Of Mice..er...rats and men...

Tonight Erik and Michelle took the kiddos on a walk so I could start canning peaches. As I was standing at the sink I looked out and noticed a huge rat calmly eating right alongside my chickens, so I just watched. As soon as Erik walked in the door I mentioned he should grab his gun. The rat obviously thought he was entitled to the food for he didn't even move as Erik got within a few feet and then...no more rat. Erik was very excited and called his brother right away to boast of his thrilling hunt. Men and their guns...
It really cracks me up though that this is the same wonderful man that while I was at play practice today cleaned the bathroom and made me an applesauce cake with peanut butter frosting!
What can I say, I love him!

Shoes

I have a love affair with shoes, though I most of the time I'd rather be barefoot. These red beauties were given to me for my birthday by my wonderful sister-in-law, Michelle.
These I found at Ross. I tried them on, I coveted and yet I did not buy them because alas, I did not have the money. The next time I went to Ross and actually had the money there was not one pair of these shoes to be found and I figured "Oh well, like I need another pair of shoes." Then my sister Beth and I went to Ross a few weeks later; I had money to spend and there they were, the only pair...in my size...and on clearance. I did "need" another pair of shoes after all.

Citizen's Environmental Peace Department

Today at the zoo I got the best birthday present ever. I came back to my suburban, which was parked in a compact parking spot!, and found a violation ticket under my windshield wiper. It was from the "CEPD", the Citizen's Environmental Peace Department, and it was for driving a SUV and polluting the environment. If you click on the picture you can read the whole enjoyable thing. According to the violation ticket, for my first offense I can pay the penalty by "donating 10 % of sales price of your SUV to your favorite environmental organization."
As defined for me on the back a SUV includes light trucks, mini vans and sport utility vehicles. I am so ashamed that I drive a vehicle that is large enough to hold my children and a few friends (so we can carpool). Of course if I complain and ask someone to create a green machine large enough for my family both now and future, I might get slapped with a violation for enlarging my carbon-footprint by having too many children (or any children at all).

The Unexpected...

Tonight my very wonderful husband let me go see "The Unexpected Guest" at the Theatre. I had tons of fun. It was a very enjoyable show...and I didn't even try and figure the murder out, I just watched. I sat next to a very friendly couple. I don't know their names or where they are from (I seem to always forget about introductions...) but we had a grand time chatting before and after and at intermission about anything and everything. The last show they had seen at the theatre was "Honk" so I'm guessing they are not locals because they seem to enjoy the theatre very much. But as they were leaving the man said, "Well, I hope you keep birthing life, creativity and faith, God Bless." And I smiled all the way home, it was just really really cool.

My Eldest Blessing

Being a parent is very exasperating. Hannah has been driving me nuts all day. She's fought with Ivan more than usual and she's been consistent at disobeying the very thing I just told her not to do. Tonight she threw a plate on the floor at dinner and it broke; she chose for punishment to go to bed early so she could still have apple cider with dinner. We went on a quick bike ride after dinner and on the way home she kept trying to crash into Ivan, again after I told her not to but then she rode on ahead, parked her bike in the driveway and ran back to, as she said: "give you a kiss and tell you I love you because I forgot when I was on my bike."
I tell you, your heart melts and you want to take back all punishments...
Of course then we got in the house and she threw a fit and demanded that I take her shoes off.
And here I heave a sigh, roll my eyes and send her off to bed with a really big kiss and many prayers.

Dante Reunion

This weekend we were at Erik's parents house for the "Dante Family Reunion". It was really fun, I always enjoy spending time with Erik's family. Great Grandpa and Grandma Dante saved a few boxes from their move to McMinnville for Hannah and Ivan to play in. They were thrilled.
We also went hiking at Silver Creek Falls, and it was really, really warm. A few of the days this weekend were over 100 degrees! I'm so glad Jon and Liz have air conditioning! The rest of the time we spent hanging out, shopping and watching a lot of Olympics and HGTV. I was only responsible for one meal this weekend, so I enjoyed myself throughly.
Erik has this week off for vacation though I'm not sure how much of a vacation it actually is, he's using the time to finish our shed and I'm hoping I can snag him to help me finish a few other projects as well.

Clayton is 1 !

First Birthday!First flip-flops!

First Pickle!

Hannah's Haircut

Ever since Aunt Michelle cut her hair short, Hannah has been begging to cut her hair also. This weekend Aunt Ashley brought her scissors to the family reunion so Hannah got her way, and I must say that even though I miss her longer hair she looks really stinkin' cute. Of course while Ashley was cutting my hair the next day Hannah got a hold of the scissors and cut a chunk out of her "bangs"...but it's not too horrible, still cute.

Baby Dreams

The strange dreams have started. Well, I guess they're not actually that strange but I do remember them. Last night I had two. Erik and I have been reading the time quintet by Madeline L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door etc. ) and I mentioned that the name Charles was growing on me, it also happens to be Erik's middle name and he thinks it was Great-Grandpa Worthylakes name. So we are starting to think that we might actually go with Charles if it's a boy. (Any suggestions for a middle name?) Well last night my first dream was that it was a boy and we did name him Charles, and then my second dream was that it was twin girls and so we got to use up both our girl names. Erik says I'm not allowed to dream anymore and if it is twins he's going to castrate himself. I'm really hoping it's a girl, it would be nice to have another girl and even out the balance of estrogen and testosterone in the house. Hannah says we should name a girl Tinkerbell and I said probably not, it'll either be Nora Elizabeth or Marilyn Olivia if it's a girl and she likes Marilyn Olivia the best (even though she can't quite say it).
As long as I keep eating I feel okay, if my stomach starts getting empty I feel nauseated and I must say I'm tired of eating already.

Decision

I made the decision, I am going to be a part of (or a take a part in) "Our Town". I'm not sure what finally made me say yes but I did. I'm kind of excited now. We'll see how it goes!

Baby Names

In response to Rolana's query about the six baby names we picked out and now not having a boy name....
We have 3 children, thus there are only three names left only one of which was a boy name : Roderick James but alas that name is no longer in the running. After watching "Jeeves and Wooster" the name Roderick takes on an overbearing, dictator quality thanks to the character of Roderick Spode. Ahh, the name is falling from favor; then there is the movie "Flushed Away" in the which the main character is a mouse named Roderick St. James or Roddy St. James who gets flushed down the toilet and at some point sings, "Poor, poor Roddy, flushed down his own potty..." Thus this is what I think of when hearing the name "Roderick James" and I just can't do that to a kid. So, alas we have two girl names and no boy name, so it better be a girl.

Our Town part 2

I still haven't made a decision about "Our Town". I tried to call the theatre today and nobody answered and then I got sidetracked with making dinner and cherry pies. We went on a walk today and our neighbor's cousin who is building a house across from Ed and Jan's new house gave us a huge bag of cherries from his orchard, so I made them a pie. I still am unsure if I will do "Our Town" or not...I skimmed through it again today and I think my last and "biggest" fear is that my tummy is going to be huge and I don't know if I can act around it. I know that sounds funny, but I think I'm tired of trying to disguise my belly (and not doing a very good job of it) for plays. I think the plan right now is to still see if the directors are okay with it. What I really want is someone to make the decision for me...but then not really 'cause if I asked Erik he would say "If you really want to know, I'd rather you not but it's up to you."
Oh and this baby better be a girl because I spent way to long on the internet yesterday looking up boy names and didn't see any I was crazy about.

Our Town

I'd pretty much decided that I wasn't going to be a part of the play "Our Town" and so I emailed Colleen at the Coaster Theatre to inform her of this and hope that she would pass it along the directors, well she never got the e-mail and even though I did not attend the second round of auditions they still called today and offered me the part of "Emily". Now I'm in a quandary and I think I'd like to do it. Colleen said she'd put me down as a tentative yes and let me think it over for a day. I'm suppose to call her tomorrow and let her know for sure, and I still don't know! I'm thinking it will come down to whether or not the directors want to have a pregnant lady playing a teenager! The play shows different parts of growing up so I would play from a teenager to her growing up and then dying in childbirth some years after her marriage...
We'll see!