Family Salt Recipe May Become Famous

Last week, Will was studying weather in school. They read the book "It Looked Like Spilt Milk". In this book, the author looks at the clouds and sees all sorts of things. As a class, Will's friends made their own version of "Spilt Milk". He brought it home over the weekend and we took pictures of Will's pages.

Will not only had to state that the cloud looked like a chicken leg, but one with Grandma's seasoning. This seasoning being "S. Salt". Will discovered the great taste of this salt a few months ago and now insists on using it on his chicken. Beware, Grandma S.! Will plans to make a new and BETTER version of the S. salt. According to Will, the only thing lacking in this concoction is pepper. His version will , of course, have pepper in it.

Yard Golf

Continuing our search for "outside family fun" we discovered the game of Blongo Ball or Yard Golf as we call it. To play this game, one must throw two golf balls, connected by a rope, onto a contraption of pvc pipe. The pipe is formed to create a three-tiered goal of sorts. Each tier has been designated a different point value. The object is to reach 21 points without going over. It is probably no surprise that Allan and I were out for blood to beat each other at this game. As luck would have it, he won one game and I won the other.

Doing my winning victory dance

The deciding match will be played at a later date due to injuries sustained by munchkins. Emma and Jack were bound and determined to play along with us. Jack managed to throw a few forward toward the goal before bonking himself on the head with the very hard golf ball. Emma, try as she might, could only get the balls UP into the air, rather than up and forward toward the goal. When I tried to help her with the throwing technique, I managed to really bonk her hard in the head with a golf ball. That was the end of our "outside family fun". While it may not be the ideal game for our family at the moment, Allan and I thoroughly enjoyed it. :) It was too hot to keep playing anyway! HA! (the temp rose above 80 degrees on Sunday)

A Great Loss

We are very fortunate to live in a neighborhood that is full of trees. Our backyard is mostly wooded and the front has a beautiful clump of very tall trees that really adds character to our home. Shortly after moving in last fall, we had a storm. Evidently, lightening from the storm hit our biggest and most beautiful tree in the front. As you can guess, it did not survive. Last week, a group of men came and cut our large friend down. We are all saddened by this loss, but have decided to make the best of it. When time allows, we will fix things up and post pictures. In the meantime, Emma posed as a tree on what is left of our large friend - the stump.

My plants

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I do NOT have a green thumb. That being said, I want everyone to know how proud I am of my front doorstep plants. I purchased a couple new plants last fall. They are very bizzare looking and I believe they are called Rudolph's Red Nose or something ridiculous like that. Nonetheless, I like the unusual. I planted them with pansies in my pots and lo and behold, they all lasted the winter and are looking more fabulous than ever! They recently sprouted up these long stems and have a flower-like thing on the ends. Even the pansies still look great from LAST FALL! Once again, I have to say how much I LOVE NC! It's awesome climate allows me to grow flowers all fall and winter long. Yippee!

May I have an earring, please?

Emma, Jack and I decided to have a little adventure today and went into Winston looking for fabric to make curtains. The day was going very well and we had lots of laughs (came up dry in the fabric department though). At lunch, however, I believe someone slipped Emma a giggle pill. She decided to make a "milk of Liberty" with her cup and had an uncontrolable case of the giggles. When our food arrived, she turned to me and asked, "may I have one of your earrings, please?" I had her repeat this several times. Finally, I realized that she was asking for one of my ONION rings and thought they were called earrings! At that point, we all had a case of the giggles. Kids are so much fun. :)

Boy wannabe

Just when I think my little princess has overwhelmed us with pink everything, dollies and fru fru, she comes trotting down the steps clad in one of Will's outfits! The uncontrollable laughter coming from her was a dead giveaway that something was up. I should also mention that the outfit was even complete with Will's Star Wars underwear as well. She and Will insisted on pictures and it was Emma's idea to look "tough".

Daddy's Home!

After a long week without daddy, he finally made it back home last night. We were SO HAPPY to see him! The saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" definately has some truth to it. Of course, no trip away is complete without gifts. Daddy did a great job of picking just the right gift for everyone. There was a "Titanic" book for Will, a princess set (complete with clip-on earrings!), a truck for Jack (too busy for a picture) and Oregon wine and D-A-R-K chocolate for Tanna! Daddy also brought pieces of driftwood, a starfish and some kind of pink shell from the Pacific Ocean. Hooray! We are so happy to have the big guy back home!

Sand Table

With the onset of even more beautiful NC weather, we decided to buy the kids a sand and water table. It has been a huge hit with all three. It has been especially great at keeping Jack occupied, and that is not an easy task.

Tooth Fairy Visit

Nothing about Will can be normal. We should just expect that. He just lost his third tooth on Monday. This was also the third tooth that had to be pulled. This just doesn't happen to normal children. Just as before, his permanent tooth came in behind his baby teeth. No amount of wiggling or threats from Dad could get the baby tooth out. So, away we went to see Dr. Tina. Like the last time, Will was a real trooper and didn't mind having the tooth pulled. He proudly brought the tooth home and put it in a glass of water before bed. For those who are not aware of this ritual, the tooth fairy comes at night and when she dips down to place the gold coin in the glass, her dress touches the water and turns it the color of her dress. Her dress happened to be blue Monday night. Not only did he leave his tooth for the fairy, but he also decided to write her a note.

So I had a bad day

I will be the first to admit that my bad days are few and far between. I may have frustrating moments, but rarely do I have a whole, complete day that is bad. Well, mark the calendar because yesterday was one of them! While the reasons could be listed here, they would certainly take up an obscene amount of space and to be quite honest, I am not sure I am ready to rehash the events. I will say that the day started at 6 am with Jack screaming and ended at 8 pm with very bright blue mouthwash splattered all over a recently cleaned bathroom. Now, anyone who knows me would guess that I ended the day with my favorite Ultimate Toll House cookie (the ones with pecans), hot out of the oven and a big glass of cold milk. Not last night! It was such a rough day that I ended it with a couple of glasses of my newest favorite red wine and a phone call to my aunt Sharon. I did share some of my day with her because I knew she could relate and help me find humor in my daily events. It worked! I went to bed smiling. Today is a new day and it started with Emma calling out to me from the bathroom, while she was going potty, just to tell me that she loved me. Aren't kids the greatest?!

Mother's Little Helper

To quote the Stones: "What a drag it is getting old Kids are different today,I hear evry mother say Mother needs something today to calm her down And though shes not really ill Theres a little yellow pill She goes running for the shelter of a mothers little helper And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day"
OK, so I don't have a "little yellow pill", but I do have coffee! Thank goodness for coffee! The bummer is that my fabulous husband who makes awesome coffee each morning is in Oregon. I have been stumbling through the process, but just can't seem to get it right. I think it is time for Allan to come home.
I REALLY needed good coffee this morning. Jack and I were up about every half hour last night. He broke into a fever around 3 am, which explained his lack of sleep. I would like someone to explain to me why he decided to get up at 6 am. If I no longer had a fever and had been up all night, I don't think I would choose a 6 am wake up time. I guess that is my lesson - I don't get to choose! Like I said, thank goodness for coffee!

Got Wood?

We sure do! And if you have wood that needs cutting, Allan is the man to call. After finally receiving this long awaited chain saw (story is sure to follow at some point), Allan decided to spend Sunday cutting wood and trying out this new toy. Let me tell you, if there was dead wood or fallen wood anywhere on or near our property, it fell victim to Allan and his chain saw.

Like most men of his father's liniage, Will fell victim to the sounds and smell of the CHAIN SAW! Here are Allan and Will sporting their best "manly" faces.

Here are some shots of Will carrying the logs for Dad and the muscles that he has to work with.

Enough of this manly stuff, Emma and I just want to pose pretty on the nice pile of wood.

Now all we need is our backyard fireplace! In case you're wondering about Jack's role in all of this....he was sleeping! His time with THE SAW is yet to come.

Will, the chef

Will has added yet another skill to his growing list. One night last week, we let him have the run of the kitchen. He created a tasty combination of graham crackers, vanilla pudding, cherry pie filling and cool whip to temp our taste buds. The Cherry Delight as he calls it, received a thumbs up from everyone but Mom. Reason being: Mom doesn't like pudding.

The Kookaburra

Just when I least expect it, an old childhood song pops into the forefront of my memory. While reading "Expedition Down Under" to Will this week, we came across the word Kookaburra. I remembered a song that we had sung in grade school about a Kookaburra "sitting in the old gum tree". I sang the song to Will and as we read on, lo and behold, Ms. Frizzle (of the Magic School Bus) sang that very song with her children during the trip to Australia. Well, all along, I had in my mind that a Kookaburra was a furry little bear, similar to the koala. At the end of the book, Ms. Frizzle's class finally sees a kookaburra and discovers that it is a BIRD! Even Will had "expected the kookaburra to be a small bear similar to the koala". Check out a picture, a sound clip and the complete words to my childhood song at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/kookaburra.htm.

A trip to John and Jacki's new pad

Dad and Jack at the beach - Jack really is having fun!

Check out those same smiles!

We spent the past weekend visiting Allan's nephew, John and his wife, Jacki. What a great time we had! They live close to the ocean, so we stopped at the beach Saturday morning to pick up some shells for Miss Emma's show and tell. It just so happens that this is "S" week at her school. She was so excited to get some shells and even a sand dollar to share with her friends.

Emma finding her show and tell treasures

There were lots of fun new experiences for the kids at John and Jacki's. They enjoyed cannonballs into the "Love Sak", motorcycle rides with Jonner, corn hole and of course, the wii. Emma may end up being a golfer Will preferred the boxing. Allan beat me in boxing, but that isn't saying much. When I did the physical fitness test, it estimated me at being 78 years old! I guess running after 3 kids all day isn't as much of a workout as I thought it was! Better join the Y.

Enjoying the Love Sak

John even impressed us with some of his culinary skills. He can make a mean omelet and I learned that adding lime juice to a pork marinade is tops! Will tried to impress with his cooking skills, but we ran out of time. Next visit with John and Jacki promises his famous cherry delight.

Jonner makes a Yum-o lunch

John and Jacki have a beautiful house, but there is one huge problem with it. The kids have been having Michigan nightmares after sleeping in John's Michigan decorated room. We had to detoxify them with lots of scarlet and grey exposure after arriving back home. That being said, we may never get invited back, but I had to post this as a warning to any Buckeye fans who might be considering a trip to John and Jacki's new pad.

Will and Jacki playin' the wii

Emma gets into the wii boxing

Picture For Tanna's Profile

Tanna and I have reached an impass. She likes the top picture for her profile and I like the picture on the bottom. We thought we'd see what the visitors' comments would yield. Here's your chance to vote!!!

At John and Jacki's

We went to John and Jacki's house this weekend. We had a great time catching up with them. The kids has a great time too. We went to the shore to collect sea shells, we played with Johns bean toss game and of the kids really loved the wii. We are looking foward to John and Jacki's visit to our house some time soon.

The New Detective in Town

This morning, Will announced that today was his first day being a detective. That being said, he proceeded to dress "fancy". To decipher, this means that he put on a button-down shirt with his jeans. To complete the detective look, he was sporting a magnifying glass in his front shirt pocket. Thank goodness for Uncle Dennnis as he is the one who gave Will the magnifying glass! As you can see from the pictures, Will is taking this new position very seriously. What prompted this new career for Will? Who knows?! My only guess is that it might be coming from all of his new books from the book fair. God only knows what mysteries he will solve today in Ms. Davis' Kindgergarten class......