My Day in 10 Pictures

I read an article yesterday about blogging. I went down the rabbit hole and clicked links here and there, and finally landed on a list of blog post challenges.

I accepted one: post about a normal day in 10 pictures. Easy enough.

Except...I only have 7 pictures.* 

70% is still passing. Am I right? 

*Let's be real, I have way more than 7. However, most are duplicate photos. Failed attempts at capturing the unicorn--a shot of all 3 kids looking in the same direction at the same time. 

Also, please note that I did have 8! (80%!) Unfortunately, upon further review of the first picture of the morning (my cubicle), I think there may have been (if you squinted really hard and zoomed in a million percent) something confidential lurking on my desk. As I like having a job (read: money), I refrained from posting. If you've seen Office Space, you've seen my cube (sans the red stapler).

Completely devastated after discovering the
food truck had cancelled, I had a nice lunch of Cheez-Its. 

Thank God It's Friday. The best part of the work day is leaving!
Glad to be home with these cats, enjoying the sun!

El Rio Grande for supper, since I had been
malnourished all day. This Bear loves queso.

Tacos, rice, and beans make Julian a happy boy.

Best buddies.

110 days until Halloween!
Celebrating Friday the 13th in style.

Time for bed + book!

Jonas Rides a Bike

Ladies and gentleman, today was a big day. The fun started at school. It was kindergarten awards day. The boys were recognized for their outstanding achievements: homework hero, being respectful, and other wonderful qualities that make them such cool dudes. They were very proud of themselves, as they should be. After the ceremony, Julian wanted to take us all to his classroom. He said, "Mom, you're going to love it. It's beautiful!" Then he showed me his table and all the nifty stations around the classroom.

Jules modeling his "brag tags."

 Jonas and his "brag tags."

After school, we grabbed some lunch and headed home. It was such a nice day outside, so we took advantage and hung around the yard. Jonas took the time to practice riding his bike without training wheels. We've been working on it for the past week or so, and today was the day, folks! He did it! He was incredibly cute in doing so, too. He was pedaling along and saying to himself, "I know I can do it! I know I can do it!" And sure enough, he can!

He's already on me about getting a new bike (I promised we'd get them new bikes when they learned to ride without training wheels).

So proud!

Treats from Spain

This month's Universal Yums included treats from Spain.

Barbacoa snack mix, BBQ potato snack, Ham flavored potato chips,
Caramel white chocolate candies, olive oil cookies, lemon cookie,
chocolate-covered oranges, pistachio toffee, and chocolate with pine nuts.

Everyone's favorite was the barbacoa snack mix!
Made Doug nostalgic for his childhood, and
he rushed to the store to buy corn nuts.

Jonas was not a fan of the chocolate-covered oranges.
Spain does not do a good chocolate orange. This was no Terry's!

Thumbs up to pistachio toffee!

Cool wrapper, but yucky cookie.

Another favorite of the kids! Think caramel
white chocolate M&Ms.

Olive oil cookie sounded weird. Tasted weird.

Ham-flavored potato chips. Mmm. Can't go wrong with ham.

That's a wrap on Spain!

Beetle Meets a Bear

When we were in Dwarf last weekend, Mommaw told me a story about her run-in with a bear.

It was December, and as she always does, Mommaw had decked the halls for Christmas! This included lights on the outside of the house. This year she had purchased herself one of those neat laser light projectors, and had received several compliments on the display.

After realizing she hadn't even checked out the lights herself, Beetle, who was home alone at the time, headed out the door at 10 pm to do just that.

[Sometimes, after supper, scraps are dumped out into the ditch. Foxes have been known to come get a snack from time to time.]

Well, Mommaw was checking out her lights, and as she was walking inside, she saw a creature in the ditch eating. She thought it was a big dog, so she hollered at it. The dog looked up. But, it wasn't a dog, it was a bear!

Just about that time, Bob came driving up the driveway, and the bear took off up the hill.

"Well, after that, I went inside and looked up on my iPad what you're supposed to do when you come face to face with a bear. You're supposed to be really still and not make any sudden movements. And you gotta make yourself look as big as you can."--Mommaw 

[Mommaw is about 4' 11''.]

"Is that what you did?" --Curt

"What do you think? I about tore my toenails off trying to get back in the house!"--Mommaw

[Scraps are no longer being dumped in the ditch.]

Going Under the Knife

Well, folks, this weekend in Dwarf, Kate's best buddy Tiger went under the knife. Luckily, his surgeon was the greatest seamstress to ever live, Mommaw Alice.

As you can tell from the photo below, poor ole Tiger was a little thin in the neck area. His neck could not support the weight of his head.

Mommaw Alice to the rescue! Just a little slit in the back and add some fluff.

Kate helped stuff him!

Now he's even more squeezable!

Kate's Ghost Friend

Kate has a ghost friend. I don't know if this is Jack (the ghost who hung out in the boys' room), or a new entity. She just refers to him as her "ghost friend."

I'll also tell you that on Sunday night Kate came into my room. The lights were out as I was alone in bed reading (only the light from my tablet was on). Doug was in the basement. She started to get in my bed, but stopped and looking into the darkness said, "Why's he in here?" And I asked, "Who?" And she answered, "That boy over there! What's he doing in here?"

Aaaah...so I promptly hopped out of bed and turned the light on. I asked her if she was talking about Flash Gordon (he was also on the bed). I hoped to everything holy that she was talking about that damn cat.

She just changed the subject and crawled on into bed. Like she wasn't the creepiest child on earth.

Anyway, remember the other day when I posted the picture below on Facebook? Kate on the swing. She had asked me if I would push her ghost friend.

Doug took that picture and adjusted the contrast and brightness to try to see if anything was there. Below are the results. Pay attention to the ladder. Also, please send over a Priest.

A Book by Julian

Kate and the Two Two. By Julian

Kate and the Two Two

One day Kate wanted to dance. And she find a two two.

And a stage. Kate is going up the stage.

Oops! [Author's note: Kate forgot her tutu.] Now Kate is ready.
[She found her tutu.]

Kate is on the stage. [Author's note: She is holding a sign that says, "Kate."]
DONE!

Kate says, "The End!"

Snacks from Poland!

When I got home from work today, there were 3 wild children anxiously waiting on me. A new Universal Yums box arrived and they could hardly wait to tear into it. I couldn't bare to make them wait until after dinner, so we promptly opened the box and dug in!

This month's treats were from beautiful POLAND.

Jules checking out some Poland trivia. Did you know that
 in Poland they put ketchup on their pizza?

Poland's treats: Tapsy cheese and onion chips (the kids' favorite; Jonas and Kate got into a fist fight over them), Walwel Milkizz, Krowki milky cream fudge (almost made Jonas barf), Soleo caramel pretzels, Dobosz chocolate plum (naaasty), Aksam peanuts with paprika (my favorite), and Raczki lobster tails (almost made me barf).

Those paprika peanuts were delicious, man.

Seriously, though. Wonder if I can order them from amazon...

Kate giving a thumbs up to those cheese and onion
chips. Pictured right before she punched Jonas for trying to eat one.

Cute little Jonas showing off the fancy wrapping for
the chocolate-covered plum. No offense, Poland, but this gal
is sticking with chocolate-covered cherries.

Kate and Tiger

Tiger has been with Kate for nearly all of her life. She got him for her first Christmas from Aunt Boomer in 2014. This is the first picture of the dynamic duo, taken in August 2015. (Yeah, it's August and she is already sporting Halloween jammies. You know how we do.)

August 2015. 

Their bond first developed on vacation of 2015. Here they are snuggling in Charleston. They've not been a night without each other ever since!

September 2015.

Here they are on the road to Charleston a year later in 2016. Snacking on some Doritos and dressed as Chase.

September 2016.

One night, we couldn't find Tiger and all hell broke loose. So, being the smart parents we are, we immediately went out and purchased an identical Tiger! Ha ha! She would never know the difference and it would save our nerves the next time Tiger was misplaced...WRONG!!! New Tiger was rejected. She only has room in her heart for her Tiger.

Summer 2017.  Tiger is comforting our little Kate
while she is at the clinic for a quick check.

Tiger has been through it all, and though he is not yet 4 years old, the dude is starting to show his age. This morning when we got him out of the washer, he had a big boo-boo!

Concerned Kate.

Luckily, Raykul saved the day! She stitched our dear friend back together. Kate held his paw through the whole ordeal.

Kate and Rachel doctoring up Tiger.

Happy Little Monster tucked in tight with her best buddy. 

Nighty night.

My Book About Cars by Jonas

Today when I cleaned out the boys' backpacks, I found a special treat: a book by Jonas. When he becomes a New York Times best-selling author, you can always say you read and loved his work before he was famous.

My Book About Cars by Jonas

there was a boy who love cars / his car was cool

he got a toy car / he got a lot of cars

then he loved his cars / the end.