Happy birthday Nye

Lee: So Nye, how does it feel to be three? Nye: Umm, it feels awesome!!! Three minutes later: Nye throwing a small fit: I don't want to be three any more! I want to be two! Lizzy: But Nye, then you won't be a daddy and you can't buy your own chocolate and stuff! Nye, resigned and sighing: OK....I guess I'll be three...

Hindsight

When your three year old son eats the frosting off of six cupcakes, sending him to a nap is NOT an effective solution.

Spoken like a girl...

Lizzy's bedtime prayer tonight:

Dear God, Thank you for toiletries and stuff.  Amen.

Define: miles

GPS: Turn left in 1.5 miles.
Nye:  Uh-oh, it said miles...miles means the chicken goes on the road.

Harvesting Oregano

The oregano was getting weeding looking and Nye was getting antsy inside.  What a perfect match!  

Trimming immediately brought him to a focused and calm place and kept him there for quite a while.

Perservance

Nye: "Mom, can I play on computer?"
Me: "No."
Nye: "Mom, can I play on your phone?"
Me: "No, Nye."
Nye: "Mom, can I watch TV?"
Me: "No."
Nye:  "Mommmmm, you not say no to everything!"
Me:  "Nye, go find something else to play with...we're not doing those right now.  I want you to entertain yourself!"

                        

Touché my boy, you dug through all the boxes and found the one other electronic toy in the house....

Done with Quarantine! Almost...

YAY!!  Today marks the first day in almost a month and a half that we're not contagious with whooping cough!!  We can get together with people again!

Or we could have if Nye hadn't woken up with a fever of 101.5, vomit, and had a few bouts of diarrhea for the past 24 hours and Lizzy didn't wake up with a slightly swollen, rash face like this:

 Oh yay, looks like another day at home. :-D

At least Lizzy still has her sense of humor.  My best guess is that hers is a case of hives from either sleeping on the carpet last night or a bubble bath from yesterday afternoon?  Time will tell.

Herbert and heart shaped rocks

Lizzy went from deathly afraid of spiders to letting daddy long legs crawl up her arms in one day!  A feat for her!! 

Thanks in large part to Pamela Jay of heart shaped rocks.  She explained to Lizzy that daddy long legs are named Herbert.  And they don't eat little girls, but prefer sherbert. 

I guess naming your fears works!

Welcome into our lives Pamela and Herberts of all shapes and sizes!

Reassurance

The kids helped me season a whole rainbow trout for dinner tonight.  We talked about where the stomach was, where it pooped, what the teeth felt like, and how it breathed.  They were pretty captivated until I chopped it's head off.  Nye was aghast and kept saying "poor fishy, poor fishy."  It was a good segway into discussing how the dead know nothing and can't feel anything.  Lizzy got the concept quickly and began to reassure Nye.  "Don't worry Nye, you won't feel it when they cut your head off because you'll be dead already!" (big, confident smile) 

Late at night

Mid-July 12:18am.  Last night of vacation.  Just put kids to bed in same room with us.  Conversation in the dark ensures...real, difficult feelings come out.

Nye: Mommy, you stupid. (I took his glow stick away because he was eating it.) 
Lizzy: Don't say that.  It's evil.  You're evil Nye if you say that!
Nye: I not like Mommy.  I want mommy to die.
Lizzy:  But then you'll never ever ever EVER see her again....not even in the Kingdom of God!
Nye:  Well... I will hit Goliath.  Then I hit him and save mommy.  Then I hug her, I love mommy!

I almost had cereal this morning

Instead I forced my lazy side to actually make breakfast.  My stomach/health is grateful.

Ingredients: butter sauteed zucchini and spinach, two dippy eggs, parmesan cheese, refried beans, and guacamole.

Sweet Frog Spring Treat

Celebrating the coming of warm spring days by eating ice cream out.  Unfortunately, it was a 55 degree blimp when we had planned on going.  No worries, we still enjoyed it to the fullest.

"Hey Nye, try some of mine!"  ::shoves it in his mouth::

"Huh!  Not bad.  It's ok."

"HE LIKES IT!"

These are a few of my favorite things

Dried herbs make me unreasonably happy.  Oh the plans I have for you...teas, decoctions, infusions, extracts, glycerides...yay!

Define: A Good Day

When a trail meets a creek and you decide to get in.

Grateful...

For the chance to spend a carefree, spring week running and playing in Grandpa's garden.

Before and After Naptime

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Sides

This is your brain on nap deprevation.  You will fall asleep during the good parts of a movie when the rest of us look like this:

Kids: don't let this be you.  Just take naps.

Shabbat Shalom!

 

 

 

 

 

Deleavening...(late post!)

I cleaned my oven and toaster in 15 minutes total.  Why on earth did I dread that so much?  It was completely painless.  Thankfully that's the worst of the de-leavening process...

Or so I thought before I had kids.  Now I know.  NOTHING compares to car seats.  In, around, and under-solid hour and a half.

Mom thinks  "EWW!!  What is this stuff under your seat.  When is the last time I even bought graham crackers?  Is that a green apple?!  (I only buy red ones, if you know what I mean).  Wow, we are disgusting guys.  Ew, ew, ew."

Nye thinks "YUM!!" and shoves as much as he can in his mouth before I suck it up with the vacuum (Yes, I did consider sucking it out of his mouth).

Later he wanted a turn, but had to promise he wouldn't eat anything before getting vacuum privileges.  

 

 The backward pants are my favorite part!

Romans 8:26

Lizzy and Nye were eating a snack when I heard a fight about whose turn it was to say the prayer.  So they took turns, but every time one would finish, the other would shout, "It's my turn!" and say a faster and louder prayer.  Nye's become so abridged it ended up like this:

"Dear God, Please let the kingdom spiders get me."

Thankfully we have a wise, loving and understanding God who does not always choose to say yes to our prayers.

(As background, Nye usually drops the negative in a request. And his nightly prayers always hit three points. Let Kingdom of God come soon, Thank you for ________, and let the spiders get me.  (Read: Don't let the spiders get me...the boy has a phobia of spiders in his bed!)  Lizzy used to get scared that God didn't understand, so she always follows up with "And God, don't let the spiders get Nye. Thank you. Amen."  She's beefing up her intercessory prayer skills. :)

What to do when you see a black widow

First, run and grab a can of wasp spray because you're too chicken to squish it with a shoe.  Next, nonchalantly walk over and spray that spider for all you've got.  Realize you should have got a shoe while inside.  It's too late now, if you leave the scene of the future crime, your victim will escape into the gravel.  Spray more every time it moves.

Now if you take some time to look around, you may notice a tick or two crawling up a deck post.  Spray them while your there; you've got nothing better to do.  You may even want to sing a happy "die, die, die" song in your head as you imagine them not feeding on your children this summer.

Now back to the monstrous spider.  Try to end the stalemate by calling your neighbor girl over to get you a shoe (note to self: wearing shoes would provide me with better weapon options).  Never get closer than two feet to the spider.  The wasp spray may give him mutant jumping powers.

FACT: 1/2 can of wasp spray will eventually kill a black widow.  EVENTUALLY.  The waiting is hard if you aren't sure of this fact.  It will not happen quickly. The giant spider may still look very healthy, very spry, and very large.  

Do not be intimidated.

If you are intimidated, ask your neighbor's husband to come over and kill it for you.  You are now desperate enough to wait until he gets out of the shower.  (Lots of waiting...remember). 

Feel slightly humiliated when said neighbor grabs a two inch stick to poke it with.  Watch as it falls over with it's limb frozen in space.  It's dead.  Rejoice!  Oops, you may wish you had grabbed a picture of this awesome spider before said neighbor squishes it and throws it into the bushes for you.  

Bake said neighbor cookies anyway, while mourning the lost picture opportunity   Seriously, it was the most perfect specimen I've ever seen.  

Finally, in the good to know department:

How dangerous are black widow spider bites?
If a black widow spider bites a person, do not panic! No one in the United States has died from a black widow spider bite in over 10 years. Very often the black widow will not inject any venom into the bite and no serious symptoms develop. Wash the wound well with soap and water to help prevent infection.

If muscle cramps develop, take the patient to the nearest hospital. Some victims, especially young children, may be admitted overnight for observation and treatment. There is treatment for a black widow spider bite that can take care of the symptoms. Various medications are used to treat the muscle cramps, spasms and pain of a bite. Black widow spider antivenin is seldom necessary. 
http://sta.uwi.edu/pic/bitesAndStings04.asp

Masterpieces

The good life thanks Lizzy for her massive contributions to the artwork on this site. 

Define: Humility

I just got schooled in tick tack toe...by my four year old...who played it for the first time ever.

"Now you want to make sure that I don't get three in a row.  Good, now I have to put my piece where you won't get three in a.....wait, did you just beat me?  Wait, what?!"

"I've got to take a picture to show dad later.  Smile!  Oh come on, what are you implying?  I'm not that bad."

Why some kids never learn...

Nye: "Mamma, mamma, look!  I a fireman!"

Me, pulling out my camera: "Nye! This is in no way acceptable (click), so as soon as I take your picture (click), I want you to clean that soup out of your hair (click), and never do this again (click).  Do you understand?"

A Royal Night

Chick fil a hosted a princess party for kids recently.  Dress like a princess and get a free kids meal.  How could we pass that up?

Lizzy got to do everything a real princess does.  Check on her herd, get a manicure, get a tattoo, bejewel a crown, hunt pirates down, get a few more tattoos,  eat ice cream, and hang out with other princess types.  Needless to say, it was a good night for her!