Wordless Wednesday

Follow Your Inner Beat

Ethan's favorite thing to do is sing and make noise.

March-ing and Musing on Monday

Happy Monday to you! Finally! A Monday musings post. Of course, it's the last one for March, but still... I made it back.

I'm sorry I've been so slow at filling in the blanks from the last month or so. I've been doing a lot of musing on other subjects and sites. More on that later.

So here we are in Easter week. Nearly April. Finally Spring! Today was the kids' first full day of their Easter break. It was a very rainy day so they weren't able to enjoy the outdoors, but they seemed to enjoy the time off, nonetheless.

And it's...[drumroll, please]...24 night! Woooooo-hoooooo! It's been a good season so far. We reached the halfway point two weeks ago and the action started afresh, promising to keep us biting our nails and gripping our seats for the rest of the season. The last season. They finally announced the end of our beloved show. It was not something we didn't expect...but it still was hard to hear. It's far better to leave the show on a high note than to run it into the ground just for the sake of a handful of fans. And there's talk of a movie! Jack Bauer on the BIG screen? Woooooooooooo-hooooooooooooooooo!

So Ethan is 18 months now (since the 14th), and we've dubbed him the "toddler-guy," though I have to say that "destructo-boy" might fit better. He's very into knocking stuff over (including his big brother) and throwing things. Very much all-boy. He's gotten the hand (or foot?) at dribbling a soccerball. In fact, he was kicking a ball during practice the other night, and Edward's coach said it was time to sign him up for the team.

* * *

Last night, we held a "family court" in our living room. It seems that big sister (a.k.a. Emily) started her own business making "charm necklaces" and friendship bracelets. And it seems younger brother (a.k.a. Edward) decided to buy said-products for a high sum for which he had to take out a loan for 25 cents with his sister, the saleswoman.

So in order to keep them focused at bathtime, we've been having a "beat the clock" kind of contest for which they earn a quarter each if they win. Edward "beat" the timer and promptly handed over his winnings to his sister to pay off his loan (which she was going to charge 2 cents more a day until he paid it off). Highway robbery, right?

Anyway -- if you're still following -- the necklace was 25 cents and the bracelet was 10 cents. We felt that since Edward purchased the two items sight-unseen from Emily's "online catalogue," and they turned out to be somewhat cheaply-made and less than he expected, the two items together should equal 10 cents.

Emily presented her evidence of Edward's "file" which included a signed contract and his receipt, etc. But we pointed out that he didn't have the ability to make sound decisions based on the fact that he's only 9. But as Stuart said, "Caveat emptor next time, Edward." Meaning "buyer beware," and we won't bail him out again.

A few seconds later, Emily showed us her goods list and on it was a "woven blanket" for $2. Edward mentioned how much he wanted one of those since they sounded so nice. And we pointed out (again) that maybe he should be careful to see the product first since that is a lot of money to him.

"Yes!" Emily said. "Remember 'e pluribus unum,' Edward!"

Er, um. Yes, I guess. Caveat emptor.

*wink-grin*

* * *

And on that, I will bid you goodnight and good Monday!

Two Girls + a Little Black Dress + a Shamrock Shake =...

...a fun "Mommy-Daughter" afternoon together.

The R-City Public Museum hosted "The Magic of Hollywood," a fantastic display of 100s of dresses collected by local TV personality and fashion designer, Gene London.

With at least a dozen costumes from Gone with the Wind alone, it was a fabulous display to see. So many beautiful dresses worn by beloved actresses of old, with a few modern ones thrown in for good measure.

Since fashion designing is in Emily's heart at the moment, we knew this was a display she had to see. So we finally got a chance to go and peruse the dazzling collection before it leaves our area next weekend.

Some of the dresses we decided were too plain or just not our taste. But others were simple and sweet or just plain glamorous.

Emily's favorite was one worn by Audrey Hepburn in her movie Funny Face.

A Victorious Day All-Around

Lots of happenings today.

We went to the borough's annual egghunt -- Ethan's first time participating -- and then to another victorious game for Edward's soccer team.

Ethan wasn't really sure what to do with the eggs, but with a little help from Daddy, he got the hang of it quickly.







Daddy even gave Edward a bit of coaching. *wink-grin*

Kicking into Spring

First day of Spring...and Edward's first Spring soccer game.

Stretching before the game

Ethan watches from up on high

His team won 3 to 2! Woo-hooooo!!

We followed our victorious game by helping out at our 4-H club's booth at the Pet Expo.



A beautiful -- and fun -- start to a new season of life...and soccer!

A Beautiful Reminder

Taking a break from Friday Funnies to bring you the following:

We were literally moved to tears by this ad. So beautiful, just like the description says!

Embrace life!

Piggy Noises

Sweet "piggy" noises! (Make sure your volume is turned up.)

St. Patrick's Day

Since Daddy is away this week, we decided to take an impromptu daytrip to Barnes & Noble and the feedstore. (Exciting, I know.)

And, as Daddy has been sending us some very cool photos of his trip through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Wyoming, we thought we'd share the photos we've been sending to him of some of our own local "flavor."








(This one obviously doesn't apply to anyone near and dear to Stuart or myself -- we just thought it was silly. Personally, I'd take my in-laws visiting over "outlaws" any day! (Hint...Hint? *wink-grin*))

What Comes Next, Mommy?

Babies, Babies, and More Babies

Our "baby" Ethan turned 18 months old yesterday...


And Edward's birthday guinea pig, Molly, surprised us with three little babies.


And when I went downstairs to feed the rabbits this morning, I discovered that Audrey had a surprise of her own last night...two more babies!



Yikes!

Seems like a nursery around here!!

Happy Half-Birthday Happenings

Happy Half-Birthday, Ethan Samuel!!

18 months today!

It's hard to imagine our little baby has transformed into a "toddler-guy." Even harder to imagine he's a half-year older. He's changing so quickly.









However, today started on an interesting note...

We arrived home last night to discover...we had NO power. (We've been having torrential rainstorms since Friday and had lost electricity on and off earlier in the day on Saturday so we weren't completely surprised.) The house was pitch black and eerily quiet. With nothing else that we could do in the dark, we decided to go to bed. The clocks were springing forward an hour for Daylight Savings Time...or whatever they've renamed it.

Before I went to bed, I called the power company to report the outage (since all of our neighbors around us seemed to have power), and they told me it would be noon (today) before they could get to us.

Ugh.

So we headed to bed, hoping against hope that we might have electricity in the morning.

We got up this morning to a cold house and still no power.

Ugh again.

We quickly got ready for church and played briefly with our new 18-month-old.

And then we heard Edward yell that "they" were here. The baby guinea pigs had arrived! About a half-hour later, the power company arrived and got our electricity back on.


Yay!!

What a special time to come! In a power outage, after the clocks "sprang forward," and on Ethan's half-birthday!

March Madness -- Liberty-style

It was definitely a night to remember...

Our nephew, Erik, plays basketball. At 6'6" and only 16 years old, it's the perfect sport for him.

He's in 10th grade, but he was chosen to be on the Varsity team this year -- which is quite an honor! This year's team made it into the state playoffs...so we all decided to cheer them on at some of the local games.

It was quite an exciting time, let me tell you. I kept saying that I felt my blood pressure rising...and I think that was true. Wowzers!

They won by 2 points!!

We can't wait to see more action!

Friday Fun

Some more Friday fun for you on this fun Friday afternoon! Another of Ethan's favorite TMBG videos. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday