The Olympic Fever is Contagious

Ella is all about the Olympics. So are we, so we let her stay up late (sometimes too late) and watch all of the goings on, especially the swimming and gymnastics. Apparently Ella can do each and every event, because she acts them out in the living room, jumping around and making sound effects, especially with the diving.

At one point, when it seemed like all that was on was beach volleyball, we watched that too and boy did she pay attention. So much attention, in fact, that she decided to create her own beach volleyball area in the living room Saturday:

She told me this was 'Chow Yow Park' which is pretty dang close to Chaoyang Park where the competition is held. That girl, I tell you... Who would ever think that a four year old would soak up that kind of detail?

We attempted to play a little bit of beach volleyball in the house but that didn't turn out well. Even sitting down didn't keep the ball from hitting all sorts of things that are best left alone, like the entertainment center and fan/light, not to mention little babies.

I asked Ella which player she was, Misty May or Kerri Walsh, and she chose Misty May.

Misty has quite the spike.

Ella has also been paying close attention to the swimming and really liked to cheer for Michael Phelps (as did we!). It *almost* got to the point of driving us up the stinkin' wall with her asking over and over again about when Michael Phelps was swimming? Is that him? GO MICHAEL PHELPS! She got to see the race Friday night where Phelps beat Cavic by one one-hundredth of a second and was so excited, cheering right along with us. Later she says 'Cabbage just put is head down but Michael Phelps kept swimming and Cabbage lost because he put his head down.' Ah, Cavic, not only did you lose, but in the ears of a preschooler, you are now a vegetable.

I think staying up late all these nights in a row is going to kill all of us. David is quite the Olympics fiend so he stays up well past the normal bedtime to watch with me. Oftentimes I am the one who fades first and have to ask him how it all ended up! Ella, on the other hand, has been SUCH a bear with the decreased sleep. We keep telling ourselves that she'll make it up at preschool with a longer nap, but unfortunately that has not happened. And we are about to go insane with her attitude. But what do we do? Let her stay up late AGAIN and perpetuate the cycle! AAAGH!

Maybe the Olympics should do us all a favor and take a few days off to let us all catch up on some sleep? That would be awful nice of them.... But oh how I love to see the male swimmers... I suppose I'll fight through, somehow, someway!

Read The Writing On The Wall

Mallory and Ella found themselves in desperate need of a bath this evening after quite the fun time at the McClure ranch (more on that later). 

Before David went in and changed the water, because believe me, it was necessary, the girls played with every. single. bath toy Ella has.  The crayon soap is generally reserved as a *sometimes* toy since they are a pain in the ass to clean off the wall, but unsupervised as they were, E and M went to town.

Which one was reading my mind, I wonder?

       

Do you see the almost word beer at the bottom right?  Thank you, I will!

Place Your Bets!

Marisa is getting ready to have Baby AWE any day now, so I'm opening the tables for bets:

When will he come?

What will be his weight and length?

How long will labor last?

Will Marisa have a C-section?

How many times will she cry within the first 24 hours of his arrival?

And finally.... What do the A and W stand for in AWE?

Garth Brooks Owes Me Child Support

Jamie brought me one of her cookbooks to look through when she came over this weekend. It's by Trisha Yearwood 'Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen.'

Quite a few interesting recipes that I will keep, but what was most interesting is this photo near the beginning of the book:

Um, excuse me? Did Lilly come from Oklahoma? Could Lil be the offspring of this pup? OR IS SHE THE MOTHER? I hope not, because then I owe Garth Brooks child support. But isn't this nuts? I thought surely any remote relative of Lilly's would have long since been killed, due to her general sorriness and overall uselessness. But no!

I think a trip to Oklahoma is in order, where I will demand to know the origins of this dog, and then maybe Trisha and I will do a little Georgia cookin'.

Why Use Two Hands When You Could Use Four?

Ashley Kate has been accused of having monkey legs, and that might have been by me.

That child uses her feet to hold things she is interested in looking at or playing with.

I present to you Exhibit A:

AK checking out the Dressy Bessie doll (that Genelle so keenly suggested), foot coming up...

Exhibit B:

Feet holding DB securely, much like hands

Exhibit C:

Another DB foot hold

Exhibit D:

I thought you might like another angle, notice the foot coming in for the grab

Just some cuteness that I thought I'd throw in

Could these monkey legs come from me and the fact that I gave the child monkey toes? Could this really be my fault? Or is she just ambidextrous, but between feet and hands?

She does like bananas. Hmmm....

Cheek Feast

The other day Heather, from dooce, posted a picture of her little girl when she was a baby and commented "I still don't know how she made it out of her infancy with those cheeks still intact, I feasted on them daily."

My thoughts EXACTLY.

Another List

Let's see if I can rattle off a few things that have been going on:

* Ashley went to the doctor for her nine month appointment and everything is right on track. Still average height and weight, but way, way, WAY above average head. Yep, that's how we breed 'em over here, big headed!

* We found a water leak from somewhere, thought it was the fridge so we actually pulled it out from the wall. TALK ABOUT SCARY (unless you are Melinda who does that kind of crazy thing regularly).

*Water leak wasn't the fridge, turned out to be the AC. Had to turn off the AC for WTF is going on? inspection for a couple of hours on a day that hit the triple digits. Not. Fun.

* Determined that the drain line from the drip pan of the AC was clogged, I ALMOST belly crawled under the house to get at the pipe to unclog it.

* After closer inspection of the under side of the house, decided against that brilliant idea.

* David comes up with even more brilliant idea (after I have a come this close to getting bitten by every bug under the sun (and house)) that flushed clog pronto.

* Ashley is a sippy cup fiend. Also a mad fan of the Gerber Graduates little puffy stars.

* I bought the GG puffy stars because I thought they didn't have wheat in them, something that we were waiting until 1 year to give her due to my allergy as a babe.

* They've got wheat in them.

* Shit.

* Marisa is ready, ready, ready to have baby AWE. I SO remember that feeling that it's going to happen TODAY, and if not today then maybe tomorrow. YES! TOMORROW! That would be a good day! Just get this pregnancy over with already!

* Making tentative plans to take a little trip south in the next three to four weeks. See above.

* Ella Grace still loves that mutton bustin' medal. I bought her a little plastic sheep at Tractor Supply that looks just like the one she rode. It lives with the medal now.

* Oh, and about Marisa... She's got Meat Feet now too.

* David has had some interesting phone conversations as of late.

* Ashley has been dubbed 'feet of fury' at diaper changes and other lying about type times. I have tried to video it, because it's so funny, but to no avail. I swear she's going to break her heels if she keeps it up.

* The Animals of Science departmental softball team finished the season with a perfect record. Perfectly horrible, as they didn't win one single solitary game.

* No teeth as of yet for Ashley Kate.

* I saw the neatest idea for 'flowers' outside of the gym today: hot pepper plants! Little peppers, in varying stages of greenish white, orange and red just popping from their green leaf background. I think I'll take a pic next time.

* There has been some craziness going on over at Smartini. Possibly even me singing karaoke.

* The new ride is FAB, BTW.

* Except that I just went and paid the property taxes on the new ride. The Old Rides are FAB, BTW, for their relative cheapness when it comes tax time.

* We are still the McClure Used Auto Lot, with 4, count them, 4, automobiles at our house.

* Got a call last night about the truck... I did my damnedest to charm charm charm this guy into thinking it was the perfect truck he's been looking for all his life.

* We'll see how that pans out.

* Tuesday was a fun day as Angie Jo found out that she is having a little GIRL! Yea! Keeping up with the McClure's, I see... I offered a M name that would go rather well with Mallory, but I don't think she bit. Now Karen, on the other had, who happens to be naming her baby girl Meghan, she's a smart one! (Love you, Karen!)

* Preschool is closed tomorrow so Ella is going to work with David. This is going to be good.

* If AK doesn't quit waking up at 6 AM on the nose, I'm going to go out of my mind. Seven, baby girl, SEVEN!

* My house is a wreck, but what's new? This weekend we'll clean it up. That's it! This weekend. Riiight.

* Who's going to obessively watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics like me? Who thinks Michael Phelps is cute, not like me?

Is It Hot In Here?

Office Space Rundown:

Time: This morning

Office: Mine

Air Conditioning Unit: Getting replaced

Temperature: 98 degrees

Shirt: Stuck to my back

Makeup: Shouldn't have bothered

Kansas Wind: Could kick it up a notch or twelve

Fluid Intake: Up dramatically

Wishing I Was: Not here

Think I'll Leave: At lunch

Question: Is it lunch?

Give Me A 'It's Late!'

I know there have been times before when I have said that it is neat, fun, handy, insert adjective of choice, to live just over a mile from the KSU stadium with nothing but farmland in between.

But then there are times like tonight, when this is happening at 10:15 P.M.

From my deck:

(Ok, so the crickets are a bit louder than the music on the video, but in person the music was LOUD. At one point I thought the song accompanying the JumboTron was Hells Bells. And if that wasn't bad enough, I think this might be related to the CHEER CAMP! that's happening on campus. Shoot. Me. Now. And shut that damn thing off!)

Word Find

From the Preschool Room 3 Song Book that was sent home so that parents will know the words to the songs their kids are singing:

See if you can find the word that made me laugh at the fact that it's in a PRESCHOOL SONG BOOK.

Mutton Take Out

Saturday night we all headed out to the county fair and the rodeo. Ella has been waiting for two years to be able to participate in the Mutton Bustin' (sheep riding) event offered for kids between rodeo events. We got her all signed up and dressed like a bona fide contestant, complete with a back number and all.

Ella Grace was ready. She took our words of "Hold on and don't let go!" to heart, and by gosh that little girl, in fact, did not let go, even after she had fallen off of her sheep. She didn't get all that far before falling off, but holy crap she took a holt and brought that sheep down with her!

At one point the bugger was on top of Ella, but she didn't care. According to her, once she let go she "stood up, smiled, dusted myself off and spit out a mouthful of dirt." Not a tear is sight, y'all! She is one tough little girl, and you should've seen her daddy's chest stick out with pride! (Ahem. There were multiple other little children, BOYS, who were crying, so this was a big damn deal.)

David will attest that she did just as she reports, post hitting the dirt. Ella even walked up to him, pointed at her nose and matter of factly said 'I got a nosebleed.' They made it back to the stands where I was and I grabbed a quick picture of her before we wiped her down. She was DIRTY from all that dirt and a wet sheep!

We were so proud of her mettle that we went out for a little celebratory ice cream.

And she's ready to do it again. Tomorrow.

(These first four pics may be slightly stolen from the professional photographer. We will order prints and pay for them, I swear!) Click on photo to see larger.

She is so proud of that medal. It's hanging up in her room, as is the back number. Take a WILD guess what she will be taking to show and tell next week!

Tall Tails

Through the course of conversation tonight at supper, we ended up here, and then it all went downhill:

David (to Ella): That's right, you and I have the same color eyes. And Ashley. ONLY MAMA has green eyes.

Ella: Yep! ONLY Mama.

David: It's a good thing Mama has Lilly around because she has eyes like Mama's. [snickers]

Ella: [snickers]

Me (rather put off): Well, Daddy's glad that Lilly's around too because she's the only one that has a tail like him.

David looks dumbfounded.

Ella: Nuh uh!

Me: Yes ma'am, Daddy has a tail. Not a long one like Lilly's, but a little short one.

Ella (laughing): NO HE DOESN'T!

Me: Yes he does! Why do you think every time Daddy gets out of the shower he asks for his privacy? It's because he doesn't want you to see his tail!

Ella, wide eyed, turns and looks at David.

David, adamately shakes his head no, and we all bust up into fits of laughter.

Holy cow, having a child old enough to pull a stunt like this on is So. Much. Fun!

(I may or may not have been kidding with her later and told her that she was born with a tail but we had it removed. Maybe.)

Obviously I have no regard for the fact that today is David's birthday, and I will throw him to the brown eyed, long tailed dogs any day.

From Today

I love this picture that Peggy took of us enjoying the breeze, watching Ella and her Grandpa ride at the horse unit.

Ashley Kate rocks is so many ways.

Command Central

This is my view of Ashley in her very new, very ginormous car seat. She has to be rear facing for the next few months, so it's difficult to see her anyway, but this monster doesn't help!

This looks like Ashley is an evil baby genius sitting back there in her big chair, with monitors and a keyboard, controlling all sorts of baby happenings, just out of our vision. I half expect her to whip that chair around, drumming her fingertips together with a glint in her eye...

"Yes.. They are falling into my plan nicely... Yes... MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Hot Buns! Er, Rolls

If you have some of this Hot Roll mix, you can make some of these fabbo cinnamon rolls in a snap. I made these a few weekends ago and they did not last long. There is just something about homemade cinnmaon rolls that beats out the canned, hands down. If I had had some pecans, I would have added them to a few of them, for my own benefit and all.

Hit the baking aisle of the grocery store and search out this Hot Roll Mix. It's usually by the muffin mixes and whatnot. Just follow the directions for the cinnamon rolls on the side of the box (super easy, trust me) except use 3/4 c. brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and one Tablespoon of cinnamon for the filling. I have made these before using the filling called for on the box and they were alright. Brown sugar is definitely the way to go!

The listed icing works well, or you can go with 1/4 c. cream cheese, softened, 3 Tablespoons of milk and 1 1/2 c. of powdered sugar whisked together, if you are a cream cheese fan like me.

YUM!

(PS: This Hot Roll Mix is good for all kinds of stuff: bierocks, pizza dough, cinnamon roll, dinner rolls. It's definitely worth having a box on hand! And SO EASY!)

Swingin' Chocolate Pie

" There's a little girl in our neighborhood,
her name is Charlotte Johnson and she's really lookin' good.
I had to go and see her, so I called her on the phone.
I walked over to her house and this was going on:

Her brother was on the sofa, eatin' chocolate pie,
her Mama was in the kitchen cuttin' chicken up to fry.
Her daddy was in the backyard rollin' up a garden hose,
I was on the porch with Charlotte, feelin' love down to my toes...
and we were Swingin', yes we were Swingin'..."

- John Anderson "Swingin' "

I don't know if we were on the sofa when we were eatin' this chocolate pie, but we were definitely feeling it down to our toes. This is gooood, y'all.

(I heated up the mixture to get the sugar dissolved really well and then let it cool completely before adding the egg. I also had to cook it for longer than suggested, but it still turned out fantastic!)

What's Your Sign?

It seems like I have been a little peeved with preschool, as of late. Whether it's because they seem to be watching movies (at all) or too many of them, or just because I haven't seen a real increase in what Ella's learning, I don't know. Either way, both of those things get me fired up and wanting to search around for other options.

Until times like tonight happen, and then I don't know if it is preschool that I have to thank, or just the sponge-like qualities of a four year old in general.

As of late, Ella's teacher has been teaching them some sign language. I haven't ever gotten the full story as to how she knows some sign language, be it a deaf friend or family member, or that she just knows some rudimentary signs. So far Ella has come home and shown us the alphabet, a few colors, and some other random signs that may go along with a song or two. She has a paper taped up on her wall of the alphabet in signs and even got me to learn them, along with the 'ABC's' and 'Rainbow' songs.

I was absolutely impressed by all this, for sure. But then this past weekend she goes and does something that makes me just stare in wonder. She, David and I are just hanging out on the bed one morning and as I'm talking to David, I notice that she's gazing at my shirt. She notices the block letters that are on it, and all on her own starts flashing the signs for the letters in a personal test of her skills. She knew that David and I weren't particularly paying attention to her, she was just doing it for herself.

I was pretty impressed by her ambition and skill and called David's attention to it before she finished. Hell yeah, that big ol' noggin of hers is humming right along, synapses firing like lightning!

Then tonight she wore a shirt to bed that had the letter I, a heart, and a horse on it. So she showed us the sign for 'I love', but wasn't sure of the sign for 'horse.' Hang on, I tell her, I'll go find out. (How great is the internet, btw?!) I find a really nice site of ASL signs for farm animals and pets, and we go over the sign for horse, so now she can do 'I love horses.'

But it doesn't stop there. She has me read and teach her every.single.sign. on the site. Of course she's an animal lover so all of these animal signs are a hit, but there was a point where I was like 'honey, do you really need to know the sign for hamster? Or lizard?' But she did.

And then as I'm tucking her into bed, we go over the signs for cow and horse and lamb and chicken and then she signs to me 'I love you.'

I love you, too, little girl.

Clearing Off the Camera

And the Award Goes To.... Me!

TA DA!

I just don't even know what to say, I'm so excited about this award!

There are so many people I'd like to thank... David, for his undying love and support, even when every other piece of automotive equipment threatened to quit on me, The Bank for their willingness to float this girl a loan, all of the Other Vehicles for their general oldness and fatigue, and finally, the previous owner (note: singular) who bought this new 6 years ago from the dealership where I used to work (and did work at the time of purchase, as a matter of fact) and took it there for all service and maintenance and oil changes every 3,000 miles so that I can verify all of the love and attention it was given via the CarFax.

Thank you, thank you!

I will keep this award high on the mantle for 9 years, just like I did my previous award, at which point Ella will be almost old enough to drive (holy.crap.) and I can present her with her very own old and tired award.

Thank you again!


The Cast of Characters, also known as The Other Vehicles:

The Explorer: The first vehicle that I ever bought all on my own, 9 years ago, who has served us well. She will spend the rest of her days being run into the ground and getting squeezed for every ounce of umph that she has to give, which may be quite a bit yet since the only thing wrong with her is an AC that is low on juice. Any future trips that involve Lilly will also involve this sporty girl, bar none.

Ah, The Honda: I hope I still look this good at 216,000 miles. This one came in and pinch hit when we needed something with four doors. The gas mileage and general whipping around-ness has been lovely, but sadly, her time is coming to a close. I'm afraid to say that she will be run until the wheels fall off, and I'm not even kidding. Literally, the wheels, or front axle as it were, will fall off soon. Then she will become an organ donor for some other deserving Hondas. But not the tranny. It's shot all to hell.


The Truck: FOR SALE

Anyone with the need of a farm/ranch truck, please contact us ASAP.

I must be in touch with The Bank regarding The Loan soon and it would be most beneficial to have this section of the McClure Used Auto Lot cleared.

Since we are keeping The Explorer, what do I call the New Explorer? (These are the names of the vehicles, as they are referred to in my house. Funny how The Explorer is The Explorer, but The Honda isn't The Accord.) Hmmm... It's a question I am happy to ponder, if it means being presented with a gen-u-wine major award!

What I've Learned, by Megan M.

* Just when you think that the pain in the ass ants who have camped out in your kitchen can't get anywhere else, you may find them in your silverware drawer.

* If you bang on your computer's mouse six ways to Sunday it will still jump, skip and not roll where you tell it to.

* When you finally decide that you have had enough of aforementioned computer mouse's misbehavings and you are going to take matters into your own hands and take the damn thing apart to clean it out, you should definitely, definitely pay attention to exactly how it comes apart, and more importantly, how it should then go back together.

* Even though you have only had a computer mouse for 6 months, that is no reason that there can't be an insane amount of fuzz and junk inhibiting the little roller ball, which once cleaned out will make your mouse perform at an exceptional level, if you can get it put back together.

* When you finally attempt to really clean your toilet and find that a steel wool pad is necessary, it's probably been too long since the last super thorough cleaning.

* Gas prices will rise in direct proportion to how fast your 4 cylinder, billion miles to the gallon vehicle will fall apart.

* Despite all previous evidence to the contrary, David can be awakened at 2:30 am and move like lightning when presented with a 4 year old in the process of throwing up beside (and on) his bed.

* Little children who are calm, nonchalant even, about the act of throwing up and can look at you and simply say 'I'm done' when they, in fact, are done, are a glorious gift, at 2:30 in the morning.

* Greased Lightning will peel several layers off of whatever it's sprayed on: grime on the shower, paint on the stove hood, skin on your hands.

* One wee little baby who was known far and wide for her spitting up skills will move right past that and replace it with her excellent sitting up skills in the blink of an eye.

* Babies love to chew on remotes.

* Babies love to pull hair, rather hard, and laugh maniacally about it.

* Babies who love to chew on remotes and pull hair may not have any sign of teeth coming in.

* Marry a man who makes you laugh and you will be rewarded on a daily basis as he produces gut busting words, phrases or observations.

* Lots of rain + no RoundUp = cars getting lost in the weeds and grass invading their designated parking area.

* Fresh new highlights will do wonders for a girl and all of those that she touches with her new radiant glow.

* Buying used books is good for all involved, especially when you buy them for someone else.

* Hearing from three friends about an engagement and two pregnancies all in two days will elevate your mood dramatically.

* Marking multiple things off your To Do List = You Deserve A Nap