These gums were made for gnawing.

Easter Eggs

Tessa and her 2nd cousin Selina had an Easter egg hunt in our yard this year. It's so fun to see these two play together. And it was really fun to have family over to celebrate the holiday.

Isn't she lovely?

She is large and in charge. AND she comes with a bitty baby warmer. Happy Easter to me! ...and the whole family, I think, because, really, don't they all benefit?

Crockpots and I, to be honest, haven't had the best of relationships. I mean it's fun at first, and we get along for a while. But then it always ends badly. I like to say it's not me, it's them. Remember this one? Shortly after, I was lucky enough to receive a free one. This particular crockpot had a hairline fracture in the ceramic dish. As time went on, I pressed my luck. "One more dinner before this thing breaks in two!" It lasted.....just long enough for the silver and black beauty featured above to arrive.

So far, we're getting along swimmingly*. I have a feeling this relationship has lasting power.

*I have never, in fact, used the word "swimmingly" before now. I can see why.

He is Risen

He Lives

I think I'll keep them around

because their little faces make me so happy.




Tessa loves taking pictures. Here is a picture showcasing her mad photography skills:

Who needs toys when you have a plastic hanger? He had a serious death grip on that thing. Sidenote: We are still waiting to see what color this kid's eyes going to be. We originally thought they might stay blue, but some brown has creeped in around the pupil. I thought Tessa's would stay hazel like mine, but they are now a chocolate brown. My dad's genes don't mess around.

Swim class. She loves it. She especially loves sitting on the steps and gabbing to the female assistant and Anna while the two boys in the class splash all over the place.

Oh, how I love these beans of ours!

Beware the Becave!

The kids and I ran over to the mall today. Like with most errands, I took longer than I'd meant to. So, since Tessa hadn't had lunch and had been repeatedly complimented for being so well behaved, I decided that she deserved a Mickey D's cheeseburger --a favorite of hers. A trip through the drive-thru, and we were on our way home. One snag: they put onions on the burger. I always order them sans onions, but they must not have heard me, or they forgot. It happens. So, when we got home, I did my best to scrape off all the onions. However, the burger was already starting to look diseased because of her digging onions out of it while in the car. When she sat down at the kitchen table, the mutilation continued. I had to get baby brother fed and put down for a nap, so I took off to Cole's room for a bit.

During that time, some serious screams of horror came from the kitchen after I didn't answer the incessant calls for me. I didn't worry too much since these same squeals come from seeing dark threads on her clothes or a hair in the bathtub (all bugs coming after her), plus, she knew where I was. She peeked around the corner to Cole's room to see me put my fingers to my lips to shush her. The baby's got to sleep, hermana! She crumpled onto her knees to cry and then ran off.

Baby down.

The search for Tessa commences.

She's trying to hid under my bed. "Go. Eat. Your cheeseburger!" (I never thought I'd have that demand escape my lips.)

She starts crying about the "becave".

"What are you talking about?"

"The science kid! Becave, Mom. Becave. On the science kid!"

She's having a breakdown the closer we get to the pile of cheeseburger. Finally, I stop to sit with her on the floor to find out what she's talking about. "Okay. Stop crying. Let's use your words."

"Becave, mom. On the science kid. Look at it! It's brown"

"Um. Meat is brown." It takes me a little while..... Decay.

She's afraid that her cheeseburger is decaying and I'm forcing her to eat it. Doesn't she know that it's a Mickey D's cheeseburger and could take weeks to decay? ;)

I walked over to the "decaying" burger with her, and we had a chat about why it looked the way it did. I salvaged some of it and she let me feed it to her. She wasn't about to touch it with her own hands. But she ate it. The terror inducing treat for being good.

McDonald's, I said NO onions.

Sid, WHAT illustrations are you using on your show?

Some DO's and DON'Ts of Home Repair

BATHROOM FLOOR

DO take bathroom laminate that looks like this and somehow make it better.

It grosses me out everytime. Jake had just taken off some weird glued on plastic strip where the floor meets the tub. Ick.

DON'T forget to take the toilet tank lid off before you set it in the bathtub. It may possibly fall and shatter.
DO have friends who already have the necessary tools for you to tile your floor.
DO recognize that projects for the inexperienced are nearly always harder than they seem, and believe husband when he says, "I'll never do that again. NEVER."
DO stand back and admire your handiwork and recognize that $70 to tile your bathroom floor is pretty great.

We still need to caulk the plumbing fixtures, but you get the idea. Muuuuch better.

DON'T expect to just buy a toilet tank lid at the store, especially when said toilet brand hasn't been around for 20 years.
DO (maybe not the best advice here, but I'm going with it anyway) make a new and different brand toilet tank work with the existing bowl.

BACKED UP WASHING MACHINE DRAINPIPE/FLOODED CARPET

DO your best to clean up watery mess in front of the washer.
DON'T believe that "your best" stops at a towel dried carpet.
DON'T spray a ton of Febreeze on said carpet when it smells a bit mildewy a couple of days later and expect that it will take care of everything.
DO try Liquid Plumber/Drano to see if you can fix the problem yourself before calling a professional.
DON'T have your husband pour said Liquid Plumber down the washer drain without having communicated and agreed on what the next step should be.
DON'T assume you and your husband think the same way.
DON'T run a small load of wash the next day believing that the smaller amount of water will be fine, even if the clog isn't completely clear.
DO check to make sure that the hook-pipe-dealy-thing was put back in the drain because if you DON'T, it is pouring water out on the floor both times that washer load drains.
DO panic if you turn the corner toward your laundry area and step into a marsh.
DO borrow a shop vac.
DON'T believe that toweling your entire hallway and part of your bedroom dry after this is actually going to work, even after an entire night of fans.
DO pull up your carpet to try to dry it from underneath.
DO call someone who knows what they are talking about (i.e. Dad and Sandy) and face the music when they tell you the carpet padding is gone. Time to move on. Get it up, and get it out. Apparently the big sponge underneath carpet takes a miracle to get completely dry.
DO head to nearest Home Depot for carpet padding, and proceed to Tetris your dry carpet padding together in place of your cut out nasty wet floor sponge.
DO your best to stretch the carpet back into place.
DO rent a RugDoctor to get that icky smell out of your carpet for good, and borrow a massive floor fan from the best HT around.
DO express gratitude for saving the carpet from a financially untimely death.
DO get around to calling a plumber, because babysitting the washing machine during each load is getting old.

DON'T ever assume we have any clue what we're doing when it comes to home repair.
DO recognize that we'll pretend we do.