Keepsake Moments

A week ago, Super Mega Dad awarded me the Keepsake Blog Award. I haven't forgotten, I've just been busy. The sun has finally decided to shine on the East, for a few days at least, now if we can just hit temps above 80 degrees, we'll be all set. Anyway, the day he posted it, we went out for a hike and, you guessed it, played with bugs. Not just any type of bug, but slugs in particular. The girls loved terrorizing them getting real close to them until they pulled their eye stalks in. We didn't bring any home in jars. We actually don't bring any bugs in, they can be jarred, played with and studied, they just have to stay outside. That's not so say we don't get them in the house from the door that's always left wide open.... And then we've been going to the lake to swim. Which is nice because no one ever goes to the lake. It is so peaceful, usually just us and a few friends. And as long as we leave the snake alone, we're all set :)

So, anyway, the rules of this award state, that I need to tell a "keepsake moment" in my life, as well as to pass on the love to some of my fellow bloggers who will probably never see this post because most of them are heading to BlogHer and will just delete the gazillion posts in their blog readers when they return. I'm supposed to come up with ten of them, so here goes.

My keepsake moment goes back to when Moe was born. She was, a complete surprise baby. I found out I was pregnant when Einey turned two and Meenie was 6 months old. I was in shock. And denial. And shock. Even as my belly grew bigger, I still couldn't fathom that I was going to have another baby. To top it off, Moe was breech my whole pregnancy. There was a huge probability that I would not only be bringing a baby home to two very young toddlers, but also be recovering from a c-section. Thankfully the stars aligned and I had a great doctor and no c-section. I remember telling my Husband the day before I went into labor that I couldn't do this. That I wasn't ready. That we couldn't have another baby. But when I met my beautiful daughter three days later (yes, I was in labor for THAT long), it made me forget all my apprehensions. Moe just fit into our family and before long, I couldn't remember what it was like not to have three little one's (that's not to say it was all rainbows and cotton candy, because there were numerous rough patches there).

So that's my keepsake moment, when I realized that everything would be fine. We have three kids and we will survive. And I wouldn't change it for anything!

So now onto the tagging, although really, it's hard to pick just ten.

Clink is just an awesome person - as a photographer, writer, mother and friend. She doesn't post often, but really, with a toddler and new puppy who could blame her. You should check her out, her posts always make me laugh.

Mrs. Chicky is also another great woman. I don't know how she finds time to blog (in multiple places too! And I swear she had a dog blog somewhere but I must have been mistaken) and have so much fun with her beautiful daughters, but she does. I'm sure your already reading her work, because seriously, who isn't?

Mrs. Chicken is also another great writer and mother. She captures life in ways that you can just see and feel. She's also not afraid to say just how tough this motherhood gig is. Hopefully she's getting some much needed R&R this week with the sun and the salt air surrounding her family.

Fairly Odd Mother is an inspiration to me. She's got three kids close in age to my girls. And while many of us New Englanders were going bat-shit crazy with the rain and cool temps, she didn't complain as much. Many of us were counting down the days until school starts again, but not FOM, her kids are home year round. She has to be a saint..... She makes this all just seem so easy!

Letters to Catherine is just an amazing blog. How could it not get a keepsake award? I hope they turn this into a book for sweet baby Catherine. I started reading last June (sorry I don't comment) and was captivated by how strong Katie and Donnie are. Catherine was so very sick, even before she was born. They didn't know how long they would have to spend with her once she was born. Soon Catherine will be one year old! It's been a rough road, but Catherine is so very strong.

Stimey is my next honoree. She writes about Life. Autism. and Gerbils. Her three boys remind me so much of my girls and many of her outings I can picture happening to us. From chasing birds to falling off statues, we've been there before. Funny story semi-relating to Stimey. I was out with friends last week and we were playing an ice breaker type game. One questions was "has a blog". A friend looked at me and says "you have a blog". She is an avid reader of Stimey's and found my blog when Stimey linked about letterboxing. Totally random and just well, unexpected.

Audrey makes up one of the three parts of Mom generations. She has four boys under the age of four, but still seems to have so much energy. Plus, her family rocks. She's writing daily fashion advice for moms right now, so go check her out.

Only three more to go....

Karen is another great read. She is mom to three boys and a birth doula. Seriously, what's cooler then that?

Kate is also another blog I read often. She's in the processes of moving, and even if she states otherwise, seems to have things under control. I remember how much of a pain in the ass it was to move when it was just the two of us, going from apartment to house, I can't ever imagine moving with kids (although hopefully we will in the next 2-5 years). Not only that, it was short notice for Kate.

And last, but not least is......

Suburban dwelling-Sierra. She writes about living in the suburbs with her kids balancing work and home.

Okay, so I just noticed that everyone I chose lives on he East Coast (with the exception of Mrs. Chicken, but she is staying on the EC while this was written, so that should count, right?)

Snippets

We've been absent lately. The sun has finally decided to shine here in New England. Not consistently, but there is sun, so we'll take what we get.

• I can't remember the last time (if ever) that we watched the Fourth of July fireworks in jeans and long sleeve shirts. And could have used a blanket to curl up with.

• I LOVE spending my afternoons at the lake. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! We have a beach pass for the local swimming hole and most of the times, there are just one or two other families. And five life guards. Sooooo relaxing! Yesterday there were 31 people, but most came as we were packing up to leave.

• Having fruit in the backyard rocks. Last night, the girls and I went out side and picked a bowl full of raspberries. Yum!

• Having farm fresh veggies rock! We joined a farm share (not CSA because we don't have to volunteer). We get an email once a week with the weeks offering and prices and then place our order and pick it up on Saturdays. My kids have been asking all week to snack on turnips and beets.

• Thunderstorms, while cool, suck. Don't get me wrong, I love thunderstorms. But lightning sucks. We were sitting in our living room the other night with the screen door to out back open. And all of a sudden, BAM. lightning hit about 10 feet from out back deck. It scared the crap out of everyone.

Where we think the lightning struck. The plants in theis area are all laying down and scorched.

• Hiking is great. We've done a ton of hiking lately. Our last trip was about 3 miles. It took us awhile, but we stopped to enjoy the sights (Israel Putnam's Wolf Den, and Indian Chair and creatures - snakes, frogs, toads, ect.). We stopped for lunch, we letter boxed. We enjoyed ourselves. But it was tough terrain. up and down, up and down. At one point, about 3/4 of a mile in (and in a valley) Einey took off running. And tripped over a rock. And fell. She banged her hip and her shoulder on a rock. She had a hard time standing. We were at a loss of which would be the easiest way out. We ended up chopping an adult Tylenol in half and carrying her a bit. She rested and within a 1/2 hour was walking on her own again. So we continued on. Whew!

After the fall...

• If Moe uttered these words outside of our car, I'm sure DCF would have been called. "Dad, why do you always hit so hard". Apparently when dad had her last week while I was at GS camp with Meenie and Einey was at a party, they were playing punch-out. Apparently, he hits harder then her.

• Einey is almost finished with her three week course of antibiotics for Lyme. She is back to her normal self and hasn't run a fever since she started the meds.

• I pulled a tick off of Moe's eye yesterday. It was stuck right on her under eyelash. Yuck!

My favorite garden. Last year I pulled out my veggies here and put in some cheap plants I found. Please ignore the weeds, it's been a tad rainy.

• I haven't had much time to garden. I need to weed, order mulch and finish digging my pond. I have most of it dug out, but need to do a tad more. It's been a bit rainy to work outside. The last time I was working, I had to push the wheelbarrow full of dirt six times up and down a hill to dump it in the back corner of our yard where I needed to fill in a bit. After I had just lugged the lawnmower up and down. I was tired!

After a 5 hour hike.

• School is starting the end of August. The other day I got our tuition bill and then promptly lost it. Somehow, this is the only bill I ever lose, but I do so every year. I realized I lost it when I went to make an inquiry about a minor discrepancy. I also haven't made a doctotr's appointment for Moe's pre-kindergarten physical. I need to call the nurse. She had a physical last October, which should cover her start - since it's within a year. She doesn't need any shots (even at her five year physical). but she needs bloodwork (why they need to know her white blood count baffles me). But if we do it before October, the insurance won't cover it as a well visit. And I'd have to bring her back in October for her five year phsical. So yeah, need to see if they drew blood last October. And the nurse is only at school two days a week. I have yet to order uniforms for Meenie. I need to do so soon.

That's about it, if you need me, I'll be in the woods or at the beach.

Off on adventure...

And the rain came tumbling down

It has now effectively rained for 948 years, since the dawn of time 32 days in a row (minus one or two days thrown in to try and keep us sane). So by my calculations, I should have built an ark and the rain will stop in about 8 days. Right? RIGHT? I mean, it has to stop sometime.



Because that's how I feel!

I want more of this:

And less thunder and rain. It's not fun hiking in the rain!

Heck, I'm embedding the Wiggles into my posts now (we haven't listened or watched the Wiggles in almost four years!). I must be losing it!

Speedy

I'd like you to meet Speedy (or Hannah Montana, but I prefer Speedy). Speedy is the kindergarten class pet. And since I had one child leaving kindergarten, one child entering kindergarten and a slightly reptile-obsessed child, we get to keep Speedy for the summer.

So pets in the Whirl-wind house include three kids, a husband a dog and a turtle. Clink, you'll be happy to know the tank with the dead lizard has finally been removed. However, the three dead lizard carcasses are still inside the basement, awaiting proper burial. Lets hope when the dog passes, Husband doesn't decided to get him stuffed!

Happy Birthday, Meenie!

On Saturday, Meenie turned six. SIX! Can you believe it? We spent the day at our annual girl scout camporee. She had a blast - what more can you ask for - spending the day with friends, having fun, plenty of activities and cupcakes! When we got home, we had a party with family. The thunder and rain held off until just after everyone left. The day before, we celebrated with friends with a luau. Again, we were dodging rain and thunder, but it was nice while the party was happening.

It's hard to believe that six short years ago, she flew out of my womb (literally). That she started life as a miserable infant who hated to be held and wanted to watch what was going on around her. Now she still likes to watch before jumping into an new activity. But some of the fear and "I can't do it is gone". She's so close to riding a two-wheeler (and much closer to than her older sister), jumps of the side of walls into lakes and swimming pools (where just last year we had to drag her kicking and screaming into a pool), climbs to the top of the jungle gym outside, reads and finally has a sense of humor. She's grown so much and is so much fun!

Happy Birthday, Meenie!

From the bottom of the bottle

I'll confess, some evenings I like to grab a bottle of beer or a glass of wine. Husband and I tend to be beer snobs, so we usually have a well stock variety of brews in the fridge. This does not, however make us alcoholics. On the contrary, I come from a long line of family members with alcohol issues so I tend to steer clear of those problems. I've seen first hand the damage it does. I've experienced the feelings of hurt and pain. We don't want our girls to experience that.

That being said, alot of my facebook blurbs have had to do with alcohol in one form or the other. here are a few recent comments that have made me chuckle.

Setting: The liquor store stocking up because we had some friends over and we were stocking up. Just Moe in tow.
Moe: Are you going to get the wine. You don't have anymore.
Me: maybe
Moe: You need to by wine mommy. The one with the baby one it.
Me: Okay.
Moe: Upon finding the wine, insisted that I needed two bottles.

Setting: Liquor store once again, three kids in tow.
Husband to employee: Hi, I had some specialty order, I checked on the shelf where they're kept, I can't find it.
Employee: Let me check - nope can't find it. Let me call the other store, the owner's there today.
Einey: I see the Voodoo, it's waaaaaaaay up there.
Me looking up: Hey hon, she found it.

And today, the grocery store. it's Sunday.
Meenie: What's that thing right there.
Me: It's a tarp, they don't sell alcohol on Sundays in the state.
Meenie: What, that is so not fair. That's just insane!

So yeah, we drink around the kids, we don't get drunk, but we will have a drink. Kids parties usually have a container of drinks. When you come here, you never know what you'll find.

Feeling Blue

If things had gone according to the package, I would have two little girls walking around with Turquoise hair. Over winter break, my kids wanted to dye their hair. We used some spray on stuff from Halloween, but it flaked off in minutes. Yeah total crap it was, but we didn't have high hopes.

I promised them that over the summer, we'd do it right. We'd get the good stuff and they'd have colored hair all summer. So summer vacation is hair. I did my research and picked up some Manic Panic Semi-Permanent Hair dye - Turquoise (which came highly recommended everywhere, it was supposed to be THE hair dye to use). I read the package, I followed the directions and nothing. Totally freaking flop and a waste of money. Meenie and Moe both have a slight greenish tinge to their hair, but you have to look REAL close. I've talked to a few people who have used their products in the past and they are also quite surprised. Epic FAIL.

So for now, the girls still have normal hair. I guess my next step is to visit the local hair salon and get a colored strip glued into their hair. Not what we were going for, but it's going to have to work :(