Bubbles and Chalk Galore

Today we had a park outing with my C2C Mom's group and it was so much fun for all of us. I brought chalk and bubbles as that was the theme, and so did a few other mom's, plus I threw in a bunch of balls and trucks because let's face it you can never have enough of those.

The kids colored and created art on the cement areas. When they tired of that they moved on to bubbles - them attempting to blow them, me attempting to blow them and quite a few of the other mom's succeeding in blowing them much to the kids delights.


The smallest of the kiddo's enjoyed rolling balls, and chasing after them and all of the kids enjoyed playing in the sand with the various vehicles I'd thrown in my bag of tricks.


Once they tired of that we paused to partake in various and sundry snacks and juices and then moved on to trying out the big kid swings - which surprisingly Joey did really well at, and the slide. Joe's finally getting over his fear of them after having his leg incident a few months bag and it's really a joy to see him have at it with no fear in his eyes or his heart. The kids had so much fun on the slide that we kept getting log jammed at the top.


We only lasted a couple of hours but we filled it with the most fun we could find and all had a really nice morning before the heat got to warm to be tolerable.

I'm so happy to have found this mom's group. It's added so much to my life, and the life of our family.

Joey's Fussy with a capital F

Man but are we having a hard time getting Joey back on schedule. I thought at first it was just having folks over, caffeing, getting to bed late last Saturday but now I'm beginning to wonder. He is so fussy, and willful. I know that's a part of the terrible two's and all, but hey we aren't there yet.

He has a total of 12 teeth and I'm wondering if he's not about to cut some new ones and that's what all this fussiness is really about. I guess only time will tell.

Until then, God give me strength.

Up Before the Sun

We'll Joey got a little off schedule last night, first having sips of every one's drinks from soda pop to Chai Tea Latte's and then going swimming with Daddy and Aunt Kelli when he should have been going to bed. When we finally did put him to bed he went out like a light. Except that light began to shine again brightly around 1:45 AM. Yep you heard me right. We tried taking him in to bed with us and then decided we didn't want to set that precedent so we tucked him up in his own bed, with a bottle and a sleepytime video. He stayed in their nice and quiet so we thought he'd went back to sleep, or I guess I should say I thought he'd went back to sleep since Larry had managed to get back to sleep after we put Joey back down and was sleeping like a log, and sounding like a bear who had crawled inside it to hibernate.

Anyway as soon as Joe finished his bottle he was up and at em. I tried giving him a warm milk bottle, settling him down on the couch watching cartoons quietly but all to no avail. We just got back from taking a walk around the 3 courts across the way from us, and jumping in all the water puddles. Although he's rubbing his eyes he is wound up and I imagine he'll be up to see the sun rise.

I feel sorry for the cat and dog as he's doing his best to get them to engage in play and all they want to do is curl up and go to sleep. He's having fun though giving it his best shot.

I definitely will only let him have milk or water from now on in the late afternoon and evening. I can't handle him being so full of energy at such an early hour. I was awake anyway, but only because my pain level is so high this morning. I'd much prefer to be curled up on the couch under a soft blanket.

On the positive side it is kind of nice to have him all to myself and to hear his laughter ring out across the house.

Callie, Callie, Callie

Callie is the 9-year old cat that I adopted from Crystal's boss Michelle. She's very unique in her look, a perfectly halved face one side pitch black and the other orange, while her body is mottled like a typical calico cat would be. She's also unique in that she loves, loves, loves me, likes mom well enough, even will come when Joey calls her so long as he's sitting on his bottom and not all spastic in his pursuit of her, but she wants nothing, nada, zip to do with my wonderful husband Larry. I don't get it. He wants to be buddies with her and in fact as a result of the cold shoulder she's throwing not only his way but towards our other cat Sunset as well, it has made Larry and Sunset bond even stronger. Now sunset jumps up on the bed when Larry goes to sleep demanding her allotment of loving from him, and she'll follow him into the bathroom, talking the whole time at him while he's trying to take care of business.

Both Callie and Sunset do the same thing to me, but they choose to do it from opposite sides of the bed. They can be so funny. I thought Callie would be the Alpha in this dynamic because she's older, has always lived with other cats, and Sunset let her believe it for the first few days, but when Callie started to push to far into was Sunset considers her personal space all hell breaks loose. And they don't care what time it's taking place 3 in the afternoon or 3 in the morning, makes no difference to them they go after one another, caterwauling the whole way, disturbing us as well as all the dogs within hearing distance. Knocking about one another, and whatever gets in their way - telephones, jewelry boxes, etc. I think you get the picture. I'm hoping that soon they'll remember that they're supposed to be ladies, and ladies don't brawl each and every night. I guess only time will tell. But I must say they add quite a bit of levity to my day and always it seems just when I seem to need it most. So Kudo's to our pets, our unsung hero's most of the time for all that they do with and for us. I love you Bubba, Sunset, and Callie, plus all the ones that are now in spirit form and that I feel are still watching over me, I love you too.

Short Ribs, Baked Beans, Salad - what more could you ask for

Oh yeah I know, some Dirty Blonde Bombshell beer brewed by my creative and talented husband Larry, and a taste or two of his Kiss of Blackberry meed - YUMMY.

We were joined for dinner by Chuck and Kelli, and Grammy and Pop Pop. Everyone contributed something from salad, to bread, to chocolate cake that is worth dying for, at least in my opinion. It was all very delicious and everyone went home with very full tummy's and leftovers to boot. We even sent some food love home to Uncle Brian who couldn't come tonight because none of us wanted to take a chance of passing this lousy cold/flu thing we've had for the past week on to him, especially right before he's about to have another round of treatment.

As for Erik, Mary, and Elsa... well they missed out. The food was awesome, the company stupendous, and all in all it was a very laid back dinner with nothing but relaxation to follow. Not bad for an impromptu gathering.

When the last guest left my kitchen looked fairly decent with only a scattering of glasses left to be washed, the rest had magically disappeared as a result of the Good Fairy Kelli (yeah Kelli, I for one really appreciate all your efforts, and again your salad rocked - what can I say I'm biased cause I love you but also because you know how to throw one together that tastes delish and makes you want more.)

Anyway thank you one and all for journeying out our way and breaking bread with us. It was just what our souls needed. We love you.