Tuesday, September 30, 2014

My cohort in crime

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So, we had another quiet day.  That was nice, rather unplanned, as we were not supposed to be home alone all day.  But it was good, I took advantage of both days to clear out all the 2T clothes from Sam's closet, then today, put all the 3T stuff in.  It just might be time to pull all of Jacob's 12 month clothes now too.  

Someone joins me for a little light reading.   
You'd think he owns the joint. 

Monday, September 29, 2014

View Halloo

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It was a lovely Monday outside, even though it felt extra rough all day, since we were up and out so late the day before.  I was relieved our plans were cancelled so Jake and I could just hang out at home. But here's a snapshot or two from my day, my view haloo.


This is the view off my front porch.  Leaves are beginning to change.  
Fall is here. 


What color do you think this is? 
Is it purple, is it blue?  
Well, sometime soon you'll have to come to our house and find out, because we decided to finally paint the front door.  The house trim has been au natural since we moved in, so we're finally going to do something about it.  We did dark green at the old house, so we wanted something different here.  We couldn't decide between purple for Brownsburg Bulldogs, or Blue for Butler Bulldogs.  So we're going to go for a little something in between.  :)  I'm pretty excited, it's going to look really snazzy!  


Mr. Egg Nostrils. 
Photobomb by Chris. 
But it seems like I can barely get anything done around here with these little goofi.  
And that's ok.  
So that's what's cooking in my neighborhood.  

Playing like a Grownup!

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A long time ago, my Dad colored his hair blue for a Colts game.  I want to say it was like 10 years ago.  And when I saw the pictures, I loved it.  I made a promise to myself, when I go to a Colts Game, I will dye my hair blue!  The thought of me going to a Colts game was radical.  And practically impossible that it would ever happen.  Right up there with me getting a tattoo when Butler wins the NCAA tournament. Ha!  So anyway, my father called last weekend, and invited me to a Colts game!  So there it was, I needed blue hair.  My stepmom is a Pro at dying hair blue by now, so I zipped down there to get my hair dyed.  Well, as it turns out, dying dark hair doesn't turn out quite as awesomely as dying my dad's shock white hair.  So I do not glow blue like he does.  However, since the hair at the edge of my scalp and eyebrows is pretty light still, it picked up the blue pretty well.  We learned also that while blue spray dye works great on Daddy, I require the gel.  And doing gel on eyebrows works a ton better than the spray.



Here are Daddy and I ready to go! 


I promised Eric I would take a selfie of Daddy and I.  
You can tell we're related, because of the eyebrows, of course. ;) 

My Dad won the honor of being invited to participate in the Team's entry to the field.
They call it the Tunnel Club.  He even got a pin.  
Consequently, we had to be there an hour before tip, err, kickoff. 
We had lunch at the Club, just outside the area where their seats are, and I got the biggest roast beef sandwich I've ever had in my life.  Well, it was a hunk of prime rib, so yeah, it was Serious.  
We walked into the dome, and the sun was shining, it was a sea of blue and white, so clean, clear and beautiful.  I didn't think it would be that beautiful.  My eyes got teary.  What an honor.  I know you all probably think I'm a sap for being moved to tears just walking in to a football game.  I'm sure a lot of folks take that beauty for granted.  Not me.  It was a Gift, one I really appreciated. 


We got there in plenty of time to watch the Team practice.  
They even did a pre-game huddle; it looked like they were praying. 
I'd like to Think they were Praying. 


This is the team entrance.  How's that for an Entrance, to enter through the mouth of a giant snorting horse?!  And how beautiful is that sea of blue?!


Zooming in, my father and the rest of the tunnel club, he's the 5th guy under the goal right under the horseshoe.  Of course, I could also say, he's the guy with the blue hair! 


When the team began to enter, they lit up that Colt thing, and welcomed the team.  
The Tunnel club lined up, Daddy is about the 28 yard line on the border closest to us, just inside the line of shade.  Smart Daddy.  We were warm up there, I imagine it was downright toasty in the sun.  


I've seen this on tv.  But this was my first time seeing this giant beautiful flag in real life.  My Dad was down by the tunnel entrance.  Soldiers held the flag, and a few sang along, but it was breathtaking. So Beautiful. 

So the game went well too.  The Colts were up 20 - 10 at Halftime.  And that's because we were being nice.  The thing about the NFL that I really miss is the Band.  I miss being able to hear the band play during timeouts, or even commercial breaks.  But the halftime, I knew I was going to miss a halftime show most of all.  So, imagine my surprise, when they announced the Hoosier Marching Hundred, the Marching Band from IU.  They did a great show.  They said it was superhero themed, I didn't catch that, but I did dig their finale that ended with Sing,Sing, Sing.  One of my favs. 



Their percussion section rocked; they had great spirit!  
And I kept thinking, that band looks Huge to me.  
I must've been out a while, when 100 bandmembers looks so huge to me. 
Yeah, as they were exiting the field, they announced the Hoosier Marching Hundred has 258 people.  Uh huh.  How about Hoosier Hundreds?


We got a cheesy photo of us against the field, taken by the people behind us, with my little point and shoot.  I didn't bring the beast, because a. Daddy was bringing his, and b.  


Pat McAfee leads the team back in.  They lined up right in front of us, and it looked pretty. 
Pat McAfee is Chris's favorite player, because he was gifted his jersey, which had disappeared for months, until I went on a Mission today, (no small task actually) and found it.  Whew! So the world is once again safe. But I can see why Chris likes him so much, he's becoming one of my favorites too. 

While I was at the game, my husband called me, which I had texted (yes I can actually text, he changed our plan a while back, but do so only when there's no way I would be able to hear a call, like say if I were at an NFL football game) that we had been invited to a Wine Tasting with my brother in law.  Child care provided.  Say what?!  Wine and no kids!?! Sign me up!  

Oh wait, do they care that I'm blue?  I did not think I'd have enough time to wash the blue out of my hair, I had an epic amount of product in there, right up there with my wedding day. So Blue Eyebrows were headed to a fancy wine tasting.  


We went down to Mallow Run in Bargarsville.  And sampled.   My brother-in-law had won a wine tasting for friends at a silent auction, and a couple coworkers had been unable to make it, so we got our last minute invite.  Score!  They had a dry section and a sweet section.  I stayed sweet, and it was Good! And I couldn't tell you how long it had been since we had a kidless date with my inlaws.  Oh happy day.  I think I chatted with them more in 20 minutes than I had in months! 


And did I mention the wine was Verra Nice?  
Yes, it was yummy.  

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Ready to Party!

269/365

We had a remarkably productive day yesterday.  I cleaned up the kitchen.  The boys all did some yard work.  Daddy even let Chris and Sam take turns sitting in his lap on the tractor around the yard, while Jake and I slept.  We got to have lunch with my Dad.  He invited me to a the Colts Game today.  It's my first time.  I'm so excited, I  can't stand it.  I've lived in this town most of my life, and I've never been to a game before.  I may not know much about football, sure I still call it Tip instead of Kick-off, but I've got Team Spirit!


And I have 3 sons, I'm going to have to learn about sports.  
Luckily my sweetboys were excited to be helpers yesterday!  


Sam helped me in the kitchen. We made homemade sugar cream pies.  
It was Grandpa's 65th Birthday!  


They painted their own watercolor cards.  
Which they promptly forgot to make sure he took home.  
That's all right, I love having their artwork around. 


The boys helped Daddy grill out a tubed meat extravaganza, Johnsonville brats and Sahlen's hot dogs.  Nothing but the best. 


Sam gave his picture to Grandpa, but while we were eating, it got set down and left behind.  
I love that Sam has found his artsy side. 


FYI, if you ever make a sugar cream pie, and try to put candles in it, don't try to put them in the middle. ;)  They do much better leaning on the crust! 


Happy Birthday Grandpa!!



Yeah, we're silly.  
But we were happy to be the only Fam in town to continue spoiling Grandpa for this big birthday.



In addition, this week, my initial jamberry application hit 2 weeks old, and started to disintegrate.  I lost the pinky nails, and they were shipping and peeling.  So I removed them with lemon oil.  And let them set a few days. I'm having a Jamberry party this coming Friday, and wanted to put something new on.  But being without color on my nails was actually making me a bit twitchy.  


So in addition to my other experiments yesterday, I tried the retired Blue Sparkle nails I got last month from my friend Lori.  We're starting a nail party tomorrow on fb that will culminate with a house party here on Friday.  Plus the blue was extra spiffy because I gotta have nail spirit for the game today too! 


Saturday, September 27, 2014

Bubbles!

268/365


We broke out Bubbles in Kindermusik class on Friday.  
I saw her break out that contraption, and knew I was going to have to break out my camera.  I had the point and shoot with me, so I captured Jake's reaction.  He was like, "What the heck?!"  He does not like change, and anything new and different gets the shitty kitty look from him.  He was very apprehensive about the bubbles.


He did eventually warm up to the bubbles, and try and stomp them a bit.  
He had a great time with the bubbles, and I did, watching him! 




Eczema Fest

267/365

I had written Amy Eczema Fest on the calendar for Thursday.  Eric saw that and asked me, "Does that say Eczema Fest?"  Why yes, yes it does.  It did not occur to him that Eczema would be the sort of reason to have a Fest.  There is not much reason to party when you have it, and even less so when your loved one has it.  Exactly.  So my friend Amy and I decided to have a little Oily Fest to whip up some things that we could try to use to Combat it.  Jacob and Sam both get Eczema in the winter, and Jake is already getting some rough spots on his belly and leg and it's only September.  Some folks are predicting another Nasty Winter, I'm glad I'll be armed with my oils, and my oily goodies.


I was a little overwhelmed at my first Eczema recipe.  I called for Whipping up the Coconut oil.  
How do you whip it?  In a blender?  By hand?  With a stand mixer? I didn't know.  So we improvised.  Our first recipe called for 1/3 cup of Shea Butter, 1/4 of coconut oil, and 2 oz almond oil.  We didn't have almond oil, but I did have Sunflower oil.  We were supposed to melt the solids, which I did in the microwave.  And then we incorporated the oils, and I put them on the Kitchenaid.  They were still pretty warm, so to cool them, we put the metal bowl in the fridge for 1/2 hour while we continued to work.  1/2 hour later, it was chilly, but not solid.  I turned on the mixer, but nothing happened.  So then I decided it needed to be cooler, so I put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.  That did the trick, it solidified Right Up!  So we added our oils, 25 drops each of Melrose, Lavender, and Frankincense.  It smells nice, not overwhelming of one scent or another. But it didn't want to whip, stuck to the beater.  So I chiseled it off, and whipped it up by hand.  My warm hand and chest on the bottom of the metallic bowl, warmed it to moving, but not so hot as to melt it entirely.  It stirred up very nicely, to a nice pourable liquid.  I split it between a couple of baby food jars, and called it done.   This stuff has the most luxurious buttery texture.  It's a lotion, or a cream, depending on your room temp.  But for me, it's "like butta".


Then Amy found another recipe for another cream that used straight Melaleuca (tea tree).  Mine used Melrose, which has Melaleuca, Rosemary, and Clove.  This one was much easier using just coconut oil, with simply 15 drops each of Melaleuca, Lavender, and Frankincense in 1/2 cup of coconut oil.  And I divided that between a couple of jars.  We started talking about what other oils we had, and what we might want to use.  I mentioned that I had wanted to make sunscreen a while back, but I was iffy as to whether or not I would need it now.  She mentioned getting sunburned while going apple picking. Yes, the season is still strong enough for us white girls, that I should.  We perused some recipes but in the end decided to make up our own.  I took 5 mL rollons and added 10 drops of Carrot Seed oil,  which has a natural spf of like 30-40 but smells Foul,  so we added 15 drops of Lavender, and 5 of Roman Chamomile to it, and filled the rest with Sunflower Oil.  I can't wait for a nice outdoor day to use it.  Bring on the extreme weather, I'm Ready! 

Wacky Wednesday

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It was Hat Day at school on Wednesday.  


The boys picked out their own hats. Chris picked his knight costume helmet.  And Sam initially picked his Club Med hat, but I thought he might like my old green 'cool' hat from college.  It looked pretty adorable on him. So Jake, literally, took off with Sam's green Club Med hat.  


They are loving being able to participate in Spirit Week at school.  

I got a special treat today too.  Sam's class was working on a special project on apples.  They had volunteers bring in sliced apples: red, green, and yellow, to vote which the kindergarten class liked better.  They've been learning all about apples this week.  I brought in red, and green.  But I didn't want them to get all brown and nasty, so instead I brought them in, Just in time to have lunch at school with Sam.  He was so surprised.  I made his day.  It's the second time this year I have gotten to come visit.  That's just the kind of thing I love about this age.  They love when you come help out with their class, and it's the Best Thing all day to have lunch.  It's an Honor that all the kids want, he got to pick 2 friends to sit with us at the special reserved tables they have for "Brown students and their guests."  It was the height of his day that I came to school and had lunch with him and some friends.  Mine too actually.  Turns out Jacob really loves school lunches too, he kept snagging things off my plate.  After lunch, Sam want to recess, and we hit the road.  


But on our way out, I stopped off to say Goodbye to him by the playground.  
He came over to give me a cheesy Goodbye Grin and Smooch for the road.  
I really love their school.  

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Fall Apart, in my Backyard

265/365

This morning was a Beautiful one.  Actually, the whole day was gorgeous.  One of those beautiful early fall days, when it's nice and cool, not a cloud in the sky.  The sun is bright and shining.  


Just after the boys went off to school, I had to step outside and snap a couple pictures. 
I had not shot in manual in ages.  And although it was a little tricky with the sun in my view, but I wanted it there.


Beautiful light coming through the trees.  And steam coming off the pond behind our house.


Can you see the droplets of dew on the grass?  
Fall is here! 


If I was sacked out in my hammock, this would have been my view, as the trees start to change.


This would be my favorite, a look straight up at the base of our sycamore.  
Yes, Fall is Here! 

Monday, September 22, 2014

Some Cheese Please?

264/365

It's fall.  It's apple season.  Time to break out the Red Hot applesauce.  A friend introduced me to it, so simple, when you make homemade applesauce, while it's simmering, toss in some red hots, you know, the cinnamon candies.  They melt and infuse the applesauce with sweet cinnamony goodness.


Since it's fall, I broke it out and gave some to Jacob to try. 
I like it best with a side of cottage cheese.  


Initially, he was a little hot fruit about it.  
But he decided that he really liked it.  In fact, he ate half my snack! 


I kept trying to take his picture of him putting this on his head.

This was a floor duster thing, it had a battery operated ball that would roll around in the cage, and there were swiffer like pads that would stick to it.  We could turn it on, and it would roll around the house, and theoretically clean it.  But it always got stuck in the dining room.  And now the kids have long since lost the ball. And I have no idea where the cleaning pads are.  So I just hid it in the dining room, where it liked to live anyway.  But Jacob has found it, and decided it makes a great hat.  I thought that was pretty cheesy too.


He was in rare form today.  He's Mommy's little goofus.  

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Want some popcorn?

263/365


I was so proud of Christopher today.  This afternoon, he went out with some other members of his Cub Scout Pack to go sell popcorn out front of one of our local video stores.  It's the first weekend of popcorn sales, and I picked up his uniform on Friday.  He was so excited to receive it.  He couldn't wait to go wear it.  If he sells 30 items, then he gets 1 week of camp for free.  60 items gets him a week of camp AND his dues paid for next year!  He got his face painted at lunch, but he still is the most adorable Wolf Cub I've ever seen.  Eric tells me that all the levels of Cub Scout are based on characters from The Jungle Book - tiger, bear, wolf.  Cool.  He is really excited about Scouts.  He sat and read his new handbook for an hour and a half this weekend.  And he even managed to sell a couple packages of popcorn too!  

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Taking Pictures of Sweetboys

262/365

I know you know, my favorite photographs to make are those of flowers, and sweetboys.


This was over breakfast this morning.  
Jacob was going for big brother's straw cup.  And got it.  And drank from it.  
So it's time he's got his own! 


Someone is rather proud of himself for working his own straw cup. 
Granted, he still can make a heap big mess, but he has a lot of fun with it.  


Apparently, yesterday was Police day at school, so Sam came home with a different badge.  So he decided he needed to make another hat just like he made Chris's firefighter hat yesterday.  Rather adorable.  And I'm LOVING this artistic streak he's discovering within himself.  We had such a hard time finding his artsy side.  



In fact, he asked nicely if he could borrow my camera today. 
I let him.  He took this picture of Christopher.  


And this one.  He may need a bit more practice.  But he was super excited that I let him try. 
But photography is an art.  And I already know Christopher has a good eye.  Maybe they all will, just like Ma, just like Opa.  


Then Christopher asked to borrow my camera.  He has a good eye for the art of photography. 
This was his 'selfie'.  


 Then Chris came out and snapped a picture of Sam taking a picture of Chris.  Follow all that?
They were wanting to get started shooting fast and furious, it started to worry me.  


So I took my camera back, and just snapped this little fellow. 

Then we decided to run away for dinner.  Daddy wasn't home, he was fixing Prinny's damage at Amy's house, so I decided to give the boys a special treat, take them out someplace Daddy never would go.  Out for breakfast for dinner!  We rarely have breakfast for dinner (it's just crazy talk after all) and if we do, we certainly don't go out for it, because as Eric would say, we can make it at home.  True.  But sometimes getting a honking pile of pancakes with all the trimmings is just what a boy or a girl needs. And apparently some crazy boys too. 


Jacob was a Huge fan of IHOP's pumpkin pancakes.  And both big boys ate their entire pancake brinner. In fact, Chris needed seconds!  Growing boys need pancakes.  Sometimes a little breaky IS just what we need. Even if it's breakfast for dinner. 

No, I'm Batman

262/365

Chris and Jake just happened to be wearing their Batman shirts yesterday.  Sam complimented them in yellow.  It wasn't prepared.  They are usually dressed for school before I come down with Jake.  


Jacob was playing with his toys when Eric came in the room, and asked me, "Where does he get those wonderful toys?"  I think Jacob asks himself the same question.  

We had a great busy day.  After the big boys got off to school, Jacob and I headed off to Kindermusik class.  He loves the class, even though he is taking a bit of time to warm up.  His favorite parts are swinging, and putting toys away.  (Wish he'd do that one at home.)  
After Kindermusik he and I drove out to the East side to go to the Boy Scout store, where I got to pick up Christopher's new Cub Scout uniform.  Then we had lunch at Panera, and went to visit our friend Amy P who recently moved out that way.  We got to talk, do some Oily playtime, and the kids played.  Jacob was happy, he slept in the car, and we made it home just in time for the big boys to arrive.  

They look a lot alike, Chris and Sam. Good thing they are 7 years apart.  But I just can't resist the Cuteness when they are matching...or in this case almost matching. 



Chris made it to Celebration at school, no darts all week.  And he was nominated for Hoosierific Student in his class by 2 different kids. He didn't win, but this was the first time he was nominated.  I was super proud of him, so I gave him all the goodies I got at the Boy Scout store as a present.  That scout store is NICE. I could go Really Crazy in there for him for Birthday.  I will try to behave myself, and hopefully he can earn himself some store credit, and camp credit by selling boatloads of Cub Scout popcorn.   If you need some, I know someone.  ;)