Dirty Play

We were outside most of Saturday. It was lovely.

Static hair on the trampoline.


Natalie Supervising.

Parker was muddy because he turned on the water hose.

Olivia smeared the mud all over his back and head.

Conspiring.

Painted Hearts

Sick Girl. You can see in Nat's eyes and cheeks that she didn't feel well. Olivia was tired, too.

Last week, while Natalie was still home from school with fever but feeling a little more like participating with us in some activities, the girls painted hearts that we are going to use to make a garland for our Valentine's party. It was the second day in a row that I got Parker to take a nap, after several months of a "napless" household. So, he didn't get to paint that day.

I'll post a picture of the final product when we have our little party.

Sweet PJ's

While Natalie was in New Mexico, Olivia found some princess PJ's that she fell in love with and told me that "Olivia Grace" wanted them. She always calls herself Olivia Grace, not just Olivia. When I said she could get them, she put them in the cart, and then she reached for another pair and said they were for "Natalie Grace". I told her it was "Natalie Rose" and that we would wait and let her pick out her own new PJ's when she got home. Olivia Grace was okay with that. She said okay and was so excited about her new PJ's. I just thought it was sweet that she was thinking about her sister and wanted her to have pretty new princess PJ's too.

Little New Mexican Girl

This was last Monday night when Natalie got home from New Mexico. I made her try on her new dress for me. She was so tired.

Now, Olivia and Parker have to get new outfits before our Cinco de Mayo party this year.

When Natalie got home, her Daddy said he missed her so much while she was gone. She said, "Give me a biiiiiiig hug." Then, he said that he didn't like it when she was gone for so long and that he didn't want her to do that again. She said, "Well, if somebody just needs me, then I'll have to go." She had a lot of fun.

Dead Duck

A few weeks ago, Billy shot a pretty canvas back duck, which is really rare to see around here. He kept it in the freezer until a few days ago when we took it to the taxidermist. A few weeks before that, he shot a beautiful wood duck, which is also rare to shoot in our area. We were going to take that to the taxidermist also, but it got left outside too long and wasn't frozen in time. That one was really beautiful, and I actually did want that one preserved and displayed in the study. I just don't want every wall of the study to be covered in stuffed dead things.

Every time I open the freezer and know that a duck is wrapped up in there, it's a little creepy. I feel so sad for them, and I'm afraid the duck might not be really dead. Last year, there was that incident reported where the man moved the duck from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw out, and his wife opened the refrigerator door later only to find the duck was alive.

We had a similar incident in our household a couple years ago when the guys drove all the way back to our house with their "kill" in the truck with them. When Billy opened the back doors of his truck, one of the "dead" ducks flew out the door and into the sky. What a traumatic experience for that poor duck having to ride all that way in the pile of his dead friends and family, staying still and quiet while the guys talked about how much fun it was to kill them all.

So, duck and goose seasons are over for a while. Maybe we'll get a few more projects done on the weekends before summer.

Not So Super Kiss

So, if only I had agreed to kiss the wild little blonde kid that used to bum rides off of me when I was 16, I could now say that I kissed a superbowl winner. Now, I can say that I refused to kiss a superbowl winner when he begged me to.

Billy and I were really excited in those last few minutes of the game - anxious and excited. Olivia and Parker joined right in with our cheering at the last touchdown catch. Parker does a really cute little "Whooo" sound like his daddy. Olivia and I do the happy hip-shaking dance.

Anyway, even though Shockey didn't get to play because of his broken leg from the Redskins game, we were happy for him. Maybe now Ada will change the Welcome to Ada sign and add Jeremy's name below Blake Shelton's. Someday, I'm pretty sure the sign will read, "Welcome to Ada: Home of Blake Shelton, Jeremy Shockey, and Songwriter Sarah Hilton." It still counts as my home, even if I wasn't born here, since I've lived here so long.

Ants in the Pants (and other traumatic incidents)

Last weekend when the weather was so nice, Parker and Olivia got to play outside. Parker went into the ditch near the road, and I told him to get out of there. They know they are not to play in there. I always tell them that there could be snakes in the leaves there. Also, it's by the road. Anyway, we were getting ready to go to Wal-Mart, so I was watching and listening to them from inside the house as I gathered some stuff together. Parker came running in and stood in the entrance saying, "Mama, bugs!", as he frantically scratched his back. I ran to him and found red ants all over him. I took his clothes off quickly and called for Billy to bring me the vacuum. Poor Parker had bites all over him. He's kind of sensitive to stuff anyway, so they welted up quickly. We washed him off and medicated the skin. Time will tell if he learned a lesson about playing in the ditch. His bites still look awful almost a week later.

Parker is always getting hurt. The week before the ants in the pants, Billy was getting him ready to go somewhere and he picked him up and lifted him high in the air. The ceiling fan was on in the living room where it's low for Billy if he reaches his arms up at all right under there. So, Parker's head hit the fan while it was going very fast. It was a really loud sound, and he started crying immediately. Billy felt so bad. Parker's head was bleeding, and it took several minutes of holding it closed to get the bleeding to stop. He had a yucky cut and, I'm sure, a headache. It was okay without stitches. Poor baby. Poor Billy, too, because he feels so badly about it.

Sick Chicken Soup

Last weekend, while Natalie was in New Mexico, we took Olivia and Parker with us to Wal-Mart to do our shopping.

While we were getting ready to go, Parker was so cute. I put a T-shirt on him (the weather was so nice), and he was upset with me because he didn't want that shirt. He took it off and said "I want a cowboy shirt." I don't know where he got that, except that earlier in the day, I was talking on the phone about Natalie's cowgirl party plans for her 5th birthday in May. Anyway, he went with me to his room so I could try to find a cowboy shirt. I found a red plaid long-sleeve button-down shirt and pulled it out and asked him if it was okay. He said, "Yeah, good cowboy shirt." It was so cute and silly. He was very happy.

So, a trip to Wal-Mart with the kids always takes 3 times as long as it would without them. I had Olivia in my cart, and Billy had Parker in his. We sort of split up for part of the time to try to make things faster. When Olivia and I reached the frozen meat section, I was searching for boneless chicken breast, and she was standing on the back end of the cart, hanging on (and making it difficult to steer). I was keeping watch on her to make sure she didn't hop off and start poking the meat packages. Well, she is so fast when she is doing something she knows she shouldn't do. I witnessed in horror (literally) as she quickly reached her arm toward the freezer and scooped up raw chicken juice with her finger from the lid of a carton at the base of the freezer. Faster than I could make the 3-foot distance to her, she stuck her finger in her mouth. I almost puked right then. I grabbed her hand out of her mouth and bent down to her face and told her she would make herself sick doing that. In the time it took me to pull the cart away from the freezer, she quickly reached over and did it again. She was seriously scooping up raw chicken juices and licking them. I think I might puke now just typing about it.

So, I figured for sure she would be sick this week. She's fine. Poor Natalie has been sick for a few days with a high fever and just feeling yucky and looking yucky. She was better today - enough to participate in some activities and eat a little.

Oh, something cute and not disgusting that Olivia did today:

I put some cheese crackers on the table for Parker, and he went to the living room to play, forgetting that he had crackers there. A little bit later, he came to me asking for more crackers. I asked Olivia to show him where I put his crackers. She enthusiastically said, "OK", and she picked up a little pointing stick (out of a kite kit) that she was playing with. She walked over with her hip-shaking walk and said, "Ok, Parker...here and here and here," as she pointed with the stick like a teacher. It was funny. Later, Parker asked me for more crackers, even though he still had some on the table. Olivia overheard him ask, and before I could say anything to him, she picked up the stick and said very loudly with a sigh, "One more time! Here, here, and here." I was cracking up. These kids are so dramatic. I have noooo idea where they got that.