Happy Birthday Carina

I smooshed together the photos from Carina's first birthday party - here's a taste of the action...
Sadly, Carina ended up needing a nap after sorting through the huge present pile, and she missed the outdoor portion of her own party, but Tayne, Pallas and the other "kids" were more than happy to test out the slip-n-slide and kiddie pool anyway (come to think of it, I'm not so sure they even realized she wasn't there). Also, we ended up leaving before the cake, I guess seeing someone else blow out only one candle wasn't enough excitement for Tayne.

I know we are just heading into summer, but it already feels like October will be here all too soon and we'll be celebrating for Pallas (I'll definitely have to make her a little soft party hat as well, if she had a paper one she'd just end up eating it!)- it's funny how time with babies plays havoc on you - most days it feels like they've been around forever, you can't remember not accommodating them and working them into your routines but when those milestones come around you feel like they can't possibly be that old already.

Oh, and what else did we do this weekend?

Seriously, did you have to ask???

Memorial Day weekend is here - I would be sad we aren't going out of town, but not with gas prices like they are.

Are you sick of seeing photos from this family fun pool yet?

Are you sick of seeing photos from this family fun pool yet? Well, you'll have to suffer though a few more, because I take them at Tayne's request then end up thinking they are just too cute not to share. We spend so much time there that pretty soon I'll have it all blocked out to get the perfect family photo with Splash Pool as a background. Here's a test group photo -

See the little white square through the fence? Why yes, that is a large banana tree next to it. If you guessed it's the shed in our back yard you would be correct. We are that close - although it takes a bit longer to walk over than this picture would indicate (we walk around the block instead of cutting though the field -easier on the stroller and less buggy on the people) we can get over to the pool pretty fast from they time Tayne walks out to the back fence to see if they've got the splash fountains turned on and the lifeguards walking around or in their little chairs.
The nights have been a bit cool around here for a few days so the water was a bit brisk this weekend. It didn't seem to bother most of the kids though, Tayne played here...
Pallas and Troy played here. (See how Troy manages to stay pretty much out of the water) Pallas usually doesn't like the cold water either, but it didn't seem to bother her this time -we just had to keep her from sticking her head down to taste it, in fact the little boy talking to Troy was telling him how Pallas shouldn't drink the water after his warning to her seemed to be largely ignored.
I think what I find most amusing about going here is the amount of fun Tayne has in the spray and play area. Here's a kid that thinks we should go anywhere or do anything if it's even slightly raining for real (you should see the looks I get for even suggesting that he might want to go out and play in the rain), but at this spray place (which is basically the same thing as walking in the rain) he runs around laughing, being sprayed without a care in the world -I don't know, maybe you just have to be dressed for it.
So this is our free time on weekends now,
as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, we'll -"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air."

-ok, so the family fun pool isn't exactly the sea, but I wouldn't want to fight with Pallas about drinking sea water, let alone putting her down on that sand, so just go with poetic licence on this one.

Last meet of the season.

Today was the last swim meet of the spring season. It was an hour north of where we live but the weather was great (overcast and not too hot) so we all had a good time. Tayne swims in 2 races, the freestlye and the breaststroke -events which, as is often the way with kid activities, are at the very beginning and the very end of the program with a long wait in between -but when it's time to race it's worth the trouble and the waiting. -Doesn't he look so happy in the water?

We usually give him a suprise at the end of the season for working so hard, this time I made him a stuffed animal out of an extra swim team t-shirt. I guess if I had to say exactly what animal it is I'm thinking koala. It was kind of tricky to get all the graphics where I wanted them - his ear is tagged with the small logo from the front of the shirt and he had to have quite a wide tummy to get the whole graphic on there (it just didn't look right any other way I could think of), but I think it turned out pretty cute. At least he should be a good size to bring along for napping since we have to get such an early start to be to these places on time.

Today was the transition for us from spring to summer water sports -less structure and more family free swim and play -which is good because I think Pallas will be happy to finally get in on the fun. It's too early to tell if she wants to be a swimmer too, but one things for sure - she doesn't like being left out of the action!

Go read something else

Tomorrow is the last swim meet of the season. Consequently, I find this evening I'm way to busy to write my own blog but of course I'm not too busy to surf the internet randomly while checking my emails (I know, such a bad habit!-The procrastinating by lolling on the internet, not the checking emails.) ANYWAY, if you must read something new read this blog One Day I Chanced Upon a Mystery (Wherein I Encountered Dollar Store Mystery Bags). I laughed till I cried (and was promptly busted for not "just checking email") then I realized I'd better get back to real life chores or something.

Mother's Day

I remember being told once -There's a lot more to being a woman than being a mother, but there's a heck of a lot more to being a mother than most people suspect. Which is why I was so glad to spend Mother's Day in San Antonio where the kids could spend some quality time with MY wonderful mother! (and Grandpa Terry over there in the back) Tayne's favorite part of Mother's Day was riding the trolly downtown. (He only looks unhappy here because he had to wait for me to take his picture before he could get on the trolly - what a good sport, humoring me on Mother's Day.)
Pallas was excited because she actually got to come along this time. Her first trolly ride had her taking in the sights of downtown -will she remember the Alamo? Probably not, but I'm sure we'll be back plenty of times.

Yes, as Mother's Day's go this was a pretty good one - although my present was a new tire (to replace the one a chunk of concrete laced with rebar tore a huge gash into as I swerved in vain to miss it - I do so love the children in this neighborhood!) I did get it a few days early and we were able to take a trip to San Antonio to spend the weekend with family. My other present was watching Tayne give out Mother's Day gifts to his grandmas - he's such a sweetie!

Fortune Cookies or Brainwashing Cookies?

Tayne loves fortune cookies so we usually give him ours. He's adamant about saving the fortunes (they have numbers on them) which he then leaves lying forgotten in random places. As I was cleaning last night I found a few he had left behind -

I'm starting to think the economy is really taking a down turn when even fortune cookies are trying to drive up sales by spouting things like this :

"You hunger for the finer things."
"Your fortune said you need to make a donation. Give it to the chef."
"You love Chinese food."

"Cooking is easy. Tasting good is hard. That's why you order takeout."

-Are these fortune cookies or propaganda? Lucky for me, Tayne is more interested in the lucky numbers than the fortunes, but all the same maybe I need to find a less suggestive dessert.

The sun is hot and the water is fine...

Can you guess how Tayne (and by default Pallas and I) spent this past Saturday afternoon?
That's right - the family fun pool at the YMCA is finally open for the summer season!

Even Pallas had a great time in and out of the pool. (I forgot to pack her hat though, so the poor thing had to have her head slathered in sunscreen - still not enough hair to protect that precious head from the sun!)

Because Tayne made me take them, and because they show the excitement and fun of the family pool I've included a couple of my seriously armature videos of our trip.

Perhaps the excitement was too much for Pallas. She fell asleep like this and wouldn't be moved into (what I thought) a more comfortable position. To each his or her own I guess.

Ok -as you can see, I need to practice taking movies, but I wanted to include this one because I don't think I have any pictures of the other side (non bucket side?) of the big play structure. This really is a neat pool and I'm sure you'll be seeing more pictures and movies of it as the summer progresses.

Kudos to you Evenflo.

So I was cleaning Pallas' high chair today, with a little help from Tayne, when it dawned on me - these people are truly clever when it came to selecting a color scheme.
I don't know how well you can tell from the picture, but the colors match up pretty true to every stain in a baby's diet. There's the main oatmealy color that goes blends well with cereal and apple or pear stains, and the maroons to go with plums and prunes, yellows, oranges, and greens are obvious color matches to the baby veggies and fruits of those colors, and there's even a tan that resembles the color of banana when you miss a spot wiping up and come back to find it later. Even though the fabric is stain treated (you can wipe it clean pretty easily), I thought it was a pretty clever touch. I don't know why they didn't make this a selling point in the first place - I probably would have paid more for a chair with this feature - but I guess they don't like to advertise that your baby might in any way leave a stain and/or that it would be ok if said stain was so intense that you may have trouble removing it from their fabric. At least now I finally know why they make baby accessories with colors such as maroon, grey, oatmeal, green and yellow (coincidentally my playpen has these colors as well in the form of little spots to break up the overall dark blue color on the side rails and bottom mat). Yes, it seems designers of baby things are much more clever than I have been giving them credit for, at least I was smart enough to like those color combinations in baby items (here I thought I was buying neutral unisex items that would blend well into my home decor) even if I didn't know how useful they would really be.

Weekly wrap-up

Busy week, but then aren't they always. It was also a fun one when I look back over it- but very hectic when I was living it. I think I need to get more organized. Anyway,
Tayne lost a baby tooth this week. When it was loose it really bothered him to eat solid food but when he saw me with a handful of Oreos he asked to have one, and by the time it was gone so was his tooth. (Sorry toothfairy, another one got away without you collecting it!)

Pallas is such a drama queen - she's pretty good at crawling now - she's pretty fast at chasing me down when I leave her to play so I can do something else (translation nothing much that she can't be a part of gets done these days without her complaining loudly about being left out - and tugging at your leg). But she's still such a fun little chick I suppose I can suffer through until she gets old enough to either really help me or lose interest in helping and supervising everything that goes on in our house. Here are some funny model shots Troy took in the car the other day - the plaid in the corner of the pictures is me driving, I know it's nice to see photos of me in here isn't it!
After the first one she decided to really get into it -
Somebody either really loves her daddy or the camera...
Ok, fun's over - time to tighten that seat belt and head off to a world of errands - this may look like a cute stick your tongue out shot, but I think she's gonna blow a raspberry instead.
Yep, it was time to put the camera away and clean the lens when we got home. Ah babies, such fun! And just when I think the older ones are easier they come with their troubles too! - The tooth may be out and he can eat again, but what to do about compensation from the toothfairy when you have nothing to trade for???