Eggs and Thai

This week we dyed Easter eggs.

I bought the regular Paas dye and then added some fun to the mix by getting the Marbleizing set too.

NOT a good idea. It was a HOT mess of vegetable oil and dye all over the table and the floor.

Henry hung around hoping somebody might accidentally drop an egg so that he could help with the clean-up.

Indy sat down in her brand new white sun dress to begin her egg dyeing fest only to be shut down by me with an apron. Momma hates stains on clothes. Ask anybody...it's true.

Ari did her eggs and went back to doing her homework.

Friday night is usually pizza night but Ted and Ari were craving Thai food so we ventured out to a Thai place that we hadn't tried before.

Note the empty tables behind Ari, There's a reason for that.

Look!! More empty tables behind Indy

Oh surprise!! More empty tables behind Alex and his book.

And now back to my philosophy on restaurants. Never go to a place that isn't full of people. The LACK of people in a restaurant is a dead give away to how good or BAD the food is.

It SUCKED!! Which was really disappointing because dinner cost a whole lot more than home made pizza!!

The only good thing about that night???

A heart shaped onion in Alex's soup.

I love you.

My Girls

My girls were both sick over the weekend. Ari with a sinus infection and Indy with her second case of Strep in the past two months.

Yesterday I hawled them both down to the doctor so I can get them well and back to school asap. They're cramping my style.

This is the girls in the waiting room at the pediatrician. :)

Ari lay in bed all of Sunday evening and yesterday, but not before taking MVP at her two day volleyball tournament over the weekend. Something has clicked in her. She is getting more confident in her kills and she scored approx 15 points for the team in one game mostly by serving nine successful serves in a row. It was so cool to watch.

After her games were over she had to do some line reffing. She made a very good call on a ball that was in but BARELY!! The team on her side of the court was NOT happy and began yelling at her. NOT my girl. She fired back and stuck to her ground even when a parent in the bleachers was yelling at her. She fired back at him too and had the full support of the Head ref on her side but I was so proud of her confidence and for NOT crumbling under the huge amount of pressure and words being slung at her from many directions. That's my girl!

And last but NOT least. Molly our 2 year old sits at the dog door waiting to pounce on poor Henry when he comes in the door, so instead he just sits outside the door and cries since Molly won't let him in. Yes we are breading some VERY strong women in this house.

poor Henry

My Boy

Yesterday I was driving Alex and Indy down a road and I said to them...

"Hey guys , the other day when I was driving down this road I saw a turtle crossing right in front of me!"

Silence

Alex " Can you describe the turtle?"

Me "What?!?"

Alex " Well if you can describe the turtle then I can tell you what kind of turtle it was."

That's my boy.

Gray?? What Gray???

I worked in Alex's class this morning for a couple of hours and then went to go get my hair cut and colored ( Yes I know it's shocking but I have a whole head FULL of gray hair) But not before Alex leans over to the kids at his table and tells them to look at all my gray hair. Little PUNK. I told the teacher to PLEASE give him extra homework for that one. Don't mess with me kid.

Should I Be Jealous?

My Super sexy husband has a new girlfriend. It's his fishing pole. Most days If I can't find him all I have to do is look out the back of the house and down by the lake and there he is. Standing there in his cute rain boots , trying to catch a fish or two. Most of the time one or more of the little punks is with him. Usually Alex. This is great that they both love to fish. Our neighbor has a little paddle fishing boat so they will use that to get out to the middle of the lake.

The problem with having the little punks on the boat is that they never stop talking. Ted says that if they would just be quiet for a minute or two, they would actually catch a few fish. He is still fighting the fact that our children are unable to close their lips for any period of time, lest they miss an opportunity to speak about something of which they know nothing about.

I'm not jealous, just thrilled that they are outside and out of my hair! The kids I mean... NOT my husband.

Happenings

Yesterday I asked Ari to cook dinner. All by herself from beginning to end. She is making jambalaya. These are the Onion chopping glasses she gave me for Christmas. They are coming in handy for her today. Trust me when I tell you that they look much better on her than they do on me.

Indy got a call from her best friend Kyra from when we lived in Pa. When we left Pa., Kyra had the most delicious soft "r's" She would say things like, "I love you Henwee"& "Can Indy come ovow?" She is so delicious I can't hardly stand it!!

Today she called and sounded so grown-up. Hi Mrs. Kaminski, Is Indy there? Ok well can you have her call me? Do you have my number? I was so flabbergasted that I had to keep telling her how grown up she sounded. Uh so yummy!!

Today I ran over a bright green lizard while pulling my truck into the garage. I didn't know I had run it over till a couple of hours later when i went out into the garage. He was sort of stuck to the garage floor by his smashed foot and missing tail. I gently pryed him loose and told him if he didn't want to get run over again then he'd better get the heck out of the way when I pull in. He ran off with what was left of his dignity and three good legs.

Sisterly Love

The other day when we went down to the Gulf coast for the day Indy and Ari had a conversation that went something like this...

Indy, walks into Ari's room, " Ari can I borrow one of your small bikini tops?"

Ari, " Uh NO Indy, they are way to big for you".

Indy " No they're not, It will fit just fine"

Ari, "Get out of my room, My bikini tops will NOT fit you!!"

Indy, throws something at Ari and says, " That's for NOT letting me borrow one of your bikini tops!!"

Last time I looked, Indy was a fraction of Ari's size. I guess in her little head she's much bigger!

Big surprise.

Coming up For Air

The In-Laws just left this morning and here is a re-cap from the weekend.

The big hello was great. The cousins haven't seen each other in 2 years.

My drug sniffing dogs didn't find anything in Grammy's car. Lucky for her.

Grammy sure did miss her boy. So did sister Michele

That night I whipped up s few home- made pizzas. They were a huge hit.

Michele got me hooked on her new favorite drink. Rated X yum!! Plus is it the most beautiful shade of pink.

Took the fam down to the Gulf to frolic on the beach and go for lunch. It was a beautiful 64 degrees.

The kids had a ball. Alex brought his rain boots because he apparently doesn't like having to get the sand out from between his toes. Whose child is this anyway???

He forgot to take into account the depth of the water. Oops!!

Anything over 50 degrees is swimming weather according to Indy so she braved the chilly water.

Ari and Ryan worked on their tans.

While Ted stood over me and complained about how cold he was and could we please go home now so he could pick up the dog poop and do other chores around the house. Party pooper.

Alex insulted Ari and got tackled. He forgets who he's dealing with.

I enjoyed every minute.

Stopped for ice cream on the way home.

Uh yea.

The end.

Uh OH

Today I got a call from my sister-in-law. She and my Mother-in-law are coming!! Oh Shit. I'd better get the lead out and look like I've been working like a dog to get this house whipped into shape. I like to pretend that it's all done but lets all be honest. I have a bonus room FULL of pictures that need hanging, lamps to purchase stuff to put away etc.

When we left NH I sold our patio furniture because it had a tiny broken leg. Now I'm wishing I still had it because of course we haven't replaced it yet and now we have nothing to sit on while we sit with coffee in our hands and gaze at the lake out back. My sister in law also lives on a lake, only her lake is a "real" lake that you can drive a boat on. She will tell me that my tiny lake is really a pond or a mud hole but it's my mud hole and I love it!

I will be doing some deep cleaning tomorrow as these two women are the most amazing house keepers and I will blame my mother on this one... she was never the homemaker-house cleaning type. I did have some good training along the way ( thank you Ellen) but I have been in a tiny funk so I need to hop to it!

I have planned some great meals while they are here. I will distract them with food so they don't notice the dirt or unfinished rooms. I'll just keep throwing food at them, they'll never know what hit em.

I really am looking forward to their visit. Haven't seen them in over a year. Maybe longer. I miss them.

Indy's Room Makeover

Indy's Room Before

We have moved, therefore My kids get the fun part of re-doing their bedroom. It's kind of obnoxious but since we have drug them all over the USA we feel that they should have some sort of fun, new environment celebrating their new home. Indy is first because Ari usually gets to go first and so I began with one of the little kids this time.

I will be posting several blogs about each room that I do hoping that you may get a little inspiration to do something in your own home.

I began by going to the fabric store and collecting dozens of swatches for every room I wanted to change. I picked several different color pallets for Indy to choose from. Of course My trip to the fabric store was SANS children as they can get VERY overwhelmed at the thousands of choices and what they are drawn to isn't always what a parent would approve of.

Indy chose a palette of pink, chocolate brown and a touch of green. I chose three fabrics to work with and got busy deciding what to do with the fabrics. More about that later.

this weekend Ted and I painted her walls a beautiful shade of cool pale pink and one IMPACT wall of chocolate brown. She loves the colors and they will provide a great backdrop for all the personal touches to come.

In the meantime, I have a complete set of her "old" bedding up for grabs. If anyone knows of a kid or "tween" that could benefit from a bedroom pick-me-up then please submit a short commentor email me at stephk03304@comcast.net on why they need it and I will happily "donate" all the stuff including the matching sheets to the recipient. It is all in great condition as it was only purchased when we got to New Hampshire. Below is a pretty good picture of the stuff that up for grabs, the window treatments are NOT included as they had to be left behind when we left NH.

I will keep you updated on Indy's room makeover and all the other rooms that I am "tweaking". Hoping you can get a little inspiration for your own homes.

Steph