Our Hearts Belong to a Swamp Dog

This weekend was Settler Days in Deer Park.  There's a huge park in town with many trees, so for a festival on one of the hottest days of the year, this is a beautiful thing.  A few weeks ago N was asked by a fellow worship team member to play in his band at Settler Days.

Denny has a bluegrass band called Denny and the Swamp Dogs.  It took N all of 2 seconds to say, "I'll be your swamp dog" and had his bass ready to go.  Zoe and I lathered up in sunscreen, packed a cooler with water and Gatorade and loaded up our chairs with built-in umbrellas. 

As N was getting set up, Zoe and I scouted out the festival.  We saw people dressed as actual settlers.  I've never felt so sorry for people in all my life.  It was mid-90s and the ladies were in corsets.  I think we should take a moment of silence for that kind of dedication to authenticity. 

Zoe on the other hand was more interested in snow cones and face painting.  She sat totally still and absolutely emotionless as this kind lady painted a ladybug on her cheek.  This picture doesn't adequately convey the perma-smile she wore for the rest of the day.

Then it was time to head to the concert.  As you can see, N dressed the part of a swamp dog with his boots, jeans and cowboy hat.  I think, with the exception of those poor settlers, he was on the only one in long pants.

This smile was captured early on in the concert.  Prior to any sweat dripping down his face from his outfit of choice.

Here's the rest of the band.  All in much cooler, albeit less authentic swamp dog attire.

Thank you Denny for asking N to play with you.  It was a highlight of his bass playing career.  It was also a highlight to see him on that stage playing. 

Next year Zoe and I are getting "I'm with a swamp dog" shirts.

She's Only Missing An Eye Patch

During the week Grandma Kathy and Zoe usually do all kinds of fun things together than make Zoe not so happy to see me after work.  She loves having me come to Grandma's house, but it is so I can play with them, not take her home.  They have a bond that makes my heart sing.

Yesterday Grandma took Zoe to lunch.  As they were eating, this was the conversation:

Zoe, isn't this lunch delicious?

Squinting one eye, looking at Grandma out of her good eye and in a gravely voice: It sure is Matey!

Apparently it was pirate day at Camp Grandma.

I Don't Know Much, But I Know I Love You

This week has actually been an awesome week.  We have several things to celebrate this week, so I thought I'd do a little shout-out to the awesomeness that is the third week of July.  In random order of course.  I don't want anyone to think that perhaps I have my priorities out of whack.  Although my morning cup of coffee is fairly important to me and anyone who has the opportunity to see me in the morning.

Without further ado:

That's right.  Coffee-mate is going All-Peppermint-All-The-Time!  It used to just be a holiday thing, but now it's all year long.  Can I get a hollah?  I can't even tell you how happy this makes me.  It almost makes up for Starbucks getting rid of the cinnamon scone.  I never like something that they make more of.  They always take it away.  Those folks at Nestle sure know how to make a girl happy.

Second-up is my doctor.  Several years ago he diagnosed me with poly-cystic ovarian syndrome.  He put me on medication and all the horrible side-effects of the syndrome went away, I was able to get pregnant and life was good.  However, since that time, I've been off the medication and signs of the syndrome started to come back.  He ran some tests, highlighted words like "extremely high" and "medicate immediately" on my labwork and put me back on the medication.  While it's only been a week, I can tell a difference already.  I'm not as tired.  Which when you have a three-year old who likes to cram 12 hours worth of activities into 4, it's much needed. 

Third-up is N, who is wicked smart.  He brought home a book full of math that he needed to know.  He told me to thumb through it.  The first few chapters were on adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing/fractions.  I told him that sounded like a cake-walk and to stop being such a nancy about it.  Then I got to chapter 6 and it was stuff like ratios of an isosceles triangle while water is flowing through the turbine and 5 salmon are swimming upstream.  It safe to say they lost me at ratio.  He had a test on it on Tuesday.  He got a 90, the second highest in the class.  I'm so proud of him for doing so well.

Lastly is Zoe, the super dancer extraordinaire.  I'm amazed at how quickly she learns things.  On Monday they learned a move that had them stand on one foot and tap their other toe behind them.  Zoe couldn't get the idea of tapping behind.  Every time she crossed her leg in front, much like in the potty polka.  On Wednesday, the girl had it down as though she never had a problem.  Granted she practices her tapping all the time.  At the grocery store, on her stool while brushing her teeth, outside, in the parking lot, while she's watching tv, while she's walking anywhere, etc.  You get the idea. 

Ballet has always been a bit of a challenge for her because of her slight, never diagnosed cerebral palsy.  Her heel chord is tight, so things like walking on tip-toes and pointing her toes are difficult for her.  Last night during the ballet portion, she walked on her toes across the entire length of the room.  She hasn't been able to do that yet.  She makes this mamma proud!
That's this week in a nutshell.  I got creamer and medication, N got an A and Zoe is amazing! 

I'm not even a little bit biased.

It Was The Best Compliment EVER

Last night I was putting Zoe to bed and my phone beeped because I had a text message.  My dear friend Sarah said this:

I'm listening to Coolio/Gangstas Paradise & thought of you.

I really hope it's because our hair is so similar!

Thanks Sarah for totally making my night.  I think I'm going to try out the braids for the reunion!

Still In Denial

Zoe and I are still recovering from a week at VBS.  The concealer I use under my eyes every day is called "Well Rested."  I bought it because I figured if it could have that name then it might actually work to make me look "well rested."  It does. 

That is unless you're working for a week in VBS and you're used to sitting at a desk all the live-long day.  The concealer stopped working about Friday.  After a couple nights of sleep, it seems to be doing the trick again!
I'm hoping to have some pictures from VBS up here in a couple days.  There are about 800 pictures that I have to go through and since I'm still not "well rested" I'm needing some time to actually sleep.

Instead I thought I would share the latest Zoe story.  First of all, I find her very funny.  Secondly I'll likely forget this if I don't write it down.

A couple nights ago I was getting her ready for bed.  N was laying on her bed talking to us.  It's a little family time that we have.  Usually N takes her bear, Coco and has Coco dance or something on her bed getting Zoe to laugh and have a funny conversation with her bear. 

I turned Zoe around so I could comb her hair and she ripped one.

You have to understand, she's standing and I'm sitting, so it was a direct fire toward my face. 

I turned her around and asked the obvious question, "did you just toot?"

Her response, "well, maybe it was Coco!"

48

Zoe has become more aware of the space-time continuum.  I know this because when I ask her to do certain things and she doesn't want to, her response is "well maybe I'll do that when I'm 48."

I thought I would start making a list of all the things she's going to do when she's 48 because it's going to be a big year for her:

1) eat asparagus
2) clean her room
3) have a boyfriend (this made her daddy very glad)
4) drink coffee
5) have a job
6) put her head underwater
7) go to school
8) take a nap
9) try broccoli
10) ride a skateboard
11) start taking showers instead of baths

I'm sure there are many more things that she'll start doing when she's 48 that she's yet to mention. 

Just yesterday I asked if she'd help pick up some toys and she said, "when I'm 47 I will do that."  Maybe she's starting to realize that her 48th year is going to be a bit busy and she should probably have a head start on some things like picking up her toys.

So Blessed

This week is VBS for our church.  I decided to take mornings off so I could help out with the kiddos.  I got the 4 & 5 year old class.  After a rough Monday, I'm back in the swing of things.  It wasn't rough because of the kiddos, it was rough because I'm old and they have so much more energy.  Instead of just having one ball of energy to compete with, I have eight, little balls of energy.  I don't think I've ever wanted a Costanza desk at work more than I want one now.  A nap around one o'clock sounds delightful.

Even though I'm tired, my heart is blessed.  I get to spend 3 hours with little munchkins who sing songs to Jesus, want to pray, want to learn more Bible stories and just want to be in a group with their friends.  How blessed I am that I get to be part of that, for just a few hours of their life.  One little girl prayed for our snack today in front of the whole class.  There was no fear as she quickly raised her hand to be picked first.  I realized I have so much to learn from these kiddos.

I also have the incredible priviledge to work along side my nephew MJ.  He's officially a junior higher now and a helper in my class.  To say I'm blown away by his maturity and leadership would be an understatement.  Our little balls of energy gravitate toward him and instead of being totally unimpressed with the kids, he plays with them, corrals them and generally just wants to be their friend.  Albeit their cooler, older friend. 

To stand back and watch him with the kids makes this aunt's heart swell with pride.  I couldn't be more blessed to spend my mornings with MJ and our VBS kiddos.  They fill a certain part of my day that I didn't realize I was missing.