Some Days are Just Like That...

Have you ever been stung by a wasp-bee-thing? I have. Twice, actually. In the same day.

We were on our way out for the evening. The kids and I were meeting daddy at Outback for dinner. I was sitting in the drivers seat - minding my own business, when I felt a prick. It hurt, but I just brushed my arm with the opposite hand and kept on driving. Then I felt a sting on my stomach. And that time, I said - OW. I started to rub my stomach when I looked down and saw a bee-wasp-thing.

I tried really hard not to freak out. I was driving, after all, with my kiddo's. (To Outback.)

I threw Jayden the bag of wipes and asked him to pull one out for me. I was kind of afraid it would try to make a run for it. It didn't, though. I was able to scoop it up, while sitting at a stop light.

Jayden said it was a wasp because its booty was pointing down. Which spurred on a whole conversation of its own.

Grace said, Yeah, Bee's have stingers in their booty's.

I said, Well, technically, it isn't the Bee's booty. Bees are different that humans.

Grace said, Yeah, people have booty's that are OOHHVVAALL shaped, TWO OOHHVVAALL shapes. Bees don't.

I took a picture of the bee-wasp-thing just in case I went into anaphylactic shock.

I didn't. And the welts were gone within an hour or so.

Lights Up My Life

Her name means 'Light'

Do you see it?

When I think of Light,

I think of a dark room.

I'm scared.

Seeing things that aren't there.

Then a Light comes on.

Things are clear.

No more fear.

When I think of Light,

I think of the hot sun.

I'm warm.

Seeing the dark spots that are left behind when I close eyes.

Then a Light appears,

Things are bright.

No more rain.

She gives all of that to me.

Lovely, Lovely Light.

Sometimes We Find...

...these really cool places here in Houston.

We'll just be driving around and happen upon a park, or a fountain, or a building.

In this case, we were heading to The Galleria, trying to find some good parking, and there it was.

It's called The Williams Waterwall

(or The Transco Tower, depending on who you are talking to)

The steep wall is shaped into a half circle and the water falls down both sides. When we were there, it was a (very) warm day, but inside the area of the water wall, it was cool and damp.

Very refreshing.

Then we turned around and saw this - it looks like the building in the background is coming out of the brick wall in the foreground.

and Grace and Norah took off and danced in the middle -- the waterfall was loud and you would have to shout to be heard.

Daddy got in on the action...

And the waterwall makes for a very good photo opp!

Halloween 2010

I left off in my last posting wondering what our kiddo's dressed up as for Halloween. Jayden made a very handsome Harry Potter. We recycled a few items from previous costumes Does that cape look suspiciously like a Darth Vader cape? I just trimmed up the hem and it made a very nice 'Cloak of Invisibility' .

Adam printed off a Griffendor patch off of the internet... They made a Wal-Greens run for the hair color and they used an old tie of Adam's (TIE DAY! that's the day I was missing in the previous post!!). And the glasses... those were old Groucho Marx glasses that I cut the nose and eyebrows off of... (Ouch! Maybe that's why they call him Groucho!)

When Grace told me she wanted to be a bat for Halloween, I thought, "hmmm. That's creative." But did you know, there aren't very many bat costumes out there? So, I once again, put my creative skills to work. I bought the black long sleeve shirt at Walmart last year. I made a run to Hobby Lobby for the black tulle and purple ribbon.

It got a little tricky with how to actually make the wings. I even stripped the fabric off of some old butterfly wings thinking I could recover those. But then it all came to me... I glued (yep, fabric glue!) the black tulle all along the seam inside the arm and along the bodice of the shirt. Then I covered it with the purple ribbon. I used some iron on letters I had for the word 'BAT' on her shirt... And there you have it. Everything else was stuff we had.

Norah decided she wanted to be a fairy. I bought her some new wings at Old Navy for $4 (they were butterfly wings, but she was happy with them!) And a white wand at the Dollar Tree (I think they ended up using glow sticks that i bought there, too). She wore the skirt we gave her as a birthday present last year. She outgrew her "Norah" shirt that we gave her last year, too. So I made her a new one. She loves those shirts. And the white shoes were ones Grace wore for April and Bela's wedding.

I love the pink fairy :)

These were the kids we Trick or Treated with around our neighborhood.

Check out Batman's face...

After Trick or Treating, we stopped by Papa Bart and Kathleen's house. They were still getting a lot of kids coming to their door. I caught this one of Norah, watching for the kids.

I loved the way Grace's hair turned out. She didn't like it at first, but Jayden kept telling her how cute it was (and he was being honest!) so she kept it. I told her the cuter she looks, the more candy she gets!

our final picture of the night... on our way home...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

National Blog Posting Month!

This is it...

My first time...

Ever.

I'm participating in the National Blog Posting Month - NaBloPoMo 2010.

So, this is it! I'm posting! Today! Everyday! For ONE month!!

(I'm hoping this makes up for so many posts I've wanted to write/create/share, but have been found totally lacking!)

It's hard to believe, but we just said good-bye to Halloween. Last week I went running all over town looking for items to complete costumes for my kids. To make matters a little more stressful, the school decided to have Red Ribbon Week at school. Each day they were asked to dress with something different. Monday was hat day, Tuesday was crazy sock day, Wednesday was favorite sports team jersey day, Thursday was... was... I seriously cannot remember. (sigh.) But I do remember Friday - Friday they had a Character Parade.

The Character Parade was a way to let the kids dress in costumes before Halloween. Each class was assigned a kind of book to read and then the kids chose a costume accordingly. Grace was to dress as a nonfiction insect - she was, of course, a butterfly. Jayden was assigned a fiction-fantasy book - he wanted to be Harry Potter.

I'm telling you all of this because I want you to understand two things. One, as of last Monday, I had no costumes. Two, by Sunday (yesterday), I had to come up with 4 different items of clothing and 2 costumes for each of my school children - so multiply that by 2, and you get 8 items of clothing and 4 costumes + 1 costume for the non-school-age child I have at home.

PLUS, there's always a PLUS, on Monday (today), Grace was asked to wear a 50's costume for the 50th day of school.

Yep - lots of dressing up.

By the end of it (today), Grace asked me what she has to wear tomorrow to school.

REGULAR CLOTHES!!

These aren't great pictures. The parade moved so fast...

I did, however, take some pretty cute pictures of the actual Halloween day, so you'll have to come back tomorrow to see those!

Wordless Wednesday