LarkExaltation

it’s hard to believe i haven’t written a post in over a week. the kids are keeping me busy,that’s for sure. after evelyn got over her rsv the lovely daycare decided that she was having…. loose stools…. to be polite about it. and i couldn’t bring her back until it was cleared up. well, i breastfeed exclusively and that’s gunna happen! sam had a stomach virus but she just wasn’t acting like that was the case. on her last checkup on the rsv i had the doctor write a letter stating the facts and that she could return to daycare, she was not contagious. i was then informed that it was not only the content but the fact that it was getting out. what the heck? babies have leaks! so i told them i would buy bigger diapers, my girl is in a 2 now! the director said she would work with me…

my online buying consultant

she always does this, i’m not sure why. biblical or bride?

… so on the more fun side of things. pd got his student aid refun, yay grants! and we purchased a laptop. my favorite laptop! so he could take it to school, work, etc to do his school work and to have something to take to church for his power points when he teaches sunday school. it’s lovely! well, the lappy has wireless so we just HAD to get a wireless router, tee-hee. i got it all set up at lunch yesterday and i have to say i’m very pleased with myself. of course this is after i set it up perfectly and then started looking at settings and botched everything up and after a long lovely phone call with my isp support, they decided to send out a wireless modem/router, and i could send my router back if i wanted. right! i put it back the way it was after initial installation and let it go. isp’s wireless router should be here tomorrow… ir.. today. after several IMs and phone calls with a friend I finally realized what was going “wrong” and that i should leave it the way i had first set it up. we even worked through managing the router remotely. all issues from before, the same. and so here i sit, having just fed/changed evelyn, blogging from my favorite recliner.

she’s a beauty!
in other great news, we’re moving. i know i said i wouldn’t move again until we had a house, but in the warm nights, and even some of the cold ones, our neighbors are rather obnoxious, outside talking into the wee hours of the night/morning, and the girls across the hall who smoke outside our doors and it leaks into our apartment. bleh! we’re renting this brand new duplex apartment. it’s lovely. 3/2 a very open living space, no carpet (good for the allergies, bad for clumsy kids - we plan to put down area rugs). though we’re living in a box mess right now, we’re hoping to have everything moved next weekend. if i could get my act together i’d pack more, blog less and have everything done by moving day…

It was a blue afternoon for me and I’m going to blame it on the lovely hormones before anyone else does. Events that we attend lately are not with a group but more like we see people we know when we get there. I’m miss my close group of friends planning, meeting, going, doing. Lately, we get to a place knowing that others may be there. You go one way and when you finally meet half way, they’ve already been where you’re headed. I can’t seem to remember when the go your own way, see you if we see you thing started. I suppose I could be more of an initiator? That’s an area I’ve always lacked in; conversations, outings, groupings. We jokingly, but lovingly, referred to our group as “the commune.” Not only for meals, but movies, game nights, road trips, even random trips to the store was just the thing to do. Once we’d finish with that there was the question of “what now?” You’d get out of class, church or off of work and ask “so what are we doing?” “what’s for supper?” “cooking or eating out?” But never questions for a table for two but a table for six, plus. Usually gatherings occur at one home in particular but life situations change that make for a new question of “who’s home?” So for three years now, maybe a little more, I’ve noticed gatherings becoming more an more sparse. We just don’t go and do anymore, or even stay “home” and play for that matter. You’d think after a couple of years of it I’d finally get the hint. Maybe this is what growing up means. Focus more on your own family, plan small events for “the group.” But that’s just not how I’ve pictured my adult life. I’ve always wanted the long table to seat anyone who wished to join. To have the house to come and go from at any time…

… so anyway, here are some pictures from last weekend and today. Last weekend was the Celtic Festival that I was so excited about. I’ve filed the pictures under the Zoo in my album because there’s not one from the actual festival. I really hate that I missed the singing, dancing, bag pipes, highland games… I joked with PD about getting his mom to watch the kids the next day so we could sit and take it all in, but that didn’t happen. I guess when there’s a zoo to be seen, there’s not much else you can convince the kids to sit through.

My sister’s birthday was also last Saturday - I got to make the cake! A yum yellow cake and chocolate frosting recipe I got from the Southern Living website.

of course my favorite part would have to be my kid with “let me count the smokes…”

Beth managed to cut a batman shape out of it - and Sam says, “hey, it’s the same as me”

Today was the 10th Anniversary of the Friends of Black Bayou Fall Celebration. We didn’t spend as much time there this year as we have in the past, but we had some sleepy kids that were on the verge of sleeping before we even got out of the car.

Speaking of car… we have a new (to us) car! A 2000 Hyundai Elantra that our lovely friends decided to give us. There are a few repairs to be made, including a slippery transmission that we’ll need to get looked at/repaired, but at the moment it is running just lovely. All reviews I’ve seen online say it has about three or more inches of rear hip room than the Escort, but with the placement of the seat belts, it’s about the same. Either way, it’s white, not navy, so it won’t get so hot. Even if it does, we won’t be cooling a whole station wagon, just a front and rear seating, AND the A/C seems to be significantly cooler, however it’ didn’t get much over 80 degrees today, if that.

A little background for this story first… Samuel has a set of keys made up of all of PD and my old keys. He had them in the car one day and Libby kept asking for them. They would pass them back and forth, each time Sam would say “I love keys!” and she would laugh. He says it now even when they don’t have the set of keys, just to get her to laugh, and she has started to repeat him.

Last night we were getting ready for bed and PD told Libby he loved her and she said “love you!” but then some how we started going through roll call… “I love my…Momma” “I love my…Daddy” and then we’d say “I love my…. Sam” “I love my Libby” I think we went through the names about three times when Sam added in “I love my Evelyn” It was the sweetest thing. He’s “talked” to her three times now. And last night he said he loved her and that “She wants to come play in my room.” I’m so glad he’s excited about this baby.

We had a good weekend. We went to the BEST bowling alley I’ve ever been to. There are machines that take score for you, they even taunt you with little animations, but by far the coolest things were the bumpers. They are rails that are programed to go up or down depending on the players turn. The kids had a blast. We live near a bowling alley, and usually when we pass by Sam asks to play. It was a good choice for a cool inside Saturday event. I got a few videos, one of Sam and Libby’s excitement and then Sam in his tenth frame in all of his drama… even though he came in third on his lane, beating an adult. Libby and I bowled a 106. YAY bumpers! I never could have done that with out them, or really with out her. She would go second and usually picked up my spares. It is a must that we play there again!

I made the cake and icing, I made PD decorate. I think it turned out perfect!
We got the edible transformers decoration transfer thingy from Wine & Cake Hobbies and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. It was like a super thin fruit rollup, but not rolled. Definitely the look I was going for.

We had a really great time at the party. Everything seemed to go really well, and the best part is, the only dishes I had to wash were the ones I used to make the cake. We had a very good turn out. He had eight little friends there, and fifteen big ones, not including our little family. I’m feeling really dumb. I wanted to record our singing Happy Birthday and Sam blowing out the candle, but apparently when I switched the camera over to video and hit the button, it didn’t register. So when I thought I was stopping the video, I had actually started it and basically got BellyCam of the cutting and serving of the cake, sideways! If anyone is interested, I’ll post it, but it’s pretty bad.

a word, that in this case means, Amie is SO cool for pulling just the right strings! (because that’s the first word that came to mind - sad, i know) THANK YOU!!!!

We got in! Libs has a new daycare, near by, to start Monday! And Sam starts Kids Camp Monday at the Gym! I got them all registered at lunch today! I’m so excited!

Can ya tell!?

Did I mention I got my car back yesterday!?

It’s like a friggin’ country song in reverse!

I love You!