Best fwends

Last week, Leah and her three little ones were here visiting J and I in HOT Kennewick. We had a blast! We saw a free movie, swam in the pool every day, and went to the park to play. My house is not terribly kid friendly, but I think we did all right.

One of my favorite things was having conversations with Connor, Jared, and Emily. They are funny kids! Here are a few highlights.

One evening my friend's son, Cody, who just graduated from Southridge called and asked if he could come use the scanner on my computer. They are making graduation / going away to college party invitations, and he wants to put a picture on them. I told him to come on over, but that it would have to be earlier rather than later because my friend's kids would be going to bed fairly early. He arrived just as we sat down for dinner. I let him in, told him to help himself to the computer, and went back to eat. The kids were very curious about Cody. So much so that Connor especially couldn't sit at the table. He kept getting up and running into the other room. When there, he apparently just stared at Cody. I could hear Cody asking him questions, but Connor wasn't responding. After one trip to the living room, when Connor got back to the table, he was really excited. This is what he had to say.

Connor: When I when I when I tell Cody my name, then we'll be best fwends!


The next evening, while Leah was bathing the boys at the same time, Emily was wandering around the house, just looking at stuff. I asked her what she typically did while her mom was giving her brothers a bath, and this is how she answered.

Emily: I usually play games with my daddy, but he's not here. Maybe I could play a game with you and Mr. J?

Of course I said sure. I told her to go pick one of the games her mom brought, and I would go get J so we could play. Imagine J's surprise when we sat down to a game of The Littlest Pet Shop. I couldn't stop giggling watching my enormous husband playing this little girl's game. When Emily beat him, I really couldn't stop giggling.



The day they arrived, Jared had a present for me. It was a painting he did in purple and green of a "Messy Monster." I asked about the monster, and Jared told me:

Jared: Messy Monster lives in the closet. That's why my closet is so messy!
Me: Great...now I have TWO Messy Monsters in my house. J is messy, too!

We put the picture on my fridge and then went about our day. Periodically throughout their visit, Jared would bring up Messy Monster and tell me about the messes he was making throughout my house. Luckily for us though, according to Jared "Messy Monster only comes out at night!"



For the duration of their visit, my cat Sid hid under the bed in my room during the day. Once the kids went down for the night he'd venture out cautiously and have some food and visit with the grownups. I had moved a litter box into the bathroom in our bedroom, so thankfully, he used that, but I didn't want to put food and water in there because I wanted to encourage the cats to leave the room. Sid was a scaredy cat and refused to come out from under the bed if my bedroom door was open. If it was closed, he'd come out and whine at J or I to pet him and cuddle him. If the door was open, though, he was under the bed. Zoe, on the other hand, was much braver. She would often come out of the bedroom to check out what was going on. If it got to be too much for her, she would retreat to the bedroom. She let all three kids pet her at various times, and even let Emily pick her up and carry her around the house for a few minutes. The boys she was more wary of, and usually stayed out of their way.

Connor was enamored with Zoe. He thought it was so cool that if you shake the treat can, she comes running. (Usually both cats come running for treats, but not even the treats could lure Sid out of my room!) Many times a day Connor asked if he could give Zoe treats. I usually said yes because the "treats" are not really treats. They are just a different kind of cat food that is low allergen like their regular food, but supposed to be good for getting rid of tartar on their teeth. I think we overdid it on their last full day here, though. While Leah was reading to Jared and Emily, Connor decided he wanted to hang out in the living room with J and I. Zoe was sitting near me, and she was in a good mood. When Connor came over to talk to me, Zoe was wrapping herself around his legs, and then she sat down right next to him. Connor crouched down (in that cute little kid squat so they can be up close and personal with whatever they're looking at) to pet her, but immediately stood right back up with his face scrunched up.

He looked at me and said: Zoe 'tinks!!

I bent down to see what he was talking about, and sure enough, Zoe did 'tink. She apparently had had too many treats that day and it made her a little gassy. Zoe 'tinked a lot that evening!


All the kids were really excited to get in the pool the first evening - until Connor was on the ladder, that is, looking down at the water. Then he decided it was not such a good idea. We could NOT convince him that his life jacket would hold him up, and that it was okay to get in. Not even seeing his brother and sister in the water moving around was enough to convince him. Finally J went to the garage and got one of our floating chairs. They are the coolest chairs ever, as they have foot rests and also a mesh bottom. That way, while you are floating around, your hiney gets wet, but the rest of you is floating on top of the water. He still didn't think that was a good idea, but we had Emily climb into the chair to show Connor she was on top of the water, and then he agreed.

The next day, when we went out to the pool, Connor was excited about swimming in his "boat" again. After he'd had some time to be in the water and to see his brother and sister swimming around, Leah thought she'd take him out of the boat and let him see that he was fine in the water. We figured he'd freak out for a few minutes, but after that would be fine. Boy, were we wrong! He flipped a gasket and continued screaming and thrashing around for at least ten minutes! Leah tried to distract him by putting his hands on the wall of the pool, then asking him to "crab walk" around the edge and catch her. She started moving away, and he started to climb over the edge of my four foot pool! I came up behind him, grabbed his hands, and started to move them along the wall so we could chase Leah. At that point, he alternated between giggling like a wild man and screaming like we were trying to kill him. We got about three-quarters of the way around the pool when we got to the ladder. I didn't pull him off the wall quite far enough, and he grabbed it and held on for dear life. We decided that he just wasn't going to do it, so we got his boat back for him. It took a little convincing that we weren't going to drop him in the middle of the pool before he let us help him back into the chair, but then he was fine until it was time to get out for the afternoon.

The next morning, we went to see a free movie (I LOVE that theaters do this during the summer!), then we came home and ate lunch. It was close to 1pm before we headed back out to the pool. I headed out there first while Leah was finishing up getting the kids ready so I could plug in the filter and start skimming the top (I love outdoor pools, but HATE the bugs and leaves!). Connor came out with me to watch and had this to say.

Connor: Kristina? I am NOT going to do that thing again today.
Me: What thing?
Connor: That thing where you guys are dragging me around. I am NOT doing that today.

I had a blast with Leah and her kids. There were so many other funny things that happened, but I can't steal them all for my blog...just in case Leah feels like mentioning any of them!

My good deed

The other day, I was in the car with my friend and her 7 year old niece. We were on our way to JoAnn's fabrics to look for more flannel for a blanket they were in the process of creating. It wasn't an overly hot day, but probably in the low 90's. Hot enough that we were using the air conditioning and thankful for it.


We were almost at JoAnn's - about five blocks away - when we saw him. There was an elderly man walking along the sidewalk. Well, he wasn't really walking, he was shuffling. I didn't get a good look at him because I was talking (shocking, I know...me? talking?), but my friend was really concerned about him. She kept looking in her rear view mirror. She finally said that he looked like he was in a lot of physical distress and that she didn't think he was going to make it. I told her to turn around, then, and we should go back.


Normally, this wouldn't have been a difficult decision. But we had her young niece with us. Again, not typically a difficult decision, even with the little girl with us, except my friend's brother just died of a sudden heart attack last month, and his daughter was home when it happened. The same little girl we had with us. We couldn't keep going, though, and not even see if he was okay, so we turned around.

When we pulled up next to him, he was not very coherent and didn't seem like he wanted to talk to us. He was on a mission - a SLOW and laborious mission - and it didn't seem like he could stop to talk. My friend offered him a ride, and after a minute of thought, he accepted. I got out of the front seat, helped him in, and then climbed in the back with Niece. The gentleman's name was Wally, and he was not doing well at all. My friend asked where we could take him, but he couldn't tell us where he was going or where he lived. He asked us to take him "around the corner" and then he'd continue on his way. We took him to the Pizza Hut, and he promised he'd go in and rest up before continuing on his way.

We just didn't feel right leaving him there, so I walked him in. I got him a glass of ice water from the manager, and got a phone book. While my friend was parking her car, I called the non-emergency police line, and let them know we were concerned. The dispatcher kept asking if we wanted an ambulance, but I didn't for several reasons. First, I thought Wally was doing okay. Now that we had him sitting down and resting, I thought he'd be okay. Second, I didn't think he'd stick around long enough for them to come. And third, Niece was scared enough by what was going on, and she shared that "the last time I called 911, Daddy died." Crap. We couldn't blow this out of proportion, and Niece HAD to see that people can be helped by calling 911.

Wally was a bit impatient, though, and while I was on the phone with Kara the Dispatch Lady, he got up and walked / shuffled back outside. I followed him and saw that my friend had convinced him to sit down in her car again, and let her give him a ride. I was still on the line with the police, and Kara asked if she could talk to Wally. I handed the phone over, and she proceeded to stall him until a police officer showed up.

By the time the officer got there (no lights or sirens, thank goodness), Wally was much improved. He had some color back in his cheeks, his eyes were more focused, and he was far more coherent.

I was so relieved that nothing worse happened. It appears that our friend Wally has a bit of dementia, as he couldn't remember his phone number. Well, he remembered a phone number, but it's been disconnected. His driver's license didn't have a current address, either. We thanked the officer and bade goodbye to Wally, and then continued on our way.

We talked to Niece, and asked her if she had any questions. We told her she'd been amazing, and congratulated her on her bravery. It was our good deed for the day.

1983 - The Missing Year

Awhile back I did a post all about Hallmark Christmas ornaments. I shared that while I love all ornaments, I particularly love Hallmark ornaments. It's tradition in my house. Every year since I was born, I've received at least one Hallmark ornament and some years as many as four or five.

In that same post, I shared that I had spent a day organizing and cataloging all of my ornaments. During that day of organizing, I realized that I was missing my ornament from 1983. I wasn't too worried, because I knew it would be at my mom's house buried with all her Christmas stuff. I just planned to go through her ornaments next time I visited.

When I was working out with my friend L, I happened to mention that it was the only year I was missing from my entire time on this planet. We had talked about my ornaments before, and she mentioned that she had purchased Hallmark ornaments in the past for her kids, so I brought my Collector's Guide over for her to look through. After that day, though, we didn't talk about it anymore.

Fast forward to my birthday. J and I were meeting friends to dinner out (L and her husband, and my friend LS and her husband). J was meeting us after work. Since L and her husband just live up the street from us, she picked me up so that J and I would only have one car at the restaurant.

In the car on the way there, L handed me a present. When I opened it, it was all I could do to not cry. You see, after our conversation about ornaments, L got online and found me not one, but two 1983 Hallmark ornaments.

Amazing.

The first one she picked out for me didn't arrive in a box. She knew from our conversation that the boxes are an important part of the collection, so she got back online and ordered a second one. For the first one, she used her fancy embroidery machine to make an envelope for me to store it in. (I was too lazy to go find my camera to take a picture of this one, and since it is clear, it just didn't scan well. So I got online and stole a picture from "Hooked on Ornaments" - ignore the red writing going through the ornament.)



This is the envelope she made for me. It's homemade lace. How cool is that? (I put a piece of paper in it so that it would scan better.)




This is the front of the other ornament.




This is the back of the other ornament.




So, now, even if I don't find my original ornaments from 1983, my collection is complete. Thanks, L!

Dinosaurs Alive!

Remember my friend, Wall-E?? The cutie-patootie J and I went camping with last summer? Here are my two favorite recent pictures of him to refresh your memory.

Well, in approximately one month from today, J and I will be traveling to Yakima with Wall-E and his parents to go see Dinosaurs Alive at the SunDome! We are pretty excited about it. Several weeks ago I saw a commercial for it on television and thought it would be something Wall-E would get a big kick out of, but then promptly forgot about it. I meant to tell his mom, but didn't.

About a week after I saw the first commercial, Wall-E's mom called me and asked if J and I wanted to join them. She apparently saw the same commercial I saw, and immediately looked it up. We accepted the invite, we bought the tickets, and now we are committed!

It looks really cool. We aren't sure if Wall-E will really like it in person because he is only three after all (he'll be four a little less than a week after the show), and the dinosaurs are enormous. I'm guessing they are loud, too, but it is billed as a family show. And Wall-E is obsessed with dinosaurs. He has been for as long as I can remember.

For Christmas last year he got Kota the Triceratops. Here's the commercial. This toy is pretty unreal. And he loves it.




His third birthday party was a dinosaur theme. I helped his mom and grandma paint some pictures of dinosaurs that were used as decorations. Plus, his mom made a bunch of artifacts from homemade play-doh that got buried in the sand box. She also made a volcano, and I got a bubble machine so it erupted bubbles rather than lava. (Lava is kind of dangerous, and this was a kids' party...safety first!)

It was so much fun! Here are some pictures from preparations and the party. J and I went, and had a blast being photographers. Moms and dads always want to get pictures, but they are always busy with the kids and their guests, so they don't always get pics. J and I volunteered to shoot photos because, other than Wall-E, we don't know many three year olds. We figured we would just be making small talk with parents, and though we're sure they're nice, we thought it would be more fun to take pictures.

Wall-E's mom used her overhead projector at school to project dinosaurs on the wall, then traced them on butcher paper. We hung them up at Wall-E's grandma's house and painted them. Then we cut them out and hung them on the wall at Wall-E's house for the party.

Here I am...artist wannabe.

Wall-E's grandma. She's fixing the stuff Wall-E's mom and I messed up. We suck at painting apparently.

The finished products on the wall at the party!

Wall-E in the blue hoodie, and his mom, in the denim jacket, in the sandbox with other party guests hunting for dinosaur goodies.

Wall-E loves the movie The Land Before Time, and doesn't go anywhere without his "Sharptooth" and "Cera" plastic dinosaurs. I was at JoAnn's fabric store recently and I was looking for Star Wars fabric (Wall-E's newest obsession). I came up empty handed on the Star Wars front, but found a great fleece panel with dinosaurs on it. I thought Wall-E would like that, so I got it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, though, at first.

Then, I was inspired.

I made him a blanket! This was the easiest blanket I ever made (even easier than rag quilts!) because I just sewed a solid color fleece to the back and trimmed the edges. Wall-E's older sister was going to come to my house to borrow some crafting supplies for a science project she's working on, and I requested that Wall-E come with her to pick the stuff up. I originally intended for the blanket to be a birthday present or a gift on the morning we go see Dinosaurs Alive, but just couldn't wait.

When he got to the house, Wall-E ran through the rooms, just checking to make sure everything was okay. Once he got that chore out of the way, I invited him to the living room to see the present I had for him. I unfolded it and held it up, and his exact words were, "Oh, 'Stina!! It's beautiful!!"

I'm not so sure I would go so far as to say it's beautiful, but I'm glad to know it was a hit! (Excuse J's forehead...I tried to crop it out, but was unsuccessful...) If everyone I knew was that easy to please, I'd make a heck of a lot more stuff!

When Wall-E delightedly told me the blanket was beautiful, I just about died from the sweetness! Then, when I got a hug and a kiss, that pretty much pushed me over the edge.

I thought I loved the kid before, but now? Now I'm positive.

I'll let you know how Dinosaurs Alive goes. Oh, and if anyone knows of any cool Star Wars toys that are appropriate for a four year old, let me know, okay? Because now that I gave him the blanket, I need to figure out something else for his birthday!