Welcome to Suburbia...

On Saturday I went to a few yard sales. It was a sunny morning, and as I was out I noticed a strange phenomena. The majority of people I saw that morning were walking along their merry way with bags of excrement dangling from their hands. It stuck me as funny that here in suburbia when you take your dog for a walk, you also have to take a bag or two with. When the dog does his duty, you have to do yours, and carry it home with you too. I am surely grateful that most people do this, because what fun would it be to take a walk on the green belt covered in scat. But it is kind of funny, seeing all these people out for a nice walk carrying a bag o' poo along with them. This is the primary reason I do not want a dog. I like dogs. But they poop. I have enough of that to take care of with the kids. I tell Jeff all the time, if he can find a dog that doesn't poop, I am all for it! So far, he hasn't come up with anything.

A Week's Worth of Pictures (In no particular order)

The (almost) Birthday Boy

Aunt Ann and Katie

Aunt Ann and the kids

Katie grabbing Nate's nose with the grip o' steel

Katie wearing a 'thinking cap'

Jeff's Very Lemony Birthday Cake

James following Nate's turtle around the yard

Isn't this just the cutest little turtle you've ever seen? Nate's roommate rescued him from the ghetto streets. Seriously.

Katie and Uncle Phil

Poor Girl

A double ear infection with a ruptured ear drum on one side....that's why poor Katie has been miserable this week and I have not been getting any sleep. Hopefully soon she'll be right as rain. I feel so bad for her, poor thing.

Grasshoppers 5 Cents

As a child, my allowance was $1 per month. Yes, folks, one American dollar. ONE. I think the sole reason we got an allowance to begin with was so that Dad could say ‘Hey, you get an allowance. Buy it yourself.’ Although I did not appreciate it at the time, it has helped me become more thrifty later in life. I remember saving up for about 3 months to buy a fish bowl. I think at that point I begged my parents to spring for the 99 cent fish so I didn’t have to wait another month. Good times, I tell ya’. But that is merely background information for this post. It was this lack of cold hard cash that drove us to find ways of making additional income. Despite the fact that we could go to the Country Store and purchase a number of wonderful candies for nickels and dimes, it still was not enough to support our endeavors. Sometimes we would to extra chores to earn some spare change. We also collected pop cans from the side of the road. Since aluminum is worth approximately .0000034222 cents per metric ton, it was a very lucrative business. One summer, Nate and I came up a genius idea. (Maybe Rach was involved too…I can’t remember. Rach?) We would soon be rolling in the dough. Raking in the cheddar. Makin’ some sweet moola. We gathered up all the grasshoppers we could catch from the field next to our house. We contained them in Mom’s milk can. We then crafted a very catchy sign, something to the effect of ‘Grasshoppers, 5 Cents Each’ on a piece of cardboard. We walked out to the main road and put it where people may or may not have been able to see it. Then we went back, sat on the milk can and waited. And waited. And waited. Surely some passing fisherman would stop and purchase a few hundred grasshoppers from two cash-poor grade schoolers. We continued to wait. If one of us had to use the WC, the other one would wait with the grasshoppers in case we had a customer. Amazingly, despite the fantastic value we were offering, no one stopped by. I am sure it had almost nothing to do with the fact that there really was little traffic past our sign. Just a farmer or two here and there, passing on his way to irrigate and maybe a few random people. At one point, when I went inside, Nate removed a few grasshoppers and faked a sale so that I would feel like we’d actually made some cash. The only problem was there was no cash. Eventually our grasshoppers wilted in the heat. We wilted in the heat. We gave up our enterprise and went back inside to determine how much allowance we had left to buy Big League Chew and Fireballs until next month.

Brain Dead

I promise one of these days I will write something scintillating and exciting. For now, I am brain dead. I haven't been able to sleep much in the last three days since Katie has been sick. So, I am not exactly thinking straight. I am working on a Franch story, but until my brain cells are back from striking I will not be able to finish it. I really need to get on the ball. I have muchos packing to do for next week, not to mention the usual stuff. And somewhere in there, I'd aspire to get a good night's sleep!

Loooooooong Day

Today was a long day. Katie is sick with some kind of bug. She has a low grade fever and is just so miserable. Poor thing. She spent almost the entire day on my shoulder, fading in and out of sleep. The highlight of our day was something we have been planning for a while. The kids and I went to Jeff's place of employment to join him for lunch. Since he works 45 minutes away, we don't do this often at all. I was worried about Katie, but as I predicted, she slept in the car the whole way there and most of the way back. She was actually the most perky she's been all day when we were there. James was so happy to see Daddy's office and play with all his stuff. It was a lot of fun. Due to the timing of this venture, James missed his nap. Fun times for Mama....a sick baby and a tired kid. This is how we ended up by 7:00. Check out my hair. Can you say HUMIDITY? I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Please ignore the weird looking armpit. Lunch ladies everywhere, UNITE!

P.S. James did not wear this out in public! He had an accident and these were the only pants available. Sweet, huh?

Yesterday

Like the title of my post? It's so profound I can hardly contain myself. So, yesterday we had a fun day. We spent a lot of yesterday outside. We played in the 'ba-yard,' one of James' most favorite places. He dug lots of dirt and scooped it into his dump truck. Jeff dug out a fence post and re-set it so we can actually close our gate. James 'helped' with that. We also walked down to see the 53rd annual Soap Box Derby car race going on. That was fun to watch. They close the road off near our house and hold the derby. We found a nice shady place right next to the finish line and watched the cars come down the hill. James' day would not be complete, however, without a visit to 'Dammy and Da-Paw's house,' and he got his wish. Overall it was a fun day, and I dare say relaxing, even though it was busy. It was just nice to have Jeff home without a load of homework to do!

More Jamesisms

1. This morning, Jeff dressed in his casual Friday attire, complete with a neon yellow safety vest. He and his coworkers deemed today 'Yellow Safety Vest Friday.' Catchy, no? I told, a bit sarcastically, that he looked so good with his spiffy vest that the girls would be chasing after him. Then I gave him a big hug and James said, I kid you not, 'Mama, pull yourself together!'

2. We saw a pair of ducks this morning and one of them was preening his feathers. James said 'That duck is eating himself.'

3. James caught a rolly polly this morning. I showed him how they rolled up and he said it was 'like a beach ball.'

Like I Was Just Saying.....

This happened just last night. I guess she likes garlic!

Kinda Like Having a Dog

Katie is the stage where she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Her toys, her feet, any kind of paper, shoes, etc. It's not like we give her all this stuff to chew on, especially the shoes, but she employs her fake crawling technique to get whatever she wants. By this I mean she pulls herself around with her arms, dragging her legs behind. She really doesn't have any interest in crawling. I think she just wants to walk. She does, though, manage to reach lots of little odds and ends to put in her mouth. Coinciding with her recent interest in solid foods, she scours the floor for little bits of anything she can eat. I know, it sounds gross. The other day James was eating something and kept dropping crumbs. After a while I noticed that Katie had positioned herself below him so as to be able to eat whatever fell her way. When Jeff and I noticed, Jeff said "Hey, at least she's having fun." You can so tell she's our second kid. Hey, maybe I won't have to sweep as often. Just kidding. The other culinary pastime that Katie has endeavored to accomplish is the tasting of various field greens. Grass, clover, weeds, you name it, she's tried it. This has led to a lot of fishing around in Katie's mouth to remove particles of grass that get stuck in her drooly jaws. I think now is the time to sweep the house for all the non-baby-friendly objects laying around. James' fondness for pennies will have to be reigned in. Time to use the piggy bank!

Watch Email!

Jeff introduced James to Y0uTube and now James has realized that any of his favorite characters can be found on the 'email.' (computer) We found this one while looking for Bob. Its a good one!

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

1. I found what might be my new favorite place to take the kids. Don't laugh, but there is the coolest fish store EVER right down the road. It has creatures I didn't know existed, and some I've only ever seen on a PBS special. You can buy them for your very own. Not that I would do that, but it sure is a cool place to take the kiddies. Its like going to the aquarium, but its free. We even saw a tankful of piranhas with little bit marks all over them. Mmmmm...cannibalism. Take the kids! It's fun.

2. The previous owner of our house must have generously supported every charity that ever sent him address labels. Since we have moved in, we have received a blanket, a cool flashlight keychain, stickers, greeting cards, prayer books, a nickel, a prayer 'rug,' and today....drum roll, please....a necklace of the blessed Mother. Just what I always dreamed of. We never know what will come in the mail for him, and it's not like we can forward it to him anyway. Not to sound crass, but he's not going to be wanting the stuff. Anyone looking for a Virgin Mary necklace?

3. James yelled to me in the backyard today, "Hurry, Mama! Turtle! Hurry! Tome see! Hurry! Hurry! Turtle!" I was 98% sure it wasn't a turtle, but I wanted to see what he found. This is what he was pointing to. How creative is that?


4. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. It was a long one. Jeff worked all weekend at my parents installing Pergo. James was/is on the edge of a toddlerhood crisis, whatever that is. He's having issues, poor guy.

Family Pictures

Our friend Rachel came over and took some family pictures of us. Here we are:

An Historical Franch Tale

Jeff’s uncle grew up on a ranch in Gateway Canyon. His family had owned the property for several generations. His grandfather, Preach Massey, worked the ranch as did his father before him, back when the West was wild. So here is an exciting Franch history lesson for y’all. One thing that is all important to any farm or ranch operation is water. No one can run a successful operation without a source of water. The problem is, water is not always easy to come by. You don’t really hear about it so much around here, but water and grazing rights were and very important to farmers and ranchers. Having water and grazing rights gives you the resources you need to care for your property. Often fights arose over who had the right to what. Feuds started and anger rose. It was something like this that started another family in the canyon against the Massey’s. The story has it that there was a dispute over water. I am going off my memory here, so I may not have the details quite right. Whatever it was, there was a dispute. I believe that the Massey family refused to sell the rights to their water. One day when Preach was about three years old, he was riding a horse with his father along the ridge of the mountain. I am not sure if there was a confrontation or not. I don’t remember, but Preach’s father was shot off his horse. He died right there. Preach sat alone on the horse at the top of the mountain. The shooter then went on to burn down the cabin containing the deed to the property in dispute. The family story goes that the horse found his way back to the ranch, with Preach still perched atop him. You may be wondering if this is a tall tale. I kind of wondered the same thing. While I didn’t think that the story was made up, I wondered if it was really all that spectacular. Not long after, when I worked at a retirement home, I actually took care of a man who also grew up in Gateway. He was older than dirt and remembered the story too. The only differing detail was that his father had found Preach and the horse wandering the mountain and led them back home. If that weren’t enough confirmation, we also knew a lady from church who also lived on a ranch up there. She, too, verified the story. Jeff’s uncle actually took us up to the ‘scene of the crime’ one time, and that was pretty interesting. Sometimes the truth is more exciting than fiction I suppose.

This Is Totally Random: Garden Edition

My garden is coming along nicely. Randomly, but nicely. This year, a combination of several things has caused my garden to be less than stellar in the orderly department. The heavy rains have helped to shift some of the seeds around. Time was also a factor, as I was trying to get everything in the ground before, say, Labor Day. And the factor that has most affected the randomness quotient of my garden: JAMES. I was/am excited to have him help, but 'help' is a relative term. If you have kids, you know what I mean. While planting, he managed to open and spread two packages of seeds. I am just not quite sure where he spread them. I have been very hesitant to pull many weeds because I am not quite sure what is what. I have discovered a thick little patch of basil amongst my Lima beans. I also found some nestled in the lettuce. I found cilantro poking up haphazardly here and there. I am just going with it. James loves to be able to say "I helpin' you, Mama!" The other hazard James poses to my garden is trampling the vegetation I have so carefully nurtured. I put a path down the middle of the garden and designated a spot just for him to dig. Do you think this has alleviated the problem? NO! Yesterday he walked right over my cute little lettuce patch. He just about trampled my little cilantro sprouts. He took out a couple sunflower seedlings. I finally had to deposit him on the other side of the fence. Despite the hazards of gardening, I think we will get a nice bunch of 'crops' out of it. I am excited to see how everything does, and plan for next years garden. Next year, maybe it'll be more orderly. And maybe not.

Banner Day

This morning, I heading to the store to redeem the coupons we got in the mail or moving. I got a FREE rotisserie chicken, a FREE bag of salad, a FREE package of napkins and a FREE cake from the bakery. On my way in, I noticed that all their vegetable plants were on clearance, 4 6-packs for $2. So, I bought 24 bell pepper plants for $2 and will use them to fill in the holes in my garden left by having a two-year-old help plant seeds. Bell peppers, anyone? So, when I got home, I checked the mail and low and behold, there was another set of coupons for the very same thing. Yipee! Also, I got a brand new, still in the box, waffle maker from Freecycle today. Wahoo! I have been wanting one for a long time. James was so excited we made waffles immediately after we got home. So, its like a little bit of Christmas around here today!

Thanks? The Endearing Habits of James

James just woke up, brought me his diaper and said, "Hey Mama, you need this." Thanks? He has also started a new and endearing habit of saying "Wipe my eyes!" when he is crying. The only thing is, if you don't wipe his eyes quick enough, he will wipe them on the nearest possible object. My pants, the couch, the floor. He is getting such a grasp on words and its so fun. Yesterday he told me, "You need dive me tiss! I fin-ner hurts really bad!" The other day he was coughing and came to stand next to me with his back to me. He said "Mama, pat my back." He describes things in so much detail now. For example, he'll say "PPS Man (UPS) go down hill in front of our new house, Mama!" He also has a memory that I find unbelievable. About a month ago, we met one of our neighbors who has an antique firetruck in his garage. He let James sit in it. Last night James said "I dit sit in firetruck, sit in front seat, turn steering wheel in Doug's firetruck!" How does a two year old remember the guy's name? I barely remember that stuff. He also told me recently that when we were in the hospital to 'dit Tee,' he got an 'ime-out' for touching the sink. He said "Daddy tell me not touch sink. I touch sink, dit ime-out. I dit in trouble." Katie is 9 months old, for crying out loud! Anyway, this is what James has been up to. I figured I'd better write it down for posterity before I forget. Next thing you know he'll be going off to kindergarten and I will cry.


Oh, and Merry Jo....he said several times "Tell baby Jo her jam is yummy. Baby Jo bring us jam!" Needless to say it is gone, and it was yummy!

Dad's Gut-Bustin' Good Stuff

Don't let the description fool you. This stuff is really good! Make it at home, or when camping. It is really good, although just a tad high in fat. But who's counting! :)

Enjoy at home, or while camping.

1 bag of frozen Tater Tots

1-2 green peppers, cut into bit sized pieces

1 onion, chopped

4-8 garlic cloves, whole (or more, depending on if you like garlic)

breakfast meat, such as sausage or bacon, or both

butter

In a large dutch oven, brown meat of choice. Remove meat and use remaining grease to fry onions and peppers. Throw meat back in, along with the garlic and tater tots. Add a few tablespoons of butter. Put lid on dutch oven and bake in 350 degree oven or over fire till tater tots are cooked thru and everything is nice and yummy. Eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner!


***And a side note: I made coffee cake this morning for breakfast. James told me 'I want more Happy Birthday." Meaning, Happy Birthday, we have cake....so cake must be called Happy Birthday! I wonder if he thinks we are singing to the cake when its someone's birthday?

It's Hot

My computer is melting; I am melting. There was a high of 99 today, with a heat index of 106. That is about what it is upstairs, seriously. So, this is gonna be short. Enjoy the pictures!

Check this out!

This post is merely to inform you of the strange things you can find on the internet. Check out this site: Wholesome Wear. This is the swim wear endorsed by the very large Duggar family (the ones who are gestating their 19th prodigy). I think maybe even an Amish person would feel a tad over dressed in one of these swimsuits. And check out the price tag!!! Ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!! Also, I am wondering with the extra weight/fabric, does this pose a drowning hazard?

This is totally random, but....

I have come under considerable scrutiny by certain peoples who I will not mention by name for the ownership of this plate. I asked for it for my birthday, and I got my wish. So what it it's the size of a hubcap and looks like a Mexican belt buckle? I think its funky, and to quote Jeff, "Funkiness is next to godliness." Well, maybe he didn't say that.

Here are a few shots of the things growing in my garden! So far, my fence is keeping the pesky rabbits out. James is working on keeping the birds out for me. He says "Shoo, birds. Dit out Mommy's darden!" I am excited to hurry up and get to pickin'! However, I think that my lettuce is still a bit on the vertically challenged spectrum, so I am going to have to wait a while.

James told me this morning, "Dit your tamera, Mama. Take my pi-ture." So, I did, and he actually smiled. Aw!

Is there no end to the deliciousness?!?

In other news, which is not very interesting, Jeff is taking a summer Economics class. Summer class equals lots of homework. So, that's what he's been up to. In other news, I think I need to get a grip. I found myself reading half a headline on a rolled up newspaper in someone's driveway yesterday. Since we have been sans TV, I have no idea what's going on around this here planet. I was surprised to see the headline "...Concedes to Obama." As I stood there trying inconspicuously to read someone's paper, I realized I need to start checking Google news every now and then so I don't look like a colossal dork standing there trying to ascertain the status of the world by reading a newspaper rolled up in a plastic bag.

That's all for today, folks. I told you it would be random!

The Pig Lady Cooks!

The Pork Barrel: Not-So-Fine Franch Dining

As young college students with a limited budget, Jeff and I were always on the lookout for a cheap meal. Really, we were both well fed by my Grandma who insisted on cooking countless wonderful meals for us. I think she single-handedly put 25 pounds on Jeff while we were dating. But when we were going back and forth between school, work and wherever, we still had the need to eat. I think back then I ate my weight in 39 cent bean burritos at Taco Bell. Oh, the injustice when they went up to 69 cents. It was a tragedy. We also ate our fair share of 99 cent Whoppers, which I will never touch again. Then, we made a discovery: The Pork Barrel Café. My friend Meg tipped us off. This fine dining establishment was out in the middle of what y’all on the East Coast would probably consider NOWHERE. Located in the town of Mack, this establishment was close to nothing but the Last Chance Gas Station. Mack is/was a town of only a couple hundred people, with a lot of stange ones in the bunch. There were the nudists who collected pop cans and mowed their lawn in the buff, the meth-heads and alcoholics hiding out from society and an odd assortment of other misfits with some normal people thrown in the mix. Sounds like your kinda’ place, huh? So, this was the location of the Pork Barrel Café. We also made the discovery that the café is located inside a double wide trailer and run by the Pig Lady herself. Sweet! Already, you can see this is going to be a five star place. When you step inside, the walls are covered, every square inch of them, with bumper stickers, newspaper articles, T-shirts and other memorablia all related to pigs. From floor to ceiling, every nook and cranny was plastered with pig stuff. There were a few tables and a couple booths. We sat down and got our menus. The menus were school folders with ‘Pork Barrel’ scrawled on the front with a marker. Inside was a menu a page or two long. One of the items on the menu was the ‘Prairie Dog Burrito.’ We never quite figured out what was in it, or why it was called the Prairie Dog Burrito. The rest of the menu was pretty standard home-cooking type stuff: hamburgers, biscuits and gravy, stuff like that. The lady told us ‘We’re outta fries, and we used up all the gravy, so you can’t get any of that.’ Sometimes when we would order our food, it would take so long that we were sure they were actually out killing the cow. Once or twice, they brought out our food in stages. One person would get their meal, while the other person had to wait another half an hour to get theirs. We were kind of grossed out by the fact that after another couple left, they took the remainder of the ice tea in their pitcher and poured it right back in to the pot. I don’t exactly thing that would pass muster with the health inspector. Another time while we were dining at this fine establishment, the Pig Lady herself, dressed unfortunately in a black tube top (picture about 27 pounds of saggy potatoes stuffed into a 5 pound bag), proceeded to spray down the outside windows with a house while we munched away at our food. It any case, it was kind of entertaining eating there, and the food wasn’t bad. Most importantly, it was cheap! On one of our trips to the Pork Barrel, before our fear of food poisoning outweighed our need of a cheap meal, we encountered a hilarious scene. There were two unsuspecting travelers who had stopped in to grab a bite to eat. These women needed the use of a restroom. Surprisingly, despite the small size of the place, there were separate bathrooms for men and women. The doors were labeled ‘Boars’ and ‘Sows.’ Those poor women were thrown for a loop! There were conversing back and forth in hushed tones, ‘Which one do we go in? Boars or Sows?’ We got quite a chuckle out of that. Despite the strange ambiance and cheap food, we decided after a while that it was in our best intestinal interest to stop frequenting the Pork Barrel. After all, don’t prairie dogs carry the plague? Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that burrito. I’ve had a strange twitch ever since.

The Pig Lady Story: A Franch Tale

When Jeff worked at the farm, he had an interesting experience with a lady who ran a Pot Bellied Pig Refuge. Yes, I said Pot Bellied Pig Refuge. Weird, I know. To give you a little background, she loved potbellied pigs and took in all the poor abandoned porcine pets of the world. People get them as pets, not realizing how big they get, or the care that goes into a pig living inside. When they abandon them, she takes them in. Check out her website here. On a side note, the GJ news did a story on her once, and they showed the ‘work-out’ room for the pigs. There was dirty laundry laying around and hanging from the treadmill. So, there’s a little background. And to give you an even better idea of the ambiance, here's a picture straight from their website. Nothing says home-sweet-home quite like a mattress and comforter right in your own sty.

Now, here’s the story:

At the farm, there was a load of grain in the hopper that had gone moldy. To translate for you, no one wanted it. It couldn’t be used for feed for cows or horses. It was a loss. Somehow they found out the pig lady wanted it. She wanted the grain to feed the pigs. Pigs aren’t picky. They just eat. Even bacon. But I digress. Jeff and Charlie took the grain over to the lady’s house. It consisted of a trailer out on the edge of Mack, with various and sundry abandoned vehicles laying around and pigs wandering freely. They located the woman and asked her where they could dump the grain. She gestured toward the yard and said, ‘Oh, there’s fine.’ So, following her instructions, they dumped it right there in the middle of the driveway in front of the house. The best part of waking up, as we all know, is the smell of moldy grain wafting in your window. At one point during the drop off, some random hobo just crawled out of one of the abandon cars and commenced wandering around. It was all very bizarre. That was Jeff’s experience with this lady. So, it’s a wonder that anyone, including yours truly, ate at the café run by none other than the pig lady herself. Since this post is getting rather long, I will post PART 2 of the Pig Lady Saga tomorrow. See you then!

The Kids

What happened? Yesterday I was standing next to the warming table where my baby boy was struggling to breath. Today, that little boy is screaming at the top of his healthy lungs. And his sister is looking at me like, 'Can't you do something about him?' As I write, James is coming up to me with the 'supper' he made me. 'Its yummy. I may-you eggs, Mama.' Since when is he talking in sentences? I just can't believe it! And Katie, who was just born yesterday it seems, is now pulling herself up when she gets the chance and working on her crawling skills. I am trying to enjoy every second of each stage, but time just goes so fast!

Eeeew! Creepy Old Man ALERT

My friend Erin reminded me the other day for my propensity in college to attract freaks. I had selectively forgotten this strange phenomena. In college I had some strange encounters with the male persuasion. There was the guy who stared at me all semester in Art History and then chased me down the sidewalk on the last day of class. He asked me to go out. I said NO. He said WHY. I held up my hand and said 'I'm TAKEN.' He said, 'Oh, I guess I should have checked.' Duh. Then there was the guy from German class who stalked me, literally. He would park his Beetle next to my lovely gold station wagon and would always 'happen' to be at his car when I was coming back to my car. There was also the guy who pestered me to no end about my phone number so we could 'study together.' I kept telling him no. I thought he knew I was married. Apparently he didn't know or didn't care. Finally I told him I'd be happy to have him ask my husband for my phone number. The list goes on and on, and I haven't even mentioned the creepy old guy from the retirement home who wanted to take me to his room and show me his rocket ship. (He also claimed to be an astronaut.) I guess, in hindsight, my Grandpa really did have something to worry about. He gave me a cell phone, one of the 'original' phones that weighed 5 pounds and took up 3/4 of your purse. I think it would have been more effective to throw the phone at the creeps then try to call on it. Now that I think about all these incidents, I know why he worried so much. That, and I have my own kids now.

So anyway, there is a point to all this. I haven't really been bothered by any creepy guys asking for dates lately. But today, at the grocery store, the old guy bagging my groceries asked if I needed help carrying them out. I said 'No, thanks, I am fine.' He looked me up and down and said 'Well I can see that. Yes, you are fine alright. You look good, yes you do. I know you are fine.' Right then I wanted to run away, but I was waiting for my receipt. To his credit, I think, he seemed a few fries short of a happy meal if you know what I mean, but still. The cashier sort of smiled at me with a look that said 'Yeah, he's weird.' Apparently, the freak magnet is still working.

Picture Fiesta!

Katie practicing a new skill:

James getting up close and personal:

Baby 'Jo' visiting with Katie:

Katie trying to steal Emma's pacifier:

Making friends:

Our friends, Ryan and Ashley, are moving to Texas so we had to say goodbye.

I know I grew up with one of these too. The bubble pipe. But doesn't it just somehow seem wrong? Maybe I'll dust off the notorious Smokey Bear book
and James can do a little roll playing with Mr. Swift. On the other hand, maybe not.