Like a freight train..

Life. Moving. fast.  Been 5-6 weeks since I last touched this page. Yikes.   Kate just rolled over! I figured I had to document it somewhere!   3 1/2 months old.  Left her watching the Gamecocks and went to check on Talia and came back...on her tummy.  Time's a'flying! 

So...last 6 weeks.  Talia's Gotcha day # 5 was Oct. 12.  We were going to the fair on Oct 15 but it was monsooning.  So we went this week (pictures to follow).  Talia had the H1N1 flu, of course, since everything goes in her mouth.  She missed a week of school, and then she gifted it to Kate.  So then I missed a week of work.  Both girls are better now.  My father-in-law was at work and some uber-enormous water pressure knocked off the nozzle of the hose he was holding and it slammed into his chin, breaking everything.  Actually, splintered the TMJ joints and disintegrated the chin.  He now has a metal plate in lieu of his chin (looks perfect) and mouth wired shut.  Doctor hopes the splintered joints will reform and reconstruction surgery will not be necessary.  Ow.  Ow.  Ow.  I whine when I have jaw pain from sinus problems.  Ow. Ow. Ow.  But he's doing awesome.  What else?  A couple of other sad events.  My favorite cousin from Louisiana lost her husband.  I feel lost as to what to say.  We've lost touch for the better part of 20 years and Facebook just got us back together.  I can't stop thinking about her and wishing I knew what to say.  I have learned just to say something, rather than nothing because you aren't sure.

Lemme go get some pictures posted....

Body Art

So, we've been promising that the kids could do some face painting. Actually weeks ago I brought it to the parents' house and it never was used. So, for 2 days the kids whined about face painting. I, in true democratic style, asked the kids if they wanted to swim in the lake for a short time or do face painting, assuming of course they would choose face painting. Yes, wrong. So Talia and Elias went to the lake and Bella and I, then Julie, started painting. LUCKILY I did not paint my face because the purple and the pinks are not washing off. Lower calf is rather strangely decorated. But we had a blast.



Orange washed off. Dark pink did not. Just imagine.

Our Bugs

I am more and more amazed each day as I see more and more creatures in our yard (not all welcome). We have salamanders (including a baby) and a turtle, birds and squirrels, fireflies, wasps, mosquitoes, frogs, praying mantisis (not sure of the plural) and on and on.

This was a beautiful web, which of course I tried to photograph, but the sun was in the wrong place, as was the web. This was as good as I could get.


Wow. Huge. An an inch from getting inside my house. And eating us.

Umbrella Party

So, for whatever reason, the kids have always loved playing with Talia's umbrellas. E and Bella have recently earned an umbrella each for their good behavior. Elias has held that umbrella each second he was not in school. So, I guess, it was only fitting that we had an Umbrella Party on Wednesday afternoon. I am still not sure what transpired at the "party," but the 3 kids ran around and acted like, well, kids.

Catching Up-July 15-more home arrival pics

Catching up-July 15-Arrival home!

I was explaining that there was going to be lots of excited people at the house that would be holding and kissing her. She said, "oooh."


Heat killed the welcome home balloons.


Talia meets Kate for the first time.


And Grandma meets Kate for the first time.

Catching up-July 13th-Last night in Hot Springs

We found this delicious Mexican restaurant. It has beautiful murals on the walls and these ornate chairs (you can kinda see one behind mom in the second picture). We feasted on delicious food-so much more delicious than we expected to find. Even had a guacamole/green pepper dip that came with the chips. Yum.




Even Kate got into the act-8 days old and hogging the chips!

Zoo Date

Some of you know that my biggest challenge with two kids (so far and right now) is bedtime. Talia LOVES her baby sister, but is struggling with the massive reduction of exclusive mom/Talia time. That manifests at bedtime. She may also be afraid Kate and I will do something that she will miss. Bedtime is a nightmare some days. It is also Kate's fussy time. Not colic fussy, but just your regular fussy. Talia switches back and forth from having a fit to her tummy is hurting so much she "is going to die!" The most recent behavior modification technique (remember I am a special educator...I have techniques) is to let her earn time with me by going and staying in bed. Each time she gets out to tell me about a phantom pain, she loses minutes. (Thanks, Fred Jones). This week was the first trial of the most recent attempt at control of the 5 year old. We were working towards time at the zoo. She earned 1 hr and 27 minutes. Much better than last week. She earned the full time on Thursday evening after the zoo, then has spent the weekend with the grandparents, so no idea what tonight will bring.

So, we get to the zoo, see the flamingoes and then....


Owen and Christian!!! This is the fallout after Ring around the Rosy (yes, that was random.)


They totally made the trip 50 times more fun.

Still learning

So, some of you know I took a class at MTC about photography. So, since the class was talk, talk, talk, I've spent the 6+ months since figuring things out. Actually its been a great little process...tweaking, manipulating, etc. My new trick is changing the white balance. This is within a few minutes of each other, the second one being after I changed to "cloudy." Going to embark on a photoshoot of Kate today to see if I can get a couple of good shots without taking her to a photo studio at the mall.

Sweet kids

Quality time with Poppie

And of course I had to take pictures!

Family Fun

Beth's surprise 50th birthday party...

Saluda Splash

End of summer blow out...Okay, well, a couple of hours running through water features...



The rogue bluejay that made himself at home and stole an almond we brought for snack. Bad birdie.