Strawberry Pie

Just in case you're worried about us, it's not all been work around here. Well, it has been on the parenting homefront, we seem to be smack in the middle of a case of asserting-my-two-but nearly-three-year-old-independitis, but as we say around here, this too shall pass.

Some of the not-so-much work stuff that's been happening has been strawberry pie. It was so pretty I had to take a picture. Travis and I also made a couple of batches of organic/non-organic (depending on what berries were on sale) strawberry jam and seedless blackberry jam. We are inhaling it and if you stop by we'll share some with you. When Q and Karen were here Q took Karen on her first bike ride since she was a kiddo. It's true, you don't forget - it's just like riding a bike! They were gone longer than expected and pulled a dirty trick on me when they came back. Karen hid while Q asked where the nearest ER was. Then Karen jumped out and said "Just kidding!" Then both pointed at each other claiming it was the others idea as I backtracked from wondering how a terrible bike accident would affect Karen's burgeoning acting acting/screen career...
Speaking of bikes, FFM has mastered his balance bike. Jack across the street will now set up the mini ramp on the sidewalk (because F's not allowed in the street) so he can ride his little red bike over it. There is some elaborate game called rollercoaster that the boys all play that involves taking turns. That's about all the rules F understands, that and getting out of the way, but it works.
This is a photo of the long awaited LAST TOOTH. I have been getting requests to check for this tooth from Mr. Man himself. This means we are finally done with teething!!! I'm sure you can't really see it in this photo, but trust me, it's right there, by that arrow. Right along with the speck of oatmeal left over from breakfast on his chin.
Today marked another of the parenting challenges that you hear about from every parent and wonder if they will actually happen to you. Today was nudity day. I put F down for his nap, an ever increasing point of contention around here, and went outside to survey the yardwork. 20 minutes later I heard feet pitter pattering on the wood floor inside. I peeked, but didn't see anything. Then, all of a sudden, a little nudist clad only in sunglasses and a Broncos baseball hat jumped out from behind a chair, "Mommeeeeee, want to go outsiiiiiiiiiide!"

Trying very, very hard to stifle the gales of laughter bubbling up, I failed. My laughter caused F to burst into tears (remember, he's tired because he's supposed to be asleep AND he knows he's being naughty!). So, we go on a hunt for the missing clothes, which are for some unknown reason hidden in the master bathroom bathtub. Back to bed, but there's been no sleep at all for the wee lad today, *sigh*.

And the Rock Pile Continues

So the rock pile project isn't really getting much smaller. Travis shovels and shovels and shovels and shovels and it still is just there. We're convinced it's a magic rock pile and we've got enough rock for the entire street. However, the bit that's done looks GREAT. Most of our neighbors are now contemplating replacing their rock. Wisely most of our neighbors are pretty sure they're going to pay someone to replace their rock after watching us rake and shovel for weeks.

One weekend we made significant progress on the rock pile when it turned into a neighborhood game. I was tossing single rocks that had rolled into the street onto the bed when one of the boys across the street asked if he could do that, too. Before we knew it most of the kids on the street were standing on our pile tossing rocks into the bed. It actually worked and covered about half the bed in about 20 minutes.

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In the way projects go around here (see: The Dump Truck) as we decided to do the new rock around the front door we decided it was a good time to take out the massive 25+ year old juniper bush that was taking over the sidewalk and driveway. If you have a car on one side of the driveway you can't even open the door that dang prickly bush is so big. I had it pruned back a bit last fall, but it was still annoying. So, we trotted across the street to visit Mr. Jim who has 1 bay of his garage full of tools and asked to borrow his chainsaw. The first weekend Q and Travis got about 1/3 of the bush out and it filled up 10 trash bags. I'm not sure that taking out a prickly juniper was what Q and Karen had in mind when they came to Denver for the funeral but I bet it was at least a little therapeutic. Travis sharpened the saw and went after the next 2/3 the following weekend.

Then there was a lot of work where I didn't take pictures, we hauled bags and bags of dirt and needles, put in edging, amended the soil, I planted, Travis shoveled more rocks, and I did mulch. F did a great job entertaining himself since this weekend he wasn't allowed to play with the kids since he's boycotting naps.

So now the entire world can see our milk box and anything UPS leaves on our doorstep, but you won't have to tackle the bush on your way up the walk. The rocks and bed were all on Saturday, Sunday Travis installed a drip system for my plants in the backyard. We decided to take a break on yard projects for a couple of weeks, there's still the rock pile (will it EVER shrink?!) but it's mostly off the sidewalk now so I don't feel bad about ignoring for a couple of weeks.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day:

My child threw up on the table after gagging on a tiny cupcake at our fancy brunch.

My child crawled in, out, and all over a giant muddy patch in his fancy brunch clothes making them utterly and totally gross.

My child refused to take a nap and sang at the top of his lungs and snuck out of his room three times before finally sneaking out the backdoor into the backyard.

My child told his first 'story' when he told me that yes, his nap music was all done so it was OK to get out of bed. Then I heard the nap music wafting out of his room.

My child unrolled and then shoved an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet in 17 seconds and upon realizing that was a bad idea when it wouldn't flush stuck both arms into the toilet to try to pull the mess out.

It's not even dinnertime yet and I think I'm ready to call it a day on Mother's Day 2010!

Another Quote of the Day

"I flush the potty. It going to the waste water plant!"

Quote of the Day

It's kind of hard to get back into blogging right now, so what better way than with a quote of the day?

We recently got another great batch of hand-me-downs from Ryan,
and this morning I got asked:

"Mommy, we play with Underwear the Sea?"