Things heard around our house....

The following are quotes from the last 24 hours. I won't tell who said what.

• (at 3am) "See - that? Right there? That's about the size of the wild turkey we saw."
• "Me! Me! MEEEE!"
• "Because some kids are too dumb to know how to eat raisins."
• "Whoaaa. Whoaaa. WHOOAAA."
• "Hey - that's lucky. I'm totally clean after just one wipe!"
• "There's a big pickle in her toy box."
• "Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. MAMAAAA!"
• "From now on, you never have to go to school on 'Cowboy Lunch' day."
• "Bye. Bye. BAAYYYEEE."

Florida in pictures

The Big Chair

Our beautiful Little Bitty
Just finished a run down the BIG slide
The four youngest of the 6 cousins
Two fierce guys
This girl SWIMS and swims and swims...
I love this picture. My oldest nephew is away at camp this week - so he's not in it - but other than that, it's perfect. We had a great week.

Pennsylvania in Pictures

Here are some pics from our trip to the country over Memorial Day. I can't take credit for these. Grammy and Cousin Marci emailed a bunch. Thank you!!

Smores!

Family Boating

I'm so proud of our little guy here... he is usually so nervous around dogs - but he warmed up to this wonderful lab and played with her!

Little Bitty - likely bossing someone around. ;) Playing in one of the creeks. Nothing better.

Off...

to the beach. For a full week. We are psyched and hopefully will have all sorts of pictures of our cuties in their little swimsuits playing in the sand soon. Only our finicky camera can know for sure.

Also, family that was in PA with us last week? If you email me some pics or give me a link to some - I'd love to save some of these here too. Great pre-vacation long weekend. Thank you!

The Working Mother

8:30 am: Mommy logs into work for a conference call. Unfortunately, not one that she can put on mute and commence with doing her own thing. She must actually participate and appear to be of sound mind.


9:00am: Little Bitty tires of Noggin. Mommy offers paints, paper and paint brushes. Mommy is a bit impressed with her own multi-tasking and ability to provide her daughter with a creative outlet while also working and participating in a clinical design team discussion.


9:01am: Little Bitty tires of painting with age-appropriate paint and gets out squeeze-bottle paints. Proceeds to do her thing unassisted. Mommy is aware but unable to put a stop to this at this time because she is quite sure that screaming will ensue and her director (who is on the conference call) will think that Mommy is really upset about upcoming travel dates they are discussing.


9:06am: Little Bitty gets out play dough, mat and accessories.



9:08am: Brother browses parent's wedding album, counts rubber worms and attempts to construct a spear with stick, rock and a lot of electrical tape. Mommy quietly assists with spear until Brother tells her that the result is "not at all what he had in mind".


9:30am: Little Bitty is very tired of Mommy being on the phone. Mommy has the brilliant idea of pouring oatmeal in a tray for a make-shift "sensory table" (Mommy used to teach pre-school, she is so brilliant... this should entertain Little Bitty for HOURS).


9:31am: Oatmeal is everywhere. Little Bitty is bringing it in handfuls to Mommy and throwing it at her.


9:32am - 11:00am: Mommy ends one call right in time for another. Things get a little fuzzy over the course of this time period. Mommy mutes and unmutes the phone as she discusses project time lines, work travel dates and stinky diapers. She tries to keep the conversations separate.


11:00am - Mommy hangs up the phone and reviews the damage.




11:01am: Mommy declares the morning a success because she did not get fired and there is no paint on the carpet. Well done, Team.

A longer than necessary post about the drive-in

We went to the drive-in movie last night for the first time this summer. I LOVE the drive-in. I feel like it is a well-kept secret and can't understand why everybody doesn't go to the drive-in every single weekend. Last night, we actually had to wait for a good hour before the movie to see if 20 cars showed up in order for them to play the movie. Thankfully, "once church let out" others ventured out and there were enough of us to make the, ummm, seasoned women who were running the show feel like it was worth it to turn the movie on. Of course, by that point we had spent thirty or forty dollars at the concession stand - so even without the twenty cars I think they would have done just fine.

Brother and Little Bitty lasted for exactly 10 minutes once the movie started. Then they were sound asleep. We stayed for another hour or so and left early. I can't write the exact words that I said to my husband regarding the movie we were watching - but I'll just say - it was strange. Speed Racer. I know - people love it, and my husband wasn't hating it - but I was mostly just confused. The kind of confused where you don't want to ask questions to understand it - you more just want it to stop. I will say... if you're into amazing computerized stuff, then it was impressive.

I do feel bad that my little guy fell asleep so quickly - he was all excited to go see it. On Saturday he had gotten a Speed Racer happy meal price and he's been obsessed since then. Yesterday morning he came to me and told me in a very serious manner (with an expression that said - you're not going to like this - but I have to tell you...) "Mommy, I want to change my name. To Speed Racer. For REAL." I actually started to explain to him that when he grows up he may not want his name to be Speed Racer when he goes to find a job, etc. Then, I remembered that he currently wants to be a frog photographer when he grows up - and Speed Racer is kind of a cool name for a frog photographer. So, I agreed to let him change it. For REAL.

Some bad pics from the weekend. We really need a new camera. And a new photographer... that photographs more than just frogs.

These are all pre-show. Obviously, the kids are awake. I wish you could see the big pickles they're both eating. A pickle and popcorn from the drive-in - mmmmm.

Playing in the gravel with their jammies and slippers. They were chasing each other with twizzlers here and laughing so hard. All was great until Brother took a digger and skinned his knee - we all knew it would happen at some point, right? But the fun had before that was worth it. Plus, the lovely (she wrote sarcastically) concession stand lady had a band aid and all was well.
One last note - we attended a lovely picnic this weekend for Adoptive Families in middle Tennessee. I don't have any pictures - and really, looking at the drive-in ones, is anyone really disappointed? But, the way-more-reliable Michelle is going to send some out and I shall email to any family interested in seeing any of the other great families and friends we've met in the area with little ones born in Guatemala.

My Hero