there was a rhyme called...

A Poem for Silence

I am sitting down to start writing a column
When I realize the house is nice and quiet
No screaming, crying, fussing or whining
Only the hum of the A/C unit

No sounds of monster trucks or videos
No baby rattles or little fartos
Sometimes the silence is maddening
“Am I typing too loud?” I’m wondering.

It only takes that one dog bark
To break the silent hour
I swear if another train goes by
My moment of peace will go sour

I check to see if the phone is turned off
No calls will awaken my angels
If you really need to talk to me
Send me some quiet emails

I usually get work done when they nap
Some days I just can’t do it
Enjoying the stillness of the house
Makes it very hard to commit

I guess I had better stop typing now
And make good use of this time
Like start some laundry, then take my own nap
Instead of writing this silly rhyme.

I learned my lesson about...

Caddy Hazards

Coan and I went out to the school yesterday to hit some golf balls. Sometimes being his caddy has its share of hazards.

it was TGIF...

which is the day after Thursday...when a new issue of Quirkee.com came out! You shouldn't miss this one, or any of them for that matter. You could go as far as making it your home page. I did. But then again, I may be a little more quirky than the rest of you.

it was "Daddy Dressed Me Funny Day"...again!

I think I might be enjoying this too much! But like I said before, my days of getting to dress this child are running out. I have to take advantage of it now! Next week I'll get big brother to help me dress her. That should be interesting, especially since he is wearing all of his clothes backwards right now. Even his underwear. His new superhero name is Captain Backwards Underpants.

You have to admit she is pretty darn cute in these duds!

a Monster Truck Rally came to our house!

Gunslinger, Grave Digger, Cremator, Dragon Slayer, Blue Thunder, Wild Thang, Pouncer, and many more go Monster Truckin' around our house all day! How cool is that? Pretty cool I must say. You see, we have spent the last couple of weeks bribing Coan to use the porcelain throne by purchasing the Hot Wheels Monster Truck Series. We put them on the mantle still in the package and when he "drops the kids off at the pool" he gets to open a new one! We started this collection last year and had about 6 of them already. He's now up to 13 and working his way to collect them all. He has a case that they go in that holds 15, but there are at least 25 in the series. I guess we'll have to get another case. If there were 300 monster trucks in the series I would buy them all and 20 cases to put them in...if it meant one less poopy diaper every day. I love the boy, but those diapers were getting messy!

I can't wait until we get the whole series so when he goes to sleep at night I can have them all to myself...

it was Thursday again!

That means another fun filled day of reading the articles up on Quirkee.com ! You know you want to read them but you are afraid your boss might catch you. Beware! Some of the content could be harmful to the frown on your face.

there was "Daddy Dressed Me Funny" day

Fathers are notorious for not being able to dress their kids very well. Not me! Julia has so many cute little matching outfits that are paired together on hangers in her closet that it makes it almost impossible to dress her funny. Well, since she won't let me dress her forever and neither will her Mommy, I've decided to have a "Daddy Dressed Me Funny" day about once a week. Sometimes it's good to throw a wrench into the system of matching clothing and let the creative juices flow. I couldn't resist putting her in the Dallas Cowboys onesie again before she outgrows it. I also came across these socks with a bunny and a kitty rattle on them that were hiding at the bottom of her sock container. Hmm, I think I wasn't supposed to find those. I topped her off with a Gilligan hat to keep her cool and safe from the sun. Now I need to go find a busy public place to show her off. The park? Mommy will be so proud. Let's go!

the summer fun continued!

A new edition of Quirkee.com is up today! What else do you have better to do than spend half an hour reading it on the company dollar?

It's been a busy couple of weeks around the house. We had Coan's 3rd birthday party and Julia's baptism last weekend. There were 2 kiddie pools and a slip 'n slide in the front yard all day Saturday.




There were also four men with chainsaws trimming the trees in the neighbor's front yard 20 feet away. I guess it could have rained and that would have been worse. Where do you put 18 kids and 20+ adults for a birthday party if it rains? Back to their houses, I guess. I'm sure we could jam them all inside for cake and stuff, but the decibel level would have been comparable to the chainsaws outside!

Everything ended up working fine and the kids enjoyed watching the guys scramble around the roof next door and monkey their way through the trees. They probably thought it was part of the party, like a hiring a chainsaw acrobat team but for free!

On Sunday, Crawdaddy performed Julia's baptism at our church. She looked beautiful in her little dress.



Coan decided that he was only good for one shot and bailed out of my arms before the next photo. I'll have to Photoshop his eyes open or something. If you look closely at the first shot you can see how he was already planning his escape from my clutches. In this cropped photo you can see where his left hand is pulling on the collar of my shirt...




In the following cropped shot you can see how that was a distraction for his next move: right foot to crotch...



That's my boy! I wish I could say I taught him that move, but it's been years since my skinny butt had to fight dirty like that.