Jack Frost is a bastard. My mom gave us some of these spider plants when they were babies over a year ago. Others came from Paul’s work. He watered them regularly all winter. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but since they were all over the house, he had to bring them to the kitchen, water them, wait for them to drain the water, then return. I arranged the porch for its summer “look” and WHAMMO! Jack Frost kicked their ass. Now they are dying.
Three poor unsuspecting victims.
Bastard.
…Anna Sanders!!!!
It started out so right!!! I bought some clay and all of us were sitting at the table outside making our creations. Peace reigned over the backyard. Dogs didn’t get chased by Bluesy, Barton didn’t hiss at anyone, angels sang from the heavens. Here are some moments from that day:
Anna hard at work on her creation. She insisted on using all of her clay on one piece.
Tyler made a mouse.
Paul even got into the crafty picture!
Paul's creations: SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick (the starfish)
So we waited a couple weeks so the clay could dry and we got some time. Then we decided to paint them. The plan was to take them outside for easy clean-up. So come Sunday morning, we took the paint and brushes outside. Water cup–check. Old canvas to “protect” the driveway–check. Only thing missing was the clay pieces. I was carrying them out, stopped on the way back outside to grab one more thing from the garage (you probably know how much I hate making 2 trips ANYWHERE). That’s when it happened….
~ ~ ~ ~ ~CRASH~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Everything slid off the tray, into the wall and onto the floor.
Carnage, part 1
Carnage, part 2
SpongeBob also suffered the wrath.
I felt sooooo bad. I tried to Superglue—didn’t even pretend to work for a second. Everything broke except for Anna’s–remember she insisted on 1 mass? Tyler pretended it was ok and painted for a second. Then I had a BRILLIANT idea. A way to make up for my clumsy mistake…the devastating blow my impatience caused yet again!
Hammer Time!!!!
Hammer Time!!!!
Point of interest #1: Please note the wearing of safety goggles.
Point of interest #2: Tyler wanted to continue to smash EVERYTHING: toys, chalk, a baseball…
Point of interest #3: I said no.
Point of interest #4: Paul said I told you so.
Balance was again restored in the Sanders Family.
Apparently not. I “helped” Paul a few weeks ago by spreading the fertilizer while he mowed. How hard can it be, right? As with most projects around the house, Paul will be needing to spend a little time correcting my home improvement efforts. Either that or we are going to have some v e r y jealous neighbors.
[Disclaimer: I am Polish so I am allowed to say that. No Poles were harmed in the making of this blog post.]
I’ll admit that Bluesy is a little inbred.
And an abandoned sewer cat.
That was found chillin’ on a car tire. And we wanted to move the car. And he didn’t care.
Needless to say he fits in well with our family.
Very well.
Problem is, Bluesy likes to fight. Actually, the problem is not that he likes to fight, the problem is that he is a crappy fighter. And weighs 7 pounds. And he is dumb (see above, I don’t mean in a mute, can’t talk kind of way). And deaf in at least one ear–from a fight of course. Here are some of his current nemesises (nemeses? nemesisae? I mean nemesis plural):
We have spent hundreds of dollars getting him patched up post-bout. Lately, I just patch him up with whatever is in the first aid cabinet. Note the gash on his “lip” in the photo above. You feel sorry for him. Until he jumps on your head in the middle of the night because your breathing is blowing your hair a little bit. And he considers the moving hair a new nemesis.
After Tyler got a volcano for Christmas, he has been fascinated with the concept of overflow so Paul showed him and Anna the Diet Coke/Mentos videos on YouTube. That was a mistake. A big mistake.
Paul and I bought a couple 2 liters of pop (yes, POP) and a pack of Mentos on a Sunday while the kids were at their mom’s house, then waited for the kids to return to us on Tuesday after school. Apparently as soon as Paul picked the kids up from school, Tyler was begging to do the experiment. If you have ever met Tyler, you know he is um…persistent. [he gets that from me--until it becomes annoying and nagging. that he gets from Paul]
Paul called me as I was driving home from work. He was desperate for me to get home so he could get relief from Pester Tyler. I insisted that they wait for me to get home b/c I wanted to take photos. Paul wanted to knock out the experiment before it got dark. We compromised: I sped up and Paul hid in the bathroom away from Tyler. As soon as I walked in the door I grabbed the camera, Paul grabbed the ingredients (minus a couple Mentos that did not make it past snack time).
I was too late. Paul told Tyler that he could not drop the Mentos in his 2 liter b/c he was wearing an NC State shirt. Of course Tyler refused to change shirts and he was beside himself and in complete meltdown when I got home. It didn’t turn out like that on the video that’s for sure!
I don’t know where the phrase “lazy days of summer” comes from. Our winter days are MUCH lazier. I think its partly because of the manic December we always have, but in January life comes to a screeching halt. I am too lazy to even write more or add captions to these photos!
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