Happy Birthday Corrine!

Corrine turned 1 on June 20th!

One year is a birthday both sad and exciting. Exciting because your little one is growing just like shes supposed to, and sad because it marks the end of tiny babiness. I know, she is still a baby, but the tiny little baby is gone, and I will miss that.

Corrine has a smile that is blindingly bright, and we will do almost anything to make it appear. Luckily, she is a smiley baby and it doesn't take much coaxing to make her grin. She has a great sense of humor and is very smart. Corrine is extremely determined, and won't quit when she wants something, which I am sure will be a good quality later in life! She is my biggest cuddle bug, she hugs me often by grabbing my neck or face with both her pudgy hands and leaning in to me. (I don't mind that at all.) She LOVES food and seems to have a very sophisticated palate for a little one; she will eat marinated artichoke hearts, avacado, gazpacho, and really just about anything I give her, the more seasoned the better. And it appears she is going to be our only little redhead!

We are so blessed to have Corrine as a part of our family. We love you Corrine!

Happy Birthday Payden!

Payden is 9!

Our Payden turned 9 on June 19th. She was so excited for her birthday, she was counting down the days. And then because she knows she was born at 12:45, she watched the clock until that time because thats when she was "really" 9!

Payden is full of energy, and is in constant motion. She is bursting with a zest and enthusiasm for life that is rarely matched. We are all touched by her compassionate nature and she loves to share and be helpful. Our family is brightened by her smile and her inquiring questions. I am certainly kept thinking with Payden around. She excells at school and makes friends easily.

Happy birthday, Payden! We love you and are so glad we get to have you as part of our family.

Geoffry the Giraffe

A long time ago, we signed our girls up for the Toys R Us birthday club. Every year on their birthday, Geoffry the Giraffe, the stores mascot, calls and wishes them a happy birthday. It is the same recorded message year after year. The girls used to think this was cool, but now that they are older they think it is just stupid.

It is now a family joke, waiting for Geoffry to call.

This morning my dad called to wish Payden a happy birthday. Jason teasingly said "its Geoffry" before he handed her the phone, thinking she would recognize her grandpa's voice.

She spent about 5 minutes on the phone with him, not being very sociable. She kept answering in one sylable answers, kind of snotty. I kept telling her to be nice.

She hangs up at the end of the conversation, and says "Who was that?"

I said, "It was your grandpa! Who did you think it was?"

She says " I thought it was Geoffry."

Ahem.


I called my dad back and explained the mix up, which he laughed quite heartily about. We all did, as a matter of fact.

No wonder she wasn't enjoying the conversation. She thinks Geoffry is stupid.

Enough.

We. Have. Too. Much. Rain. Did someone forget we live in the desert? My garden is not growing because it can't get enough sun. My kids can't leave the house because it is pouring. (Please help me.) I can't run or bike outside and have to be a hamster at the gym. We had filled the pool up once only to have it turn green with rainwater and had to empty it. Haven't filled it up again yet. I can't wash my car. The grass grows exponentially and we can't get out to mow it. And this may or may not be true, but it seems that all my clients who were making progress have regressed, perhaps due to the RAIN!!!!!!!

I love the rain in small doses. A day or so of rain and thunderstorms make me feel safe and comfy in my home. But three weeks straight of the wet stuff is a bit much.
I am grateful; we were in a drought. But I just had to get that off my chest.

I feel better now.

Handy little tip

So one of my very smart friends recently solved a problem I had been mulling over for the last 6 months or so.

Or, I should say, I had actually solved the problem but was waiting for my hubby to carry out the solution. (And waiting, and waiting.)

Maybe I should tell you what I am talking about.

My parents had a gorgeous table that I coveted for many years. It is a nice big table with two leafs (leaves?) that is very old and pretty. I always told my mom that when she died, she better leave me the table in her will. Well, as it worked out, I got to have my table and keep my mom too. (Always a good thing.) When she moved, the table was WAY to big for her space, so I got it.

I love this table. Wait, I already said that. Well I do, and I was worried about the damage the kids would do to it. Four kids eating 3 meals and a few snacks a day can wreak havoc on a kitchen table, add into that all the times you have to wipe it and use cleaner and it can start to look pretty worn. My mom always protected the table when we came to eat with padded table clothes or place mats. I love place mats, but they are just not very fuctional with kids. Unless you use the ugly plastic kind, which are functional but look awful. Anyway, when I got the table, my mom also gave me the padded table cloth along with it. She would usually use it under a pretty table cloth, which I did for special occasions. But washing a table cloth everyday is just not on my list of fun things to do, so I just used the padded table cloth by itself.

It was ugly, had a pattern that trapped food and (though I couldn't see it I knew it was there) bacteria and germs. I bleached the thing often. Also, it was too long for the table without the leaves, so it hung almost to the floor on one side. If any of you know me well, you know that bugged me. A lot.

So I thought the solution was to order a glass top. With a glass top, you could see the pretty table, I could get it clean, and the table would be protected. I asked hubby to measure and order one.

And waited.

And reminded.

And waited.

And then, a marvelously smart friend told me she had seen someone use clear vinyl on their table, and it didn't look to bad. So I headed right over to the fabric store to check it out. I bought the right amount, and we put it on the table tonight.

I should have taken a before picture, but I didn't and I really didn't feel like putting the table cloth back on just for a picture.

It looks so good! I can see my table! We stapled it to the table underneath. I can clean it, it protects the table, if it gets ripped or something we can easily buy more. It saved us about $100 too.

Which is nothing to sneeze at.

So I actually thanked my husband for procrastinating. I am quite sure that will never happen again.

Ha haha

ONE of my children said this to Jason the other day as they were driving down the road and saw something she had seen on a commercial on tv:

Oh, look dad, they have a topsy turvy, oh look they have two! They must have called "RIGHT NOW'!

Tennessee

I was able to go to Tennessee last week, to see my brother, thanks to my mom! She bought my ticket, and away we went.
We kept it a secret from my brother. He knew my mom was coming, but not me and the baby. I was the surprise! We kept it secret for about 3 weeks. That was hard! But worth it to see their faces when we came off the plane. I recorded it, so I will post that later.

We had so much fun there. It was so nice to see my brother; I miss him and wished he lived closer. I had never been to Tennessee before, so it was a nice experience.

Tennessee has way too many letters, bytheway, so I will hereafter refer to it as TN.


We went to a nature preserve and walked along the TN river/lake. That was nice, but buggy, and TN bugs are unusual and scare me. I spent a lot of time on that walk jumping out of my skin.

They just bought a house, and it is so cute. This is there kitchen, they are about to remodel it. I loved being able to see his home, so I can imagine him there and feel closer.


We ate. A lot. TN has the most restaurants per capita in the US, I think, and it certainly appears that way. There are eats everywhere. PJ had talked up the food a ton so I was excited to eat! We ate some yummy southern bbq, which is my fave. I love pulled pork. We also ate lots of goodies, not good for the waistline. Here is a picture of our cupcakes. Glutenous, I know.

The bugs are scary, but the vegetation is gorgeous. So many flowers, so much green. The magnolia trees are amazing; they get huge and have lovely enormous blossoms that smell wonderful.

We went on a riverboat cruise that included lunch. There was an interesting (horrible) entertainer singing to recorded music while she played the keyboard. We were supposed to sail at 1:00. They were having problems with the generator that would give us electricity while we cruised, so we departed late. Honestly, the only thing they wanted the electricity for was so that the annoying entertainer could continue, so I am glad they couldn't get it working! She was funny though; while we were eating and waiting to go, she was singing (loudly and poorly). She struck up one song, and we all started to laugh. We had to agree, we were sitting by the dock of the bay, and we were wasting time.

Here we all are, my mom, Jackie, PJ, me and Corrine. Corrine was so good the entire trip. She wasn't fussy much, and slept pretty good, for her. I knew I would enjoy seeing my brother, and getting a chance to spend time in adult company. But what I didn't anticipate was how much I enjoyed having just Corrine. Her little personality was much more apparent without all her sisters around. It was really fun to spend time with just her.

Me and litte Corrine.

Right before we were getting off the boat, Corrine threw her bink overboard. It was funny, and oddly sad to see it floating off all by itself. PJ was laughing at me, but it felt like a symbol of her babyhood, slowly fading away. They just are not little long enough.

We said "bye bye bink", so Corrine started waving bye bye!

We also went to the TN history museum, which was interesting.

Here is PJ trying to buckle Corrine in. We were all laughing at his attempt, even Corrine. Her little grin seems to say "Silly Uncle Paul, its just a little buckle!"

On the last night, we got some yummy steaks and scallops and ate on their back porch. That was very nice. After, we played games and ate smores.

Lest you think all we did was eat, (you would be right) we did walk A TON and one morning I went for a run with PJ. I liked that; PJ, if you lived closer we could run together and bike more often!

Here is a picture of all of us in front of their house. We stayed for 5 days, and it seemed like 2. I wish we could have stayed longer, but my mom had to work and I had to mother! It was a really nice trip, and it wouldn't have happened without my mother's generosity and my husbands willingness to hold down the fort in my abcense. TN is so far away. Thank you PJ and Jackie for having us, we miss you!