Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Can I get some service here?

Our internet service is pathetic, and it's starting to get on my nerves. I haven't actually called to complain yet, because I just know that as soon as I do they'll find out that it's our fault, not theirs, and then charge us yet more money.

I love living where I do, and I would never willingly live in a city without undeniably Divine instructions, but internet service here STINKS! Dial-up is a reasonable $15 a month, but that's dial-up, and we can't really do any of the things we need/want to do on the internet with dial-up. (i.e. Blogging, Art's work stuff, youtube - you know, important stuff.) Therefore we have to pay for high-speed. That would be $50 a month. And that's the only place around here to get high-speed. Forget all those package deals you get in the city, with TV, phone and internet all together for a low price of blah, blah, blah. They haven't made it out here to the sticks.

Instead, we get incredibly over-priced internet service that goes out in extreme weather, and by “extreme” I mean it's cloudy, windy or rainy. Or foggy. Or snowing. This is Oklahoma. There just aren't that many days without one or the other of those. No, it doesn't rain much, but rain and clouds are some of the few times when we're less likely to have 20 mph winds. You see the quandary there.

Anyway, all that to say that I'm typing blog entries into my word program, and we'll just see when I finally get to post them.

More Fun Times


Well, I reached another pinnacle of joy in motherhood this week. I pulled my first tick out of my daughter's delicate little scalp. That was a pleasant sight, let me tell you. There I was, innocently combing my child's hair, when all of a sudden I felt a tiny lump at the apex. Hmmm. She must've gotten food in her hair (again). I leaned in to get a closer look. No. Not food.

This little lump had six legs, a big flat body, and, presumably, some nasty, disease carrying mandibles embedded in Mim's head. (About like C in the picture) No, I didn't flip out. I've seen ticks before, of course. You know, on animals. Or other people. Not my baby. But I didn't flip out. I calmly called my mother-in-law and she handed me over to my father-in-law and he gave me clear simple instructions for removing the beast. They worked very well. Just for reference, those instructions were to grasp him as close to the skin as possible with a pair of fine tweezers and pull, slow but steady. Sure enough, the nasty critter came out, with a tiny bite of my one and only daughter's flesh still in it's mouth. I wrapped him up in an alcohol pad and stuck him in the refrigerator. You know, just in case, because I'm not paranoid or anything.

Anyway, that should him a thing or two, the little blood-sucking parasite.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Bedtime Thankfuls


Here's another Mim prayer.

“Dear Jesus, Thank you for today and thank you for all our flamly and all our fwiends. Thank you that we go to church. Thank you that I have a mommy to take cawe of me. Thank you that I don't do bad things today and thank you that I don't make you upset. Aaa-men.”

Her prayers usually consist of a long series of thank yous, which I can't help but think is probably refreshing to the Divine ear, if not always logical to us humans.

I love the complete innocence of this age when it comes to discussing one's own faults. Well, I could do without the Edenic ideas of clothing, i.e. they're not necessary, but it's fun to watch their little minds develop, even in the realm of modesty. They haven't either of them developed the ability to lie, and I dread the day it rears it's ugly head.

Until then I'll just try to enjoy the moments, and encourage them along.

Monday, April 21, 2008

90 Degrees


The children have red cheeks and they smell like puppies. Their feet are grimy and they've switched from hot to cold Ovaltine. Summer is almost here!

I only bribed them to come inside by promising them a video and some chocolate milk. Yes, I'm one of those moms. It works.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Swingset Saga con Photos

Well, we bought the swingset yesterday afternoon, and set to work right away. Although Art appears baffled in this picture, I think he was just concentrating. I was so proud of him for reading the instructions that I had to get it recorded for posterity.



We met C'Uncle M in Wal-mart, and recruited him for help, and then we also had Joe and Tina come over briefly and offer advice. Mr. Joe helped by taking Zaya for a little ride. It was quite a hit, and probably just as much fun as the swing set itself.



The slide was off limits for little bodies, but little cars were acceptable, so we propped it up on the old truck-bed trailer (a classy item quite popular around here) and it became a matchbox car race-track. This is an action shot. Lightning McQueen is that little brown blur on the slide. Just for the record, that trailer is not a permanent part of our landscaping. It's only being used for disposal of yard and remodeling materials.



C'Uncle M helped Art put the swing end together (while sneezing and sniffling; turns out he's allergic to cedar) and the kids ran around and entertained themselves. Zaya is holding a toy car in this photo that he named "Visor". Apparently it transforms into many other things. It is a helicopter in this picture. (Actually it's a little VW Bug car with flowers all over it. It's Mim's.)




After we got the kids to bed, Art, M and I all watched Jeeves and Wooster. (Funny, in that Wodehouse/British kind of way, and starring Hugh Laurie, which will throw you for a loop if you're a House M.D. fan.)



We started again early this morning, and Art and I got the swing set put together. (With help from the little guys, of course.) It took six hours and two sunburns, but it was worth it, because I think the kids will love it. (At least for a day or two.)



The boy who is pushing the kids is our neighbor, Carl. He was the cutest little ring-bearer about 7 1/2 years ago, and used to come over here and let me read stories to him. Now he's in our junior high youth group and plays with our kids almost every day. He and Zaya play Nintendo together, and run around outside, and generally amuse themselves, much to Mommy's delight.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Now if we had a fence...


I think we're actually going to go buy a swing set today. We've always wanted to build our own, but we finally decided that if we waited for that, we'd never actually have one until the kids were in high school.

The one in the picture is what we're wanting. It's from Wal-mart, and we're setting it up ourselves, so we'll see how that goes. I just hope it's sturdy enough to get our kids to junior high.

One slight problem is the rolling hills of our back yard. It looks as if some ancient tribe of druidic gophers had a thriving population; complete with cairns and quarries. It's all gone to grass now, but the archaeological evidence is still there. It'll be interesting to see how it all ends up, and I'll show you pictures.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Go and See

I'm heading to the big city for a seminar about Adult Literacy Training. We'll see how that all goes.

Since I'm too scattered and lazy to post anything of my own right now, I'll ask you to head over to Lilibeth's blog and listen to my brother Joshua (she calls him Elijah) singing snippets from his senior recital that we all attended last Friday.

He's got a great voice. Just listen for a little bit, if you want, then come back and tell me you enjoyed it. It'll make my day, really.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Fishing Expedition


It is spring indeed.

Sunday we had the first fishing trip of the season. It started with a rousing game of find the earthworms. Grandma and Grandpa T have a lot of different planting beds, and after a few false starts we found the mother lode of earthworms. Everyone loaded up and we drove the 3 miles or so to the lake.

They didn't actually catch anything, or even get a nibble, but that wasn't really the point. When you're fishing with a 2, 3 and 4 yr old, other factors are more important. ie No one fell into the lake. They only fought over the fishing poles a couple times. No one drew blood.

Next time we'll let Grandpa, the daddies and uncles, and Zaya all go to their secret fishing hole where there would be a greater chance of seeing, oh, you know, fish. We'll keep the girls at the walking track at the lake with us ladies. (Which is why we went to the lake in the first place.) They're just not quite ready for solo fishing trips with the men. Or, the men aren't ready for solo fishing trips with them, which basically amounts to the same thing.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Roll Over Picasso


I have to admit I've been a bit worried about Zaya's artistic abilities, because I never see him draw anything or even try to make a recognizable picture. I just assumed he had inherited my total lack of ability in the art field. And maybe he has, who's to say what the future holds?

However, when he had to draw a picture of himself helping someone in his Cubbies book, he drew this, which totally shocked me. What a bad mommy I am!

That is Zaya on the right, and he's holding a feather duster. Grandma is in the middle (apparently she moves so fast her legs just look like a blur, sort of like the Scooby Doo gang in the middle of a chase.) She is holding baby Alli.

I have never seen Zaya draw a stick figure. Not once. Since I've shown him how several times, I assumed this was because he couldn't do it. Obviously, he had just never felt like it before. He was too busy drawing galaxies, black holes and the Waterfalls of Junior High (see prev. post).

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

SuperZay!


Zaya doesn't really know much about superheroes yet, he prefers Nintendo characters, but he does know a pretty cool superman outfit when he sees one.

This was a birthday present from my brother and sister. (For him, that is. Not my birthday present you understand.) I think Art is doing an excellent job as prop.

Maybe Zaya can use his extra strength on my kitchen. It could definitely use some super powers, but I think I might have to just rely on Mr. Clean and the Brawny guy. (OK, so actually I use Pine-Sol and Kleenex Viva, but they don't have cool masculine mascots.)

All in all, I'm a little more comfortable with this than I was with the butterfly costume of last summer. Call me old-fashioned.

Goki's Tragedy


Mim and Goki continue to take the world by storm in their own little way. Yesterday, in the bathroom, Mim informed her daddy that Goki couldn't go pee-pee 'cause he's trapped inside his sailboat. Then she told him she was going to sing a song about it, and ran to the piano.

The song did, indeed, feature Goki trapped in a sailboat, in some urgency. She pounded away at the keys singing unforgettable lyrics like, "Goki in a saaailbooaaaat. "He can't go pee 'cause he's twapped and he's twapped again."

It ended with a driving beat accompanied by chords on each syllable, "He peed in the boat!"

Very heart-warming, and sure to become a top ten some day. I'm so proud of my little composer. Really, what mother wouldn't be touched by such delicate, nay ephemeral words?

We asked Mim last night what Goki looked like, and, after some thought, she said, "He looks like Bobo." We are no farther along, but now we know they're twins.