Slowly but surely

In an attempt to learn more about getting great shots (I'm still not even close to where I want to be with the quality of my pictures) I practically walk around with the camera within a few feet of me. Today while the girls were upstairs playing with the computer I decided it would be a good chance to mess around with some options. 

I'm shooting only with the 50mm and I'm on manual setting only, which means I set all the controls. I am still lacking the crisp photos I'm trying to get, they all kind of have that muddy look to me. Nothing pops in them like I want. I hope sometime soon I will be able to get there and look back at these photos and know what I was doing wrong, but until then you guys get to enjoy tons of pictures!

Charly and Piper were taking there pictures with photo booth ( a mac program) Isa and a few other dolls got to get in on the photo shoot too.

Sometimes you just gotta say to heck with it!

Perhaps it was because I was up until 2 last night chatting online or maybe it was the pig I ate yesterday but something was definitely out of whack with me today.  I was super grouchy all day long and was thankful when Nate got home so the girls could see something other than my drab face!

Shortly after our snow cone fix and some much needed cleaning on my part I started to mellow out a bit and the family forgave me for being such a sour puss...at least I think they forgave me. Anyways I decided to let go of whatever mood I had that was a dark cloud over my head and that is why Charly is still up and instead of reading Little house in the Big Woods she is watching/helping Nate with the tile. Although Im sure with Piper watching he is probably not getting much done, welcome to my world, LOL!

(below) Charly thinking " hey mom you suck, stop being a buttface!"

I have ten more minutes until I resume reading to the girls. I just thought I'd post some cute last minute pics of the girls "helping" Nate with the floor. 

PS Did I mention how fortunate I am to have married a man that doesn't have crazy mood swings like his wife! Seriously sometimes I think he is a robot! How does one go through life and not ever get mad? Perhaps he is just THAT happy to be married to a crazy woman like me....eh, it could happen.

Nate "Charly, you are amazing"

We already knew that Charly is pretty fantastic but today's events have put her over the top! All day I had been reminding her about the diapers that needed to be washed and she finally got to them after dinner and FHE. 

I walked down to the compost to dump some stuff and heard her say something, but to be honest I was lost in the rainy garden, so I didn't think much of it. The next thing I know Nate is calling for my help because there are more "worms" aka MAGGOTS in the poop diapers. 

In the meantime I come in and notice a trail of poop on the kitchen floor, Piper had asked to go potty and of course she missed the toilet completely.  Nate is laughing and Charly continues to do her chore without complaining. The whole scene was quite funny. I was cleaning up the floor while Nate was trying not to vomit from the sight of all the maggots. 

Nate just kept saying to Charly how amazing she is while she followed through on her chore even though the task at hand was rather disgusting,she didn't complain once. She definitely earned the treat Nate took her to get after that whole escapade!  

Thank goodness Nate was here this time to inspect the so called worms and confirm that they were not worms at all but maggots.  Now I just need to figure out how not to let this happen, hmm perhaps Charly wouldn't mind washing diapers every day.

My birthday came early this year....when I least expected it

Although my birthday isn't until next Friday, I've already received two very special gifts. The first came last week,  a picture of a pioneer scene that I have been drooling over at church.  Nate I guess has been looking for it for a while and supposedly hadn't been able to find it so I forgot about it.

When I pulled up one afternoon and saw a giant flat box  I jumped for joy and called Nate immediately and asked him if he found it. He pretended not to know what I was talking about. Mmm hmm! I guess he thought I had it all figured out and let me open it that day. 

The reason I love this picture so much is because, if you look close enough, there is a mother nursing her infant/toddler right in the middle of everyone else. She isn't hiding under a blanket or in a wagon marked 'Mother's room'. I just love the message that I get from it, that breast-feeding should not be now and was never before an issue of modesty. A baby's needs now are the same they have always been. I just really love it, can you tell?

The second most extraordinary gift I received came in the mail today from my mother in law. I thought perhaps I should wait until my birthday to open it but without Nate holding me back I figured what the heck! To my surprise there were three handmade beautiful aprons in the box along with the remnant fabric. One for me and the other two matching for the girls. 

I love homemade gifts and it really meant a lot to me that Mickey took the time to make something for ME. Funny thing is I have been thinking about making an apron for a while now and just haven't done it. Seems like something like this has happened before with her,  she must read minds *wink*. 

The girls and I have already worn them in with dough and brownie batter, fun times! I love them!!

First we are starting with the end

This is the result of a very long day for miss Piper. The past few days have been strange, she has been very cranky and clingy and nursing constantly, I finally figured out today that she is hungry! Let me explain, please.....so yes she has started eating but she hadn't really reached the milestone where she is eating at every meal or on a regular basis, at least not yet. 

This afternoon I offered her beans after tired of nursing her every five minutes and to my surprise she cleaned the bowl out. A light bulb went off in my head and two days later I think I have figured out why she has been so fussy. Der! Poor little girl is just hungry for some table food!  We shall see if tomorrow happens the same, I'm going to offer her food every time she wants to nurse and see which she will take. With her eating more this will probably allow my body to start letting the baby eggs drop down too....but don't get too excited for more grandchildren I think Nate and I want to take a couple month hiatus to go on some exciting dates without the kids, starting with my birthday. 

We are planning to go to Sea World, just the two of us while the girls stay with my mom for the day...I am so excited! A whole day of adult time, I won't know what to do with myself! I'm pretty sure the last time Nate and I went for a day trip just the two of us was before Charly was born so it's definitely needed.

OK so back to today, you remember that cat that was hanging out here, well she is still here and she is in heat!  During dinner yesterday we had an unexpected lesson on how cats make babies because that skanky cat was getting it on with a tomcat right outside our dining room window. Needless to say cat sex made me lose my appetite!  

Charly of course is thrilled that there will be kittens around and I guess I'm a little excited about that too, but then when they grow up there will be big cats around and that is the part that I'm not so excited about. On the plus side, perhaps having all these cats around will help with the roach population.

Another great discovery today, the kitchen walls make an awesome chalk board! Charly and I were dancing around the kitchen when we accidently figured out that we could draw on the panel walls and erase them just like a real chalkboard...and to think I was going to pay over 100 bucks to get a 2x3' board! 

This of course is perfect for school, and drawing when Im cooking....oh and writing notes to your special someone *wink*.

We had our first little home school co-op day today and did crafts around fish, the kids really seemed to enjoy the crafts which I was excited about. Beth and I even did our own little fish which double great as a 'stained glass' decoration.

After the kids played for a while I brought out a gutted blue gill that was sitting in the fridge.  Seth,9(below)  enjoyed cutting it open and found the backbones for us and seemed pretty excited about that. Charly of course didn't want to get her hands dirty but she watched on the side.

At the end of the day Piper helped me with dinner, zucchini lasagna. She stacked the veggies wonderfully and ate cheese along the way.

Drum roll please......this cantaloupe has been calling my name for the past few weeks and so yesterday evening I decided that it would be a great addition to FHE. I checked online for some tips on when to know when they are ripe, they don't ripen after you pick them, and figured it looked good enough to pick. 

I was so excited to see it all orange and beautiful when I cut it open, but quickly bummed when I tried it. The cantaloupe probably could have hung out on the vine for at least a few more days. Oh well right, I have at least 4 more growing in the garden.

Despite not having the cantaloupe, our FHE was a roaring success. Charly provided the lesson (Joseph Smith and the first vision) and Piper helped out with the prayer.  We played  Mormon Candyland and Charly landed on Temptation tower again! She does not like landing there and losing a turn so we decided if when we land there and give a reason why we shouldn't do something in there(smoke, drink, gamble, etc) then you don't lose a turn.  Charly is such a sensitive little spirit, only she would get upset by landing there with a game. Lets hope this cautious nature of hers carries with her throughout the years. 

Farewell old friends, hello zucchini!

In an attempt to bite the bullet and get rid of some things I decided it was time to say bye bye to some shoes I've had since high school! Now as you know I'm a recovering shoe whore so this was no easy task. I ask myself over and over,  seriously when was the last time you wore these clubbin shoes? *sigh*

So here is to some young girl who will go to Goodwill tomorrow and gasp at her very own size 7 dancing shoes, I salute you. It's a start right? I have this cleaning idea that if every time I bring something home I take 5 things out of it (Thanks fly lady). I just hope Nate will jump on board too. I may have shoes from 10 years ago but he has T shirts from that long ago that are size XL, yeah if my handsome hubby is an extra large something is seriously out of whack!

On another note I'm excited to announce that our daughter Piper is a Okra/zucchini loving wild child. She downs okra faster than they are growing, and helps herself to zucchini dinners. It's quite lovely actually to sit at the table and watch her eat! She will usually not sit in her high chair, we discovered that she likes sitting in a chair next to Charly and eat which is fine. 

After taking a hiatus from school we are starting back up this week and I'm picky backing off of Beth, a mother of 9 who has home schooled them all. She is a great mentor and I will keep postings on what we are learning about in our blocks.

Just FYI, I changed my profile so that anyone can comment (even if you don't have a google account). All you do is click on 'comment' under each blog and there is a button that you can select if you don't have an account. I would love to see who is actually reading our blog.

Pioneer breakfast

We attended a pioneer breakfast bright and early this morning at the Abbott's house. After about a 40 minute drive, 10 of those on a dirt road driving 5 mph (we missed the memo about needing the jeep), we arrived at their property. "Get the girls in the handcart!" me, "OK sure, I guess I should not have worn sandals."  I always do that too, I think I should wear sneakers but always talk myself out of it. 

Of course I immediately  thought this would be a great photo op so I tossed the camera to one of the missionaries and continued to walk for about eh maybe 300M to get to the "camp" where breakfast would be served.

Im really glad there were handcarts there, one because I have never actually pulled one and two, it was a great thing for Charly to be able to  experience first hand even if it was just a tiny ride. The whole way to the camp we were discussing what it would be like to have lived and travel in that time. It was neat for her to relate in a small way to what Laura and Mary may have experienced, although they had a horse drawn carriage of course.

Breakfast was great even if no one but me and Piper ate the  black beans we brought, I guess no one has heard of beans for breakfast, chile quiles(sp) ring a bell? I also learned a new desert tortilla trick which involves butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg mmm mm good!

When heading back to the car Piper hitched a ride with a sister from the ward who BTW sings beautifully, while Charly hitched a ride in the handcart. Only this time I got to enjoy the view from the back while Elder Walker pulled.

Can't beat a photo op of a colt nursing! That baby was almost as big as it's mama, so glad the same is not true for us humans *wink*.

Thank goodness Ernest , Seth and Fiona showed up so Charly would have some younger kids to play with. Ernest was showing off his might by running the kids around in the cart.

After we got home from the breakfast that turned into  brunch there was lots of chores to be done, and in true Renée fashion I waited until today to do them. I found a blog with primary ideas a while back and came across the idea for a candy land type game. I decided that I would put one together for the CTR class and FHE. With Piper climbing tables and throwing markers, this project took me all day to complete. Should have only been an hour tops.

Im not sure if she had some crazy this morning but she was wired! A few times she would just come up to Charly and smack her on the head. I finally sat her on the stairs for a few minutes until she was ready to apologize, but one minute later she would do it again! I was talking to Nate when this happened and he mentioned Gilly from SNL (http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gilly-science-fair/1085166/) 

and so of course I start busting up, so then Piper starts laughing and then Charly. Aye aye aye, Piper is a little wild child and while at times it's funny, others its just plain difficult.

With Nate on his Guard duty this weekend I get to tackle church all by my lonesome which should be fun on top of primary and the wriggly children there. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can learn something and have fun tomorrow with this game. Im also on the lookout for more ideas to keep the kiddos involved.

Bathroom,books and crafts

Charly and I recently finished reading Little House on the Prairie and are now onto Little House in the Big Woods. I had never read the series and thought that LHOTP was first, so Charly and I are going back in time, she doesn't seem to mind. We are trying really hard to have Piper play quietly when we read so she is used to the quiet time but she of course has not fully gotten that concept.

Piper is getting more and more fearless with the world around her, she is very very curious about new things and we haven't come across anything that scares her. This seems to be bitter sweet as you can imagine. She is like a little puppy following Charly all the time, always trying to be like her big sister which Charly is OK with MOST of the time.

This week we have discovered Piper's love for my grandpas beans (black or pinto refried with monterrey jack cheese and onion).  I cant blame the child, I would live off of these when I visited my family in CA.

We also found Charly's red glasses this week. So exciting, but I think in October we will need to get her a new pair because her little face will be too big for them in a few months. 

Our bathroom is coming along, I need to finish painting. Nate  has started to lay the tile but we found that the tile cutter we bought is just not cutting it. Hopefully we can finish up this week but if not it's OK. We both decided that it's not worth it to be working on it non-stop and neglect family time.

Since this, Nate has put in the shower door which already makes a big difference. 

A day in the life

Today was Charly's last swim lesson in Bonham and Nate was able to get off early in order to spend some time with us before he heads to Ft. Worth this weekend. Nate couldn't believe how fearless Piper is with the water. Charly is getting better at holding her breath under water and has more swim lessons next week here in Honey Grove. She has really enjoyed going swimming every day. 

We will level out a space in the backyard next summer so that we can put an above ground pool.  It's too bad there isn't a public pool closer to us.

Charly and Piper both really enjoyed having Nate at the pool to watch them and their  blooming water talents.

Both girls are getting more involved in the shopping which they seem to enjoy quite a bit. Although Piper has her own agenda, she puts whatever she wants in the basket and we have to sneak it out when she isn't looking.

Charly is also learning more about cooking and kitchen chores. Yesterday she had a recipe for french toast and mixed everything together, handed over to me and I cooked it. Best french toast I ever had! Our homeschool curriculum is based on the idea that you don't force feed young children academics but do 'child led learning' up until around the age of 7/8. Of course during this time you are building values 'their core'. With help from Nate, Charly is constantly learning new things about the world around her. I love watching her explore and do new things. It truly is amazing to be able to witness this first hand. Nate and I were up late talking in bed the other night, while Charly lay on the foot of the bed and Piper on the side. Anyways I was telling him how  Charly actually likes being home with me and being homeschooled, and I was grateful that this whole process has flowed so smoothly.  

It was bound to happen, our first fat lip!

Nate found a cicada after church that was about to shed it's exoskeleton so we thought it would be a great thing to watch happen, figuring it would be a few days at least. Well after lunch we came and checked it out and it was already out. It is a beautiful green bug that we get here in TX and it makes A LOT of noise up in the trees! When it first sheds it must take a while to fly(they are usually too fast to catch) so the girls enjoyed passing it back and forth, Piper a little too much. She almost ripped its legs off, sweet little girl!

All day we managed to stay away from the bathroom upstairs that was calling our name. Above is a picture of where the sink used to be, once we get the wall textured up I can finish painting it.  The color is called Victorian Purple, picked from a Frida Kahlo picture. 

While we, yes I meant WE, were preparing dinner Charly had an argument with the floor and the floor won!  It was so sad, poor thing. In the end we are glad that she has all her teeth and a nose that isn't broken. Of course since she was in a little pain we decided a Sunday night family movie, 'The Other Side of Heaven', was in order. 

Back to dinner, remember that fish Charly caught, well Nate fried it up tonight and got a whopping teaspoon worth of meat, which Charly couldn't enjoy because her mouth was swelling up. A lonely bite of fish sits in the fridge now waiting for her mouth to gobble it up.

It all started with a little paint.

Yeah sure, let's paint the bathroom this weekend! What started with me wanting to paint the bathroom has turned into a total remodeling. Nate ripped out the sink/cabinets and pulled up the toilet so that he can level the floor...so our toilet doesn't tilt you to one side when you sit on it. Oh to have a level toilet! We are also going to put down tile, which should be fun/interesting. I don't think we were anticipating the bathroom to be this much work but it's going to look great when we are done, which should be in the next week or so....keeping my fingers crossed. Keeping on the bright side, when we go to paint our room it will look like a piece of cake when compared to the bathroom.

The day didn't start off with painting though, we took the girls up the street to Lake Crockett to go fishing in the morning (after staying up til nearly 3 painting). Charly caught three fish, one as soon as she put her fishing pole in the water! Of course they were small little purch but Charly was proud and two of the fish are currently in the fridge waiting to be fried up for a tiny snack.

The whole time we were sitting on the pier I was super paranoid about getting a hook in my face, which was funny because I was the one who ended up pulling the line to hard (thought I had a bite) and the hook came flying out of the water and landed near Charly and Nate. Just for the record I have never been hooked so I don't know where this fear comes from but being around fishing poles is just as scary as being around guns, weird huh?

The next time we go I'm thinking Piper and I will stay back and it can be a special thing Charly and Nate do together. For one, Piper is way to wild and is trying to jump in the water every five seconds (both girls had life jackets on) and when she isn't trying to run off the pier she is throwing Nate's fishing gear in the water.

Fast forward a couple of hours and we are at Home Depot picking up, well EVERYTHING and it was insane! Charly and Piper were both just maniacs in the store wanting to touch everything, and at one point Piper tried to make a run for it while we were in the plumbing. I sure do love Home Depot but I think the next time we go, we'll let Shelby (HA!)watch the girls at home, it was just ridiculous how out of control they were! I'm sure it had to do with the fact that they were tired and I was tired but still....worst outing with the girls thus far. Im soooo glad that this is not a regular occurance with them. I would not leave the house if my children behaved in that matter full time.

Church does not sound appealing to me tomorrow, I will admit that, and if it weren't for Primary I would probably skip out. It's usually the times I don't want to go and end up going that I get the most out of it though.

Must go for now, Piper is tearing through all the hair stuff (bows, rubberbands, rollers ets). MUST GET SLEEP!

For someone who doesn't care for animals we sure do have alot!

Went outside a couple of days ago to a cat, figured it was lost and would go away.  Next day the cat was still there, skinny, loud and obviously hungry.  So after Charly's swimming lesson today we picked up some cat food, I figure that feeding an outside cat isn't so bad right?

Why do these animals come my way? Must be my personality, lol! Anyhow in order to not attach to the cat as much as possible I am against naming it and I still hope that it goes back "home".  

Charly attended her first swimming lesson today and it went well, she blends right in with new kids and situations (who says homeschooled kids are anti- social?).  Of course the whole hour we were there Piper was trying to get into the pool and managed to talk me into letting her dip her legs in the kiddie part. Tomorrow I will bring her swimsuit. I talked to one of the teachers about giving Piper lessons and although they usually do 3 and up, they would do private lessons for Piper, woohoo! So she starts in a couple of weeks, but in the mean time she can splash around in the baby area.

So after lessons we came home and had the most interesting lunch. Charly wanted PB watermelon and yogurt, and of course Piper wanted the same. Strange little combination. For myself I just ate watermelon with Trechas chili powder, I guess that is weird too. 

Shelby has a vet appt here in a bit and Ill be taking her with the girls so it should be interesting, hopefully there aren't any other dogs in the clinic....not likely.

Fleas, roaches and now worms!

Funny story, when Charly was starting a diaper load on Monday I hear her scream. I drop what I'm doing and go to see what's wrong(thinking she saw a roach). Well I get there and she is telling me "look mom, worms eww gross", there were worms crawling around in Piper's poopy diaper! 

I immediately think that Piper picked up some parasite from the brown warm water we were swimming in on saturday, so I call the Doctor to see if they would please see Piper. 

Flash forward a couple of hours we arrive at the Doc office (thank goodness for Nate's bug tube things which I scooped a few into). Anyhow he says they aren't pin worms or round worms or anything like that and they looked like insect larvae. I was thrilled at this because the thought of me having worms crawl into my mouth while I'm sleeping via Piper's butt grossed me out to all heck!

After checking her poop the next morning I'm thinking that these bugs didn't come out of her sunny side after all.  I may have jumped the gun with taking her in but worms is not something I have had to deal with yet.  From now on we are not keeping the gross diapers on the back porch where it is hot and muggy.  I just hope that Charly isn't traumatized by the whole thing and still washes the diapers!

4th of July Saturday

Yes as crazy as it sounds, not only did Chary and Piper swim in a chocolate lake that was as warm as a bath tub, but Charly also learned how to dribble a basketball! Nate and I were super surprised because Charly has not proved to be very coordinated as far as sports go.

Piper, Charly, Nate and I floated in the TX water for a few hours and both the girls loved it, no suprise there. Charly, with her life vest, went in a few times without us and paddled her way around. They really had a fun time visiting with the family. 

This was the dock that Charly was going to jump from but decided not to after all. Notice how she is telling Piper to stand back. Later Piper ended up jumping from the dock to Nate, she is definitely  one to watch around water. I'm pretty  sure Piper would have been in the water without us if we let her.

Just to keep with the bug theme going on here in TX, on the way home from Carthage(a three hour drive) we stopped at Subway to get dinner. I'm eating my sandwich and am at the last bite when I feel something hard in my mouth, it was a wing!!!!!! To what insect I don't know, but a wing regardless.  Aye aye aye that's enough to turn me away from eating food out, at least for a while, lol!