What Was She Thinking

A few weeks ago I found this raised bed I wanted to build for Baylor's room.  I thought he would like the fort we could make like this only more boyish.  He likes Christmas lights as much as I do so I knew he would love the idea.  We are not great builders but I read over it and thought between the two of us we could handle it.  Lori apparently was not so sure and found a metal frame one on Amazon and the next week a giant heavy box was leaning against the garage when I got home.  I asked her why she bought this one and Baylor pipped up that he wanted it and he bought it.  He was stoked for it to be put together and since I knew it was not going back, I started unpacking, and unpacking and unpacking.  Black metal rods everywhere.  With these types of projects, I get put in charge.  It was like the little toy sorter cabinet she bought for him and told me I could put it together because I am better at these things. Thanks for thinking of me honey! Thankfully I have two assistants of variable abilities and equally short attention spans.  I sat on the floor sorting and gathering pieces, trying to match the little drawings with what was laying around the living room. At times I would ask for help from one of them.  Lori would give me this stare that I can only imagine she used when she was little and her mom or sisters would ask for help doing some 'girl' chore, "You want me to do what?"  I know she got out of a lot of that stuff by doing it so badly they just made her leave and did it themselves.  This also works for her at 42. Baylor kept rearranging the pieces and banging them about.  I am surprised the TV and aquariums survived. 

 

 This was the first time I was at a place to take a photo and most of the large pieces were already in his room. 

 

 

Like this.  Baylor is still wearing his nightgowns, and still rocks the pink.  I asked him what color we should paint his room.  He immediately said pink.  I may have to draw the line with that request!  I am sure Mom and I will paint the room this spring but either another teal color, a blue or tan. 

 

Baylor took a few photos and even though it is of my huge behind still wearing my work socks while also wearing my stay at home clothes, I put it on here.  I was not dressed to be photographed, I just thought it was going to be a regular evening at home. 

 

We are missing one slat but this was my view for a long time, sliding in the slats and putting little locking pieces in to keep them from sliding and gray plastic spacers.  I was able to put part of the stairs together and then the directions started to confuse me too much.  I was past my bed time and Baylor had already fallen asleep on the couch.  So I packed it up until tonight.

 

 

He crashed on the couch before I got home today and we were able to finish it in a little over an hour.  Once the bed was done I peeled off the wall saying that I put up before he was born, before I knew he was a he.  It was cute for a baby's room, but too baby and cute for a little boy's room with Spiderman sheets.  I still think he can roll out of this bed because the railings are low so when he wants to start sleeping there we may have to add an additional railing or get a thinner mattress.  I did not add the lights to the bottom because I am sure I will put up the wrong ones no matter which one I choose.  If I put up white, he will want the colors and vise versa.  I will have him pick out the lights tomorrow and we will set it up.  I guess I will be making the fort curtains soon also.  It is not my dream loft bed for him but it will be fine. 

 

I hope he likes it in the morning! 

 

In other news, the fish are doing fine.  The snails that are not supposed to be able to breed in fresh water are breeding so I am going to have to look into a snail eating fish or two.  We have lost a few other fish in the last few months but I think two had intestinal issues, one had a stroke, and I am not quite sure what happened to the glass cat fish.  I may have dumped water on her when I was adding fresh water and broke her spine or something.  She could not swim anymore and I ended her suffering by throwing her out into the snow.  It would have been pretty quick as cold as it was. 

 

 

Tomorrow is another day!  I wonder what we will be up to next!  

Snowman Birthday

We are alive and are glad we were well enough to make the trip to Lucas's Third Birthday Party.  Tara had it at Zinga's Frozen Yogurt.  We were early and after a potty stop we headed to the toy store in the same plaza to kill some time.  As we were walking by Zinga's, Tara knocked on the window.  She was getting ready so I stayed to help with the last few bits of tape and Lori and Baylor went to the toy store.  They came back with a new grabber.  His old one meet  a crushing fate in the driveway over the summer.  Tara had a cute snowman and paint chip theme going on.  She made the invitations with paint chips and created the awesome banner with paint chips.  The balloons were decorated as snowmen with snowman themed gifts for the guests.  

Since it was a long drive and we never travel with food for him, Baylor was pretty hungry by the time we arrived.  I plied him with a sample cup of triple chocolate frozen yogurt to hold him over until the party started.  He made a cute chocolate mustache with it.  

The kids were trickling in and then so did the birthday boy!  He was excited and a bit overwhelmed!  Baylor had made quick friends with Thea and they were both right there to greet him.  

And then it was off to play.  Poor Thea kept getting told by her mom to stop running and it was Baylor having her chase him around.  My quiet child has become a leader of trouble.  But I am glad he was become quick to make friends and enjoy the friendship of other kids.  

The kids were able to have as much yogurt and toppings as they wanted.  Lori and I wanted some also but neither of us reached the sweet spot weight of 13.4 or more and it would have been free!  I should  have piled some more Reese's on there!  I had a brownie bottom with cheesecake froyo, triple chocolate froyo, and red raspberry sorbet with strawberries, blueberries, mangos, chocolate sauce, Reese's.   It was delicious but the sorbets gave me brain freeze!  

Tara made the cute snowman shirt with a glue resist technique.  It turned out really nice.  

After they were done eating, Baylor and Thea played ring around the rosie several times.  Right in front of the door of course.  The poor people trying to get in to get a frozen treat had to weave their way past all the kids.  

After the behind the scenes tour, the kids were given balloons which turned into a balloon bopping festival.  Baylor was right in the thick of it of course.  He loves bopping balloons!  

I convinced Lori we could visit for a bit at Lucas's tree house and she agreed to two hours.  Charlotte was a sweet kitty of course and was strongly drawn to the ribbons from the balloons and was batting at them on the table.  Baylor loved her up and would follow her around whenever she moved.  

Tara brought out Ellefun which I have seen in the stores but never thought to buy.  But the boys had a great time catching the 'butterflies' shooting out of her trunk.  Remarkably, there was no fighting over them and they all helped pick them up each time.  

Even when Baylor was blasted with them!  Which he loved!  

Baylor asked for an apple so all the boys ended up having one also.  James, Baylor and Lucas all shared some time on the couch watching Pingo, a penguin preschooler show.  

I hinted to Tara that I would like to see Lucas open our gifts because while I knew he would not be too interested in them she would really appreciate it.  I never took a photo while I was working on it (too sick to remember such a detail) and it was after it was wrapped that I remembered I had not taken a photo of the finished piece.  

So I stole this from Tara.  I knew that she sang The Rainbow Connection to Lucas and I wanted to make him a quilt of the words to the first verse.  It was a pretty free form, organic project.  I did not plan much and just kept working on it stage by stage. And being sick for most of it, I could not think very far into the next step.  Of course there are things I would change now that I have more control of my brain but it turned out close to my vision.   I also made him six bean bags (stuffed with rice).  Lucas enjoyed them at our Halloween party and Tara had mentioned before that she would like some for him.  I also bought him a wood frame with his name carved out in the mat.  I had bought one for Baylor two years ago (I had to because how often will I find something off the rack with his name on it).  Last year I bought one for Cullen because he has the same problem. 

Around 5 we headed home as Lori has to work on Sunday.  It will be her first day back in almost two weekends.  But she needed the time off to recover.  The drive home was pretty fast for being over two hours.  We enjoyed the beautiful full moon all the way home.  Baylor fell asleep not long into the trip and slept until we pulled into the driveway.  And at 11:51, he is still awake and claiming not to be tired.  

The Plague

I was off work on Wednesday for my birthday which is when I started to feel the on comings of the plague, or flu, I am still not sure.  Thursday morning I felt worse but decided I would go in for half a day to get some work done so my back ups did not have to.  I made it to noon and left achy and tired.  I after making it home, changing in to three layers of clothes, and taking something for the aches, I tried to rest on the couch and then was forced to lay on the bed downstairs.  Baylor certainly does not understand the idea that Mommy dos not feel well, please stop jumping on me, stop spitting on me, stop yelling in my face. All things that are pretty annoying in the first place but when I feel like a bus hit me, they are even worse.  Thankfully he was OK playing downstairs with me under a pile of blankets on the bed.  I made it until  6:30 with him, until his I-have-not-napped-an-no-one-is-well-enough-to-play-with-me behavior was more than I could take, and I hauled us both off to bed.  He did protest too much for about a forty five minutes and he did fall asleep.  I did too but not for long.  I think I got about 4 hours of sleep.  I did not go to work but worked from the couch at home. I took Baylor to preschool and we had a nice quite day. It was really odd being home without him.  Lori is a great napper and she is still not over it.  I feel about 50% better today.  At least the aches, chills and sweats are over, now I am just tired.  I am not a good napper and really did not feel like napping anyway.  I picked up Baylor from school and Mary gave me her report on him.  She started his progress binder and wanted to show me where he was.  She said he is very bright, excellent memory, she only has to show him something once and he knew it.  He can identify all the letters the class is has been working up to (L) and this is only in two weeks.  We do try to work with him at home but I run into attention problems with him.  He wants to make jokes about it.  We need to work with him on coloring within the lines and learning the song the do with the alphabet sounds.  She noticed he is not playing with the other children.  He is playing beside them and not with them.  I told her that was a problem at Brenda's for a long time also.  I think he takes a while to get comfortable with new children but they are going to work with him in the new few weeks to get him more comfortable with them.  All in all it was an excellent report and made me very proud of him.

On a sad note, because life is not all happy reports and speedy recovering from the plague, Mom and Dad called last evening to tell me Newton was no longer with us.  Tuesday he had a seizure out of the blue and yesterday he was having one after another.  They, Mom, Dad, and the Vet decided it would be best to help him pass because of the uncertainty and suddenness of it all.  They did not know if he would recover and be Newton or not and with as many as he was having so quickly it did not bode well for him.  It was a hard decision for them as I know how attached they are to their dogs.  Even if they only had him a few months, they got him in November, Dad needs something to spend his time and nurturing side with. 

When I told Baylor that Newton had died, he asked why.  I told him because he was sick.  Baylor told me he was sad because he really loved Newty, and he did.  He was always very gentle and kid with him. That is three dogs gone in his short life.  Poor guy!  I am sure my parents with get another one, I just don't know when.  Dad had a knee replacement this morning and it will be a while before his up walking around again.  Their house will be very quite for the next few months!  

Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday.  I had off work for the day and planned a road trip to Ikea in Balt*imore and a pit beef place I saw on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Sunday Lori told me she was getting sick and I knew then that plan was over. She is a product of her gene pool and it is not a birthday or holiday that one of them is sick or something going on.  I planned to do a bit of shopping in the afternoon with Baylor, fabric for a gift I am working on, some meds for the plague, and some groceries, and when my eyes opened in the morning and the horrid cough shook me awake, I knew that plan was nixed also.  So I spent the day trying to keep up with a four year old all the while the rest of my body was starting to feel 92 instead of 42.  My brain does not believe I am 42 and I certainly do not feel like I should be 42.  But I am and I have a blessed life with my wife, who is always going to be older than me (lol) and our beautiful son who makes all the aches and pains worth it.  And my dog, who is my first child after all.

Since I have not picked up the camera since last week and too tired to do anything about it now, no photos today.  It was not such a great day to remember anyway.  Maybe this weekend will be better. 



Farm Show 2013

 Today was our annual trip to the Farm Show.  (and I had to download Google Chrome so I can put photos on my blog)

This year Lori was able to join us and of course a large part of the fun is riding the bus from the parking lot to the complex.  This year the bus took us to a different entrance that we usual go to so our pattern of where we go had to be changed up a bit.  

Without me reminding him he asked to go the corn bin first off.  Lori was happy sit with him while I hit the few stands I wanted to see.  We agreed to meet in 30 minutes so I was off with my wallet and camera.  

First I headed to see the gingerbread houses and came across this giant house!  

Wow!!  

These two impressed me also!  

Of course there was a new butter sculpture this year.  

 

I bought a personalized frame for a little friend of ours, some spices from the spice vendor, fried mozzarella kebab(for me), and a chocolate milk shake and french fries for Baylor.  When I headed back to meet them they were on the carousel waiting for it to start.  Baylor kept shouting at me to not eat all his fries.  

So when they were done we took a seat under the slides on the jungle gym.  He worked on his fries and shake between rides down the slides.  

There was so much static from the slide that our hair would stand on end when a child went down the slide.  

We went to the free mini golf next.  Baylor watched Jake, the pirates and Capt'n Hook play mini golf and he was excited to try it out.  

In the booth they were teaching about rodents and how to get ride of them from the home and why it was important.  Baylor did well taking to the ladies about mice and rats and also did a good job putting his way around. 

We worked our way to the animals because Farmer Baylor had some corn and hay to feed his animals.  He was telling us how the animals would be so happy to see Farmer Baylor.  They just love him he said.  And I am sure they do, in their own sheepy way. Apparently we missed the pigs because none of the pigs were there but their signs were.  

In one pen was a giant horse!  He was (is) a draft horse and was just a huge animal.  Baylor was already on my shoulders and while I know we are still not very tell with our combined height, you can see how tall the horse is.  I asked Lori to take a photo of us and while I know she is not behind a camera very often, I would have thought she would have picked up some things about photo framing.  Or at least not what to do. 

So this is how she framed one photo of my wanting one of Baylor and I next to the horse.  Notice how far away she is standing, and how off center we are.  In fact the subject is way off to the left! She is Thatcher after all.  

Baylor wanted to milk the cow again.  He did remind me it was a fake cow.

We made it to the food hall around 11:30 and to say it was packed was an understatement.  But the lines go well and we did not need very much to eat.  Baylor saw the ice cream and asked for a cone.  It was from the honey stand so it had a nice honey flavor.  I choose breaded and fried mushrooms (that were not frozen on the inside this year) and Lori went for beef vegetable soup. (We all had a nice dinner with veggies and real food later)

Then it was off to ride the tractors.  A farmer has to try them all out.  

This was giant among tractors.  It was huge.  

I love his posing for a photo smile! Gube!  

We found the Cory Combine!  Another huge piece of equipment. 

And at the toy booth, a tractor just right for little boys.  He found a small tractor with a hay baler and a bale of hay.  Meme sent him some money and that is what he picked out.  He wanted it open as soon as we were in the van and on our way out.  

The mounted police were making the rounds of the grounds.  

And passed in front of our bus as we were waiting for the light to change.  It gave Baylor and Lori a good view of the horses.  

Then we headed to Bass Pro to find some cold weather gear for Lori.  The warehouse where she works is not heated so staying warm for 12 hours while nearly working in outside temperatures in pretty important.  Since being warm is important to hunters and the like, the store has a lot of choices.  And it is a fun place to visit.  

Such a nice sign at the front door.  

But they have a roaring fire to warm up to on the drizzly day.  

And a huge aquarium   We arrived at feeding time which was an added bonus.  

Then Baylor and I walked around the store while Lori got her shopping on.  It was the least I could for her letting me shop at the farm show all by meself.  

First we went up the elevator.  

Too bad I did not have my wallet so he could practice shooting.  

The store is very manly with a lot of manly mannequins in manly poses. And a lot of manly men in their own versions of the manly hunter uniform.  Mainly a lot of camo hoodies, jeans, and boots.  

But some men were putting in a new display and we walked by as they were creating rocks for the new animals on display.  

Baylor was about to crawl in with the bear!  

A few more photos from the second floor.  We also went down the escalator and then ran around and took the up escalator back to the second floor so we could take the elevator back down. 

Because in the elevator you get to see the inside of the fish tank.  

We walked around the pond while Lori checked out.  Baylor does not think this is any different than the creek out back of our house.  So it was hard for him to not throw rocks and sticks and their landscaping into the pond.  

But we made it back to the car all dry and ready to fall asleep on the 20 minute drive home.  After his bath and getting ready for bed he was already asking about going again another time (next year).  Sometimes I feel like we just do the same things over every year but for me and for Baylor, that is not such a bad thing.