Another Day… Another Tooth…

We were all so excited to see Seanelle again!  She didn’t get homesick until today, but dad has been going out of his mind.

She ate dinner with us tonight and told us of her adventures.

Then as I was trying to get her and her brother to bed, she went to the bathroom and pulled out another tooth!

Hello!  I didn’t want you to come home so that I could spend more money!  I mean… so that the tooth fairy would have to work harder!

Her hair looks a little more bleached than when she left, and she has a leg that is swollen from something that bit her, but she is still the same little girl that left… and not five minutes after she got home, was outside playing with her brother, and talking with the neighbors!

Okay… 5 days might be too long…

Seanelle had an opportunity to go camping with her friend, and I thought it was a great idea.  Seanelle loves being outside, no matter what the weather.  This last winter, she would come in the house crying because her hands hurt her so badly.

As soon as we would warm them up to being only cold… out she went again.  Now that it is summertime, we barely see her.  When she was given the opportunity to go camping (something her father and I detest) we thought it would be good for her to go.  Okay, this wasn’t a “we thought” as much as an “I thought” deal.  But she has been gone since Monday, and I really miss her sense of humor.

She is always good for a good laugh, a good hug, a good question…  Now I am thinking that maybe 5 days was a little long for me.  I have no doubt that she is having fun.  This will only make it difficult to tell her “No” next time.

And I hate to tell Todd that he might have been right…

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Press Room - Headline Archives

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Press Room - Headline Archives

Shared via AddThis

My Grandparents

 

 

These are my grandparents.  It is so difficult for me to think of them as young once.  I know my grandchildren will have the same difficulty. 

I love looking at these pictures, and thinking of the stories they had told me of times before I was born.  Seeing them in retirement telling me the stories is so different than remembering these stories and seeing them at the age when the stories took place.

I’m certain that they had no idea that they would have six kids… but to think it would grow….

 

and grow… and continue to grow…

Summertime Fun…

Seanelle went out on a date with her dad.  She has been looking forward to this for several weeks.  They went out after church on Sunday, and she picked a very cute outfit.  (And luckily it still fits… unlike most of her wardrobe these days.)  She fixed her hair before church so she would be ready to go as soon as dad dropped me and GaryTodd off at home.

Because Seanelle is reading now, she read the Red Lobster sign and asked what that was.  Even at her young age, Seanelle has a very broad appreciation of food.  One of her favorite meals is her dad’s fried shrimp.  So I had explained to her that lobster was like a large shrimp.  She asked if I wanted to go there, and I declined… which is why her dad made a date with her.  It would be something they could enjoy together.

I wish I had an opportunity to take a picture of her before she went on her date, but even more I wish I could have gotten pictures of her during her date.  She was a hit.  Everyone adored her.  (As they should.)

These pictures were taken the day before.  Seanelle has been asking for a two-piece bathing suit.  I don’t like the idea of trying to keep track of two pieces, but she should have more than one suit, and I couldn’t find any one piece suits.  She got lucky.

If you can see where her shoes are in this picture, this is why I don’t want her to have more pieces in her wardrobe than necessary.  She makes herself comfortable where ever she is at.  I wish we could design entire wardrobes that knew how to stay together. 

She doesn’t even wear her clothes for very long before she outgrows them.  For the short time she has them, you would think I could keep track of them better…

This is one of the reasons that boys are a little easier.  They don’t have to wear as many clothes. 

GaryTodd is sliding down one of the slides at the park.  I am a little surprised by this picture.  When I tried to get him to go down a slide like this in the new pool, he chickened out and told me he didn’t like the dark.

But that didn’t stop me.  I still tricked him into going down the water slide.  He ended that slide with this same grin.  (Although it looks like he is attempting to grab his grandma’s camera when he lands.  Maybe he is just waving…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seanelle has gone camping for 5 days with her friend, which means GaryTodd gets to spend some time being an only child.  We get to spoil him and have fun with only him.

I am looking forward to him telling Seanelle about his adventures with the attacking balloons he received.

I would tell her about it, but I don’t know if I’ll catch my breath by then…

It is nice to be able to have this one on one time with GaryTodd since next year he will be starting school.  I am really going to miss him. 

Now who is going to keep me laughing all day?

Just For Fun…

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Great Day at the Park!

Seanelle & GaryTodd have been so excited to have the swimming pool open at the park.  They’ve gone a couple of times.  Todd & I promised to take them this weekend.  As we were leaving, Seanelle asked if she could take her friend with us.  The three of them play together very well.

 

But because the girls are taller, they liked swimming in the deeper waters.  GaryTodd is pretty brave… but still hates getting his head wet. 

When we first arrived at the pool, the line was incredibly long.  It wouldn’t have been half bad if the line appeared to be moving.  I should have known that everyone would want to go to the pool on such a warm day. 

We went to McDonald’s and had Sundaes first, then went and waited in line for another new pool to open.

Because I knew that we would get separated, I made sure that the kids knew where our stuff was.  If they got lost, then they would know where to find us.  We put our towels and shoes down… and they were off.  They weren’t worried at all about getting lost. 

That’s probably because Dad was in the pool with them the entire time.  I was out of the pool long enough to take some pictures… and wring out our towels that had apparently soaked up half the pool when we weren’t watching.

GaryTodd wasn’t all that interested in the toys at the pool.  I thought he would want to climb on them, but he just swam around.  He had a smile on his face the entire time.

He did get out to look for a toy that he misplaced, and discovered a gate.  The gate was at the base of the stairs leading to the slides.  He started going up, so I joined him.  We were told that he couldn’t go down the slide, but that he could go down the little kiddy slide…  So we went there.

That was an experience.  By the time we got to the top, we were completely soaked by all the water features going off.  As soon as it was our turn, GaryTodd had a change of heart.  I really didn’t want to go through all the water features on the way back down, so I pulled him on top of me, after prying his hands off the sides, and slid down with him.  He had a smile when we were finished, but didn’t want to go a second time.

The pool didn’t take long to fill up with hundreds of children.  Although it was crowded, I was enjoying the time we were spending with our children.  Then as I was scanning over the new pool, I suddenly noticed how many parents were there playing with their children.  It was fantastic.  I can’t remember ever seeing so many families at the park together.  I hope this is a sign of the change of times.  How great would it be to see the American family structure getting stronger.  It might be optimism, but I know one thing for certain:  It was a great day.

What?!? Another One?

Seanelle always takes her teeth out at night.  Why doesn’t she do this during the day when the Tooth Fairy would have time to be sure she has change?

Well, she probably loses them at night so the Tooth Fairy won’t forget about her…

She was just as excited about the 3rd tooth as she was about the first one.  But this tooth she wiggled and pulled out all by herself.  It has been a little loose for a while, but tonight while she was eating pizza, it started to bleed.  Before she was finished with her pizza, she went to the bathroom and played with it in front of the mirror until she was able to pull it out.  Then she and her reflection celebrated until I could come in and join them.

The New Shadle Pool

While the kids were off playing all over the new pool toys, I waited by reading my book and falling asleep.

The kids had a great time but GaryTodd was happy to go home after an hour and a half.  That was fine with me since I thought I would be able to wait in the shade.  I ended up having to go inside with them… and I really wasn’t dressed for being in the sun.  Sleeping made the time more tolerable.

Woo Hoo!!! French Doors Are In!

This is the picture is the sliding glass door this winter just after the snow was removed from our roof.

I would have to dig through this snow in order to take the garbage out.

Although I took this picture because of the amount of snow… It was a good picture of the slider door.

But this picture on the right is what the space looks like today…

 

 

 

 

 

I am very excited about the doors.  I am really glad that my brother helped to install them, and that we got them opening and closing fairly easy. 

At least the kids can open and close these doors.  Now I just have to do the finishing touches on the door frame… and train the kids to actually close the door.

I really want to make a patio area for the bar-be-que… but Todd really would like me to finish one project before starting another one.  (And the French doors weren’t really planned.  We both were aware that I really wanted them… but because I was SO excited about finding a good deal on them, I bought them before we were really ready.  I should have at least finished one job before buying them… but why?  They are so beautiful!  It was worth it if you ask me!)

A Day in Coeur d’Alene

Seanelle and GaryTodd had the opportunity to spend time with some cousins they don’t get to see very often.  They had gone to the lake… and by the looks of things, they had a lot of fun.

They came home telling us they had all sorts of fun… and that they love bug juice.  I know this is a flavoring that my cousin put into their snow cones… but I never asked if this is just any red flavoring, or if this is something special.  I knew I should have asked.

They went to the lake and got to do all sorts of things that I am not able to do yet.  They spent a lot of time in the water….

Had a chance to be buried in the sand…

as deep as they wanted to be buried.

 

 

 

 

They made sand castles…

And played outside in the yard.  It was a great day, and a pleasant change of scenery.

GaryTodd even started running last night.  It was something that didn’t go unnoticed by his best friend.  Seanelle was probably the most excited of all that witnessed him running again.

Of course, we were all happy about it, but Seanelle was the only one excited enough to squeal about it.  Which is probably why they are best friends.  Because Seanelle always makes a pretty big deal of all her brother’s accomplishments.

Making Progress On Home Improvement!

Nick, my brother, came over today instead of waiting until Friday.  This was exciting for me.  I’ve been looking at this door in my kitchen since we bought it… and daydreaming like crazy. 

He came over this afternoon and we started getting everything prepared.  But part of the preparation was gathering the tools necessary to do the job.

“Now, where would the hammer be…”
“The screwdriver?  Where did I see that?”  
“I think I saw the chisel in the bathroom.” 
“Oh geesh… I forgot to get the doorknob!”

We had gotten the doors in, and everything was level and plumb.  But the doors wouldn’t open.  Hmm… Why won’t the doors open?  Then we discovered we had to take the door back out, and start all over.  The tops of the doors were screwed into the frame for shipping.  Forgot to check that first.  Oops…  No big deal, we did it once, we can do it again.

Well, it wasn’t as easy when the doors were only attached to the frame by the hinges.  So we decided to install the doorknobs that I had just purchased.  Door knobs are easy enough.  Except that these doors are brand new, so we need to chisel out the space for the knobs to go… 

Now it is 9:45pm, and we discover that there is a problem with the doorknob and I will have to take it back to the store.  Too late tonight.  I’ll have to take it back tomorrow.  I am so thankful that we didn’t start tomorrow.  We put it together the best we could, and tomorrow will finish the job.  Even it takes all day… I am confident we will be able to get the job done!

I did notice that it did cut down quite a bit of the light that shines through into the basement.  But it is pretty and will be so much nicer than having the slider door that no one shuts completely anymore.  But we made a discovery about the door already. 

Whenever the kids are outside, and they don’t want to open the slider door, they usually resort to yelling their requests to us, “Mom… Can you bring me a glass of water?” or “Dad!  Watch this!”  There has never been a problem understanding them.  Although annoying, it was better than leaving the door open.  Today, the door was up and before we had the doorknobs, Nick and I were having a difficult time communicating with each other.  (We were on opposite sides of the door.)  When the kids were outside, they were so difficult to hear and understand.  I can’t believe how much of the noise was muffled!  I am really excited to actually get the doors to the point when we can use them!