A trip to Starkville

Well, the game wasn't that great, but Cate had a ball. She knew the cheers this year and wore her cowbell out. We went up into the upper deck to visit Grandpa during the third quarter. She was sitting in his lap, turned around, and asked, "Grandpa, did you hear me ringing my cowbell?" We were sitting 2 decks below him. She was in awe of the homecoming "princesses" and best of all (per Cate), got to splash in the mud in her rain boots. Ava stayed home with Nana. We just aren't quite ready to take the Tornado with us to a game, maybe next season.

Fire Station, Pumpkin Patch, Dirt, and Molly

Cate's class went to the Fire Station on Tuesday. Cate was upset that I didn't make it. "Everybody elses' mama went." She just looked bewildered when I told her that I do have to work sometimes. Another mom in the class did send some great pics though (thanks Aletha).










Thursday Cate's class went to the pumpkin patch at Circle Y. Cate and her class rode the train, jumped on the bouncy toys, held bunnies and chickens and petted goats, played on the playground, and of course, picked a pumpkin from the patch. She was exhausted when we got home, but reported to Joe that she had a lot of fun.

Cate's 3 year old class.


Cate and Maggie petting a goat.
Can you tell she loved the bunny?
Yes, Maggie is holding a chicken.
Riding the "train".




After nap we were playing outside and a guy that is going to grind our 7 stumps stopped by to measure them and give us an estimate. I was busy talking to him and looked up to discover that Ava was piling dirt. Into her mouth. At that point there was no point in making her get out of it, and she got to play in the mud for awhile. Cate wouldn't touch it and was appalled that she had to get a bath with Ava the little mud pig.


Splashing the dirt off of Ava. They would stand up and Ava would say, "One, Two, Thweeee!"--Splash.


We still have the kitten. We are calling her Molly for now. I just couldn't call a cat Judy or Baby Jesus. Cate's okay with "Molly". She stays in the laundry room most of the time right now. Joe gags at the litter box and sneezes if she gets too close and Ava is still terrified of her. She hasn't tried to climb Ava in a couple of days, but every time Ava catches a glimpse of her, she commands, "No Kitty. NO. NO. KIT.TY." Cate loves Molly and is spending a good deal of time chasing her, rolling her one of Tucker's old fuzzed up tennis balls, and pulling strings around for her. It seems that she may be around for awhile and if so, will soon become an outside cat. She loves to torment Tucker. She escapes from the laundry room, which involves scaling the baby gate in the doorway, runs in front of him, and then dashes under the closest piece of furniture. He sticks his head and front paws under the couch or chair and then Molly runs out on the other side, around, and behind Tucker. Once behind him, she swats at his tail and waits for him to turn and face her and the whole thing begins again. We're still not too sure what he would do if he cornered her or we'd start leaving them out together. I feel certain when she's a grown cat, she'll take his nose off if he messes with her too much. She's pretty feisty.

TV

Cate was watching TV yesterday afternoon and a promotion for another show came on.

Cate:"Mama, there's a new show coming on. It's called Hannah On Tanna."

Brainwashed.

Cate: "Daddy, Mrs. Tracie said, 'Go Rebels.'"

"We don't like the Rebels."

"They are bad."

"They are a bad team."

I was in another room and overheard this comment. I did not walk in to look, but I feel quite certain that Joe was beaming from ear to ear.

Any takers?

We have a kitten that needs a good home. She's probably about 8 weeks old, is eating dry food, and has not had one accident in 3 days! Cate wants to keep her, but Joe is allergic to cats and Ava is terrified of her.

Even though I don't think she has the internet right now...

I thought our dear friend Emily might like this story:

Lately, Joe has been reading to Ava and I have been reading to Cate before bed. We quickly realized it is impossible to read to them together. It was going anywhere from not being able to decide on a book to wrestling in the bed. Divide and conquer. Cate gets to pick out three books to read every night before going to sleep. For the past week Cate has wanted to read "The Bunny Book", otherwise known as "Guess How Much I Love You." For some reason, she really likes rabbits right now (and is sleeping with 6 or 7 at this very moment, one of which is named Baby Jesus and another Baby Moses- don't ask, I have no idea). So, we've been reading that book. Tonight I turned out the light and she wanted to pretend to be the Nutbrown Hares. So, I had to "settle" her into her bed "of leaves" and "lay down close by" beside her and scratch her back- the back scratching is not in the real story. Then she decided her stuffed bunny would be Little Nutbrown Hare and I would still be Big Nutbrown Hare. She could be Medium Sized Nutbrown Hare. Pretend Little Nutbrown Hare said, "I love you to the moon." And Cate made me say, "I love you to the moon and back, " per the book's lines. And then Cate said, "And then Medium Sized Nutbrown Hare said I love you to the moon and under the stars and all over the world and as tall as my rabbit ears and this much (arms spread wide) AND BACK."
I don't know how long I'm going to be required to be a Nutbrown Hare, but this book is much shorter than the Berenstain Bears and doesn't involve as many voices, something I could kill Joe for starting...

The last straw.

This past month has been insane. Our house is requiring a bit more immediate work that we had anticipated. We have bugs. The kids have been sick. Work is busy (a good thing for job security). And life is plain wild in general.

Just in the past week we've had two leaks, one in the roof that was easily repaired and one in the guest bathroom downstairs (not the master bath, that was 3 weeks ago and turned out to be the air conditioner leaking into the bathroom). The commode in the guest bathroom was leaking into the floor. It's never a good sign when the floor feels mushy and water squishes up through the wood slats when you walk on it. Due to repairs, there will be an open hole in that bathroom for another week. Very third-world-esque.

We aren't sure where they came from, but for the past week we've had literal swarms of gnats in our kitchen and bathroom. We are steadily whittling that population down (see picture of our homemade gnat trap). We've found several other ideas online that are working as well. No frogs, locust, or hail yet, though it's rained so much lately that Joe hasn't been able to mow and we can only see the tip of Tucker's tail when he traipses through the grass as we take him out.

Ava had to have a VCUG which required a catheterization. It was awful to have to hold her down while they did the cath and x-rays. She does have mild reflux and her pediatrician is recommending we see a Urologist at LeBonheur for follow-up. Other than that, she's been well for the past 2 weeks- Hallelujah!

Cate required a trip to the pediatrician's office yesterday- where they all know us by name and I've begun to just tell them, "Every couple of weeks we start missing ya'll and feel like we should just stop by." She has strep again and that sweet MD gave me a prescription for Ava just in case she needs it so we won't have to go back this week. (She hasn't so far.) I can't tell you how much hand sanitizer I put on the girls before, during, and after going to the clinic. I feel like we are covered in germs when we leave, not that it's dirty, there are just SO many sick babies in there. It has been packed lately. After we left the doctor's office we had to go to the Employee Pharmacy to get Cate's antibiotic. The pharmacy is very small and all the low shelving stocked with brightly labeled medication bottles is just too tempting for Ava. After being reprimanded several times, "No Ava, don't touch that. NO AVA. DO NOT touch that, " Ava decided to sit in a chair and Cate was sitting quietly beside her looking at the June 2007 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I thought it would be a good time to call and update Mama on Cate's status. Ava got tired of the chair and walked the 4 or 5 steps over to the glass exit door. I was still on the phone, but I was looking right at her. She gave the door a few slaps and then, she licked it. By this time, Cate was standing beside her and she also licked the door. The door to the pharmacy. The door everyone who is sick and comes in to get their medication touches. The nasty pharmacy door. And before I could get off the phone and get over there they had both done it again. Well, if they weren't good and sick then, they will be now.

I received a summons for jury duty in the mail today. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that at a later date.

Cate stayed home from preschool today since she was still contagious, but she really didn't feel that bad. She got pretty bored and by tonight, she was wild. We aren't used to her being into everything. I was cooking supper with Ava's assistance and really wasn't paying a lot of attention to Cate. She asked for a straw and I showed her the drawer they were in and turned around to chop broccoli. The girls are fast asleep in bed and I just finished picking up the last of the 50 pack of straws that Cate had strewn all over the living room.

We will get things with the house straightened out soon I hope, surely the gnats can't live for forever, and the girls will get well. As for the hectic schedules and wild kids, that may not change much. My babies sure do look sweet sweet when they're sleeping though.


A small sample of our gnat population.