I love long weekends, because Chad is home and that is like 10000 times better than Chad not home. We had a birthday party, a picnic, a parade, a marathon shopping trip, countless dirty diapers, bottle feedings, late nights and early mornings, big boy underpants, swimming in the little pool, and photo takings.
Here are some of them.
And I just realized that the rest of these haven't been edited yet. Oh well. I'll put them up anyway. Straight from RAW processing then:
So, for those of you who haven't heard, we have a new guy around. He's really new. Like 5-days-old new. He came to our house on Tuesday, and things have been kind of crazy ever since. We are not sure how long this placement will be, but we are so excited to have the newborn experience. At least, I think I'm excited, but I'm too tired to know for sure.
Today, to remind myself that there IS a life out there somewhere beyond the small boys vying for my attention, I reacquainted myself with my garden, which is in its late May splendor.
This is what we did this morning.
Me:
Bebe:
Boylie:
Puppeh:
Not sure how the rest of the day will look. Hoping it looks like long naps for everyone, but not banking on it.
You know, I really cannot be held responsible for the photos that Other People take using my camera. And if those Other People leave those pictures on MY camera, well, they should just expect to see them on the internet. Especially when the Other People is this guy:
And this one too:
Scary, yes? As if these two weren't enough, he took a third, which is my personal favorite.
He also managed to snap a few shots of the rest of us, which I have been thoroughly enjoying.
I love this old guy.
And this one is my favorite favorite of the night, despite its blurriness. I love it.
Then I rescued my camera from my brother.
Granny is SO cute!
These two are pretty cute too. And pretty cozy. I'll keep you posted. 😉
Also,
And
And not forgetting,
And, wait, there's more!
And
And, of course, Gramma, of whom I have no digital photos! But I know what she looked like, and so do most of you.
Loving ALL the mothers in my life today.
Thank you.
One.
Two.
Three.
First, the birthday. Jordan's birthday. He is now very old at twenty-four. We celebrated his oldness at the Olive Garden last night. He is always a good sport for my camera.
Well, most of the time.
When he wasn't singing "happy birthday" to Jordan, which he did multiple times at high volume and low self-consciousness, Little A sucked on lemons.
SO weird. Heidi brought cake pops for dessert. Yum! She gave one to our waitress, who waxed poetic over them and said that it was "Heaven in my mouth!"
Pretty much.
So on to the Morning in May, which was THIS morning. The kind of morning to make your heart sing. The kind of morning to make your feet dance a little bit on your walk. The kind of morning to make you think, "something good is happening today!"
Hello goosies. And BABY goosies!
I am not overfond of geese, but baby geese are almost as cute as baby squirrels. What is it with baby animals?
Hope something good happens to you today!
I am not a big fan of rodents. They creep me out, especially if they are in my house. Outside, it's not so bad, but I'm still not a fan. Which is why yesterday's experience puzzles me. I fell in love with a baby rodent.
This baby rodent.
Little A and I were over at the Clotworthy's, watching the kids and playing outside. I happened to look up and saw, to my amazement and ok, HORROR, Little A stooping over with cupped hands trying to catch a jumping little animal. "Stop right now!" I shouted. Ben and I ran over to investigate, and we found Little A, Hazel, and this little guy, all gravitating towards each other.
Baby was obviously lonely, and it seemed to be looking for a mama. We kept backing away (except of course, for Hazel, who was in absolute ecstasy. She wants to be everyone's mama), and it kept coming closer. The irony was not lost on me. Here we were, three giant humans, running away from a baby squirrel. Anyways, it found Hazel and tried to cuddle.
I think this is when my heart melted. Holy CUTE! I sent Ben to find a habitat thingy, because we were going to SAVE this baby.
(Please disregard the droopy diaper. We are going through a phase in which it is a struggle to get him into something dry. He doesn't want to miss anything for a diaper change.)
We managed to transfer Baby to a larger box, and then I got on the phone and called everyone I know. Chad was busy with something at work and didn't seem to understand the importance of my call. Mike didn't answer, but my dad did! He said to try to get Baby to climb up the nearest tree. So I donned gardening gloves and picked up the baby. It tried to climb up my hand onto my arm, which, as much as I loved it, COULD NOT happen. The verythought of a rodent-like animal crawling up my arm and getting into my neck. . .shudder. . . So I put it on the tree and it crawled around and around the trunk, never getting any higher. I scooped Baby back into the box and we wondered what to try next.
Enter Gimpy Girl and Poppy, who had picked her up from school. Our brave girl had major surgery on her leg last week, which is an entire post in itself. She was enthralled with Baby.
Poppy (Kristen's dad) called a wildlife rescue group he knew of, and we planned for someone to come pick up Baby and nurse it back to health. They told us that if it was following us around, it was most likely an orphan and starving, and that drove it down the tree in search of love. Poor baby. By this time, I was completely in love, and the irrational parts of my brain were trying to figure out how I could keep Baby forever. The sane part of me kept screeching things like: You have two cats! Chad will NOT understand! Fleas! Rabies!
Anyways, I kept picking Baby up, and she never tired of trying to climb my arm. I think I am willing to expand my role: foster mama to little humans AND baby squirrels.
Am I nuts?
Bye Baby! I hope you find the mama you're looking for!
My titles are overwhelmingly good, don't you think?
It's true though: May is nice. It's one of those perfect days today, cool and warm at the same time, clear, bright, lucid. I love it. It makes up for the last two days of rain and cloudiness. Heidi told me to post something new, now that the month has changed and everything. So here are some pictures from a zoo adventure this weekend. It was someone's third birthday.
It looks like Little A will be with us until July 1st, and then he will be transitioning back to his birth mother. It's a bittersweet development: we will miss him like crazy, but we're glad she is able to care for him, finally. We don't know what our next step will be, but I'm kind of looking forward to it.
I like April gardens, because everything grows up so nice and tidy, and the weeds aren't really up yet, and nothing is bushy and overgrown. It all looks pert and and orderly, and part of me really really likes this. Of course, I am also extremely fond of the overblown frowsiness of early July. But right now, I am enjoying April's lovely tidiness.
And here is SOME untidiness, but very lovely sweetness.
Hello Honey B.
Newly-recovered 35-year-old sleeping bag is already covered in Ada-hair.
Fairy offerings, courtesy of Emma.
What is happening right now=THUNDERSTORM
We went to the Great Lakes Science Center on Saturday with our friend, Darren. Little A was a bit too young to really get into it–although he did love the kids' area with the car that had removable wheels. Anyways, the adults all had a great time, especially with this crazy mirror set-up.
You basically stand with half of your body showing, and the mirror makes a symmetrical image. It was hysterical.
Too bad I'm not wearing those bunny ears in this one.
Little A lost it and wouldn't smile anymore.
But it was a fun way to spend a rainy morning!
We are so lucky. The train tracks are just a block away from our house, and we hear the WOO WOO on a daily basis. When we first moved here, it was really annoying, especially at night when I couldn't sleep. I just KNEW that the engineer was bitter about having to work in the middle of the night, and he was leaning on that horn ON PURPOSE to wake people up. In my right, not-sleep-deprived mind, I know that's not true, but at 2:30AM, it always seems so. After living here for 7+ years, we hardly notice the train anymore. Little A, however, always hears the train. Of course, he is OBSESSED with trains. Last week, on one of our fine days, Daniel and Christi came over for a play date. We heard the train in the distance, and walked down to the crossing to watch the Awesomeness.
He waved at the train the entire time. It was a long train.
It was a fun, cheap date! The boys like each other very much, but are still at the stage where they play side by side, not WITH each other.
Little A's frowny face? He was saying "No pictures!"
What?
