Pity Party at the Pool

I am having one of those days.

I didn't sleep well at all last night and have basically been awake since 5 am.

The boys didn't sleep past 6:30 am either.

Eli peed out of his diaper this morning, so I got to clean that up.

Then I ended up changing three diapers within a half hour or so. We are having a poopy day.

I changed Eli's clothes twice before 10 am (and not because of the diapers).

Our plans for fun this morning fell through... so I had to figure out what else we were going to do.

Certain small people are feeling cranky and Honey Daddy is too busy at work this time of year to chat with me.

Nothing incredibly horrible has happened today. Just a bunch of little things, and for no apparent reason I am feeling overly-emotional.

I need a vacation.

Me. the beach. the shuuush of the water. a tall, cool beverage. peace and quiet.

Oh well. This is about as close as I'm gonna get:

Nevermind... I forgot we already emptied the pool.
Guess we'll go have a picnic at the park.

Thanks for letting me whine.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Recycled Farm Implement Art

Can you tell that I am milking my trip to Wyoming for all the blog posts I can possibly get out of it? Actually, there was a lot of things that I don't usually get to see, so I took a lot of pictures that I wanted to share.

For instance, on my way to Star Valley I pass by these little beauties. First there was just the dragon, then the road runner showed up one year. So this year I had to stop and take some pictures of this farmer's awesome recycled art.

Don't you just love the shovels that make up the dragon's ears and tail? Nice paint job too!

I think this road runner is made out of some aluminum siding/roofing... and I don't even know what else. Pretty creative, don't you think? My boys love watching for these critters because then they know we are less than an hour away from Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Oh Deer!! Look Who Followed Me Home From Wyoming!

A few days ago we were working on returning to our normal routine after getting back from our trip to Wyoming. Traveling gets my boys all out of whack, and it takes them a couple of days to return to their normal, cheerful, less-troublesome selves.

Anyway, the boys were eating breakfast and I walked past the living room to return a toy to the boys room. As I walked past our big front window I saw something that caused me to do a double take.

What the?!?!
There was a DEER standing in the street, just staring at me.

After I got over the initial shock of seeing a deer in the middle of the city, I ran to grab my camera. I stealthily opened the front door, imagining the perfect shot I was going to get. Just then one of my neighbors started his rather noisy truck. Dang it!

Of course the buck took off. I was determined to get a good shot of him, so I followed him discreetly (by that I mean that I ran down the street after him, barefoot and in my pajamas).

This is a rather nice shot of his rear end, don't you think? I love my zoom lens!

I ended up following this buck about three blocks before I gave up the chase and my hopes of a perfect photo. I didn't give up because my feet hurt... actually, I was more than a little concerned that my boys might be tearing up the house while I was gone!

After all, there is more than one kind of wild animal roaming around my neighborhood!

Tour de France Wyoming

Honey Daddy and I have been watching the Tour de France for the past couple of weeks. Since I have gotten into cycling in the past year, I find the Tour much more interesting.

I used to think that the Tour de France was just a bunch of guys riding around France as fast as they could for a couple of weeks. Actually there is a lot more to it than that! The riders are all on teams and there is a lot of strategy involved. Once you really pay attention to the sport, there is a lot more to it than most people think!

Now that I consider myself a cyclist, I am amazed at the strength and speed of the riders in the Tour. Especially when they are cycling so far each day, and climbing up steep mountains.

When I took the boys on our road trip to Wyoming last weekend, there was something else I took with me.... my bike. I was hoping to get some riding in after the boys had gone to bed in the evening, and fortunately I did!

One of my goals was to ride from my parents house up to the top of what the locals call "South End". It is the mountain pass you have to go over to get out of Star Valley traveling south.

I wasn't sure if I could do it because it is pretty steep.

Yep... you read that sign right. I went up about a 7 percent grade for three miles! No idea how steep 7 percent grade really is? It looks something like this:

My neat-o GPS said that I did about 929 feet of climbing in the 9 miles or so from my parents house. It took me a little over 50 minutes to get to the top... but the view up there was lovely.

It was actually getting pretty dark by the time I got to the top (what can I say? I took these photos later... you didn't think I lugged my Canon up there on my bike, did ya?). Luckily it only took me about 22 minutes to get back to my parents house because it was all downhill and I was going fast! Like over 35 miles per hour fast!

Some people don't think cycling is a very exciting sport, but as Honey Daddy would say "Let's throw you out of your car at over 25 miles per hour in your underwear and see how boring you think that is!"

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Road Trippin' -Just Me and the Boys

I am completely exhausted! The past couple of days I have been on my first road trip with the boys, but without Honey Daddy. What an experience!

Friday morning I left with the boys and headed up to Star Valley, Wyoming. My mom recently had double knee replacement surgery and she needed a little help while she recovered. So we left Honey Daddy at home, and the boys and I hit the road.

The drive took about 4 hours, and the boys did surprisingly well. Especially since I couldn't pay that much attention to them. One of my friends loaned me a DVD player, which Jonah absolutely loved. I loved it too because at least it kept one of my boys occupied (ie. not whining). Eli was a bit more bored and impatient with the whole trip, but what can you expect from a one year old?

Luckily the boys did a little of this during the drive too:
















Wyoming was great! The boys loved hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma, and I kept pretty busy. I cooked meals, vacuumed, cleaned, did laundry, and tried to keep my boys out of trouble. My mom is doing amazingly well, and I am really proud of her. I also hope I never need to have my knees replaced because it is no fun at all!

The worst part of this afternoon was getting ready to leave. I had to pack up the car, which is a job Honey Daddy usually takes care of. He is much better at fitting everything back into the car!

The boys and I survived the drive home, although we did have to stop once on the side of the road for an emergency potty break. At least it is not too much of a problem with boys!

I don't plan on doing a solo road trip with the boys for a while! I really missed having adult companionship in the car... not to mention another pair of hands. It is great to be home! I took lots of great pics in Wyoming, and I'll post those a bit later after I've had time to unpack, etc.



(Speaking of home, how do you like my new blog look? Cute, huh? - Thanks sis!)

Wipe-Out!

Last week I put little Eli down for a nap, and he protested about it for a couple of minutes. No big deal, it happens rather frequently, right?

After a few minutes his room was really quiet, so I assumed he had gone to sleep right away.

When Eli woke up a few hours later I sent Jonah in to say "Hi" to him while I finished working on something. Jonah walked in Eli's room and immediately shouted, "Mommy! Come look what Eli did!".

Apparently Eli did go to sleep, but not right away. First he had reach through the crib bars to empty the contents of the baby wipe container... directly into his bed. Did I mention that I had just filled up the container of wipes?

I don't know how he managed to fall asleep even though his entire bed was soaked! He was more than a little soggy himself!

I guess I learned my lesson... never leave the wipes on the bench next to the crib!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The Tale of the Snail

Recently we found a slimy little visitor in our yard. Actually, Honey Daddy spotted this not-so-little guy hanging out on our garage door.

We've never seen snails around here, so of course we had to play with him for a while and take his picture. Jonah was absolutely fascinated by him and asked if we could keep him for a pet.

Snail on pyrex

The idea of a pet snail was not too appealing to me. Besides, I don't really know what they eat or what happens to them in the winter anyway. So instead we released him back into the "wild"... a good distance from our house.

I guess it's not too hard to say no to a face like this.

Wazzup?!

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Welcome to Toddlerhood!

Today is the day.

My baby is definitely not an infant anymore. Today we are making the move from two daily naps to just one. So long morning nap! I will miss you terribly!

For the past couple of weeks we have been having a struggle with our nap schedule. Eli would take his regular morning and afternoon naps one day.. and all was right with the world. Then the next day he would take a long morning nap and refuse to take an afternoon nap, much to my frustration. The next day everything seemed to be back to normal and he would take two naps again. And on and on it went!

Then we got to the point that on the days he took two naps, Eli would not go to bed at his regular bedtime. Instead he would just jabber to himself in his crib for nearly an hour! Needless to say, I was about to go bonkers!

So although I will miss the two naps, I am thinking that one long nap will be preferrable to the chaos we have been putting up with! It's nap time right now and we are hoping for a good one. Wish us luck!

It's My Pool and I'll Cry if I Want To

It has been HOT here during the middle of the day. I guess I can't complain too much about temperatures in the 90s, since I used to live in Tucson, which is like the surface of the sun in the summer.

To beat the heat we have pulled out the kiddie pool to keep the boys cool and having fun while it's hot outside. Did I mention that I LOVE this pool? Nothing to inflate or pump up and the thing stores nearly flat. It is fabulous!

Needless to say there has been lots of sunscreen, splashing and water fun. Aren't they cuties?

We have also been working on our pool rules and etiquette. It is ok to splash and run around and have fun, but it is not ok to dump large quantities of water directly on your brother's head. If you do not follow this rule, then mommy will be sorely tempted (forced, even!) to dump a bunch of water on your head and see how you like it to try to teach you a lesson.


(Then mommy will have to laugh and take your picture while you insist that she has done you bodily harm by getting your head wet... what a mean mommy!)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Friends, Fun and Fireworks

This year we had a great Fourth of July. We had some neighbors over for food, fun and games. We really should invite people over more often because we have such a great time whenever we have dinner with friends.

Of course after dinner when it got dark we headed off to our local fireworks show.

I have always wanted to take pictures of fireworks, but up until now I have never had a camera that could do a decent job of it. Now that I have my Canon XSi, I was determined to try it this year.

So Honey Daddy and I did some research on what settings to use, etc. Then we went to our chosen location, set up our tripod and started shooting. I think we ended up with some really nice photos!

The hardest part was making sure the fireworks were in focus, and making sure the tripod was pointed in the right place.

Timing the shots was also interesting because we were doing approximately 5 second exposures. So we never knew quite what would be in the picture until they were already taken.

It was a ton of fun though, and I loved the colors!

I am not usually a fan of fireworks. I like the bigger shows put on by cities and towns, but not really the neighborhood-gather-around-and-make-lots-of-noise-and-colored-flashes-with-the-occasional-illegal-firework-thrown-in-for-good-measure-until-the-dead-of-the-night-while-your-neighbor's-kids-are-trying-to-sleep kind of show.

But I have to say that I enjoyed the fireworks this year more than most... and I have something to show for it.

Let the Fireworks and Craziness Begin!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

When we went to the zoo last month we went to the avian show. It was great fun, and I had a nice time experimenting with my zoom lens. I saved this shot just for this occasion. Very patriotic, don't you think?

Tomorrow my hubby is home and we are looking forward to a weekend of fun and friends. We are not huge fans of fireworks, but we will be watching our town's fireworks show not too far from our house. I am sure the boys are going to love it!

Hope you have a good one!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The Day the Binky Disappeared Forever

Earlier this month I took the boys to their awesome pediatrician for their well-visits (Jonah for his three year and Eli for his 15 month). Both boys were growing well and doing just fine. The shots were not fun, but we got them over with and everyone survived.

What surprised me the most was when the doctor asked me, "Is he a binky boy?" about Eli. I hadn't thought about it too much, but Eli really does like his binky. He always had it at naps and bedtime, and randomly throughout the day you would find him with a binky in his mouth.

The doctor told me that I needed to restrict the binky and think about getting rid of it because it was starting to affect Eli's front teeth. So I told my hubby about it, and we have only let Eli have a binky when he is in his crib for the past month.

We took Jonah's binky away when he was 15 months old, so we figured Eli was about due. I don't think that children who can talk shouldn't have a plug in their mouth, you know? Last time my hubby was the one who took the initiative and said, "No more binky" and Jonah basically went cold turkey, which worked for him.

Yesterday I told my hubby that the same thing might have to happen again because it was becoming hard for me to want to take it away. I liked the fact that I could put Eli to bed and he would basically lay there and be quiet, contentedly sucking on his bink.

So last night Daddy put Eli to bed-- without his binky.

Since I believe in consistency, once he took the binky away, it is just gone. So today I put Eli down for naps sans binky. I was dreading this day, but you know what? It wasn't that bad! Eli cried about it for a couple of minutes and then settled down and went to sleep.

So we are done! No more binkies-- hooray!
Thanks Honey Daddy for helping me out with this one. :o)