Buckleberry Diversion

It was supposed to be a fishing trip. We headed out Saturday morning with the poles and lunch in the cooler. Dear Husband wanted to take the girls fishing. He found a lake up in the mountains about an hour and a half from home. We got a late start and figured the campground would be full on a beautiful Saturday morning in August.

We were surprised to find the campground empty less one couple that was occupying the only decent spot. We doused ourselves in bug repellant and ate lunch. DH baited the poles with worms and we headed for the lake.

It was a beautiful little lake tucked up in the mountains, the only problem being 95% of the shore is private property and the water is about a foot deep on the 5% you can access from the campground. So DH hiked out into the lake to cast a few times because Flower want to go “fissin”. Princess reeled her line in a couple times before she realized there was a gross and disgusting worm on the end of it. After that she decided it was more fun to search for pretty rocks in the water.

After about 10 minutes of “fissin” it was evident we were not going to catch anything. We decided to pack it in and head for home. Maybe find a milkshake or ice cream cone along the way. There was more than one road to this lake and at the junction we decided to take the other way back to town. As we were driving along DH and I spotted some wild raspberry bushes that weren’t in season. Then we spotted the huckleberry bushes.

DH stopped and we jumped out and picked a handful. The girls thought the huckleberries were delicious. We continued down the road looking for more bushes. We found another little spot to pull off so we stopped and picked more. Flower kept yelling “Buckleberries, more buckleberries!” DH picked a few cups of berries while the girls and I ate whatever we could find. By the time we were done Flower had a purple ring around her mouth. We all had purple hands.

We finally hit the road again with a tupperware full of huckleberries to snack on. We skipped the milkshakes because the berries were much better. Princess is already making plans to return next year with buckets for everyone. No one even remembered we didn’t catch a fish.

Drawing a Blank

I can't think of a title for this post. I'm tired. We're tired. I'm sick. We're sick. None of those sound remotely interesting. Accurate, but not interesting.

Last week the girls had vacation bible school every night so we were exhausted from late nights by the time Friday rolled around. Dear Husband picked up a nasty cold again so he was miserable all week and still is.

Last Friday DH had a major event at work. You can see it here. The girls and I got up before the sun and went to watch from a friend's house. Flower is still talking about the "Tacks falling mama, the tacks falling!"

Two AM Sunday morning Flower woke up and puked all over herself and her bed. DH and I cleaned everything up and Flower assured us she was fine and wanted to go back to bed. I should have known better. I crawled back in bed and didn't get the covers pulled up before she was screaming again. Round two and another set of sheets and blankets. By some miracle Princess didn't pick up the bug but I've felt a little off all week so I'm afraid I was unable to avoid it.

And finally, our biggest news. We got a piano yesterday. I have looked all over the internet and cannot find a photo if a similar piano so I guess I'll have to post one myself. A former co-worker is moving out of state next week and she was looking for a good home for their piano. They didn't want to move it and the used piano market is not so good right now. They figured if they were just going to give it away they wanted to give it to someone they liked. We were those lucky people.

The girls love it. I remembered I can play. Not well, but I can. I bought a few books and I've been plunking away. I'm not sure Princess is old enough for lessons yet but we'll see.

Now I Understand

I was craving a glass of iced tea yesterday afternoon so I jumped in my pickup and headed to McDonald's. Where else can you get a huge glass of brewed iced tea (not that disgusting fountain stuff posing as iced tea) for $1?

I pulled on to the one-way street next to my office at the same time a lady pulled on from the mall parking lot. I needed to get in the left lane and so I slowed to a crawl waiting for her to accelerate so I could change lanes. She went a few yards down the street and stopped eight car lengths behind the car waiting at the stop light in front of her....leaving me hanging in the middle of the street still trying to switch lanes.

I don't think she even noticed I was two inches from her bumper. As I was cursing her in my head I saw her license plate frame. "I can do anything....I'm the mother of 3 girls!" Ok, so I'll cut her some slack.

She Lost It!

Princess lost her tooth today. It fell out during snack time while she was eating an apple. She is contemplating waiting until tomorrow night to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy because she wants to show Nana first. We'll see what she decides.

In the mean time, she wanted to show the world the empty spot in her mouth where her first adult tooth will soon reside.



Flower wanted to show you her teeth as well.

This Just In….

....Princess has a loose tooth!

As the girls were brushing their teeth this morning Princess told me her tooth hurt. I asked her which one and she pointed to one of the bottom teeth and said it felt like it had a hook on it. Upon further inspection I noticed a gap between it and the next tooth. A gap that was not there yesterday. I touched her tooth, not expecting it to wiggle, and it did. A lot.

I was completely unprepared to discuss the tooth fairy this morning. I thought I had another year to plan my story and in true Princess fashion she had a ton of questions. I’m thinking Princess might join her Auntie A in the same profession because she has some attorney-like qualities. I explain to Princess that when her tooth falls out she should keep it so we can put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. As we were leaving the house Princess looked at me and said "Maybe I should take a snack bag with me just in case." That's my little planner.

For me this means my baby isn’t a baby anymore. According to Princess this means she is a big kid now. Princess is so excited about her loose tooth she can hardly stand it. It's bedtime now and the tooth is still hanging in there, not by much, but it's hanging in. I think the tooth fairy has one more day to prepare.

The Potty Training Saga Continues

In case you are wondering how Flower is doing with the potty training I thought I'd post a quick update. I chickened out on panties for Flower on Saturday. I had too many things to do and not enough time to wash a car seat. Flower donned her pretty pink princess pull-ups instead and the girls and I headed to town for a morning of shopping. We visited the restroom in every store we shopped, sometimes twice, and Flower stayed dry all morning.

I took the girls to a birthday party Saturday afternoon. It was an outside party with kiddie pools, sprinklers, and a slip-n-slide…a really cool slip-n-slide I might add. I have a post on slip-n-slides bouncing around in my head but I'll save it for another day. Anyway, I put Flower in a little swimmer because I don’t trust her. I’d hate to make that kind of a memory at a birthday party. I couldn’t tell if Flower stayed dry at the party but I have my doubts. I imagine the lawn didn’t care.

Sunday morning she was dry during church but once we got to Nana and Papa’s house she immediately forgot to use the potty. So we’ll keep working on it. She picked out new princess panties so maybe those will do the trick this weekend. I do know one thing…I’m tired of buying pull-ups!

Happy August!

I was looking at the number of posts I made the last few months and June was my personal best.....as far as quantity. No comment on quality. Anyway, since Princess got up early, Flower and Daddy are still sleeping, and I have a hot cup of coffee I thought I'd try to think of something interesting to write this first day of August.

Yesterday the girls and I stayed home for the entire day. It was the first Friday in months we didn't have an appointment or trip. After some quality time on the Internet I spent most of the morning cleaning the floor and as I look at it now, you can't really tell. Sigh.

Flower has been on the verge of potty trained for months, the problem being our schedule. I'm not up for potty training while traveling so we've bought a lot of pull-ups lately. She's interested in using the potty, she just forgets until she has already dripped a little. That's how Flower says it "Mommy I dripped!" which means she needs to go potty.

Since we had no where to go yesterday I decided to give panties a try. She picked out some Care Bear panties and we headed downstairs. I headed back to the bathroom to get the little potty (it lives in the dining room when we're potty training because I'm too old to make 100 trips up and down the stairs carrying a two year old) and before I got to the bathroom Princess was screaming, "She peed on the floor!" Poor Flower has this look on her face like, "What happened?"

My theory was that if Flower felt pee running down her leg she would remember to hold it because I know she's capable of holding it. I was partially correct. Flower wasn't thrilled about pee running down her leg, but not as disgusted as I'd hoped. None the less, we cleaned her and the floor up, and picked out a pretty green pair of Ariel undies for round two.

The rest of the day went well. Flower used the potty every 20 minutes and she was dry all day. Until Daddy came home from work. I'm not sure what happened, maybe he jinxed us, but Flower had a little accident during dinner and then pooed in her pants after dinner. Ugh. But all in all, she did well for her first day of wearing big girl undies.

Today we have to run errands and then we have a birthday party this afternoon. Flower just got up and informed me she wants to wear panties. This could be interesting....