We have a man down

Monday morning I was awaken at 2:45 by thunder. I'm not someone who is freaked out by thunderstorms. I actually love to sit and watch them.

At 2:45 in the morning I'm concerned about Zoe getting scared or the power going out. For about 90 minutes I listened while the thunder rolled over our house and watched the lightning light up the house.

It was an amazing storm.

Monday evening it was still a little windy and damp. Which our yard really appreciated.

Last night was the first night that Zoe and I had been outside since the Monday morning storm.

I saw my flowers.

Divided like the Red Sea.

My poor pansies. They never saw it coming.

On the flip-side, our pumpkins grew some blooms.

Monster blooms that are the same size as my calla lilies.

Maybe this Halloween we'll have some pumpkins to carve.

A date night!

We saw it.

It was awesome.

You should go.

That is, if you like cool cars that transform into robots and fight the bad robots.

Then you'll probably like it.

It is 2.5 hours long, so go to the bathroom before the previews.

Don't learn the hard way like I did.

We practiced freedom of speech

Our Fourth started out pretty typical. Until I got Zoe dressed. Grandma Kathy bought her a white t-shirt with flag United States on it. She hated it. So much there was wailing and gnashing of teeth until it came off.

We got a different shirt with stripes on and decided to play outside. On her slide. That always fixes bad wardrobe choices.

The it got to be about as hot as living on the sun. I've been trying to figure out how we can get an underground pool in our backyard that has grass for a top. That way we can still have our yard and have a pool. Honestly, it would be the best of both worlds.

The best solution I can find is a 48 inch pool just for Zoe.

Because I thought I was honestly going to melt, I got in the pool with her.

It was the best way to blow bubbles together. Plus I cooled down to about the heat of a chicken in the oven baking. Which is an improvement.

Then Grandma Kathy came over for dinner and some mayhem. Apparently Zoe and Grandma have a game where they run around the house, playing tag and screaming.

Even daddy joined in.

Nothing is more fun than having two, grown adults play toddler games while the toddler laughs, giggles and demands MORE!

That was until dinner was over and it was time for cupcakes. Zoe and I had made jumbo cupcakes to celebrate the birth of our nation.

According to Zoe, they were "mmmm...good!"

Just like our holiday.

Highway to the danger zone

I'm not really a fan of nature. Actually, let me clarify. I'm not a big fan of the creatures that live in nature. I don't wish them harm, but I also don't really want to know they exist.

I've posted a couple times on our friend, Frog. He's made a couple appearances at our house over the last 10 months. I've never been overly thrilled to see him.

This morning I was cleaning Zoe's pool. The water had sat in it for a couple days and it was getting a little slimy. Last night I emptied the pool. This morning I took the bleach and decided to do some early morning scrubbing.

I was working my way around the pool and almost touched Frog. He was sitting in the small amount of bleach-water in the pool enjoying the early morning cool. I'm fortunate Zoe didn't wake up with my screaming.

It took about forever to get Frog to exit the pool. In his (hers? How do you tell?) defense, he was just sitting in some bleach/water mixture. So he might not've been totally with it.

I lost him in the grass about 15 minutes later and he hasn't returned to the pool. I feel bad about the bleach, but I really hope he tells his frog friends that this pool is a danger zone.

The pool water warmed enough for Zoe and I to enjoy some splashing time after her nap. I was sitting in my chair, feet in the pool, chatting with Zoe when all of a sudden something landed in my hair. I immediately began screaming and swatting at my head.

The biggest bug I have ever seen landed on my tank top. I jumped up, screaming and flicking.

Zoe was sitting on her stool in the pool just laughing and screaming like I was doing.

We found the bug floating in the pool. His atennae were the length of my thumb. I think at that length they become antlers.

When Zoe saw it she freaked out. She screamed an grabbed onto my leg.

I quickly scooped/splashed it out of the pool.

I hope all bugs that think landing on me is a good idea, see his corpse in my garden.

Maybe I should start playing that Top Gun song on my boombox.

Hold please, I have a call

All of my girls have a deep need to play with old cell phones. N & I always have to have multiple ones on hand in case a fight breaks out.

D loves having a cell phone. When D was about 5 years old, she & E were playing Play-Doh in my mom's kitchen. D had an old cell phone sitting next to her on the table. As E & I continued to play, D took a call.

She had an entire conversation that went something like this:

Oh hi.
I'm at my dad's playing Play-Doh right now.
I don't think I can come over today.
*fake coughs* I'm sick, so I really can't come over today. I'll call you tomorrow.

She looked at me and said, "that was Sarah. She wanted me to come over today, but I told her I couldn't. I am playing Play-Doh right now."

If you didn't know the cell phone was no longer in service, you would actually believe that Sarah called about a playdate.

It took everything within me to play along rather than laugh.

Fast forward to last night.

Zoe and I are coloring on the floor. We thought it would be fun to trace out hands. All of a sudden she stops and picks up an old cell phone.

Oh, hi.
No *and shakes her head*
'Kay, see ya.

I asked her who it was and she said "Gaa-Ma."

Apparently there will be more playdates and conversations that I get to play along with.

We are Spud Buds

For Christmas my mom got Zoe a small briefcase with a Mr. Potato Head and his Spud Buds. One is a carrot and one is an ear of corn.

She loves to put some feet on Mr. Potato Head and then put arms in all the other holes.

When you try to convince her to put a face on Mr. Potato Head, she tells you to do this:

Apparently we are friends of the spud as well.

We hosted a murder

For awhile N and I have been trying to decide a fun way to have a parent's only night with the young families group at church. A few months ago I had the idea to host a murder mystery party.

I found a kit for a Mardi Gras murder and actually found decorations for Mardi Gras in June. Which is 3.5 months after Mardi Gras.

We had a fantastic response to the party and I got to work on making our house look like a Garden District chateau.

Most people have some kind of mask during Mardi Gras. I had the brilliant idea to make masks. With feathers and some craft glue.

Zoe loved the feathers and insisted we each put a blue and pink one in our ponytails as decorations. According to her it is "pretty."

Shortly after that my mom picked up Zoe for a slumber party at her house. N and I got to work transforming our house into New Orleans.

The masks and name tags.

Another big thing during Mardi Gras is the King Cake. It's a cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting and the colors of Mardi Gras. There is also a tiny baby baked inside. Whoever gets the baby has to host the next party.

I decided to order a King Cake from a bakery in New Orleans. It was totally worth it. It came unfrosted and with everything I needed.

After I hung several decorations inside and out, we were ready.

The owner of our new Garden District worthy chateau, Mr. DuPre was murder in the billiard room (aka Zoe's room). All we needed were the suspects.

Here's our cast:

Connika Gothika - the eccentric, gothic writer who lives next door. She is not amuzed by anyone.

Bourbon DuPre - the deceased nephew and jazz musician in the Quarter. He was working on his smoking drawl for weeks!

J. Stephen Peek (our former pastor Ryan) - the attorney (and murderer!) and Matthew "Gator" Crovitz (our friend Shawn) - the poor swamp rat turned rich.

Melissa DuPre (the pastor's wife, Katy) - a Vegas cocktail waitress who married the deceased 3 months ago. She was 50 years his junior.

For some reason I didn't get a picture of Alexis DuPre (Shawn's wife Becky) - the beauty queen daughter of the deceased.

It was a great time. Everyone played their character and came dressed for the party. I couldn't have asked for a better cast. Each of them made the party so fantastic.

After dinner we cut into the King Cake. I was pretty sure the baby would be big enough for us to see it.

Not so much. It was basically the size of your pinky's top knuckle.

Fortunately Kate had a keen eye and noticed it before she ate it.

We can't wait to find out when the next mystery will be Katy.

Whether Portland or Seattle, we'll be there.