Muddy Baylor

After a bit of running around we came home to play in the dirt/mud that used to by my flower beds and grass.

  Maybe a few tiny tomato seeds will survive until spring.  I think I will need to find a new home for them.  He was in the middle of saying monkey cheese and not complaining like it looks like. 

Over a quarter inch of mud on the bottom of his shoes.  But he had a great time. 

Fun with Borax

I am really glad I found Pinterest as it has motivated me to get busy and 'craft' with my son.  Some times he helps me and some times I work on things while he is off doing something else.  Working with boiling water made this a work on my own craft but he will still take credit for making these.  The ratio is 3 Tbs borax to 1 cup boiling water.  I made snowflakes with white pipe cleaners and blue water.  The hearts are red pipe cleaners and clear water.  Here is the process I used. 

After about an hour sitting on the counter the crystals were already forming.

By morning I had these beautiful items.

For our next craft, I think we are going to tackle bath fizzies! 

Meme Update

The plan on Sunday was for Lori to get off work at noon and take Baylor to finally see Meme.  He has not been able to see here and she has been down here for two weeks now.  Since she is in rehab he was able to visit.  Baylor and I worked on two crafts for Meme to make her feel better.  Baylor is an excellent nurse and is really concerned about Meme feeling better.  First it was her knees and now her chest.  I picked up a wood frame for a dollar and some heart foam stickers.  This was his second experience painting with real paint. He is a pro with the bathroom paint and did really well with covering it.  He really liked driving the brush around and around and around so the paint became a bit dry and streaky but it is all good. 

I did not take a photo of it finished but I wrote Meme and Baylor along the bottom and he put the stickers on it.  We also made a little boy angel. I traced his feet for the gown and his hands for the wings. 

We picked Meme up in the rehab room and Baylor helped her finish her lap around the room.  The nurse was a bit concerned, not knowing him of course, that he would trip her up or something but he was a perfect walk make for her.  Back at her room he was all about giving her the crafts. 

She loved them of course. We found a photo of them at Christmas and put it in the frame.  It is sitting on this shelf in the wall unit and when they went in today, everyone knew who Baylor was.  Meme tells everyone about him!

Meme is like me and likes a lot of photos.  Lori is like her dad and they do not like photos.  Can you tell?

Baylor was overdue for a nap and was getting a bit crazy running into the hall and back into the room. 

I know it did Meme good to see Baylor.  Dave goes in to see her also so she is well visited by most of her grandsons.  Jason lives pretty far away, does not know the area and is not likely to drive down here by himself.   Yesterday she was finally able to wash her hair and feels a lot better.  She has lost 9 lbs which is really good and if she keeps it up it will help her get off some of her meds.   She is doing really well and we could not be more pleased with her progress.

Uncle Jamie and Aunt Laura's Christmas Visit

Last week was a short week for me at work because I was off on Monday for my birthday and again on Friday to see Jamie and Laura who came down to Mom's to finally celebrate Christmas.  As soon as I get out of bed in the morning, Eddy jumps in my place to take up the heat.  Seeing my headboard reminds me how much I hate it but that is another story.  We wrapped up the gifts and headed out. 

We drove to Mom's and when we did not see them when we went in, Baylor took my hand and asked me who else we were there to see.  He can be very cloy in asking questions or trying to get his way.  He will ask me a question so I have to answer the way he wants me to.  I said we where to see Jamie and Laura so he lead me downstairs where they were still getting ready for the day.  Baylor got right to the point and asked them if they wanted to see their Christmas gifts.  See the tricky little mind he has?  Mom kept up most of the decorations so it would still look like Christmas. 

O'Malley loved her bully stick from Eddy but what dog does not like a good bully.  It is just us people who are grossed out by them.  Nothing like bully breath on your dog. 

Baylor of course wanted to open his gifts and everyone elses. 

After gifts, we went to the Green Dragon.  It was very cold which meant not many people and vendor were there but it was really nice just the same.  Baylor has certain things he does at Grandma's and Buddy's and bubbles is one of them.  Even in 27 degrees, bubbles are fun.  Too bad none of the froze and shattered.  Apparently, it was not cold enough. 

We stayed for dinner and headed out.  We did have a good but short visit.  Saturday they headed to

Philly.  Laura has never been to the city and according to

Mom they had a lot of fun exploring in the short time they were there.  Sunday they had to be back at Mom's before the football game.  They are Patriots fans and in our house the Ravens rule.  It would have been interesting if we had watched the game together.  They headed home today, back to Vermont.  I wish we could have spent more time together though.  Hopefully we will get to see them before next Christmas!  Mom can take down the decorations now.

First Snow 2012

We were up at 6 am and within minutes of seeing the snow, Baylor had a bowl in his hand and was ready for some snow to play with. He showed Daisy the snow and got a spoon to 'build' snowmen. 

And then he got out the bulldozer.

By 8:30 we were outside.

Snow brings out the youth in Eddy and she is a running fool in the snow.  It is the only time she is allowed to run outside the fence. 

He took care of the deck while I did the steps and the patio.

He used his digger in the snow. 

And eventually decided on a pooper scooper as his shovel of choice for making paths in the snow. 

And when I had the driveway done, he thanked me for helping him!

My New Toy

Not satisfied with my 20 gallon aquarium, I have been looking to up size for a few months.  Not having the money to buy one off Craigslist right now, nothing was really changing.  However, the first week of the month my boss said she was ready to get rid of their 75 gallon tank, everything included.  I asked Lori if we could get it and she was agreeable!  I agreed to take her four remaining fish and Baylor and I drove to her house to pick it up.

I resealed the edges first.  I am not sure it was needed but I felt better about it.  I did it with the 20 gallon when I bought that one used. 

  It took a week to get all the other stuff to get it started, the dirt, the gravel, rocks, driftwood, and plants. Some of the rocks and the long piece of wood was found on our creek adventure. We live not very far from a really good pet store that has tons of plants and fish. I love going there and Baylor just tolerates it. We went around noon on Saturday. We took our number ticket and we were number 24 and they were only on 82. We found out while waiting that if you lose your ticket, you lose your turn. They don't take your word for it. We picked out our plants and a few other items and headed home to start setting things in place. 

My little helper, as usual. 

For the most part it is a natural looking set up. Except for the blue LED light strip.  I do have a three year old after all.  He proclaimed it beautiful when I turned it on.  It is only on when the overhead lights are off and makes a nice night light when one has to take the dog out at 1:30 in the morning.   

The tank has been running for a week cycling to make it ready and safe for the fish.  In a few weeks after the tank is ready, we will move our fish into the new tank and eventually pick out some new fish.  We did buy some Emerald Catfish that are living in the smaller tank now.  They are so tiny and cute! 

Happy Birthday to Me and Update on Meme

Today is my 41st birthday and I spent it in the with my father in law and Lori while Meme had a triple bypass.  She did really well for the surgery which is of course what we were hoping for. 

 It was hard seeing her being wheeled off and she was crying. Norman had the same surgery but a quad bypass done 14 years ago. He is doing well and I am sure she will do the same.   We stayed around for about 2 hours after surgery was done but she was still not awake.  Since she was doing well,  Norman and Lori wanted to leave.  We had been there since 4:30 and Norman wanted to get headed home.  He is still drained from being sick and wanted to go home to rest.  I know Lori will be going everyday this week when she is off the vent and awake.  We are very happy how well it went as there was another family in the waiting room that was not getting such good news.  It was a sad day for them and I am sure I will always wonder how it turned out. 

Grandma and Buddy came over yesterday to watch Baylor today so he would not have to go to the sitter's.  Not that there is anything wrong with going there, he is just not used to going a lot.  Mom crawled into bed with him so he would not wake up alone.  He is not used to that and while they do not like that we still co-sleep, she did it willingly which was a bit of a surprise.  They had a great day together and had dinner and cake ready for us when we got home. 

We had to do the candles twice because I was taking pictures of Baylor blowing out the candles and someone realized I should be blowing them out and took the camera from me.  I think I was fine with just Baylor in the picture.  He is the best present I have and I am so blessed to have him as my son!