Sunny Bunny

Back in March of 2008, Sunny the guinea pig joined the lively family. It started out easy enough. I fell for the empty promises Evyn and Holly made while standing in the pet store, having already decided that we just HAD to have a guinea pig. We all enjoyed her, for the most part. As time went on, Sunny became another one of my chores. Sure, Holly fed her pretty consistently, Evyn would deliver fresh produce to her cage, but I became the one with the big job...cleaning up after the little poop machine. It was definitely a love/hate relationship, even though hate is a little strong of a word. It was more that I disliked having to clean up after her. I am an animal lover, and I really do love Sunny, especially since I knew that no one else paid her any attention. There were times when Evyn would read to her, the kids would play in the playroom and let her run around, we would take her outside to the garden on warm days, but the bottom line here is that these little piggies are communal livers. They need people or other piggies to keep them company and make them happy.


Over time, I knew Sunny was not happy. It took months for Evyn to finally understand this. I griped about Sunny one day a few months ago on Facebook and Evyn's former babysitter, Westbrook, offered to take her. I was thrilled but Evyn did not think that was a good idea at all. I even tried to bribe her with a kitten, to no avail. Evyn did agree to renew her commitment to spend time each day interacting with Sunny so that she was not so lonesome. As expected, it lasted a few weeks, and we were all back in the same routine - they tossed her some produce on occasion and I fed her daily cleaned up after her one to two times a week. I was back to being the piggies BFF, and a lame one at that.


Evyn was recently assigned her first book report. She chose a book about a classroom guinea pig who was lonely on the weekends when the students were not at school. This reignited our talk about Sunny and how sad she is being alone almost all day and having only me to interact with for a few short minutes each day. Evyn decided that Sunny would actually be happier with Westbrook's family. After making doubly sure that Evy was okay with her decision, Westbrook's clan came to get Sunny and all of her accessories last Saturday. I have no doubt that once she adapts to her new home, she will be so much happier....right now they are accusing me of giving them a possessed guinea pig.


There were no tears, no second thoughts and no long good byes from Evyn or Reed. I had a touch of guilt and a small lump in my throat when they drove away with Sunny Bunny, but at the same time I was relieved on several levels. Ashley is probably the most upset by Sunny's departure. She accused us of "getting rid of a family member" and was generally sad about the whole thing. Ashley was the only person, other than myself, that Sunny did not bite, so she was rather fond of her too. If Ash had, had her way, Sunny would be living at her house right now, except that her husband put his foot down. Ash is a smart girl....she's much better off with her happy husband in a guinea pig-free home. Just like Sunny is better off with daily interaction from a family who is willing to put in the effort and might just get her a piggie playmate. Bon Voyage, Sunny.

Suburban Housewife - Video

Colorful language warning, but this is just hysterical and I had to pass it along. Thank you Erica for sending me the link.

Dear Mother Nature:

After the string of cold and/or rainy weekends you have provided us recently here on the east coast, I feel like I owe you a large thank you for the sunny and warm-ish weekend that you blessed us with both Saturday and Sunday, the first full weekend of November. After spending more than a week dealing with the swine flu and finally seeing signs of recovery, it sure was nice of you to bless us with some sunshine and dry conditions. We finally got the pool closed down, all of the pool stuff stored in the shed, the gutters cleaned out and phase one of the leaves mulched up. We were also able to wash all of the dogs without having to blow each of them dry. You, with your warmth and sunshine, allowed all of these things to happen. Thank you, it is about time. Your fresh air helped heal the sick...what took you so long?

Almost every Saturday during the month of October was filled with rain. It might have been every Saturday, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt since I really cannot remember. Frankly, we are over it. When I really think about it, I think you actually owe us some money. Your crappy weather caused us to have to postpone our trip to the apple orchard for several weeks which led to us having only two varieties of apples left to choose from, the most expensive varieties. We got fewer apples for more money this year. I could have just gone to WalMart for less money and more variety, but I was waiting for you to cooperate and provide a little reprieve from the weekend rains...you know how Reed hates to get even the tiniest little spot of dampness on his clothing. We just did not want to have to drive all that way to hear him gripe about having to wear a rain coat and hear about how wet his shoes were. I do not regret having to wait until most of the apples were gone to get to the orchard, we still enjoyed our little trip to the mountains while the leaves were peaking and spending time with the O family during their first apple picking experience, but you did cheat us out of the experience with Ashley and Gary and the newest member of our family. No worries though, I've almost forgotten about that due to the beautiful weekend we just experienced.

You also offered up a random beautiful , sunny Thursday in October so the kindergarten classes from Reed's school could go to Ashland Berry Farm.....jacket free. Picking pumpkins was so nice in the sun on a day that could easily be classified as a perfect fall day. On the flip side, there were a whole lot of bees buzzing around. With my yellow jacket attack still fresh on my mind, the bees loving the fresh, warm air and swarming around the kids' lunches was a bit much for me, but that is not really something I can blame you for. The warm air was worth the little bit of panic I experienced during lunch time. Thank you.

Lastly, the consistent rain/drizzle that came down all day long on Halloween day was not so funny. We had plans, plans to dress up and roam the neighborhood with eager, excited children and spent most of the day wondering if that would actually happen. Dealing with the swine flu was not part of the plan. Not knowing what we were dealing with though, we sucked it up and stayed focused on dinner and festive drinks to go with our friends. Thankfully, you decided the day had been dreary enough and stopped the rain and kept the temps warm. A Halloween day in the 80s is almost unheard of in VA. Again, you deserve some recognition here even if you did keep the rain falling for most of the day.

Oh, and thank you in advance for the upcoming weekend which looks as if it too could be dry and sunny. If you decide that you would like to skip winter here in the east altogether, my feelings would not be hurt one bit.

Yours Truly.

Nature's inoculation

Halloween came and went, I have been on a class field trip with Reed's class, a family trip to an apple orchard and a kindergarten costume parade but no pictures and no stories. I did post a few on Facebook. It's so easy over there, takes no time at all. I slacked. I had to. I've been busy feeling dead and not so witty.

Thanks to an outbreak of so-called H1N1 in our community, Evyn and I have been flat out. She has definitely had it much worse than I have and was given the unofficial diagnosis of swine flu based on an assumption and not serology. I could go off on a tangent about that, but the bottom line is that it really does not matter, sick is sick. In fact, I hope we both HAVE been suffering from this particular flu. The one that the government is creating public hysteria over. The flu that the government is stating everyone should be inoculated against using a vaccine that has not had time to be properly tested, probably is safe and may or may not be effective. The same vaccine that not all that many people who have wanted it have been able to receive. None of that really matters to me either. I does annoy me a little since I do believe false statements are being made and freaking people out, but I did not want the vaccine for myself or my family anyway.

Now that two of the four of us have been inoculated by some germ-infested kid, or like I like to think about it, inoculated by nature, we are forming antibodies to this strain of flu, naturally. It did not come without pain and suffering, but I think it is safe to say, one co-pay later, at this point that the worst is behind us. I'm almost glad we have had it and hope that if we are exposed again, it will not have the same effect, if any. That remains to be seen.

Hopefully once my head clears and I'm not so grumpy and detached from my life, needing Holly to stay home and take care of me/us, I will be back with cute pictures and stories of our fall adventures. Until then, go lick a grocery store cart handle or a door knob and let nature takes its course - just get it over with before the holidays. Once you spend several days sweating and then freezing, losing count of how many times you have put on and taken off your sweatshirt, you will be so glad you did. OINK! ;)

Im So Happy..

I decided to let everyone sleep in this morning which meant that the kids would miss the bus. Reed stayed home sick with a cold, and I ended up driving Evyn to school. As we were pulling out of the driveway, Evyn said "I am so happy to be black." I chuckled and said that, that was a strange thing for her to say. We giggled and she informed me that she had read it in a magazine. I blew it off. We are a pro-diversity family, and I figured she had drawn some strange conclusion. Monday 7:45 a.m. and still trying to clear the cobwebs - I let it go without further questioning. She later repeated the statement when Holly got home from work. We happened to be standing in the den and Evyn pointed over at the table to a People magazine cover that she had misread and said, "see, I'm so happy to be black."

Striking resemblance

This rat is one of our Halloween decorations. Actually, it is Evyn's rat. She spent her hard earned allowance on that nasty-looking thing. We were at the Halloween store on Saturday with many, many neat scary things inside for purchase, but she wanted to buy the rat. Who am I to tell her how to spend her own money?

The rat now lives in the "haunted playroom" and is so life-like that later that day it startled me when I was in there....Evyn just had to position it on the floor for the full look-at-me-and-my-long-fangs-and-tail-running-around-your-playroom effect. The rat now lives on the table next to the skull, but anyway, when I was cleaning Sunny the guinea pig's area yesterday, I began to realize that Sunny and the rat look a lot alike. For fun, I put the rat down on the floor next to Sunny and it was instant love. Once Sunny was back in her domain, I put the rat in there with her and they could be twins, except for Sunny's lack of tail. And this, folks, is how I amuse myself while my children are at school. thankyouverymuch!

We are ready.

Like many other things I never thought I would say or do until children came along and changed my view, we are all decorated for Halloween. Evyn was in charge of most of it. Both of my monsters are full into the scary side of Halloween this year. No more kitty cats and firemen here....we are talking skeleton costumes and ghosts with bat wings. Reed actually let himself get so scared with all of our Halloween talk and then going outside in the dark to light our jack-o-lanterns that he was too scared to go to sleep. Maybe my talk of goblins coming to our door Halloween night to trick or treat was partly responsible but still.... he who wore his scary costume all weekend did not have to cry himself to sleep.

Reading

With Evyn's school requirements and the fact that she is really getting into reading here lately, we have been doing a lot more of it. Reed has really taken an interest as well. He spends time on a website doing reading prep activities and has even been letting Evyn guide him along in some of her easy readers. They are so adorable when they are not pestering each other.

Evy Lou

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven years old, she is. Another year, another few inches, another few pounds, still toothless. She is reading fairly well, still a beginner but her progress since school started has been phenomenal. There is nothing about this child that is baby-ish or pre-school-like. She is a kid now. She is tall and heavy, impossible to carry to bed if she passes out on the couch without breaking your back or knocking one of her long limbs on the door frame while you are trying to maneuver her into her room.

A sweet, caring. funny, easily distracted drama-filled kid. She acts like a teenager sometimes with the sassy tone that just might imply that we are idiots. She talks and she talks and she talks. Sometimes she never shuts up - even when she is saying nothing, she is saying something. She reminds us so much of Ashley at this age. Sometimes it is music to my ears. Other times, it is more like the nails on the chalkboard, or a little chirping bird outside of your window at 5 a.m.

Our Evy Lou, Bumpy Greenbaum, and also sometimes known as little Suzanne or Ashley Jr. celebrated her birthday several weeks back at Dave and Busters. It was all adult family and close friends as well as B and A and their mom because, I mean, you really cannot have a birthday party for your child without having at least one or two other children (other than your sick little brother) to play with. That's what Evyn thinks, anyway. It was a great time. It was so much fun that Reagan slept through the majority of it.

It is hard to believe that seven years have passed since the day Evyn was born. It is also hard to believe that Ashley was only seven years old when Holly and I first met. As I watch Evyn and remember Ashley and what she was doing at that same age, I am also looking into the eyes of Ashley's child, a baby who looks just like her mommy with a sprinkling of her daddy thrown in there. Life is marching on. It seems surreal at times, but my eyes are wide open. I don't want to miss a minute of it.

October is Infant Loss Month

October 5th is a hard day for my family. It is the day that our Skylar passed away in 2007. As a parent, mom and friend, I have known many who have also suffered the loss of an infant either before birth or after birth. This has affected our family in unspeakable ways and there are millions more out there who have been faced with this indescribable grief or know someone who has.

In October of 1988, Former President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the month of October as pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. As part of the Awareness Wave of Light, on the 15th of the month people across the country light candles at 7 p.m. to remember those they have lost. I ask that you light a candle for Skylar and all of the other infants who live on in the hearts of those who were touched by their short lives. Thank you!

Effing bees!

Holly and I were catching up on some yard work yesterday...the usual mowing, stick collecting, weed pulling, bush trimming, blowing routine. The weather was lovely and life was grand until I made one wrong move. I, the one who is scared of bees, the one who has wrecked an outdoor meal by freaking out and running away from a tiny little bee all while getting my feet tangled in the table and slinging our dinner and drinks all over the porch, stepped in a freaking nest of yellow jackets while weeding a flower bed.

It did not take me long to realize that I was surrounded by these little buzzing things that scare the crap out of me. What do you think happened next? Of course, I fell out of the flower bed while trying to escape, rolled around a few times and then hauled ass through the yard flapping my hands and yelling "BEES" while my children looked on in horror and Holly with her headphones on was still working away. She finally noticed me and thought that I was running after her because she was cutting on the wrong bush (she is famous for this - definitely another story for another time). Lucky for me, bees don't scare her and she brushed the remaining little stinging menaces off of me. I was stung seven times and it pissed me off and nearly ruined my evening. The End!

I now realize that had this event been caught on video, it could have won us money or could have just made thousands of people across the world laugh hysterically. Holly actually woke up today laughing about it, and she did not even witness the part when I fell. When she sees my swollen leg, arm, neck and face, lucky for her, she stops laughing. I might find more humor as the swelling and itching subside.

Poor Eddy! RIP

notice his tooth sticking out? loved that about him

Our most incredible, unusual and entertaining cat, Special Ed, lived to see 12.5 years of life, change and growth in our household. He should have never really been here in the first place. It all started in April of 1997 when I was taking anatomy in college and was working for a veterinary hospital. This one particular day, we were to spay a pregnant cat. She was a stray that had been picked up by a family willing to make her their own. After discovering she was pregnant and thinking it was way early in the pregnancy, one of our vets agreed to spay her.

So, she was on the operating table, under the knife, and once her uterus was removed, I decided I wanted to cut it open and take a peek, being in dissection mode and all. Anyway, once we could see the kittens inside the uterus, we realized they were trying to breathe. Long story short, three of the five kittens lived. Two of the three kittens were normal. Special Ed was not. I believe that he was the last one to start breathing and suffered some brain damage as a result. Since I was basically responsible for his condition, we took him in and have loved him ever since.

He walked as if he were chronically intoxicated. If he shook his head while sitting down, he would fall over on his back. He sat with his front legs open wide, kind of like a tripod, in order to keep his balance. He could not jump up onto things and had a head bob that nearly caused him to drown a few times when he was a kitten trying to learn to drink from a bowl of water. You can just imagine the fun we have had with him over the years. I believe that he never really realized he was disabled. He had an attitude, he killed a few birds and he turned many heads. When we first moved into this house, our neighbor was having his evening cocktail and while looking out over his back yard, he saw Ed stumbling around back there. He later told us that he thought he had, had too much to drink, sat his drink down and went to bed. Another neighbor called to say that she thought one of our cats had been hit by a car because he was stumbling around in her front yard. I guess what I am trying to say is he was one of a kind. Unfortunately, cancer has taken yet another of the lively fam pets.

Ernest Goes to Richmond

My laughing muscles are sore this morning, the permagrin remains. Our friend Erica flew into town yesterday for business, so I kidnapped her from the airport and brought her to the house so she could play with us for the afternoon before she had to start focusing on work the following day. With it being the first official football Sunday, Holly had her football food menu ready and pilsners chilled. We had four years' worth of laughing and catching up to do.

The only other time Erica has seen the kids in real life is when Evyn was two and Reed was fifteen months old - both extremely shy back then except for Evyn trying to run Erica over a few times in her Barbie Jeep. Not this time. The minute Erica started playing with them, they were full on, "do me, it's my turn, me next"! This went on until Erica was panting and on her knees and Troy was in trouble for chasing down the ruckus and nibbling on the children.

Right before putting the kids to bed, they just had to show Erica their crazy spin outs on their green machines and then they moved on to practice hitting baseballs. As Evyn was tossing a ball up in the air and then attempting to hit it with a large (thankfully) plastic bat, I decided she was not lined up appropriately and turned her a little to the right. This lined up the perfect opportunity for her to toss the ball up, swing the bat and hit Reed square in the side of the head. It made this sound that still makes me laugh a little. Ok, I actually laughed so hard (and so quietly so as not to upset my little man even more) that I almost dropped him while trying to comfort and escort him into the house for an ice pack. It was one of those moments where you start laughing before you realize if the person is really hurt or not and then you cannot stop once you realize they are not terribly injured. I very quietly laughed my butt off when my son got nailed in the head with a plastic baseball bat - how wrong is that? (He was fine, by the way) We all came inside for one more throw-Reed-around moment that nearly ended with more head trauma. Bedtime followed... his luck was running out.

My children went to bed in tears because Erica would not be here when they awoke the next day. They fell in love with our super crazy, smart, fun blond friend from Florida who used to have a dark brown mullet and would have lightening bolts shaved in the sides of said mullet before big flag football tournaments. Those were the days when Holly and I would casually drop a "dude, you are never gonna get laid with that haircut" comment every once in a while. If I look hard enough, I could probably find some pictures from back then. Come to think of it, I could probably start a whole new blog dedicated to the life of our friendship with Erica. It would span years and would be full of interesting facts, memories and pictures. Too bad we don't have a picture of the time Erica and I went bar hopping in Key West and then drove drunk on a moped to find Holly some cold medicine - another act of true friendship. It never ends, but we have gotten a wee bit smarter since then.

The first week of school

Tuesday of this week was Evyn's first day of first grade and Reed's first day of kindergarten. Let's just say that I went from fretting last spring over sending my youngest to kindergarten to late this summer counting down the days and minutes until they both got on that beautiful yellow school bus. Seeing Mrs. R's face behind the wheel of the bus at 7:02 a.m. on Tuesday made me giddy. Of course, I was a little nervous for Reed with him going to a new school and all, but when the pictures were taken and little butts were planted firmly on the bus seat, I could have almost launched myself to the moon and back because, you know, that's how much I love 'em.

So what does a work-from-home mom do now that her youngest children are both school-aged and gone for seven hours of the day? She starts babysitting her granddaughter.

I am now back to baby wearing, nap schedules, diapers and baby bottles. I am so glad I can help out and get my baby fix with a baby that I have a very special interest in but yet don't have to lose sleep over. Being a 36 or 37 (I can't ever remember - hell, does it matter at this point?) year old grandma is totally cool, and once my little monkey gets the sleeping alone in a crib thing down, life will be grand....it's pretty darn good now, actually.

Us this morning on our jog through the neighborhood.

Evyn and Troy

Yesterday Evyn was talking to me while I cleaned. She was bent over and Troy came up and rested his head on her back. This is how our conversation went:

E: What is Troy doing to me?
Me: He is dominating you. He is trying to tell you he is boss.
E: He is the boss of me?
Me: No, he is trying to tell you he is.
E: Is he like my dad, the boss?

I probably do not need to mention how hard I laughed. I can hear her now telling her new teacher that she has two moms and one dad, but he is a Great Dane.

Let's talk mouths

After four and a half years of being without her four top front teeth, Evyn has a front tooth making its way through her gums. I have been doing a "tooth check" everyday here lately because for some time now we have been able to see the bulge in her gum and could even feel the outline of her tooth behind the gum. I never thought I would be excited about a tooth erupting, but she has been without teeth for so long and the way she lost her teeth was so traumatic that I find myself becoming super excited. When I look back at her baby pictures, they are lumped into one of two categories: 1) B.A. (before accident) and 2) A.A. (after accident). At least now, at the age of 6.5, her mouth looks a lot like the mouths of her classmates. Back when she was a 2 year old with four missing teeth, she stood out. It was startling to see such a cute little girlie with a huge hole in her mouth. I think the arrival of her big girl teeth calls for a celebration of some sort.

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There is something going on in my life that is like a dream come true. The one thing that I can ever remember wanting, wishing and hoping for is here. It is my reality. It comes in the form of a very handsome 18 year old boy named T. He is the son I gave up for adoption - a closed adoption - almost 19 years ago. He and I have been writing via the adoption agency for the past several months, screened letters that could not reveal locations, full names, etc. We both recently signed up on the adoption registry and have finally been given each other's names, addresses, emails and phone numbers. Getting to know him is incredible - much more complex than I ever would have imagined.

So, what does this have to do with a mouth, you wonder? This has more to do with his voice. Until last night, his voice was just in my head as I read his emails. His voice could have been really deep, Texas-twangy, really high, really soft but it is just a voice from the mouth of someone that I have missed intensely, someone that changed my life in the fall of 1990 and is changing my life today. Hearing his voice in my voicemail made my heart skip a beat. Hopefully next time he calls I will be around to answer the phone.

The only reason

Just about the only reason I can think of right now to be excited that school is about to start, other than having a little over seven hours alone each weekday (that is actually a damn good reason to be excited) is the Gypsy Children have headed back to their mom in NC. Their days and weeks of bugging the crap out of me are over. We no longer have to plan what to do if these children come over to crash play dates, beg to ride the kids' bikes and toys and come running over with swimsuits in hand, ripping the safety band off of our gate leadng to the pool. We are totally the kind of people who believe in 'the more the merrier' and we like for our kids to have fun playing with friends, HOWEVER, these kids were beyond pushy, did not listen, would not leave when it was time for them to go home, and to top it off their father, the handyman who was working in the neighborhood, never once came around to check on them, bring them water or anything. The man drug these dirty, pushy children to his job sites in the 90+ degree heat and cut them loose for hours. I did mention that they are like eight and nine years old, right? I certainly hope their mama in NC keeps better tabs on them than their father does. Farewell Gypsy Children.

Happenings

We spent a fun weekend in Natural Bridge last weekend. We met our friends up there...one of them has a birthday the day before mine, and we both just happened to want to get out of town and have some family fun without all of the birthday fuss, so it was perfect. They also have two kids and the whole trip was fun for all.

I do have to say, though, that Natural Bridge is one of the weirdest places - cool kind of weird and almost creepy. The hotel reminded us of "The Shining" except there was no snow and no bush maze. We decided that next time we would bring a big wheel for one of the boys to ride down the hallway just like in the movie just to possibly freak a guest or two out.

Our weekend getaway package included, among other things, tickets to a wax museum full of poorly done replicas. My favorite was Bill Clinton who looked very Asian. I also saw one who looked like my aunt's father-in-law, but I'm not sure who that particular figure was supposed to be. Then, there was the toy museum. Holly enjoyed it the most. My opinion was that it was the largest collection of dust and mold. I held my breath and followed the arrows o.u.t. of there. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the biggest attraction there, which was the Natural Bridge. We went to see it at night during the show, "The Drama of Creation," which was not at all what I thought it would be. Basically, it was a light show under the bridge while a booming voice talked about how the bridge was formed over time and then recited the book of Genesis - and then it was so..... It was weird. We all agreed that they should have the light show with a dance party under the bridge, liven things up a bit. On our way out of Natural Bridge, we stopped by the entrance to their haunted house and then took a tour of the caverns. Holly just loved the bats flying around down in the caverns. Our tour guide was a kid with a good sense of humor and that made the damp darkness and the occasional drip of water on your head from lord knows where that much more tolerable. It was definitely time well-spent. :)

Saturday

Our last birthday celebration was Saturday, August 8th. It was Grandpa's 74th birthday and we arranged a little cookout (or cook-in since it was so hot and humid). Holly's cousin, Karen, and her five month old son, Grayson, came to visit from Chesapeake. Also joining us was Holly's brother Joe and his family and, of course, Reagan and her entourage.

After celebrating her birthday again on Friday night, Holly and I were not feeling all that great and were busted lounging on the couch with guests in the house (oops!). Evyn spotted my camera and started snapping pictures of us and then had Ashley, Gary, Grayson and Reed join us...this is what she got.

Next up, me. We are headed to Natural Bridge for a little getaway with another Leo whose birthday happens to be the day before mine and her family. Look out Natural Bridge Hotel, here we come.

And the birthdays begin

Today marks the beginning of the House of Leo birthday celebrations. Holly's is first (today!) followed by grandpa two days later (let's not forget Alleigh on the same day as grandpa) and then there is mine eight days later. At this point, I can hardly remember if I'm 37 or 38 so who the heck cares. Let's talk about Holly - 44 years on this earth with the mental age of anywhere from 13 to 18. She's got nothing to worry about because it is all about the way you feel, right? For the record, that is not a tombstone candle. It is the number 44 written in glitter glue on a foam shape that resembles a tombstone. It is called making due with the supplies you have - reduce, reuse and recycle, you know.

We had a special guest with us this evening, here to celebrate her very first birthday other than her own 24 days ago. Reagan's gift to Holly was her bright eyes. She kept those eyes open for the majority of time that she was here....you never know what you might see while visiting the Lively family, especially if they are celebrating.

Gypsy Children

Last Saturday, the kids were swimming and I was chatting with my neighbor when we noticed a little unleashed dog at the gate. Strays have a way of finding us, obviously, and I thought the cute little dog at my gate was another stay thinking it was his lucky day. As it turns out, there was a little girl lurking along with her brother, watching the kids swim. Eventually, Evyn started talking to the girl and they started playing in our yard. When asked where she lived, the girl replied, "North Carolina." She said that her dad is a handy man and he was doing work at one of our neighbor's houses. Evyn and Reed continued to play with the Gypsy Children for quite a while..never a word from their father. He eventually came around and collected them from the house hours later.

They showed up again yesterday while Reed was swimming with my summer helper, Ryan. This time the Gypsy Children brought their bathing suits. They practically busted into the house to ask me if they could swim too. They were told they could swim for 30 minutes, until we had to leave to pick Evy up from camp. The time came for Reed and Ryan to get out so we could leave. They got out but the Gypsy Children were not so cooperative. I finally had to get a little nasty and threaten them after about the tenth attempt to get rid of them. They finally left. I never saw their dad - swimming for 30 to 40 minutes and he never came over the see if they were okay.

These children are 8 and 9 years old and visiting their dad who apparently has no issues with them wandering around strange neighborhoods and swimming in stranger's pools while he works. He must not watch the news. He must not know that it is not okay to let young children wander freely. All I have to say is I hope the Gypsy Children's father finishes up his work in our neighborhood soon so we can enjoy our yard in peace. Did I mention that they came back today while our niece and her friend were trying to enjoy the pool? It was hard to get them to leave then too. I found myself wanting to yell "SCRAM" out of the back door...that's probably the kind of parenting they are used to. Maybe next time they come I will.

Chef Reedlet

Reed has taken an interest in helping out in the kitchen lately. Holly suggested he help with breakfast last Sunday, so he decided to make and serve Evyn breakfast in bed. We thought about getting him an apron, but who needs an apron when you've got a wife beater?

No pink juice

Our girl Sage is our most elderly dog right now. She scared the crap out of us Friday afternoon when she developed a head tilt, had eye twitches and started stumbling around. Since both Holly's father and my father have recently had strokes, we assumed that Sage had probably had a stroke too. Since the vet was getting ready to close, we made an appointment for first thing this morning and hoped that we would not have to take her to an emergency vet over the weekend. We spent the weekend going over and above our ordinary pet care routine when it came to Sage. Since eating was difficult, we hand fed her Iams meatballs, baby food, cheese and anything else that she could chew. We told Evyn and Reed stories about how we ended up with Sage, what she looked like as a puppy and how she would be going to doggie heaven in a few days.

This morning, the kids and Grandpa said their good-byes and Holly and I carted Sage off to the vet for her scheduled euthanasia, a dose of pink juice. The euthanasia solution is this beautiful shade of pink, not the color you would expect a life-ending cocktail to be. When Dr. K had a look at her and listened to us through our tears talk about the horrible turn Sage's life had taken, she informs us that she has geriatric vestibular syndrome. This is not a life-ending disease. In fact, it is manageable with Meclizine, with can be found over-the-counter. Sage was granted a stay, no pink juice today. What a relief.

Just take a look at this cuteness!

Are we not the luckiest grandmas? We like to think we are. I mean, look at this perfect little girl. She came over for a visit today, and we were all practically fighting for moments with her, especially when she woke up and showed us how content she is just lying around in our arms, squirming around, staring at whatever catches her eye and, at times, fighting to keep those little eyelids open, looking at all of us marvel in her sweetness. I swear, I might be biased, but Reagan seems like the ideal baby. I mean she IS the ideal baby.

Vacation Picture Outtakes

With so many of us taking pictures during our beach vacation and thanks to Facebook and being able to see and steal everyone's photos, I have comes across so many funny ones that I could not resist making this little collage (click on it to see a larger version).

Most of the pictures are self-explanatory but a few of them might require explanation, a "had to be there" kind of thing. Like the picture of Holly with some one's finger (Matt's ?) clinched in her teeth. She is holding a cigarette but does not smoke - this was the warm up to night that most of us cut loose. The one of me holding the shaker... is that *really* me? Why do I look like I am trying to sell the shaker - a shaker full of something(s) contained in the many bottles in the background, and who is that flipping me and my shaker off in the upper right hand corner? I might never know, however, I suspect it is Matt's hand (again). Next to me and the shaker is Travis and Alleigh outside watching fireworks on the Fourth of July...in the wind. I just love Alleigh's wind-induced mullet. The pictures of Evyn and Reed eating suckers cracks me up because these two jumped into almost every picture taken on the deck that evening. Jenni and her beautiful daughters were *trying* to take some shots of themselves, but almost each one contained Evyn chomping on that darn sucker. In one of them, Reed looks like he is jamming the thing down his throat. The one of Holly and Travis at the bottom is part II of a yearly series in which Holly and Travis are photographed when she is pointing to some random part of his body...I am sure you can imagine what this series could turn into over the years. No, the picture of Evyn and Alleigh was not taken in a steam room - darn humidity. Last, but not least, the bottom, right picture was taken by Leslie when we noticed a rainbow ring around the sun. Here I was thinking that the universe was sending us a message of love, light and happy beach party vibes, but it is actually a semi-regular occurrence, a 22 degree halo.... cool nonetheless.

Sweetness

Yesterday we went to visit Ashley and Gary and snuggle with sweet little Reagan. Her bilirubin has been up, so they had to get a bili blanket to help with the jaundice. Her color is improving, and she might have gotten her last heel stick at the doctor's office this morning, depending on what the lab results are. As of today, she has gained 4 ounces since Saturday. She is doing wonderfully, and we are all in love.

Nine days at the beach.

It was almost too much to take but we managed, life's a beach like that. Cape Hatteras, NC is gorgeous. We were fortunate enough to stay in a house on the beach, room with a view and everything....heaven on earth. It was a nice place to recover from a hangover too, not that I would know - cough, cough.

In the picture of Evyn, she is pointing at our "big green house" with her right thumb.

Our pool was pretty fun too. We enjoyed it and so did several crabs who made their way in during the night and promptly died. We are used to scooping leaves and frogs out of our pool at home, never dead crabs. Eww!

Our house was super close to the ferry to Ocracoke Island, one of the most remote islands in the Outer Banks. With only about 800 permanent residents, it is a laid back place where you could easily ride a bike anywhere you needed to go. I can almost see myself living there. We rode the ferry over a couple of times to play on the beautiful beaches, look for sand dollars, shop and dine.
When you travel with such a great group of people, you really cannot go wrong unless the wind is blowing too hard. I mean, look at this:

We had Emeril, I mean Hilton, and his grills, spices and fixins, lots of beer, great conversation, cute cousins playing in the sand, happy adults relaxing by the sea and our four wheel drive vehicles to take us to one of the greatest places in the US. The only thing we did not have was Ashley and Gary. Although they had a very legitimate reason for not joining us this year, we missed them nonetheless. I don't mean to sound like I am bragging, but we were in dire need of a vacation and I'm just happy that we were able to pull off not only our usual 7 day vacation, but 9 days. My liver is glad to be home and not processing alcohol on a daily basis.

About half of our group left one day early. Those of us who wished to savor the remaining hours of vacation stayed and enjoyed one last sunny day at the beach and a bonfire the last night. Thanks to a nice young man from our group (who shall remain anonymous) who left his partially burned boxers on the beach the previous night, we had something to help get our fire started. Evyn and Reed made up a song thanking this young man for leaving his shorts behind. We made smores and roasted hot dogs. The kids loved that! The perfect ending to a great time.