True Love

People do crazy things for the ones they love.

Some fly across the world just to be together, others climb trees and toss stones at windows to get attention. And yet there are some who climb high towers, while others slay fierce dragons.

And there are husbands who, for the love of their wife (and to get her constant nagging finished with), will climb to crazy heights on wobbly scaffolding and ladders to tame the beast that is our 4 ft tall, 50 lbs foyer chandelier.

The chandelier was a steal. For the size that we needed, our chandelier budget had to be in the $1000 range. YIKES! Somewhat fortunately, we found a great chandelier for 65% off . . . bringing us to $350! I say it was somewhat fortunate only because when you pay "so little" for a chandelier it makes it SO hard to pay an electrician $450 to hang it.

We debated about whether to walk across the construction site and "borrow" scaffolding from the builder. We thought about waiting until it was being used on the house beside us. (You know, so we could be a little less conspicuous than lugging 15 ft of scaffolding a half mile through the mud. Then we heard you could rent it at the big Orange Store for only $50 . . . and at least have all the parts. (Ha!)

We had to wait for a day when Brad had a lot of time, and for when we could recruit some unsuspecting volunteer. Finally the day had come. Scaffolding had been rented and picked up and before we knew it, we were struggling to lift the heavy pieces and build the massive structure.

It only took about two pieces before we started second guessing our intellect. What the heck were we thinking?? Once the structure was put together, a simple wobble test proved that this was NOT going to work. At all. Apparently, someone forgot to send us home with a few more braces. Back to the store Brad went to get the needed pieces. And still, the sheer height, the crazy swaying of the scaffolding, and the looming idea of holding the chandelier at that height had us spooked. Kind of like how you stand in line for a really big rollercoaster, only to really regret ever having gotten in line once you are next to sit in the car.

A nieghbour came by to help give us some confidence and the loan of a ladder and then we rigged a huge 20 ft ladder to lean against the scaffolding. This was no small feat since it weighed a TON and we had to keep it steady in the air soas not to bash a hole in the ceiling or upper wall.

Personally, one look at the bowed out, shaky ladder and I was positive the scaffolding was the piece to be on. However, since I wasn't the one standing up there doing the work, I thought it best for Brad to be on whatever he felt most comfortable on.

It worked pretty well, though I must admit I was sweating buckets for Brad the whole time. I did my best to make everything go as fast as possible, figuring that the faster we got him down, the less chance he had of falling.

This meant doing a measurement of the chain length on the ground rather than in the air. (We weren't about to stand there for an hour or so adusting the length and then making decisions. After scouring the internet for ideas of how long to make the chain (naturally there were many different rules to follow and being a two story foyer added some minor complications to the "golden chandelier hanging" rule), I did my best to have everything measured and ready.

After hanging four other hanging light fixtures, you would think that I would have it down pat. The chandeliers in the girls' rooms are too long. The dining room chandelier is a bit long, so I over compensated in the breakfast nook and that one is about 4 inches too short.

Three rules guided my foyer measurements: 1) it must be at least 7.5' off the ground, 2) it should start 5' from the ceiling, and 3) in a two story foyer it should not pass the second floor. Rule #3 guided my decision the most . . . but I forgot to take into account the 1 ft of space between the first floor ceiling and the second floor. But really, will any of you come over to my house and notice that we are off by 6 inches?? If so, please keep it to yourself! Unless of course YOU are willing to go up there to fix it.

I knew it wasn't going to be perfect (we are hardly professionals) and it doesn't bother me too much except when I think of rule #4: The chandelier should be centered in the windows to be seen from outside. While it looks fine in the big window, the little one in the foyer could have had it about 6-9 inches lower to see it from the street. Instead, you can only see it when you are really close to the house . . . but who, other than me, would be THAT picky?

A big thank you has to go out to my brother-in-law, Drew, for helping us take the scaffolding down. It was hard enough getting it all up, but taking it down without a ladder and trying not to wreck the walls or the new, fragile chandelier was a little tricky.

As far as the chandelier goes, I must admit, I probably wouldn't have picked this chandelier out myself . . . these were the choices I was looking at:

But, when we were in the store and we stumbled across it and saw the price tag . . . I was very interested. (Funny thing: since the price was so good I figured it would almost be "disposable" if we really didn't like it in a few years. Ha. HA. HA!!) I did like the way it looked, somewhat, and when we went home I "tried it out" by photoshopping it into our foyer. I still feel that it really does suit the foyer. In fact, I think it looks even nicer in person than my preliminary photoshop effort.

There is something light and airy; contemporary, but not too modern; something just effortlessly elegant about it. And I LOVE how it doesn't take away from the other features in the foyer, but just adds a little finishing to it. (It makes us feel like we are in a house instead of a builder's box . . . which is important these days since our exterior is a little depressing.)

Now the bigger problem is that I'm afraid the rest of our lighting doesn't go and will need to be changed out . . .Uh oh! I think maybe we'll keep what we have but just fix the breakfast nook light.

Alfredo Tomato

My cousin and his friends have put together a cute pre-schooler DVD, Alfredo Tomato. It's along the lines of Blue's Clues and the like.

Check it out:

http://www.alfredotomato.com/

It's only $10 (a steal by today's DVD prices) so buy one to add to your child(ren)'s collection!

Costco Photofinishing and Ikea Framing:

This Photographer's nightmare.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I loathe Costco's photofinishing. I know that I am picky, but really, it is just horrible.

I have never had good experiences with it in the past: colours were always off, in a really repulsive way; perfectly proportioned portraits would be slanted and re-sized in some ridiculous manner. But they are cheap, and since I was eager to get some family photos up on our wall and didn't know exactly which ones would fit the space, I used Costco.

The photos were tinted a light sepia, kind of cappuccino . . . on my screen. However, when I got them back they had turned them some ugly shade of bluey-green! (How can that be when any other developer I have used has them come out that soft brown?)

But at least they were cheap, and quick.

The Ikea frames . . . that's an even bigger nightmare.

My wall is about 18 feet high. I thought it would be interesting to make a huge portrait wall of it and put in large family photos up it. (Meaning the smallest frame would be 11x14.)

I wanted it out of gallery frames, and since my budget couldn't afford the Pottery Barn versions, or even the full wall of cheaper frames, I went with Ikea. Yes, they are cheap, but they don't look that bad on the wall . . . and I know that I will always be able to find the same style in a year or so when I need to add more portraits to the wall.

You know the saying, "You get what you pay for?" I certainly did. Headaches. Major headaches. Ikea's larger frames are in such absurd sizes that no printer carries them. I have to custom but them and naturally they will only fit on larger sized sheets, costing 3 times what I would have paid if the photo could have been a mere 1/2 inch smaller. So in the end, I am having to pay more out of pocket anyway for the prints or for custom matting (because they couldn't even make the "16x20" frame a true "16x20" . . . it is in reality a 15 3/4" x 19 3/4".

How I loathe Ikea frames and Costco developing. I am sending my order to a real developer as soon as I post this. I take some solace in the fact that I didn't use a good developer in the first place since the sizes were so far off.

Wherefore Art Thou, School Time?

The back-to-school sales have been on for a month, school supplies are becoming scarce.

The house has been in shambles for months now, with all the packing, unpacking; coming and going; and three little tornadoes ripping through every five minutes.

Yes, the lack of organization is appalling. And so is the fact that last year's school work is still sitting on the kitchen counter top. (Good thing we have so much counter space!)

The house, although it is looking much better and more lived in, still needs a lot of TLC . . . which it is obviously not getting from the builder. (We have a weed jungle on our front lawn, interspersed with decorative brick and stone shards, courtesy of the masons working next door, and a lovely modern take on plastic orange fencing . . . rolled in a loose ball instead of in a straight line around our property.)

My mental health is at the breaking point with four little children cooped up inside because we have no yard for them to play in, and one child requires several naps a day.

And even though I remind myself of the morning rush, the hectic days and nights of school, and the homework whining, I still can't help but yearn a little for those days to return. Mostly because of the relief. At least two days a week I will be at home with just the girls and hopefully, just hopefully, I'll be able to clean again. And maybe it might even stay clean. For a few hours (let's be realistic!).

And the grocery shopping . . . ahhh, how wonderful would it be to go grocery shopping myself again . . . with only two tag-a-longs, instead of four?

At the same time, it makes me a little sad. That I wasn't able to accomplish all I set out to do this summer. And that I will have less time with my kids. Finding moments for quiet, one-on-one conversations will be harder. And then the morning stress is definitely not going to be embraced . . . especially when construction will be just starting beside us . . . blocking our way to the bus stop.

Oh School Time, until we meet in the crispness of fall, I shall try to savour my (lazy) summer days as much as possible. For while you bring such structure, and relief at times, my love affair with you will most likely be fickle.

Summer Trip '09

As plans are getting underway for our end of the summer trip of 2010, I thought maybe I should get around to posting about our trip from last summer.

It is a long, dry post, mostly put in for my benefit when I finally get around to doing the 2009 yearbook (yikes, am I really this far behind on that too??). I had to go through archives to find pictures and only found a few boring ones . . . not sure what happened to the rest . . . but I did find photos of a lot of other fun things we did but I didn't blog about. Yea for me, more blogging about last year.

I used to be so good at this thing. And baby books. I have yet to put any photos in Avery's book. Or even scratch marks of a pen in Liv's. YIKES!

Summer Evaluation

Now that back-to-school stuff has been on sale for a month (seriously?? PLEASE! I haven't even put my kids' school work from last year away yet.), the end of summer is racing towards me.

I've done a bit of reflecting on all my big projects for the summer that I thought I would get to.

-teach Jackson how to read (or at least know all his sounds and read a few words)
-have Jayden read chapters in books and write responses
-do science experiments with the kids
-soccer at the park
-swim at the local amusement park and at Sarah's
-organize the kids' cupboard
-organize closets
-organize the secretary desk
-make 6 weeks of meal plans and grocery lists
-practice cooking with the kids
-go on picnics
-paint the foyer wall
-attend play dates
-take photos

Although the big items on the list (like teaching Jackson to read, organizing closets, and meal plans) flew quickly out the window, I am happy that at least a few items could get crossed off. And there are still two and a half weeks left to do the rest.

I did take some photos, although I'd like to take more.

We did order a pizza in town and ate it at a park. (Does that count as a picnic?)

And it was just too hot this summer for soccer at the park, but we did clock in quite a bit of swim time.

Play dates just didn't work out. Neither did the science experiments (unless you consider trapping fruit flies a science experiment).

Even painting the foyer wall didn't pan out . . . but I think I made up for it by painting the boys' bathroom and the laundry room. (I guess a photo is needed.)

We'll see how much I can get done in the next few weeks. If back-to-school shopping and organizing doesn't interfere too much!

Black or White

With the new house there have been a lot of decisions regarding decorating. And with that has brought much thought and (sometimes) discussion.

Avery, although she is so young, has not been afraid to share her thoughts . . . and even becomes adament that we follow her advice.

Take, for instance, when I painted her room.

"What colour do you want?"

"PINK."

"How about green?"

"No. PINK."

When the paint went on the walls and began looking more green than pink, someone was in serious trouble.

A similar situation occured when I was painting her bathroom, although instead of forcing her to accept the mauve that I wanted, I did actually give in and let her choose pink.

Today, I was changing out the dresser knobs on her Wal-Mart dresser. I had looked high and low for a good quality pink crystal drawer pull, but hadn't found any. Instead, I decided that her white dresser could stand some black knobs.

"What are you doing, mom?"

"I'm changing out the knobs on your dresser."

"Why are you putting black ones on?"

"To make it look nicer."

"Mo-om, I don't like black."

"No? What colour do you like?"

"Pink. Or white."

"Honey, I tried to find pink knobs but I couldn't. I thought these ones would match your chandelier. See, it's black."

Avery looked up at the chandelier and paused for a moment.

"But the light is WHITE. Put the white knobs back on."

"I think the black ones are nicer."

"But I don't like black."

I even tried to get her to stand at the entrance of the room to see how the black knobs tied the chandelier and black mirror in with the rest of the room, but it didn't win her over.

"The dresser is white. Put the white ones back on."

I guess we'll be on the hunt for some pink knobs . . . if anyone knows of any good ones. :)

Flesh Eating Disease

It has been a long, hard fight, but Liv has been slowly losing her fight to the flesh eating disease.

This flesh eating disease is a little different than the text book version though. Instead of the flesh getting eaten by bacteria, the flesh is consuming her little body. :)

First to go was her chin. Next were her knuckles. Then her wrists and ankels followed suit.

It wasn't long before her hands and feet disappeared, followed by her knees. Now that we haven't seen her elbows for a few weeks, we've really begun to love the rolls brought on by the uncontrolled appetite of her flesh.

And sadly, now that she has started rolling her body, we will be seeing less of her chunky rolls and getting reacquainted with her sweet little body parts.

English

Used to be my best subject.

I was writing books when I was five. (Albeit, they were short and the printing was a little sloppy, but they were books . . . books that I even forced the librarian to put a pocket on so other kids could sign it out.)

I started up a school newspaper when I was nine. I had a magazine that I circulated to help other "young writers" get published when I was 11. A few years later, I wrote "novels" (well, 53 pagers).

As yearbook editor, you could say that I had a great command of the English language. And all my speaking and poetry awards would support that claim.

In fact, I did well in all languages: English, French or even Russian. I had little trouble expressing myself in written or spoken word. (At least to the level at which I had been taught.)

Which is why I have been so perplexed lately. (Lately being the last four years.)

In my mind, I speak perfect English.

"Don't climb my counters!"

"No eating on the couch. Eat only at the table."

"Clean your room."

"Pee INto the toilet, NOT on the floor."

Jayden and Avery seem to understand me well enough but Jackson, well, it's as though I was speaking Martian to him. He just looks at me (well, if I am lucky) and then before I can even finish repeating myself, he will have climbed back on the counters or snuck another spoonful of ice cream that he was not-s0-cleverly hiding beneath couch cushions.

I cannot even begin to express the great frustration that I have had these last four years. Or the horrible glimpses into the future of an unchecked child who has grown up doing whatever the heck he wants, whenever because no positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or wooden spoon threats have proved to work in teaching him how to behave properly.

At my wits end (surely the long summer, mostly couped up inside our house since we have construction all around and not even a hope of grass this year contributed to the stress), I began to think of other ways for him to learn. From other people. Obviously, I was the wrong parent for him.

Private school? Maybe boarding school somewhere. A change or a different person out there could maybe inspire him. And though it made me sad to think that it would have to come to that in order for me to give him a good chance at being successful in life, I really believed it would be our only chance.

As Brad and I pulled lint from our pockets, the reality of funding such an idea became a faint dream and we realized we had to pull our sleeves up and figure something else out.

We thought about being super positive. But it's SO hard to be super positive with your child when they absolutely refuse to eat anything but bacon at a meal. Or when they go behind your back, find the iPad that you have hidden, and begin playing it against your will. Or, after he refused to clean his room and you decide to "switch chores," his room for the kitchen of dishes and you still have to do all the dishes yourself.

This afternoon, I had had it. Brad took over dinner duty and I ran to the store for a few more things. He bribed Jackson with Kernels Popcorn to help him cook and set the table. Afterwards, we all praised him about how amazing dinner was, how the juice was the best we'd ever tasted, etc, etc. And he even ate his whole dinner.

Later on at bedtime, we heard screaming from upstairs. Apparently, Jackson had asked Jayden to read to him from his Bakugan book and Jayden refused, so Jackson bit his head. Some scolding from downstairs and lots of whining and crying from upstairs (okay, maybe there was a lot of both), left Jackson in tears on his bed.

I went in and calmly told him how unacceptable it was to bit, hit, or bully someone into doing something that you wanted them to. I reminded him of how good he really is and how much he is loved and then I read him a Bakugan biography and then we talked about all the good things he did that day.

As we spent a few extra minutes cuddling, Jackson turned to me, tears in his eyes, and said, "Today was a really good day."

"Yes, it was. You were a really good helper," I agreed.

"It was the best. And tomorrow is going to be even better."

Let's hope so. Hopefully we have found Jackson's rosetta stone and things will go (mostly) up from here.

Otherwise, I'll be in the market for an English to Martian dictionary . . . if anyone out there has one. :)

5 Months

It's hard to believe that five months have passed since I came into this world!

I've really been busy this month. Teething set in really bad for me (ouch!) and I've wanted nothing but to nurse all day and night. Even dad's feeble attempts at giving me carrots haven't worked.

Once the teething died down a bit, I gave mom a nice 10 hour break one night. She seemed REALLY grateful.

My days have been spent going here and there; to the States on trips and errands, to the amusement park and water park, and of course on walks with the family. I have warmed up to Avery quite a bit. She's pretty funny and almost always produces a smile on my face . . . until she tries to choke me with a hug or something . . . then I get really worried.

Mom brought out some fun toys for me, like my self-contained Jump-a-Roo and a cool Leap Pad table. (I can't really play with it, but I like the lights.) I still enjoy my fish swing . . . as long as Avery is far enough away that she can't swing me roughly in it.

I'm getting used to celebrity status. Everywhere I go, everyone absolutely loves me. They think I'm the most adorable little thing. Can you blame them? I truly am all that . . . and more! My sweet personality and huge smiles are just the icing on this jelly-roll!

So far I am not moving around a whole lot. I think mom fed me too much donut flavoured milk. But, I've been trying to roll over, and kind of had it working the other day. I'm not too concerned though. I've discovered that a huge smile and some frantic arm waving will get me up in the air in no time and with my "chauffer" I can go anywhere I please . . . while safely staying out of harm's way. Dad says I remind him of some character named "Oscar the Grouch", whoever that is.

All in all, I'm really enjoying my time here with my family. I just can't wait to get moving on my own . . . and trying some of that food stuff that they all eat.

Jayden

Jayden has really developed his little social circle this year.

The big move from one school to the other mid-session didn't seem to phase him too much. He quickly made lots of friends and is very happy in that circle.

He has been busy learning how to "super push" on the toboggan hill, how to deek in soccer, and how to battle with pool noodle light sabres. His school work has been coming along well also. He has become an avid reader, branching out from his old "Cars and Trucks" and "Auto Trader" magazines to all things Star Wars related and to chapter books like "Flat Stanley."

He writes stories too . . . usually about Lego or Star Wars. One day I will have to put one on the blog.

He often stays up late at night reading and building lego.

Speaking of lego, it is his newest obsession. Especially Lego Star Wars. He can play with it for hours and loves to play with the little Lego Star Wars men. (We tried just buying him the action figures that are MUCH larger than the lego guys because they are $15 rather than the $50 for the set of lego . . . just to get the Lego Yoda but he wasn't interested.)

He too has finally clicked in swimming. (It's funny, after the last three years of paying tons of money for swim instruction and still having them cling to us in the pool, we don't put them in lessons now and just try to escape the heat at Sarah's pool and it all clicks. They learn how to swim. Except for Avery who has had 2 near drowning experiences.) He swims all over the pool, does his "canyon balls" and even tries diving.

Jayden is generally responsible and generally a good kid. However, I see a lot of playground boys rubbing off on him with his mannerisms and attitude that I'm not thrilled about. (One in particular is the ever so cool ampit farting that he so nicely shared with Jackson and Avery. Now Avery does it in public places . . . but lifts up her dress to do it.)

He likes biking and skiing . . . especially going off jumps and catching air.

It's hard to believe that his is 7. Where did the time go? I feel often like I missed out on the last 6 years of his life with all the other babies/kids to look after. We are definitely making more of a point to spend special time with him now before we lose him to teenagehood.

Jackson

Jackson.

Ugh.

While significant improvements have been made with Jackson now that he is in school (and with the downturn of Jayden and Avery), Jackson has had shining moments where he has been the golden child. (Well, next to Livvie since she's a baby and SO easy.)

However, shrill high pitched screams? obnoxious noises? come from him (and rub off on Avery) and it drives us insane.

He is more managable for some things, like sleeping, he is generally the best child to go to sleep when asked. And he has taken some responsibility in looking after Avery and Liv on occassions. And, surprisingly, he is one of my best cleaners and has the cleanest room. (We are still working on keeping our toilet and bathroom clean.)

But, he still gets into trouble (usually for getting someone else into trouble) and likes to use brute force to get his ways if his high pitched noises don't do the trick.

He is always getting hurt . . . either by being careless and walking into things or being beat up by his little sister (who has obviously learned a thing or two about using light sabres, kung fu and brawling).

However, he is full of energy (except when biking . . . I think that kids' bikes are built way too heavy and the hills here are pretty steep) and full of life. He is considerate (unless he is upset) and has deep passions for all things sugary, Bakugan, and swimming.

This summer he finally had the courage to take his life jacket off and has been doing pretty well swimming.

He loves dogs. Well, animals of all kinds, but the ones we see around here most are dogs. He likes to hold them and pet them, take care of them, etc.

Cooking is another favourite thing of his. Taste-testing comes with it too. Jackson has become my best vegetable and fruit eater.

Jackson is my diamond in the rough, but we are seeing far more shining parts than rough parts now. Thank goodness!

Avery

Some thing happened to our sweet little Avery.

Sure some of her sweetness comes out every once in a while, but more often than not, a crazy, whiny, demanding monster surfaces.

We have a few ideas of how this happened:

1) One night some Aliens came into the house, abducted her, rewired her brain and then brought her back to see how we would react while they watched and laughed.

2) Her every-other full days with Jackson have changed her for the worst. (Jackson seems to enjoy giving her bad ideas to do things that will undoubtedly get mom upset and get her hurt or in trouble.)

3) She is at the in-between stage for napping. She clearly still needs them, but refuses to take them. Anything short of me physically holding her down while she screams bloody murder for the construction workers to hear (it was much worse before a/c was installed and the windows had to be open) for about 30-40 minutes, leaves her awake and gets us into the fun "get-to-bed-now-before-I-get-my-spoon" charade. The fact that her room is kind of across the hall from Jackson's and they talk through open doors doesn't help either. Especially since he likes to influence her to get out of her room and play Bakugan with him.

Otherwise, she is pretty happy and to the innocent bystander, she seems like a dream. She loves to sing. Her current repetoire includes: ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, She'll Be Coming Down the Mountain, Popcorn Popping, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut, Star Wars Clone Wars theme song, and (taking after Grandma in Calgary,) Santa Claus is Coming to Town (in July) and Frosty the Snowman.

Neighbours know her as the adorable little girl who is ready for a rainstorm or flood as she wears her rubber rainboots every single day, refusing shoes. Her current favourites are the yellow ones that Grandma in Calgary got her. I personally don't understand why she doesn't get hot in 30 degree (100 degree F) weather . . . but then there is Jackson who wears sweatshirts outside alongside her. (We really look like a circus troop when we exit the house, but if I tried to get them all dressed myself, we'd most likely never leave.)

Her favourite shows are Dora, Diego, Caillou, and Bakugan and Star Wars Clone Wars.

Avery loves to look after Liv. She often puts too many blankets and toys on her face and hasn't really figured out that Liv might need a bit of personal space--like don't talk to her with your face 3 cm from hers--or that yelling when you are that close can hurt people's ears. (Even though Liv is a little worried when she sees Avery around, she still breaks out into a bit smile for her sister.)

Right now we are all into cycling and Avery is determined to master her tricycle. I wish I could find her a better one though. The one we bought for Jayden years ago has great features, but it is near impossible for a young child to pedal on their own. None of our kids has managed to use it successfully . . . except for Jayden, last year.

Her favourite toys these days are: Ice Cream Bear (a Build-A-Bear), Dora suitcase, Bakugan, Dad's i-Phone and mom's i-Pad, and all her babies. Every day I have to go searching for Liv's receiving blankets and all of our face cloths because Avery has taken them and put one down for a sheet and another over for a blanket on all of her babies.

Avery likes to play hair dresser. She will often try out new hair styles on me. Usually they involve just brushing hair into my face and then whisking it off slightly. And she likes her doctor's kit (especially when it's nap time) . . . saying that "Doctors don't take naps."

Colouring is another favourite pass time, but we are still working on remembering what things we can and can't colour on. There have been a few occassions where she finished up looking like a hardened criminal on parol. (Fortunately, she never has gotten into a permanent markers yet.)

Four Months

At four months I have discovered my fingers . . . no small feat since they are hard to see over the rolls that make up my wrists and some plump round thing that Mom refers to as my hand.

I have taken a keen interest in what other people are putting into their mouths and can't wait to get a taste of what they are eating.

Mom also gave me some extra Guillermo time. What fun! He is so soft and furry, and easy to grab. (For some reason, Mom doesn't think Guillermo is as fond of his time with me though.)

Every morning I would wake up with a song. I LOVE to sing. I'm only four months so it sometimes resembles a rusty violin, but my heart is definitely in it and I'm doing my best for my parents so they smile anyway.

Mom's favourite part of me turning four months was that I finally started fitting into Avery's old 6-12 month clothing. (It kind of softens the blow of me growing so quickly.) Avery was pretty spoiled with all these cute outfits and beautiful dresses. I can't wait to see what's in store for later!

Did You Know . . .

That 111 freakin' degrees fahrenheit can not only melt a whole stick of butter within an hour, but also start it bubbling?

It has a similar affect on humans too. We've been in puddles for the last few days and tempers have been short.

The only thing I can compare this heat wave to is when Brad and I lived in Vegas and it was so stinking hot one day we decided to just skip town and go to LA. Back then we had old Jean Claude, Grand AM, who was on his last legs to begin with. His A/C never worked (which proved to be good for business since it kept Brad knocking doors and inviting himself into people's homes--and making pest control sales--instead of seeking refuge in his car). But on this day we skipped town, along with just about everyone else in Vegas and got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on a parking lot, er, highway in Death Valley, of all places. The temperature was about 120, I think, so maybe that was worse. I just remember having my clothes melt into my skin and leaving sweat puddles on the seats.

That's about as miserable as it is here.

I keep trying to remind myself that we have it better than those poor people who lost power. At least we can open the fridge on occassion to blow cool air on us . . . though I have had thoughts of crawling into the freezer, even if only for a few minutes.