a request for prayers and positive thoughts...

This is a picture of my Grandma Mary and me. She's been my grandma since I was two years old. She is my Grandpa Fred's widow and my dad's step-mom. She just completed her first round of chemotherapy for adenocarcinoma. She'll have two or three more rounds of chemo with surgery in between. Her doctors tell her she can be cancer free in six months.

She is a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. So am I. I think prayer and positive thinking can move mountains. I also think the more people thinking and praying the quicker things can be accomplished. So, if you are so inclined, my grandma can use all the good vibes and prayers she can get. Thanks in advance, from the bottom of my heart!

the humpty dumpty project...

"The Humpty Dumpty Project" is Logan's first school project. Can you believe they give Kindergarteners do-at-home projects? I don't remember do-at-home projects in Kindergarten. In any event, he is thrilled with the idea and so far has done extremely well (and I would say that even if I weren't biased!).

His challenge was to construct a vessel/contraption in which a raw egg could safely withstand a trip down the slide. The only "help" he got from us was us asking him questions along the lines of the scientific method (who would've thought that would come in handy again so soon?). He decided he would need a round box filled with stuffing (polyfil) and a lid to keep the egg in the box. He painted the box and drew two pictures of Humpty Dumpty on the sides. His contraption took two trips down two different types of slides (a straight one and a wavy one) and the egg survived both times! The lid sort of pops off a little upon impact and he's worried that since the slide at school is much bigger than the ones at the park the egg might fly out and break once it's on the ground. He's still thinking of a way to remedy that...as he sits next to a HUGE pile of jumbo rubberbands. It is SO HARD not to just flick one at him or just TELL him to use a couple rubberbands! I'm tempted to take Logan and his project to the school playground tomorrow to test it on the actual slide to see how it fares. Do you think that's cheating? Personally, I think it's more data collection before coming to the final conclusion.

The project is due on Thursday. We'll let you know how it goes!

a month of softies: strictly for the birds

for this month's a month of softies submission. more pictures of bennie here.

He says his name is Bennie and that he's kin to a pish named Finnie and monsters named Pennie and Priddy. He says the heat here, even at 10pm, is ridiculous and he would like nothing more than a birdbath full of ice water and a soft place to rest his head for the night. We're going to oblige him right now and maybe try visiting in the morning.

the kindergarten lifestyle...

is killing me! The getting up at six a. m. is not too bad...I'm almost used to it now. I'm still having nightmares about forgetting to pick Logan up from school. I set my computer to pop up reminders, set my cell phone alarm and set a timer in the kitchen just to be sure I won't lose track of time. My body FORCES me to go to bed no later than 10:30 anymore. So between the early bedtime and all day clock watching not much of anything beside housekeeping and laundry is getting done. The business end of being a Kindergarten mom is not that fun, people. More than killing me, it's killing Lynn. I set a schedule into place the week that he had back-to-back-to-back travel and he is NOT catching on to it at all! I guess I need to write it up in agenda form or something because my frustration level is about to max out (as is his too, I'm sure).

Anyway, Logan is LOVING school and his teacher and his new friends. His only disappointment so far: they had to miss recess twice last week because it was TOO FREAKIN' HOT! When is it ever going to cool down around here? Caleb still misses Logan during the day and is usually ready to go pick up Logan around lunch time.

With the heat being what it is right now (upper eighties first thing in the morning, 100's throughout the day and into the late evening - nine, sometimes ten p. m.), about the only time we're ever outside is to quickly mow and edge the yard, walk down to the pool or to get into the car if it's not pulled into the garage. So that also means that no exercise is being had by me. Lynn mall walks on his lunch hour usually so at least he's getting some exercise. Caleb and I tried mall walking in the morning after we drop Logan off and I've decided that he has a deep seated desire to split his face open on the tile at the mall because he practically throws himself out of the stroller (while it's moving at quite a clip, no less) about half way through our trek each time we've gone. He wants to walk too; however, his little munchkin legs are no match for my mommy legs. I'm choosing my battles here. So in an effort to make exercising more feasible and (gasp!) maybe even enjoyable, Caleb and I visited a gym (with child care) this morning. I have to return a call to a salesperson, find out how much it's going to run us a month and then go from there. I've got to get healthy. I'm thirty-one years old and have to take blood pressure medication...it's a very, very small dose, but still, I have to take blood pressure medication! I'm hoping that with some regular exercise I will have more energy throughout the day and will be able to get more of what I WANT to get done done.

postcards...

Are you feeling like working on postcards again? I am. If you are too, well, have I got some great links for you!

The first link was stumbled to me by my Mom:



Donate fiberart postcards to be given as gifts for every $30 donation to the American Cancer Society at the FFAC booth at this year's International Quilt Festival - Houston. Click on the button above to read the guidelines for submission.

The second link is to Emily's postcard swap:

The theme she's chosen is El Dia de los Muertos and you can find all the information you'll need to join this entry on her blog.

pissed!

Earlier today I received an email from an internet friend informing me of an individual who has blatantly copied and is selling the little stuffed lion I designed and made for last month's Month of Softies theme. This person did not ask permission to use my design, nor did she give me credit for my design in her listing or picture hosting. I am being intentionally vague at the moment in hopes that this person will snap back to reality and rectify the situation. Rest assured if steps are not taken in the very near future I will certainly take further action.

I'm not sure what to think here...I know imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, but quite frankly, I am not feeling flattered at all. Rather, I'm feeling like my purse was stolen or my car was broken into. Ugh.

* * * * *

The situation is completely remedied now. We've corresponded and everything is good now.

phew...

Click here for the slideshow. And, um, note to self, walking and taking pictures results in blurry pictures...even with image stabilizer. Click here for a movie clip (that's terrible! I need to re-read my owner's manual video section!) And it doesn't seem to want to work in Firefox right now either.

We did it! The first day of Kindergarten started without a hitch. And not one tear was shed! Admittedly, I did get choked up this morning while I was making Logan's lunch and then again when I was filling the spray bottle we use for taming the boys' wild hair and again when I was talking to Lynn after we'd dropped Logan off to school.

As we entered the Kindergarten hallway at last night's open house, I was overcome and almost lost it, thankfully Logan wasn't real talkative so I was able to rub my lips together "to smooth out my lipstick" about a thousand times and kept all but a couple tears back.



It's eleven o'clockish right now and Caleb has already asked that we go get Logan twice. Then he moved on to figuring out what he wants for lunch today. It's going to be chicken nuggets, Cheetos and grapes according to him. After his nap we're going to attempt a haircut. Wish us luck!

* * * * *

So we didn't get the haircut accomplished today...maybe tomorrow. School was a blast. They learned about rhombuses ("do you know what a rhombus is? It looks like this * as he draws a rhombus in the air *"), had recess, got to eat lunch in the cafeteria, make fingerprint stamp art and the air conditioning in his classroom broke and men came to repair it ("do you know what repair means?" he says to me. So cute!) He wants to eat cafeteria food tomorrow ("They have cool taco things and serve you whatever you want!") All in all, I'd say the day went swimmingly. What a load off!

summer is almost over...

Click here for the slideshow. I'll be adding more pictures later tonight. Altogether there were almost 300 photos!

We spent this last weekend down in New Braunfels with three-fifths of my sibs, my sister-in-law, two of our aunts and Bella the dog. It was definitely an excellent way to spend the last weekend of the summer (our summer, anyway)...hanging out with family, going to Schlitterbahn, floating the Comal River, visiting the New Braunfels Children's Museum, drinking many, many cold beers, having birthday cake and ice cream for Aunt Patty and just generally relaxing.

Today the boys and I are running last minute errands (school shoes, haircuts, grocery store) before Logan starts Kindergarten tomorrow. I already have first day of school butterflies in my belly! Logan seems completely cool though; no jitters, not particularly impatient. He knows for sure, though, that he wants to bring his lunch to school (in his new Lightning McQueen lunchbox). Tonight is his school's open house where we'll get to meet his teacher, see his class room and drop off his school supplies. The only bad thing in all of this is Lynn had to leave for Houston this morning. He's terribly bummed about missing the open house and especially Logan's first day of school. Damn all these responsible adult duties he has like paying the mortgage and feeding our children! I'm going to film what I can and take some pictures too...surely I won't be the only parent doing it. If I am, oh well.

scratch my butt...

And with that we'll begin my 400th post! It'll make some sense in a minute.

This morning our living room was overtaken by a band of wee fort building pirates. Below you'll find their version of the Jolly Roger.



You see the black part of the t-square looks like an upside down pirate hat and the two wee pirates in question bare bear the last name of Lyons so it only made sense to attach magnetic lion legs to create a fitting pirate sign.

Prior to the discovery of the fort building pirates I made a special request "pendant" for my canine cousin Wag Wag Lemma Lemma (also known as Bella). Aunt Doot and Nolan passed along the request over the weekend and how could I not oblige? Anyway, I wanted to take some pictures of the finished piece and, as is often the case, my pirates delivered inspiration on a silver platter (or a wooden t-square...).





P. S. This picture totally cracks me up.

pishes, lions and pants, oh my!

Amidst all the family lunacy going on around here lately I've managed to do a lot of sewing. I've made a little school of Finnie Pishes:



I have a few more Finnies to sew up this week, then I think I'm going to move on to some of Pennie, Finnie and Priddy's Halloween and Christmas cousins.

I altered the little lion pattern and it was almost a successful alteration until we had a seam blow out.



A few more minor changes are going to be necessary before I remake it again. Once it's perfected though, I can safely say every infant born into my circle will be receiving a baby lion toy along with their diaper changing pad and burp cloths.

I finally finished painting the boys "office area" last week and also made a roman shade for the large window in the nook. I love the look of roman shades...they're simple, clean lines are perfect for this application. I figured making one would be quick going. Um, yeah, not so much. If you want it to look nice, there is a lot of work involved! It took me the better part of a day to get it sewn and attach all the rings and such. I haven't hung the shade yet, but here it is on our dining room table:



I'll post another picture once I get it hung properly...hopefully sometime before Christmas. Heh.

The last thing I worked on this weekend was my ATCs for Lain and Carlene's Get Smart Girls ATC Swap. I'm not exactly sure where the month of July got off to, but I was apparently in a heat induced coma when it passed me. I completely lost track of time, putzing around thinking I had all this time to get the cards done and then, hello, tomorrow is August 7th! The deadline for the cards to be to hostesses. Oy. With the kids on school-time bed schedule I had ALL sorts of time to fart around and work on my cards. It was bliss! Lynn played his new game on his new computer, we listened to my Pandora radio stations and I collaged away at my desk. Why hadn't we thought of this earlier? Kids to bed before nine? We're idiots. What can I say? Anyway, I think they turned out pretty cute. I'm going to make some postcards similar to these I do believe.


Click here for more pictures of the cards and envelopes.

parenthood...

I'm going to post some gratuitous, but very cute pictures of my boys (as a reminder to me that they are both very sweet, very smart, very loving little boys).





Our jobs as parents have taken a new turn lately. Caleb flipped the switch from a mildly belligerent two year old to an over the top, three foot tall terrorist and Logan has discovered now that he's five there are M I L E S and M I L E S of new boundaries to push. Why do children have to grow up at all? Sigh.

Caleb recently started hitting out of anger or frustration. Depending on where the infraction occurs he is admonished (or yelled at, po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe) and has his hand smacked or he stands in the corner. He falls to a heap on the floor SHRIEKING when he is told "no" or reprimanded for something (especially when we're out in public). The behavior doesn't change the situation for him, it just makes light bulbs shatter and flying birds drop dead out of the sky. Typically what this behavior does do is send my husband into a tizzy of his own - shooting laser beams out of his eyeballs while his face turns a deep red and talking (and I use that term loosely) through gritted teeth. Meanwhile, Logan uses these times to say something smart-mouthed and WAY of out place which sends one of us spinning on our heel to deal with that particular problem. (We've decided it's strategic: divide and conquer. It hasn't worked yet though!) Logan's favorite thing to say when asked to do a chore right now is, "I don't have to do that if I don't want to." Which of course sends me (or Lynn) into the "As Long As You Live Under My Roof" rebuttal. At least with Logan you can (sometimes) reason with him...make him understand what he did wrong and why he's being punished. At the same time though Logan is still a little boy and sometimes has a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of the cause and effect of bad behavior. I'll give you a for-instance (now that it doesn't make me burst into tears when I think about it).

Last Friday was a particularly foul day here at the Lyons' Den. I swear I spent more time putting people in corners, spanking bottoms and sending people to their rooms than I did breathing air (or anything else for that matter). At the end of the night Logan asked for a snack and I gave him permission to grab something out of the pantry. He chose a bag of crackers. Caleb decided he needed a snack too and proceeded to try to open the pantry. Logan stood in front of the door, blocking Caleb's entry. Caleb started shrieking and began hitting Logan. Logan started yelling and hitting back all the while slinging crackers all over my FRESHLY SWEPT kitchen floor. I yelled at them to stop (which I shouldn't have, I know. I am a loud person to begin with and the yelling, it's something I'm working on), told Logan to start cleaning up the crackers and I put Caleb on a chair at the kitchen table. Logan began cleaning up the crackers and then decided that no, he didn't want to clean up the crackers and he wasn't going to! (If he'd said, "and you can't make me," I'm sure I would have flipped out and pulled some bat-shit crazy Joan Crawford style tirade at that moment; I was that frazzled. Ten bonus points for Logan's guardian angel that night.) Logan ran upstairs crying and upset. Caleb was on the floor in his heap, acting the turd with the forced weeping and boo-hooing. I made Logan come back down and help me sweep up the mess. After he was finished he went back upstairs and began crying again. I ignored it for awhile and then finally went up to check on him. I asked him why he was crying and he told me he was sad. He said he missed his old parents. Old parents? I was a little taken-a-back. I asked him what he meant and with his bottom lip quivering and tears streaming down his face, he said, "I miss my old parents. The ones who weren't mean to me all the time." Uh, cue heart crumbling into a million little pieces. Cue gigantic tears flying out of my eyeballs. I couldn't breathe. In all my thirty-one years I don't think I've ever been more devastated than I was at that moment. After I got myself together (and quit wishing this had not happened on Lynn's poker night) I sat down, gave him a huge hug and started explaining things as best I could. When Lynn made it home I relayed the whole thing to him and he morphed into some well-versed, responsible child psychologist rattling off a list of things we should do the next time the boys do something wrong. (Who is this man and what have you done with my husband?) Since then things have mellowed out a bit; not so much fighting between the boys, not so much back-talk, not so much yelling. I'd like to avoid that kind of day if we can. At least for a while anyway. Sheesh!

love it...

My mom stumbled this to me...I knew I liked this band before, but now, I love them.

it's madness...

Wednesday was Lynn's sister's birthday. It completely snuck up on me. We made a mad dash run all over town looking for a handful of embroidery tools and supplies I thought she would enjoy. I could go into a whiney tirade about the fact that my local needle arts shop up and closed without notice but I won't; however, I will still pout about it. Anyway, Joann's was a bust; Michael's was a bust; Hancock's was a bust. But Hobby Lobby wasn't! Look what I found leaping off the shelf and into my cart:



I couldn't pass up buying all this stuff because everytime I come across any of these tools online they're always ridiculously priced on top of ridiculous shipping costs. I can't say it was cheap at Hobby Lobby, but it wasn't outrageous. Plus, I am more than excited that I have these new gadgets and my SIL seemed really excited about her gadgets too.

Get thee to your local Hobby Lobby and buy yourself some Clover goodness before someone wakes up and decides not to stock the line anymore!