4th of July

I love the 4th so much. I'm not sure why. I think I just love holidays. This one is just fabulous fun-food, family and fireworks. And they all start with "f"!!! Well, that's neat. Anyway, we started out with our favorite 4th tradition-Full Moon BBQ. Man, we love that place! After lunch, Allen wasn't feeling well. He had hurt his back earlier in the day. Unfortunately, he had to play that night, so he needed to get some rest before he played. So we dropped him back at the house, and the kids and I went for some retail fun. We hit the thrift store and Book-A-Million for the train table. Can't beat that fun!

I absolutely hate it when Allen plays on holidays, and I pitch a really big fit whenever he mentions it. Evidently my fits aren't big enough, because this is the 2nd year he's played this particular 4th of July party. Last year we just went to bed, but this year, I really wanted the kids to see some fireworks. Luckily some friends were going to Helena to see their fireworks, and that sounded perfect to me. Close to home, yet guaranteed fun. Or I hoped!

The kids did like the fireworks. Towards the end Zane said he was scared and wanted to go home, but he really did great. It felt like a real 4th of July, but I'm going to pitch the world's biggest fit if he plays again next year. I just really, really hate him not being with us on holidays. I know lots of families have to deal with this, and it's just hard. I guess I'm just a selfish wife, because I want my husband with me on holidays! And maybe next year, we can take Bella!

Not so extreme home makeover

So last summer, I set out to paint our house. The inside. I think I was maybe on temporary leave of my senses or something, but I got most of the painting done. I just had this one upstairs bathroom to finish. I knew I had to get it done before school started, or it wouldn't get done. I actually had to delay school a week, to get this done. I was determined.

I decided to do it the same sage green that I painted the living room. Mostly because I discovered that I am running out of colors that I would consider painting rooms in my house! I liked it, though, so green it was.

I had bought this sweet shower curtain at a garage sale last summer, and found some great shower curtain hangers to go with it, at the same garage sale. Then, at another garage sale, I found some amazing plates and some little tiny shelves that I knew would go in the bathroom too. I tucked them into a closet until I could get to the painting. I didn't know it was going to be a whole year, but anyway. I found a great rug on clearance at Target that completed the set, and I was ready to go.

So after 2 coats of primer and 2 1/2 coats of paint, the bathroom was done. I was so excited to get everything in there and see how it all looked. And then. Oh no. It didn't match. ARG!!!! WHAT?

The shower curtain was much more of a true sage, where as the walls were, oh I don't know. Behr called it "Sage Green" but I call it kind of a blueish sagey kinda green. I was just tired and irritated that it didn't work out the way I wanted it to.

So then my personal shopper/decorator and I went to WalMart and picked out this dark brown number. I wasn't sure about it, especially when we got a dark red rug to go with it. But after I got it in the bathroom, it all came together. It's fun, and I do like it.


It has this great detail on the top and bottom of it, and that's my favorite part. I have laughed at Zane so much, because he looks at it and says, "I don't like that." I say, "Why?" and he says, "Because it's brown." So not everyone is happy with it. Honestly, I am just glad it's done.



I was thinking how glad I was that we were done "updating" things, when, during a trip to Lowe's, we found light fixtures for our bathroom for 85% off. Really. So here we go again.

Then the kids decided that it was only fair for the boys to have the bigger room upstairs and let Laney have the smaller room that the boys have now. Simple, right? Um, nope. Laney's room is pink. We'll have to change ceiling fans and switch out closets too. I agree it needs to happen, but the thought of switching out those rooms makes me want to hyperventilate. So maybe when December rolls around and we get another break, we'll be up for another round of Extreme Home Makeover. Oh, I hope I'll be up for it.

Stinker

So when you buy Neopolitan ice cream {and by the way it's not Napoleon Ice Cream. I just always thought they named an ice cream after the famous history guy. Wow. Sometimes I amaze myself} you don't expect to find *THIS* when you open the carton. Evidently not everyone likes strawberry. After confronting the culprit, I was less than impressed by his lack of concern for his misdemenor. This is truly a major offense. No matter what someone says.

So Sweet!

Survival Kits
by carlylennox

I teach five year olds in Northern Ireland. On the first day of school we introduce the school survival kit. Basically it's a little canvas bag with some items that generate lots of appropriate discussion about caring and sharing etc:

an eraser - we all make mistakes but can fix things too
starburst sweet - we are all stars here
a sponge - we soak up knowledge
chewing gum - we stick together
a tissue - we help each other if we're upset
There are other ideas for contents to be found online :) Some teachers make individual kits for every child!

Zane-isms

Zane has gotten so much more verbal, to the point that he just carries on the most hilarious conversations. That said, Allen commented that his increase in vocabulary skills hasn't necessarly made him any nicer. He's a hoot, but he can also be just... well... okay, fine. BAD. *sigh* Oh well. He's only two. (for 3 more weeks) There's hope yet. (maybe)

Anyway, I love the way he talks. I so want to, and do sometimes, talk like Zane does. I know that I need to speak correctly to him, to encourage proper dictation, but it's so darn cute I have a hard time doing that. And some things just stick. Jude called Chick-fil-A "Chick-a-Lay" for so long that we still call it that. But I just wanted to get down some of Zane's funnies for later. You know, when I'm scrapbooking again. In Heaven.

So here are the latest:

Sun scream (sun screen)
soft (salt)
Bella was "Belda" for a bit. I really loved that.
Ark classes (Laney and Jude's Art classes)
YM"Z"A
Banana SnoCones are "Yellow" SnoCones. He'll even order it that way. The girls that work there think it's cute, thankfully.
I love the way he says things like, "I don't want Mrs. Jenn to see my boo boos. I DON'T." He loved to emphatically follow up any sentence with a "I DON'T!" (and that was an actual sentence he said yesterday. Evidently he didn't want Jenn to see his chest. Why? Who could possibly know...)
He follows up any thing that pleases him ("Yes, you can have a popsicle") with a "Yeeees" and a fist pump.
He says "Care-me me" for "Carry me." And he says that one a lot. And trust me, it's fun lugging that hoss around. (that's a Pinson word)
Downstirs. You know. like the stairs are stirring up something to eat.
You can ask him if he did something wrong. He'll look at you and say, "I NOT."
"Did you hit Jude?"
"I NOT."
(and usually, ZANE DID.)
He has long made two syllables out of everything. MaMa, DaDa, LaLa, JuJu, BellBell, LuLu. He doesn't do it so much now, but now all of US use the Zane nicknames for each other.
He loves my sister's apartment. "Em-lees Partment" is his favorite place to go.

Of course, it's his deep, deep voice that makes all this the more unique. Allen says it's all the testosterone. Lovely.

It's no secret that I had to fight a little to get Zane here. Allen was worried about having another miscarriage, and rather than get into all that here, I'll just say that God kinda gave Zane to us and Allen was okay with that. You know, eventually. ;) So the joke around here that Allen will tell Zane is, "You know, I didn't really want to have you..." and we all giggle. It's really said so affectionately. It's really funny because Zane and Allen are SO much alike. Allen calls him "mini-me." God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave Zane to us.

So the other morning, Allen and Zane were giggling and rolling around in the floor and Allen told Zane that, and Zane said, "Why you not want me?" And Allen laughed and said, "I don't know now!" And Zane looked at him for a second and said, "Then God just dropped me off?"

Oh me.

Zaney Zane

Goggles on your head? Check.
One Spider Man sock on your hand? Check.
Yellow dog leash around your neck? Check.
Dancing like a wild man to Daddy's music? Check.

To the beach!

The last beach trip we had two years ago was, well, a disaster. The boys were very sick, nobody really liked the ocean or the sand, and it was just hard. So it was with trepidation that we planned this trip. Steely Dan was playing in Gulf Shores, and Allen really wanted to go. We decided to go just for the weekend, stay at his step mom and dad's house and just see how it went.

We were pleasantly surprised! Everybody LOVED the beach, the sand and everything that went along with it! We ate good food, rode the South's highest Ferris wheel, found wonderful treasures at precious little stores, got air brushed tee shirts (I never got one as a kid), collected sea shells, played cards, watched movies, napped, played in the sand, laughed and played together. It was just a perfect trip. We had a blast. Thank you, Lord! It was a much needed vacation!

Zane has just really turned some corners here lately. He's just bigger. I am absolutely in love with having big kids. Life is just so much easier. I feel like I can breathe again! There are still hard days, but overall, we feel like we might be real people again soon. We are people who can go to the beach, and have fun!!!

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