Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

I like changes; changes are good.


Now Kate, she likes broccoli, she thinks it is good.

I Need My Camera

I don't have my camera but I still want to put the big news without a picture. Saturday night out of nowhere Kate took nine steps. Yesterday she was walking between me and Lorie off and on all day and then today she decided that this walking stuff is pretty fun and I caught her getting to a standing position in the middle of the floor (without pulling up on stuff) and walking wherever she wanted to go. She isn't an official "walker" since she still crawls the majority of the time but by this weekend that is all she will be doing I'm sure! Alex took some pictures and video yesterday so I'll have to get some from her soon.

We're so excited to have Sara, Jeff, and Mitch come for a visit. Tomorrow Sara and Mitch will get here and Jeff will arrive later in the week. We will miss you Jessy, I wish you could come too!!

Not much I can report here, we have a lot going on in the Chick household these days, I'll post when I can :)

National Cry Day

Did you know that today is National Cry Day? It somehow got left off my calendar but my girls managed to get the memo.

Yesterday my Bible study instructor had our group over for a fun day in the sun. Her yard was a paradise for the kids: lots of running room, animals, little ponds, flowers everywhere and a pool. Kendall fell asleep on the way there and I was afraid to leave her in the car because I didn't want her to wake up and start roaming around. I was parked right next to a fence that had a black and white horse in it. I kept talking to Kendall trying to wake her up (it was only 11 in the morning, not nap time anyway) but she was so groggy and wasn't responding. I finally just started to pull her out of the seat. Her head was flopped to one side and her eyes were only partially open and all of a sudden she said very loud and animated, "A COW!!!!" So she was just a little confused in her half sleep state.

Pat made littlel lunch bags for each of the kids and Kendall had her first taste of Kool-aid.

Brrr, that water was cold!

Summer Lovin'

Photo credits to Lorie. Love these!!!

On My Nightstand

Water for Elephants, by Sara Greun I just finished this one and it was fantastic. This book was well researched and a real page turner about an old man remembering when he ran away with the circus as a veterinarian. I highly recommend it.

90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper. I'm reading this one now and it's pretty good; it's about a preacher involved in a car accident that was without a pulse for 90 minutes!

Sanctuary, by Nora Roberts. I usually like Roberts' books but this one was a little bit of a let down. The story was good but I felt like it was a lot of build up and then a quick ending.

Skinny (insert inappropriate word here),by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman. An in your face, mean girls on the playground type of book to scare you out of eating crap. Amusing but not great.

Paris Inside Out, I'm actually reading an outdated version from the library, the link is to the most current addition. Really interesting book that discusses day to day life in Paris, or as France Today explains it "An intricate guide for adapting to Parisian life." You never know when this type of information will be useful.

Real Simple magazine has a great article that lists what some favorite authors are reading or have read again and again...some that looked good to me that I'm going to add to my list are:

The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers

Whacked, by Jules Asner

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

The Third Angel, by Alice Hoffman

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I have read this but it is one to re-read as an adult)

Lottery, by Patricia Wood

Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge, by Evan S. Connell

The Treasury of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (again I have read one or two of these but it's time again).

Jan Austen: The Complete Novels (ditto)

Also on my to read soon list is In Defense of Food: an Eaters Manifesto, by Michael Pollan

All of those should keep me busy for a while but tell me, I really want to know, what are you reading now and what is one of your favorite books of all time?

Introspective

Does anyone else have periods of time where you become more introspective then others? I think that usually I get caught up in the day to day activities of raising two little ladies but I love it when something happens to make me slow down and become introspective. Usually it's a big event that causes it: wedding, moving, having a baby, starting a new school....When I'm put in unfamiliar surroundings or situations it makes me think about the kind of person I am or want to be, my strengths, my weaknesses, qualities in a person that I respect or am drawn to. I've been in one of these thoughtful periods lately. Friday night I went to see Indiana Jones with the Lorie family for Alex's birthday (it was pretty good, the music gave me chills) seeing all of the archeology, hearing the different languages and seeing the different cultures really reminded me again of how small we are. It made me really want to be immersed in another culture and language. That would be the ultimate learning and introspective experience. Hard? Definitely but so awesome I'm sure.





We had a mini-photo shoot with Lorie this morning, hopefully I'll have those to post soon. I think we got some really cute ones of the girls.


P.S. I think that some setting in my camera was changed because all my photos are really foggy (maybe it just needs cleaned). I'm not taking the time to fix them in Photoshop though.

Baggy

I wished I had an ounce of Brian's perfectionism. My creative endeavours would surely turn out better. Here are the two grocery bags that I made; apart from being seriously flawed I do love them. They'll be great for toting library books and such. I used a grocery bag as my pattern and a tutorial that I found online, let me know if you're interested in the site.

I'm out of the habit of blogging. Lately it has been more of a thing on my to-do list then a fun thing but I will try to get back into it but I'm not making any promises.

Kendall had her ENT appointment today, he said that her ear infection was a result of her tube falling out. Sometimes when it's wobbly and on the verge of falling out the body treats it as a foreign object thus the infection. Hopefully it's the last of them and we wont have to have tubes put back in.

Saturday we participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk for a Cure. It was awesome to be a part of such a large group all wanting the same final result-a cure. After the walk we spent the day at Holiday World. Kendall had a blast. I was afraid that she would be intimidated when she realized I wouldn't be on the rides with her but that wasn't the case at all!! She was game for anything and even talked me into a swimsuit so she could play in the water. The glare off my white legs (darn land locked state) was blinding but by the end of the day I had a nice pinkness about me. The sting of the burn was actually a good feeling, reminded me of childhood. Kendall liked the "Merry-Go-Around" the most. She had her own personal paparazzi following her around (Lorie) so we have a ton of pictures.

Kate is great, smiling and laughing as usual. Nothing new to report on her really. She is trying out new words and sounds but still would rather cuddle then walk, that little stinker. Kate didn't stay for the amusement park (or "Music Park" as Kendall calls it) so I don't have many pictures of her!

Link to the rest of the JDRF pictures here.

On a more crafty note. Last week I bought this fabric and today I started to make reusable grocery bags. I'll just get two out of the amount of fabric I bought but it's a start.

Also, Kendall and I made this cake last week. Stay tuned for an "In the Kitch" post with the easy peasy instructions.

Talking to Memaw on the phone on her Birthday.

Kate CRACKS me up when she rides this horse.

Talkie But No Walkie

Kate loves to play with all our Little People, she has also increased her vocabulary. It kind of cracks Kendall up. Kate will be sitting in her carseat saying, "Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi...."

Tubefull

We're home from surgery, it went great. The nurses kept asking me if she is always that calm and laid back. We're just relaxing at home and she is laughing like crazy

Sorry, I always turn the camera!

Get My Bloggy On

I know, I know, it's time for me to stop fooling around and get my bloggy on. I really have no excuses other then it's summer and we're busy playing. What, you say, have we been doing?

We took a bike ride.


We played "Mominos" and then Kendall found an alternative use for the Mominos.


We've been coloring and doing activity books today. Kendall never ceases to amaze me with her skills and knowledge. Seriously, I'm always surprised. "Did I teach you that?!?" I sometimes say. I guess so, she isn't in pre-school yet so I'm really the only one that teaches her. She can say her ABC's, count to 20, count backwards from 10, identify shapes and letters...I don't know when we learned all of that but it's in the brain of Ol' Stinky Ear.


Yes, all this crazy ear activity does make them grouchy. But it makes them cuddly too.


Lots of visitors and partying to happen this weekend. The house is pretty much ready but I still need to get groceries for it all. Tomorrow is the big ear tubes day for Kate too!
I heard a new song by Trace Adkins today that had a couple of lyrics that I really related to:

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater. Dog's
barkin', phone's ringin' One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin' And she keeps
apologizin' He says "They don't bother me. I've got 2 babies of my own. One's 36,
one's 23. Huh, it's hard to believe, but...You're gonna miss this You're gonna
want this back You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast These are some
good times So take a good look around You may not know it now But you're gonna miss this

A Case of the Stinky Ear

P.U.!!!!! Yesterday Brian and I noticed that Kendall had a stinky ear. I mean, it really stinks and there is discharge. She hasn't complained about it hurting but we knew something was wrong. We went to the pediatrician first thing this morning, he walked in the room and asked what was wrong with Kendall and I said, "uhhhh, she has a stinky ear". After laughing he looked in it and said that there is so much "goo" in there that he can't even see what is wrong...major infection? something that she stuck in there? So we're on an antibiotic and ear drops trying to get it flushed out and are due back in the dr's office on Wednesday. Oh and Thursday Kate is getting her tubes put in. What a week! Not much else going on here, just cleaning and birthday party planning. I got my Mother's Day Present today. this cute dress from Ann Taylor.

Recap

Here is a quick recap of everything that has happened since my last post.

• Brian out of town
• Colds all around
• Double ear infection
• Screaming
• Whining
• No sleeping

That about covers it. But Brian made it home last night, antibiotics have kicked in and today I was able to have a bit of fun. We went here:

I had grand plans of catching lots of fun fashion do's and dont's but it didn't happen but we had fun and I'm exhausted.

Last night I stayed up to make Kendall's party invitations, here they are...

Confessions of a Paper Chick

Bless me bloggy for I have sinned.
At the urging of another sister I have to tell the full story and confess a little sin or two.
The other day we went to McD's to have our ice cream treat. Me, I had an ice cream cone (even though I must confess I was coveting a m&m McFlurry), the girls split a cup of ice cream. We were halfway through our treats when we finally connected with Lorie on the phone. She said that she would run pick up CJ and be right there for us. Lorie lives only about 4 miles away and Kendall had been really wanting some french fries so I thought that we would wait for her then Kendall could eat fries when she got there. We waited and we waited. Finally Lorie called and said, "Where are you?!" I answered, "At the McDonalds by my house!" Her response, "Ahhhh, I forgot about that one, I went to the McDonalds in {another town}" That town was four miles from her house in the opposite direction" I told her we would still wait but that I was going to get the girls the fries because they were growing restless. Well, I couldn't be expected to sit there empty handed and watch them eat so I got another ice cream cone. Yeah, that's right, you got something to say about that?! I ate TWO ice cream cones while sitting there (gluttony?). Finally Lorie and CJ get there and CJ goes to the counter to buy his McFlurry (covet, covet) and Lorie's cone. He comes back empty handed and says, "They are out of ice cream". Lorie says, "What, how do they run out of ice cream?!" So I say, "", well, I said nothing of course, just presented my best look of shock. CJ went back up to order fries and they were actually able to coax enough ice cream out of the machine for his McFlurry (covet). Lorie sat and visited with my girls while I managed to hide my guilt and my dirty little secret. Before we left they had made more ice cream and Lorie was able to have a cone though. And NO I did not have another. But now my secret is out. Phew, what a relief to have that off my chest. Now the trick will be getting it off of my thighs (the ice cream that is).

Almost There

Last night before bed Kate took a step! She actually did it twice in a row so it wasn't a fluke. She kept walking back and forth between me and Kendall's chair, it was the first time she actually showed interest in walking.

Oh, and don't you hate it when food falls down your shirt?