Mustard?! Let's not be silly.

I've decided that sometimes I might just have to express myself through obscure blog titles that happen to be whatever movie line is going through my head repeatedly that day.

"Now lemon...that's different." Name that movie in your comment and you will have the prized satisfaction of knowing that you could possibly be a kindred spirit. If you are a sibling then it doesn't count...it's in our DNA, but feel satisfied all the same.

With that out of the way I can proceed to explain to you why I just spent 15 minutes searching "rubber snakes" on the internet and listening to my daughter scream that she doesn't want me to be her Mom. Or maybe I won't and I'll just let you believe that our days are sometimes filled with things like that. Because let's face it, sometimes they are. The ironic thing is that it has actually been a really great day, mostly. PS searching "rubber snakes" on the internet sounds like a really bad idea but my innocence was not compromised in the least. I actually found just what I was looking for which was indeed, a snake made of rubber. Some very wise friends of ours just passed along the idea that a fake snake will scare away mice same as a real one, and though there are plenty of real ones to be found around here, I prefer one that doesn't actually slither, or breathe. We can't seem to keep the mice from making a home in the cellar door and I really want to avoid the little situation in the BBQ grill that happened last year. I would like to point out that we have never seen them inside but I won't because the minute I do, we will...Dangit. Forget I said that.
The key, however, will be to remember that I have placed the snakes in those places and not to freak out every time I take the cover off the grill or walk past the cellar doors. Clark had to remind me to get a "local species" lest those mice recall that King Cobras don't live in Connecticut. Can't get anything past those rodents, they are really smart, you know, with all those mazes and everything.
As far as my daughter wanting so desperately to disown me, well, that just comes with the territory of being a good Mom I guess. Besides, I wrote that part this afternoon...that emotion was soooo two hours ago.

Hollywood's Firmament

My children are going to be STARS! STARS I tell you!
Haley and Abby auditioned for a play yesterday with a traveling children's theatre. They will do rehearsals all this week and then have two shows on Saturday.
I have always wanted to be a stage Mom! Now is my, I mean THEIR time to shine!
Now, does anyone know where I can pick up some flippers?

Such is life.

Clark and I went on a date this weekend. A real date. I kept thinking, "I can't even remember the last time we were able to go out" so I looked it up...it was in May. It was a lovely date. We thoroughly enjoyed dinner at a restaurant where I didn't clean up any spilled drinks, made NO trips to the bathroom AND got to eat all of my own food. Then we hit up a movie that I got to sit through. I wanted to sit until the house lights came up at the very end of the credits just to draw it out. Clark commented on the pathetic fact that our dates are so rare these days that I feel a need to bring my camera...I'll spare you the pictures. They all are taken at arms length and show way too much nostril.
Last night I laughed as Clark told his parents that he wanted a nose hair trimmer for his birthday. Not that I don't appreciate a well-groomed man, I just laughed. Since when was I married to such an old man? And then I decided that I like us way better now than I did twenty years ago. We were pretty cool back then (he, more than me) with our fit, young little bodies and endless energy. And even as newlyweds we were still pretty cool. But when I look at pictures of us now I like what I see. We are mature(r), seasoned and hopefully a little wiser. I really am liking my thirties (all 11 months of it) so far. This is going to be a good decade, I can feel it.
Ironic then that I should bring up our other activities of the weekend that have left me feeling rather old. We went to Six Flags with friends. I only rode one real roller coaster but between that and being on our feet all day, I am sore and tired still today. We had a lot of fun. The weather was warm but not unbearable. I was surprised at which of my children were willing to do what. Abby who went on a roller coaster last year was timid and did very little of the daring stuff. Haley and Mia however tried lots of things. I was especially surprised at Mia's daring sense of adventure. She went on everything she was tall enough to ride and her expressions were priceless.It took Hazel far too long to fall asleep but it turns out all she needed was to be fed a purple snow cone and stripped down to her unders.We thoroughly enjoyed the company and our kids had a ball...see? We played so hard that they collapsed on the grass, right there at the gate.Good times, good times.

Why the long face?

Summer has been anything but boring, however, the blog reporting has left much to be desired. So I apologize but without further adieu, more summer...
Just kidding, there's lots more adieu. I actually am making a conscious effort to control my tongue as of late--you know, going for the "less is more theory" of my personal opinions. I'm trying it out to see if I'm more likable that way. Call if you are ever dying to hear random, useless things. Because the fact of the matter is, if you are not interested in that suferfilicity (is that a word?) I will have to call Abby or Megan...they get dumped with all of my leftover stuff that I can't say out loud because I know that they will love me no matter HOW much I talk or how awkward the things I say are (...they are both related to me.) Or least they have figured out how to set the phone down and walk away while coming back just often enough to encourage me that they are listening and validating my claims of being able to hold my breath for 2.7 minutes while I clean out old milk sippy cups and Clark's leftover lunch containers...really.
No really. Now I will just share more pictures.
Darling friends.
Fort Trumball in New London, CT. Cool. The kids liked it. The adults liked it. I learned lots of new things. However, we ran out of time before finishing all the exploring we wanted to do. The girls and I all had to go support Hazel at her well-baby checkup. Nothing says family summer togetherness like "let's immunize the baby".

Clark gave us his best Steve Irwin impression. This is snake number three that he has "handled" so far this summer...the first two were five times as thick and about three feet longer. He gets way too excited about these kinds of things...enough so that I ALMOST don't mind them, I said almost.
Family Night at a favorite park. Green, cool, grass, beach, my girls, my boy, lovely.

I finally got around to organizing and ordering my new blog books. This is all of it up to date...February 2005 to the end of 2008. I figure now that I am caught up, I will just print one at the end of each year. I love these journal type things. And thanks to my new cyber friend, I did it through a company that is way easier than Blurb.


A couple of weekends ago we went to a horse show that Clark heard about. It was in the most beautiful country...and it made me want a riding habit and tall rubber boots.

The beach. The lovely beach.

Dressing my daughters in matching outfits brings me joy. They have pushed our church time back a half hour for the summer and you would be surprised at how much time that is for us...they even got their hair done last week. And Clark wore his pink tie that we gave him for Father's Day, because he is a good sport. We were one, big, geeky, matching family. And it was sunny but look! I got to be in a picture that I didn't take myself! I knew someone besides Clark was raising these children.


Haley heard me exclaim from the porch during dinner one night that "I would give you ten bucks if you could get into that hammock." Oops. Haley is always up for someone telling her that something is not possible. She did it. And then I had to explain that sometimes adults are sarcastic and say things that they don't really mean.

On Sunday Haley asked if she could do the dishes. I almost told her, "no, I'll just do them" (because I am a little OCD like that) and then I allowed myself to stop and pay attention to the blinking, red light alarms going off in my head that said "YOUR DAUGHTER JUST OFFERED TO DO A JOB!!! SEIZE THE MOMENT!!!" And so I did. And she looked adorable being helpful. Plus it was such a rare occasion, I thought that maybe I should document it.

temporarily THE END...

(just in case you desired further clarification on this post's title, it's because I started it two weeks ago when all I had to write about was the horse show...)

Big Spender

There may very well be a list of reasons why one shouldn’t allow their three year old to spend $7.99 of their own allowance on the item of their choice. But I won’t go into that now.

Very Large Sparkly Butterfly Balloon
RIP
July 16, 2009 1:12pm - July 16, 2009 5:49pm

Zzzzz...not so much.

Last night I had a dream that I was in an elevator with two of my kids and another woman that we were talking to. When we were nearly at the top floor of a very tall hotel the cables snapped and the elevator dropped suddenly and violently. I felt it falling and I knew that I was about to die.
I woke up with my heart beating so hard I thought it might just burst.
I just looked up dream interpretations for "falling" and didn't like what I read one bit. Not at all.
I think I need a massage...or some caramel.

Summer is cool.

Now that everyone (except for my sore throat) is over that beginning-of-summer-sick-cruddies, summer has officially begun. Our little schedule is in full swing and we are finding our rhythm. We have days assigned to library, outings, the beach, the aquarium, the zoo, movies and rainy day alternate activities...we are truly dedicated to the schedule. Case in point, last week our beach day just happened to be during a torrential rain and we went anyway. The girls still had a blast...good hosts, you know.
I feel appropriately organized with printouts, lists and schedules....with plenty of room to do nothing at all if we want. We have been busy and though I may have had a moment or two of panic when I thought about all of them home all day every day, I am thoroughly enjoying my children.
Won't you join us?

Fourth of July BBQ with friends. Their house is comfortable and charming, the food delicious, the yard a dream, and the company delightful.

Our neighborhood does an annual Fourth of July parade down the street with all the kids. They even have a fire engine come lead our parade. Adorable kids, ain't they?

Hazel had a pudding pop and rather enjoyed it.

Some days at our house, lunch is anything you can fit on your plate. This is Abby's from a few days ago: a rice cake, muddy buddies, juice and cheetos with ketchup. I think I see an actual food group represented there.

Clark instructed and the girls built our picnic table. I was quite impressed. They used the electric drill and everything.

Mia learned how to cross her eyes. Very exciting.

Walks, walks and more walks...mixed in with a bike ride or two, or three, or more.

We like them plenty tuckered out by dinnertime. Tsk tsk. She didn't even finish her broccoli.


And I managed to feel somewhat finished with Haley's new room. She has been sleeping there for a while now but we finally got up some finishing touches. I would take a picture of our new office space/bedroom but I haven't finished finding places for all those papers yet...I thought blogging about the mess would be a better use of my time.

Haven't done a tag in a while...

1. What is your current obsession?
Eating outside and taking walks--the sun has finally come out and the weather is p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

2. What do you hate the most that everyone else seems to love?
Tags. Just kidding. I honestly can't think of anything right now.

3. What are you wearing today?
My cute little dress from Target (that my sister made into a cute little skirt.)

4. What's for dinner?
Leftovers...I know, exciting. But it means that we have eaten delicious things for the past several days (stuffed peppers, spaghetti boats, BBQ chicken, potato casserole and Clark's homemade ice cream...yum.)

5. What would you eat for your last meal?
A delicious filet cooked medium with roasted potatoes on the side, roasted veggies and some kind of dessert that included chocolate and caramel.

6. What is the last thing you bought?
A picnic table for the back porch.

7. What are you listening to right now?
My kids playing.

8. What do you think of the person that tagged you?
Delightful. Simply delightful, and I miss her. She is kind, hilarious, stylish, put together, talented and makes yummy food.

9. If you could have a house--fully paid for and totally furnished--anywhere in the world, where would it be?
That is the question. However, I have the recent, intense interest to live outside of the country, somewhere in Europe for a little while.

10. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would it be?
A private island with a hammock in the shade (can my husband come?...I need someone to gently push the hammock.)

11. What is one of your hobbies?
Drawing.

12. What is ONE of your favorite quotes?
"Keep calm. Carry on."

13. What is your favorite color?
Blue, any shade.

14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe?
How about favorite outfit? A cute, comfy, summer skirt, comfy t-shirt and a cardigan.

15. What is your dream job?
Food critic or librarian.

16. Describe your personal style.
Is lazy a style? If I had the energy to put forth more effort on a daily basis I would say a blend of classic, laid back, preppy, casual.

17. What is your favorite tree?
Any tree that is very large, very old, lots of shade, climbing branches with a swing (and no bugs.)

18. What are you going to do after this?
Take a shower and go to the library with the kiddos.

19. What is your favorite fruit?
Watermelon I think but I do have a place in my heart for Nectarines and Apricots.

20. What inspires you?
Optimism. Art. Music.

21. Who was the last person that you kissed?
Clark...actually he kissed my forehead before leaving for work because I have a sore throat.

22. What are you currently reading?
Til We Have Faces by CS Lewis and Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

23. Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book that you see with a red binding, turn to page 26 and type out the first line.
"But hugging that secret knowledge to myself only made me happier."
-Portrait of an Unknown Woman

24. What delighted you the most today?
Eating toast with honey for breakfast on the back porch...but the day has just begun.

25. By what criteria do you judge a person?
I hope that I don't judge people too often but I am observant of their energy and their optimism. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt but I don't care for people that are intentionally confrontational or contrary.

26. If you bought a wiener dog today, what would you name it?
Frank Furter.

27. What are you afraid of?
The dark.

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own. (I didn't replace any. Oops!)
2. Tag eight other people.
Mo, Amy, Carrie, Sarah, Sho, Charlotte, Mandee, Laurie...and everyone else that reads this post. Go.