Monday, July 28, 2008
Awyn's turn!
Awyn got to hold the wheel for a bit too. Can you tell I didn't get her covered in a second coat of sunscreen in time? Her nose is now peeling.
Driving the boat
George let Sam and Awyn have turns at driving the boat. It was fun to spend time with friends, and we're really glad they came. The tour on the lake was excellent.
NPS's finest gov't transportation
Eric got to ride the train from Pauls Valley to Ardmore to audit the trails on rails program. He said they had a great time.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Cone-Nose
Yes, I freely admit, part of the thrill of leaving Big Bend National Park was the idea that we'd be done with blood-sucking assassin bugs. I thought perhaps we'd be bringing a few with us in our bedding, especially as there are many tears in the box-spring for the bed that is now Awyn's. My fears have been confirmed; yesterday I caught a cone-nose in Awyn's room. I saved it in a baggy, but I don't think it survived, as it's no longer wiggling legs when prodded. Now I'm pondering ways to get rid of any progeny that might have moved with us. I thought about taking a picture of my bug in a bag, but I may just use stock footage that I've saved from others. Then again, a picture of a nasty little black bug that sucks blood and is known to be a vector for Chagas disease might slow down the proposed visits from relatives. It's the sort of bug that most people would look at and simply know was something to be squashed. I've done a little web-research to find out what kinds of assasin bugs might be found in Oklahoma, and yes, there are a few varieties that are apparently somewhat less noxious or possibly even desirable (shudder) to have, but the variety that moved with us is NOT welcome in my home no matter what else it might hunt.
I'll post a link to a great website for those of you who like to look up bugs on the internets.
I'll post a link to a great website for those of you who like to look up bugs on the internets.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Hamming for the Camera
Yes, they're at that age, where posing for the camera is more common that candid shots, and both kids like to ham it up a bit. I took this picture this morning. They're in front of the crepe myrtle, a bush/tree that I'm thrilled to discover in the yard. Perhaps I'll plant more of them. I've had them in the yard in Arkansas, and I think they're very pretty.
Story Time
While we usually discourage any lingering around the top of the stairs, it's very convenient to the shelves of kids books between Sam and Awyn's bedrooms. They love being read to.
Bike Riding Princess
Well, at least she was willing to exchange her tiara for a helmet. Both kids have a hard time riding on gravel, so I've been letting them practice on the porch. Awyn can go forward and backward. Sam's outgrown his bike, so it's hard to tell if he can't pedal, or he can't pedal.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
We're Okies now!
It's official, we're finally Okies. Yesterday we got our OK drivers licenses and got plates for the jeep. For those of you paying attention, we already did the van about two weeks ago or so, as the first step in getting drivers licenses.
We also took Sam and Awyn to see WALL*E or however you type that. It was loved by both, Sam especially. Awyn sat on my lap, because she was scared the seat would close up on her. I think there were boosters available that prevent that, but I doubt she would have been willing to sit on one of those; she won't sit on one in a restaurant. Eric carefully explained to the kids both before and after the movie why it wasn't available on instant replay. I think Sam understood.
We've been keeping busy around the house. I've got flower planters going on the porch, and some herbs. I bought some tomato plants and strawberries. I'm not sure where I really want them; I should have bought a couple more planters. So I put them in the garden to keep safe with the idea of transplanting them to better locations - certainly I don't want the strawberries in the garden. There's a fence around the garden, and we've been trying to put the gate back up. To shorten this story up, I went out to water them this morning (and the carrots that haven't popped up - old seeds, not sure if they'll come up) and something has dug up two strawberry plants and one tomato plant. They've been plucked cleanly from their holes, root balls and all. Whatever it was went under the fence, or over - it did so with enough force to pull the barbed wire holding the top edge of the chicken wire down 2 feet, wire clips and all, and pull it up from the bottom. The chicken wire is torn, and I'll have to replace it. My mistake was in assuming that the wire was partially buried. It was not. So I'll have to see about getting some cinder blocks to go along the bottom of the fencing. The silly part is that the gate isn't in right, and whatever it was could have gone through the gate. There are possibilities as to what it was; armadillo, raccoon, wild hog, turtle (unlikeliest). My personal guess would be armadillo, but it's rather a lot of destruction, and usually they content themselves to digging little holes around the pecan trees.
We also took the kids to the doctor for their annual well-child check-ups. Sam's right in the middle of the road, Awyn's at around the 75th percentile. Both seem healthy. Sam only needed a varicella booster to be caught up for school in the fall. Awyn didn't get any shots this time; she'll get a few more when she turns 4. Sam cooperated with the doctor, Awyn was not as thrilled. She did open up and eventually let him listen to her heart, but there wasn't any way she was letting him look in her ears. He teased her about needing to see if there were bunnies in her ears, so now she's happily talking about the bunnies in her ears. She doesn't want the doctor to get them.
We're finding the internet dial-up to be incredibly frustrating. We don't know if we can afford to upgrade to satellite; we're still waiting to see how our monthly finances settle out. I don't have a job, and other than substitute teaching, there aren't any real prospects thus far. I'll apply with Pauls Valley, but again, there aren't that many openings in the state for assistant SLP's. The School of the Deaf only needs housemothers right now, Sulphur isn't interested because I'm not local, and Wynnewood can't afford to hire me as anything other than a sub. (and that only pays $45/day!) I could go work for Walmart, Braums, or some other Joe-job, but they don't pay enough to be worth putting Awyn in daycare, that is if I can find a daycare for her. I know there's a head-start in Sulphur, for low-income kids, and another for Chickasaws that does occasionally take 'minorities' in. At this point I think we can't afford the gas for me driving the kids to and from schools at 15 miles each way a few times a day, so Sam will take the bus to Wynnewood. Also, the Sulphur K classes are nearly as crowded as the Wynnewood classes, so it's not really that much 'better'.
We also took Sam and Awyn to see WALL*E or however you type that. It was loved by both, Sam especially. Awyn sat on my lap, because she was scared the seat would close up on her. I think there were boosters available that prevent that, but I doubt she would have been willing to sit on one of those; she won't sit on one in a restaurant. Eric carefully explained to the kids both before and after the movie why it wasn't available on instant replay. I think Sam understood.
We've been keeping busy around the house. I've got flower planters going on the porch, and some herbs. I bought some tomato plants and strawberries. I'm not sure where I really want them; I should have bought a couple more planters. So I put them in the garden to keep safe with the idea of transplanting them to better locations - certainly I don't want the strawberries in the garden. There's a fence around the garden, and we've been trying to put the gate back up. To shorten this story up, I went out to water them this morning (and the carrots that haven't popped up - old seeds, not sure if they'll come up) and something has dug up two strawberry plants and one tomato plant. They've been plucked cleanly from their holes, root balls and all. Whatever it was went under the fence, or over - it did so with enough force to pull the barbed wire holding the top edge of the chicken wire down 2 feet, wire clips and all, and pull it up from the bottom. The chicken wire is torn, and I'll have to replace it. My mistake was in assuming that the wire was partially buried. It was not. So I'll have to see about getting some cinder blocks to go along the bottom of the fencing. The silly part is that the gate isn't in right, and whatever it was could have gone through the gate. There are possibilities as to what it was; armadillo, raccoon, wild hog, turtle (unlikeliest). My personal guess would be armadillo, but it's rather a lot of destruction, and usually they content themselves to digging little holes around the pecan trees.
We also took the kids to the doctor for their annual well-child check-ups. Sam's right in the middle of the road, Awyn's at around the 75th percentile. Both seem healthy. Sam only needed a varicella booster to be caught up for school in the fall. Awyn didn't get any shots this time; she'll get a few more when she turns 4. Sam cooperated with the doctor, Awyn was not as thrilled. She did open up and eventually let him listen to her heart, but there wasn't any way she was letting him look in her ears. He teased her about needing to see if there were bunnies in her ears, so now she's happily talking about the bunnies in her ears. She doesn't want the doctor to get them.
We're finding the internet dial-up to be incredibly frustrating. We don't know if we can afford to upgrade to satellite; we're still waiting to see how our monthly finances settle out. I don't have a job, and other than substitute teaching, there aren't any real prospects thus far. I'll apply with Pauls Valley, but again, there aren't that many openings in the state for assistant SLP's. The School of the Deaf only needs housemothers right now, Sulphur isn't interested because I'm not local, and Wynnewood can't afford to hire me as anything other than a sub. (and that only pays $45/day!) I could go work for Walmart, Braums, or some other Joe-job, but they don't pay enough to be worth putting Awyn in daycare, that is if I can find a daycare for her. I know there's a head-start in Sulphur, for low-income kids, and another for Chickasaws that does occasionally take 'minorities' in. At this point I think we can't afford the gas for me driving the kids to and from schools at 15 miles each way a few times a day, so Sam will take the bus to Wynnewood. Also, the Sulphur K classes are nearly as crowded as the Wynnewood classes, so it's not really that much 'better'.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Romeo,Romeo
The kids like to hang over the banister to have conversations or just to look over. Awyn is demonstrating here. She's also the one most prone to attempting to slide down it. I thought I had more interior shots than I do. Maybe I only took them with my mental camera. hmmmm. The kids' rooms are extra tricky, especially Sam's because they're not very big.
Let Sleeping Sams Lie
Sam really loves his new bunk bed. It will be finished once we get that last part from IKEA. Speaking of IKEA, the saga continues. Yesterday I received a strange phone call from a lady in the greater Dallas area. She told me that she'd been shopping at the Frisco IKEA with her daughter, and they found a padded yellow envelope in the parking lot with my name on it. She wanted to know what I wanted done with it. She offered to put postage on it and mail it to me. I suggested she take it back to the store and have them pay the postage, but the gas for going to IKEA would cost more than a few stamps, so we'll see what she does. I don't think I could make up a story this wild. The nice lady and her daughter had a bet between them as to how Wynnewood is pronounced. I assured her that she was correct, and her daughter was not. This woman had lived in Oklahoma before having kids, so it seems she's familiar with the pronounciation excentricities. For those of you living in the Pacific Northwest, it doesn't rhyme with Lynnewood.
Sleeping Beauty
Awyn loves her purple butterfly room. I seem to have a large number of pictures of my kids sleeping. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's easiest to snap shots of them when they're holding still, and that's really only when they've totally crashed.
Splash!
Awyn loved jumping off the travertine falls - she was fearless. I think we're going to buy the kids pfd's for future swim trips. I think we've found the best way to spend the summer, that's for sure! This is definitely different than Big Bend. Free swimming, good shady spots...
Swimming
Guess what? I canibalized the printer dock for parts, and the usb cable connecting it to the computer also fits the camera. It's slower than the dock, waaaaay slower, but hey, given how slow my dial-up is, does it matter how fast my camera downloads?
At anyrate, Sam and Awyn are splashing in a creek in the park. I think they're rather upstream from Little Niagara. I'd have to ask Eric. They had so much fun swimming that we pulled a shivering Awyn out of the water under extreme protest. The protesting stopped when I mentioned ice cream.
Monday, June 23, 2008
March 1998
An oldie but a goody. This was taken at the Garden of Eden in Kansas. It was a semi-spontaneous road trip with friends. As I haven't asked the friends for permission, I'll not name them. If you recognize yourself, please feel free to identify yourself. Anyway, I'm the only girl, and Eric is standing right next to me.
The Garden of Eden is a cement work of art, including a 'log' cabin, made of cement, and you can still the remains of the artist in a glass coffin. Seriously.
Camera dock is on the blink
So that means no new photos for a while. We have long since lost the cable to connect the camera straight to the computer, and our kodak printer dock is on the fritz. It's been having issues for a while now, and started refusing to recognize the camera before we moved. It's on an all out strike now, although I haven't tried to print a photo from the computer. It has issues doing that too, but that's because it doesn't feed the photo paper until you really get it started by pushing it in.
What this means: we need a new cord to connect camera to computer or a new dock. Cable is probably cheaper, and we think we can still print photos. Naturally, I bought a huge stock of photo paper not too long ago, so I would imagine we'll lose the dock altogether soon.
I will be posting retro photos from time to time, just for funsies. We've had a digital camera for I think at least the last 10 years. I know not all of the digital pictures have survived, and the older ones are incredibly low resolution, but should still be much fun. Any requests? We have the works - living history, Sam as a baby, various domesciles/national parks... Yourself? Do you wonder if I have an older picture of you? Perhaps I do... Challenge me. In the meantime, I'll pick a few I find interesting or hilarious.
What this means: we need a new cord to connect camera to computer or a new dock. Cable is probably cheaper, and we think we can still print photos. Naturally, I bought a huge stock of photo paper not too long ago, so I would imagine we'll lose the dock altogether soon.
I will be posting retro photos from time to time, just for funsies. We've had a digital camera for I think at least the last 10 years. I know not all of the digital pictures have survived, and the older ones are incredibly low resolution, but should still be much fun. Any requests? We have the works - living history, Sam as a baby, various domesciles/national parks... Yourself? Do you wonder if I have an older picture of you? Perhaps I do... Challenge me. In the meantime, I'll pick a few I find interesting or hilarious.
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