The Freak Show

Miracle

2009-10-06T13:28:00.008-04:00

Last Monday while on my daily walk with Tucker, I found a baby squirrel (eyes still closed) on the sidewalk, all by himself. Emma was home from school because she was not feeling well and I knew that she would never forgive me if I just left it there. (Kate probably would have forgiven me, especially since she seems to think that ALL wild animals have rabies.) Luckily, Tucker had left me with one unused poop-bag, so I used it to pick up the tiny animal and carry it home.

From a previous experience with a wounded squirrel, I knew that I first had to hydrate the little guy - a solution of water, salt and sugar. Emma fed him with a tiny syringe and began begging me to let her keep in. All I could think was, "Where on earth do you get Squirrel Formula?" Knowing that the best thing for this little guy was getting him to a vet, I prepared Emma for the fact that she was, most definitely, NOT going to have a squirrel for a pet.

After a few calls I found a veterinary clinic that could take little "Miracle" (Emma's name for him). Knowing that she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, I took my time taking care of my morning activities. Then Emma and I hopped in the van to take Miracle to his new home, where they have Squirrel Formula. She held him in her arms the whole way there, talking to him and telling him how much she loved him.

The veternarian spoke to Emma personally about how they would care for him and that he would be taken in by some woman who cares for orphaned squirrels and makes sure that they go back out into the wild. Emma was hoping that we could come back to see him, but the vet said that he would go to the woman's place in a couple of days. I was proud of Emma - she kept it together until we got into the car. Then she cried all the way home.

She is on the lookout for another orphaned, baby squirrel.

The Witching Hour

2009-09-17T18:28:00.006-04:00

What is it about the hours between 4 pm and, say, 7 pm? I have always called it The Witching Hour, though obviously it is longer than an hour. Witching Hour is the exact opposite of Happy Hour, of Fun, of Happiness. You know what I am talking about: It's time to get dinner on the table, the kids are hanging around the kitchen bugging you for something to eat, even though they have had a perfectly nice after-school snack, someone is whining because they are bored, another someone has a major issue that requires me to leave the kitchen (and further delay dinner) for 45 minutes, and so on and so on.

Witching Hours are always exponentially worse when your other half is out of town again. Now you have to clean up the kitchen while the Whiner continues ... alone. And homework is still waiting for you and the kids to tackle. Plus an extra little project that will require a large bucket of water and measuring a little toy that will grow while in the large bucket of water.

The bad news for today is that it's only 6:30 - I have another 30 minutes of parenting bliss before Witching Hour is over and normalcy returns until tomorrow.

My Kids Are Saving The World ... What Are Your Kids Doing?

2009-03-23T10:52:00.004-04:00

We weren't able to do Bark In The Park this year. (See March 2008) But Emma has been bugging me about raising money for the humane society anyway. Being the slacker mom that I am, I kept blowing her off. She finally decided to take matters in her own hands.

A quiet Sunday picnic under our neighbor's tree with another neighborhood friend turned into a drive-by fund raiser. Emma, Kate and their friend made signs asking for donations to the Humane Society and tied Tucker to the tree ("He's the mascot, Mom."). Drivers slowed down, asked what they were doing and, surprisingly, donated to their cause. They sat under that tree for close to 6 hours - and raised a little over $80.00.

When I called them in for dinner and baths, they were not happy.

As Kate said, "Mom, we're saving the world! Do I really need a bath?"

And sorry, this slacker mom didn't take pictures of the event either. But trust me, it was cute.

Blogging By Kate

2009-02-09T18:21:00.008-05:00

Today, I read an original piece at school during the 4th grade annual ''Author's Tea''! I read a piece I call ''A trip to Texas.'' I had alot of fun.

(Note from Mom: Kate's 4th grade class read their favorite creative writing pieces. Her teacher has really inspired the author/poet in each of them. Kate's essay was about our road trip to Texas, and her favorite part was exposing my cousin Jon for the Diet-Dr.-Pepper-addict that he is.)

Before and After

2009-01-21T13:39:00.014-05:00

Hi Honey ... Here are the photos you've been asking for.

Old deck and new deck - and new paint color. Can't you see how much more beautiful the new color is? ;)

Old bathroom and New bathroom. Quite an improvement, don't you think?

Old bedroom and New bedroom. I'm sure you will agree that new bedding is definitely in order here.

Old view and New view from the back doors.

I think that's a pretty good representation of what's happened to the house. Now all we need is a new front porch and some fresh landscaping. And that's all. And maybe a fancy closet system. And that's all. And a new driveway. And that's all.

We love you and miss you!!

For Chris ...

2009-01-20T10:47:00.015-05:00

What to do on day when you are at home with a sick child ... update the blog!

Christmas in Texas was great ...

Emma lost a front tooth, thanks to Hey Dad and Lovie ...

And the new addition is finished! I mean we've-passed-final-inspection finished. And it is awesome.

I'm still working on the details in the new area of the house and hope to post "before" and "after" photos here in a few days. I'm just trying to match up the "befores" with the "afters."

God Bless America!

2008-12-15T21:32:00.010-05:00

Just got off the phone with Chris. He's deployed again ... this time to Afghanistan. :( I sure do hope that this is the last one. He's doing well ... working alot and sleeping. That's all I can know.

Before he left, we had a little family Christmas. We each opened one gift - you would have thought it was Christmas day as excited as Kate and Emma were. Very sweet.

On a more positive note ... the addition is finished!! I think that the final inspection is tomorrow. Here is what the back of the house looked like back in April ...

And now ...

It's all very exciting - though still a little messy in the back. I've got big plans for the yard when the holidays are over.

A New Member of the Family!

2008-11-19T11:29:00.002-05:00

Yea! I'm an aunt again. My baby sister Courtney (aka Coco) had her first baby on Monday, November 17: Evelyn Renee, 6 pounds, 13 ounces, 19.5 inches long. I can't wait to meet her!

Halloween Puppies

2008-11-02T16:53:00.007-05:00

We had a fun Halloween Night - neighborhood party and trick-or-treating. I've been looking for all of the dark chocolate. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

I got off pretty easy this year costume-wise: Year #2 of dressing up as cute little puppies. (And Kate was a puppy whose owner dresses her up in cute t-shirts.)

The Adams Family

2008-10-26T20:52:00.002-04:00

So tonight at dinner Chris was drinking a Sam Adams Light and Emma asked him if Sam Adams and John Adams were related. Chris told her he thought they were cousins. Emma then posed the question to both of us: "Which is more important ... Beer or the President?"

(This conversation may seem strange to be having with a 6- (almost 7-) year old, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that this is completely normal for her.)

Chris immediately answered, "Beer."

I took a more thoughtful pause before anwering, "The President."

Emma took a moment to take in our answers before coming to her own conclusion.

"Beer and Presidents are the same thing because you want good beer and good presidents."

New Windows, Housewrap and Framing ... Oh My!

2008-10-09T19:19:00.006-04:00

Addition Update, Addition Update! It's been a crazy week or so, but the house continues to make progress (despite the nit-picking of our local inspectors).

We are SO excited to see everything coming together. I almost drove our construction coordinator MAD while I was picking out the bathroom fixtures and hardware. Thankfully, she was very patient while I went back and forth, and back and forth before making a decision. Now on to the lighting fixtures ...

This past weekend, we took a quick trip to God's Country and had a great time with Gram's side of the family. Emma is definitely at home in the country and Kate enjoyed helping out with the many new babies in the family.

OK, maybe a pool doesn't seem too country, but I never said that we were roughing-it.

Oh How I Love a Good Aggie Joke!

2008-09-17T09:02:00.002-04:00

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, New Yorkscientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network morethan 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followedin California, an archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet. Shortly after, headlines in the LA Times newspaper read: 'California archaeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the NewYorkers.'

One week later, the Houston Chronicle, in Texas, reported the following: 'After digging as deep as 30 feet in his pasture near Alvin, in Brazoria County, Texas, Bubba Mitchell (a self-taught archaeologist and graduate of Texas A&M) reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Texas had already gone wireless.

Gig 'Em Aggies!

Things Are Coming Along

2008-09-12T15:01:00.014-04:00

A few of "my readers" have been asking for an update/pictures of the construction going on at the Rawley home. It's quite an experience, to say the least. This morning I resisted the urge to make a very expensive "change order." Will I regret it? Only time will tell.

Day One ... demo work begins.

Two Days Later ... the trenches are dug.

A few days after that ... A 60+-year-old septic tank is discovered!

Septic tank problem solved. Now our foundation is underway.

Walls! We're getting walls!

Do we need another window along the wall? It would be in the closet.

Thankfully, we have not had much rain the past week, which is why most of the building has occurred this week. While our wimpy Florida grass is crying out for a drink, we are thrilled that the construction is moving along quickly.

Have a great weekend!

2008-09-11T15:34:00.005-04:00

"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." - Gerard Way

I found this quote and image from elsewhere in the blogsphere. I couldn't help but look at a video of pictures taken that horrific day. After getting through the video, I remembered how I felt on September 12, 2001 - and after today I hope that I never forget that on that day I really knew what what important to me. And I want to strive to live in such a way that honors "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable" and always "think about such things." (Phil. 4:8)

God Bless America

OH Yeah!

2008-09-04T18:48:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post today ... but can I just say, "Sarah Palin for PRESIDENT!"

2008-09-02T13:37:00.006-04:00

So much going on these days ... We started school, had a day off for Tropical Storm Fay, and have started construction on our house. Fourteen days into construction and we are already at least 10 days behind schedule. This experience will be great fun, I'm sure.

Luckily, even with all of the destruction going on the backyard, we can still get in the pool. And now Emma and Chris have a new trick. It's quite impressive.

Happy Birthday, Boopie!

2008-07-22T23:21:00.008-04:00

Ten years ago our little Kate (aka "Boopie") was born. We celebrated with a low-key family dinner at one of her favorite restaurants because the big 1-0 Party is this weekend.

My age limit for ear-piercing has always been around 8, with the additional requirement being: "Are you responsible enough for this?" This year is Kate's Year.

She chose very tasteful pearl earring for her starter earrings. And the whole piercing experience was a gift from her Aunt Coco when she was in town earlier this month. (Side note: For Coco's 10th birthday, I got her ears pierced. I was 18 and therefore an "adult," so I didn't bother consulting my parents on this matter. We were just at the mall having fun with some of my friends and it seemed like a great thing to do. Luckily, we didn't get into trouble once we were home. And thanks, Coco, for letting me in on the excitement.) For a minute or two, I thought she was going to back out of the deal. But she took a moment to take some deep breaths and psyche herself up for the earring guns. There was some whimpering, but no tears.

ANYWAY ... it's just hard to believe that she's 10. I wasn't able to hold her immediately after she was born. In fact, it was a few days later - and even then she had to lie on a pillow across my lap. And she had all sorts of wires and leads and monitors hooked up to her tiny body. I just stared at her. Today I just kept looking at her - "Really? Ten years?" Yep, really.

So tonight I kissed my little Boopie goodnight, she told me that she loved me, and I gave her a big hug before tucking her in. My question is ... will we have the same sort of encounter at the end of her birthday in 3 years?

Really ... Where does it go?

2008-06-25T22:28:00.005-04:00

School is out, another tweener Disney movie has made its debut, the girls have been to camp and back, and we still have lots of time to play. "But what have you been doing?" you ask ...

In May we went to Weeki Wachi Springs - I think we can call ourselves REAL Floridians now. Anyway, it's a natural spring with an underwater theatre of sorts and mermaids perform. About halfway through the show the jig was up ... Emma saw the ZIPPERS on the mermaids' costumes. Oh well, it was a nice way to spend a day.

Before school was out, Kate's strings class had a performance and she volunteered to do a solo of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." We are so proud of her for doing that because this year was her first year to take violin lessons and most of the other kids had taken at least three. Way to go, Boops!

Emma wrapped up the school year with a Water Day and a Popsicle. What else do you need?

Slacker Mom, Slacker Blogger

2008-05-11T22:21:00.009-04:00

I'm a Slacker. So sue me. Here's the update:

Bark in the Park. Good time with the girls and Tucker. I think we raised about $600 total. Thanks for everyone's support. Emma loved doing it and is already making plans for next year.

Went to DC for Spring Break. Cherry Blossoms, The Mall, White House, Mount Vernon (which Emma now confuses with Mount Everest), our old house, National Naval Medical Center (a nurse there even remembered Kate from nearly 10 years ago!), National Botanic Gardens, and many, many other sights. Very chilly, but fun.

Gram and Hey Dad came in town for a VERY quick visit.

Coco also came in town for a slightly less quick visit. We even took her to Animal Kingdom for the day. She took the pictures. I'm still waiting for them.

Wrapped up my Bible Study for the semester - Beth Moore's "A Woman's Dwelling Place." Awesome.

Now we are counting down the days until school is out. (17 more school days left!)

OH! Got a new camera! I moved up to a digital SLR and I LOVE IT! Now I'm think about lenses, lenses, lenses.

Lemondade

2008-03-13T15:21:00.006-04:00

Hey! Two posts in one day - aren't you lucky?

Emma, her friend Emma and Kate (and Mom, too) held a Lemonade Stand last Friday to raise money for the Bark in the Park walk. It was a great time for everyone. Even the salon down the street (the one that found Tucker when he wandered from home) got in on the action - the owner asked Emma to make a few signs to hang in the store so that his customers could also donate to her cause. (That's one of the salon stylists in the above photos.) You have never seen more enthusiastic Lemonade Pourers. Neighborhood friends came by for a sip, too. I was so excited to see how many people supporting the girls on their first fund-raising effort. The girls' little lemonade stand brought in $194.67! As you can imagine, they were very excited.

Out of the Scrapbook and onto The Wall

2008-03-13T13:55:00.003-04:00

Bogging is hard to keep up with. I want to sit down and post a new message, and then I get distracted by all of my to-do lists on the desk. Anyway ... I told Marci that I would post a pic of my latest creative creation.

Sorry if it's a little blurry. Again, my camera. This time it doesn't like taking pictures of pictures. So, the group shot is an 8 x 10 photo and the ones of the girls are 5 x 7s, just to give you an idea of the size of the canvas. Doing this project was totally fun - I got to use paint, paper, glitter glue, metal embellishments, rhinestones, you name it. I think I'm going to get a black frame for it because right now the canvas sort of blends in with the wall color and it looks like I glued a bunch of stuff ot the dining room wall.

We're Walkin'

2008-02-20T13:42:00.003-05:00

Many of you know how much our little Em loves, loves, loves animals. She loves them so much that she has made donations (her own money, mind you) to local shelters and other animal charities. She is becoming quite the philanthropist. We recently learned of a walk for our local humane society, and as you might imagine, Emma wants to participate. I have set up two websites with firstgiving.com to help us along with our fundraising: Emma's and mine. We hope that you'll find it in your heart to help us and the animals that Emma loves so much. And Tucker will be joining us on the walk as well. I sure hope he lets Emma dress him up for the costume contest. I think the theme is a luau. He'll love it, I'm sure.

At least an end is in sight

2008-01-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

Bathing the girls can be quite a chore. I can't just say, "Go get in the tub." It seems that they insist on having very elaborate instructions:

Take off your shoes and socks.
Take off your shirt and shorts/pant/skirt/skort.
Take off your underoos.
Go into the bathroom.
You get the point.

On top of that they both have a lot of hair and they aren't very adept at shampooing it yet. I had one of those cool shower-heads-on-a-coil installed and it does make rinsing and all that much easier, but neither one of them seem very interested in learning how to do it for themselves. So, I take care of it.

They do like shower gel. They tell me it makes a great hand cleanser. Here come the instructions again:

Hold out your hand.
Scrub your hands together a little to make some suds - do not rinse yet!
Clean your arms.
Clean your legs and feet.
Clean your entire body.
Now you can rinse.

I asked the girls when they thought they would be able to bathe themselves.

"When we're one hundred."

It's Officially Over

2008-01-08T13:28:00.000-05:00

Two consecutive days without receiving any Christmas cards. The All-Christmas-Songs-All-The-Time format on a local radio station is back to it's Hits-Of The 80s-90s-And-Today format. All of the decorations are back in the attic. The girls are back in school. Sadly, Christmas is really over. I wish it could have lasted a little longer. The house seems barren without the tree and the stockings over the fireplace and the Nativity scene. I'm a sucker for Harry Connick, Jr.'s rendition of ... ummm ... actually, ANY Christmas song that he sings.

This year - I mean LAST year - I kept thinking about this one Christmas in particular. 1981. I was 11 and I have no idea what I received that year. We had a house full of aunts, uncles and cousins. So packed, in fact, that 5 of us cousins slept in the garage. And we loved it! The fact that 18 or so people were in our house never gave me an ounce of concern. Now that I am a mom myself, I am sure that my mom was near the breaking point though. But as kids, my sisters and I were just happy to have so much activity going on and thrilled to have our cousins around for a few days.

Hope you all had a memorable Christmas. Happy 2008!

Update: A few people have asked who is in the above photo, so here's the answer:

From Left to Right: My cousin Tracie Brown, ME, my sister Marci, My cousin Michael, and My cousin Chris (who was Tracie's step-brother at the time)

Mama needs a new camera

2007-12-20T14:21:00.000-05:00

My camera will not focus. I got this camera in Nov. 2005. By July 2006, it would occasionally not focus - on faces especially. How convenient. Now we're in Dec. 2007 and it doesn't like to focus much at all. See? Trees, faces, animals - you never know when it won't work. Is 2 years (really less than 2) all you get with a digital camera? Now, if I play with all of the fancy options it will sometimes focus. But what is the point of having a point-and-shoot if I have to pose everyone for every single picture? I want snapshots of my family - not portraits of every event. Any suggestions for a good digi-camera? I just cannot have blurry photos in my scrapbooks!

So you'll recognize me ....

2007-12-20T14:09:00.000-05:00

... the next time you see me - I got a new 'do! A salon is just down the street from our house and one day Tucker ran away and ran to the salon. Two of the stylists there found him, gave him a bath and went door-to-door looking for his people. Anyway, I was in need of a new look and figured that I would give one of the stylists a try. It's quite a change - I actually have to style my hair - no throwing it in a ponytail anymore. I wonder how long it will last? How long until I say, "I think I'm going to grow it out"?

Tea Anyone?

2007-12-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Kate and Emma hosted a Christmas Tea for some little friends. It was a nice foursome of sweet little girls - decorating gingerbread cookies, making a few Christmas crafts and taking tea with one another, of course. Even with only four girls - I was exhausted by the time the party was over!

The party got me into the Christmas spirit, though. It's tough to appreciate all of the decorations and and Christmas songs when it is SO HOT. The girls know that it will not snow here, so at least they aren't asking "When is it going to snow?" every day.

The Money Pit

2007-11-15T18:59:00.000-05:00

As you may know, we are rehabbing our pool. It has now been retiled, re- surfaced, converted to saltwater and the pool deck is now being updated with pavers (very big here in FL). The whole process has been going on for quite some time and I'm ready for it to be over.

The new surface is not exactly what I had in mind. Azure was the color that was advertised. I definitely ended up with the color of blue cotton candy. The water looks very blue. See for yourself.

So I just read the warranty on the new pool surface: "Marquis is not guranteed with regard to color." WHAT???? Then why show color samples? Why tease me with this beautiful, natural-looking AZURE only to give me the color of a coconut-flavored sno-cone? Why not just say, "It will be some sort of bluish color," and leave it at that? Maddening.

Yes, it is a heart-shaped pool. You're welcome to come for a swim anytime.

2007-11-15T17:49:00.000-05:00

I heard that my blog was feeling neglected. So sorry, little blog. Here's what's been going on ... Emma and I had a fun duo-birthday lunch with the entire family in Texas. It was a big time. Since Emma was born just 2 days before my birthday, mine has sort of gone by the wayside the past few years. That's not really a big deal, but it was nice to have a celebration for both of us. But really - where has the time gone? When did Emma grow up?

While we were in Texas I had the opportunity to get together with some high school friends. Marci joined the hen party, too. Catching up with friends is always entertaining. Husbands, kids, jobs - we're all so different, yet living very familiar lives. Especially since all of us are raising at least one daughter. The Drama!

Too Cute to Spook

2007-11-01T11:34:00.000-04:00

Lots of fun last night. Our neighborhood had an awesome block party, then everyone tricked and treated together. We had two little puppies this year who had a ball. They had a little bit of freedom at the party to run around with their friends, something that kids these days don't really get to experience. We could always seem them, but they didn't have to stand by our sides the entire evening.

Seems like every generation of kids loses more and more freedom to just explore. I remember when my best friend and I would grab a snack, throw it in our little backpacks and take off on our bikes to ride around Bedford. We would hardly be gone all day (like our parents could do), but for an hour or so we would ride and visit friends along the way without a parent peeking over our shoulders. I cannot imagine ever letting the girls do that. Instead, I imagine I would outfit them with a GPS tracking device and a cell phone, monitoring their every move online and calling them every 3 minutes. They'd love it.

Anyway, the girls made out like bandits with the candy. We're going to have to "accidentally lose" some of it because Mom may sneak a piece or two a little too often. Besides that, when the candy stays in the candy jar too long, the chocolate begins to absorb some of the faux-fruity-tasting candy or bubble gum flavor - and who wants that?

My Very First Blog

2007-10-29T09:13:00.000-04:00

Everyone else is doing it, so why not me? With encouragement from Mom, Marci and Chris I have decided it's time to join 2005 and start blogging. I sure hope that I have interesting things to say!

We're headed into our busy time of year: Halloween, 3 Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. The last 3 months of the year go by so fast. On top of all of the regular stuff, Chris is headed to Egypt later this week and the girls and I are going to Texas for a quick trip.

We are all doing well. I'm sure that from time to time one of us will be highlighted here, so stay tuned for detailed updates.