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Attack of the E-Bit
11.20.10 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Attack of the E-BitIn mid-September, Gigi was walking towards the stairs when we heard her holler, “Mommy! Daddy! There’s a frog in the house!” We all trotted over to take a peek at our new friend who came to visit. Jude got very excited and started yelling, “E-bit! E-bit!” (Which is his word for frog, but most closely related to ‘ribbit’.)
We captured the frog and put it on a plate, under a glass. Jude and Gigi peered at the frog as the frog tried to escape.
After enough time was spent looking at the frog, we decided to take him outside to return to his family and home.
We lifted the glass off of the plate, but instead of hopping happily into the shrubs the frog sprang onto Jude’s chest. While Jude likes frogs in theory, he is not so hot on having them hop onto his chest and stick there. Jude SCREAMED at the top of his lungs and hopped backwards, trying to brush the frog off of the front of his shirt. The frog clung to Jude and Jude kept screaming and stepping backwards! Bradley dashed in, in time to rescue the frog from Jude (and rescued Jude from the frog as well, I suppose). We put the frog in the bushes, and Jude, wary now, would not go near them for fear of being attacked. To this day, Jude still tentatively looks at those bushes and asks, “E-bit?” But for now, our terrifying E-bit friend has not returned. Perhaps both boy and frog learned a valuable lesson!
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Santa?
11.08.10 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Santa?Yesterday we were at the grocery store and Jude and I were making our way past the discount Halloween candy towards the canned vegetables when he started saying, “Dada? Dada? Dada ride?” He was pointing at a portly man who was driving an electric cart around the store. I answered absentmindedly, “Yes, Dada could drive one of those, couldn’t he?” Jude kept saying, “Dada? Dada drive?” The man, who upon closer inspection, had a long, white and curly beard and long, lovely white hair to match looked Jude right in the eye and said, “You know who I am, don’t you?” Jude ducked behind me and peeped over my shoulder. The man opened his wallet to reveal a picture of himself, decked out in red. “IS DADA (Santa)!!!” Jude squealed! Santa looked at Jude and said, “I can see that you have been very good this year! Ho ho ho!” Jude wouldn’t say another word. As we made out way down the aisle to seek out canned tomatoes and beans, Jude continued to peek around me at every turn, and with every peek he was rewarded with a wink or a wave from our under cover Santa! Gigi and Bradley met up with us as we rounded the corner, when Jude announced, “I see Dada!” I translated, and big sister had to take a look as well. She said, “Now I know what Santa looks like when he is not wearing his hat!” Looks like the Christmas Spirit has found us already!
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Doggy? Where’s Your Home?
11.03.10 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Doggy? Where’s Your Home?On Monday Bradley and I went to sign papers to sell the old house. Title got transferred, and on the way home we were chatting about future dogs. How we wanted a smaller one, not yippy, not shivery, but small enough to sit on your lap and snuggle up. Gigi has long had fantasies about getting a little purse Chihuahua that she will name Fifi Valentino. We have told her that she can buy one when she is sixteen, words I will have to eat someday… But I digress.
So, there we were driving down Evergreen Way (a five lane strip of busy road) when we saw a woman running down the road wearing socks. Ahead of her was a little streak of lightening, a white and black spotted dog who looked like a puppy. Suddenly, she veered into the traffic! Bradley honked and the pup careened back to the side of the road. We sped ahead of the dog, hopped out of the car, and I coaxed the shivery little dog into my arms and into the car. Bradley took off to chase the stocking footed girl to give her back the dog, but no. Dog was not hers!
Now we had a homeless dog, kids to pick up and what to do? We took her home where the kids instantly fell in love with her. Jude is now heard murmuring, ” Aww, Puppy, aww, toot (cute), aww puppy, I yuv (love).” So, for a short time, until we find the owner, we have a puppy. A little shivery, whiny dog who pees and poops in the house without ever asking to go out. Everett is soon to be papered with notices of a dog found and hopefully she’ll be back in her family’s arms in no time.
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Halloween
11.02.10 | Permalink | | Comments Off on HalloweenOur Tricks or Treats were delightful this year. Jude was big enough to run with the crowd and hold his own, while Gigi was delighted to hold her friend’s hand and go from house to house collecting candy. Both of them outlasted the rest of the group we were with as we started long before they started and lasted until way after they had dispersed, the drive for free chocolate was so intense. Jude could be heard across the hood hollering, “Guys! Guys! I coming! Guys!” as he chased his pals up sidewalks and porches.
Quite obviously, we were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. My mom made Jude a Peter Pan costume just for fun, then Gigi wanted a special costume from Mimi as well. She was all to willing to comply with a lovely Tinkerbell costume, and suddenly we had a matched set. The pumpkins were designed by the kids. Both drew the faces and Daddy did the best he could to jigsaw them out. The result? Two lovely jack-o-lantern faces!
The score! Chocolate in mouth, sticky smile and a deep pile of treats to categorize, count and gorge on for the next few days. We are of the mind that if you don’t limit it, it goes away quickly after a few poorly nutritioned days and sore tummies. That said, Jude has a tough time actually making it through an entire piece of candy before the next is so tempting that he spits out the first to eat the second (and third, fourth…). That boy has limits imposed by Mom and Dad!
And Peter sleeps. Until next year, Happy Halloween!
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Housewarming
09.25.10 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Housewarming
I have been putting off a house post for a few reasons, but primarily because while we live in the house, it is not yet entirely finished. Usually the house has a fine layer of sawdust, boards crisscrossing the floors, and a myriad of toys here, there and everywhere. We had a baby shower this weekend for my friend, Amy, who just gave birth to her son, Asher. The result? Clean floors (for a moment) and most of the toys were picked up. I dashed around and snapped some pictures for posterity…
Here is the entryway hallway. The carpet on the stairs is a mere three days old, and the fireplace will be covered with stack-stone sometime in the near future.
The short walk down the hall leads to the kitchen, dining and grown-up living room. We chose high gloss cabinets that we can polish to a shine and also are non-porous so they won’t allow germs to permeate the surfaces.
I love our kitchen sink. It is deep, wide and has our first ever garbage disposal. What a life changing thing that is! I love the soap spot on top, even if it is difficult to clean, and I love the way it kind of sticks out of the counter.
The view of the kitchen from the living room.
The lovely exhaust vent – soon there will be cabinets framing this and the beautiful green and blue glass tiles behind.
The oven and microwave with delicious party food remains in front.
“Let the wild rumpus begin!” We are planning to paint that on the wall above the tv. The rumpus room is for the kids. Their stuff, their TV, their room. Eventually I imagine slumber parties and birthday parties and not as far in the future as I’d like to think, long, lanky teenagers sprawled out playing video games and watching movies. For now it is full of toys, toys, toys and loud children. That is why there is a set of french doors between the two rooms so we can shut out the noise as we need. You know, to shut out the wild rumpus.
More rumpus, this view includes the laundry doors and the entrance to the…
BATHROOM!!! This is where Jude is currently potty training. More on that later…
Gigi’s room. She appears to have a lot of stuff…
Jude’s room. Not quite as much stuff!
And lastly, Jude’s bunkbeds. As you can see, while we are moving forward, we still have a bit to go. Moldings are still being finished, closet doors installed, paint scratches and chips from moving need to be painted again, and few other touches here and there. Despite the work that still needs to be done, we are feeling pretty proud of this accomplishment and I am so grateful to be living in this home. Our home. The home that Bradley built for us.
