Ohmystinkinheck

Yesterday, as our 100 degree Texas heat gave way to a downpour, Jeff ran out to the front porch to watch our new gutters at work; Mer and Kenny, hearing the rain, followed quickly behind him.

We know how to entertain ’round these here parts. “Come on out! You can watch our gutters with us!”

The gutters didn’t keep the kids’ attention for long though and before I knew it, my freshly showered children were receiving their 2nd shower of the day. If only I had known an hour earlier, I could have just waited and tossed some soap and shampoo out on the lawn with a “Don’t forget to wash behind your ears and between your toes!”

As it stood, there was just a lot of running, squealing, jumping up and down, rolling, cartwheeling and somersaulting.

Oh yes, and a few “near misses”.

This picture reminds me of summer. Rolling in the grass and then getting super itchy. And yet, somehow, even though the itch was often unbearable, we’d still do it again at the next hill we came upon.

You’re itchin’ now, aren’t ya?

I’d love to explain this shot, but truly, there’s no explanation.

I showed it to him earlier and said, “Look Kenny - it looks like you have on pearl drop earrings!”

He didn’t find me as funny as I did.

Imagine that.

Where was Emelie during the Sanders’ version of wet and wild?

Inside, baking another cake, of course. Obviously she needs some additional training/redirection since she forgot the #1 rule in cake baking → Momma ALWAYS gets FIRST LICK!

Today was her first day with the Cake Decorating tutor. Oh my, she had such a good time. She’s already got a list for me. She “needs” a particular tip, and this cake-form “thing-a-ma-jig” that allows her to practice icing without actually baking a cake.

For the record, I need all to know I’m completely opposed to this idea.

ANYWAY, she learned how to make three different densities of icings (different thicknesses serve different purposes), how to do a couple of different edge decorations (I’m not saying that right, I just know it), how to make “practice” icing without butter (thank you Rebecca for trying to save my pocketbook), um…she learned other stuff too, but I’m short on terminology right now, so we’ll just say that she is “out of her mind” excited about these classes.

I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of her cake decorating “techniques”.

However, when all was said and done, I think the biggest lesson that Em (and the rest of us too, really) learned today was thanks to Bruno.

The final lesson of the day was…IF you leave a freshly iced cake (or two, as was the case) out on the table and THEN everyone leaves the house for an hour, the cake will NOT be “whole” when you return. Of course, this is helped by having a 110 lb. Great Pyrenees with a chest level with the kitchen table.

I called the vet and the forecast is vomiting and diarrhea.
Y’know, just in case you were wondering.

In your night time prayers, don’t forget to say one for my poor, VERY hairy baby. :(

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This past week my kids and I worked an outdoor 5-Day Carnival/Bible Club in two different parks in our neighborhood. I took skads of photos, but the editing has taken a backseat to a few “must do now” jobs and family time; they’ll get out here eventually.

But that’s boring, and what I really want to share tonight happened on the last day of our event. A local organization donated the use of their rock wall and a couple of safety coaches for the day and Meredith somehow managed to get Kenny to cover her booth responsibilities for a bit so she could tackle the rock wall.

This was her first time climbing a rock wall and I wanted to kick myself for not having anything but my iPhone, but I did pop off a few decent shots to share.

I love to watch how she dogmatically approaches each new challenge. Determined is such an understatement. The girl was absolutely consumed with the climb by the time she made it to the front of the line and they began tightening up her harness.

She listened carefully to their directions, clearly understood that safety wasn’t an issue, and stepped up to the wall while at the same time keeping an eye on the other climbers. She’s a strategist at heart - I could see her checking out where they got the best footing and which side of the wall she wanted to climb.

Initially she was forcing her arms to do all the work, but she quickly caught on that properly positioning her feet to give her a good shove up was going to take her a lot further in her efforts. It didn’t take long for her to figure out how to use her leg power to her advantage and to ease the work her arms had to do.

I was impressed to say the least. Of course, I’m the momma and mommas are always impressed, but watching her figure it out as she went up was a joy. I’m excited for how these same skills may be applied to her life later - not just in athletics, but life skills.

This was a significant climb and she didn’t make it to the top the first time, but that didn’t stop her from trying again…and then begging to go again and again, long after she needed to be back in her booth.

You know I often stop and wonder where she came from - this daughter with a deep desire to do all things physical. She NEEDS to move and stretch and push herself to new heights. If at home we’ve all been inside too long you can see her outside running back and forth from the house to the trees - stretching, twisting, turning and MOVING.

I’m absolutely content to sit on the front porch and watch her while my bum grows wider.

And yet, I guess I have that drive in a different area. Tonight I was coding for a client and I could NOT find an error that was forcing text into the right sidebar. It took nearly an hour, but I would NOT give up, because I knew an answer was there and I was certain if I went through it carefully I could find it; and I did.

Perseverance.

We might not always have rock walls to climb, but we’re definitely not short on rock solid wills when we sink our teeth into something.

Now if I could just channel it to my bum, eh?

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Remember a while back I posted a photo of my gift to me from The Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Entomology Exhibit? I was VERY excited to get started on it, but had to wait for mine and my mother’s schedules to mesh - since she’s my fellow puzzler.

And finally, our schedules did come together and we began working this beautiful puzzle with its brightly colored beetles.

Little did we know that we would work it that night, another night, hen-peck at it here and there, and finally…FINALLY, with the closing help from my **Dad and Mr. OMSH, we finished it up.

And really, as hard as it was, it was worth it (I think.) - look how beautiful it is.

As is the custom in our family, we grabbed a pen and wrote the date the puzzle was completed, along with the people who worked it (I included my dad’s name and might even slip the above photo in for proof grins.) right on the back of the box.

Years from now, when we’ve all passed on, someone will find about 200 puzzles in my grandmother’s attic (for all puzzles eventually end up there at some point) and have a small piece of our family’s history together.

It’s kinda neat when an older puzzle gets pulled out on the table without a date or names and we all guess when the last time was that it was worked; that’s a puzzle in and of itself.

Mom and I can’t remember the last time a puzzle took us so long. Of course, she was faithful not to work it when I wasn’t there, but still - THREE sittings? Usually we finish in a single evening; we’re pretty diligent puzzlers after all.

The best part about the whole thing wasn’t finishing the puzzle though - although THAT was fabulous.

The BEST part was the reward.

Oh yea, baby…chocolate peanut butter chip cookies and Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell ice cream.

** You cannot imagine how PRICELESS this photo is of my Dad working a jigsaw puzzle. The man HATES jigsaw puzzles. For years and years and YEARS you could not catch him anywhere near a puzzle - he stands back from the table as though it might just reach out and bite him - or worse yet, force him to FIND a piece. But the above shot?! THIS IS NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE.

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