small things {glue guns}

small things #71 ... glue guns

I love my glue gun.  My rusty, trusty, trigger-happy, turquoise glue gun.

This morning I blew away a pile of odds and ends in need of some fixing ...

Lydia's poor, dismembered pencil-topper monkey - Ka-pow!

Norah's cutie-patootie magnet face - Poom!

Ashley's dusty foam frame (complete with cobwebs!) - Blam!

Three out of the four wings on my decrepit dragonfly napkin ring - 

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

The unintentional floppy parts of Aaron's wannabe Teva sandals - 

Pow! and Phuwp!

Ma and her glue gun ... the Fixin'est Gun in the West!

Glue guns ... my crafty way of keeping my house together.  

One splootch at a time.

small things {hullabalooga}

small things #68 ... hullabalooga

"Welcome to Cranium Hullabaloo!"

The electronic MC announces the rules and Lydia heads to a purple Cranium pad.  Her goofy smile and bouncy feet tell me she's excited.

"Mommy!  You have to get on a purple guy.  You can stand with me!"

I step over to "Creative Cat" (and over the baby) and wait for the directions.

"Move over to a yellow."

I step over to the yellow triangle while Lydia dances over to the yellow circle.

"Fly to a square."

We flap our wings and head to the blue square.  Lydia dodges Baby S and her sorter box.

"Ha!  We sharing!"

"Crawl to an animal."

Lydia scurries on all fours to the elephant.  I stoop over and pretend to crawl to the monkey.

"Freeze!  Is anyone standing on the elephant?  If you are, you're the winner!  Winner?  Take a bow!"

Lydia claps for herself and bows deeply and dramatically.  One sweeping arm barely misses Baby S's noggin.

"I won!  I da winner!"

We step back on the purple pads.

"Samantha, no!  Mommy, Samantha has the elephant."

"That's okay.  I'll trade her this toy for the pad.  You get on a red pad."

"Slither to a musical instrument."

Baby S walks by with the piano.

"Get on a blue."

Lydia grabs Baby S by the hand and "helps" her find a blue.

"Hop to a triangle."

Lydia hops around Baby S and lands next to me on the red triangle.

"Freeze!  Is anyone standing on the red triangle?  If you are, you're the winner!  Winner?  Do a funky monkey dance!"

Lydia be-bops around the room, arms flailing and feet kicking, narrowly missing Baby S, who is also frenetically boogying.  I do my own rendition of John Travolta's "Stayin' Alive", much to Lydia's delight.

As we head back to our purple pads, Lydia protests that Baby S is putting the pads away.  Sure enough the baby has gathered up three pads and is walking back to the box.  I rescue the pads and redistribute them around the floor.  Frustrated, Baby S flaps her arms and plops herself down on the blue circle.

"Try this Hullabaloo move!  Put your knee on a circle.  Annnd ... touch your foot to a green.  Annnd ... put your nose on a food." ... annnd balance over the baby who is crawling under your belly.

We stretch and pretzel ourselves to reach the three pads and I fear I might not get back off the floor.

"Everybody stand up!  Walk on your tip-toes to a green."

We tip-toe to the spaghetti pad and Lydia hangs from my leg.

"Freeze!  Is anyone standing on the frog?  If you are, you're the winner!  Winner?  Do a victory jump!"

We look around.  Baby S is sucking on the frog.

"Samantha!  You da winner!  Jump!  Jump!  Jump!"

Baby S cries as she gets jumped and bumped to the floor.

"Want to play again?  Get on a purple Cranium pad to start."

Whew!  I'm about Hullabalooga-ed out!

Hullabalooga ...  Ashley changed the name and Baby S changed the rules.  It's a lively game where anything goes and everybody wins!

small things {silly sissy}

small things #17 ... silly sissy

Two little girlies in the bathtub.  The faucet is running; the tub is filling; the girls are giggling.

Their laughter echoes off the bathroom walls.  Little dimpled faces and sweet grins glistening in the tub.  Sweet nakey parts splash in the warm water.

There is a basket of toys hanging above the faucet, but the girls are content with the orange ball.  They toss it back and forth, allowing it to splash water up onto their faces and the tile wall behind them.  And sometimes on Mommy's leg and book.

I move toward the door - away from the damp excitement.

Bath time is a favorite past-time in this house ... 

Santa beards made of body wash bubbles,

confined play time and less to clean up,

Kewpie hair pulled up and twisted around,

wrinkled toes and fingers,

sudsy bellies and bottoms,

sweet smelling kiddos wrapped in towels.

The girls continue their splashing and ball throwing, their giggles and chuckles fill the steamy air.  And then, 

BANG!

Lydia's head hits the side of the white enamel tub.  A new and pain-filled echo.  Wailing and crying fills the sudden silence.

I lean forward on my stool to take a peek at her head.  She clutches her ear with her little wrinkled fingers, crocodile tears mix with the bathwater.  She won't let go of her ouchie long enough for me to get a good look and her cries only seem to get louder.  I'm not certain she can hear my soothing mommy-words over her moaning.

Ashley sits across from her in the tub, one hand gripping the orange ball while sucking on the thumb of the other.  One look at her sister and she shows her sweet and tender compassion.

"Wackah, wackah, blobbiddy, blibbidy, bonk!  

Hookie, hookie, wackah, wackah-woo!"

In an instant, Liddy's whimpers erupt into cackles and then snorts.  She lets go of her ear and grabs for the orange ball that Ashley has splashed in her direction.

I wipe water off my face with a towel and shake my head.  Smiling.

Crisis averted:  silliness soothes wounded tyke.

Silly sissy ... only you speak the compassionate, complex and combined language of Mother Teresa, the Fairy Godmother and Fozzie Bear.

No Photoshop Here

I recently watched this video regarding the wonders (and deceitfulness) of Photoshop in the media.  It's worth a quick watch ...



Here is the Link on YouTube.

I don't know about you, but after I stopped laughing, I felt a little better about me!  Next time I see the lovely ladies on the covers of the magazines at the checkout line, maybe it won't depress me.

"Maybe she's born with it.   Nah.  I'm pretty sure it's Photoshop."

I will admit that I've been tempted to polish up some my snapshots.  Of the kids.  Just to have a decent picture of my brood.  One where they're all looking.  At the camera.  With their tongues in their mouths.

Last Friday, in honor of the Bronco game on Saturday, the kids dressed in blue and orange in support of their favorite team.  Aaron borrowed a jersey from his cousin while the girls hodge-podged together Halloween shirts and short-sleeved blue shirts.

Just before they headed out the door, I pulled out the camera for a quick picture.  Last September we had captured a fun picture for a similar Spirit Day and it turned out so well ...

Look how cute they are!

I wanted another.

I guess I got greedy.

First, I forgot to flip on the flash.  Hmm ... a little blurry and a little dark.  And we're missing #4.

Okay.  There she is.  Let go of her head, please.  I guess three out of four smiles isn't so bad.

Let's try an action shot.

Do something football-ish.

Okay ... one kid with a faux-football, one cheerleader, one forehead and one ... whatever Norah is doing.

There.  Now we have a real football.  That's a little better.  Norah's still silly.  Ashley is buried there in the back.  And Lydia?  She's the candy-caned blur in the front.  Look here, Weeda.  At the camera.

Oh, for pete's sake!

I guess we'll go with the blurry first one.  Or take a class in Photoshop.  But I don't think even the wonders of Adobé can make this crew look ready for the cover of Sports Illustrated!

Gratefully, even if they are total goofballs on the outside, I know that in the inside they are tender-hearted, compassionate, generous and loving.  And since God is more concerned with their hearts than their snapshot antics, I will be too!

⁷ The LORD does not look at the things people look at [or their silly eyes or their goofy faces or their crazy poses]. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Time-Warp Wednesday

This week's photo Time-Warp was brought to mind recently due to my mom and sister's repeated trips to Durango.  My mom is eight weeks post-op for a lumbar fusion and she's doing great!  In fact it has be an absolute delight to see my mom come through this tough healing process and find her sense of humor and zest for life intact; and to see my sister reveal an astonishing ability to provide tender and thorough caregiving for days on end ... even in the face of ER visits, blood pressure fluctuations and a periodically impatient patient.

You ladies are incredible!

They are headed back to Durango this Friday for another round of x-rays to insure that her fused parts are still fused and to hopefully begin her physical therapy.  And a (gentle) pat on the back from the surgeon for a job well done! :)


Hence my Time-Warp to a previous trip to Durango ...


My sister lived in this mountain town for a spell and during one of our visits, we wandered around downtown and then stopped off for a meal at a little pizza joint.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but I remember the novelty of a concrete floor and my children sitting UNDER the table and scribbling with chalk.  And everyone was happy.


On the way back to the van, we strolled past a statue that caught the kids' eyes.  For obvious reasons.

I mean, who doesn't want to be a jolly, nimble and muscular as Puck?  

Nana - we are praying for your full recovery and hoping to see you dance a little jig soon, too! :)

Good Medicine

As of today, my mom is 4 weeks post-op for back surgery and she's doing great!  Way to go, Nana!  Of course, she has experienced the expected and typical bumps and bruises in her road to recovery, but to quote the wise Bob Wiley, she's making lots of baby steps toward being pain-free.  And toward normalcy ... whatever that is.  It was a treat to be with my mom and sis this weekend and to see first-hand the great strides she is making ... even if she feels like she's shuffling along.

In light of her diminished pain, better sleep habits, returning appetite (we're still excited for when she can get thrilled about more than popcorn, creamed spinach and brown rice!) and returning sense of humor, we are looking forward to seeing her soon as a family.  The kids are especially anxious to see Nana ... here's to hoping we can all get together soon.

And if it's true that laughter is truly the best medicine, then we will have her ship-shape in no time!  Here's a little snapshot of the kids antics just yesterday morning ... oh, how I wish she'd been here!  It would have been even more fun to laugh with someone else.

We started off with Lydia lining up all five (five!) stuffed and robotic doggies on the desk in the girls room and "feeding" them.  Shoes.  Yes, the food of choice for our poochies is a buffet of flip-flops, tennis shoes and dress flats.  Yum!  Of course, Cousin Matthew would probably agree that flip-flops are a favorite of our four-legged friends ... first hand experience there, I believe. :)

This "meal" was quickly followed by all four kids sharing with me several interpretive dances set to Bobby McFerrin's album "Bang!Zoom" ... and their interpretations were ... interesting.  To say the very least.

Our musical geniuses re-titled the first song, "Cry Babies".  As you might have guessed, their movements resembled four little kids throwing tantrums on the floor.  In synch.  If they hadn't been giggling uproariously, I might have been annoyed.  As it was, their smiley, rhythmic fits of faux-frustration were actually quite entertaining.

The next song they chose was a ballad that featured Norah and Ashley and a dueling hula dance.  There was a bit of a tiff regarding which direction they were supposed to wiggle towards first.  The rest of the song involved them holding hands and swaying a lot with Aaron crawling around on his belly and weaving between their legs and under their "London Bridge is Falling Down" arms.  He also had to watch out for Lydia who was running back and forth between the hungry puppies and their endless supply of "fresh from the oven" foot-ware.  I think that there was one full-body collision, but they didn't miss a step in the music.

The kids entitled the grand finale, "HoboTown".  I don't know why.  According to Norah, she thought the song sounded a little bit like the music from the opening credits of the Cosby Show.  Again ... I'm completely lost on that title.  The Crosby Show is the least Hobo-ish thing I can think of!

As the music started, both the girls struck a pose.  And Aaron hid behind the clothes in the closet.  Ashley and Norah started dancing/marching/flailing/waltzing around the room (and around Lydia) for the first portion of the song.  Then suddenly Norah said, "Get ready Aaron ... here it comes!"  I perked up in my seat, ready for something new.  As the song transformed into a new melody, Aaron began peeking out of between the clothes - in rhythm with the music.  Norah then squealed, "It's the hobo peeking through the fence!"

What?!  I couldn't help but bust up.  Where do they get this stuff?!

Our crazy dancers antics went on like this for some time, finally crescendoing into a Hobo-parade in which the girls retrieved their suitcases and marched around the bedroom giggling.  Aaron, on the other hand, lost interest and flopped down on the nearest bed and re-enacted the most recent battle between Captain Rex and the Clone War troopers.  And Lydia fed the doggies their dessert course.

As you can see, there is no lack of inane silliness in our house.  The hilarity that ensues on a regular basis is always good for what ails you!

We can't wait to see you, Nana!   We've got some good medicine all bottled up for you!