Smellyann Strikes Again

Train Of Thought

Rob's mom, my dear MIL, recently suggested that we take Jack on a short train ride like Chloë did in September for her 10th birthday trip up to D.C. He is a fan of all things that go, especially if they have wheels and engines an' sech, so she rightly figured he would get a big kick out of it. To get the best prices, we had to go on weekdays, which meant Rob couldn't go along. So, I invited Jenny From the Block and her kids, M & G, along for our train trip to Richmond last week. Here are G and Jack playing Legos in the Newport News train station as we waited for our turn to embark. We got there waaaay early, so there was lots of time for that. Oops. I had counted on lots more traffic.

 

It was a splendid idea. Jack was positively giddy with excitement, and I think I heard the words, "Thanks for taking us on this train trip, Mommy," about 47K times in those coupla days. Not that I got sick of it, mind you. He was a born grump, so to make him really happy is one of my greatest pleasures.

 

Well, we were all pretty excited, truth be told. I'd love to take a cross-country train trip, with sleeper cars and the whole bit, some day. How fun would that be?!

It was hard to keep the kids confined to their seats, so fortunately they were free to get up and walk around, because they all wanted to watch the world go by as the train flew from Newport News to Williamsburg and then our final destination. (It was a very short trip, but the train tickets were cheaper than the gas to drive there, I swear!)

It took us a minute to figure out where to go for the proper bus, and I almost got into a smackdown with a woman at a different stop across the street, who was not listening to what I was telling her while I was busy not listening to what she was telling me. Heh. Eventually we got it sorted out and, thanks to her help and that of the actual bus drivers, we soon (not, more like two hours later) ended up at the hotel I'd gotten super-cheaply on Priceline. Woot!

 

While we waited for the bus, we watched more trains go by. I forget how many cars they counted, but this was a super-duper long one!

The hotel was mostly pretty nice, with respectful and attentive staff, but there were a few snafus, like the fact that they wanted a $50 deposit - which I didn't happen to have - and weren't going to waive the policy even though we'd already paid for the room (Jenny saved the day, thankfully), and the pool being closed for our entire first day, even though that's what the kids really wanted to go do most of all. So when we got in our room, finally, Jenny and the girls played cards on her bed, the boys played Legos some more, and I took a wee nap.

For dinner, we went across the street to the Chick-fil-A, because we wanted to let the kids burn off all their energy in the play place. They made friends with a gorgeous, statuesque young girl who is destined to be a model, from the looks of her. She was down-to-earth, though, and really enjoyed playing with our unsocialized, homeschooled kidlets. ;)

 

Jenny treated all the kids to ice cream after dinner, at the same place. Oh, there, you can see Chloë's necklace from her beau, S, can't you?

Before long, it was time to head back to the hotel and start getting ready for bed. Chloë & M both had "cute" sayings on their jammies, so they were all happy about that and posed for this "I'm Snow Cute as a Kitten" picture together. Then, after they had all brushed teeth, gotten their respective medicines and jammies on and found places to sleep, Miss Jenny read the five of them a bedtime story. It worked like a charm! I timed it: by 9:28 PM, all of them were sleeping soundly. Meanwhile, here it is 0420 right now and my daughters are still wide awake. What is the magic formula? A stricter bedtime routine, and a story. We used to do it. I think we will be starting that again, after this night. Ridiculous!

The following morning, we had a leisurely breakfast in our room (we'd both packed plenty of food) before heading to the finally-reopened pool for what was supposed to be most of the day. Um, hmm, seems they forgot to make it warm and not crank up the air conditioning in the pool room at the same time. We all froze! Even Jenny and I, and we didn't swim! Still, they braved it for as long as they could stand it, petering out one by one to wrap up in towels on the lounge chairs. Sophia's the second-youngest and yet the only one who could really swim. She was pretty dang cute swimming around with the other four hovering around the stairs together!

Oh, a funny: Sophia decided they were going to play spa, and she was giving all of the other kids massages on their chaises when an employee walked through the courtyard where we were. She jokingly asked if she could make an appointment for a massage, too, and Sophia didn't skip a beat before taking over to an imaginary sign and pointing out that it read, "For kids 10 and under only!" Just like that. There was no sign, let alone one saying anything about 10 and under; she's just quick with the humor like that. Love that kid!

To warm up the kids, Jenny decided to take us all next door to the restaurant, which was plenty warm, and treat us to lunch there. The décor was really cool and gave me some ideas...

Since we were in a "fancy" restaurant, M and Jenny decided we had to drink from our cups with our pinky fingers up and speak in British accents. Everyone but grumpy-boy participated, so it was a bit of a giggle-fest there for a minute. We were having a good time - even Jack, though he'd never have admitted it.

 

After lunch, we tried the pool again, but it was still too cold, despite the Engineer's best efforts to warm it up for us. So we went back up to the room, where Sophie and M took a "hot tub" together. M told met they were pretending to be two elbow macaronis cooking in hot water, which I found to be particularly amusing!

For dinner, we had the hotel shuttle drive us sort of across the street to the Steak 'n' Shake for a dinner of, um, ice cream milkshakes. Yup. That's all. Even I got in on that one, knowing full well it would make me sick to my guts. (And it did.) The cool part was I saw a Mattaponi Indian's truck, which I know it was because it said something about "Custalow Landscaping," and that's the last name of pretty much all of the Mattaponi tribe. I tried to find the owner, so s/he could pass a message on to Ol' George for me (remember our field trip to the reservation?), but I couldn't determine who it was. And, you know, I didn't want to assume too much. I did ask one darker-skinned man, but he was from New York and recognized me as a fellow New Yawka by my accent, too. Weird that I still have enough of a Hudson Valley accent to be recognized, though I haven't lived there since I was six! Anyway, blah blah blah.

 

The next day, our shuttle driver drove us to the bus stop we needed, after we checked out at noon. Time to get home again. We waited a while for the bus, so the kids checked out the mushrooms growing all around and had a quick lesson from us moms about different kinds of fungi. Hey, it's always schooltime 'round these parts.

 

Finally, we caught our bus, and no transfers this time. Only, the driver pointed out the wrong place for us to take a "short cut," and it turned out to be a really LONG cut, which wasn't terribly fun with all the baggage we were lugging around. Super annoying. And we couldn't find a bathroom soon enough for poor Sophia, who had a little accident and had to change in a dark stairwell during our trek to the right location. Thank goodness I'd brought a pack of wipes with us to clean her up well!

We eventually made it to the real, newer Richmond Amtrak station, which is actually quite nice. We found a parlor-type room unoccupied, so we claimed it for our rambunctious crew. We had a three-hour wait for our train! There was no place to stow our luggage and go wander around town, and neither of us had the energy to take it with us, so we sat and "needled," while the kids played various games with each other. It worked out okay; we were even eventually joined by a brave college student who we nicknamed "Anime Freak," because, well, that's what his shirt said. Shout out to Anime Freak!

I knit while Jenny crocheted, and then we made our way over to the platform when our train was called. There was another 20 or so minutes of waiting time there, where two elderly women glared at us, sniffed the air repeatedly and generally disapproved of our mere existence. Jenny later sent me this link on Pinterest for those women. Hee. When it was time to board, we lined up the kids between us, with a mom on either end as we'd been doing throughout the journey, and walked past those two snobby women. I couldn't resist. I smiled cheerfully at them and said, loudly, "Thanks for all the disapproving glares!" before marching past them with the rest of the gang. Anime Freak caught up to me and said, "Nice job! I hate people like that." I wonder what side the rest of the travelers were on?

For the rest of the journey home, it was pretty uneventful as the two mommies kept needling and the kids kept needling us to entertain them. Ha. No. So they busied themselves somehow, and we soon reached Newport News once again. Jenny had driven us up there, so as she drove home, I entertained the kids with that "A my name is Alice" game. M really liked that; she and Chloë played it between themselves about three more times while the younger three children dozed and chillaxed.

All in all, it was a pretty swell time. The seven of us survived each other, public transportation, the state capital, and non-child-friendly old maids. Win.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmenting with Mrs. 4444 today!

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Is anyone else shocked it's May already? For Heaven's sake, our pool will be open in 3 weeks already! I can't believe how fast the time is flying. We are so busy all of the time, it's almost hard to keep up with flipping the calendar pages, I swear. Man. I wish I could clap my hands and stop time temporarily, and just... breathe.

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I haven't been here in a few weeks, again, because of our packed schedule. Aside from our usual nutso routines, we've had a billion and one doctors' appointment, and Rob's had an accident that has kept me occupied carting him to those, work, and everywhere else, so... I am off my blog routine again. But! I am here now, and that's what counts, amiriiight?

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If you've ever thought about visiting my town, Virginia Beach, I just wrote this sponsored blog post about many of my favorite places and things to do here. Check it out if you're interested!

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I love this cute picture of Jack eating wings during a mystery shop a couple of days ago.  With the watch and everything, he looks so grown up! For a nine-year-old shrimp, that is. I've been doing lots of mystery shopping again lately to make some much-needed extra fundage. It's fun, but man, all the reports! Ugh.

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I swear, Virginia must be the vanity plate capital of the world. They're so cheap here, after all. Even I have one! I'm going to start taking pictures of the ones that amuse or interest me and posting them as part of my Fragments posts each week (or month, as it were). Can you see this one that I snapped today? It says "RR M8T." Arggghh, Matey! Hee. Do you have vanity plates?

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On Wednesday, the kids took part in the coolest thing. We drove up to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA, to attend a special event: a ham radio chat - which NASA said couldn't be done - with International Space Station Astronaut Donald Pettit! Here, the kids first learned about the early age of exploration, in the times before, during and after Columbus' life, so they could later relate that Age of Exploration to the current Space Exploration.

Then, we migrated over to the closed studio, where we connected with three classes (in New York, Michigan, and Louisiana) and the astronaut in outer space, about 400 km above Earth, over Italy. Selected students were able to ask questions and hear Pettit's answers in real time, and we learned a lot about living aboard the ISS. Did you know it only takes eight minutes to get up there, but two days to transfer into the space station? Wow. I would kill to have that opportunity. Maybe one day they'll take an old fart like me and see what they can do with me. I'll be like the female John Glenn. Anyway, it was really cool, and my kids - especially Jack up there - got a lot out of the experience. Way cool!

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I took Rob in for his Neuro follow-up today, after his mini-stroke scares and subsequent finding of a benign brain tumor back in November. I was hoping for a more thorough check-up than the five minute "How are you? Fine? See you in six months" that he got, but I guess no news is good news. He hasn't had any weird things going on like he did six months ago, even after his accident, so I suppose all is well for now. He'll go back in another six months.

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Also today, I went in for a my regular dental check-up, fully expecting to have two new cavities. My teeth have been ultra-sensitive lately, especially in two places, so I thought fillings were going to be the order of the day, if not a full root canal or some badness. But the diagnosis was surprising: I grind and clench my jaw and teeth so much that it's causing my gums to recede, and my enamel to wear, which is causing the pain and discomfort. The dentist said he'd be happy to sell me a $600 mouth guard, or I can go pick one up at any drug or sporting goods store for five or ten bucks and try that. Hmm. Tough choice. But yay for no new cavities!

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Stay tuned for a post about our train trip up to Richmond last week; we had so much fun in our two short days. I'm so glad MIL suggested it!

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Aren't these newsprint nails so cool?! I am totes going to do this as soon as I find where I put the rubbing alcohol. Hopefully that'll work, since Rob drank all the vodka and stuff. Kidding. There's probably not even a beer in this house. I love this manicure, though. Trés cool.

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And finally, my 10½-year-old, Chloë, has a "boyfriend," S. Yeah. We've reached that stage. They're mad about each other. I even had to go on a ride with them to make sure they didn't kiss!!! WHAT?! She's TEN, FPS. I'm keeping a tight rein on this one and don't let them hold hands or anything, but S did recently give her a necklace in her favorite color, with hearts on it... oh, my word. I'm not ready for this part!

Since Chloë had a photo shoot for her acting and modeling "career" recently, my friend Saritah - S's mom - was joking about, "Great, my son is dating a model. That'll go to his head..." but yeah. He is. Hee.

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Well, I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll be back in a bit with my Aloha Friday question & some more updates from our latest travels and adventures. Ciao for now!

Fin.

Love The Moment in Virginia Beach!

  

Our family moved here to Virginia Beach, Virginia, just over 10 years ago, when we were at the end of my twin pregnancy. We were shipped over in an emergency evacuation from Guam in order to help save the twins' lives, and I had major reservations. As it's right next to Norfolk, which is a major military town (well, now they all are here, including Virginia Beach) and from which my husband had shipped out on several overseas deployments during his Naval career, he didn't much care for the area before we got here. I was excited about the idea of living back in the States, but having no idea what to expect, it was definitely going to be the beginning of a new adventure for Team Odette.

Virginia Beach has turned out to be a fabulous location for many fun experiences for our family. As my husband nears his retirement from the Navy after 20 years of service next year, and we are debating about where to live, the possibility exists that even after 11 years, this family full of wanderlust may remain right here in this area. That's saying quite a lot, for us!

Now, you can go to the Virginia Beach Visitors and Convention Center site and do lots of looking around - and, hopefully, planning - to see what there is to do in our adopted hometown, but I'd love to share some of the things we have done over the years and some more that - yes! we still have left to do. Obviously, since we arrived with a 17-month-old and have had a few children since then (most of you will know already that only one of our twins survived after birth, so we now have three living children aged 10 and under), this will be pretty kid-centric. Rest assured, if you're sans children, there is still plenty to do - or not do - in this beautiful city, the largest in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Click here to start your exploration!

Obviously, no post about Virginia Beach would be complete without a thorough mention of our miles and miles of beautiful Atlantic oceanfront. With a husband in the Navy, a wife who was a marine biologist pre-marriage, and three water-lovin' babies, the Oceanfront is a big draw for us. The beach is gorgeous, and the water temperatures are comfortable for the traditional swimming months of the year, with manageable waves for the little ones most of the time. (And there are plenty of lifeguards and notifications for hazardous conditions to keep us all safe.) The area boasts a long boardwalk, complete with all the kitschy shops, skyscraping hotels, and local seafood restaurants you would expect to find in a beach town.

These "no swearing" signs are a common sight near the beach, in an effort to keep our town family-friendly. I get a big kick out of them!

There's a long pier for fishing and crabbing - unbelievably, we still haven't done that, but it's on this year's "must do" list - and stores aplenty for anything you might have forgotten. If you get tired of the beach (you nut, you!), there are other things to do along the beach and nearby streets, like several miniature golf courses, a small rides-and-games miniature amusement park, and whole-family bike rentals scattered around the coast. If I've left anything off this list that you would want to do, drop me a comment and I'll be sure to let you know whether that's available, too. I know there's a great nightlife scene down there as well, but with three children, it's not a huge priority for us at this stage in the game, so I can't attest to the latest and greatest venues. One fun (and free!) favorite, though: during the warmer months, the city brings in a menagerie of entertainment acts from musicians to comedians to buskers of all kinds and positions them along Atlantic Avenue for everyone's pleasure. Oh, my gosh, I'm thinking of about 57 more fun things about the Oceanfront and could make this entire post about just that, it's so fun-filled. But there is so, sooo much more to this city, that it wouldn't be doing it justice if I didn't move on. And so I shall.

 

Another favorite area of ours is in the southern portion of the city, Pungo. It's where farmer upon farmer grows u-pick strawberry fields and the home of the annual Strawberry Festival, where the sweet fruit is made into every dessert, drink and concoction you can imagine. There are rides, games, and plenty of other fun things to do during the festival, too, but if you miss it, Pungo boasts a great pizza-and-ice cream joint, aptly named Pungo Pizza, that's a great place to stop when you're hot and tired from grabbing bucketsful of red, juicy berries!

One of my favorite destinations is at the corner of Dam Neck and Princess Anne Roads: the Virginia Beach Farmer's Market. There are plenty of local farmers with booths there, so if you're environmentally conscious and are trying to eat locally-grown, often organic food, this is your go-to place to shop. Virginia Garden is even an all-organic grocery store at the Market, and the owner, Michelle, could not be more helpful and informative if you're newly embarking on your organic journey. Her shop boasts food from Virginia's own Polyface Farms, which you may or may not know as the farm of Joel Salatin, the highly articulate farmer featured in the must-see documentary, Food, Inc. (And that $10 glass jug of apple cider at the store is totally worth it, by the by.) Love seafood? Visit Uncle Chuck's stand - all the fish, shellfish and more is freshly caught and is procured by Uncle Chuck himself. Take it from me - do NOT miss getting a 4-pack or two of his made-by-hand crabcakes. They are absolutely the best, and believe me, I have tried a heckuva lot of them in my 35 years on this planet! (Plus he's just a really awesome guy, so visit him even if you're not a seafood person. I love the dude.) The Farmer's Market has bakeries, butcheries, gardening shops, a sweets shoppe, and even live music on (I think) Friday nights. I love the place and would go every week if I could!

Hunt Club Farm is another one of my family's favorite places to go, especially in October when it's time to pick out one of these big, fat pumpkins for our front porch. If you go then, you'll also be able to visit the petting farm, let the kids loose in a gigantic pile of hay, ride some rides, eat candied apples, shop locally grown produce and gifts and - my personal favorite - take a hayride around the large property. Fall is not the only time to visit, though - my readers will know we've visited the Winter Wonderland in December, which is loads of fun; you can have a birthday party with pony rides and the whole bit, and they're now doing fun Springtime events like Easter egg hunts an' such, too. It's a great place to go!

A post about Virginia Beach would not be complete without mention of the recently (within the past five years or so) made-over Town Center, which is conveniently located just five minutes from our abode. We go there often and even did our 2011 Christmas card pictures at this very fountain! There are, I think literally, a billion different kinds of restaurants, from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to sushi to ice cream parlors and everything in between, nestled among every other kind of shop you can think of. In fact, the only two things in Virginia Beach that we don't have (yet) that I'd like to see are Staples and Whole Foods - but they'll come in time, I know! Anyway... Town Center is fun to walk around, "see and be seen," and get your share of gustatory delights. Don't miss Confetti, an ice cream stop. Trust.

 

Another fun place to visit for kids from 1 to 101 is the Virginia Aquarium, on General Booth Blvd just south of the Oceanfront area. There is so much to see and do there, you'll need to make a full day of it. They have an IMAX screen, lots of exhibits, a gift shop, and the coolest walking trail between the two sections of the Aquarium. You can go from there on whale- and dolphin-watching boat tours, and that there is another on our yet-to-do list before we leave this fun town!



Right next to the Aquarium is this guy, Hugh Mongous, the giant ape who is the mascot for Ocean Breeze Waterpark. Of course we have a waterpark, right?! It's on the smaller side compared to some other venues we've been to, including Water Country USA located an hour north in Williamsburg, but it has everything you could possibly want to spend a full day in the sun and water: a kiddie area, wave pool, slides a-plenty, and so much to eat. There's an arcade, Dip'n'Dots, candy shop, gift shop, locker and tube rentals, and more. We've gone there many times, and there's still something new to do every year when we go. Don't forget the sunscreen and flip-flops!

Another site we're lucky to have just a few minutes from our home is Mount Trashmore Park, and yes, that's its real name (it was built on a landfill but is completely safe). Mt. Trashmore is just one of many beautiful parks in this city, but it's definitely a favorite of ours. The brandy-new Kids' Cove area, above, is not just a small reason for that. The kids could literally get lost in there for hours while you either chase them around or sit and knit, knowing they'll make it back to you when they're hungry/thirsty/doing the potty dance...! I usually do the former for about five minutes and then give up and do the latter. Anyhoo, besides the Kids' Cove, there is a skate park there, plenty of playground equipment and picnic locations, and a huge "mountain" to run around on, fly kites on, and of course - if you're a kid at heart - roll down when you're finished. My favorite thing to do there is go the annual Independence Day party, which is huge. Huge. Click here for more fun things to do in the Virginia Beach Parks & Rec system, because you'll want to visit other places like Red Wing Park, Woodstock Park, City View Park... and some of our many Rec Centers, as well. I could go on and on!

Are you a history buff? Still on our to-do list while we're here is visit the Francis Land House, above, the Adam Thoroughgood House, and the many other historical sites in town that you can read about here. I can't profess my love for these places just yet, because we still haven't been there! It's high on the priority list, too, though.

Have a thing for lighthouses? Then you'll definitely want to drive north from the Oceanfront and hit up Fort Story. Yes, it's a military base, but you can get onboard to go exploring the fully-accessible new lighthouse, above right, the beach there, and more. I hear tell that there's plenty of dolphin activity down at the waterfront, but I've yet to see that for myself. Mark that down on my to-do list!

And finally, I have to mention Chesapeake Beach, aka "Chick's Beach," a lesser-known, out-of-the-way, but totally cool "locals'" beach in town. The waves are much more mild, and it's far less populated during the summer, so it's perfect for those looking for a quieter, more chill experience at the beach. It's wonderful for kids who don't like to be knocked around by ocean swells, like my two older kiddos. There are some great local restaurants in the area, too, so it's definitely worth checking out.

There is plenty more to this great town, and also it's a wonderful jumping-off point to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Eastern Shore, Colonial Williamsburg, and much more. If we do end up leaving this area, you can be sure we'll be back to visit for more reasons than just the many friends we've made here. Virginia Beach. Love the Moment!

Be sure to click here to "like" Virginia Beach - Live The Life on Facebook:

{I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Virginia Beach blogging program. For more information on how you can participate, click here.}

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you've got bits & pieces rattling around in the ol' noggin to share with Mrs. 4444 and friends today! I have quite a few, so take a load off and stay awhile, won't you?

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I've got new news, so pop on over to this post if you want to know what big changes are afoot in my (and my older daughter's) lives!

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Likewise, I'd love your input on my Aloha Friday question for this week, which is here! Let me know if you have an AF post this week, too, so I can be sure to check it out!

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I've been playing around with the new Jafra color collection lately, so I'm experimenting with some new looks instead of my usual standby, which is closest to the bottom right in this collage. Which do you like best?

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Chloë, my oldest, was looking particularly adorable today, so I snapped this photo of her and then played around with it in Picasa by Google. I can't claim credit for those curls, which she gets from her daddy. His hair looks just like this when he's not, well, in the Navy for 19 years!

 

Chloë wanted a makeover, so we played around with some of my make-up on her for a little while Thursday evening. What do you think about make-up on a 10-year-old? Totally wrong, or okay if it's just for fun, like this? Obviously, we don't do this very often, but I think it's fine once in a blue moon, for kicks.

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Speaking of Jafra, I've been painting my nails with our wonderful lacquers faithfully, and they're actually growing and not breaking! I have paper-thin nails normally, and they break easily. My sister's nails are long and strong, so I sent her this picture on Facebook. Yeah. We bonded over nails. What can I say; she's a cosmetologist!

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Sophia and Jack have been having so much fun with their Kiwi Crates over the past few months, that I finally relented and renewed their subscription after being asked approximately 8700 times. They worked on it a bit Thursday evening and made parrots and treasure boxes. Can you guess the theme? Yep. Next we'll be making pirate hats and eye patches to go with them. Fun!

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After nearly two years of trying to get a table to our local Melting Pot's Girls' Night Out, I finally scored us a table - at 10:30 PM! It ended up working out to be a good time, albeit very late, because my friend Tabby and I had preview tickets for the movie American Reunion, the American Pie sequel, the same night. So for seven hours, I was out with first Tabby, and then Tab, and two of my "Turtle Friends," Saritah and Jenny From the Block at dinner. And oh, my gosh, I laughed so hard and often during both events. The movie was hysterical from start to finish, and we had ourselves a hilarious time at dinner, too. I hope we don't have to wait another couple years to do it again!

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Our tax refund check came in recently - well, partially, anyway, as the IRS denied Chloë as our child based on a clerical error on their part, argh - so Rob and I got some very necessary new tires for his motorcycle, Elsie, and my Odyssey, Penelope. The tire appointment was supposed to take about two hours, so I asked Jenny From the Block to keep our kiddos while we were there. I just wasn't up to deal with the boredom whining, basically! She agreed, so in the end, Rob and I decided to venture out together on his motorcycle for the first time, to use one of our Groupon-like certificates for a local Thai restaurant which we'd never tried. We were the only people there for quite a while, as you can see, but it certainly wasn't because of the food quality!

Our meal was excellent, although mine was spicier than I expected. I can't do spicy, and not just because of my sensitive gastric bypass pouch; I never could handle it. I just don't have the stomach - or tongue! - for it, sad to say. Still, it was good. But better than that was the fun of riding around on the back of the BMW with Rob! I had so much fun! I was a little scared, sure, but it was a breathlessly-exhilarating kind of fun. I hope we get another chance to do that again soon, too!

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So pretty much other than the pictures and details of Jack's birthday party, I'm all caught up now on my blahggy show-and-telling. I really ought to do that, especially since it'll be time to show Sophia's birthday party pictures in another week! On Friday the 13th, my youngest child will turn seven! We'll have her, 9-year-old Jack, and 10½-year-old Chloë. It' to face the music: my family is aging out of the "little kid" stage. I guess we're pretty well established by now, huh?

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And now to leave you with my old standby, a Cute Kid Quote. As you may or may not know, in my previous existence as a singleton, I was a marine biologist, studying shark feeding behaviour. My kids know all about that, and for whatever reason, it comes up frequently. Anyway, Thursday afternoon, we were driving around, when Jack suddenly asked what a car's muffler was for. Before I could answer, Sophia snapped at him, "She doesn't know! She's not a car biologist! It's not like she dives into cars!" I had quite a chuckle over that one! These kids. They kill me.

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On that note, thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous weekend!

Fin.

Rebirth

On Sunday, we were invited by one of my "Turtle" friends, Saritah, to witness her and her two sons' baptism at their church in Portsmouth. I love her to death, and I've also never witnessed anyone's baptism - except Robby's, of course, but that was hardly customary - so I was overjoyed to attend.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and it really got me thinking. I grew up as a Christian Scientist (which is not Scientology), so I wasn't baptised in the traditional sense, as they believe you're baptised in the Holy Spirit without the ritualism of the water baptism. (That's truncating the full explanation, but feel free to ask if you need more.) Anyway, I've been struggling my entire adult life - that's 17 years, folks - with the decision about whether to be water-baptised, ever since I left Christian Science after college. I'd read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and it inspired somewhat of a Christianity identity crisis in me that has had me on a path of questioning and wanting to soak up all I could about living according to God's Will ever since. I have often failed, but I continually try... and anyway, back to my point.

I decided, at Sarah and the boys' baptism, that when my first living child decides to be baptised, I would do it with him or her. I didn't have long to wait, as later that day, Chloë and I were out together, and she brought up the fact that she, too, wanted to be baptised. Rob and I had decided long ago that we wouldn't baptise them as babies, because we wanted them to come to the decision on their own, when they were old enough to understand the full gravity and import of the decision.

I was so excited to hear of her choice! I gently interrogated her, and without prompting, she was able to clearly explain to me the meaning and importance of baptism in her life, and her walk with Jesus, so I was satisfied that she understood the undertaking. So, like that, we decided that together we would be baptised at our church at the next opportunity. I can't wait! I'm beyond excited. The time is right for me. I'll find out at our Easter services on Saturday night when that will be and, of course, let y'all know!

 

All four of us Turtles - and our collective 16 children - met up at a nearby Golden Corral for lunch after the baptism. The Other Melanie's family went home to change first, so her kids aren't represented here, but you'll see some of them in a minute.

Saritah's 8-month-old baby, Tempe, was lucky enough to join us at the adult table. She's sitting next to her mama, with Jenny From the Block grinning across the table. Jenny's hubs was ducking out of the picture, next to her; he's camera-shy!

After Chloë shot her straw wrapper across the table at Sophia, Saritah's hubs mentioned something called, "The Snake." I'd never heard of this before, so I made him demonstrate. Here he is getting it ready.

And there it is. Silly. Am I the only one who had never heard of this before?!

At ten, Chloë has her first puppy-love crush on Sarah's older son, Sebastian. It's not unrequited. The two of them... *sigh* I'm trying to discourage such attachment so young, but I've been pretty unsuccessful thus far!

Here's Ginny, another of Sarah's four children, showing off her chocolate mustache. At some point, nearly all of the children were sporting one!

After lunch, a nice couple took Jenny's and my cameras and took photos of all of the Turtles and most of our family's - a few of T.O. Mel's kids opted out. T.O. Mel is preggers with #8! I'm delighted for her, and yeah, a little envious, too. 

The Turtles, Left to Right: Jenny, Melanie, Saritah, and moi

So, that was that awesome day. I'm so happy for Sarah and the boys, and excited for Chloë and myself! Stay tuned...

Fin.

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Us Away

Once upon a time, also known as Friday morning, Jenny from The Block, her kids, and my kids, piled into Penelope (my Odyssey) and took a road trip up the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The main purpose of the shop was to do a mystery shop for which I was well-paid, but we got, shall we say, side-tracked, after that was finished. Had ourselves a little adventure, we did. Would you like to hear about it? Good. Grab a seat, your beverage of choice, and your mouse, because you're gonna need to do some scrollin'. For once, I had the Nikon with me and got over my camnesia!

So we meandered down the road a piece and, after talking to the scarcely-toothed manager of a local convenience shop, found our way here. You know the book Misty of Chincoteague? It's about the wild horses that roam this area. Well, I've been meaning to bring the kids up here for the entire, oh, nine years we've been living in the Beach o' Virginia to look for them. Finally, we made it. Too bad our respective Rons weren't with us. (Which is Jenny-and-me speak for "Rob," both our husbands' name...) Eventually, we plan to return for longer than a few hours and do the trip proper justice.

The first creature we spotted wasn't a horse, though. It wasn't even a vertebrate. The flutter-by captivated the five children's attention for a good few minutes before we went hiking in search of the Assateague Lighthouse, our first conquest.

I love watching the kids on a mission. Look how big Sophia is - she's the second-youngest, too! Jenny's kids are peanuts like Jack and Chloë. ♥

Ooh, looky! There it is, just over yonder!

Oh, whoops. Hang on, Moms. We have to stop and do a kickline together. The kids came up with that on their own, and then the did it about six more times during the day, in various places. Too cute. Especially the way Jack can barely stand up to do it. He's kind of, um, awkward. You should see him run. I can say it, because I'm his mother. The boy runs funny.

In short order, we found the clearing where the lighthouse lives, in all its resplendent glory. Or something.

Jenny and the kids checked out the structure, while I checked out... them.

I love that the cinderblock seemed to have been placed there just for my wee laddie!

Here's what he was so fixated upon: acres and acres of pure, unadulterated Nature. Gotta love it!

Yeah, welcome. Except, what village? I must've missed that part. It was the blink-and-you-miss-it type of town.

More signage. You can read it. I don't need to describe it. It was there, so I took its picture. That's what we perfeshunul photographers do, y'know.

The entrance of the lighthouse was all one-room schoolhouse-looking. I liked it. All old and historical. Pretty cool.

The Assateague Lighthouse. And some other little building. The keeper's quarters? I don't know.

We found a nice lady to take a picture of the seven of us together. Look, you can see the kids doing their kickline again. Hee.

 

Sophia taking a quick breather... (edited in Picasa for coolness)

Curly Sue had a look-see through the thingamajig, too. Nature at its finest, ready for its close-up!

Sitting on the bench near the lighthouse, Sophia deduced that the logs used for it were cut down by the late Mr. Jones memorialized thereon, and I was pretty impressed by that. Maybe you had to be there, but it was a great example of logic and reasoning for an almost-seven-year-old!

(Click pic to embiggerate) The kids all sat on the bench for another rest, and while they did so, I had them show me all the emotions I could think of. The funny part was, Jack was super-grumpy at the moment (tired), and all his expressions were exactly the same while the other four were being theatrical. Goof.

Hiking back to the van, we spotted this flash of white in the distance. Could it be a pony? We had to go see.

Oh. Nah. It was just a log. A log that proved to be quite entertaining to the shorties for several moments.

Gavin: "Get your hands out of my butt!" Madison: "Get your butt off my hands!" Okay, I made that up. Paraphrasing from the movie G-Force... ah. I entertain myself.

Cutie-pie little Gavin... he's such a sweety-kins!

More walkin', and lookin', and standin' around... And yes, we drove all the way up there and forgot to shoe poor Sophia. I carried her around a lot that day, and she is decidedly not a lightweight. Whew.

Another Gavin capture, looking cutesy-pie

Okay, yet another one, but I just love seeing little kids crouching like that! We were trying to decide whether a nearby plant was poison ivy. (It wasn't.)

 

All right, back to Penelope, to go find us some horsies!

I just love a van full of bebes!

This was the view out my driver's side window, when we were watching the horses, of which I did not actually obtain one dang picture, because they were so far away and well-covered by the brush and trees. Poopsticks. But it was still cool being out there and watching them. It was like being on safari. For horses. In Virginia. That was my fantasy.

Somewhere, out there, beneath the pale moonlight.. okay, it was daytime, and now I'm going to have that song in my head. Anyway, out there is where the ponies were roaming. We probably saw 6-8 of them. It was all very exciting. I can't wait to go again!

After we left the Assateague/Chincoteague area and did a little souvie shopping, we found the NASA Visitor Center and decided to go in there and check things out. And behold, it was good. A very good idea.

Yeah. The boys were in seventh heaven with all there was to see and do, rocketry-related. It wasn't lost on the girls, either. Fun times!

Curls will pose with any old satellite model if you train a camera lens on her. A born model.

A big ol' NASA balloon model, which is ginormous compared to the Washington Monument model. How come I've never seen one of these floating around? I guess maybe I wasn't paying attention, because, um, they're really big. BIG.

Madi and Gavin checking out a rocket trajectory

Chloë was transfixed by the astronaut-guy, who was all Madame Tussaud's-looking. Kind of creepy, but cool. Kind of.

I had fun following Jack around while he ran here-to-there, pointing out all the things hanging from the ceiling. It was too cute!

More walking and pointing. No talking, just the pointing.

At some "point," I wondered if he really cared where he was aiming that finger and just got into the habit of doing it!

A-ha! A center just for the wee folk, in the middle of the museum. There was all kinds of nifty stuff in there for the quintet.

 

Right after this was taken, Sophia accidentally leaned on that lid Gavin was lifting, while his bitty fingers were underneath it! Ouch! Poor little fellow.

There's Jack, doing his engineer thing, figuring things out, making 'em work. He spent a good chunk of our time there at this propulsion exhibit.

Finally, he had enough and went to go look at models of Naval ships. Jenny's husband works on this kind when he's away... but I'm blanking on what it's called at the moment.

 

And of course, we have an aircraft carrier here, which Jack stepped aside for me to snap, knowing it was his Daddy's kind of ship.

Then Gavin came over and found the ship his Daddy goes on, whilst Jenny brought over some free educational loot materials for us to use in our respective homeschool pursuits. Sweet!

A quiet moment for Soap

Chloë was watching a video about I don't know what, because I was too busy admiring her curls and ringlets.

Sophia kept insisting the two bacteria samples on the right were mixed together to form the color on the left, despite my continually telling her that it was three different organisms. Stubborn girl!

Here's what they actually were. ;)

The kids learning about El Niño and La Niña

Hey look, Gavin's a pointer, too! Must be a boy thing.

Jenny wanted to pose with the astronaut suit thingy, so I told her to "look spacey," and this is what she did. Ha! She's a hoot, that Jen.

At the end of our impromptu field trip, we stopped in the gift shop. Of course, Jack wanted one of every. single. thing. he saw in there. Little did he know I'd already scooped up some goodies from the souvenir shop we'd visited in Chincoteague, so it was killing me that he waaaaaanted something so badly and I (thought I) had left my wallet in the car. (Turns out I didn't, but that is probably a really good thing, since I kinda wanted one of everything, too!)

 

What? The back of his head is pretty cute, too - especially since you can tell his eyes are bugging out in the front, right?

*sigh* All right, all right, I can't stand it anymore. I whispered in his ear that I had something special just for him out in the car, and it was our little secret, and I'd show him later, and shh-shh-shh-shh-shhhhhh!

Oops, one more last pointy-point before we headed out to Penelope and back home.

 

When we got home that night, and the girls weren't looking, I gave Jack his pressies. He was pretty excited, so much so that the first thing he did was go show his sisters. D'oh! Jack! Good thing I'd gotten them each a Chincoteague/Assateague snow globe to make up for it, but they (rightly) felt shortchanged. Ah well. I just said it was "late birthday presents," and that seemed to do the trick.

And that was the end of that little jaunt.

Fin.

P.S. Sophia's snow globe is already broken. Le sigh.

Happy Birthday, Build-A-Bear!

Are you a fan of Build-A-Bear Workshop? I don't mean on Facbook or Twitter, although you can certainly find them there. I mean the bricks-and-mortar store where you can fluff your own furry friend, add all kinds of accoutrement, and have a blast!

For my daughter Sophia's fourth birthday, we went to Build-A-Bear and got each of our three kids their first BABW friends. They had so much fun picking out their special stuffed animals, deciding what to add, filling them with the fluffy stuff, and choosing outfits. They even "bathed" them during the trip. They got to name their animals and can even play online with them. I have yet to create one for myself, but I think I will, since stuffed animals have always been something I've enjoyed. My favorite one right now is the big teddy bear Rob gave me when he proposed to me, knowing that I like to cuddle up with one when I sleep. And I do, with that one, as I have for the last eleven years, since it's so special to me.

Anyway, Build-a-Bear Workshop is celebrating two major milestones this year: their 15th birthday on October 27th, and sellng their 100 millionth best friend! 100 MILLION!  In honor of their birthday and helping create 100 million best friends, Build-A-Bear Workshop wants to spread the word that Friends Count! Whether your best friend is one of your longtime gal pals, your spouse, your pet, or even your teddy bear, we can all agree that our friends have made our lives so much better.

So please, go ahead and leave me a comment below about one of your friends - furry or otherwise - and why they're important to you.

Disclosure: In exchange for this post, I was entered to win a Build-a-Bear Workshop gift card. All opinions are, and always will be, my own.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Hey, y'all, link up with Mrs. 4444s if you're fragmenting today!

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My husband texted the following to me, but he didn't ID which kid said it, so I can't give proper credit (my Mommy senses tell me it was 6yo Sophia, though): "Unicorns are real. They're just fat and gray and we call them rhinos." I was out shopping when I got his text, and I split a gut laughing and had to share it with the other person shopping near me, lest they think (correctly) that I was loony! Too funny!

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I shared this gorgeous yarn I received from The Knitting Goddess (in the UK, so shipping took what seemed like forEVER) the other day on Wordless Wednesday, but it's so beautious, I wanted to see it again. Hehe. Tell me those aren't some luscious colors?! I'll be using these for hexipuffs on my Beekeeper's Quilt. Why haven't I started yet? That's a darn good question. I will today, I think.

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My husband's alarm has been going off for 45 minutes now (it's currently 0645). Why don't I wake him up, you ask? Because. It's IMPOSSIBLE to rouse that beast. Hence the 45 minutes. Are you easy or difficult to awaken? Most of the time, I'm hard to wake, too. I don't sleep well or often, but when I do, I want to stay that way, thank you!

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My gardening friend, Miss C., was a guest presenter at my Daisy meeting yesterday, and while I was editing the pictures, this one popped up as the first one. Yes, that's MY kid disrupting the group, not in uniform (she had it on but yanked it off, as she always does) and being a total goose. Sophia!! She is such a pill. Or as Miss C diplomatically put it, "She's spirited." Oh, I'm so glad I'm the Leader, because I'd be mortified if she behaved that way for others meeting after meeting (and she does). Argh!

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As far as what Miss C. did with the girls, she read them the next chapter in our yearlong story (aka our "Journey," "Between Earth and Sky) and then talked to them about how plants clean the soil and air. She then gave them a project that I'm sure we've all seen before, if not done a time or two: made pinecone bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed. However, her yard had a dearth of pine cones but plenty of gum balls, so she brought those instead, and they worked great to clump up with PB and seeds. Sophia rushed right home and tied hers to her special 4th birthday tree, out front, and waited immediately for the birds. And did they come! Mostly gulls and crows (?) or some sort, but we're hoping for something a little more exciting colorful. Anyway, it was a great meeting, and I'm glad we did it!

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Jack, who will be 9 in a month and a half or so, has been asking for his own digital camera like his sisters for ages. I mean, forEVER (I used that one already, right? So what) - and I found a killer steal on one for him the other day. I'm even going to get $40 back in rewards for it, making it an even sweeter deal. I didn't pay a cent for it, because I am one of those crazy coupon deal girls, when I get the chance, and I'm so ecstatic about both (a) the fact that I'm going to make him SUPER happy and (b) my great deal, I just had to share it with you!

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Speaking of deals, kids and birthday presents, I got a robotic penguin toy for Sophia of a Plum District deal the other day, too, as she is a penguin fanatic. I mean, she is nuts for them. She likes all birds (and bugs!), but penguins are her absolute favorite. So yay me for scoring goodies - with slick deals - to make their upcoming birthdays fantabulous! (She'll be 7 a month after Jack's birthday; my gosh!!!! I can't even stand it that my baby will be that old. I wish I could make another one or three. Hehe.)

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So I've had that iron transfusion, confirmed with the oncologist/hematologist that I do NOT need to continue taking oral Fe supplements daily, and yet I still get so dizzy I almost pass out when I stand up half the time. What gives? My blood pressure is on the low side, but still within normal range. It's wicked annoying. I mean, if I'm gonna get that dizzy, can't I have the fun of passing straight out, already? That would make for a much more interesting fragment, at least. I did it once, in 8th grade. I was the talk of my class. What fun! Haha.

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By the way, if you're a frequent www.Amazon.com shopper (hello, Swagbucks money!) and you know about their Prime free shipping but don't want to lay out the moolah to pay for that service, here's something I scored that you might want to know: If you have an .edu email address - even if you're a college alum! - you can sign up for Amazon Student and get free Prime shipping! I've been taking loads of advantage of that sweet deal, since I do get tons of Amazon GCs from Swagbucks, surveys and other things I do on- and off-line to save a buck, and it is Teh Awesome. Check it out. Rats. I just went to go link you to Amazon Student here, and the free offer is now gone and replaced by a half-off deal. Still, better than $79, right?

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It's 0708. Hubby finally woke up. Just keeping you updated, since I knew you were in suspense about that!

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If you're at all interested in Native American culture, be sure and check out my post here about our field trip last Saturday to the Mattaponi ("matt-upon-AYE) Indian Resevation 90 minutes north of here. It was cool as all-get-out, and I can't wait to go back up in June for their annual Pow-wow. Worth a read, I'm told!

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And, as long as you're here and I'm in demanding begging mode, answer my Aloha Friday questions, will ya? I'm nosy interested. And I like strikethrough.

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I've been struggling with constant, daily migraines the past few weeks again, so schooling has been sketchy lately. Anyway, a recent day last week was quite warm, but rainy. Once the rain cleared, I was ready to get up out of the house and go for a walk to get some exercise for my and the kids' young bodies. Instead of just walking, though, we did a lot of running and jumping and splashing in the ubiquitous mud puddles around our neighborhood lake. It was too fun, and Chloë declared it, "The BEST rainy day EVER!" I had to agree. Sometimes, you just gotta be a kid again, right? We were so soaked (and muddy), we jumped right into warm showers when we got home. But what a memory that should make for all of us!

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Guess I'm out of fragments for now - lucky you!! I'm off to email my Girl Scout troop about Thinking Day, which is coming up. It's a day when we think about the Girl Scouts and Guides around the world, every year, and we always participate. Anyway, blah blah.

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Have a great week! 'Til next time...

Fin.

Field Trip: Mattaponi Indian Reservation

The leader of one of the homeschooling groups to which we belong set up this field trip today (Saturday) to the Mattaponi Reservation Museum near West Point, VA, and the price was right, so we decided to go along for the adventure. It took 90 minutes to get there, and it was turned out to be worth every second of the trip. We had an awesome time, and I have lots of pictures to share with you. So sit back, grab a cuppa, and scroll down. We arrived 30 minutes before the rest of our group, all of the rest of whom lived much closer, so we sat and parked at the Reservation church, facing the small cemetery. 

I noted with interest that nearly all of the last names on the headstones was "Custalow," which turned out to be the significant, main last name of the Mattaponi Tribe, which is the last remnanat of one of the 32 tribes once ruled by the great Chief Powhatan. (If that name doesn't sound familiar, it should if you've been reading here, as we learned about him on our field trip to the Jamestown Settlement earlier this school year.)

The girls went on the swings of the Reservation school with some of the other children while we waited on a few more families. Jack hung back, cranky and tired, with his dad.

I really didn't know exactly what to expect from this field trip, other than that we were visiting an Indian Reservation. I didn't know we were going inside what seemed like this teeny-weeny museum, or what else we would be doing. So I just went with the flow. Here we are, entering the Mattaponi Indian Museum, which was much larger inside than it looked from afuera.

As you can see from the sign just inside, on the front door, Custalow was indeed the major last name of the Mattaponi Indian tribe, once ruled by the powerful Chief Powhatan.

A more descriptive explanation of the tribe; George, who you'll "meet" at the end of the post, was the son of the Chief who died in 1969. Two of his brothers later became Chief of the tribe.

I took this picture of Jack examining the bear's head, then listened to him telling me how dry the tongue was, and then noticed the "Do Not Touch" sign he was obscuring. Whoops.

There were several old wasps' nests hanging inside the museum ceiling. The children were very concerned about this at first, until I explained they were no longer inhabited by their former owners, and no stings would be happening this day.

Having touched a much smaller living specimen at the Living Museum a week prior, Sophia was fascinated by this "ginormous" horseshoe crab!

Jack, still unsure about those wasp nests...

A small diorama of a Mattaponi homestead provided interest to the girls. In front of another family's dad, I asked Sophia what she saw there. She said, "It's about Jesus' birth!" and the other dad laughed and laughed. She was so embarrassed, she ran away and hid, almost in tears. He felt bad about it, and so did I, but it was pretty cute.

"Mom, look at all these spears!"

The girls had no reservations (sorry) about touching the mounted deer head, and they were especially curious about touching his eyes and how cold he was.

There was a plethora of relics and artifacts to capture the eye and keep our attention throughout the visit. I'll show you plenty, up close. George "W." Wa-huh-sun-a-cock Custalow, museum curator and son of the chief who died in '69, told us that he kept the museum open on weekends only, unless a large group was coming, because daily opening wouldn't pay enough. He also shared that Richmond government helped pay for the display cases to keep the treasures preserved, since the tribe couldn't afford to do so alone.

The card reads, "Mercy Tomahawk used for mercy killing when braves were wounded in battle" - yowza. How'd you like that?

Spelling variants and errors were common in the museum, because, of course, English was not their, um, native language, and common spellings varied regionally. Anyway, do you remember the picture of Sophia dressed up like Pocahontas at Jamestown, with the necklace and all? We come full circle. I just have found all the learning we've done on this subject this year so fascinating and incredibly, richly educational - for me, personally. I just hope the kids have gotten as much out of it.

Incredible beadwork on a leather bag

I found a few things like this and thought they were, to be quite trite, very cool.

The club Captain Smith was supposed to have been executed with before Pocahontas pleaded on his behalf

A rudimentary canoe, for which Richmond supplied the preserving case

Sharks' teeth found "90 feet below the Mattaponi River Bed" (how??) and some yellow jasper found on the Res.

More sharks' teeth (still, how??), semi-precious stones, and yellow jasper found in Oklahoma in 1962. How they all wound up here was not explained.

I didn't see anything explaining whose skull and bones were in this case; I was just glad they weren't mine!

The card reads, "Statue of Chief Powhatan as he stood on the banks of Jamestown in 1607 to welcome the settlers."

A petrified turtle body, which invited an explanation of the different meanings of "petrified" to the kids

The card reads, "Indian Hunting Outfit: Quivver [sic], arrows, tommahawk [sic] and bow."

More native dress

The card tells us that these ornately beaded moccasins were passed down for three generations over 135 years, the beads were put on with "strip sinews of red deer" and last worn by a Mattaponi Indian princess.

Old coins

An eel pot, which George said they used for catching turtles, a better tasting meat, along with a Pomogan war weapon

The card reads, "Feathered Head-Dress (with horns symbolizing war" worn by Indian Warrior Opechaneough in 1622."

More heavily beaded bags, along with come "Japenese [sic] cigarettes" from 1943, evidently brought back from war by one of the Custalow sons.

Beaded bags; as someone who does handwork, I can appreciate how much time it must have taken to create these works.

Some arrows, weapons and pottery, among other relics

Various tools and weaponry hung from the museum ceiling, near the front.

I'm not exactly sure now what it was, but the card reads, "Hand Made by Brodia Newton, Father of Elizabeth Newton Custalow." Speaking of the Newtons, they were cousins to the Mattaponi Tribe out of Fredericksburg, and one famous Newton you'll know is Wayne, the Las Vegas relic himself, who denied his heritage for years and claimed to have come from Virginia Beach. George W. did not have a lot of good things to say about Wayne Newton, not at all.

An English-made portrait of Pocahontas and her son, Thomas Rolfe

Newspaper articles about Chief Custalow - George W.'s father - and the Pamunkey Tribe, also formerly ruled by the powerful chief Powhatan

The card reads, "Morter-Pestal [sic] used for grinding corn by hand"

As I made my way up to the front to find some postcards to send to my good friend Erin, who has a collection, I snapped some photos of the other items for sale in the small museum. Here are a few:

Mini-totems

 

Dreamcatchers, which prompted Jack to ask George W., "How do they catch your dreams? I mean, how do the dreams get out of your head?" We all kind of just looked at each other and laughed, leaving the boy to wander off, scratching his sweet head...

Gorgeous beaded earrings, which I admit, I coveted a bit.

Thunderbird Necklaces, which made me think of my mamacita, Rob's mom, and her Boy Scout Camp Thunderbird...

More beaded handiwork; admittedly not the best photo...

I'm not sure where the $6 Head-dress was, but the canoes were $5 each, and a little girl proudly bought one with her own money while we spoke with George.

I found this trio of Cherokee prayers on wooden tablets; I could see these in my home:

I was amused when the jolly former chief's son, George, asked me about 3/4 of the way through our lengthy conversation if I believed in the "Great Spirit," pointing upward, telling me he didn't want to talk to me anymore if I didn't. I assured him that indeed, I did; I do. His father was also a minister; it was very important to him.

 

I made my way quickly around the small museum again, snapping anything of interest I missed on the first pass through, when I was equally interested in keeping the kids from touching anything they oughtn't. By this point, they were exploring outside, and I was free to do my exploring unpestered. I mean, uh,... yeah.

It reads, "Jewelry, Treasured, Belongs, for the women and girls, was kept in this {turtle} shell."

This one reads, "Treasure Chest used by the squaws of the Chiefs 1607 - ??46"

Self-explanatory!

"Historic Mattaponi Indian Tom-Tom - over 200 yrs. old"

See the leaf-shaped white objects? The card reads, "Teeth from indian Marsh Hog used for necklaces." Cool.

 

A tray of various-sized arrowheads

Click to embiggerate, if you can't read the sign here.

I'm not sure if this was an Indian girl skirt or just what. The letter was a thank-you note for a visit from a long-ago group, so it wasn't any help, but still, it's beautiful.

This was a portrait of George W.'s mother, who died when he was 8, having hemmorhaged to death hours after giving birth to her 13th child. Very sad. Chief Custalow later remarried and had a 14th child. (I believe George was #8 or 9 in the family. He shared that five of his brothers then went to war at the same time, and as a young boy, he couldn't understand why his father spent so much time by himself, crying.)

A carving of Chief O.T. Custalow

Photograph of Powhatan's Chimney

I didn't see this on the first tour 'round the museum, but I sure caught how it sparkled in the light on the second pass. I've seen plenty of this sort of artwork for sale at the Pow-Wows we've attended here in the Beach.

This was an actual treaty! Fascinating. I love the peace pipes, and trying to figure out the rest. Fascinating!

A similarly-depicted of the story of Pocahontas' intercedence on behalf of John Smith. Priceless.

 

Oh, here's another kind of eel-pot. George, having discovered that I don't eat raw tomatoes, or mayo, or beef or pork, asked me if I had ever eaten eel. No, of course not, but now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I have had eel sushi. We've exchanged phone numbers; maybe I'll call him up and let him know, because his next question was an amused-but-demanding, "Well, what DO you eat?" to which Rob replied, "Not much!" I redeemed myself by sharing that I had eaten frog legs on a cruise once, which started George on another story about gigging for frogs.

 

This hand-carved canoe also hung from the ceiling.

I'm not sure what the sign fully says, but it belonged to George W.'s dad, the Chief O.T. Custalow - the weapon, that is.

The card reads, "The back scales of a 200-lb sturgeon caught by Chief Custalow May 8, 1964."

A carving by a Seminole (blah!) Indian. Sorry for the (blah!) but I'm a Hurricane; it's a learned response.

At that point, I went out to check on the kids, who were out there with their dad. The Littles were swinging lazily in the sun, so I went off to find Chloë.

She had come in while we were engaged in conversation with George W. the first time, carrying one of these things, and he said he had no idea what it was. He immediately broke off a piece and ate it, telling us it tasted bitter, "like acorns. Have you ever eaten an acorn?" he asked me. I admitted that I had, as a young kid. Mattaponi eat them regularly, or at least they once did. Anyway, we're supposed to look up these things, because the childrenc collected bunches of them, but I haven't done that yet...

 

Small teepees in the yard outside the museum. Want a closer look? Okay:

I wanted to crawl inside, but I dared not.

How cool is this? I'll tell you how cool: pretty cool. Hee.

The kids were happy and safe playing outside the back of the museum, and I wanted to talk to the captivating chief's son some more, so I went back in and stole his attention for another hour or two. Really! Until Jack rammed his head into me one too many times, telling me how hungry he was, I chatted him up. I told Rob they could go have lunch and come back for me later, and I was only half-kidding!

This was behind the counter with George Custalow, who told me that it was funeral regalia, stressing the "regalia" and somberly cautioning me against ever calling it a "costume." (I hadn't. He was just warning me how offensive it was to Native Americans.)

This was the old car George had, which had a tree fall on it during the recent Hurricane Irene. He and his son are fixing it up. He said they wanted to haul it away to auction and give him $900 for it, but he stood his ground, got much more insurance money for it than that, and kept the car. Then he pointed to his head and said, "This isn't a hat rack; I use it for thinking!" with a wink.

I look terrible in this picture, but George, who recently turned 79, looks great. He kissed me on the cheek several times as we were saying our good-byes, and when Rob left the building to get the kids in the van, he told me, "now turn your face to me," and when I did, he planted one right on the lips! I just laughed giddily. He was sweet on me, definitely. I told Rob about it later, but he didn't believe me! What a guy. Both of them.

Hope you enjoyed our tour a fraction as much as I did. We'll definitely be seeing this guy again; keep your eyes open for a return to the Mattaponi later this year for their annual Pow-wow, the day before Father's Day.

Fin.

Oops, They Did It Again!

Welp, folks, it's that time of year again: the annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby! Jack's Pack raced yesterday, after he and Rob spent the week hashing out the details of how to build The Car. Every year, Rob asks him, "Do you want it to look cool, or do you want it to be fast?" And every year, Jack goes for fast. It's completely his choice, as it should be, although there are some folks who, like my high-ranking Boy Scout Mama-in-Law said, need to be a "wet blanket" on that theory and always make it look cool. Whatevs! Jack wants to build the car, he doesn't necessarily want to watch the races, and he wants to take home a trophy. That's Jack. So, let's see how it went down, shall we?

First, the Tiger Den raced. It seems like just yesterday, that was Jack. Hard to believe it has been two years since he won that race! And those boys are so little and young-looking and eager and cute. (Rob took the kids to go do the crafts in the other rooms while I knitted a hexipuff or two, watched the races and times, and suffered a horrible migraine that I've been nursing for over a fortnight now...)

After that, the Wolf Den raced. That was last year for us, and whew, it has flown by since Jack won that race, too. Those boys are still so cute, just a little bigger, same amount of eagerness... just adorable.

Lunchtime was next. I helped serve the food, because I haven't really stepped up much in the Pack, and I wanted to be useful in some way to them. After everyone ate, the Akela gave out the Popcorn Sale prizes. Jack had chosen a catapult, but it wasn't in yet, so I don't have pictures of him earning that for now.

And finally... his den, the Bears ("da Bearz" as everyone kept saying) were ready to race!

There were six boys, and there are six track lanes, so each boy's car races on each lane once to account for speed differences. It's a calibration technique. You know. Anyway. They drop the slowest time and average out the rest to determine the places. Five out of six heats, this popped up on the screen, with this one representing Jack's fastest time:

It was all very exciting! (I purposely didn't bring the Nikon, so these are all iPhone pictures. I didn't want to risk losing/dropping/breaking the dSLR, so that was intentional.) I don't have any involvement in the races except to go there to cheer on the boys - all the boys - so I don't take any credit. However, I was fist-bumped and congratulated as much as Jack and his dad were, I think, and I enjoyed every second of it!

Here are the Top 10 standings for the Bear Den - that lowest score was dropped, remember, so basically, well, he did awright. ;)

After we cheered on the Webelos 1 & 2 dens, it was trophy time. Jack earned the First-Place spot for his den, which meant three things: (1) Trophy, (2) Smiles, and (3) Participation in the overall pack race. And yes, he was every bit as just-rolled-out-of-bed-rumply as he looks here. Ha! What a mess. His crooked, looser-than-loose front tooth, really needing a haircut, and sleepy eyes make me laugh, but his happy face makes me smile and warms my heart. This is a boy who enjoys his trophies, and he was PROUD of himself. That matters, "cool-looking" car or not.

 

Right after that, they ran the Pack race, and Jack's car whizzed down the track heat after heat, to take First Place again!! I'm so happy for all the boys, every single one, and it was a fantastic day of racing... but yeah, I was super-proud of my guys. ♥

 

Here he is with both of his First Place trophies! Whoo! We're hoping for a third one to add to the collection, from the Districts, now.

Finally, the traditional First-Place Akela (parents and Leaders, basically) vs. First-Place Cub Scout race took place, and it was back-and-forth for all six heats, as they went from lane to lane. Guess what? Jack's car DID NOT WIN! This guy, Mr. P, who is cool as HELL, won. That's Team P's car on the left, and Jack's green car on the right, with Mr. P checking that they were on the track right. His son, Junior P, moved up to Boy Scouts last year, but he was the One To Beat up until that point, so Mr. and Junior P have talked to us many times about tips for making The Car be fast. Mr. P was totally and thoroughly thrilled for Jack, and he'll be at the Districts to cheer him on! I'm a huge fan of that guy. Just a really nice man, truly.

On the way home, as he held and admired his new trophies, Jack asked if could keep them on his dresser instead of the mantel with the others. I was all, "No way, dude!" For one thing, that's their place of honor. For another thing, we have Sophia up there to lose or break them if we let him do that! So on the mantel they went, as soon as we came home.  They're up there on the right, with all the others, sandwiched between the girls' soccer trophies from a couple years ago.

So, not a bad day of racing and camaraderie. All in good fun. Everyone was a good sport. (But psst: YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!!)

Grandma was very proud, too, to hear the news, and I loved sharing it with her!

This report will be continued on March tenth...

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up with here with Mrs. 4444 if you've got bits and pieces floating through your brain today!

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Right off the bat, I have to say I'm excited that tomorrow is the day I'm spending ~8 hours getting my iron transfusion! It's my first one, and it's not unusual for gastric bypass patients to need them. I'll probably be getting my first of many Vitamin B12 shots, as well. My hemoglobin levels are abyssmally low, which means it's a struggle and a chore just for me to make it through the day, every day, let alone cover everything that's on my plate. I've been dropping a lot of balls lately, admittedly, and I'm hoping this will make a huge difference for me - and my family, who have to put up with me. Hopefully, too, I'll be able to stop consuming the massive daily amounts of caffeine that I do to stay functioning and focused. So, yay!

The only downside is I won't be able to knit during the procedure... but I have about eleventy-billion magazines to catch up on, so I'm covered there. And I can always nap. What I'm wondering about now is, when do I pee? And eat? (I'll let you know. Hee.)

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In awesome news, my kids have been focusing on their reading in our homeschooling so far this new year, and they have progressed dramatically. My oldest, a fifth grader, had to write her first book report, after much gnashing of teeth over it, and she did a splendid job. I had to make just a few corrections - all mechanics - but the content was fantastic. I was so pleased!

As for the two Littles, my son is in 3rd grade and came out of 1st grade public school hardly literate at all. So I remediated him from the Kinder level with our K-2 Hooked on Phonics program, and he just "graduated" from the program! It only took him a year and a half to do all three years' worth, so that's pretty great. Yes, I'm proud of him, but even more incredible is how visibly proud of himself he is! I love it!

The youngest, a first grader who was a late bloomer with regard to reading (she's the most active, physical of the lot), has suddenly pushed through the block and is now almost to the 2nd grade level of the program. So go, kids!! Starting next week, we'll slow down on so much all-reading, all-the-time, and focus more on math, with which all three of them also need remediation. No child left behind, my butt! But the buck stops here. :)

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We were supposed to go on a field trip to the Food Bank with our two respective Girl Scout troops today, but I found out two hours before the trip that they had to reschedule it. ARGH! I had no choice but to cancel our regular meeting, since I have it planned to have a guest speaker come in, and there was no way to get her on such short notice. It was pretty stinko (my word of the month), and I was bummed, since we're behind where I wanted to be in my Daisy troop at this point. But with the iron deficiency, I have to say, I wasn't too terribly disappointed to get a reprieve! Just sayin'.

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We've had Sophia to the Emergency Department 3-4 times this past week, as her breathing struggles have suddenly kicked back into high gear. It's not the weather, since it's barely cold here, and it started in the summertime anyway (in 2010!). We've seen 8 or 9 different doctors and gotten just as many "suggestions" about what it could be, with no real answers. It's frustrating for me, as her mom, to watch her go through this, so I can only imagine how much of an annoyance it is for her. My husband thinks it's entirely stress-induced, but I disagree. That may be a component, certainly, but since it frequently comes on when she's just sitting around, doing nothing remotely upsetting, how can that be?? I just wish I could help her.

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A local-but-online-only friend of mine is a potter, and she fashions these awesome, funkadelic business card holders that I've been coveting for a long time. Last week, she made this red one, and I KNEW it was the one I had to have. It arrived today. Do you love it?! I do! So cool. Check out Lisa's Etsy shop for more awesome clay-mations!

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We drove up the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Sunday (here's my view out the windshield of the Chesapeake Bay), for a high-paying mystery shop. Great, except I kind of screwed it up a little, and now I don't know if I am going to get paid for it. Argh. Well, if that happens, at least we had a fun trip and enjoyed lots of interesting scenery, right?

This is the kids in the back during the trip, watching Judy Moody and the Not-So-Bummer Summer, which they've been waiting for me to rent from the Blockbuster kiosk for ages. I waited until it dropped to $1, so I could get it for free (lots of codes out there, folks!), because I'm cheap like that!

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Speaking of mystery shops, Rob and I finally went out for a nice dinner - with the kids, so it was only semi-romantic! - to celebrate the 11th wedding anniversary we shared on the 2nd of this month. Here's my Appletini. The kids love cherries and all clamored for mine, but um, no. Not the ones all soaked in Smirnoff, kiddos! It was really strong, and I got drunk very quickly. I drink maybe once a month, if that, and wow. I'm such a lightweight since my surgery!

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And here's me, that night (tipsy), showing you my hair in its awkward growing-out phase. I can't stand my hair right now. I want it to be long NOW. I'm half-tempted to just chop it again, but it grows soooo slowly, I may never have another ponytail. Is 35 too old for ponytails, anyway? Not around the house, or in the summer at least, right? ;)

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Last week (which I can tell ya, because I skipped FF then, sorry), we totally kept the kids up and took them to the 12:01 AM first showing of the newly re-released Beauty and the Beast in 3D. It was AWESOME. I think I had as good a time as the kids did. It cost a small fortune; I had sticker shock, but it was worth it for the "cool mom points" I earned, I think. At least Rob managed to stay awake during the whole thing - he'd had a nap first to make sure! Have you seen it? It was great.

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Lastly, speaking of Etsy, I have to share this story. I bought this gorgeous yarn on clearance from Summer of Perfectly Handmade, and the whole situation quickly turned into a comedy of errors: First, she accidentally sent me the wrong yarn, and then she sent me the correct yarn after I mailed it back (and she was GREAT through this whole process, and I totally recommend her, so don't think I'm speaking too badly of her). Well, it was badly skeined, and when I wound it into center-pull "cakes" with my swift and ball winder, it took about two hours vs. the 10-15 minutes it should have, because it was such a mess. I finally got it, though, and managed to knit ONE hexipuff for the Beekeeper's Quilt I'm making before going to bed for the night. Well, I stupidly left that troublesome-but-lovely yarn out overnigh, and our two kittens decided to make it their plaything overnight. When I woke up early, before the kids, I went to go knit another puff with it... and it was GONE. So I instantly knew "the twins," as they are, were the culprits and headed upstairs to look for it. I found two 8mo kittens, each with a shred of the yarn hanging out of their mouths and looking at me guiltily. They immediately dropped it and went to go hide under my son's bed! Then I searched around and found the yarn strewn all over my older daughter's room, some of it chewed it into short strands, some of it just a gnarled, knotty mess, but all entirely wrecked. GAH!!  However, I kept plugging away at it, and look! Up there! I managed to eke out 13 or 14 hexipuffs out of the yarn, which I eventually sorted out, and they'll look great in the quilt. But what a pain!!

P.S. Summer sent me some more yarn as a gift, for all my troubles. So if you're a "yarnie" like I am, don't hesitate to check her out!

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I'll leave you on that note. No, this one: "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

RIP, Dr. King.

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Fin.

Oral-B Stages III & Oral-B Crest Pro-Health FOR ME - Brought To You By MommyParties!

Disclaimer: MommyParties and Oral-B/Crest provided this awesome party package to me in exchange for sharing it with you. No monetary compensation was provided. All opinions are, as always, my own.

I was lucky enough to be selected by MommyParties to hold this really cool party sponsored by Oral-B Stages III and Oral-B Crest Pro-Health FOR ME, and we held it last month. (Yes, I've been remiss about posting about it in a timely manner; sorry!) Look at all this great swag they sent me to give out to our party guests!

 

There were informational hand-outs for the parents, along with goody bags for the kids to take home all their, well, goodies!

 

It was really awesome of them to send me a DVD of Cars 2, for the kids to watch at the end of the party. We were given popcorn and popcorn boxes as well, for enjoying during the party. How cool is that?! There were Cars-themed Gummy Vitamins for the kids, and this packet of tips and trivia for healty teeth. I asked the kids (and their parents) some of the questions, and we had fun learning new facts about keeping our mouths in tip-top shape.

We received a dozen tubes of Crest Pro-Health FOR ME toothpaste, for the kiddos to add to their goody bags.

We also received Oral-B Pro-Health FOR ME Floss Picks for the 8+ crowd, along with Toy Story- and Disney Princesses-themed Flossers for the younger set. So fun!

They also gave us Oral-B Stages toothbrushes in Disney Princess themes for the 5-7-year-olds, along with Pro Health FOR ME toothbrushes for the 8+ children. We even received several full-sized bottles of Crest Pro Health FOR ME mouthwash for the kids to try!

 

My kids were SO excited for the party to start, and they couldn't believe everything that was sent to us! (Other parents opted not to have their children photographed.)

When the party started, I showed everyone their loot and asked them to show me what looked most exciting for them to try. This one, age 10, couldn't wait to try the mouthwash! (And she did, after brushing her teeth, right during the party. She said it tasted great!)

This 6-year-old wanted a Disney Princess toothbrush, and she, too, wanted to go brush her teeth right away! I gave everyone a box of toothpaste, so they each had their own. It was so funny how thrilling that was for each of them!

True to form, my son Jack, 8, went right for the Cars 2 movie and gummies! He couldn't wait to watch the movie!

Chloë shows off all of the goodies she quickly added to her bag, and then we all sat down to watch the movie and eat some popcorn.

In the end, this was a really fun opportunity, and I'm glad MommyParties and Oral-B & Crest chose me to host it. Thank you for the great party package! I hope to bring you more MommyParties again soon. ☺

Fin.

Christmas Continues With Crafts And...Stuff.

I took advantage of a few after-Christmas sales and picked the kids up some small things at AC Moore last week. All three picked out their own colors of plastic canvas and some embroidery floss for some crafty-time fun. The girls wanted to use theirs before I was ready, so I gave them the needles and thread and go crazy. It's hard to tell here, but Chloë made a face and a flower on hers; later, since it was New Year's Eve, she stitched "Happy New Year" on hers, too. I neglected to get Sophia's project, because her floss knotted up and she threw it down in frustration. (Hey, she's her mother's child.) I'm going to check out this site soon to see what we can do together with the rest of it.

 

I also snagged some Learn-to-Draw books for the kids, and Sophia's was horses and ponies. She started sketching right away, and this is one from the next day. I'm not sure where the others ended up, but they were equally impressive, for a six-year-old to whip out, in my mind!

Mindware had several cool items on crazy clearance, too, so I grabbed a few things from there for the kids, too. Jack wanted to start painting his car bank inmediatamente!

Chloë at least waited until after dinner to paint her scooter bank. Look, she even painted a little road on the paper. Silly girl.

For Christmas, the Littles each got a three-month subscription to Kiwi Crate from a Plum District deal, and they've been eager to break into their first boxes and see what goodness was contained within. I worried it would be a little young for them, but so far, they've had a blast with what we've done. Here they are decorating and putting stickers on special dates in the calendars therein. (The scissors came with the crates; they have everything you need to do the crafts and activities, which I like, even though we obviously own scissors and tape and stuff. They loved getting them.

 

The next activity was to make these super-simple but nifty "rockets," receiving enough supplies for about a dozen, each.

Jack was oh-so-careful making his. I mean, rockets! Right up a boy's alley!

The first launch was directed at his mother. It really flew, too! Good job, Bud!

When Sophia's first one was finished, the two of them were in competition to see whose could go the fastest, the farthest, the whatever-est, and they had an absolute BALL. I mean, days later, they are still making and playing with these things. Even Chloë made one or two of them, and they've been running all over the house, up and down the stairs, launching these rockets. WIN!

Finally, the kids each got gift cards from both sets of grandpas, and they opted to spend them entirely at Books-A-Million. (If you'd like the pictures individually, just let me know. Figured a collage was in order for this one.) Chloë shopped frugally and ended up with four books and a Gordian's Knot; Jack got two Legos packages, and Sophia bought a book and a Barbie DVD. Plus, all three of them bought Angry Birds stuffies; they are huge fans of the game app on my iPhone! Thanks, Grandpas!

Whew. So, I think I'm done blogging for the night. And now... back to my hexipuffs. At least one more before I turn in for the night. Have a great week!

Fin.

I Don't Give A Crap

First order of business for this first post of January:

We watched the ball drop via online streaming, did our annual husband-and-wife-new-year-smooch, went outside with the kidlets to bang pots and pans and ensure the neighbors' hatred (not really) (gosh, I hope not), eat some snackies, and that was our annual tradition.

So... I have good news! I've spent the last, oh, 19 days something like this:

Hehe. That makes me laff. But as of TODAY, it seems, I can proclaim myself well. As in, completely, 100%, all entirely much better!! Whatever was amiss, is now, um, miss? Unamiss?

Woot!!! Way to ring in 2012!! Like you wanted to know, but I haven't gone ONCE all day (Saturday), let alone unintentionally in my bloomers. *ahem* (Did I just say that out loud? What can I say? I was sick, y'all.)

And also, Rob was in the backyard and found these carrots in our garden, and we ate them, and they tasted so sweet and delicious! At the end of December! Crazysauce!

So I spent much of the day hexipuffing away and racking up Swagbucks "watching" videos, but tomorrow, New Years Day (okay, so like, today), I'm going to finally get off my arse and CLEAN and un-wreck this house. Oh, the hexipuffs:

There are 64 there, but I've just cast on for #66... and lots more to go! I love the total randomness of the color scheme. Never did done that before, nope nope nope!

So. 2012. More tomorrow, I've got a hexipuff on the needles and it's begging for finishing. I resolve to do that before I sleep!

Happy New Year to you all, and to all a good night. Righty-oh!

Fin.

Christmas Day 2011

Once everyone was up, and we parents declared it 'time,' the kids bolted right for the stack of presents in the office. 'Scuse the clutter behind them in the pics; it's an ongoing project (or twelve) in here at all times. Right, so let's, shall we?

We started with the presents from Aunt Stacey (my sister); the girls got a couple outfits for their Barbies. I don't mind the Barbies at all, because these once oft-feuding sisters have really bonded over their play with her (them). So bring it on!

Jack's first present was a box of Ninja Legos, and he was overjoyed. The kid is a Lego fanatic.

Another Lego set for Jack - Stacey really scored points with the boy-child this year!

Actually, Stace scored all the way around - Chloë has already dug into this American Girl Fashion Studio, which caused lots of squealing upon being opened!

Sophia was given a Ballerina Barbie, and she declared, "I always wanted one of those!"

This was a last-minute snag I got off Amazon when it was price-dropped way low, and I didn't pay anything because I had Amazon money from Swagbucks to pay for it. It's a game we'll use in homeschooling (which significantly upped the "oh" factor when I told them that), because I get to make up the questions and then they buzz in. The reviews were pretty good, so I jumped on it.

Both grandpas gave the kids cards this year, and they requested Rob's dad and stepmom's card next.

Jack's reaction to getting his "own credit card" from Grandpa was hilarious, and he's been plotting and planning how to use it ever since.

Well, and so have the girls. They're all pretty excited about the concept.

Similar excitement ensued when they found gift cards to Books-A-Million from my dad's cards, especially from the bookworm in the family, Chloë.

I had gotten this Japanese-inspired outfit when we were in Charleston over the summer, before Chloë had even gotten her American Girl doll. I saw it and, given my love for all things Asian, knew I had to snag it for the doll we were already planning for her birthday.

Skipping ahead just for a second, here's Faith decked out in the outfit. Lovely, isn't she?

At the same store in the open-air market of Charleston, I spotted this tea set for Sophia. She peeked and saw me buying it, and she's been reminding me about it ever since! And I still almost forgot about it! Ha. She was thrilled when she opened it, and we've all had our share of "tea and cookies" this afternoon, including Daddy. It inspired us to plan a real-life tea party one of these days, which I can't wait to do.

I grabbed this Nerf gun for Jack online a long time ago, probably at the end of summer, when I saw a killer deal over it. Jack's still playing with it, hours later. He loves it and wants to use his gift card (this moment, anyway) to buy more 'bullets' for it. The four cats have been providing him endless target practice, which both scares and amuses me. I'd make him stop, but for the most part, they seem nonplussed by the experience. Good ol' Nerf!

Not long after we finished opening gifts, Chloë insisted on taking a shower with her new Jafra "BTWIN" shower gel and body lotion. She smells pretty good, I must say!  I could eat her up.

My metrosexual son was funny and just as quickly followed suit, bathing himself in his Jafra "Skid Rock" shower gel for boys, and spraying himself with so much of the cologne that the girls had to step outside for a few moments to get some fresh air!! I nearly joined them. *cough, cough*

Sophia was equally thrilled to get her Jafra goodies, a bag filled with perfume and sparkly lotion and lip gloss. She's probably used half the tube of gloss already and covered me in pink kisses. Silly cutie.

This was another last-minute snag, when the price dropped way down on Disney's website, and I knew Jack would love it. I was right. The only disappointment was there was no tree to hang it on, so he's looking forward to doing so next year.

We are big Webkinz collectors here, and this was Box One which contained a Mud Hippo for Curls, an Okapi for Soap, and a Yeti for Jacky-boy.

Out of Box Two, Jack chose the Prairie Dog, Sophia the Aardvark, and Chloë the Wombat. Aren't they great? I love all the different animals, I do.

I grabbed a great deal from Kiwi Crate for three months of crafts and projects for the two Littles, but I was a little disappointed they got the exact same things when I had to put in their ages and genders at sign-up time. Ah, well, we'll do the projects together - this month it's a rocket and space mobile, and I'm sure we'll have a good time. It's a little young for Jack, but he seemed excited about it, so whatev.

Rob caught me making this goofy face when modeling the earrings "he gave me," which were really another killer deal I snagged from Novica, which is a collaboration of National Geographic with artisans from around the world. I think these came from Thailand, but I forget. They're pearls, blue amazonite, and turquoise on silver findings, and they came in the most beautiful handmade paper box that will be great when I have to give a small gift to another. Two gifts in one!

I was glad when I found this deal for snow boots from Land's End, because even though we don't get a ton of snow and ice here, we do get some, and they've all outgrown last year's boots. It's hard to beat the boots from Land's End, so I'm well-pleased. I got a much-needed white oxford short for The Bob and a smaller, more well-fitting bathing suit for myself, from the same deal, but we opened those a few days ago and I didn't get pictures. Eh, well.

I paid practically nothing for this sapphire and diamond (although I think it's a CZ, but the saph is real) pendant from YaySave!, but we didn't get a photo of me actually wearing it because it arrived with a knot in the very fine chain. As you can see, I chopped my nails down to nothing, so I can't get the knot out at the moment, but I still love it. It's purty.

Sophie has been asking for a Barbie motorcycle for aaaaages, and I've been searching for one, but all I could find were either these Vespas on eBay, or $60+ collectible Harley ones. Obviously, she was going to get the Vespa. I showed it to her before I bid on it, to make sure it 'do,' but I told her I had to win it and that I might not if it went too high. She didn't quite get the concept of auctions, which I realized when she opened the packaged, exclaimed her shock that I won, and inquired as to whether anyone else got a prize. Hehe! Funny girl. But she's delighted with it, and I couldn't be happier to have finally made her small wish come true.

 

And last but not least, I grabbed another great deal on Rob's teapot and warmer from Cost Plus World Market, but I didn't realize we don't have any tea (that he'll deign to drink, anyway), so boo, me! The posing of this picture cracks me up, but it works, so hey.

Welp, after naps for Mom and Dad and lots of hours of playing with no signs of stopping by the kids, it's been a pretty good Christmas despite my being sick and falling short of the mark in many regards. They're all happy, so I'm happy.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday, however and whatever you celebrate, and don't have to spend 100 hours in line at the returns counter tomorrow!

Cheers!

Fin.

Are You Lookin' At My Ass?

This is what you're in for tonight. (Click to embiggerate, as usual.) What? You want to see the pics individually? Well, all righty, then, I think we can manage that...

But first, I'm up to some, oh, 43 hexipuffs, and I've been asked several times what I plan to do with the darn things. Oh, but didin't I link you here, to the Beekeeper's Quilt, already? Eventually, they'll be sewn together for a fun, poofy, multi-colored and -textured blanket, and I simply cannot wait to do that. I'm hexipuffing every free moment and enjoying every minute of it. Won't you join me, oh, ye knitters of the world? You don't knit, you say? Well, there's also a free Ravelry crochet equivalent, if you're so inclined... but anyway, that's what they're for. Aren't they cool? (Say yes or I'll cry.)

So anyway... (ugh, I'm full. Chloë has been all about baking bread in the bread machine lately, and her latest creation, chocolate chip-honey-oat bread just finished baking. I had a rather-too-large hunk of it with nary a chocolate chip in the slice. Life is so unfair. But I digress yet again...)

We had a homeschoolers' field trip to the Hunt Club Farm Winter Wonderland tonight, so the first thing our kids ran to do after we got our wristbands and entered through the lighted arch was run through the light maze. Lots of these pictures are blurry, and I apologize for that, but I'm still learning the settings on my Nikon. Yes, I got it in February, and no, I have not yet read the instruction manual. All in due time. These were all taken on the nighttime setting, which would have been great if the little people were not in constant freaking motion...!

Sophia, as usual, was the fastest. You'd think she was running through a laser security light field thingy.

She did pause for a quick smile at Mom after the maze, though. Time to cut the bangs again, eh?

After the light maze, we happened upon the Nativity scene, where Jack was pointing at the donkey and saying,...

..."Hey! You ass!" Then, to us, "What? That's what they're called!" What could we do but agree?

 

Apparently there were llamas and alpacas at the birth of Jesus, too. Who knew?

The children running through the archway on the way to the Wonderland workshop

They were here last year, too, and it was very similar then, but that didn't stop them from being amazed and wanting to touch everything in sight.

I do like me some cocks. Peacocks, people. Peacocks. Sheesh. (Heh heh)

Sophia was the most hands-on of the kids, as usual. She's very handsy. She's not the type of kid you bring to a glassware store, you know what I'm sayin'?

There were lots of little vignettes set up of elves working at various tasks. I didn't care what they were doing. I just wanted to get all three kids in one decent shot. Watch. I tried again and again.

I don't know what Jack was looking at, but in this picture, my eye keeps being drawn to the fact that it looks like the fawn is trying to nurse from his daddy. Um...

My attempt at an artsy picture

There's just something about a praying mantis that screams "Christmas!" isn't there?

 

Another awesome shot of the back of the three kidlets. Hey, whatever, man. They're cute from any angle, I maintain.

Soapster petting the swan

The swan's nest of 'eggs'

Chloë's always reliable for a good pose, huh? The polar bear was pretty compliant, too.

More of the the three children's backs, as they admire the doll factory

What the hell is that? A bunny? Yeah, a bunny. And an unnaturally bright child. Maybe this is Sophie's audition for Twilight.

I forget what this was that was flying around, but I think it was penguins. Yeah, that's the ticket. Rob was mocking them, because, ah, penguins. Flying. You know?

Three faces! Score! Ten points for me. Nothing for you, except eleventy more pictures.

So this elf was totally drunk on moonshine, a fact that tickled Rob and I mercilessly. I mean, we weren't falling down laughing, but we had a few good giggles over it. I mean, this was supposed to be for the kids, wasn't it? And there was a damn drunk elf! Nice.

El niño, Jackalope

Oh, here we go, back to the backs of the chirren. Looking at skiing bears. You know, I've never gone downhill skiing in my life. That's on my bucket list, too. It's a rather long list. But I'm going on yet another tangent...

So I did a freaking spectactular job of capturing the three kids in a billion pictures, where NONE of their faces were visible. Go, me!!

Sophia admiring more elfin (elvish?) scenery

Train-obsessed Jack couldn't help but get down on all fours to admire this little set-up. Give that boy anything that goes and he's a happy little mofo boy.

 

Hey, guys, stand in front of that tree and smile! Or, well, do that!

Santa wasn't on his couch when we got up front to take pictures with him, so I had the kids pose in his absence. They no longer believe in him anyway, so they didn't care much. They were happy just to get the candy cane out of his basket and leave, but then...

 

...he showed up, like, a minute later. He asked them what they wanted for Christmas. Sophia told him, "Oh, you wouldn't know what it was if I told you." I died laughing. As if! Santa knows everything. He's like the god of toys. I forget what it was she thought would stump him, but it was something to do with Barbies. That girl is Barbie-crazy.

 

Immediately outside, Rob and the kids were drawn to this Blacksmith Shop, which was cool and all, except for this one creepy thing Rob found on the ledge:

A severed hand, with a missing finger! What in the hell? Merry, merry, ho, ho, ho!

Time to go back through the lighted archway to head toward the bonfires. We brought our own bag of marshmallows. We paid just over a buck for a whole bag. They were selling them there for five for a dollar. Um, yeah. This place is making BANK.

"Kids, run through the arches, so I can get a picture of your heads looking invisible like in Back to the Future!" Okay, so that's not exactly what I said, but it might as well have been.

The kids wanted to stop and look at the turkey in the chicken coop. So here are four turkeys...

I always have the kids say something when I take their picture, something silly, so they're smiling and laughing (theoretically) when I make the snap. Half the time, I catch them mid-phrase, so it looks like this. I'm no Annie Leibovitz, what can I say?

Finally, the moment we were all waiting for: marshmallow roasting time! I ate about six too many. I think I had seven. I like them on fire, roasted to a crisp. It's the only food I like burnt. Otherwise, blech. The kids, they like them practically raw, with no brown on them or anything. Rob has it down to an art form. They were disappointed we didn't get hot dogs this year, but hey, we were on a tight budget, and the 'mallows themselves were a splurge we could barely afford, this being the first half of the month, after all. But anyway, anyhow.

These are mine. This is how I like my marshmallows roasted. Crispy. Fried. Mmm. Hot and black, like I like my men... ;P (That will elicit a mock-indignant "uh!" out of the hubs, I know.)

Smoke gets in your eyes... and hers... and mine... and all of ours...

Chloë in the obligatory, singular black-and-white pose. of which I don't do enough, I think....

One last marshmallow-roasting picture before we decided to pack it in for the night. We'd have stayed longer, but I was freezing. It really is time for me to pack in the Crocs flip-flops, but I love them so dearly, I haven't had the heart to break out the sneakers or boots yet...

And so, we left. Good-bye, Hunt Club Farm. Until next year.

Fin.

Saturday 9: Turn Back The Hands Of Time

Link yourselves on up over here if you're playing along this weekend!

1. There's a Time Genie. She can put you back in time to relive a day that you loved. If you could turn back the hands of time, what day would you relive if given this opportunity?

March 19th, 2003. I would get up out of my pre-term labor bed in the hospital, march my hugely pregnant arse down the hall to the high-risk OB clinic that was supposed to be monitoring me, and demand the ultrasound for which I kept asking, until they gave it to me. They would do, see that my twins were in major distress, and deliver them on the spot. Both would now be alive. If only...if only.... (yes, 8½ years later, I still blame myself for Robby's death.)

Oh, wait. I just re-read the question, and it was supposed to be a day I loved. Then, I would relive the day Rob and I eloped, over and over and over. It was the time of our lives! ♥

2. What did you do yesterday?

Slept 'til mid-afternoon, ate way too much pumpkin pie that I didn't even make, and slept some more. Took a few pictures. S'about it.

3. You've been given 3 parachutes, but there are 4 people who need them. Who will you not give one to: Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Kim Kardashian, or Simon Cowell? Why?

Um, first of all, what about ME? Second of all, Mel. He's turned into a worthless piece of trash. The rest are, at least, still entertaining.

4. Where are you going and where have you been?

I'm going to San Diego when Rob retires in less than 1.5 years. I've been around the world, and I-I-I, I can't find my baby, I don't know and I don't know why, oh, sorry, got off on a tangent, there.  I have been to Ottawa, Canada. Don't hate. (I've been out of the country plenty of times; that's the one of which I'm least proud.)

5. They say that books read as a child make more of an impact on a person than books read at any other time in life. Are there any books that you particularly loved, that shaped the way you think when you were little?

Grammar aside, there, probably the Anne of Green Gables series. I loved the whole idea of kindred spirits and the need to find one's own, I loved the love shared between Anne and Gilbert, and Matthew and Marilla, and I loved Anne's red-haired fieriness when necessary. I could go on, but I shan't. Have you read them? I don't want to spoil it for you, if not.

6. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?

Our Christmas stay at Great Wolf Lodge in a couple weeks!!

7. What was the last text message you received?

This hilarious cartoon from Rob:

8. Do you prefer to call or text?

Text, which is why it drives me crazy that my sister doesn't have a celly!!

9. What were you doing at 9PM last night?

I think I was back to sleep by then. I slept a ton. Hey, I was out of Diet Coke!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Fin.

Aloha Friday

Link up here with Kailani if you're in a questioning mood today!

I've had a rough week, so in an effort to turn things around, my question for you this week is:

What's the most fun you've EVER had?

The first thing that pops into my mind is when I eloped with my husband. We met at the bus depot, as we were both unvehicularly inclined at the time, and it was about 10 minutes before the courthouse closed. We found each other, and then ran as fast as we could, breathless and laughing, all the way there, with our hands clasped together. You'll find us that way, still, when we're driving or walking: hands tighly clasped, (nearly) 11 years later. I ♥ him with my whole being.

Have a great weekend.

Fin.

Bzz, Bzz: Tonka XT Ricochet Tricksters R/C

Disclosure: I am a BzzAgent, which means I was provided a product to try and review for this word-of-mouth publicity campaign. No monetary compensation was received for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So, like, I don't know if you can tell, and stuff, but I wasn't the only one in Chez Odette who was excited when I managed to land this cool campaign, with a fun toy from Hasbro geared toward Jack, my 8-year-old son. I didn't tell him it was coming, so when he opened the box, this was his genuine reaction!

Immediately, he ran downstairs to get that thing Tonka XT Ricochet Trickster R/C out of the box!

This doesn't have to be just a toy for boys, though. Jack's older and younger sister eagerly awaited their turn to play with it, too. Here's Sophia, pointing out which one of the three Tricksters her brother received.

As with most boxed toys, this one came with plenty of packaging, but the boy wouldn't give up. He wanted to get it all out by himself, thank you very much.

Finally we got the little bugger out of the box! Here it is on one side...

...but check it out: when you turn it over, it looks like a completely different car!

See? Two sides! Cool, huh?  That's because each of the three Tricksters performs a signature trick: The one we received does the "Buzzsaw Spin," while the two others can do a "Rampage Flip" or a "Zig-Zag Jolt"! However, apparently they can all be done with enough practice, by each vehicle. We haven't gotten that far yet!

The boy-child had tons of fun that night doing stunts and, well, tricks with his new Trickster. The girls had their turns, too, but hmm, they seemed a little few and far between Jack's turns with the toy. I think maybe he'll get the other two for Christmas... if he's on Santa's "good" list, that is! ;)

Here are a few factoids for ya:

* Retails for about $25

* Requires (5) AA batteries (not included) for the controller

* Needs 20-30 min charge for 15-30 min of running time

* Use inside, only; not intended for outdoor use

* Available at Wal-mart, Target, Toys 'R Us, and Kmart (in the R/C aisle)

* Meant for ages 6 years +

So go! If you've got a youngster in the middle ages (wait, that didn't sound right, did it?) who LOVES cars (my kid lives for anything with wheels), try out a Tonka XT Ricochet Trickster R/C for him (or her!) - Jack gives it two big thumbs up!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmentin' along with Mrs.4444 today!

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I've taken no fewer than three naps today. I've either turned into a cat, or I'm sick. Guess which. (I don't have whiskers, if that helps.)

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Last night, I went out with one of my girlfriends for a mystery shop at a bar. I told Hubs I'd be be back in an hour and a half to help clean the house. Well, I strolled in 3½ hours later and felt fine about it, since I'd had more and harder laughs in that time than I'd had in ages. Love my Jenny From the Block! When I brought her home, we sat in her drive for at least another hour, "saying goodbye." I love having good friends like that, and the fact that she lives close by doesn't hurt, either.

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Just before that, our sister troop's leader and I ran our annual Girl Scout Rededication ceremony with both her Junior and my Daisy troop, plus one Investiture for my new little Daisy. It was lots of fun, and my Daisies did GREAT remembering (and reciting, by themselves) the short Promise, and the Law, which is rather long. I handed out tissue packs for all the moms, because sometimes you cry at these things, and patches that the girls have earned in the last few months. This time, I made them into little books. Now, I have to get sewing and ironing, to get my girls' vests up to date!

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Co-op is going FABULOUS on Wednesdays. If you're new here, or just forgetful, we're in our second year of homeschooling, and we go to a co-op for Christian Military Homeschoolers on Weds. I teach three cooking classes, and sometime, I'll get around to posting what we're actually up to in there, but I've gotten nothing but great feedback from my students and parents. One girl, M, comes into class saying, "Hello, favorite teacher!" which, you know, gives me a bit of an ego boost. My kids love it, too. Chloë frequently exclaims, "I wish Co-op was every day; it's so fun!"

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When my son died, my MIL gave me a necklace representing each of my then-three children, with Robby as an angel. Then Sophia was born, and she took it back to have a new dangly child added. Well, a few months ago, I took off the necklace for one night, to wear something else (I almost always wore this one), and it disappeared. Earlier, my husband told me to turn around and close my eyes. As soon as I felt him reach around my neck, I knew what it was. "YOU FOUND IT!" I squealed. He's my new favorite husband. ♥

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I have to get up way early tomorrow morning for three different back-to-back Girl Scout-related events. Seriously? From September thru June, it practically takes over my life. Oy. Is it wrong to be looking forward to Summer for that reason...?

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That's all I've got for now. I'd probably tell you a hundred other things, but I have Sick Brain and CRS.  Have a great weekend!

Fin.