Saturday, September 24, 2011

Baby Pics

Recently it was discovered that no baby pictures of our third child, Hannah, exist in the photo albums at this house. Apparently, as she flipped quickly through the pages of every single album on the shelf she came to this disheartening discovery.

"Is this me?" she would ask at nearly every single picture of a chubby smiling baby- in the bathtub, cozied up in a blanket, riding in a stroller.

 "Uh, no..." I would answer each time, inwardly wondering where on earth the album of her baby pictures would have disappeared to. Well, as it turns out any pictures of Hannah between birth and approximately 2 years (when her little baby sister came into the scene) were still sitting in their Snapfish envelopes. Which wouldn't be so bad, really, if Adalie (her baby sis) didn't have a half an album to herself. Um. Oops.

Well, sadly, I still didn't rush to put the pictures in an album for her, but I did show her one of the envelopes and we went through them a few times till I cleaned up in a hurry one day (story of my life) and stashed them... somewhere. I know they can't be too far. Really. Just not precisely sure of their exact location a the current moment.

So that brings us to yesterday afternoon right before dinner when she was telling Jack about her baby pictures:

Hannah: Want to see my baby pictures?
Jack: I don't care.
Hannah: Mom, where are those pictures gone? When I was just a little tiny baby?
Me: Uh... Not sure right now, Hannah. But right now I'm in the middle of making supper- I'll look for them after.
Jack (completely serious): Maybe they really just didn't take any pictures of you, Hannah.

What do they call this sort of thing? Middle child syndrome? I've heard my sister mention it a time or two. But I promise- I will get those pictures put in albums. Just as soon as they are relocated. 

Other than that- I am loving fall. Love walking to the bus stop in the morning with the kids, feeling the cool crisp air, coming home to enjoy breakfast and a cup or two of coffee with my husband. Going for rides in the morning with my husband and the little girls, feeling the inspiration to get into some projects, pulling out my knitting bag, drinking Pumpkin Spice tea, reading... Good time of year for a homebody like me.

I'm working on getting my sewing room back into some sort of order too. Did I mention I moved my sewing stuff from the kitchen table up to what was always supposed to be my craft room? And I don't really know if I like it. Maybe if my sewing table wasn't continuously buried under stacks and stacks of folded laundry I could actually form a real opinion of the space. I just kind of liked sewing at the kitchen table, despite the mess it made. So, we'll see if I remain in the craft/storage/laundry/everything-else-that-has-no-place-to-go-room or return to the kitchen.

And now, the littlest one is awake. She's been out of sorts all week and had a mild fever all day today. Thinking some more teeth are on the way. Gotta go give her some hugs.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Never a dull moment

Can I go back to sleep yet? Seriously? You know those days when nothing real exciting happens, everything is just the same-old, same-old... kind of mundane? Well, I am most definitely not experiencing one of those type days. Just in case you were worried, or something. But if you are- enjoy it- and read on.

This morning my husband & I decided to take a ride out to our property. So, we drove out, enjoyed a walk, let the girls run up and down the road, enjoyed the quiet of a peaceful morning out in the woods. Then, after a bit, the babes started to get crabby and we decided it was time to head home for lunch. Except the vehicle wouldn't start. So there we are, out in the woods, no stroller, minimal to zero cell phone service, contemplating our next move. The cell phone service out there is so spotty it's usually non-existent. But walking to town was pretty much out of the question as we would obviously have to carry the girls and all I had was one backpack. Well, after some more failed attempts to start the Yukon, I located a spot that had sketchy service and was somehow able to get through to my parents who drove out to pick us up. Not that big of a deal.

Well, just as we get home Ryan decides to take his truck back out there to see if the Yukon just needs some gas. Meanwhile, the girls are making it known that they are starving and so I put a pot of water boiling on the stove for some noodles. I am very careful to put it on the back burner in the corner, away from any possibility of the girls pulling it on themselves. And even though I know better than to leave water boiling on the stove, I dash up stairs to put the wash going, figuring I'll be back down before the water even starts to get hot. I'm gone all of maybe three minutes.

But as I come down the stairs I smell smoke. And as I start to run I see black smoke covering the kitchen ceiling, curling into the living room where the girls are watching, too scared to move. Apparently it might have helped if I had turned on the right burner and not the one on top of which sat two oven mits, now engulfed in flames.

Long story short, with the girls safe outside, I smoldered the fire which could have been much, much worse than it was and, yes, I learned some serious lessons. Especially that- once you think you have the fire out you better be sure. After I smothered the fire, I had to get outside to get some air. Well, apparently when I smothered the oven mits, a hot coal had jumped to the floor and, unbeknown to me, was inside smoldering next to a cardboard box that was not discovered until Ryan came home a few minutes later. Arrrgh. Again- the potential to be much worse could no be understated.

So I'm done. I am tempted to sit in this chair for the remainder of the day. Except of course, the walls and cupboards need to be washed down. There's still a lingering smoke smell that I hope we can eradicate with some serious cleaning. Good thing I didn't wash walls yesterday like I had hoped!

Oh, and while all that was occurring? The vehicle was towed to the shop where they determined it needs a new fuel pump. Woo-hoo. There goes the new freezer idea. Oh well.

Anyways. My three year old keeps asking why I started a fire and she won't let me out of her sight. I've officially made her paranoid of the kitchen as well. But, all's well that ends well. We're all safe, our house is still standing. And here I sit, feet up drinking the caramel macchiato that my sweet husband just brought me from the coffee shop- his very good attempt to calm me down. No more excitement today, please I think I had my share, thank-you-very-much!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Good Day

Whew. First day down and both are okay with the idea of heading back to school tomorrow. That's always a bonus. I asked them both, "How was your day?" and from one I got an answer that lasted for the next two hours, and from the other I got a return question, "What's Dad doing with those windows in the back of his truck?" Bet you can't guess which was which, huh?

The sweet and sassy three year old sprouted a new attitude today. Apparently kid 1 and kid 2 were getting a bit too much attention with this whole back-to-school-business. She soaked up the attention of her dad and I while the older two were away... but when they both returned, she found lots of little ways to hold her ground.

It's always a good feeling to get this first day over and done with. It's an even better feeling to get the whole first week under wraps so I can quit feeling like I spend half the day waiting for one bus or another. Since I didn't know what time to expect either kid to return, when I assumed they should be arriving, I walked to the bus stop and I waited... and waited... and waited. Good thing it was a beautiful day to be outside.

True confession. I make the kids take hot lunch at least a couple of times during the first days of school, even if I like packing their lunches (partly because I can monitor what they're eating and partly because it just feels like the right thing- my own mother packed mine daily for 13 years. I know. Spoiled. Different story.) Anyways, I don't want them to be afraid of it later on so they always have that option. We won't even go back to my childhood on this one, folks. We'll just leave it at that. Anyways. I convinced them both to take hot lunch tomorrow, so day 2 and I'm already slacking.

So, I'm ready to get some flack on this one... but I absolutely love fall. Don't worry, I've lived here long enough and I know what comes next- long, cold, dark winters- but I love just enjoying fall for what it is. The cooler weather the past couple of days has been so refreshing! I'm on a kick to get all sorts of things done around here in the upcoming weeks. Helps that I'm easing back down to my whopping one day a week work week, too. I look around this house and see all the cleaning and projects just waiting to be tackled. Today J looked behind the chair in the living room and said enthusiastically, "Hey, Mom! Did you know we have a big spider web back here?" Um, oops. Cool.

What's not cool is the fact that it's already after 11 and my earlier mornings are going to take some getting used to. And getting to bed earlier than I'm used to. So I'm off. Here's to hoping day 2 goes as well as day 1.