The state fair !!

So my husband got home last night safe and sound from Chicago. He had promised the kids that if they helped me out and were good while he was gone then he would take them to the state fair when he got home. Funny thing about kids is they never remember things like put up the toilet seat before you pee, but they do remember promises like that.

So as promised, we went to the fair this afternoon. We do this every year and always have a great time. My mom went with us too. Her and Sunshine ohhed and ahhed at the cool horses. We spent a lot of time in the livestock area and horse arena. We saw sheep, goats and pigs. We even saw a litter of piglets. Peanut loved that. We also got to see some (horse) riding demos with groups of women all dressed in sparkly clothes rode around and did a sort of dance (set to music) while riding in formations. It was really cool and I think Sunshine has found her calling.

But everyone's favorite part of the day was a pen with baby chicks in it. Sunshine was convinced that she was the pied piper of the chicks as they would follow her around anywhere she went. We even got a video of it. It was pretty cute. She was trying to outrun them and they would haul and try to catch up. You know, as fast as their little chicky legs would carry them.


Although I have to say, my favorite part of the day is always the ice cream. There is something indulgently grand about fair food. It's only once a year :)

Day care and blood and stitches...OH MY!

So yesterday was the day to end all days. It started with a scream and ended with a whimper.

I woke up this morning to the sounds of horror movie type screams. It turns out that the kids were just playing ...loudly....at 6:30 in the morning. Really? This early? Great thanks. Well I'm up, might as well get going with my day.

My in laws just got home from a 6 week vacation in Alaska and they were grandkids starved, so they came by this morning to get the older ones to take school shopping. So I was down to 1 and frankly it is just so much easier to get things done with one.

So I got a my kitchen cleaned and a few posts up on Ebay. I just sort of got a few things done with them gone.

Then, I had promised a friend of mine that I would help out at her daycare today so that she and her family could get away for the holiday (labor day) weekend. My in laws dropped my kids off when they were done shopping so that they could play with the other kids. My kids love coming over here.

It was a typical day at the daycare. Children as far as the eye can see and an organized series of directions. Playtime, lunchtime,nap time,playtime again ,snack time you get the idea. They have a pretty structured system and I am thankful for that.

Well at the end of the day while parents were beginning to trickle in and pick up their kids, everyone was in the playroom playing.

Then I hear it.

This shrieking scream.

I run in there to find Sunshine on her back and a plastic rocking horse on top of her. The floor is carpeted, so I just think "well it just looks like she got the wind knocked out of her, but otherwise I think she will make it."

She had a "hair pretty" in her hair that was a rubber band with a bead on it. Her hair at this point looks like a bit of a bird's nest so I take out the pretty and try to fix it.

Then I see it.

Her pretty blond hair all wet with blood in the back hidden under her wild hair.

This poor baby hit that floor pretty hard and landed smack dab on that bead in her "hair pretty".
It literally split her melon. She had a 1/2 inch slit on the back of her head that was gushing blood.

I just grabbed her , who at this point was starting to get a little white and sleepy. Not a good sign. I grabbed her, told Molly (the other girl working with me) I had to go and I would send someone to pick up the boys as soon as I could, and off to the ER we ran.

I made frantic calls in the car and thank the Lord, my Mom just happened to be in my area, so she met me at the hospital where she got briefed and sent back out to take care of the boys.

We got in and seen pretty quickly. The whole experience took about 2 hours. I think that is our personal record with Kaiser.

Sunshine came through like a total champ. She sat through 3 shots to her scalp,2 staples, 2 staple removals, then 2 stitches. The Dr. couldn't quite make up her mind of what she wanted to do with closing it up. Good thing she was numb.

By the time we got home it was dinner and bed time. Everyone has pretty much worn themselves out. Between the playing at the daycare and the adrenaline of the day, we just ate and called it a day. Everyone crawled into bed and didn't make a peep once they were down.

Yikes!! My husband gets home from Chicago tonight and I think I may need a vacation next :)

Peanut's first big boy haircut

Ok I know this isn't really all that big of a deal to most people, but I am beginning to realize that Peanut isn't exactly a little baby anymore. This is just one more step to being a big kid. I took Bug in this morning to get his haircut before school starts next week and the barber asked if I wanted to see if Peanut would sit still for one too.

He hopped right up in that chair and sat still like a champ. He didn't fuss or try to see what the barber was doing or anything. When he was done he even had a sucker waiting for him. (his favorite part) I think he felt like a big kid doing what he watched Bug do a million times before.

Looks like my days of cutting my boys' hair may numbered.

Problem is...I don't think I am quite ready for him to be a big kid yet. Since he is my last baby I would like him to stay a baby just a little longer if thats ok with him :)

Craft time!

So this week husband is in Chicago on business. The kids and I have just been trying to pass the time until he gets home. Luckily my mom has been staying with us the past couple of nights and that has been a huge help. If nothing else for someone to talk to at the end of the day that isn't demanding something from me.

Well today I gave the kids a special treat that I don't normally do. I pulled out all the craft crap that I have been compiling for the past couple years.(but never actually used because it makes such a horrific mess)

We had pipe cleaners and plastic beads,glitter,feathers,Popsicles sticks,yarn,pop pons balls,googly eyes and just about anything you could imagine. I gave them fair run of all of it. (Once Peanut was down for a nap of course) They're little imaginations produced some of the coolest little art projects.

They had a great time and the mess really wasn't all that bad. Maybe we'll do this more often.

Bigfoot Lives!!!

Ok if you know me at all, you know that I am a total bigfoot freak. (Hey, I never claimed to be cool) I have always had a weird fascination with it. Why you ask? Well because I am a big fat dork. Thats why.

A couple years ago I stumbled onto this Bigfoot museum up by Mt. St. Helens. So naturally now every time I'm up in that area I have to stop in and see if there is anything new. Not to mention get our picture taken with the big stupid statue out front.

Super cool stuff that they have gotten in this area.

Believe it or not....there is a big market for bigfoot merchandise. Who knew? Now if only we could come up with a legit animal we'd be set.

A day at Mt.St Helens

So we finally got another streak of decent weather and thought we had better jump at the chance to get out and have a nice family day. So we decided we were going to pack a picnic lunch and head up to Mt. St. Helens. It is a couple hours from us, but really a pretty drive. We grabbed my Mom along for the ride because she likes to get out and enjoy days like this too.

Our first stop was a place called "Ape cave". It is a huge cave that runs several miles underground. There was really nowhere to have a picnic, so we just laid out our blanket in the parking lot. Which was fine until a huge caravan of cars came in and we needed to move. So we ate it on the tailgate like true white trash :)

We trekked to the cave all excited to do this and both my mom and I took one look at it and decided that we really weren't cave type people after all. Way too dark and closed in. I'm not sure what exactly we expected here, but it turns out all the caves with skylights were not available. Oh and did I mention bats and mice? Yeah....no. Not gonna happen. Rockstar and the kids went in a little bit. They had fun.

So we moved along to our next stop along the way...we stopped at the Mt. St. Helens museum. Turns out everything was a pay to see kind of thing. You couldn't just go in and wander. So that was sort of a bummer. But we just sort of let the kids run around out front and blow off some stink. They had been cooped up in the car most of the day and needed to get out and shake off the wiggles.

We got some good pictures out of the mix.

All in all we had a fun day and went on a nice drive up to the mountain.

Look out Star search !!

So today I was deemed as the worst and meanest mom on planet Earth.

Awesome!! I have been shooting for that!!

I have been really lax on the messy bedroom situation. The kids rooms have been out of control all summer. Every couple of weeks I go in and get it under control. But this morning I hit my rock bottom with the mess. I went in there, stepped on a lego, tried to catch my balance and did a couple of flailing studder steps only to go down hard on my bum ankle that is just now starting to heal.

Needless to say, I was not amused.

So I sent Bug and Sunshine to their room, not to emerge until it was spotless.

They weren't as thrilled about the thought of a clean room.

They spent about 20 minutes or so (pitching their fits) protesting and then they got to it.

Sunshine only took about an hour and a half and emerged totally proud of herself because she made herself a little toy sculpture. She made a point of telling me that her puppy was on top, "because he is the top dog."

Alright whatever.



Then I heard this little ditty over the monitors upstairs. It was just so dern cute I had to share it.



Oh my little sensitive artist :)

Oh , and just for the record.....it took Bug nearly 3 hours to do the same job. He was too busy shooting me mind bullets , so he didn't do a peppy little cleaning your room song.

He may never forgive me. Oh poo!!

My poor fabulous husband.

So we had this scorching heat wave last week and were in the 100's for a couple days in a row. Well some cooler weather blew through with a big thunder and lightning display and buckets of terental rain. But because we sort of knew it was coming, my husband planned ahead and wore a full rain suit (pants and coat) to ride his bike to work. What he didn't expect is the rain to be so pounding that it soaked through the seems of his waterproof coat and completely soaked his phone that was in the waterproof pocket of his waterproof coat. (do you see where I am going with this?)

This is not the first phone that has been destroyed by water. His last one flew out of his pocket and into a toilet. ...Yeah eww. But he has been really careful with this one. Really there is no way that he could have prevented this from happening. He rides to work every day. Rain or shine and C'mon, we live in Portland so we get a lot more rain than we do shine.

So in short his phone is dead. Deader than dead. With his job he can't be without a phone. He was just approved for a company blackberry, but has not gotten it yet. Problem is, he has to go to Chicago for a week of training next week. In the meantime he has to use my phone.

My phone is great for me.

It's hot pink, has rhinestone flip-flop charm and plays a Steevie Wonder song for a ringtone. It is fabulous for me and any number of drag queens in the Portland metro area. Not so fabulous for my always in black, punk listenin to, nose in books I will never understand, definatly not girly husband.

The funniest part of this is that next week he is going to have to go through airport security and empty his pockets into that little tray. Where my super cute hot pink phone will be for all of the FSA folks to snark at.

Luckily he is totally comfortable in his skin and masculinity. Stuff like this doesn't really bother him. He will wave around his hot pink Barbie phone proudly and proclaim " at least I have a phone!"

And this is why I heart him so :)

Ok I swore I'd never do this....

I know I swore I'd never do this, but desperate times and all.....

I have been selling Tupperware for almost a year. For those of you who know me, know I am Tupperware fanatic from way back. My mom sold it when I was young and my Grandma still sells it now. I grew up with a weird love for all things indestructible and burping. I started selling it mainly to fuel my obsession and get a discount. But I have never been one for public speaking. I really am not all that great at presentation. I have just been content with sitting back and letting those who knew I sold it to come to me for orders. I don't like pimping out my wares door to door.

But after doing parties for friends and family, I have found that I am coming to the end of my rein of the Queen of Tupperware. I have until August 28th to put in an order or else I am going to go inactive. Which means I can't sell it anymore.


So....here's my desperate plea.....if you have the burning desire to own the finest in plastic products that last a lifetime (and if they don't let me know because they do have a lifetime guarantee and will be replaced no questions asked) now would be a great time to put in an order.

I have a little blinking icon on my side bar that takes you directly to my website. Or if you are in my inner circle and have my phone number, give me a call.

Like I said, I have until August 28th. Any little bit helps.

Thank you.
I promise I will never peddle myself on here again a la Jerry Lewis telethon style. I figured it couldn't hurt to throw up the the bat signal just in case there was someone out there who was dyeing for a complete set of modular mates to organize their pantry, but just didn't know who to turn to for such help.

I am here to help!

Tree dancers

So this afternoon we went out to a local art festival that had all sorts of cool performance artist doing some crazy stuff. It was a group that did was was called "tree dancing" which was basically acrobatics set up in some old growth trees. They would hook their harnesses about 100 feet up these trees and do all sorts of nifty acrobatics to music. Think Cirque du soleil but in the trees.

There was also a guy on stilts walking around.

It was pretty impressive.

It was a nice escape from the heat to hang out under the canopy of these huge trees.

Dog days of summer

I don't know how the weather is in you neck of the woods, but it has been scorching hot here the past couple of days. In the 100's. Of course now would be the perfect time for our AC to go on the fritz. Not only is it not blowing cold air, it is also blowing warm air. Keeping our house a nice steady 88 degrees. So we just turned the whole thing off.

Awesome. Thanks for that.

So in short we have a series of about 4000 fans set in strategic spots around the house.

Luckily we have the pool out back. That turned into the best investment ever.Although with it being so hot over several days, even the water is at 90 degrees. I have to stick the hose in to try to cool it off. Something I really didn't think I would do.

But with all this playing in the water it sure gets everyone good and pooped at the end of the day. Sunshine laid herself down here on the deck and took a little siesta with Libby. I love lazy days like this. It's my get out of work card. It's just too darn hot to do anything other than laze about. My house looks like a bomb went off. There is also a permanent wet trail in the carpet from the back door (where the pool is) to the downstairs potty. It never really seems to dry out.

Luckily that carpet is on it's way out, so I don't have to worry about keeping it decent. Like I ever really did? That carpet has been peed on, barfed on and pooped on just about every inch, by just about every living being in the house. It is time for it to go. Look out Pergo...here we come!

And then came the green beans....

So to follow in the obsession......today was dilly bean day. I think I may have a problem here :)

Check these beauties out though I mean c'mon!! It may be too bold to just come right out and say it, but shucks, I am going to do it anyway....I RULE!!!!



Also in other news, but totally related to the above and past couple days.....something I have suspected for quite sometime. It turns out I would make an awesome 1930's housewife. Who knew? See if you can beat me score.

72 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

And then came the peaches....

So if you have been playing the home game, you have been following my obsession that happens every summer. I have become obsessed with preserving enormous quantities of produce.

Today my Mom came over and we canned up 2 cases of peaches. In my estimation, these will have been consumed in approximately 3 months. Each year I make more and more, yet we cruise through them like no body's business.

Although we did have a good time. There is something fun when there is someone else to share the canning and blanching responsibilities with. I think the Amish women may be onto something with their canning socials.

Tomorrow....green beans.

But not just beans.....dilly beans. Only like the best pickled vegetable ever.
Stay tuned.

And then come the blackberries....

This year we decided to go across the street for our blackberries. Every year I pick them and make up jam, but this year we didn't have too far to go. We have a protected wetland across the street from us that is a but overgrown. The kids discovered a bunch of blackberry bushes over there last week, so we all grabbed a couple of baskets and went out. We got about a flat or so.

I thought instead of just doing it, I am going to employ the kids help making this jam. That and what better way for them to learn how to this for themselves. This is how I learned many of my domestic skills, by watching and helping my mom and grandma in the kitchen. These are good skills to know .

Everyone took their turn squishing the berries through the sieve. Then the kids had to count the pops of the jars once they went through the canning process to make sure they got sealed. A good time was had by all.

Next on our list....peaches.

Necterines!!!!

Tonight we had a treat for dessert. I chopped up some fresh nectarines and added some milk and a sprinkle of sugar. Who needs a spoon?

Just dig right in!