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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Enjoying the weather


A day at the zoo.  I was hot in my capris and was wishing I'd worn sandals and shorts.


Loving the sandbox and the warm March weather.


This is what happens when Hubby plays with the kids in the sandbox.  He's thinks he's funny.  :)


Vicky

Friday, March 16, 2012

Everybody goes kung-fu-fi-ting...

We borrowed Kung Fu Panda (a Dreamworks movie for those who may not be familiar with it) from my parents.  It's cute and we've watched it a LOT.  Well I was watching the end and it was showing the credits/voices for the characters and saw that the voice for the character "Monkey" is Jackie Chan and all I could think of was... "I wonder if he does his own stunts."  :)



Vicky

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Spring is in the air!

Wow!  Global climate change is here.  Record highs this week.  It's 80° and we're wearing shorts and t-shirts during a time of year we would normally be wearing jeans and lightweight coats.  Sunshine asked if she and Monkey could play in the sprinkler when she got home from school.  I just couldn't tell her yes, if it were June, I might have said yes and she'd have been outside shivering but running around and coming back in after a few minutes.


But it's not June, it's March.  The hose is in the garage for the winter and the trees are still bare.  The tulips don't have buds yet but it's been so warm, I'm wondering when I should plant my little seedlings.  Sunshine, Monkey and I planted seedlings (marigolds, violas - that didn't take -, oregano, basil, tomatoes, and peas).  I (i.e. Hubby) have to pull out all of our stuff that is shoved in the far corner of the garage and play Tetras to get it and the cars to fit in there while still making everything accessible.  This means that I want to make sure that it is indeed "spring" and not the teaser that Illinois so often has.  I often wonder if this "teaser" is a phenomena that only northern Illinois is privy to.  If you are not familiar with our obnoxious, yet always predictable weather, this is how it generally happens:


March:  "It's been in the 60's!  Spring is here!  Hooray!"
Early April:  The temperature drops.  It has been known to have heavy snowfall during this time.  You curse at yourself for once again falling for Mother Nature's trick.  You also wonder why all of the Easter dresses out there are sleeveless and why you, once again, bought one without buying a sweater to go with it.
Late April:  It's been in the 70's - "Hooray!  Spring is here!"
Early - mid-May:  It continues to be warm.  80's are pretty common.  "It's summer!"  Kids begin to heavily bug you about going swimming.
Late May (aka Memorial Day weekend):  It rains.  Now this is not guaranteed.  Sometimes it is the first super hot day of the season.  If it is the latter, there will not be any hot days for quite a while.


I am looking forward to Spring and planting, I'm also ready for that cold blizzard that may also be on it's way.

Vicky


This post is sponsored by Alan's Factory Outlet.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Does this basketball make me look fat?

I miss being pregnant.  Sure you get big and swollen and you get heartburn but I still enjoyed it.  (Not to mention the added bonus of a cute little newborn.)


Last night, Hubby and I went to a social for Sunshine's school.  Adults only.  Woohoo!  Night out!  Dinner, cash bar, silent auction and casual attire.  Woohoo!  Oh, wait, casual attire.  Usually I love the words "casual attire".


Usually.


I realized that casual attire can mean so many different things to so many different people.  I live in a neighborhood where many women will wear nice heel boots and designer clothes to the park and to a school functions.


Not me.


I like jeans.  Jeans are my best friend.  I'm not talking designer jeans either.  I'm talking just regular ole jeans, nothing special.  For me, when I heard casual, I immediately thought jeans and a sweater or shirt.


Then I realized, this was not one of those kind of casual events.  I decided on a pair of Dockers, I figured I wouldn't look too over dressed or too underdressed.  So I'd wear Dockers and something...  something... something.  I looked in my closet for "something".  Nothing.  I looked in my drawers (even though I had already decided against a sweater).  Nothing.  I looked again in my closet.  For some reason, "something" didn't magically appear.


What was going on?  Where was all of my clothes?


And then I saw it.  One of my maternity dresses that I had bought when I was pregnant with Sunshine.  I had loved the dress.  It's maroon with a tie in back.  Simple yet dressy, but not too dressy.


Oh.  That's where my clothes was.  It was packed up in boxes and  ready to be donated to other women who needed maternity clothes.  What about the other clothes?  My regular clothes.  Oh yeah.  I've been home for so long that I have about 15 cotton shirts, some sweaters and a dozen sweatshirts, some (many) of them are from when I was in high school, and that's about it.  There's casual and then there's casual.  That's just a bit too casual.


So I decided, the thing I miss most about being pregnant?  The wardrobe.  I didn't need to have a ton of stuff because I didn't need to and people didn't expect you to.


Then I began to wonder...


How weird would it be if I wore a maternity dress when I wasn't pregnant?  Probably pretty weird.  Maybe I could just strap a basketball around my waist...


Vicky

Friday, March 2, 2012

Hats, hats and more hats!

Monkey has the most animated voice of a 4 year old that I know.  His facial expressions are one of a kind.  He has a knack for getting the combination of the 2 in the best possible ways that make you laugh, even - or especially - when he's being naughty.  And now, you can apparently add story teller to his 'list'.


Monkey and Bug both have cute Monkey hats.  Monkey's happens to be one of those sock monkey hats with the long braids coming down from the side/ears.  They're cute, especially on a kid.  I'm not one who has enough self-confidence to be able to pull it off.


They other day, Monkey and I were sitting down and he asks me where was my monkey hat.  (After all, everyone must have a monkey hat.)  I told him I didn't have a monkey hat only he and Bug did.  This would be the part where is able to get this surprised/shocked look on his face along with a gasp of disbelief.  Of course he wanted to know why and I told him that I just didn't have one and that not everyone has monkey hats.


This is his reply:


"Mommy, Daddy and me and Sunshine are going to go to the dore and get you a monkey hat.  I will wap it up and hide it behind dis chair.  You will close yo'r eyes.  I will put the present on yo'r yap.  I will tell you to open it.  You will open it and you will be so surprised and you will say, 'Oh my doodness, a monkey hat!  I wuv it!"  And den you will put it on and you will have dese long thingies on the side like I do and you will pull your hat way down and it will keep yo'r ears nice and warm."


Now all that the story needs is a store that is still stocking hats.







Vicky