Day 171: Happy Camper?

We took Jon camping as part of his Father's Day gift. It IS a gift, since I'm not much of an outdoorsy girl. Too many bugs for my comfort! For our first trip in the new-to-us pop-up camper, we chose a state park about 30 minutes away so if we forgot something it wouldn't be a strain to get it. That was a good choice, because Saturday turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far, and we ended up coming home for a few hours to swim in the pool, then going back to the campsite. The little girls had a fun time even though we forgot to bring their scooters. Here they are by the sign for a short little hike we took.

Day 170: Water, Water Everywhere!

This afternoon I went outside to clean the cooler in preparation for our camping trip and couldn't get much water pressure in the hose. When I looked behind me at the road it was easy to see why. A water main broke outside our subdivision and we had several inches of standing water in the road! It took several hours to fix but by then we were gone camping. I did hear that some of my neighbors had water damage inside their homes caused by water shooting up through washing machines and dishwashers.

Day 169: Fit for a Princess!

When we were at Disney World, Quinn admired the hairdos she saw on little girls who had visited the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Bootique. She asked me if I could make her hair look like that, so I gave it my best shot. Her hair is so short that I couldn't put it on top of her head like the ones we'd seen, but it was still very cute in the back. Just add a tiny tiara and she's ready to go!

Day 101: Houseguests, the Human Kind This Time

We have some more Adams at our house for a visit. Jon's brother and his family are here for a few days and we are having a great time. We don't get to see each other often enough since they live in Wisconsin, about 14 hours away. Jon and his brother Ed give me great hope for my girls. If Jon and Ed can fight the way they say they did when they were kids, yet grow up to be so close, I can hold out hope that Karis and Quinn will one day be friends. Here's Ed checking out the Wii. I like to say I married the younger and better looking brother. Love ya, Ed!

Day 100: Hannah Montana!

Woohoo! The new Hannah Montana movie opened today! I took the girls to see it this afternoon and yes, I am not ashamed to admit that I LIKED it! Something about the whole phenomenon reminds me of being a kid and it feels good. After the movie I asked Karis and Harper to rate it on a scale of 1-10. Karis said 100. Harper said "infinity". I think they liked it too. :-)

Day 99: Backyard Egg Hunt

Out of the kindness of her heart, Dana used her own money to buy candy and stuff some plastic eggs for Karis, Harper and Quinn to find. We hid them then let the girls loose to look for them. Unfortunately it didn't turn out to be the fun experience we had hoped for. Maybe they were tired or hungry or overexcited, but there was a lot of whining and complaining about who found the most and who didn't like the candy in the eggs, etc. Not much fun for anybody, especially the sister who bought all the candy. :-( Here's Karis before the whinestorm broke.

Day 98: More Gardening

I probably got ahead of myself by planting my "garden" last weekend. I did take a shortcut by buying a tomato plant with not only blooms on it, but actual green tomatoes. Yeah baby! I'll be eating fresh tomatoes very very soon. Now the bad news is that you may notice this picture is taken indoor. That's because there is a freeze warning tonight. In fact all my plants are hiding out in the breakfast area for tonight.

Day 97: Another Houseguest

Would you believe that we have yet another feline houseguest? Dana's boyfriend James recently moved back to Ohio to finish his education but he couldn't take his cat with him, so she's staying with us for a year or so. She's a sweet kitty and likes to have her tummy scratched, kind of like a dog. You can pet her head and she'll roll over for you to scratch her belly. Funny little thing. Dana named her Zarah although I'm campaigning for another name. I'm not winning at the moment.

Day 96: Esther

We (as in the women of my church) started a new Bible study today. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have never done a whole Beth Moore study, at least not a whole one. I'm excited to get into this one because I've seen Beth Moore on video and she is hilarious! And Esther is a book that I haven't really ever read so it will be interesting to dig into it and see what's there.

Day 95: Garden Oddity

I first noticed this tulip last year. We have a clump of them in our landscaping beside the house but this one seems to have separated from the pack and migrated into a shrub. It's lovely, sticking its little head out of the shrubbery, isn't it?

Day 94: Egg Drop

LifeSong Church, where we belong, has a tendency to push the envelope on what might be considered "traditional" church activities. Our Easter Egg hunt today was no exception. In addition to hiding the eggs on the church lawn, we had a ultralight aircraft fly over and drop a bunch of little eggs with tiny parachutes attached. Sadly, the pilot overshot the target and most of them ended up in the woods. It was a memorable sight though! This is a picture I took of Q reaching for Dana's hand. I don't know what it is about the photo that I like, but I just love it.

Day 93: Going to See Big Eddie

Day trip! Today we headed down to Columbia to the EdVenture museum. The centerpiece of EdVenture is a huge structure made to look like a boy, and his name is Eddie. Quinn is scared of him but Karis loves to climb inside him and check out his brain, heart and stomach. We spent the most time in the music room where kids can compose and play back their own piano pieces. I took this one of Karis so that when she gets famous one day I can prove that I knew her "when".

Day 92: The Big Gray Rat

That's what Dana calls Chuck E. Cheese. We dropped some $$ at CEC this afternoon in an effort to keep the girls occupied. Spring Break sounds like a nice idea but by day 3 or 4 they are starting to get bored with each other. This is Karis enjoying the virtual roller coaster there, but her very favorite thing was getting the fake ID cards that identified her as a cheerleader, CSI agent, actress, etc. We have quite a collection!

Day 91: Told You I'd Do It!

If you think I'm a little bit hair-obsessed, you're right. I can't do much about my wrinkles, and my makeup skills are minimal at best, but hair - that I can do. I've often said that the only reason I ever let my hair get any length at all to it is so I can cut it off and enjoy having more than an inch removed at a time. And I love a good razor cut! There's just something about that razor slicing through my hair that feels downright rebellious! I've been going to the same hairdresser for almost three years now and she knows what I like whether I can express it coherently or not. I don't like to wait for an appointment - when I decide I want a haircut I want it now. Laura is very good about getting me in on the same day and that's probably why I've stuck with her, considering that in the past I've been very fickle about who cuts my hair.

I've signed up to start subbing at the school and I needed something more low maintenance, or at least that's what I told myself. I think the truth is I just like to change things up.

Day 90: Mowing Season!

It's that time again! Mowing season has begun in South Carolina. Jon came home from work, changed his clothes and started up the mower. There are some people in our neighborhood who take their lawns very seriously - I bet you know someone like that. Jon wishes our lawn were prettier but there's a limit to the time and money we'll spend on it. So here's Jon mowing the lawn. Yes, ladies, he's all mine, black socks included. Don't be jealous!

Day 89: Buh-Bye Hair!

Karis' sensory problems make it hard to take care of her hair. The slightest tangle hurts like crazy, making her what we used to call "tender-headed". If she would let me braid it or something to keep it from swinging around and tangling, it would be different, but she doesn't like it put up. Her hair has the texture of cotton candy and gets ratty at the drop of a hat. She and I agreed a few weeks ago that she would get a haircut and she told me she wanted to wait til Spring Break. Today is the first day of Spring Break, so off to SnipIts we went! Here's the after picture. I think she looks adorable, and now she can brush her own hair in the morning before school. I think she ended up losing about 5 inches of hair!

Day 88: On the Road Again

We were supposed to leave for Knoxville yesterday but after our PT rehearsal on Wednesday when we learned a new song for Sunday, I didn't have the nerve to tell Larry I wouldn't be there Sunday morning. Instead we decided to leave after the music, drive like crazy to get to my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary party, visit with some friends, then drive back home. It was a lot of driving, but it was worth it. I hadn't actually seen my Aunt Frances, Uncle Claude and my cousins in about 10 years. Bad, I know. Anyhow, I wanted to be there for the occasion and we ended up being able to spend a couple of hours with them. After that we went to see our friends Pam and Doug, who fed us all dinner, then we drove back home. We took James with us for the ride. I took my camera and didn't pull it out of the case until we stopped at a rest stop in North Carolina on the way home. How sad!

Day 87: Excalibur Will Never Be the Same

I got together with the Praise Team girls today to rehearse for tomorrow morning's worship service. Larry (the Worship Pastor) wasn't there because we (the PT) were the ones who called the rehearsal, not him. We give him a hard time about his wireless microphone because he's a little protective of it and anytime one of us gets to hold it (or, heaven forbid, use it) we make a big deal of it. We've been joking around about be-dazzling it one day, just for fun. Well, today someone brought some sequins and a couple of feather boas, and we decorate the mic and the stand it was on. It was a sight! I don't have pictures of it because I didn't have my camera on hand. In fact the picture of the day was swiped off my friend Amy's facebook page, but she didn't mind.

Day 86: Great Gator!

Every month at Karis' & Quinn's school, each teacher chooses one child from his or her classroom who has shown good character, good behavior or most improvement. This child is named that classroom's Great Gator of the Month, since the school's mascot is a gator. There's a huge assembly once a month where all the Great Gators are recognized. They get a certificate, a cupcake and have their pictures taken. It's really a big deal. Today Karis came home and told me that she was the Great Gator for her class! She was so excited and proud, and rightly so. She told me all about how surprised she was when they called her name and that she didn't even have time to take her backpack off. What a great way to start Spring Break!

Day 85: Spring is on the Way!

It's that time again! I get planting fever around the end of March every year and since the last frost might still be coming, I have to be satisfied with starting seeds indoors. Some of my seeds have sprouted and will need to be transplanted outside soon. Sadly, my husband won't let me dig up the yard so I put my veggies and herbs into containers on the patio. They still produce plenty, though.