Dirty Girl Scout

Dirty Girl Scout?? You might be thinking inappropriate movie or alcoholic beverage, huh?

Actually it's the BEST coffee drink I've had in a really long time (maybe ever)---and that's saying a lot from the woman who frequents Starbucks 1-3 times/week.

A Dirty Girl Scout is Mean Bean coffee house's version of a peppermint coffee drink. It's awesome. I had my first one today and plan to see if it's as good the second time around sometime later this week.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to a local ice cream festival this past Saturday. It was the BEST parade I've been to and the first for all three kids. The ice cream trucks came down first and gave ice cream to everyone on the street--they gave our family 5 full-size snickers dark chocolate ice cream bars. After much on-looking, I gave Madison a pinch of the vanilla ice cream. Scott was shocked, to say the least, and quickly reminded me of the polite "hiney chewing" he got for giving banana pudding to Evie while the Smiths were visiting us in Austin (remember, Tracey?) when Evie was only 5 months old. I have a real soft spot for the Shriner's stuff in parades. Jared loved (as you can imagine) the airplane trike.

There were several old tractors in the parade---which Scott really enjoyed.


On Sunday evening, after letting Jared play in the water in the backyard, we went to McDonald's for dessert. Madison had her first baby rice cakes and really liked them. I had forgotten how messy those soft baby chewy things can be.....

I've heard it all

This is a kind shout out to our dear friends the Johns'.

I guess George didn't want Renae to come visit and, instead of asking her not to come, decided to wreck his truck. This is the same man who once pulled my chair out from underneath me at my own kitchen table! :) I did not get hurt in my "accident," but the same cannot be said for George today. ((Poor George, the chair incident happened in 1999 or 2000 and I just can't let it go!))

Best wishes, George, for a speedy and pleasant recovery. Renae mentioned that she needed more to do now that she had the four kiddos under control!! :)

Just kidding, George. Get well soon and we'll be keeping you all in our prayers!

Middle of May??

Okay, check out Madison in her velour pants and jacket---yes, a jacket on May 21st. Unbelievable. No, it's not your screen, she does have a small bruise under her right eye...the result of a playtime injury yesterday. Even I don't know exactly what happened! :)



Can my little girl cut her eyes or what?? She attempted to smell the sidewalk (versus "eat the pavement") in front of Jared's school this afternoon. One minute she was twirling around and the next she was tripping over the air under her feet! She skinned her face from her nose to her chin and busted the inside of her lip on top of that. She looks none too happy about it!

Weekend Pics

I took a few pics of Evie's new dress she wore to church on Sunday. Also, couldn't resist a few pics of Madison playing in her room and crawling in the hallway. Madi's baby-blues are quite the attention getter!

You, too, can be a rock star for $5.99

I bought Jared a mini skateboard this week for $5.99. He was so excited he couldn't sleep that night...he just kept talking about how great it was. Yay for mommy!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

On our way to dinner on Mother's Day, Jared asked Daddy how to spell a bunch of words and this is what he wrote for me: Jared said Mommy it's Mothers Day. The word "it's" didn't actually make it, but it was a fantastic effort and I loved it!!

Field Trip to the Zoo

Jared & Evie had a great time on Jared's class field trip. Group photo (left to right) is Kaelen, Jared, Caleb and an unknown picture-crasher who was not part of our group.

A little more than expected while gardening

We had a little visitor in our flower bed this afternoon. The snake startled me--as it slithered out from underneath a plant that was less than a foot from my hand. Jared was excited, to say the least. Scott caught the little guy (obvious from the picture) and let it go in the woods behind our house.

Madison at 7 Months

Yes, she'll be 8 months old next week, but here are some pics from this past month.



She is crawling all over the place and really enjoys pulling up to get a better view of things!

House Painting

We had the house painted a couple weeks ago. The guys that did the work did a great job. We used this as an opportunity to tone down the color! ;)

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

Seems like it's getting harder and harder to take pics of the kids these days. I managed to get a few pictures while my parents were visiting.... Evie developed a real love affair with her grandpa.
It was very sweet to watch. Jared curled up on Grandma's lap the night before they left; he sat with her for more than 30 minutes, which is unheard of these days.

Graduating...sort of

It seems as though Jared has made such great progress in the last few weeks and is ready to "graduate" out of OT. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Last week his psychologist said we could scale back our weekly visits and today our OT said she thought he was ready to end our weekly OT sessions and focus on group settings. It's a little scary for me, but I'm excited for Jared. I have an IEP meeting at school in a couple of weeks and I'm super-anxious to get feedback from his teacher. He's doing so much better in one-on-one settings; I hope this has translated into better behavior in group settings, too. Looks like I'll be finding out in the coming weeks. Yikes!

Mom really does have a life---no, really, I do!

Today Jared was pretending it was my birthday and kept giving me race car related toys for gifts. After several of these gifts, I asked Jared what he thought I would like for MY birthday. He didn't know so I asked him what mommy liked to do. He came up with three things, in this order: clean the house, drive the car, and mop the floor. :(

Mopping the floor??? I don't do that as much as I should and felt convicted...was he trying to tell me something??

I was shocked that he doesn't know I have actual interests. I was mostly surprised that "talking on the phone" wasn't at the top of his list. :-)

Confessions of a five-year old

So, my mom and I are sitting in Evie's room with Evie and Madison, playing on the floor. Enter Jared carrying a latex glove*. Jared begins placing small toys in the glove and announces, "I'm stealing stuff 'cause I'm a thief." What??

A few days prior to the clep's confession, Jared attempted to help my mom "clean up." As they were waiting at the bus stop, Jared asked Grandma why she had chocolate on her face. Upon trying to wipe off the chocolate, Grandma figured out that Jared had discovered her age spots. Nice.

*found an old pack in Evie's closet that I bought when I had an allergic reaction to some rash cream a couple years ago---felt the need to explain :)

May I have this cruise?

Okay, so the title only makes sense if you've seen the movie "Cars." I have had the pleasure of seeing the movie more than 20 times. :)

Here's a seven month update...

Speaking of cruising, my baby girl, Madison, is ready to go. Earlier this week Madison decided to try cruising and take some steps while holding on. Tonight she actually got going. She even tried to "walk" behind a walking toy tonight---the toy got the best of her when it rolled out away from her and she "ate" the carpet!

Yesterday she pulled up and let go! Amazing! I guess I have to mention that she only lasted 1/4 of a second.....

I'm convinced her motiviation to move comes from fear of being fallen on by a "short person."

Happy Easter

As seems to be the case these days, two of our kiddos woke up with a fever this morning. I remarked to Scott that we only seem to make it to church every other Sunday....should've stayed home last week! :) At any rate they were feeling fine after nap and we headed to the zoo. The weather cooperated quite nicely--it snowed (didn't stick or amount to doodly-squat) after we got back home.

Painting Easter eggs

The kids painted eggs today. Jared loves art projects, so this was right up his alley. Evie painted two eggs and then said she was done---which was okay with me since she was the messiest! :)

Madison's 6 Mos. Pictures

Well, here are the pics we had taken last weekend.