Words I say because I grew up with these people

The following post may contain harsh language. Please proceed with caution.

Crimany: (pronounced- Kry-m'ny) a word said in frustration, such as "Shoot!"
Crud biscuit: (pronounced- Krud Bis-ket) a word said in frustration, such as "Crimany!"
Skiwampus: (pronounced- Skee wam pus) adjective. Used to describe something that is crooked. For example: "Your sunglasses are skiwampus."
Squoze: (pronounced: Skwoz {with a long O sound}) the past tense form of Squeeze. For example: "I squoze all of the juice from that there orange."...can also be used as have or has sqozen.
Dirty Bugger: Term used for anyone who annoys you. This term is often heard from a person experiencing road rage. "Oh, That Dirty Bugger!"
Fart knocker: (pronounced- Fart nok er) Noun. A term of endearment used in place of a siblings name. For example: "Hey Fart knocker will you scratch my back?"
Poop Stain: (pronounced- Poop Stane) Noun. A term of endearment, used in place of a siblings name. For example: Hey Poop Stain will you get me a fork?"

Pictures from today

Here are some pictures from our summer day. This morning we played with Nora, while Bridgette got some other things done. Then this afternoon, we went to a friends house and then swimming. This evening we had friends over for a BBQ. Not just any friends....a childhood friend of Brad's. who just happens to be in town from Utah with her husband and their 1 year old triplets whom we have never met! Fun times were had by all. Partially due to Holly's entertaining stories, and partly because of Liv's new motorized jeep (you have to love a yard sale find like that).

Nothing better than being like the big girls

Gwen LOVES the water. Her favorite thing is to go swimming. She will play in the water all day and never get tired of it, and pretty much always has a hard time when it is time to leave the pool, lake, whatever. As of today, Gwen can swim all by herself! (with puffers on of course) We were walking down the stairs into the pool, she stepped right off the last step and I realized she wasn't swallowing any water, so I watched to see how far she could go on her own. She swam about 10 feet, she could maneuver any direction she wanted, and then she swam to a ladder and climbed out on the ladder all by herself too! I didn't have to touch her once! She repeated this cycle over and over and over again the whole time we swam, about 2 hours! She was thrilled, she felt so big, and Liv and I were very proud of the little munchkin.

GRRR

We have a neighbor who comes over to play with Liv quite a bit. She is 9. Yesterday Liv, Gwen and I were outside in our front yard. M kept riding back and forth on a little motorized scooter. Every time she passed by (at least 10 times) Liv would yell her name and say, "come here I want to play with you." Once or twice Liv even ran up right next to her. M completely ignored her. Every time! OOO, it just makes my blood boil. I could feel my over protective, mamma bear claws coming out. So, what I would like to do, is next time she comes over say, "You know that was really rude of you to ignore Liv the other day. I don't think she wants to play with you." and then close the door in her face.

Funny Girl

Liv is a lot of fun. She really spends most of her life making people laugh. She just does funny things. Here are a few from the past couple of days that I wanted to document.

• Two nights ago, I was at a church activity and Brad was home with the girls. When I came home, Liv peeked her head out of her upstairs window to ask me to come upstairs and tuck her into bed. Somehow it ended up that Brad went upstairs to do it, and quickly came back downstairs, poked his head out the garage door, and said, "Um, Bets, you might want to come see this." I followed him up, not thinking much about it all. We passed Liv on the bottom of the stairs. It was dark and I couldn't see her very well, but I could tell she was in Time out. Then when I came to the top of the stairs, Brad walked out of Gwen's room, holding Gwen, who was COVERED...and I mean COVERED in Baby powder. I then scanned the entire upstairs (mostly Gwen's room, and part of Liv's room) and saw that it was ALL COVERED in baby powder, I looked down the stairs at Liv to see that she too was COVERED in baby powder. Somehow, Liv decided that it would be a good idea to go into Gwen's room, wake her up from her sleep, and then I imagine her Gleefully puffing baby powder everywhere. I am not kidding when I say Gwen was covered in a 1/2 inch blanket over her entire face, and most of her torso, and then was white most everywhere else. I was pretty proud of myself for not taking a picture......I know some would say I will regret it, but knowing how much Liv loves to be funny.....I know that if I had taken a picture, she would be encouraged to do it again =0). This is a picture of Cranky....her favorite doll. Cranky was a lucky survivor. He was not in the line of fire. He was actually laying BEHIND Gwen's crib, partially tucked underneath it.
• Last night, Liv had to go to bed without her quiet time (this was her consequence for waking Gwen up the night before and the powder incident.) Brad was sitting downstairs while I was on my outing to the standpipe. He heard Liv crying upstairs, so he went up to see what was wrong. Liv was apparently upset because she had seen me leave in my car and she told Brad she thought she was all alone. Brad comforted her and helped her back into bed. He then went downstairs to get back to what he was doing. Right then, our neighbor boys came over and knocked on the door. Brad opened, and they were surprised to see him. They said Liv had been yelling out her upstairs bedroom window, "HELP, my mommy left me here all alone and I am scared!" They were worried about her and were coming to help. At least I know she would try to take care of herself if I really DID leave her alone =0).
  
• Also last night, I was putting Liv to bed and reading to her from the scriptures. Somewhere in the middle, she decided that it would be funny to lick my arm. I was trying to ignore her, and she kept doing it over and over and over again, just giggling. Pretty soon, I couldn't hold it in any more and I busted up laughing, we giggled together for a while.
  

Here is a picture of our silly little munchkin.Liv is laughing at herself in this picture, she did something that she thought was funny. She probably had the crazies {this is what we have termed the state she gets into when she is tired=0)}. One of my favorite things about her and Brad is that they have such infectious laughs. And I LOVE IT when they laugh at themselves.

Puddle Jumping

All geared up =0), and ready to go!
This is Gwen peeking through my legs....she was using them to guard her from Liv's SPLASH
The Favorite puddle

What I am thinking right now

I hear: Rain pouring down through the windows around me.
I love: how it hushes all other noises
I feel: peaceful, calm
I am thinking: aahhhh
I am planning: puddle jumping and getting soaked by the rain with the girls later
It reminds me of: The MidWest/ My childhood
Rain makes me feel: At home

The Thomas Hill Standpipe

Today was just one of those days for me. Both girls woke up with the ogars this morning, and by the end of the day I was really in a mood. Brad came home and relieved me of duty by suggesting I go walk up the Thomas Hill standpipe (a water tower in Bangor that opens twice a year to the public) and take pictures. It was a great suggestion, and a great break. Thank you to my kind husband, who always has a great idea about how I can get away for a bit. Some kid sped past me walking up this staircase, to tell his mom there were 122 steps to the top. So there you have it.....122 steps up this neat hardwood staircase to the top =0).
I have been up the standpipe a few times before, but this was the first time since we have lived here, and it was neat to see all the views knowing what they were. The upper deck goes all the way around and on a clear day, we can see all the way to Mount Katahdin (a 2+ hour drive). I was able to see the metropolis (hah!) of Bangor, and actually what surprised me is how much I couldn't see. Most of the buildings around can't be seen from that vantage point because of all of the trees. Now I'm excited to do it again in the fall =0).

Boat Hair and a Golden Sun

A flair for fashion

Gwen has a habit of taking her shoes off wherever she pleases. Thus I am constantly either looking for her shoes, or letting her go bare foot. So, the morning I left St. Louis to come home, I of course, could not find her shoes anywhere. My mom quickly found them and sent them off to me. In her searching process, she also found another lone pink crock, and decided it must belong to Liv....so she stuffed it into the box. Well, this mystery crock does not belong to us. It belongs to Liv's cousin Julia. It's mate is floating somewhere down the Mississippi river. Well, the reason I am telling you this story is because Liv is thrilled to have one of her cousin's shoes. She thinks it is the best thing ever. And luckily for me it matches everything! This morning as we were going to the park our conversation went something like this

Liv: (imagine a very excited little face) Mommy, do I get to wear my friend cousins pink sparkly shoe??
Me: Well, we only have one.
Liv: That's OK, I'll just wear it with one of mine!
(as she bounces off toward the door....THRILLED)

Copy Cat

Liv, Gwen and I played outside this morning. I had my camera, and Liv had the idea that she wanted a picture treat...... I of course agreed =0). She sat on a chair and made this face---->
---Lovely.....I know =0)... {the girl has a rubber face...it is true.}---
She quickly cooperated, gave me a winning smile, and was off playing princess.
As soon as Liv sat up from her seat, Gwen (who I thought was paying no attention at all) ran over to Liv's seat, sat down and gave me this face---->
I had to laugh when I realized what she was doing =0). Too funny. A little gal that wants to be just like her "Sissy."

Other Random, Fun Things

1. 4-wheeling to a rock slide with Nana, Pugga, and the Girls 2. Making good use of the slip and slide3. Letting the girls paint themselves with Bridgette's finger paint4. 4th of July at the lake, breakfast at the boathouse and watching fireworks from the boat.

Triathlon 2008

Yeah, WE DID IT!!! Yesterday morning, we woke up bright and early for our triathlon sprint (1k swim, 10k bike, 5k run). Our baby sitter arrived, and off we went to stage our things. That morning, I was so nervous I was making myself sick. Luckily when we got to the race, all of that nervousness turned into excitement. The water was perfectly smooth, and all of our things were in place, so there was nothing left to do except to be excited =0). We put on our swimming caps and goggles, and the race began. Brad and I were both so happy with our results. We both did better than our goals, and everyone else did awesome too.

Some of the highlights for me were: 1. Seeing my cute sister-in-law,Bridgette, who is 37 weeks pregnant, come out of the water first for the women! 2. Getting out of the water in 17 minutes (I was worried about the swim, it is by far my weakest event.) 3. Listening to the triathlon mix Brad put on my Ipod. (each song was perfectly chosen for the race, and I was either laughing, or singing the words most of the time.) 4. All of the endorphins I had that put me on a complete high after the race =0). 5. Seeing that everyone did SO WELL and had fun doing it =0).

Brad's time:1 hour 16 minutes
My time: 1 hour 32 minutes

Bridgette {who judging by this look on her face is enjoying the same endorphins =0)}-- YES SHE IS 37 WEEKS PREGNANT, LOOKS FABULOUS AND COMPLETED THE ENTIRE THING!!!--- and our good friend AMY who also did GREAT!I get excited just looking at this picture =0). If you have EVER considered a Triathlon, GO FOR IT! It is a blast, and much less intimidating than it sounds!

A poor excuse for not blogging

OK... so not such a poor excuse. We've had a week full of this =0). And it was perfect.

(This is our whole family tubing....even Gwen =0). She loved it!)
More to come =0).

P.S. Wish us luck, tomorrow morningis our triathlon!

Liviedoodle

Dear Liv,
Happy Birthday Angel. What a little lady you are. All grown up...4 years old. I love to watch you play make believe, listen to you sing your way through life, smell the flowers you love to pick for me, and feel your sweet squishy cheeks with my kissy lips. You were born with a zest for life and a tender, loving heart. I have so much to learn from you...about how to love others, how to be loved and how to live every moment. You are a beautiful girl, with a beautiful soul, and I'm lucky to be your mommy. Happy Birthday to my angel!