Eliza Rose

ETA: September 24, 2009

She was very active during the ultrasound. We were debating between Emma and Eliza...and she seemed to be an Eliza. Emma implied "calm and subdued" for us while Eliza had a little more of an attitude. Anya and Eliza will be quite a pair!

Strange Sunday

Have you ever had "one of those days" where everyone grates on everyone else's nerves and everything feels discombobulated? Ya - this afternoon was one of those days. I think it's a lack of sleep as is evidenced by the last picture in this string of events.

These four light sabers started the chain reaction. The kids got a little out of hand and way hyper. The light sabers are now on the top rack in our closet. Following the light saber incident, the kids were especially obnoxious with the "turbo" bug vacuum. Rather than suck up bugs and study them, they see how big of a toy they can suck up or how long they can hold the trigger to make the vacuum sound. It's innocent really...and the kids were having fun. But it was "one of those days" and it started to get out of hand. Then they started fighting over it so the fun was put to an end. The turbo bug vacuum is now in mom and dad's possession.

And because of the confiscation of the gun, James went into one of his usual (although less often) body convulsions. A sound and reaction worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. So James ran upstairs and into his room. His room, however, is shared with Mark. And Mark wanted to play with his Legos.

James was sitting in his room and Mark was at the end of the hallway. James wanted to be alone and Mark wanted to play with his Legos (and honestly, I think a part of Mark wanted to torment his younger brother just a little more). So Mark raced down the hall towards the door and James raced towards the door to shut it. Mark got in the room before James could shut the door. A wrestling match ensued (enter the picture of the bed post below)...

And James got the short end of the stick. He got twirled around and hit the bed post at just the right angle. It was a deep gouge. Fortunately (or not) we saw a similar gouge when Peter fell of the kitchen table a couple years ago and opened up the back of his head. That incident prepared me to deal with this one a little more calmly. A butterfly bandage and regular bandage and we were good to go. It will probably leave a scar. But James is used to that. He has a defining scar on his top lip. It sets him apart. :)

With all of the excitement, Peter went to bed...at 5:30. 5:30 people! I think we have a house full of people who are a little over-tired and I'm hoping that a good night's rest will resolve our discombobulation.

The Remains of a Dozen Trees

Ok people--this is a post where you must comment if you read it! :) WE NEED IDEAS!

If you had a 6-foot tall pile of wood chips in your backyard, what would you do with it?

Deal or no deal...she's worth it every time

I've said some dumb things in my short 31 years of mortality. Men, take note: When a cute girl calls because she is excited that she got flowers from a boy in the middle of the week for no apparent reason, don't giggle and say he probably got a really good deal given it's Mother's Day.

The good news is that Karen says this was the worst thing I've ever said in the 10 years she's known me. If that's the worst thing...I guess I'm doing ok. The bad news is...I said it.

The kids and I got these Tulips for Karen for Mother's Day. She emailed to thank me. And, knowing what I had said to someone else earlier this week, said she didn't even mind if I got a good deal.

Which made me think.

Generally speaking, males fail miserably when we try to communicate with females. But we try. And when words aren't adequate or we can't find the right ones, we buy them something. And...deal or no deal...she's worth it every time.

My new toy

Yes, it's silly, but doesnt everyone have fun playing with a new toy when it's new?!

This is of course something many people take for granted, but it's new to me and I wanted to share. My new phone is really, really cool. I can download music and use it as an mp3 player, as well as listen to a few fm stations and I can download pictures from it to my computer using our digital camera usb cable. So here is some of my handiwork, keeping in mind that these are cell phone pics, but still, the look pretty good!