Seat Shifting

Believe it or not, Matthew is ready to move into his new front-facing car seat.
What a milestone!

The problem?
No new front-facing car seat.

The solution?
WALMART!

Sunday afternoon, the whole family jumped into the car and headed for Walmart.
Paul and I had car seats on our mind.
Joshua had a new pair of Crocs on his.
Carrie and William? Guitar Hero.
Matthew? All he knows is that when he enters those big electric doors, he will be there awhile. No cart!

So, off we went.

First stop...new car seats!
Yes, Carrie and William, you can go play Guitar Hero.
Yes, Josh, we'll stop to look at Crocs.
Yes, Matthew, Daddy will carry you through the entire store.

O.K. Now it's time to look at those car seats!
The question is...do we get a whole new car seat, or do we get a booster seat for Josh? It's kind of like the question we asked over a year ago...do we get a new crib or do we "kick" Josh out of the crib before the baby comes?

Well, the whole crib thing worked out. He loves the bottom bed of the bunk.
Maybe it would work out just as well for the car seat. It sure would work out well for us...seeing that it would save us over $100!

All it takes is a little salesmanship on our part.

Look at these cool seats, Josh!
You would get to wear the real car seat belt...just like Carrie and William!
Your feet won't fall asleep on long rides anymore, because they won't hang off the seat!
You can use those cute doggy seat belt covers!
Look! This one has a cup holder too!

It has a cup holder?!
Hey, Mom, look at my new car seat!

 

And here's Matthew in his newly acquired front-facing car seat.
He looks so little!

 

Da Boyz...



Da udda boy...

 

Da girl...

 

So, there you have it.
Smiles on faces.
Well, except for Matthew.
His facial expressions these days include those of wonder and amazement. He points and babbles.
But he doesn't cry!
Ahhhh...the sweet sound of success!

Wordless Wednesday..."The Many Faces of Joshua"

Smile and Say Cheese!

We went to The Children's Museum last week.
A long-promised, long-anticipated trip to the museum.
We spent the whole day there...the whole day.

Instead of buying expensive museum food (which we usually do, because I'm lazy when it comes to packing lunches), we decided to pack our own morning snacks and lunches (that's where yesterday's upside-down peanut butter and jelly sandwich ended up too).

Following is what transpired during morning snack time...

I packed banana "puffs" for Matthew and a cheese stick for Joshua.
Somehow, they ended up trading their snacks.

Here's Matthew giving his newly acquired cheese stick a not-so-sure sideways glance.



And here is Joshua checking out the situation to see if his cheese stick has been kindly accepted, while Matthew is trying to decide whether or not to take a bite.



And still trying to decide...



Going for it...going for it...



"Hey Josh, are there any puffs left?"



Here's the funny thing.
As much as he seemed to not like the cheese stick, he couldn't help himself from trying it over and over again...each time making the same "yucky" face.

Another funny thing...
Check out his little pinky finger. It's as if he really doesn't want to even be holding the cheese stick at all.

"I think Mikey will eat it. He eats everything!"
Did I just date myself?

What's a Girl to Do?!

There was a little game that my dad and I used to play.

Before Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder had a name, I suffered from it.
For example, if I turned around in one direction, I would have to turn the other way before being able to continue what I was doing.

Today, I have to cut the fringe off my rugs, because I cannot stand for the fringe to be all messy looking.

Your fringe? That's O.K. Your fringe doesn't bother me. It's my fringe--the fringe that I have to live with--that bothers me.

My OCD? It's not what I would call extreme.
It's really just...a bother.

I have passed some of the tendencies on to my kids, genetically speaking.
Or maybe I should say, I have passed the tendencies on to some of my kids.
Notice the change-in-placement of the word "some."

That's right.
I have a son who does not seem to be bothered by, say, which way the bread on his sandwich is placed.

As I was saying, there was a little game that my dad and I used to play.
And now, I see, I am playing the same game with my son...in reverse fashion.

Picture this.
A mom (me) makes a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her beloved son (Joshua) to take on a trip to the museum.

Suddenly, Joshua begins "messing" with his sandwich.



"What are you doing, Joshua?"
Response?
A smile. Just a smile.



Joshua peels the top bread from the sticky insides of his sandwich, all the while, smiling.



Then, just as quick as you please, he flips the top bread. This causes the top of the bottom bread to be lined up with the bottom of the top bread!
Are you picturing this?!
This sandwich is all backward!

And the crazy thing is, he did it on purpose.
And he is totally enjoying his sandwich this way!

As for me?
It absolutely drives me crazy!



Many moons ago, my dad would do the very same thing.
He would sit there, right in front of me as he was making his sandwich, and with a flourish all his own, he would slap that top bread on upside down.
And smile.

Try as I might to switch it around...sometimes even on the sly...he would catch me and put it back the way he made it.

It became a little game for us.
One that I secretly enjoyed.
And one that I had nearly forgotten until last Thursday morning.



Teasing=Love in our house when I was a little girl.
And apparently, it still does.

Making Some New Memories

May 2, 1993.
That's the day Mom died unexpectedly at the age of 50.
I was 24 and had wedding plans on my mind.
Mom did too.
On June 26, Paul and I were to be married.
Mom and I were in the midst of wedding plan bliss.

May 2, 1993.
My life changed.
May 2 is an icky day. The best part of May 2 for me is when I go to bed. That means that another May 2 is over.

Several weeks ago, I received a post card in the mail from our local greenhouse. May 2, 2009...a container gardening workshop from 9:00 until 11:00.

Wow.
What a great way to spend a May 2 morning. Those morning hours on May 2, 1993 were probably the most difficult hours of my life.
Doing something that Mom absolutely loved sounded like a way to celebrate her life rather than do what I do every year...which is to mourn and brood.
Mom loved to garden. She had a very, very green thumb.
Sadly enough, I did not inherit that green thumb.

This morning, I had so much fun!
I was able to be creative and stick my hands in the dirt and play.
I was able to spend some precious time with two of my most favorite girlfriends...Carrie and Judy.
I was able to remember Mom's life...not her death.



Judy and Carrie putting into practice what we just learned about container gardening.



Here's Miss Creative herself.
Carrie brought a plastic carrier that she thought would make a cute container for her flowers.
Look at the beautiful sun-loving plants she found--especially that spiky one on the right!



Here's Judy with her finished container. It was so pretty! She used such subtle colors and textures. It looked just like something she would create.
Did I mention that Carrie gets her creativity from Judy?



Here's my finished product.
I bought this container years ago because I loved the colors on it.
Now, it's a container that fits in just right on my front porch...meaning that I needed to find some shade-lovers.

 

And Carrie's container.
She found the neatest plants! Look at the one "cascading" over the front of her planter! She did such a great job of choosing and placing her plants.

My favorite, though, are her sunny yellow snapdragons. I love them, because I remember my paternal Grandma making her red snapdragons talk to me by squeezing them.

 

I wasn't the only one who loved Carrie's arrangement.
She won the most votes for "Best Container" and won this season's award-winning rose bush! The fragrance of the rose's blooms is amazing!

I love that she won this rose bush on a day that has such meaning to me.
She will someday be able to dig up her rose bush and move it to her home with her...and remember that special day that we spent together.
That is...if we don't kill it off first. Hopefully, she also inherited my mom's green thumb. :)

Did I mention that she's named after my mom? Carrie is short for Carolyn, my Mom's name.

 

So, it turned out to be a pretty special day.

We got home and found places for our flowers.





Dad called to check in on me.
William and I mowed the yard.
(I have to say here that William has just started weed-eating our yard. What a great job he is doing! He is a quick learner and takes correction and suggestion very well--always with a smile. I'm very proud of him.)
I weeded some of the front flower bed.
We had our Saturday night pizza.

May 2, 2009 is over.
But this year, I wouldn't mind if it had lasted a little bit longer.