Ty's Spectacles

Ty has recently been complaining of his eyes hurting, so the Tool Man took him to see the doctor this morning.

The verdict?

He's far-sighted.

The solution?

Glasses.

I can't believe it!  My baby's got glasses.  The good news is that he will probably outgrow this condition.  The doctor told Tim that as Ty gets taller, his eyesight will most likely improve.  Weird, huh?  But, for now, he's got to wear glasses most of the time.  Ty's so excited about his new spectacles.  He's worn them all day without complaining, and he thinks that none of his friends will be able to recognize him with his glasses on.  He said he must be the only kid in town that wears glasses.  Well, I'm happy he's happy :)

Wonder how long this first pair of glasses will last.  I shutter to think of the dangers that await them.

To document this milestone, I took Ty out for some pictures this evening.  Some with glasses, some without.  I know I've complained in the past about the difficulty of photographing monkeys, but I have to say that Ty was a willing participant today. 

I still can't get over how cute this monkey is.  He could be a model don't you think?

All Work and No Play...

...makes for very little time to blog.

Or eat, or sleep, or laundry, or...you get the picture...

I can't wait for SATURDAY!!!

Also, I have a very special treat in the works for y'all.  A video post!  It's gonna be so cute...if I can get my actress to participate for me.  You know how it is.  As long as the camera isn't rolling, everything is fine and dandy, but as soon as you press the REC button, all bets are off.  Anyway, as soon as I've got the footage I'll post.

Be back soon!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Well, out of the blue tonight, Ty asked if I "laid" him and Lucy.

I beg your pardon???

He must have known that didn't sound just right, because he quickly asked, "Well, what do you call it?"

"Had.  I had you and Lucy."

And that's where we left it!

Just for kicks...here's a couple of pictures from the day each of them "hatched."

Do you know who's who?

A Little off the Top

Well, I just couldn't take it any more.  Lucy's bangs were driving me crazy.  So tonight I pulled out the scissors and started trimming.  I was scared to death that I might end up poking her eyes out, but she escaped the whole ordeal unscathed.  The Tool Man did a fine job of holding her still, and honestly, the whole thing took less than 30 seconds.  I didn't even try saving any of her hair, because I didn't cut enough to collect.  I think I only took less that 1/4 inch off about 20 hairs - just enough to get the stray strands out of her eyes.  I left the back and sides alone for now.

You know how when you see "before" and "after" photos of people on commercials, the "before" picture is always shot from a bad angle with the person making a horrible face?

Well, this is Lucy's before photo.

Ain't it awful?

And here's her after.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Candy Can

As you know, Halloween is right around the corner.  Ty's already excited about it and he's got me thinking black and orange thoughts too.  So I had this idea to make a trick-or-treating tote.  As you can see it all started with the most utilitarian object, a tomato sauce can from the pizza joint.  Can you say, "FREEBIE!!!"

First I slapped on a light coat of black paint to hide the label.  Then I covered the can with a scrap piece of burlap that I stencilled with the phrase, "boo y'all."  (I was inspired by Kristi's apron found here.)

...a little hot glue...

Time to embellish!

And voila!

Isn't it cute?  It sure beats the ol' plastic jack-o-lantern bucket. 

Lucy will be trick-or-treating in style, once she figures out this is not a shoe...

...or a necklace.

That's more like it.

Now I just need to come up with a more masculine version for Ty.  Maybe with some bats or spiders.....

P.S.  I joined my first linkie party today with this craft.  Click here to check it out!  I'm #30!

1st Blog-iversary

Congratulations to me!  My blog is officially one year old today.  Woohoo!

Thanks to everyone who is following along, both publicly and anonymously.  Y'all make me feel so interesting :)  And I really, really, really love getting those comments, so talk to me people.

When I started this blog, I thought that I would have a hard time finding anything to say.  But the ideas just keep popping up, thanks mostly to the antics of the little monkeys.  There never seems to be a dull moment around here.

Since we're on the subject of monkeys, I thought I would tell you about a little conversation Ty and I had the other night in the car.  He started asking me about Hell.  (Wonderful topic, I know.)  He wanted to know where, exactly, it was.  Well, I dunno.  Below, maybe?   Then he told me he'd been wanting to learn everything he could about the Bible.  Music to a mother's ears!  I told him that was the Holy Spirit talking to him, leading him to learn more about God.  Ty was so excited, because he usually says the devil is talking to him trying to get him to do something wrong.  Anyway, Ty asked if the devil talks to Daddy.  (LOL.)  Well, of course I said, "YES!"  Ty was floored.  He didn't know the devil talked to big people like daddy's and mama's. "But," he said, "I know the devil talks to Lucy all the time!"  Ha!  That crazy kid.

I hope y'all will keep following along with me.  I promise to keep you updated on our adventures here down by the creek.

A Cake and a Climber

It seems that I can go 2 months sometimes without making a cake, then everyone calls at once wanting one.  I was asked to make 4 cakes this past week.  Unfortunately, because of school and work and a whole bunch of other responsibilities, I could only make this one.  It is for Makenzy who is one year old today.  I don't know too much about Dora (Ty's not interested in watching her and Lucy's not into TV yet), but here's what I came up with.  Once again I opted to use fondant instead of buttercream.

And you may have noticed I sort of "cheated" with the text.  I printed it.  I know.  I know.  What's the matter with me?  Am I slacking?

Overall I'm pleased with the final product.  What say you?

I had a little "help" while I was baking this cake.  As you may know, Lucy is living up to the title "monkey."  She climbs up or on or in anything that doesn't move.  Here she is in the cabinet under my mixing bowl, which was OK with me, because I knew right where she was while I was baking.

And Lucy's been trying her hand out at school too.  She has recently discovered all the wonderful little lovelies in Ty's desk drawer.  You know, pencils, makers, stickers, rulers, post-its...  Ty has some of those invisible markers that only "write" on paper, so I let Lucy have her way with them.  Mostly she just likes to snap the lids on and off...      on and off...       on and off...

Look.  She found another cabinet to explore.  See that drawer of printer paper she's sitting on?  Well, she usually pulls out every piece.  And I don't know why, but she hasn't figured out that she could pull all of the paper towels out of that box.  I guess I really should move that before she gets wise.

The sweet face of innocence...Ha!  I know better!  This child is turning out to be a ring-tail-tooter!

(I think that's spaghetti sauce all over her face.)

Nickie-isms

Today would have been my grandmother Nick Nick's 94th birthday.  So in memory of her I thought I would share some the more unique expression she always used to say.  The Tool Man calls them "Nickie-isms," and I catch myself saying them alot.  Some are quite funny, and I have no idea what they are supposed to mean or where they came from.

Name-calling  These are some of the names I remember her calling me or my brother when we were kids:

1.  Snake in the grass

2.  Whatchamadoodle or So-n-So (when she couldn't remember someone's name)

3.  Ol' Hound dog

4.  Monkey's Uncle (Ty's favorite name to call his Daddy)

5.  Big Ol' Witch  (Usually used in the sentence, "Get up, big ol' witch."

6.  Bo Jo (used a lot on Jude and also on Ty)

7.  Lucy Lee  (My personal favorite....She always called me that.  Always.)

Mild Oaths

1.  Confound it.

2.  Bless Patty.

3.  Scorp it.

4.  I'll be John Brown.

Similies

1.  Hot as a six-shooter

2.  High as a cat's back

3.  Crazy as a bessie bug

4.  Queer as a $3 bill

Miscellaneous

1.  Wait just a cotton-pickin' minute.

2.  I wouldn't have young-uns on a Christmas Tree.

3.  You'd worry the horns off a billy goat.

4.  Pray tell me.

5.  Hee-O-T (When something was hot)

6.  Refrigerators were "Iceboxes"

7.  Earrings were "Earbobs"

8.  Your backside was a "Rulie-gooser"???? (weird, I know)

9.  Goody goody gout.  Your shirt tail's out.

Aren't they great?  Did they make you laugh?  Maybe you can use some of these sometime : )

Best Laid Plans

So much for my plans for school on Labor Day.  Ty got an invitation from his Papa to go fishing Monday, and he jumped right on it.  It's a good thing he did too, because they caught 83 fish!  Whoopee!  Fresh fish for supper.  Sure beats the heck out of pizza ;-)

As for the rest of us...well, I got to do fun stuff like mopping.  Yuck!  And yes, the Tool Man did get to work upstairs.  He got the latest problem fixed, and now we are ready to finish painting.  Yea!  TM and I are so ready to have our room back to ourselves.  Lucy woke us up no less than 4 times last night!  TM finally had enough of it and retired to the couch, but I stuck it out.  Geeze...I don't even remember what it's like to sleep 7 consecutive hours.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

The Tool Man's been making like Paul Bunyan around here chopping down trees.  I usually don't advocate tree cutting, but we looked it over and carefully selected a few of the smaller, less desirable trees in our front yard to cut.  We're hoping to open up the front yard for a better view of the house and to let a little more sunlight in for some grass to grow.  But don't worry.  There's still a bunch, and I do mean a bunch, of trees left out there.  If wishes were fishes, I'd hire a professional to come trim away all the lower limbs and damaged wood from the remaining trees, and then I'd add spot lights to accent the beautiful large oaks in our yard.  Next, I'd get a landscaper to plant some azaleas and dogwoods in the understory.  And while we're at it let's have a pool installed, shall we?  Now we're talking!

Thought you might get a kick out of these pictures.  It was such a beautiful day here Sunday.  Not hot at all!  We got outside after church and played around in the yard.  And I don't know why, but this little monkey decided it would be best to play in his whitey tighties.  My little "Undie-clad Hero" doing tricks on the rings.

His dismount.

Daddy helped Lucy on the slide.  Although, like her brother, she'd much rather be trying to walk up the slide than slide down it.  (How do you like her dress?  I made it!)

The chickens enjoyed the day too.  We've been letting them stay out all day everyday.  They love being down in the woods looking for bugs and stuff.  I thought we'd lost them last week though.  Ty and I looked all over the yard for them.  Finally I happened to catch a glimpse of one under our barn.  They were all huddled up under there.  Just chillin'.

Chicken run!

Weekly Wrap Up

Goodness!  It looks like it's nearly been a whole week since I last posted.  I have an excuse though.  My camera's memory card reader has been M.I.A. and my memory card with it.  It seems a little monkey hid it in a doll house.  Wonder who that could have been.  Hmmm....I guess I could have posted without pictures, but let's be honest here people.  You're probably more interested in seeing pictures of the monkeys than in reading my words of wisdom.

Since I haven't gotten to take any new pictures this week, I decided I would go through my archives to see if I have some old photos y'all might like to see.

Found some!

Lucy's 10th, 11th, and 12th month photos.  Betcha thought I forgot to take them.

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months

It seemed like with each passing month it became more and more difficult to get a good shot of her with her doll.  She just wouldn't sit still anymore.  I'd sit her down,  place her doll, and step back to take the picture, but before I could focus, she was coming after me trying to get the camera.

Now, on to current events...

The monkeys are about to be over their illnesses.  Ty's been coughing and battling with bronchitis, and Lucy's been...well,

Snotty.

Sorry, but that's truly the best way to describe it.  And she's got another ear infection.  That makes 4 for her, and that means a trip to the ENT.  Uggh!  But if tubes will benefit her as much as they did Ty then it will totally be worth all the trouble.

Despite all the illness around here, school has been cruising right along.  Even with 4 visits to doctors and dentists this week, we've managed to stay on track...mostly.  We've got one lesson of writing to catch up on, but that shouldn't be too hard to make up.  And maybe I'm being a hard-nose, or too strict, or uncool, or just plain mean, but I think that we'll be having school on Labor Day.  Is that wrong?  I just think that if we have school Monday, then that will give us a spare day so-to-speak that we can "cash-in" whenever the want or need arises.

We've also been doing a little decorating around here.  Ty's been bitten by the Halloween Bug.  It's a little early yet I know, but a couple of days of cooler temperatures has gotten me thinking about fall too.  As sort of an incentive the other day, I promised him he could get down the Halloween decorations.  He was so excited to see his jack-o-lanterns and spiders.  Then he found the faux spider webs and got busy decorating his room.  It's looking quite spooky in there!  It's so funny to watch him when he's in his decorating moods.  He bans me from his room while he's working, then he calls me in to view his work.  This time he let me help him, though.  Those spider webs can be tricky!  (No pun intended.)

P.S.  Have I got some good news!  The Tool Man has promised that work will be done on the upstairs Monday.  He's bringing in some reinforcements.  If they can just get the trimwork complete up there, then we can finish painting and lay the carpet.  It's so close I can taste it!  Many of you have been asking about how things are looking upstairs.  Maybe I can take some pictures up there this weekend to show y'all.