In which I explain the previously mentioned wasp incident

We have a post on the porch that wasps have collected on several times.

Today they were back again, so I went and got the wasp spray - a job always done by Greg before.

And I've always given him a hard time for using so much.

(foreshadowing)

So.... I sprayed a few little squirts and the pack of 5? 8? separated and flew away.

I backed off and watched.

Then I felt something wet against my side - under my arm.

A wet wasp.

So, naturally, I shooed it away.

And it headed straight for a group of kiddos: Dale, Alan, and the 2 little girls they were playing with.

It flew right between them.

I've never chased a wasp before.

It had to have been dying though, because it went past them and landed under the big dog close by.

I'm lukcy that dog isn't skittish, because I jumped at it and stomped under it (it was standing) and squished the wasp.

And then....

the wasps were still circling and mad.

I went back toward the house.

And then I heard Dale screaming

I DONT' WANT IT ON ME!! I DON'T WANT IT ON ME! IT'S ONE ME GET IT OFF ME! I DON'T WANT IT ON ME!!!!

and he had one up by his collar bone.

So I went at Dale and hit the wasp off of him. And boldly too. Not in a girly / scaredy way.

Because I only had one shot to get it right.

It hit the ground and I squished it too.

I didn't feel like much of a hero though, since I caused the whole thing and all.

In fact, I felt a little sheepish.

I think I'll leave the wasp extermination to Greg in the future.
(and not say ONE WORD about how much spray he uses!)

A day in the herd...

I'm going to try something different today. I'm going to do an add-on post.

6:33 am - Alan woke up. Bad timing. I'm not happy when I see the time.
(Ironically, off and on from when I was a teenager I would set my alarm for 6:33 so the first numbers I saw each day would remind me of Matthew 6:33...."seek ye first".)

I began rocking Alan - thankfully it is still dark out at 6:33. For 2 more days, anyway. Dale sneezed 5 times. Alan miraculously remained sleepy. Daddy Buffalo's alarm went off. Alan did not remain sleepy. (BTW.... we're staying away from home and sleeping all in one room. A very large room, but still.) "Daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy."

Oh well.

Fast forward..... Greg went to work, Dale got up. The boys snacked on vanilla wafers and peanut butter. At least they had milk to drink.

I got dressed and enlisted the boys as kitchen 'help'. I washed dishes, Dale dried and put away the plastic stuff, and Alan splashed dishwater everywhere.

I hate to admit I didn't enjoy that experience like I should have. It sounds good on paper (er... on screen?) and I will definitely try again. I like having my boys close by. Underfoot. I just need to work on my patience for it. :)

We finished up dishes and got ready for breakfast - cereal, and if you have the sugary kind it isn't really any different than milk and cookies for breakfast, if you think about it.

Alan is asleep now for his first morning nap in days and days. Who knows what this will mean for the afternoon?? Stay tuned!

Now Dale and I are off to read together. :)

***-------------------------------------------------***

1:00 - Alan slept almost 2 hours!! Which tells me he really needed that nap.

Dale and I did a little bit of school work. We're kind of having a light week this week. First we read this book together. Just one of our 'extras' from the library this week.

Then we read the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet and did some table-work - coloring and writing. Short, easy simple stuff today. And good thing I didn't have lofty goals and extensive plans: Dale was full of energy and the sillies.

Then it was lunch for all 3 of us. Dale disappeared to play outside soon after and I haven't seen him since. :) Alan, on the other hand has been persistently asking to go out from the moment Dale left. He was content to sit in my lap and sing songs for a while, but the distractions are used up and he has brought me his socks. Looks like we're going outside!

***------------------------------------------------***

5:30pm - We DID spend some time outside! (During which I was responsible for putting 4 kids, 1 dog, and myself in danger of getting wasp stung. Oops)

Alan did NOT have a second nap. I laid him down and he stayed quietly in his bed (that's a BIG warning sign, by the way. More on that in another post) but did not go to sleep.

Greg is home. He and the boys are outside. Again. More. Still. Oh the joys of OUTSIDE!! :) Thank you Lord for beautiful days like today. :)

Supper is cooking and we'll all be around the table soon. Ahhhh.... life is good, isn't it? :)

***--------------------------***

9:48
Had our supper and a dessert I made (pear crumble - without a recipe!).

All 4 cleaned the kitchen together, so there won't be dirty dishes waiting on me in the morning. So I won't have to feed my children vanilla wafers for breakfast. ;)

Did some stuff on the internet. Played some stuff with the boys. Did some more stuff on the internet while Greg got them ready for bed (usually something we both do) - what a treat!

Said prayers, tucked them in. Got to spend some quiet time w/my man before the weekend apart. We like to play card games sometimes at night. I won two quick hands of Uno tonight. :)

And now it's off to bed!

I think I spot a pattern....

I'm beginning to think it is never a good idea to teach your kids to "say cheese." Because you might end up with a lot of this:And this:(It IS true that I'm not the only one with a baby making messes wearing nothing but a diaper and a dirty face, right? .... right?)

Moving on...
Sorry, Dale. I had to make a sacrifice with this picture to make my point, and you were it. You took one for the team, and I thank you.

But what really makes me feel ok about making Dale 'take a hit' is that I took one too:
How a thin person can make it look like she has 4 chins I do not know.

But we're supposed to be noticing Alan, anyway. And the way every smile has the same toothy grin. Chin pushed forward. Head tilted to one side.

See?

And all a result of saying "CHEEEESE".

This would also be a good time to mention that this same child will bring me the camera, insisting "cheese, cheese, cheese!" and also knows how to turn on the camera function of my cell phone all by himself. I can't tell you how many times he has handed me my phone, camera on, and backed away saying "cheese".

And, wouldn't you know it.. my phone is full of pictures of our favorite little cheeser. Go figure.

Things worth considering.

Please, take the time to watch these videos. They are worth it.







15 minutes ago I had never heard of this woman. Now? I love her.

The stakes of the election we are facing are very high. The issues are numerous, although the ONE issue discussed above should be enough motivator for any of us.

Please - GO VOTE. Don't believe the lie that your vote doesn't count. NOT voting is essentially casting a vote for the opposing party.


**Thanks to MaddieLynn for the link to the first video, and Mrs. June Fuentes for the other two.**

How do you deal with Mommy-Stress?

I know I just explained all this in my last post, but it is worth repeating:

As Moms we have all at one time or another had one of those days. Part of what makes those days so hard is feeling alone in the barrage of mommy-stressors. Everyone else has it all together, right? Of course not.

As we plug along day after day we have all found different things that help us maintain or restore some semblance of peace and joy in our daily home-making and motherhood. Our own personal stress-busters! Wouldn't it be helpful to find out what those things are for other moms? Please, do tell how you prevent 'those days' and get through them when they hit in spite for your best (or not-so-best) efforts!

Here are a few of my favorite stress-busters:

- One of my first responses when I can feel stress mounting is to eliminate excess noise. Hopefully I can catch this stressor early and calmly instead of letting it get to me too long and snapping at someone! Anyway, it always helps to take note of all the noise input - how many things can you hear in that moment? How loud are they? Turn off the tv. Confiscate (or turn off) noise-making toys. Send noisy kids to play outside if possible, or to do something quietly, or at least go to another part of the house!

- On the flip side of the coin, sometimes I find playing music can help me de-stress. This is usually NOT in the noisy times (although I guess you could play music loud enough to drown everything else out, lol) - but mostly in the quieter times when my hands are busy, but my mind is going over and over a certain worry or a seemingly never-ending to-do list. I then turn on some upbeat worship music or classical (Mozart is my favorite for cleaning). The upbeat music tends to lighten my steps (and my workload) while distracting my over-thinking mind. As a bonus, one or both of the boys will often pass through and dance for a while - AND they are learning worship songs or getting exposure to classical music!

- Another stress preventer for me is meal planning. My days ALWAYS seem to end better when I have known all day what is coming up for supper (and prepared accordingly). For me, meal planning starts before a grocery-run. I plan the next week or so of meals (usually just supper, but I'm trying to add on lunches lately), and then make my grocery list from that. This also makes grocery shopping less stressful and more productive. Here is a link to my 3-week rotation system that is currently working pretty good for me, and Menu Plan Monday is a good place to visit for inspiration.

- Finally, I have found that I am in much better shape for each day if I set an alarm and get up before my kids. Ideally an hour or more, but even 15 minutes helps. Even though I am slow to wake up, I love mornings and I CHERISH early morning time alone. In the past I have used mornings alone for Bible and prayer time, shower time, blogging, breakfast alone, being outside as the sun comes up.... Unfortunately Alan has been waking up between 6:15 and 6:30 a lot lately, so I haven't even bothered with an alarm. Maybe the time change coming up will help with that!

And I had one more thing I wanted to share, but sometime yesterday that thought escaped and hasn't returned. Probably a sign of being stressed, lol! Or maybe just a sign I should be more diligent about writing things down? Anyone have any helpful hints there? :)

So! What are your tips for handling stress? Write a blog post telling everyone your best Stress-Busters and leave a link to it in the comments of this post. Be sure and link to this post somewhere in your own stress-buster post, and feel free to use the graphic above! Thanks in advance for sharing!

Let's de-stress together!

I was inspired recently by my friend at Heart of a Mommy. she was having a bad "mommy" day and was brave enough to write about it on her blog.

I know we all have those days when nothing seems to go right, the kids are whiny or sick or disobedient or all of the above. Or sometimes, bless their hearts, it's not them, but we just don't have what it takes to handle their energy!

Add to that laundry, and feeding the family, and cleaning, and schooling or work (or both) and then all those other activities that seem to want our time, and, and, and....

My question for you is - what are your ideas for preventing "mommy stress", and then how do you deal with it when it sneaks (or barges) in anyway?

These don't have to be things that you do without fail - none of us do anything without fail. But we all have things that have helped here or there along the way, and I know I, for one, could always use new ideas and encouragements for getting through the tough spells.

To share your ideas: on Friday, write your own blog post with tips and encouragement for stressful days and then link back to my stress-buster post that I will put up on my blog ON FRIDAY (not this post). In the comments of that post, please let us all know the specific link to your stress-post (not your blog in general). If you don't have a blog please do leave a comment and tell us your stress-busters!

In the meantime, feel free to use the logo above on your blog so your readers can be thinking of their own stress-busters to share too. :) See you on Friday!

Learning about money

I love it when I have a good idea.

Dale began learning about money recently. I decided the best way for him to 'get' it was to use it, and the following game was born.

First I raided my change basket for pennies, nickels and dimes.

Then I found some food pictures from the sale paper that comes in the mail. (Actually, I already had some cut out from a sorting game learning the food groups, and since I tend to save things, there they were, ready for me to use.) ANYway....

Next I made a list of the food items I wanted to use, and priced them from 1-8 cents each.

On the first day, we only did pennies. So Dale looked at the list and paid me in pennies for each item he wanted.

As a side note: on some days that we played this game, when
Dale ran out of money we had this conversation -
Dale: I'm out of money!
Me: Then you need to go to work to get more money!

And then I would offer to pay him a certain number of cents for quick little odd jobs. (like putting socks in the hamper, or throwing away the junk mail, etc) This was great for letting him get up from the table and run off energy, AND for a
demonstration that money doesn't just come out of thin air. It was also
good for a little extra clean-up around the house, but don't tell
anybody. ;)

On the second day, inflation set in. :) (A little too much like real life there, but.... )

I kept the same items, but now they were priced from 3-11 cents, and Dale had pennies AND nickels for paying.

Third day, similar story. I simply doubled all the prices, so everything now ranged from 6-22 cents, and we added dimes to Dale's stash.

So - he has been learning a lot from this game, including:
-counting by 5's
-counting by 10's
-addition
-subtraction
-counting money with the highest value first

-money concepts in general
-problem solving

We're going to stop at dimes for now and pull out our store every now and then to keep up what Dale has learned so far. Adding on quarters and dollars seemed like such a leap conceptually we're going to hold off on that for a while.

I have loved how this activity has worked out for us, and I wanted to share it here for those of you who might be interested. You can see I didn't get to fancy with my supplies. I can imagine going all out and setting up a store and 'real' food and everything. Or you could just lay it out in your notebook and move along. ;)

Did you know....

..."repenteth" isn't in blogger's spell check!? (surprise, surprise)

Did you know blogger has a spell-check?

Did you know I couldn't think of a title for this blog post!?!?

Moving on.....

Today, after both boys had just about pushed us to our limits, I turned to Greg and said, "Sometimes being a parent is a pain in the booty."

Something in my mind immediately turned the tables and I added, "I bet God says the same thing sometimes!"

After another moment of thought, I realized, yes, He has said pretty much exactly the same thing (well, without the unseemly reference to any body parts):

"... it repenteth me that I have made them (man)" Genesis 6:7

or in other words: "I'm sorry I made them"

Ouch.

In fact, he was so sorry he had made them, he was going to destroy them. (Genesis 6:7, again) (The ultimate 'I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it')

But, thankfully, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." Gen. 6:8

Thank you, God for grace. Especially when I know I must often act as childish as my preschoolers. Whiny, disobedient, and stubborn at times. And yet, you love me more than I can understand.

"Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:9&10

Isn't that good to know? I'm glad God's a better parent than I am. I want to be just like Him! :)

Out and about

We went to a parade today.

It amazes me the things that can pop up and make me emotional. Who knew police cars and fire trucks could bring a tear to the eye? But I stood there this morning in the beautiful sunshine holding Alan for the first parade he's ever really seen, and could have just about cried. (The ones when he was an itty bitty baby don't count). ;)
And while Alan, being not quite 2, couldn't anticipate the parade, Dale, on the other hand, could. And he was very into it.

He started out taking pictures (he took the one of the fire truck above), but I think that interfered with his parade-watching.

Here he is after he had his fill of parade photography. (2 police cars and one fire engine later)

Note the hands on the hips. Some very serious viewing going on.

But he spent most of his time like this:

Why he preferred crouching down and peeping through the crowd instead of standing and looking over their heads toward what was coming Grandma and I couldn't figure out. And of course, it wouldn't be the same without the underwear showing.

That didn't bother him though. His eyes hardly moved from the bands, floats, cars and trucks.

One of the bands was "Daddy's band":
And of course, we stayed all the way to the very. last. thing. (One more police car for good measure, and it passed by us exactly 1 hour after the first police car crept by, siren wailing. There were over 75 entries!)

We have seen parts of all 4 seasons pass in the hospital. We have celebrated birthdays and some holidays. While most do, there are some children that don't win their battle against liver disease. Alan's had his fair share of bumps along the way, and that just makes days like today all the more precious.

I've never enjoyed the sirens as much as I did today, in his presence.

Happy Birthday to Me!

In short:

First of all, Greg unbelievably, miraculously, through a series of little events had the day off. How cool is that!?
Here's how we spent our day:

Got up early. Took Alan to labs.

Went into "town" to Wal-Mart!
Bought shoes and jeans for Dale. Groceries.
And a handy-dandy nifty little toy for me: a web-cam!

Came home with fried chicken and 'red skin' potato salad for lunch.
Dale swallowed a bone.
Threw it up in a paper plate in the sink.
I sorted through it with a fork to make sure the bone was there.
We finished lunch.
Ew.

I spent a good chunk of time on my latest project!
Post on that to follow soon.

Stayed home for supper. Original plan was to go out.
We changed our minds.

Gave Alan a little hair trim and then a bath.
His first one in over a month!
It was in the kitchen sink. I have a pic. Maybe I'll add it tomorrow?

Played with the new webcam.

Was in a live-view chat with my mom when she showed me this.
Made me cry.
But it was a good cry. :)

I couldn't have wished for a better day.
And guess what!?
I'm STILL in my twenties!! :)

Sight-seeing

Riding in the van.

Alan was semi-cranky.

It was a long drive. I pointed out some cows for the boys to see.

Alan: "MOOO!! DALE! MOOOOO! DAAAY-ULLLL! MOO! MOOOOO! DALE! DALE! MOOOO! MOOOOOOO! DALE! MOOO-"

Dale: "Alan! I see the cows!!!!"

Who's cranky now, hmmm?

Faith

I was researching online this morning for Dale's next character trait (courage) and found this website - Kids of Courage - with the following story:

Hyun Joo
Ten-year-old Hyun Joo was different. Very few North Korean children know about Jesus and God. But Hyun Joo believed in God and trusted Him.

Hyun Joo’s parents were Christians. Many North Korean Christians do not
talk about God with their children. If the children mention God outside the
home, government officials might punish the whole family. The government wants
the citizens to honor the country’s leaders, not God.

But Hyun Joo’s parents wanted her to know Jesus. They prayed that God would use her to change North Korea.

A Risky Trip
North Korea’s leaders do not allow just anybody to leave the country for visits. They do not want them to find out how much better life is in other places.

Hyun Joo’s family secretly left North Korea to attend a hidden Bible class in another country. It was a risky trip. But the police did not catch them.

After two weeks of Bible training, the family quietly returned home. As they left, Hyun Joo said to the Bible teacher, “Pray that I will not lose my joy until heaven.”

School Prayer
Hyun Joo continued to believe in God, and she worked hard at school. She was happy when she came home from school one day.

She told her mother, Hee Sook, that she had prayed “inside her heart” at
school. Hee Sook was pleased with Hyun Joo’s faith. She asked Hyun Joo’s aunt,
Mrs. Kim, to join her in praying for Hyun Joo.

Vanished
The next day Mrs. Kim returned to Hyun Joo’s house for a visit. The house was empty, and the family had vanished.

A friend later told Mrs. Kim what had happened.
Hyun Joo’s teacher had asked her, “How did you get such a good grade on your
test?”

“By God’s grace,” Hyun Joo answered.

The teacher was angry. She dragged Hyun Joo out of the classroom. Then her family disappeared. The government no doubt took them away. No one has heard from them since.

Answering Prayer
Hyun Joo’s parents prayed that God would use her to
change North Korea. How can their prayers be answered if she is nowhere to be
found?

Hyun Joo and her family might reappear somewhere later. But if
they do not, you can still be part of an answer to their prayer. Now that you
have learned Hyun Joo’s story, it can help you remember to pray for change in
North Korea.

The Bible says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful
and effective” (James 5:16). Pray that the leaders of North Korea will love good
and hate evil. Pray that God’s Word will continue to spread and that enemies
will be powerless to stop it. Ask God to comfort and take care of North Korean
Christians.

I don't know what else to say. I guess we only have a vague idea at how blessed we are to be able to worship how and when we want, and not have to hide anything. And yet I wonder how much we could learn from people like this family about what it is like to truly trust in Jesus for our very life. Imagine the relationship people like them must have with Him!

I know I'll be thinking about this story today, and I wanted to share it with you.

Take me out to the ball game

It's funny the random little memories that stick with you through life. One of mine comes from my junior year of college. I had been married less than a year and one of my friends was recently engaged. She invited me and another couple of friends to go wedding dress shopping with her. One of the four that headed out that Saturday morning was the pastor's wife, and the only one of us with children.

I was driving that day, and I have always remembered how this lady seemed so happy to be going along for the trip - having a day out with the 'girls' - and without her preschooler and toddler. She brought along a bottle of nail polish for the drive and her coffee mug. I remember the coffee mug because I hit a pot-hole and coffee splashed on her white shirt. I think she may have commented that she was used to having stuff spilled on her anyway. But I still felt kind of bad.

I thought of that little outing yesterday because I felt like she must have that day!

My parents came and picked me up yesterday morning while Greg kept the boys. I climbed into the backseat of their van and we headed out to see my sister perform.

She is a senior at the school where Greg and I met. The trip was extra special because I didn't get to go to any performances last year - mostly because of Alan. To be honest I haven't been much of anywhere (besides Children's) because of Alan!

So yesterday I felt like I had crawled out from under a rock into the bright beautiful sunshine! And thoroughly enjoyed myself. :)

It's been a while since I've gotten to enjoy band and guard. Even after I wasn't able to perform anymore (doggone graduation!) I was able to live vicariously by teaching and sponsoring a high school guard here and there. :) Including my sister's high school guard. And then she moved on to perform with 'my' college band. Of course, now it's hers too. She's in her fourth year!

She's the one in the front. ;)

So, let's review:
I love band & colorguard.
I am very proud of my school.
I love my sister.

I got to have an entire day off-duty as mom, spend lots of time visiting/traveling with my parents, and go to my school and see my sister perform in the colorguard with the band.

Yeah, I'd say it was a good day!

And I didn't even spill a thing. :)

In which I ramble my way through a recipe

I got a new recipe from a new friend and made it tonight. I thought I would share it here in case any of you have an abundance of zucchini from your own or someone else's garden. It looks like a lot of ingredients but it was super simple and quick to make, and turned out really good!

Zucchini Garden Chowder

3 med zucchini, chopped
1 med onion, chopped
2 Tb parsley
1 tsp basil
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 c. water
3 chicken boullion cubes
1 tsp lemon juice
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes (or Rotel)
12 oz can evaporated milk
1 pkg frozen corn
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Over medium heat, saute zucc, onion, parsley & basil in a large soup pot until tender. Stir in salt, pepper, & flour. Gradually stir in water. Add boulllion & lemon juice; mix well. Bring to a boil - cook & stir for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, milk & corn; bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover & simmer 5 minutes or until corn is tender. (Or until everyone is ready to eat... stays warm well for quite some time). Stir in cheeses before serving. 2 1/2 quarts. Serves 6-8

Now y'all know me and that I can't seem to follow even the simplest recipe. In this one I left out the boullion and lemon juice and basil because I was out of all three. I only put in a tablespoon or two of Parmesan because that was all I had left (looks like I need to make a grocery list). And I might not have put in the whole 2 c. of cheddar because I got tired of grating. Pitiful, I know.

Oh. And I used canned corn. Because that is what I had.

And with all those changes it was still really good. Can you imagine if it had actually had everything in it!?

We had ours with cornbread and oven-baked sweet potato wedges (coated in olive oil, spiced w/cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper).

And now I'm off to make my grocery list... I seem to be out of a few things. ;)


**Well whaddya know? I went in search of a picture online of Zucchini Chowder, and found what must have been the original source for this recipe: Taste of Home! You can visit their website here for a picture and their version of the recipe. **

HOTM - Favorite freebie websites

The Friday meme for this week at Heart of the Matter is freebie education sites we use. I can't wait to find new ones through everyone else's posts!

Here are the places I frequent most:

Letter of the Week (we use it for the sound of the week)

Hubbard's Cupboard - great Bible & general curriculum for preschoolers & kindergarteners

Ambleside Online - all sorts of Charlotte Mason curriculum and book suggestions

Freebie of the Day - cool, cool site with a free download each day. You never know what you're going to get!

This and this are good sites for making tracer pages, and here is a place to make your own word searches!

I also go to DLTK a lot when I need a simple craft or worksheet to round out a topic.

Starfall is good for reading.

There are tons of others in my favorites but these are the ones I use the most. These and Google, of course. ;)

We used to LOVE Rainforest Maths, but the website is closed now and we haven't found anything to replace it. Do you have a favorite math site?

To find your own new favorites be sure and visit all the entries at HOTM!

What "literature-based" means to me

What happens when a book-lovin' literature-rich curriculum junkie goes to the library with her book-lovin' boy to get school books?

Well.... here's two weeks' worth:

That doesn't include our read-aloud and the books I'm reading for myself.

Some of those pictured are ours, most are from the library. While I think everyone (especially kids!) should own books, I can never understand why anyone would buy all their books when they have unlimited FREE access at the library!

Anyway.... I loved seeing our basket full of books and wanted to share with you. Have you read anything good lately?

Think of the last thing first

Sometimes we make things harder than they really are. Allow me to illustrate...

For his birthday, Dale got one of these:
He was pretty excited about it, don't you think?

In case you can't tell what that is upside down and in the box, here's a better pic:
(And if you're still wondering, that is a Carl Edwards Nascar Cup car)

Now... there is one problem with this toy. For the 2008 season, Nascar completely redesigned their racecars. The new design included a very standy-up spoiler (that black wing-thing standing across the back for you non-car types). And the only reason I know all this is from living in a predominately male environment, okay?

So... new spoiler... safety for drivers, faster car, blah blah blah. You know the problem? It makes a very breakable toy.

Dale had only had his for a week or two when that spoiler broke right off. And boy did we all start thinking of how in the world to reattach the thing. (Because no respectable racecar can be without its spoiler, of course.) Super glue? Epoxy? What to use?

Finally PawPaw gave it a try, and Dale was pleased as punch to have his spoiler back.

Until the next day.

Dale, in tears: "Alan broke my spoiler!!!" Exit Dale, in tears.

I took the car to my junk drawer and immediately saw something we have lots of: medical tape, left over from Alan's feeding tube days.

I tore off a strip of that textured tape and wrapped it across the spoiler. And then colored it red and black with some sharpies, for good measure.

I found Dale, amazingly already recovering from his upset.

Me: "Do you know how sometimes the pit crews use big ol' pieces of tape when the cars come into pit road with damage?" (this is true, btw)

Dale: "Yeah..?"

I presented him with his newly repaired Carl Edwards car. He LOVED it.

And several of his other cars are now sporting pretend tape repairs.

To think it was that simple all along!

Ouch, what a relief!

I pinched my thumb trying to close our ice chest.

Because it is some sort of unwritten rule that you must show all injuries to another person (is this for sympathy?) and Dale was the only person awake within at least a two-mile radius, I showed him the angry line appearing on the pad of my thumb.

He was appropriately appreciative. Well, sort of.

After seeing the tiny but painful little injury, Dale's only remark was:

"Whew. I'm glad that wasn't my fault!"

What's that smell? Something rotten, I tell you!

Ohhhh y'all. We have got trouble on our hands here in the buffalo herd.

What do you get when you take one baby with multiple hospital stays, blood draws, a transplant, 2 surgeries, etc ...who now feels better than he has in his entire life.... and then throw in the beginnings of the 'terrible twos'?

Oh my.

We did our best to maintain authority and discipline through it all, and it's a good thing... I can't imagine if we hadn't. But there is only so much you can do, you know?

And this isn't your average flavor of spoiled. It's not worse, necessarily, it's just different. This boy will ask for a drink and then request ice. I rock him to sleep at night and he makes lullaby requests like I'm his own personal jukebox.


No, it's not that he's used to always getting his way (at least not most of the time? eek), it's more like he has been pampered. Oh, and let's not forget he loves to have his feet rubbed with lotion.


Hospital stays always set us back some, as he gets Mama plus another adult all to himself for days on end. And you pretty much take turns finding all manor of things to keep him entertained in that little room. Even then, he still has to obey, but it's just not the same.

So now it's de-tox, reprogramming, baby obedience boot-camp time. We have our work cut out for us. Pray for us my friends. We're gonna need it.

Knock Knock!

During our last hospital stay a few weeks ago we had the pleasure of spending a couple of nights at the Ronald McDonald House.

While we were still working on getting settled in that first night, my Mom and I needed to make a run to the linen closet. Dale was busy playing with a toy, and we were making a quick trip anyway, so we decided to leave him in the room.

RMH doors lock automatically behind you, and my Dad was who-knows-where with the key, so we took the opportunity to teach Dale a little independence and stranger safety: we explained that when we got back we would knock on the door. He was to ask who it was, and then let us (and us only) in.

When we returned to the room and knocked on the door, Dale played his part perfectly, obviously enjoying his role:

We knocked.

Dale, in a cheerful, sing-song voice: Who iiis iiiit?

Us: Mimi & Mama

Dale: Mimi & Mama whoo-ooo?

We wanted to box his ears for being a smarty pants, but we were too busy laughing.

... have I told you Dale loves Knock-Knock jokes? ;)