Summer Zinnias

For the first time I can recall I have successfully grown something from seed. I chose zinnias in order to increase my success potential because I heard they were easy to grow. I decided to play around with my camera and take some photos of the blooms. I am pretty happy with the results of both!

Peter Pan

Just before the end of school Double A was in a first grade production of Peter Pan. She was a pirate and narrator. None of the parts had lines but instead they had about 25 narrators. All the kids sang songs and acted out their parts. I keep telling myself I will get the video on here but really have no idea how to do that and just haven't even tried yet!

She did a fantastic job as a narrator. She had tons of inflection and emotion in her voice, was loud enough and clear on the microphone. She was a cute, oops, a scary and mean pirate, too.

The pirate crew showing how mean and scary they are. LOOK OUT!!

A song at the end of the show that all the kids sang.

Double A doing her speaking part on the microphone. It was an adorable show and all of the children did a great job dancing, signing and memorizing lines. Amazing they were only first graders.

For the second show the next day at the school assembly Double A was so excited that she was chosen to give the thank you card to the piano player. Their class is lucky enough to have a student whose father is a professional piano player and has shows at the symphony hall and such, Peter Martin. He volunteered to practice with them and perform for the shows. Maybe one day I will get the video situation figured out :)

Camping - Update #3

So I have tons of new pictures to post here but am still playing catch up. Unlike some bloggers I know (looking at you TB) I am not post dating these and rather I am just owning up to being a slacker :).

My 700 pictures I just downloaded from ONE camera need to be sorted through and posted...after I download the gazillion on the "beach" camera and get the ones from my sister in law on her camera. Bahamas pictures are coming!!

This post is short and sweet (I think, just now starting it) with pictures and brief update from our Spring Break camping trip back in March. We arranged to meet our friends from Mississippi (and some of their friends) at a campground in Kentucky. It was tons of fun, even if it was chilly. We explored Mammoth Caverns, went horse back riding, fishing, roasted 400 pounds of marshmallows and just relaxed. One day we drove to the next large town for "provisions" after we discovered we were camping in a dry county. While we were there the older kids and dads toured the Corvette factory. Double A now wants an electric blue Corvette...her dad wants a black one. I told both of them to keep on dreaming the dream.

Unfortunately Husband #1 was only there three out of 7 days. He got called back to the hospital to do a pediatric liver transplant so had to go to the tiniest airport in Cave City, Kentucky and be flown home. We ended up leaving a day early since he was home alone and I was camping with two kids on my own and his birthday was the day we would have returned. We thought it would be nice to be home with him on his special day :)

Inside the cavern, on the ridiculously tight and steep stairwell going down in to the cave

all the kids on a hike on the hills above the caverns

My best bud and I in the cavern

Double A with the deer jaw bone we found at the river's edge while hiking. Other deer parts were claimed by other kids

all the kids down in the caverns
Husband #1 with Bumblebee (in his AWESOME miner's hat) and Double A. This was outside of a cave we went to that we rode in a boat through the cave. Saw bats inside and everything.
Reading around the campfire...this just made me smile. They also played flashlight tag and other fun games. They all stayed up WAY too late...so much so Double A kept waking up with stomachaches during the night and on the second or third night she even threw up. Once we started getting to bed earlier she was fine.

Our spring break is a wee bit too early for prime camping time, the weather is chillier than we would prefer and not all of the attractions are open in the tourist areas. We make do and have a great time anyway!

Update #2 EASTER

Easter was pretty low key around here.

We woke up and the kids found their baskets the Easter Bunny had brought.

We were a little behind so we decorated egss on Easter morning.

Husband #1 enjoys doing a silly egg. Last year it was an orange egg with a jack o lantern face drawn on it before dying. Clever.

After all the basket and egg frivolity it was time for an egg hunt!! I hid eggs with candy and coins in the backyard and let 'em loose!! (I had to lock up the dogs because they kept finding all the eggs before the kids could get out there!)
Unfortunately, Husband #1 was so excited he pushed the kids out of the way and forgot his basket...he was not allowed to get any eggs since he could not behave!

Here is Double A finding the green egg hidden on the Big Green Egg (which, by the way, is awesomely awesome. More on that in another post!)

After all the eggs were found we went to Forest Park and enjoyed a car show. It was the first warm easter we have had since we moved here four years ago!

2010 in review - Part 1

I have been remiss in 2010 of updating regularly. I have gotten some major points of our life on here but some have squeaked by so today I will post a random assortment of photos with brief blurbs about what we have been doing in the first 4 months of 2010.

First up is Bumblebee's preschool show in late January. Poor kid had gotten his 5 year immunizations the day before (FOUR shots!) and we were unaware his arm was sore. I noticed his pained look and his refusal to raise his arms during the show. At one point they clasped hands with the kid beside them and swung arms. Even the teachers were giving the kid next to Bumblebee the evil eye because he looked so pained by the movement. It wasn't that kid's fault...Bumblebee's arm was just hot and red and swollen. I think it was the chicken pox vaccine because the same thing happened to me when I got it two years ago.

Then I decided to take the kidss down for Mardi Gras/Valentine's Day weekend. They coincidentally had a four day weekend so I figured...why not? My mom and sister in law are in a Mardi Gras parade every year and I have never seen them ride. Plus, the kids have never been to Mardi Gras at all. We left Husband #1 at home because he had to work (a lot as it turned out). On our drive we stayed in North Mississippi Thursday night. When we woke the next day and started down the road there was snow!! It kept getting worse as we went south...it was weird, as if I had gone north on accident. Jackson MS had several inches of snow on the ground but once I hit the Louisiana border the only white stuff on the ground was trash. The parade was Friday night and it was COLD! At least there was no rain or snow, though. Mom and Tammi were busy all day with parade prep and Ray had to work so somehow I got stuck with all the kids (mine and my two nieces). I am not sure what they would have done with the girls had I not been there but Ray "bought" me McDonald's for dinner so all was even :) My dad met us at the parade and held Bumblebee up for the floats to catch more stuff. This first picture is Grandpa holding Bumblebee and the three girls poised to catch stuff.

C2, Double A, Bumblebee and C1 trying to stay warm before the parade

After we caught the parade near the beginning of the route we decided to get in the car and go to the end of the route to catch it again. We had to go pick up mom and Tammi anyway. Problem with this plan is it was about 10pm and the kids were tired. C2 was so cute as she did this slow back and forth eye thing and then pretty much fell asleep with her eyes open.

The next day we went to Global Wildlife Center which I have posted about on this blog before. This time Ray and Tammi and the girls and Grandpa made the trip.

Here are some more photos from around the house while visiting my parents.

Double A, C1, Bumblebee, C2 in the bounce house

This has gotten a little long so I will do Easter and camping in Part 2. Stay tuned

Don't Cry for Me, Argentina

Husband #1 and I jetted off to Buenos Aires last week sans kids. My MIL was gracious enough to come up and stay with our kids while we were gone. Husband #1 had a conference to attend and I just tagged along for the almost free vacation!

The flight was overnight. We flew to Dallas at 3pm and from there it was 10.5 hours direct to Buenos Aires. Thank goodness for Tylenol PM! Still, we were exhausted from poor sleep on the flight when we arrived at 8am the next morning. There is only a two hour time difference from Central time zone...so basically like the west coast.

The language barrier was challenging (Spanish) but now that we are home I am still trying to address waiters and such in Spanish! Plus, Lowe's would not take payment in our leftover pesos! The weather was perfect and I think it was warmer than usual for this time of year (fall for them). Husband #1 and I even did the water drain experiment since we were south of the equator...yep, drains counter clockwise!

We had steak every day. I have a strong feeling it will be quite a while before I have another steak. I actually had to beg a waiter for some lettuce one day. We also had (seemingly) gallons of red wine every day. Argentinean Malbec is yummy! We really liked Trumpeter and Luigi Bosca. Now we just need to figure out if they export those here.


We attended a Tango dinner one evening. It seemed obligatory since we were in Argentina. It was a wonderful show and the dancers were fabulous in an historic theater. This is just one photo of a really cool scene set from the show.

Husband #1 and I in an outdoor brew pub drinking 8.5% alcohol beer. Yum. First time we did not have wine at a meal.

Me in front of Eva Peron/Evita's tomb (and her family). The cemetery was amazing and one of my favorite parts of the entire city. More photos follow!!

Each one of these that look like small houses were individual family tombs. Most are very elaborate and have granite and marble and stained glass and such. They go three stories below ground and hold about 11 coffins plus urns of cremations. Each tomb costs roughly $60,000 American dollars just to have and then you have to pay upkeep. Some did and some obviously did not as you will see below.

I'll spare you the photo but one of the tombs (not the one pictured above) was open with corrugated metal half covering it and the coffin inside was smashed open on one end. I actually have photos of the person's leg bone and knee joint...very old and just bones. I can only imagine what the health issues were. Husband #1 was teasing me I had dead people dust in my nose and on my hands, etc.

Can you guess what we ate at dinner this night?

This was a very cool statue. It opens during the day and closes at night. It is made out of some kind of metal, much like the arch in St. Louis

You thought roads in the US were bad? Now that is a SERIOUS pothole...right in the middle of the lane.

This was an area in Boca in Buenos Aires... La Caminita where all the houses are painted different colors like this. Story is that the people who used to live there mostly worked at the shipyard and docks. Their employers did not always have money to pay them so paid them with paint from the various ships, hence the varied colors.

This is the soccer stadium in Boca. Same story about the colors. They could not decide on colors for the team so decided the next ship that came in would be the colors...it was a Swedish ship.

Me inside a cathedral. 80% of Buenos Aires is catholic. This place was beautiful and well maintained for being so old.

This is the office of the president, basically the Argentinean equivalent of the White House but the president does not live there. Their current president is a woman.

I was pretty sure I was going to die on a daily basis whenever I got inside a cab. Those guys are nuts! The government could save a bundle of pesos if they just forgot painting stripes on the road. No one pays attention to them anyway. Three cars per every two lanes was standard. As was making a right turn from a left hand lane across four lanes of traffic.

One day I think I may have almost been mugged. Not too positive but it was concerning. The tour guide the day before had warned of a tactic where they throw mustard or ketchup on you and then approach and help you clean it off meanwhile stealing your stuff. I was in a park by myself under a tree when something splattered all over the left side of me from behind. I wasn't sure if it was bird poop or what. I turned quickly and this guy walks up. I start to back away and he fumbles through some Spanish words and busts out with "water" and motions cleaning and points the other way. I say okay and he walks off the way he came. I head towards this pond thing he pointed at but as I go that way I notice he has begun to circle around the long way over to where I am heading. I immediately turn around and head the opposite direction. I found a cafe with a bathroom to disrobe and wash off most of the goop. It was white and smelled like a permanent (hair) solution or something. It was gross and stunk to high heaven. I am still not sure what happened, maybe he was innocent and it was bird poop but I am just glad nothing bad happened.

We had fun and relaxed and saw some sights. It was my first time below the equator! Husband #1 was unexpectedly asked to give a talk at the conference at the last minute (think asked/told at 3pm Sunday for an 8am Monday talk). Many people were unable to attend due to the volcano so many speakers were not there. We spent some wonderful meals with some friends and colleagues from Wash U. We are glad to be home, though. And for once, the kids actually missed us!!