Friday

So long Winter coats
hats
cold days
dark evenings!





Hello again tree buds
daisy chains
impromptu picnics on the driveway
{ants invited}
barefeet
long, long days!

Surprise!

fotos del cumpleanyos

We had so much fun all day yesterday celebrating Elena's birthday.
I went to her school. When it was time to blow out the candles she and I were both so emotional that she could not even blow the candles out!
In her class they sing all the verses of happy birthday.
They say...how old are you? then, We all love you, then May God bless you...
ohhh...!! It really is an emotional thing for a room full of people to be singing that to you!
So Andy and I helped her and we all three blew the candles out.
For her gifts... a very cool DS case that I got for her off of ETSY, and two DS games from Grandma, and the cutest doll baby that laughs from Nana.
Last night we went out to eat Mexican food the restaurant people sang to her! She was absolutely MORTIFIED! She hated it!--she does not like to be focused upon.

Imagine her surprise tomorrow when we have a SURPRISE birthday party play date with her friends from school--the girls only...
You see it all gets complicated b/c I had to throw her off the surprise by going in to her class...
So now, by the time we finish celebrating we will have done this three times! hee hee!
I am having fun with it this year, though...and I think she will have fun taking her friends hiking in the woods and playing with them in the playhouse etc.

Okay..i am off to check on Eva--she should be awake from her nap... a ver..

Giddy!

Yippie!
I just bought a canner on @mazon!
My mama is going to teach me how to can stuff this summer.
I am absolutely giddy--

FUN!
When I was little she canned stuff.
I remember waiting for the pop, pop of the jar lids.
Now, I can learn how to do it myself.

Watch out okra! Here I come!!
to pickle you...

five years ago today...

i was a sleepy mama!
in the hosptial with my fresh new bundle of joy.
she was eight hours old...
ahhh..
today, i am a sleepy mama.
the bundles are all bundled, and i am off to read.
pictures will come later...
they are SUPER SWEET! just like my girl.

This week...

I am into:
Almond milk! We have it at Food L!on now! Yippie!
It is better {in idea at least} than soy milk.
Cow milk--although my body tolerates it just fine--is just gross in idea to me.
So almond milk it is! :)

Driving over lemons:
I discovered, by going on Am@zon that the author of this book also has about three more out..
Gonna get them and read them..
If you have not read this book...READ IT! --it is just the best little story.

There was something else....
I'll get to it later, right now I have to get some kids.

kid shows

When we lived in Durham and in Graham we had the most wonderful thing...
Satelite with a DVR!! yeah baby!
We could watch anything at anytime! :)
We watched kid shows on every channel available.
Elena's favorite was always Max and Ruby.

Now it's different we have PB$ kids--and DVD's and THAT IS ALL!!
My children know that when they go to grandparents' houses then they can watch the other channels.
And they do.

Now on PB$ at 6:30 {evening news time} a certain little someone makes an appearance...a certain little someone who my children LOVE!! and I well, he makes me {sick} and I think he is {dumb, whiny..and I {{hate}} him}. There.

Any guesses???

His name is Caillou (definitely spelled wrong)
He is so daggone annoying!! I can't even see how his cartoon mama can stand him..but then, she is part of the problem.
Is he annoying to anyone else? I mean he whines the whole cartoon. His mama never tells him, "Caillou--now stop that whining, you are getting on my nerves" or "Caillou..let your sister have that toy--I don't care if it is your blue truck--go get a different one--she is a BABY AND SHE HAD IT FIRST" She never does this..it's always--"oooooohhhhhh Caaiiiiillllouuuu...blah blah.."
UGHH..

Now, my children know that Caillou drives me nuts. They are secure enough in their love for him not to let my disdain for him drive them away at 6:30 --ohhh no! We have to watch!

BUT they also know that mama and daddy give Caillou hell. AND when one of them whines I tell them..."now, you are starting to sound an awful lot like Caillou" Or sometimes I even say, "Now, don't start that Caillou crap, you know it gets on my nerves" Which one I pick depends on how tired I am.

I think it would be fun..on a date night one night.. no kids around..to drink a couple beers and comment on the whole episode of caillou...and include cuss words.
I think Andy would like this too.
The whole time we watch it we look at eachother like...OMG!! What a freakin dorky kid!
This is so mean, no?

Ademas, I think I might have figured it out..the writers are possible totally trying to relate to "a boy of four" and really tell the story from his perspective??? maybe???
Ughh...

Here is another funny about Caillou. One time when Caroline was about three or four (she is 12 now) I noticed that whenever she whined her accent completely changed from the most country accent ever to this chicago accent...
I asked Sissy..."why does she whine and sound just like a yankee?"
Sissy discovered that she learned this yankee whine by watching too much Caillou!! no lie!!

So ..are there any cartoons that y'all can't stand?
Warning...don't pick on Arthur..that is my favorite and that might hurt my feelings.
Hee hee

97 & 3

Note to {old,freaky} men....

Consider yourself off limits please.
When you are out and about on Saturday and you feel like interacting with
your fellow man...
Don't pick children to be the people you interact with.
Why in the world do {old,freaky} men ALWAYS want to
interact with my children?
I think they want to interact with children period.
My children NEVER want to interact with the freaky old men.

When we went to lowe's to buy plants while ago it was as if someone had
announced over the loud speaker:
There is a mom, by herself shopping for pavers in the garden section...
Would all the old men please meet up over there so you can freak her damn kids out...
I really think that is what happened..it was almost comical by the end...
There was the younger guy with the really thick glasses who tried to help put
v-man in the cart ...THIS IS A BIG NO-NO!! Victor would never dare let some strange dude
pick him up...he might kick the strange dude and run out into the traffic screaming to get away from the strange dude...but let the fellow hold him...oh h#ll no!
Then there was teeny little old black man with the cateracts...He was coming for the cart mumbling something unintelligble--of course he was saying something about cute..
I am quite sure that my stay the hell away face was not cute to him..
Then I reminded myself--oh god, susan, this is a teeny little old man!! be SWEET!
So I did.
THEN--no lie...when we were wheeling the cart to the car some old dude who walked like a video game character and had wild eyes came running over with whatever he had to say.
Every time one of them approached the weight in the cart (about 100lbs) shifted away from the stranger, and all three butts rose up out of the bottom of the cart (escape mode)
No one else feels the need to do this...WTF--young men mostly do not do this. ladies, do not do this...
Only {old,freaky looking} men.

MY CHILDREN (AND PROBABLY MOST OTHERS) HAVE NO INTEREST IN INTERACTING WITH YOU!!
Someone needs to do a public service announcement about this. :)

Finally!

I finally got finished reading this book!!
The Hemingses of Monticello was a wonderful book.
I decided to read the book after I heard the author, Annette Gordon-Reed, talking about
this history on NPR one day.
Reading History is a pretty dry prospect, but this book was great!
It was really interesting to read this history told/written by an African
American woman.
The book was super long...and at the end I was sort of marathon reading b/c I wanted to see what happened--and last night, at 11:00PM--almost exactly--I FINALLY Finished it. :)
Off to my next reading adventure.

Have a great weekend!

Three years ago

on this night...at about 10:30 Andy and I decided it was time to go to the hospital.
;)
We drove from Graham to Durham--in the almost rain {llovizno} to Durham Regional Hospital.
I was in labor until about 2:00 AM--the next day --so tom.
And...thanks to the help of a VERY COOL irish lady (from ireland)
--Out flew our little V. man. He literally shot out! The dr. was not in the room and I did not obey the nurse when she suggested that I wait for him to get there. Some things {and people} just do not wait.

Be still my heart! :)

I guess the pictures of when he was born are on the other computer. /??
He is a sweety!
He captures hearts daily about the town--according to Grandma and Nana who are about the town with him.

I have just finished making his birthday cake. It is a {thircle} cake at his request.

:)

The new look..

I am liking the new look if I do say so myself.
I have trouble with new sometimes. :)
This is good.
I just took time to change some of the colors and fonts etc. so that
it all matches.
:)
We had the busiest weekend!!
AHHH!!
Andy and I cooked for my Daddy on Friday night.
On Saturday we played all day long and then Andy and I got a date night.
Well, Andy and I, despite our better judgement {or maybe not?} always go out and
socialize on date nights--this is EVEN THOUGH we always say we are going to
stay home and sleep! argh..you can only be in one place at the time.
Last night we were partying. That is all there is to say.
It was fun.
We were in a social mood. I met some of his friends from nursing school..and basically if you go out at night here you will find people you know. We did.
We stayed.
Fun.
This morning...not fun.
Eva did not sleep well at nana's.
Victor had an unfortunate accident (that I won't name b/c he would be embarrassed).
Andy had a big ole hangover...
I was STILL SLEEPY!!

Okay...so I am off to my other internet chores.
Oh. check out the blogs that i follow ifyou are able and look at the one called
Andalucia.
It is cool.
This lady from here who loves to travel has gone traveling to all of my favorite places in Southern Spain.
Best of all, she is bringing me some Yayitas!! (the kind of cookies that are so good you want to eat the whole bag)
YUM!

Have a great week! :)

help!!

I am trying to change the background of my blog.
I got on Cutest Blog on the Block.
Picked the one I want
Read the directions and followed them.
It is not working.
So, are the directions wrong?
They say to copy the html and then paste it into "add a gadget"
well, I did that --but that doesn't really make sense b/c the add a gadget is
for small things...lists etc.--not changing your background.
So where do you copy and paste the html to make the background change?

Thanks for any help!! :)

In the midst...

This week Victor got ahold of the camera.
He took a bunch of pictures of people in the midst of doing things.
They are funny.
I guess this happens b/c he just grabs the camera and snaps snaps snaps away.
Enjoy!
Actually, these first ones I took. I was capturing Eva in the act of sucking on her favorite brick! When she is in the living room, if she is not otherwise entertained her favorite thing to do is to go after this brick in the hearth. It is loose (God only knows how she discovered that) and she crawls over and picks it out of its little space, picks it up and ..... in the mouth it goes! So meanwhile in the camera already were the pictures that Victor had taken. When I put them on the computer this morning...a post was born! :)





Elena's cartwheel: She has been practicing this endlessly lately. It is so fun and educational to watch her trying. She's gonna get it. :)




And finally, we'll call this one: Andy dancing



And let's not forget the photographer himself! :)

Post Ideas..

So, even when I am not posting I am thinking about post ideas:
One is to copy Melissa and post the thing that I am obsessing about that week.
Vamos, or {things}.
The other is to tell the tales of the new super hero I have invented in my mind who is this roguish/vigilante social worker super hero who sets people right when they mistreat children.
This second idea is stemming from the fact that it seems like nice spring weather is bringing about all kinds of SENSELESS abusive/strange behavior in the homes of my children. This behavior is, of course investigated by the powers that be,who are in my mind, {powerless}. Thus the need for super hero vigilante social worker lady or {man}--
The second idea will probably not happen. There is the need for anonimity --even for the sorriest and most shameful people among us, which I am finding more and more that I [might not} agree with this...maybe a good public shaming would be good for these people...hmmm?? AND of course not have a food stamp debit card too..(I just found out that these exist btw..and that people trade their value to buy drugs...oh yes. :)
Soooo...let's see--Wasn't the weather great today!? I am trying to bring this around folks...positive posts, positive posts....

Those are my ideas..besides a couple random posts that I had in mind...That i will get to.

I am off now...to read my book! It is soooo good! :)
Let's see if i can get some pictures up here of the things I am obsessing over. :)

And the rest of the day...

We all got up from naps and went over to L.B.s house.
We played on the pirate ship yard thing,
rode on the super mega golf cart (that Caroline who is 12 drove around the golf course and neighborhood), and chilled out and {drank wine}.
Then Daddy came over and we went home with Caroline and Collin in tow.
FUN!
Then we watched movie, at popcorn and supper and played some {more}.
Then sissy came to retrieve her offspring.
What was your favorite part of the day? (e. gardening) (v man, shake the head, shake the head, chupa chupa chupa).......off to sleep my babes.
What was my favorite part?
Seeing friends...so close at hand that they can be taken for granted.
So ready to be there...almost as natural as breathing...
Ahhhh...
So natural and easy to be around...
HOME!

Yippie!

Okay,
So Winter is getting the boot around here:
Today we:
Washed sweaters--to put them AWAY!
We: chopped up the dirt in the side bed--a new sunny spot to plant some stuff.
I love to listen to Victor's working sounds. He has a kiddie sized hoe--and boy does he love to chop dirt.
He has a lot of energy...we need to keep putting it to good use.
Meanwhile Elena was telling us, "If I do three cartwheels in a row it will make the peas grow...do you want me to do cartwheels?"
Victor: "Grunt, Grunt, chop chop...ith dith good mommy?"
Yippie!! The beginnings of the garden.
We are going to leave the old garden spot mostly alone as an exp. We want to see what just happens to come up there.

I will put pictures up here. This is too exciting to leave without a visual.

Also: I am the proud mama of a....
BOOK READER!
Last night I found, in a box of books, a reader book that was from Andy's parent's house.
The first story was chock full of sight words--which Elena has been practicing at school.
She read the story, "The Monkey and the Bee" to me THREE TIMES ! She was absolutely beside herself...and boy was I too! :).

Bueno...I guess I need to go and take some pictures to make this entry a little more fun.
Happy weekend.

Check out..

The google art today...
Is this the four seasons by vivaldi artwork?
I think it is and I like it. :)

No more controversy.
I love Maryellen.
As I get older I realize how crazy {really} opinions are.
They should almost be treated as nothing more than a tool
for amusement.
Surrounding any given opinion are so many variables and facts, that really
the person who is most dogged in his/her opinion, seems the most idiotic.
:)
What do I know about adopting?
Nothing.
What do I know about attending school at home?
Nothing.
Ha!

Now, here is something cool:
man! I forgot what it was that I was even going to post...
there was something good that i saw today...

Oh, I had a question:
Does anyone else think that the new Al!ce in Wond3rland does not seem like a Kid's movie at all?
Andy just thinks I am too old fashioned.

Crazy

On GMA just now, Someone..the anchor..was raising the question, "should white people adopt black kids from haiti?"
Can y'all even believe this?
I cannot.
Childen are children.
People are people.
Culture is culture.
Basic needs being met, is basic needs being met.
Period.
Do I think children should be stolen? h@@ no!
That is terrible.
BUT if there is a couple who wants to adopt a child, and the child who needs them is in Haiti and it all comes together...PERFECT!
There is a child who will not run around nekkid, hungry, uneducated, unloved, homeless...
who will be loved as a HUMAN BEING.

Period.

Cake

Here is the bunny cake that we made on Sunday and a picture of Eva crawling:




I realize you have to turn your head to be able to see the cake picture right.
On sunday we were all stir crazy and we decided to make a cake. We had the cake mix.
We had the eggs, and the oil, and we had coconut for decorations and some jelly bellys in the car, and we had a bunny cake pan! yippie! We did not have butter for the icing..but Andy came to the rescue and went to get us some.
FUN.
We all love to make {and eat} cakes. Oh, and putting icing into a ziploc bag and cutting off a corner is an EXCELLENT way to decorate cakes! It worked really well.
Oh, and the icing recipe i use is off the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder box. YUM! I could really hide in a closet and eat an entire bowl of it...but I won't. ;).

We are all at home today for a snow day.
My children have a new play scenario...moving. They are pretending to move.
The dialogue is hilarious..the way they strew things around the house in their packing ...NOT HILARIOUS!

I am all about some pretend. Yay pretending. Not yay pretending to move.
I am still letting them do it, though...who cares, really? if everything in the house is in a box or bag in the wrong room? who cares?