Pure Joy!

Skipping Ahead

I decided to skip ahead in time and show you what Colin looks like in his brace. If you're reading this and don't know what happened, let me just tell you briefly that he had a bike accident (not involving a car) and compressed his T4/T5 vertebrae. Eventually I'll catch up on various things that I still haven't had a chance to post, including Ben's birthday.

Colin spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital and left with this $5000 custom brace which he gets to wear until mid-December. Or possibly not quite as long if he's lucky.

Knock, knock! Anybody in there?

One of the hardest things is that Colin can't pick up the kids, wrestle with them etc. I was worried about that but they have been very gentle (mostly) so far. Izzie seems to be particularly conscious of the fact that she can't jump on Daddy anymore. She likes to go over and gently hug Colin's leg or slip her little hand into his.

Izzie knows when she's being cute. Today she climbed into bed with Daddy and snuggle up to his plasticky side. She was quite pleased with herself and happy to pose for a few pictures.

Stroller Races

We (Izzie) found this toy stroller at a yard sale and decided she must have it, along with a little doll that had a shirt but no pants. (Check out the quirky little smile she's giving me in this picture!)

It was cheap enough, so we got it, and after we returned home she and Ben went careening madly around the block. It's actually very nice having both strollers because the toy one is less obnoxious in the house, the real one is nicer outside (these days I use it when we take Ben to the bus stop) and they can each have one, so no need for bickering. For the last week or so Izzie has been loading both dolls into the stroller - sometimes accompanied by a puppy - and wheeling them around the family room proudly saying, "Two babies! Two babies!" She has suddenly started communicating and is making all sorts of demands that must be met. For example the other day she kept asking me to "wash feet, wash feet!" (Hers, not mine, although that would have been funny too.) And then she wanted me to wash the puppy's feet and the doll's feet...

Happy 2nd Birthday Izzie!

Bug Catcher

The kids really enjoyed this bug catcher from Nancy.

They mostly caught things (or various persons around them did) and kept them for a while before letting them go. I think a few went in that were dead to begin with... This particular day we were very excited to have found what we eventually (perhaps even correctly?)identified as a female stag beetle. We read all about its life cycle and then safely released her.

It wasn't too much later that Morely found the bug catcher and that was the end of that.

And if you're wondering, Izzie will pick up any and every bug or critter you point out.

Some Smug Slug

I encountered this little guy one night in the bathroom. I was going to flush him, but then I thought it would be interesting to take his picture... and then by the time I got finished doing that I didn't have the heart to flush him so I carried him outside and flung him as far away as I could. A few nights later Grandma Ann was glad she turned on the light before sitting down, and some smug slug (the same or different?) went for a swirl.
Ben has a book he likes to read called Some Smug Slug, in which a slug makes his way up a slippery slope despite the warnings of the other animals. The slope turns out to be a toad, and the last line in the book is, "Such a succulent slug." This, of course, led Ben to wonder what succulent meant, and since then he has been asking if he can eat some "succulent pickles." I made about 15 jars of dill pickles with dill, cucumbers and garlic from our garden (didn't grow the vinegar or salt!) and I think we're down to about 10 already - even though they're not officially ready until the end of September! Everybody in our family likes them and we can finish a whole jar in one sitting. In fact, Ben would probably eat a whole jar himself if I let him. Maybe he'll have to get pickles in his Christmas stocking like we got when we were little!

All About Ben

Here is some of Ben's work from preschool. They've been doing a unit called "I Like Me."
This is Ben. (The resemblance is obvious, right?) When I went to the parent meeting this month the student's figures were all displayed outside the room. The person who did the bulletin board very thoughtfully put Ben's between the figures of the two friends that he always talks about!



There is some confusion as to whether this was actually drawn by Ben. The day he brought it home he said another student drew it for him! Today he says he drew it.



I asked Ben if there was anything he wanted to say and he said, "Next Wednesday it will be my birthday."

Rhododendron Festival 2009

Warning: this post does not feature any pictures of Ben or Izzie. But it does have Morley.

After our visit in Oklahoma, Grandma came back with us to Tennessee. The journey was blessedly uneventful. No cancellations, reroutes or breakdowns. We even had a nice free snack at the USO while we were waiting.

Then, since we had Grandma at our disposal, we drove up to Roan Mountain during the Rhododendron Festival - just Colin and myself. (And Morley.) I had been waiting expectantly for the rhododendrons to bloom again. Last year - the first summer that I had "the good camera" - I was in Canada and missed it. Yes, I even marked it on my calendar.

The first thing we noticed as we approached the gardens was that it was very, very misty/cloudy. The second thing was that the lookout was already crowded with photographers. I was too shy to shoulder my way in so I surreptitiously took this picture and then we walked around with Morley for a while.

He posed nicely for me.

Look, I'm in a picture! My eyes may or may not be open though.


Since it was so foggy the panoramic views I was hoping to capture were not an option, but I did get some interesting close-ups.







Then we went back by the lookout and all the photographers were gone... but it was still foggy. There are mountains hiding somewhere out there in all the grey.

I took my favorite shot of the day on the way to the parking lot.

Still more...

Throwing some beach balls around in Grandma's living room.
There's a ball coming, but where is it?

Gotta work on that eye-hand coordination.

A snuggle with Grandpa after baths.

One afternoon we went out in the yard to fly a kite. It took us a number of tries, but we finally got it to stay up.

Look really hard and you'll see it - a tiny green speck.

That wraps up the pictures from Oklahoma! Stay tuned as I desperately try to catch up with my posting before Izzie and Ben's birthdays. (Yeah, probably not going to happen.)

More from OK

Here are more of my favorite pictures from Oklahoma.

Playing with waterguns and a waterball in the backyard...




Izzie couldn't pull the trigger without aiming the gun at her face - and I wasn't the only one who found it funny!

Ben was absolutely mad with power when he discovered he could squeeze water out of the ball and into our laps.
He looks innocent here.

Ah, but now he realizes we're hot and tired and are going to sit there and take it.

Still happy in this picture, but not so much when the water got on him...

Oklahoma Parks

With children, it seems you (and they) are always on the lookout for parks. Grandma had a couple good ones in mind so one day we went to Grandma Ann and Patsy's school and tried out the equipment there. Another day we went to this park near Johnie and Nancy's.

Izzie with her shoes off. If she changes clothes as much as a teenager as she does now we are never going to get anywhere on time. Around the house these days she is constantly taking clothes off and putting new ones on. On the plus side she can almost dress herself - she always gets her Crocs on the proper feet, and 90% of the time she can get her underwear on and off without assistance. (At first she kept putting both her feet into one hole and getting very frustrated when she couldn't pull them up!)

Izzie in the plastic bubble.

Ben conquering the monkey bars. Why is it that these things are so scary now? They weren't that scary when I was the one climbing all over them!

After some hard playing Izzie enjoys a snuggle with Grandma.

Chickens and Cows

One of the highlights of the Oklahoma trip was going to Johnie and Nancy's and feeding Buckethead and the chickens. Buckethead, if you are wondering, is a cow.
Both the kids fed the chickens, and Ben very carefully gathered some eggs.

Buckethead was pretty frisky - he certainly had more energy than any of us in the heat!

Nancy had snacks and sidewalk chalk for the kids to play with. She always has some little surprise that the kids just love. Unforunately I'm still trying to wean Izzie off her habit of eating markers, crayons and chalk.

Later on in the evening Izzie, who will try on anyone's shoes, discovered a pair of boots in the garage - and that provided the rest of the fun for the evening!


Who knew a pair of rubber boots could be so much fun?

And here's our little Cinderella getting her own shoes put back on when the fun had to come to an end.