Bleh!

One vine to rule them all.
One vine to find them.
One vine to bring them all
and in my yard bind them.


I have been pulling (and pulling, and pulling, and pulling) this vine out of my yard. It's indestructible. This shot is looking up the street above our yard. This is a TINY percentage of what I yanked out of my flower beds.

Die vine, DIE!

Family Vaca!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got back from family vacation a couple of weeks ago. We stayed at Shawnee Creek Cottages (cozy, but buggy) and toured these locations:
Blue Spring
Big Spring
Alley Spring
Round Spring
Noticing a theme?






We drove there at night (big mistake). After we took a wrong turn and Curt survived "Cold shoulder Maria complete with dagger eyes", we finally got there. Emily and Aaron and their brood survived "overfloating" toilets, awake children, car sickness, state troopers, etc. to finally arrive even later than us. Then, they commenced finding a spider in Molly's bedding and waking up the next morning refreshed only to have Ben stung by a bee. Twice.

But all in all, it was a good trip. Once Granny and Grandpa arrived the next day, the kid to adult ratio improved greatly, as did everyone's mood.

Anna paddled around in Rocky Falls, experiencing her first swimming hole. Curt tried showing off by pretending to go down the falls, only to lose traction and nearly actually going down the falls. Classic Curt.

Curt, Anna, and I showed off our cool "I Like Turtles" shirts, compliments of our friends Sean and Lisa. If you have seen the video, you get the shirts. If you haven't - can't explain it. Wouldn't be funny if I did.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (and Sophie)

Here are pics of my Birthday this year. I had an amazingly delicious dinner at Docknockers, my favorite restaurant and the Lake of the Ozarks. Grandma Stokes, Becky, Tom, MaryAnn Douglass went with us! It was a very enjoyable evening. A special thanks to MaryAnn, the queen with the "mom van" who got us there all in one car!

Oh Docknockers, Docknockers
We were your guests
Your crab legs, Your crab legs
Are simply the best!

I love sitting there
On your giant patio
Watching fools park their boats
And ducks come and go.

You make me relax
My belly expands
With delicious seafood
Unlike Red Lobster - not bland.

Oh Docknockers, Docknockers
We were your guests
Your crab legs, Your crab legs
Are simply the best!

And here are pics of Sophie's first birthday = Anna FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! Sophie was the perfect host and Anna behaved herself nicely... watching patiently then promptly throwing up on the living room floor from getting hot then downing too much water while Sophie opened presents.

Wordle

I found this on my friend Ashley's site! It's word art made from all the words on my blog. How fun???????? To make your own, go here: http://wordle.net/

"Experts"

Mary Brown (Pediatric Nurse)
On the use of diaper wipes:
"After a bowel movement, clean your baby with a soft washcloth and plain warm water. Use wipes only when you're away from home."

Who ARE these people?

Picture my daughter, bottom covered in poo, and me, with my 50's era dress on, my hair curled and a string of faux pearls around my neck, arms adorned in yellow rubber gloves, wiping Anna's bottom with a crocheted washcloth dipped in real lemon scented warm water while I sing the ABC song. :-)

For real - I DO this.

Tom Hanks once said...

So I'm reading Barbara Walters Memoir at the recommendation of Grandma Stokes. Here's the thing... I like it, and I like her (Barbara).

She was interviewing Tom Hanks and I just loved his wise words:
When asked why he did what he did, he responded: "Because it's fun. And I think I'm pretty good at it. I deliver the goods, which is what a bricklayer does when he's hired to lay bricks or to take a mattress off the truck. He's paid to take the mattress off the truck. I take the mattress off the truck and it is, 'Wow, look how that guy takes those mattresses off the truck!'"

So true. What a good commentary on the ridiculous salaries and treatment of movie stars in our society. (Although someone is welcome to follow me around, take my picture, and say, "Look how she put her hair in a ponytail. Look how she changed that diaper! Those Kermit the Frog pajamas are the perfect compliment to that expertly tousled hair! What class! What style! :-)

When Angels Sleep...

So Anna is quite the accomplished young lady now. At seven months she became (da da duuuuum...) SUPER NAPPER!!! She can leap tall buildings in a single bound and even more important to her momma, she sleeps 1.5-2 hours AT A TIME!!! Can you believe it? She takes a morning and an afternoon nap and I can put her down before she is fully asleep now. She'll just roll over a little and go to sleep. What a dream! (Literally, I couldn't even dream this a month ago.)

When awake, she is (army) crawling everywhere she can. She also begs for opportunities to take our hands and be walked/run around. She wants to walk, walk, walk but mommy's back goes creak, creak, pop! She is also getting pretty good at feeding herself (very messy and not much food intake - but she's getting the hang of it)! She does contortionist moves that would put Cirque de Soleil to shame whenever the threat of a diaper comes along when she's going commando. (This girl loves her naked time... Sounds like someone else I know!) She can suck her toes, although why she wants to is beyond me. She has also mastered drinking through a straw and LOVES drinking water. And much, much, more!

She's just as cute as can be! It (sort of) makes up for the fact that I still drag myself out of bed twice per night to feed her. But I know I can stop that any time I want. I just don't want to go through the two weeks of torture it would take to break her of it. Bleh. Stumbling around in the dark night after night half asleep somehow seems less trouble. (Anna - now you know why I'll run the vacuum outside your room at 9:00am when you are a teenager with a BIG smile on my face!)
Love,
ME

A star is born...

Hannah Luesse was born at 11:59pm on July 14. She weighed 7 lbs, 5oz and was 20 1/2in long. FINALLY... some other friends will know the joys/complications of parenthood and will have to be home at 6:00pm on the weekends like us!!! Hooray Hannah. Can't wait to see you in person and kiss your little cheekies!

Happy Birthday America!

Pics of us at the Fourth of July Parade. How fun! The fam came down from "The Lou" to spend the holiday with us. I'll add pics of that later!







Happy Happy Birthday,
from Annabelle to you!
We wish it was our birthday,
so we could party, too! Hey!

Soooooo...

I'm supposed to give Anna 100% attention (that's called nurturing, right?) all of her waking hours, figure out a way to keep the house in a state I can tolerate (DESPITE Curt) have what would be called MY LIFE after Anna goes to bed at 8ish. Ummm... do I get to fit "doting wife" in there somewhere else except under the category of cleaning house? Wait... do I have a husband? What's his name?

Reality:
I give Anna as much attention as I can.
I give Curt as much attention as I can.
I give myself as much attention as I can.
I give my house a glance a time or two.
I give my beautiful yard a glance... never.
And oh wait... I just realized I have two kitties.

And I remain tired and stressed, but secretly happy! :-)

Can I have a back rub?