The Best Question Ever.

'Mom, is a scorpion worse than a Nazi?'

I found another scorpion in the sink this morning, and the kids were awake this time, so I showed it to them. (By the way, as opposed to the last scorpion, who was nicely sitting in plain view on the inside edge of the totally empty sink, this one was hiding in a rag, on the side of a full sink of dirty dishes, and I didn't see him until I had already finished cleaning all the dishes what were 0-4 inches from said scorpion. Hmph.) We also killed a very large one on the side of the house yesterday evening. If you ask the kids how to kill a scorpion, they will say, 'Go find mom, and mom will whop him with a shoe.' This answer is not only 100% true, it is really funny to hear from my kids.

Sam asked me the above question after viewing this morning's visitor, after we had washed him down the disposal. My brilliant, pre-coffee answer? 'No, Sam, there is almost nothing worse than a Nazi.'

On a totally different note, tomorrow is Memorial Day.

Thank you to all the men and women who have served our amazing country, and continue to do so. We pray for our active members every day.

In Katy, again

So, since I'm totally like the Best Daughter Ever, I am back in Katy. Dad's job, with him working 10pm-6am, ends this weekend, and BP asked Mom to fly out to the rig they just launched for a few days. John is working the whole time Mom asked me to visit, and we didn't have any other pressing plans, so here we are!

I don't know if my hormones are kicking in overtime right now, but I have been in a haze of the Warm & Fuzzies for the last few days! My kids are still the trouble making, headache-inducing, room-destroying, toy- and tool-breaking, screaming, fighting, high energy children that they have always been, but I just want to dip them in fish batter, fry them up, and just start at the toes and nibble my way up!!! They are so cute and sweet and destructive and affectionate, and I love them so much!! Almost as much as I love John, but really, not much can compare to that. Even a craving for fried baby toes. Oh, and about the long sentence above, where they do everything in their power to make me tired with the Never-Ending source of energy that comes from who knows where, I wouldn't have them any other way!!!

Who wants boring kids, when you can have kids that seek out knowledge like it's water? They are really into fish right now. All things fish and ocean. Evie's fav fish is either a cookie cutter shark or her little blennys that she loves. Sam my Man is all about the angler fish, especially the potato-faced angler fish. And since meeting and getting to know the Bird Lady next door, we have been learning about and developing a big interest in birds, and learning what kinds live near us. It's been a ton of fun.

And I'm rambling, and have nothing specific to talk about, so I'm going to go to WalMart and then make some fantastic supper, cause that's also what I do, besides chasing my children around and playing in the sprinkler outside. :) I'll be home Thursday, and I really will try to put some new pics up, I promise!

Confused In Katy

Now, I'm not naming any names, especially my mom's, but who has 5 different kinds of bbq sauce in their pantry, but no peanut butter??? I mean, honestly now. ... Um, I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess ...

I took the kids to Dad's yesterday, and we had a great time! It was so good to see him, and the kids got to pick dewberries and have cookies and milk and shoot a bow and arrow, so it was a good day in their book.

Sarah rocks, and I was so glad that I got to see her for more than 5.92 seconds yesterday. :)

Mom, she of the non-peanut butter household, is on her way home, and we're staying a few hours later than expected to let the kids see her. Woohoo!

New pictures coming soon.

Yea Pat!!!

John's aunt, Pat Berryman, just won the election for the open seat in the Georgetown City Council. Woohoo! Kids and I went up for the post-election party, and I just got home (after 11pm), and I'm exhausted, and about to pass out. But Pat, congrats!!

Leaving for Katy tomorrow afternoon, but I'll try to post about the fun visitor I had in my sink this morning. And by 'fun,' I mean 'eww.'

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there who have ever let their children have cupcakes and iced tea against their better judgement, and then totally regreted it around midnight when the three-year-old is not asleep and wants to 'hang out' with you and 'chat about Star Wars' for a while. Seriously. He's not asleep. When I say no to chatting about Star Wars, he asks me if we can talk about the scorpion fish or the reef cuttlefish that we saw in the fish movie.

I want a beer.

someone hide me, quick!!

Oh. My. Gaw. John is going to flip out when he gets home. Sam has cut Evie's hair. At the moment, she looks like she has a mullet. Help me, I am going to die. It's not like I left them alone for that long. I was knitting this morning, and left the scissors out, and then I came upstairs while the kids were watching Maisy to put away some clothes, and while I was up here I heard, 'I think scissors are fun,' and the other one said, 'Me, too,' and I don't even know which one said what, but I did see my life flash before my eyes, because John is so in love with Evie's hair, and has been so happy that we can finally do things with it, because her hair grows at a record-slow pace ...

Please help me. Hide me somehwere. I'm going to have to give her a precious little pixie cut, but her beautiful curls will be gone, and John is going to flip.

Pics of the progress, and possibly my execution, tomorrow.

(Edited to add:)

Evie with her homemade mullet:

Evie after her haircut:

Sam 'protecting' Evie, both with fake smiles:

And John wasn't even all that mad at me, either. Yea!!!

I've decided that knitting is not quite as stoopid as I first thought it was. I also decided to be patient and actually figure out what I'm doing before quitting. So there. I've been having fn with it.

Sam is fine. We went to the doc yet again on Tuesday, and what did they tell us? 'Sometimes kids just have big tonsils.' Well, ok then. I also had my first acutal checkup with my midwife, Laurie. I just love her!!! I got to hear Baby's heartbeat, which is so cool, and Laurie said everything looked good. Woohoo!

I dropped the guineas off at Bastrop Gardens on Monday, a nursery and farmer's market towards Austin that we love. These people have had guineas before, and already had housing for them, so if the Stooges had to go, I am so glad that they went there. And, as it turns out, my next door neighbor works there! Not the ones that I hate with a fiery passion that burns brighter than a thousand suns, but the one on the other side. We've been calling her the Crazy Bird Lady, or just the Bird Lady. I learned that her name is Linda, but that a lot of people call her Bird Lady. Anyway, she's super nice. She is crazy, but in a good, passionate-about-what-she-believes, isn't-afraid-to-speak-her-mind kind of way. The kids and I just went over there to say hello to her and her goose (gander, actually) Snow. He's a really nice goose, and didn't try to bite my children once! She's got about 10 acres, so I told her to let us know first if she is ever inclined to get rid of any of it, cause we'd LOVE to see if we could buy it. I'm very glad that I met her, and that we could go see her and meet Snow. Oh, and she said that the guineas are doing very well, and like their new home.

I'm going to Katy early, on Sunday afternoon, so I can hang out with the mom for a while, and cook her supper. Kevin, Wes, Al?, "John"?, Mom, the kids and I will be there. I'm looking forward to it. And I get to see my most wonderful MOLLY!!!! YEA!!!!

My tomato plants are attempting to take over my entire yard. Ok, not really, but they are getting HUGE!! We planted them a little too close together, and they're over 4 and a half feet tall; you would not believe the number of (all still green) tomatoes we have!! And my pumpkin plants have gone crazy, too. We've got a ton of squash blossoms, and the green bean plants are starting to put off green beans. It's all very fun. The kids helped me weed in there today. We got a couple of new things for the flower garden last week. Some daisys, dianthus, a new kind of verbeena, yellow lantana, and some petunas. It looks pretty now, but it's going to look wonderful once everything fills in.

Hehehe, Baby is kicking me. :)

I need a nap. Or lunch. Or maybe lunch and then a nap. Yes, yes, it is a hard life that I lead.

To Sarah

You are one of my closest friends, and I love you so very much. Even if we do talk to each other's voicemail more often than we actually talk to each other.

So, CONGRATUALTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the one where the world is conspiring ...

to give me gray hair before I even turn 25.

Ok, I've been busy. Here is why I haven't posted lately.

Took Sam to the doc 2 Mondays ago. They did a test for strep and flu, but both were negative. He did have a sinus infection and sinusitis, though. So he went on 10 days of amoxocillin, the $58 antibiotic. That sound was me, falling over from the price.

The following Monday, Evie started running a fever, and I looked at Sam's throat, and it wasn't really getting any better. Then Tuesday, I noticed that Sam's throat had white spots on it. WHITE SPOTS developing while on antibiotics??? Oy. Even I know that's not good. So we went back to the doc on Thursday, and it turned out that both kids had strep throat! Doc just looked at me and said, 'Brea, how did he get strep while he was on antibiotics?' Yeah, like I have an answer for that.

So we went on new antibiotics for both of them (another $160, thank you very much! Do I look like I'm made of money??? Cause I'm not!!). All is going well, until Saturday morning, when I look at my dear daughter, and she has white all over her mouth. She decided that the fun thing to do was to drink her medicine. Yes, I am a bad mother, and didn't close the medicine all the way. I'M SORRY!!!!!

I go to call Poison Control. I have the national 800 number memorized, because it's on stickers all over the house, and because this is the fourth time I have had to call them. Of all things, my cell phone is not working. I have no idea why. It's all better now. I grab my home phone, which (miracle of all miracles!!) was working, and call the 800 number. Well, Vonage has decided for reasons beyone my comprehension that Poison Control is not a number they choose to recognize. I boot up the computer, which takes like 3 hours, and find the number for the Control center in San Antonio. A very nice young man answers the phone, and we go through the whole experience, and he tells me that there may be a few side effects (there were none), but that she should be fine (which she is). Then he asks me where I'm calling from. I say, 'Just outside of Austin.' He says, 'Texas?' I say, 'Yeah, where are you? You don't sound like you're from this area.' He says, 'No, I'm in New Jersey.' Hmm. Interesting. I call a (210) area code, which is San Antonio, and end up chatting with a guy from New Jersey. But still, he was very nice.

Things were oddly quiet around here until this last Tuesday. John and the kids had gone out for a while, and I suddenly hear shots next door. This is not all together unusual, beacuse everyone around here has guns, but this was just a tad too close. As I'm walking outside to see what's going on, La Stooges come running over. Jim the Asshole (JTA for short, from now on) is standing on his porch, sees me come out, and yells, 'Brea, if you don't get rid of those damn birds, I'm going to f-ing kill them.' He didn't actually say 'f-ing.' I think you know what he really said. Turns out that the guineas had been walking through his garden and stepped on some of his plants. I hope wild hogs come and uproot the whole damn thing.

A small side note here. We checked with the Smiths several times before getting the guineas. We have checked with them several times since we got the guineas to make sure the guineas were not bothering them. Our houses are like 50 feet apart from each other. We see and talk to each other pretty much every day. Must we find out that they don't like the birds by hearing gunshots?!?!?!?!?!?!? Also, there is something not right about JTA. What kind of person lives with their parents their whole life? He is in his mid-40's, and has never lived alone. This is not something I'm speculating about; I know he has never lived alone cause Mommy-dearest told me so. Even when he was married, they all lived with his parents. And his mom, Gretta, is the one who raised his daughter. Seriously, what the hell??

I had to find a new home for the guineas, and I did find a very good one, and we all have been completely bummed all week. And mad. Vey, very mad. We'll be putting up a fence this winter, just along the property line between our houses, and getting new guineas next spring. I drop them off at their new home tomorrow.

So, for those of you who think I have dropped off the radar, I have not. I have been too busy to find the radar. And on top of it all, I'm trying to grow a person inside my belly, take care of me family, house, gardens, and yard (seriously, you don't even what to see the amound of dirty laundry that is about to grow legs and take over and eat us all. I might let it, too!).

Sam's tonsils are still really swollen, and seeing how today was the last day of the second round of medicine, I think we may have to go back to the doc. This is killing me. I am so beyond ready for everyone in my house to be well. I need chocolate milk. Oh, pictures.

My brother Wesley (far right) at the 8th grade dance.

Sam (just before we cut his hair) and Evie with a blue belly lizard.

My funny formal daughter, who loves old hats and all things girly.

Sam passed out on the couch when he was sick.

Evie passed out in bed when she was sick.

Oh, and I mention that we bought a piano? Cause I didn't think we had enough going on at the time, and wanted to add a little excitement to my boring life.

I'll be in Katy next Monday-Wednesday (the days after Mother's Day), so call me if anyone wants to do lunch or (decaf) coffee!!