Driving, Driving, Driving . . .

So we're driving along and it's time for Carly to have a bottle. So, I am making up the bottle in the front seat from a gallon of water, baby rice and a can of dry baby formula. I get the water poured into the bottle, put a few scoops of rice in and go to open the brand new can of formula and it explodes in my face--powder everywhere. I guess the can pressurized the higher we drove. It hit me from my face down to my feet and we are at least 30 minutes from the exit where we planned for gas. Rob offers (thru his laughter) to pull over so I can jump out and shake off. I decline. I can be a good sport for 30 minutes, and I was.

When we got to the gas station he had Julie jump out first so she could take a picture of me covered in baby formula powder so I could post it with this blog. I let her take the picture but I'm not a good enough sport to post it! Ha! I get the last laugh!

My Funny Eater

Carly has developed this funny way of eating. She has to have at least 3 of whatever you give her--one for each hand and one for her mouth. I call her my double-fisted eater. We ate at Wendy tonight and she was getting some pretty good laughs. She had chicken nuggets and had one in each hand taking turns taking bites from each hand when she realized she didn't have one in her mouth. So then she shoved a whole one in her mouth (which was way too big for her mouth)and then kept trying to take bites from each hand. We had to pry the nugget out of her mouth so she wouldn't choke on it and she was plenty mad at us.

She really has to keep something in her hands and her mouth. It's usually candy or something simpler but once she puts stuff from one hand in her mouth you have to refill the hand. Sometimes she won't even let go of what's in her hands and just whimpers until you refill her mouth. She cracks us up. Funny kid!

Getting Ready to Hit the Road

We have spent the last several days doing last minute things and making lists of items we need to pack, making arrangements for the house and dog sitter, etc. so we can go on vacation. We are going to Grandma and Grandpa's house and are very excited for our trip! Well, maybe not so excited for the actual time in the car and on the road with a toddler--but for time with Grandpa and Grandma and aunts and uncles and cousins. We still have a couple of days to go to pull everything together but we are counting down the hours! Yay!

Naked Dog

I took one of my dogs to the groomer today. Her name is Sadie. She's a beautiful mix of Lab and Collie but her fur is predominently Collie. Once or twice a year I get fed up with all the dog hair and decide to have the dogs shaved. Our other dog, Tashie, is a Lab mix also but she looks like a purebred black lab and sheds like one too. Her appointment with the groomer is on Monday. Anyway, when I took Sadie in she looked a bit like Lassie and when I went to pick her up she was completely NAKED! No kidding. She is shaved down to her skin--or as close as you can get and still leave a layer of hair on her skin. The funny thing is she loves it. She does look a little dorky--but she doesn't care. She has been so hot that it just feels good to her.

We had a dog growing up, our Cockapoo Toby, that if you even trimmed his hair he'd hide behind a chair or a couch for a week because he was so embarrassed. It's nice to have a dog that doesn't care how she looks as long as it feels good.

Stay tuned for the sequal--Naked Dog 2, coming Monday! Hee, Hee, Hee!

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

You probably think I'm going to tell you something cute Carly said. She probably does say a bunch of cute things--we just can't decode most of them yet--so nope it's not something Carly said.

We were out at dinner tonight and Rob noticed a license plate from our state and we got to talking about some of the artistry on it. We hadn't seen this version of the plate before as our state has several you can choose from. Anyway, we were guessing what kind of creature one of the pictures on the plate might be. Rob thought it might be a Pterodactyl. I thought it was probably just a bird. I'm often in the minority and this time was no exception. Julie, our 15 year old, agreed with Rob and said, "Don't we have a state dinosaur?"

Enough said.

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS

I was folding laundry tonight in the living room and Carly was on a tear. She was being so funny. She would come running by the couch and grab something I folded and run off with it. So, I would see her coming and try putting my hands over the top of the folded items and telling her "NO" but this one time she managed to grab a couple pairs of Rob's briefs. She kept running from the living room into the front room and disappeared for about a minute and then came running out with a pair of briefs pulled over the top of her head. I thought I would die laughing. Julie and I had to chase her down to get them off her head and away from her. She was giggling the whole time she was running around with them. Oh my goodness. What a funny girl! She just keeps us laughing.

Carly In Her New Outfit

Carly's fairy Goddess Mother Char bought her a cute outfit yesterday so we had to model it today. She looks really adorable in it. It has little monkeys on the top and jeans that match. Carly really likes it. Thanks Aunt Char! You are terrific! We love you!

IT WAS A LONG DRIVE BUT . . .

I went back to my old hair stylist today. I've lived here for four years and just haven't found anyone who does my hair the way I like it. So, I decided it was worth it to drive an hour to go to someone I really trust. Julie and Carly went with me. Carly wore herself out running all over the place showing off. Carly's fairy Goddess Mother Char met us and was so sweet--she brought Carly a brand new, darling outfit! I can't wait to try it on her. Julie was a great big help, as usual.

Carly fell asleep on the way home so that was nice. It was a good day, I'm happy with my hair and we had a good drive. Yay!

WHY DO I THINK THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING . . .

of the terrible twos? I told you before that Carly started into them early as she isn't even two yet. I was hoping since she started early she would finish early as well. I'm afraid it isn't looking good for that at the moment. We've had a surge of the TERRIBLE'S for the last week or so. Her favorite new thing is to pick up the dogs water bowl and dump it. Now it's a pretty large water bowl since we have 2 fairly large dogs. She picked it up 3 times yesterday and dumped it right on the floor. The third time she sat down in it as if it were a wading pool. It almost was.

I don't really think her intention is to dump the bowl of water. I think she may be trying to carry it somewhere else but she just can't hold onto it once she lifts it. Who knows. All I know is I'm running out of dry towels and patience.

Her next favorite thing to do is to try to drink out of the "big person" cup which is clearly too big for her to handle. Turn your back for even a second and she dumps your glass of whatever it was on the floor. Yes, I am speaking from far too much personal experience. It's a good thing I have a carpet cleaning machine. I keep it locked and loaded.

My little angel is definitely going to give me a run for my money and something tells me this is just the beginning of the terrible twos . . .

Happy Father's Day Dad! Again.

This is my favorite picture of me and my Dad. My Dad is one of my Hero's. He has worked hard his entire life to provide for his family--harder probably than he should have, but he has a strong work ethic. He taught that work ethic to all of his daughters and it has been a blessing in our lives. My Father is an honest man. He doesn't gossip about others and he can't stand to listen to gossip. (I wish I had picked up that trait--I'm still working on it.) He is as dependable as the day is long. If he tells you he will do something, consider it done. He will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. My Dad is a great man. I love that about him. I could have one of those bumper stickers that say "MY DAD IS BETTER THAN YOUR DAD!" OK, now don't take that personally, my dad is just really, really great. I can't help it.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! I LOVE YOU! NANCY

THE GREAT CHOCOLATE DEARTH

Okay seriously folks, apparently a week or so ago in the Wall Street Journal there was a story about the chocolate (Cacao) trees having a serious virus that will lead to chocolate prices being at a premium in the near future. I just did a search on the Internet and found the story to be true. There are two viruses, one affecting the trees in West Africa and another hitting the trees in Brazil. I don't want to cause a panic--I'm just saying. If you like the stuff, now is the time to stock up.

Rob Gets A First

Carly was not having a good day today. We took a long drive, an hour each way, and she was not a happy camper! Anyway, when we got home she climbed up on Daddy's lap and played video games with him for a while. She loves to do that. I still can't figure out why he loves to do that and now there's two of them doing it! While they were playing she was chattering away so Rob started trying to get her to say different things. I was in the living room and they were in the bedroom. He came running out with Carly and said "She did it! She said, "I love you." That was the only first Rob has been around for! He missed her crawling and her first steps and even her first word. But do you think he could get her to repeat it to me? Of course not! Everytime I left the room she would say it again but she wouldn't say it in front of me. She's such a little tease.

So, yesterday was an interesting day. I ended up at the hospital with my brother-in-law who was in the emergency room with a kidney stone. Rob had one once and they are NO FUN! Luckily for Steve-he passed his in a matter of hours and I brought him home to our house so we could fuss over him for a while.

The only thing I did of note today was weed the garden. It looks so good. Our tomatoes and lettuce are growing really fast. The peppers are coming along really well,too. Everything else is on the slow-grow plan.

Carly helped me weed (not so much). She actually sat on my lap the whole time and when she tried to help she reached for the real plants to pull them and I had to steer her in a different direction. Rob was mowing the lawn while we were weeding and everytime he would stop and turn the mower off Carly would clap for him. It was pretty funny.

THE GREAT MOSQUITO BATTLE

Oh my goodness! I opened the back door to let the dogs out before bed and got hit in the face by a wall full of mosquitos. No kidding! It was disgusting. After I shut the door I looked up and they were covering the lights and the ceiling and walls. And just a few days ago, I heard on the news that they had found mosquitos here with the West Nile Virus. So, of course, I could not let them live. I especially don't want to get bitten in my sleep!

So, Julie and I went on the warpath! We each grabbed a can of Deep Woods Off (we didn't have any bug spray and started spraying toward them until we were both choking from the fumes. Seriously. They did start dropping like mosquitos! Hee hee. But there were so many we were having a hard time getting them all. Then I saw the fly swatter and the battle was really on. It took both of us taking turns but we finally got them all. It wouldn't have taken quite so long but we had to let the dogs back in--and even though we turned all the lights off before we opened the door we still got quite a few in the door when we opened it again. Crazy! I've never had that happen before and we've lived here for several years. It's probably because it's been raining for almost two weeks straight and it's a little swampy outside.

So anyway, after the annihilation came the big cleanup! Gads. Once we got all the carcasses cleaned up we had to clean up all the deet we'd sprayed everywhere! Yuk! I keep telling myself it was worth preventing all the bites and scratching--but it sure was gross!

I HATE BUGS!

HIKING IN THE HEAT

I just signed a permission slip for Julie to go hiking up a canyon tomorrow with her young women's group. They are leaving at ten in the morning and won't be back until sometime in the late afternoon. It just hit me that the worst part of the day to be in the heat is from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and I'm sure hoping these guys know what they are doing. Of course, when someone says hike to me, I walk in the opposite direction looking for the elevator. I'm not much of an outdoors person. I actually like the outdoors but I don't like enjoy doing anything rugged in the outdoors. I'm fine just to sit by the waterfall or the stream and kick my feet in. I don't need to hike 5 or 10 miles to feel like I've communed with nature. Nature and I can talk just fine sitting still.

I guess it's a good thing it's a youth hike and some youthful leaders taking them. You'd never find me leading a hike in the heat, let alone going on one by myself! Oh well, it takes all kinds, I guess.

CARTOONS AND TIME WITH DAD . . .

You never could have convinced me I would be spending a good part my day each day watching cartoons at my age--but I'm actually starting to get used to it. Luckily, I had a little practice when my brother-in-law injured his back a couple of years ago and moved in with us for several months and often had his little kids over. There are some really good teaching/learning cartoons on these days and Carly loves to watch them.

I got to thinking today about when I was a little kid and some of the fond memories I have of watching cartoons with my Dad. I even have what I think are memories of some of his favorites. I think he really likes the one with Foghorn Leghorn in it and Tom and Jerry. But then as I was thinking about that I had the silliest thought come over me. Oh my goodness, he wasn't watching cartoons with us because he liked watching cartoons with us. He was doing the same thing I'm doing. He was trying to keep us busy and happy and was probably trying to do something else at the same time. (Well, maybe not the latter. Men aren't the best multi-taskers, you know.) Honestly, the thought had never occurred to me until I was actually doing it myself why he watched cartoons with us. I just remember being happy when he did. Kind of funny, eh?

I think I will just sit back and try to enjoy cartoons with Carly more and not try to multi-task so much. She is growing up so fast and I don't want to miss a moment. I'm so grateful for the insights that sometimes come to me in time to make a difference.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, UM, EARLY . . .

Golly Gee, I feel dumb! Rob had me convinced Father's Day was tomorrow. We were making our plans last week and he mentioned Father's Day and we got to talking about what he wanted and what we were going to do for our Dad's, etc. Anyway, somewhere in that conversation he mentioned it was this Sunday. So, I hurried around and got things done, mailed my Father's day card and gift so it would arrive in time for tomorrow. Made sure Julie got her gift and a card. I was planning a special dinner for Sunday and then this afternoon Julie said, "Mom, why are we celebrating Father's Day a week early?" THUD!

NO WAY! IT CAN'T BE. IT IS! FATHER'S DAY IS NEXT SUNDAY, NOT THIS SUNDAY! I feel like a dope! But hey, then I remember, my Dad likes having his birthday the day after a holiday because he celebrates on the holiday and the day after. It gives him two days of birthday celebration. So, here's to two Father's Day celebrations this year, Dad! You're worth it! Happy Father's Day! I Love You! Catch ya here next week. Same time, same channel!

BABY KNOWS HER NOSE

I've been showing Carly her nose and trying to get her to point to it for a couple of months now. You know, the old--where's your eye's, nose, ears thing? Well, I started out that way but she is so busy she won't pay much attention to me when I go for them all at once--so I focused on one at a time. I started with the nose. It finally paid off today. I said where's your nose and she immediately pointed to it. She's not slow, she's just too busy checking out new things and taking them apart to sit still and pay attention to face games. Silly Mommy. What was I thinking?

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY

Oh, I hate to say that really because we need the moisture--but gads do we have to have it all in one month! The weatherman just said we get a one day break tomorrow and then it starts again. Aaarrrgghh.

Julie and I made dinner for a family with a newborn tonight. Then we made our own dinner and Julie made homemade ice cream. It was a Ben and Jerry's chocolate recipe and it was really good.

Rob's been working a lot this week so he's pretty tired. Not much big news going on here. I guess that's a good thing. Well, gotta go put a really cute little girl to bed!

SUMMER BREAK

So, Julie and I had big plans to make plans for the day today but aside from taking care of Carly we pretty much hung out and watched the NCIS marathon. We were pretty worthless. We did make a grocery list so we could make homemade ice cream but we never even went to the store. It's been really rainy here for the last week and kind of chilly, too so other than going outside for the mail after Rob came home we never left the house today. So much for Julie's summer break! Okay, it's only the 3rd day of her break--it's bound to get more exciting.

Carly only used her new sentence a couple of times today but she used her favorite new word alot. Her favorite new word is "up." That means to pick her up! I love my girls!

CARLY SAID HER FIRST SENTENCE TODAY!

It was so darn cute! We've been singing this song that has the words "I see you" in it and Carly just turned around and said, "I see you." and then we got her to say it over and over again. This baby growing up thing is happening so fast. It's her first sentence today but give it a few weeks and she will be talking up a blue streak and I will really be wondering where my little baby has gone. What is that song . . . Turn around and you're tiny, Turn around and you're grown, Turn around, you're a young wife, With babes of your own . . .

A NICE EVENING OUT

Julie let us have a nice evening out tonight to celebrate our anniversary. That is, she watched the little one for us and even made us some raspberry tarts for dessert while we were gone. Rob took me out for a nice seafood dinner and then to a movie. It was fun and relaxing. And when we got home it wasn't the dogs looking out the window waiting for us but cute little Carly. And when I opened the door she was practically jumping up and down she was so excited we were home. It was so cute! It's fun to be a wife and mommy!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

Yep, we are still in love and happy to be together! I love my hubby and he loves me.
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Julie and Carly with Wheels

Found another picture with both girls in it. This is over at the neighbors.

Carly's Ride

Carly borrowed this ride from her cute and gentlemanly neighbor boy for a few minutes the other day and she really, really liked it! My little girl is growing up way too fast!

Just Two Gals Gardening Together

THE MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER STRIKES AGAIN

My friend Lori took these pictures about a month ago, maybe two and she lives an hour and a half away. I hadn't gotten back to her house to order them so she decided to just order some and give them to me as a birthday present (early). I found that out when I called her earlier this week to make arrangements to go down and pick out pictures. When I talked to her on the phone she told me she had a lady that had been in ordering some pictures Lori had taken of her family and she saw Carly's pictures and asked if she could order some of them. Isn't that funny--in sort of a strange, weird sort of way?

My baby is a beauty, isn't she? Well, at least I think so!