And I am Feeling...A Little Peculiar

You know the song by 4 Non Blondes (well I know some of you won't, I won't say names a-hem, but if you're old you know who I'm talking about!) ... 25 years and my life is still....trying to get up that great big hill of of hope, for a destination...

Annabel and I were driving home from camp tonight when this song came on the radio. Well, obviously, I was super-pumped because I'm a total 90's music junkie. Give me cranberries, counting crows, or better than ezra any day! Anyway, Annabel was cracking up at me as I shamelessly bolted lyrics off-key... Yeah, yeah, yeah, WHAT'S GOING ON!?!! Only, I can never say "what's going on"... I always have to change the last lyrics to, "MY GUILT IS GONE!" Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Anyone who's ever had the pleasure of spending time with the Purdue Campus House has had this song permanently changed for them, I'm sure. 

Anyway, this is a totally random post, I know. Some of you are shaking your head right now, thinking, who the heck cares?! But I know some of you... well you're humming a familiar little tune...

picture update

Since I haven't posted pictures in a while, I thought I'd just do a quick update...

A few from our camping trip last weekend:

Annabel and Cassidy are best buds! Cassidy is just about exactly a year younger than Annabel-it's fun to see where Annabel was developmentally just a year ago! I think Yonda has a hard time believing that Cassidy will be Annabel's size this time next year! :) She's in denial, just like I was. 

 

Earlier this week, we had a play date with friend Nora! I love this sequence of pictures... think we need to work on sharing?? :)

Annabel sees something she wants...

She takes it...

Nora doesn't like that...

"NO! MINE!" screams Annabel...

Nora takes matters into her own hands!

And later, distracted:)

Annabel's nursing her baby!

And a funny video:

Go Go Weeee!

Hi all,

My mom says I need to update my blog because she's bored and needs something to read! I haven't taken the time to upload any new pictures, so my boring rambling will have to do for now :)

So here's some stuff that's been going on around here lately:

*We camped all weekend! In a tent! We went with our church, and there were several other families that we're close to that we set up camp near. We had so much fun just sitting around the card table chatting, playing phase 10, and just hanging out. It was nice because they made all our meals for us, so there was no hassle of trying to cook over a campfire (of course, this would thrill Derek to no end, but doesn't do much for me)! This was our first time camping with Annabel, and she did okay. We were able to get the pack and play in the tent, as well as our queen size air mattress, so we were all pretty comfy. Especially since Annabel decided she would rather sleep between us instead of in her bed! It was pretty chilly at night, so it was fine. I appreciated the extra body heat:) The only thing that could have made our camping trip better would have been not so much humidity. Everything felt so gross and sticky. I think we'll try again in the fall when it's cooler and nicer out.

*Annabel's been so active lately. She's so funny. She loves to do somersaults, jump, run around in circles, etc. She calls all her active time "go go weeee!" I'm not really sure what it means but it's so cute!

*She's also getting better at putting words together. She puts two words together pretty routinely and sometimes even three ("moe nini, peace?" Which translates- "more candy please?") I love hearing her sweet little voice and being able to communicate better with her. 

*I've caved and am reading the Twilight series. Oh. My. Gosh. It's like crack. Enough said.  

*I graduate in 3 weeks (24 days)!!! I'm soooo ready to be done with this last class and just be done with it all for awhile! I've filled out a few applications, so maybe I'll hear something back soon. Maybe not. Who knows?!?

*Meijer has their summer stuff 75% off. I thought that was exciting. Today I bought a little wooden picnic table for $17- marked down from $70! I also got some little gardening stuff for Annabel for dirt cheap. 

That's really all I can think of. I'll try to pry myself away from vampires and werewolves long enough to upload some pictures soon! 

If Wednesday is Hump Day, Is July Hump Month??

This week, we've been busy as usual :) but we did enjoy the holiday weekend! We didn't really do anything special, but hung around home and worked the yard doing various tasks. I scrubbed the vinyl siding, if that tells you how exciting our 4th of July was! :) Then it started raining, and kept raining, so we just spent some lazy time inside. I was feeling the urge to warm up my sewing machine, but didn't want to start any big projects. Since Annabel's so into her "babies" right now, and putting them "ni-night," I decided to make her a little baby doll quilt. I rounded up some flannel scraps I had, as well as some flannel Geneva gave me (the monkeys) and an old satin bathrobe, and went to work! I think it turned out pretty cute!

The front

And, of course, the back

And in use!

The satin was kind of difficult to work with- it's very slippery, as you can probably imagine! This was a really fun project, and easy enough to whip up in an afternoon. Annabel loves her new "ni-night," and my urge to sew was satisfied, at least for a couple days. :)

And now for the exciting news: Annabel has gone poopy in the potty 3 times this weekend! Once yesterday and twice today! WOW! The first two times I directed her to the potty when she said she had to go, then the last time she went all on her own!! I didn't even know she had gone until she came and told me "uh-oh," while pointing to the bathroom:) The uh-oh was that only about a fourth of the doody actually went in the potty... oh well! It's a start. She's been really proud of herself- clapping and yelling "poop!" For only being 21 months, I'd say we're off to a good start!

The other night we got out the finger-paints. She still isn't too sure of having it on her hands, but she sure did enjoy painting herself! She also liked to walk over the paper and smear the paint with her feet... and I'm all for creative expression, even foot-paintings! :) Haha. 

And yes, she's completely buck-naked! That's the only way to paint, don't you know?! Oh, the places paint ended up...

Today I took Annabel to the water park in our town. It's fairly new, and we hadn't been there yet. I think it would have been more fun if a) you had a child who enjoyed water, or b) had a child who didn't hate water. So yeah, that was a waste of $4. But while we were there I snapped this lovely photo...

Don't you think this should be a health code violation?? Ugh- long hair like this totally grosses me out! Can you imagine swimming and getting a 3-foot long hair wrapped around you??

::shudder::

Tonight Derek is canning green beans from the garden. So exciting! We've also had some cucumbers and lettuce so far, but that's about it. A few of the cherry tomatoes have been ready, but they pretty much get eaten as they're picked! I also took Annabel to pick blackberries last week, and we had so much fun! She was so cute- she'd see one, then start pointing and jumping, and as soon as I picked it her little hand was out to eat it! They were pretty sparse so there was nothing left to show for our efforts :(

That's about all the summer fun we've been having lately! I've started my new class (July term) which is my last one ever. I had a sad moment on the first day when I realized it was my last "first day" of class ever (or at least for a while!). I think it will be weird to not be a student anymore, especially if I don't find a job right away. Speaking of class, I have a test tomorrow, and should really be studying instead of blogging! Until next time! 

Garden edit

I just wanted to mention that our garden is a community garden! Truly Derek and I couldn't manage this all on our own! There are 10 of us (5 "couples") who really wanted to pool our resources and do this together. 

Its been kind of interesting, because while we all wanted the more common things, like tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, peppers, etc, we all kind of have one or two plants of our own special interests. I really wanted eggplant, so I have two little eggplants tucked away behind the corn. Mike and Cheryl really wanted ornamental corn, Marcus wanted a watermelon plant. Derek planted one row of shallots, and no one else is allowed to touch them! Ingrid planted a row of okra and turnips (blegh!) and I'm sure none of us will want to touch them! Haha. I think it was Melissa who wanted pole beans (I may be wrong...). But its been cool to see how while we all may have our "own" stuff, we all help take care of each other's stuff. I love community. 

Fresh From the Garden

I've been bragging about our awesome garden for a while, so I thought it was time to post some pictures! It still amazes me that you can put some seeds in the ground, and a few weeks/months later it looks like this:

I love the sky in this photo! It just looks so ominous. I had to photo shop it to get a "Wizard of Oz"-ish feel about it! Check it:

 Pretty cool, huh?!  Here is a picture of the garden from the back:

 The sweet corn, ornamental corn, lettuces, and marigolds.

 And from the back. Look at all these tomato plants! Yes, we have over 50 of them. Insanity, I know.

 The man himself! We picked peas, beans, cucumbers and squash today! (And lots of weeds!)

Oh yes! And turnips! (Not that I eat them!)

And here are some pictures of my little cutie, enjoying a sno cone from the canteen! Gotta love camp life!