"I'm Brushing My Teeth!' - The Carys Chronicles

Carys asked someone for a marker (we finally put childproofing on the school room cabinet since she kept getting into it) and was drawing on paper for awhile. The kids and I were doing school and not paying attention, I guess.

Shortly thereafter, Carys came into the school room and said to Landon, "I'm brushing my teeth!" Yes, she was brushing them with the green marker. Thankfully, it was a washable marker.

Build-A-Bear

I've had this post in process for a week, but life has been hectic and my brain has been used up in other areas. When my friend Michelle decided to check on me, I figured I'd better get going on this blog post! :)

Part of Chase's birthday this year was a trip to Build-A-Bear. We have never been before (our children are so deprived :), so she was really excited. Carys got to go, too. The boys weren't interested! It's at least 1-1/2 hours from our house to a Build-A-Bear, so Chase patiently waited until we had another reason to take a trip. So, on Sunday, May 17, we went to Umatilla to pick up Landon from a weekend CAP training, then headed over to the Altamonte Mall. We had lunch at Chili's, stopped at the Home Goods store to exchange something I'd bought in December (!), and then finally made it to Build-A-Bear.

The girls picked their animals - a bear for Chase and a dog for Carys.


Carys likes to have her picture taken.


Carys checks to see if her dog is stuffed just right!


Chase loves her bear as well.


Time for a shower.


Finally it was time to name the little critters and get birth certificates.


When the girl was stuffing Carys's dog, she asked Carys what she was going to name the dog. I don't think Carys understood the question. So, the girl asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Carys said, "It's a boy." From then on when we asked her what she wanted to name him, she'd say, "It's a boy." Finally, Greg suggested Toby. This was good with Carys, but sometime on the way home she began calling him Toby Mac. :) Gerren's influence shows up, I guess.

Chase named her bear Portia from one of her favorite books this year Gone Away Lake. It was a fun day!

And Me

What connects these people.... and me?

Happy Mother's Day!

The kids chose (well, actually I think Landon chose) a very appropriate Mother's Day card for me this year, so I thought I'd replicate it here:

Cover:
"Mommy's First Blog"
Written on a monitor with a pair of hands below typing on a keyboard:
"Day One
It's 6:30. Time to make
breakfast and...Excuse me
a second, my little one just
spilled her juice. As I was
saying...Shoot! My husband
can't find his tie. Back in a
minute... Now where was I?
Oh, no! The dog jumped on
the counter and ran off
with a sausage..."

Left inside of the card:
Written on same monitor, new screen:
"How about I continue
this when I have more
time, like 20 or 30 years
from now?"

Right inside of the card:
The sentiment:
"MOTHERHOOD:
there's never a dull moment."

Then the funny part came on the back.
More typing on the computer:
"Well, gotta go. The toaster's on fire..."

Landon crossed out the word "toaster" and wrote in "crockpot".

I was ROFLOL. If you don't know why that's so funny, read my last post!

Disaster Averted!

Wednesdays are typically busy days that include heading for Ocala by 2:20 for music lessons and a stop at Aldi's. So, I always plan something I can make ahead for dinner or something Landon can fix if he's staying home. By the time we get home, everyone is ready to eat immediately.

Today promised to be even busier as we needed to leave by noon to drop Sarah off with her mom and get to the Scholastic Book Fair sale. Landon and Greg also had eye doctor appointments, so I had a crockpot meal planned. I browned bratwurst, cut up potatoes and onion and apples and put the recipe into the crockpot.

About ten minutes later, I noticed that something smelled funny. I saw smoke coming up from my crockpot. I quickly unplugged it and lifted the crock out of the outer piece. Upon investigation, I found that the metal heating element part had melted completely through the bottom of the hard plastic exterior.



I was so thankful that I hadn't plugged it in and left immediately as I do sometimes! Needless to say, I had to run to Walmart for a new crockpot. Thankfully, Walmart is only 5 minutes away.

Happy Birthday, Chase!

We celebrated Chase's 11th birthday this week. It hardly seems possible. I sent Greg out to get a card. He came back with a Hoops and YoYo talking card. Now, I was rolling my eyes at how ridiculous this card was, and he was making excuses about how there were no good cards. We both thought it was pretty bad.

Boy, were we wrong! The kids LOVED it. Chase said when they were doing a series called Spy Chase at church, she was Sgt. YoYo and Sarah (her best friend) was Sgt. Hoops. The kids all loved this card and listened to it over and over again.



Even Landon thought it was funny.


Carys would hardly let Chase open her gifts by herself.


Chase's main gift is a trip to Build-a-Bear. She's never been there and would really like to go. There isn't a store very near us, however, so we asked her to wait until a weekend when we need to take Landon to some CAP training. She was willing to do this. I still wanted some stuff for her to open, though. So, I went to my trusty "gift" box. I gave her a water bottle that came with an ipod Nano cover that Greg had picked up on clearance somewhere.

I had purchased these Samantha (American Girl) puzzles on clearance at Target a couple of years ago. So, they seemed like a good idea. Chase is involved with an American Girl book club that some moms from our homeschool group are hosting this year. She's really enjoying it!


When I bought her Gotz doll (Liberty from Vision Forum), I also bought all the historical outfits they had with it as it was much cheaper to do it that way. I'm still giving these as gifts. I think I have one more in the box.


The last thing she had to open was a gift bag filled with a few guitar goodies: a capo, a hook-type thingy to hang her electric guitar on the wall, and an amp/headphone plug that she can plug her electric guitar into and hear herself play. I think it was called a Pocket Rocket. Greg found it on a website we often order from.


After opening gifts, we headed out to pick up her best friend, Sarah. She went with us to haircuts then home for awhile. The boys had CAP that evening, so we headed out to dinner rather early. We always eat Mexican food on Chase's birthday which falls on Cinco de Mayo. Greg had to go give the invocation at our homeschool group's graduation ceremony. Then he picked up canolis on the way home, always Chase's dessert of choice for her birthday.



Sarah spent the night and we met up with her mom on Wednesday when we were back in Ocala. I think the girls had a great time!

Clay's First Birthday

We were thrilled to have a chance to visit with our friends Ron and Lisa Kearse and their family while they were visiting Ron's parents. Greg's family and the Kearse family grew up together, in church, family camping vacations, etc.

Ron is a major in the Marines and stationed at Quantico right now. His brother Allan is a Lt. Col. in the Army and getting ready to move from TX to CO. We were thrilled to get to visit with Allan's family when the kids and I were traveling through TX last spring. However, when we went to D.C. last fall, Ron and Lisa were in TX!

Anyway, their littlest guy, Clay, was turning 1, so Grandma and Grandpa had a cook-out. We've had a ton of fun at cookouts at their house over the past 20+ years!

Can't you just imagine Clay thinking, "Oooo, what is this?"


Then he gets his first taste! Would you look at those eyes?


I think he likes it.


I'm sure he likes it!


In fact, he's wearing it!


Lisa, Clay, and Ron


The entire family: Lily, Caden, Lisa, Clay, Ron, and Colin.


Caden gives Carys a ride on the back of his bike.


We had a great time!