Hannah comes home! Yummy avocado dip.

Grandma and Grandpa finally returned our daughter last night. I think she finally started to miss us!! She was so excited to see us and we were happy to see her! Welcome home Hannah!

Yummy avocado dip:
2 avocados chopped up
1/3 cup chopped sweet onion
some lime juice (tsp or so)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 can of Rotel Tomatoes, drained
1/3 cup sour cream

Stir it up and eat it up. Yummy!

We have moved

We have moved to a new (to us) house and I moved the computer, but the phone line hasn't been switched yet, so I haven't been able to blog lately. We should have internet access by Monday. I know no one reads this anyway, so it's not like anyone really cares that I haven't posted an entry for a week.

See ya.

West Nile Virus and my big Headache, and the neighborhood Ashleys help me out

Is it West Nile Virus?

We have had this illness that keeps striking the family, and after some research it sounds like West Nile Virus, but I don't know for sure if it is. Dh, Ha, D, and Hy have all (not at the same time--its been spread out over a period of a few weeks) had terrible headaches and fevers. D and Ha both threw up. They were really suffering, but they all got better. Today I have a headache, yuck.

Painting the house

I went to finish up some painting in our new house yesterday. We are a one car family at the moment, so I had to walk. It was hot, but not too bad. I took a couple of the neighborhood Ashleys (one is 11, the other is 9--there is another one who is 11 but she is a bit of a snot and wouldn't be caught dead playing with my kids, LOL) with me so they could play with Hypatia and Wade. They all played hide and go seek in the empty house and kept my little ones entertained while I painted. We are going to start moving our big things over this weekend, I think. Then we will start (ok, finish, ha ha) fixing up this house and sell it, or maybe rent it.

My head hurts to badly to write much more. I always said this was a dumb blog anyway.

You think she misses me? Whole wheat spaghetti noodles

I called my dd finally. She's been 500 miles away, at her Grandparent's house. Conversation goes something like this:

me: Hi Honey! How are you doing?
dd: Fine!
me: Are you having fun?
dd: Yes!
me: Do you miss me?
dd: No.

She's having fun and not really thinking twice about us. I'm pretty sure that if she thought she would never see us again she would consider missing us. She loves her grandparents and her aunts, uncles and cousins. Dylan was ready to come home after two weeks, and maybe she will be too. Maybe.

Sean isn't fond of spaghetti, and last night I made spaghetti (strike 1). I used whole wheat noodles (strike 2). No meat (foul). I was able to make some garlic bread (base hit). I didn't score any points with dinner, but hey, I didn't strike out!

Speaking of softball, the house we bought is just a stones throw away from the city's ball park. That means that we won't have to worry about getting our kids to ball practice. They can just walk! Right now we only live about 1/2 mile away, but Arkansas doesn't believe in walking and has no side walks or crosswalks. There is a major street to cross. Its not really safe for them to walk alone, so we either walk with them or drive them. The season is over now, but next year will be easier!

Anyone want a 19 month old kid?

I was in the middle of writing a nice long post about how my computer crashed, then I got it running again, (but lost everything on the computer--you know, back to ground zero), and how we bought a new house and we are painting it vibrant, bold colors, and how my littlest one got into a container of cinnamon and now my kitchen floor is brown (he walked in with the empty container going "heaaagh, heaaaagh, heaaaagh"). I think he was telling me that the cinnamon tasted hot.

So anyway, here I am, typing away and in walks Wade, my 19 month old cinnamon spiller. He goes right up the computer and turns it off and gives me a look that says "I'll teach you to ignore me...that's right, I'm talking to you!

It was a nice, clever, well worded post. The best so far. I'll never write something that good again. Ok, maybe it wasn't that great.

Dylan is home and Hannah leaves. Summer and BLTs

Well, my inlaws came home and brought Dylan back. He was gone for two weeks and he had a blast. He played with his twin uncles on the computer until 1 am every night, then he played with his cousins, every day. He and P have a playful (sort of) rivalry. They engage in what I think of as joyful torture. Its torturous for the grandparents, but they (the kids) get such a kick out of it, they just won't stop. Dylan is 9 and P is 6. Well, now Dylan is back, and now he's torturing us. We love him so much, but 9 year old boys can sure be annoying! Already he and Sean, my DH are back into their alpha male competition, and since Sean really is the alpha male, Dylan usually ends up in tears. But they really do love eachother.

Hannah (7) is now gone with the inlaws. We had to reschedule her orthodontist to August 1 at 7:30 AM!!!. That's the only time they had available! Ack! She really wanted to go to Georgia, so I said that we'd make it. But its not going to be easy! We are early risers, but not really fast movers in the morning. I may have to set an alarm clock that morning, if I can find it. For a while, Wade made a game of throwing the little clock onto the tile floor to see if he could pop out the batteries. When I finally couldn't find one of the batteries, I hid the clock, and now I'm not sure where the clock or the batteries are.

Hannah is so excited, she's going to be with the grandparents for two weeks. She and her grandmother just get along so well. They just dote on eachother and they will enjoy their time together. Everybody loves Hannah. She has friends call every day asking her to spend the night.

Hypatia (5) was sad about being left behind and tried really hard to produce some tears. But really she knows deep down inside that she just really needed to stay with mama. Maybe next year she can go. She and Ha play a lot together and Hy will really miss her while she's gone.

A Good Old Fashioned BLT!

Summer and BLTS!! Yippee!! This morning we ate BLT sandwiches for breakfast. We only eat them once or twice a year, when the tomatoes are in season. This is the first year we have ever planted a garden and had fresh tomatoes right out of our front yard. Usually we have to buy them. We bought this incredible thick peppered bacon and oh yum. It's just incredible. You just can't improve on bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and toasted bread.

I could be a vegetarian if I put my mind to it. I really could. I can live without meat. I eat beans regularly, and I even like tofu, honest! But I would have to sneak in a BLT once in a while, I think.