back to find his Mama, when we saw ANOTHER baby bunny in the corner of our porch.

so of course, we had to hold it too.  this one was a little smaller and much more nervous, but i cupped her in my hand and held her close to me and she calmed down immediately.  oh they were sweet.

the kids (Dustin included) were begging begging BEGGING to let us keep them, but I saw the Mama eyeballing us from the corner of our yard, so we decided that they could be our "Yard Pets", along with the baby bird we found a few weeks ago, and we placed the bunny back under some bushes so the Mama would find them.

and then Dustin remembered the bunny that i had seen outside my window, so he hopped down in the pit thing, and sure enough, buried and hiding under a pile of leaves, was the third baby.  he scooped the baby up, the kids begged to hold it one last time, and then we released it to be with it's family.  the cutest was watching them hop, they were just so tiny.

we went  back inside so the Mama could tend to her babies, and as I left the house to run an errand, I saw the three babies and the Mama under the bushes, snuggling and hopping around.  i think we'll enjoy these yard pets quite a bit.  :)

toad cakes

tonight we were Skype-ing with my parents, when my Dad surprised us and said, "We're coming to visit Iowa....TOMORROW!" 

actually Wednesday, since they'll stop to feed my mother's gambling addiction along the way (i joke, i joke).

my Dad's birthday is Thursday, so i said "We'll have to have a party!" 

the kids quickly claimed their contribution to the party.

Julian screeched "I'LL MAKE POSTCARDS!!  NO WAIT, INVITATIONS!!!"

Annabelle asked Poppy, "WHAT KIND OF CAKE DO YOU WANT? I'LL MAKE IT!!!!"

Poppy, who I should mention has a very strong Arkansas accent, said he would like a 4-layer cake, or a 3 layer cake, or a 7 layer cake, "you know, a "code" cake".

"Code" is how my Dad sometimes says "Cold".  However, in this case, we all thought he said, "A TOAD cake". 

Annabelle wrinkled up her nose, looked at me out of the corner of her eyes and said, "Looks like we gotta kill some frogs". 

i'm not pulling a george washington, i don't want to CUT the tree...

in a nearby town, surrounding a small city hall/police department, there are about 12 cherry trees, full and ripe with cherries.  it doesn't appear that anybody picks the cherries, as there are cherries all over the ground, and really heavy branches full of cherries.

would it be wrong for me to pick them?  should i ask permission first, and if so, whose?  the receptionist at the city hall?

the kids go crazy, begging to pick the cherries every time we see them, but i always say no. 
i really want some cherries.  :)

what would you do?

this is juju's pouty face, because i told him no to the cherry picking.  there was nobody in the office to ask permission from on this day)

this was on a Farmer's Market day. 
yes, i let the kids pick their own clothes.
Julian wears this hat to Farmer's Markets, hoping the farmer's will recognize him as "one of their own".

**typepad is doing weird sharpening things to my photos.  i am not enjoying typepad's upgrades as much as i thought i would**

july 4th in summary

a good day including:

1.  a picnic with an impromptu (self-timer) photo shoot

**Dustin had been doing yard work with the kids, so he was not so interested in a family photo, but i insisted.  and i usually win. 

2. S'mores

3. fireworks  (not really, just "snakes" and sparklers).  
 
4. many many declarations that this was the "best day ever" before the kids went (quite easily) to sleep.

Julian sang a very sincere,  "Happy Holidays", (a made up song for the 4th of July), while roasting his marshmallows.

we also had frozen watermelon balls treats. 
instructions on how to make them found on my new (work in progress) food blog! :)
check it out here: eating elephants!   not sure if i'm loving wordpress, this may move to a different location in the future, but for now it works. :)

happy saturday!