in case you didn't know...

In case you didn't know, it's very hard to quilt with a puppy in your lap. I sat down to work on my hand quilting today, and William immediately came over and sat in my lap. No matter how many times I moved him, he just came right back. On the plus side, I have finally figured out how to quilt without constantly turning my hoop around and around.

homemade space bags

I don't know about you guys, but I love the usefulness of space bags, but they are so expensive. A while back, I heard this tip on a tv show but kept forgetting to try it. Today, I finally did and it worked just as well as the store bought ones. You take a regular trash bag, the show said the heavy duty black ones but I only had basic white kitchen bags and they worked fine, put your stuff in it, vacuum out the air, and seal it with a rubber band. I found it worked easiest if I put the rubber band around the bag first, and then looped it around until it was tight after vacuuming. I had my bags standing up like they would be in a trash can and they made misshapen cubes. Next time I think I'll try laying them down and see if they come out a little more flat.

two new nieces

Just a couple of pics so you all can see my two new nieces. I now have a total of 6 nieces and no nephews, so Dylan continues to be the only grandson on my side of the family.

April's little girl, Jewel, was born late Saturday night.



Katie's little girl, Summer, was born early Tuesday morning.

what are the odds

About five or six years ago, we had a real tree for Christmas. One day I asked Frank to check the water in the tree stand to see if it needed to be refilled. After sticking his hand in it, he said "It's full all the way to the bottom". I gave him quite a bit of grief about it. Well today, Dylan was getting syrup out of the fridge to put on his waffles. Shianne started whining that he was going to take to much and there wouldn't be any left for her. Dylan said "It's almost full to the bottom". Frank and I both started laughing so hard. Dylan had never even heard Frank say that and he quoted it almost exactly.

silly puppy

This is a video of William trying to get George to play with him. As you can see, George is ignoring him. So far, William has been unsuccesful in getting any other animals to play with him. The cats run from him, and mom and dad's dachsund pretty much ignores him too.

please vote for me

So, I am participating in digital scrapbooking survivor at gingerscraps. Today is the voting day to see who gets to stay. I would love it if you would go and vote for me. You might have to create a login account to do it, I'm not sure. The link is http://www.gingerscraps.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4053
Just look for "curlysue_73601" in the list and click on it, then scroll to the bottom of the list and click on "vote now". Here's my layout for this week, which is what the voting is based on.

slip-n-slide

Yesterday, we got out Dylan's new slip-n-slide. He had a lot of fun with it, but Shianne got pretty frustrated. She could only get under the sprayer if she was on her tummy with her head down. In fact, at one point she insisted it couldn't be done. Frank said of course it could, and that he could do it. So, after Frank proved it could be done, Shianne tried a few more times, though she still was not totally happy because she couldn't make it all the way to the end.







William thought the slip-n-slide was a huge water bowl for dogs and kept getting in the way. The kids were really good about waiting for him to get off and he never stayed on for very long.

our new baby

Okay, I can already hear some of you saying we're crazy. But, I've been wanting one of these for a long time. So when a friend offered him to us, we just had to say yes.



















We now have a long-haired mini dachsund. His name is William Maxwell and he is just the sweetest thing. One of his eyes is brown and the other is brown on top and blue on the bottom.

dylan's birthday party

We had Dylan's birthday party Saturday. From my side of the family, Katie, Brooke, April, Dan, Grace, Annie, Lucy, and Rachel came. From Frank's side of the family, Gene, Joan, Craig, Robyn, and Meaghan came. None of the nonfamily friends that we invited were able to come, but Dylan didn't seem to notice.

His cake was a train cake that I decorated to look like Thomas.

Dylan loved all of his presents, though he's generally easy to please.

His water gun from Craig, Robyn, and Meaghan. It shoots colored water. They also got him a Thomas book.

His Clifford games for the computer that Katie, Bill, and Brooke bought him. He already has a different one in the series and loves it, so he's pretty excited about these.

Gene and Joan got him a new slip-n-slide and Rachel gave him some legos, but I wasn't able to get pictures of those. We'll definitely have to get the slip-n-slide out this week, it is soooo hot.

As of right now, his favorite present is the squishy lizards and frogs that April, Dan, Grace, Annie and Lucy got him.

The kids discovered that if you throw them hard enough, they stick to the ceiling.

After presents, we went out back and had a pinata. Dylan had never had one before and had begged for one. It worked out really well. On one of Shianne's turns, she broke open the bottom just enough that if you hit it a few pieces of candy fell out. So all the kids got to have a turn where they hit a few pieces out and got to keep them. Then, on Shianne's next turn, it busted all the way open and they all crowded in to get the candy.

dylan's birthday

Today Dylan turned five. He's not my little boy anymore -- sniff, sniff. Today he got his presents from us, though I had only planned on giving him one today and the other one on Saturday at his party. But I left them in the back of the van and forgot about them. When we got in the van he saw them right away and said "Mommy, are these for me?" So he didn't get to unwrap them. We got him another ramp for his hotwheels tracks and a Mickey Mouse yahtzee game (he's already played with both). We also went to visit Pat, his former babysitter today. We didn't really go because it was his birthday, it just was a good time. I had realized that while I had lots of pictures of him with the other kids, I had none of him with Pat. After dinner, we went to Braums and got ice cream sundaes. Then we let the kids go outside and play with their new bubbles and ride bikes. Dylan had a lot of fun, but he's convinced that his real birthday isn't until Saturday when we have the party.

legos

Saturday, Dylan got his birthday present from Grammy and Papa. He's party's not till this coming Saturday, but they will be out of town. They got him a lego kit (his first legos). He was super excited. We put it together today and he did it almost all by himself. He did all but a few pieces on his own. I interpreted most of the instructions for him, but he was even able to read quite a few of those on his own. It's a semi, helicopter, and motorcycle. He really loves that the semi's hood opens and there are removable tools he can use to work on the semi.

It's a little hard to tell from the camera angle, but Dylan's mouth is wide open in excitement.



Dylan always sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating.

4th of july

Well, this fourth of July was not quite as much fun as previous years. We always go to Yukon where my parents live because they have such a great fireworks show, plus all sorts of other activities. In the morning, they have a parade of bikes, crafts, moon bounce, etc. We didn't make it to that part this year because of Frank's work schedule and the kids were a little dissapointed. April brought over a big bucket of poppers and let all the kids take turns pulling them. They had a lot of fun with that, though Shianne was really the only one that had enough strength to pull the string. Grace and Dylan did finally figure out a way to pull the strings, but Dylan could still only do it sometimes






After dinner, we usually head over to the park and listen to the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and then watch the fireworks, which are set to music which makes them that much cooler. But, about 6:15 it started pouring rain and continued until almost 7:00. Dad has a rain gauge and it says we got over an inch and a half of rain. So, the park was out, and instead we walked over to the church behind mom and dad's house and set up camp in the parking lot. The fireworks usually start about ten, but this year they didn't start until 10:15. We had about decided they weren't going to shoot them because of all the rain and several other people that had gone to the church had left already. It wasn't quite the same effect without the music, but it was still a lot of fun. They even shot a few kinds we hadn't ever seen before.

dylan and papa scrapbook page

Last week I posted a picture of Dylan that looked a lot like my dad. Today, I made a digital scrapbook page of the two of them. I thought you guys might like to see it, especially those of you who don't know what my dad looked like as a kid.

spray park, white water, and some sad news

Yesterday, we went to the spray park with Katie, Brooke and her cousin Hannah. Well, actually we went to three. Right about the time we got to the first one, three daycare vans full of kids came to play and it was very crowded and noisy. So we left to try a different one we had been to before, and it was broken. As you can see, we did finally find one to play at. We brought water balloons and so did Katie. The kids ended up spending most of the time filling and popping the water balloons. Shianne finally learned how to tie a balloon.

Today, we went to White Water again. Dylan was just as brave as last time. Today, I asked him if he wanted to ride the Pirate's Plunge, a slide that is pitch black inside, though not very high or frightening aside from the dark. I didn't tell him it was dark and he agreed to go. When we were most of the way up, he asked if it was dark inside and I said a little bit. He just said ok and still wanted to go. I was worried he was going to panic, but he came out smiling and wanted to go again. The funny thing is, Shianne was at least seven before she would go on any rides.

Okay, the sad news. Today we happened to drive past Shianne's dance studio and she asked me what the sign at Ms. Betty's was. I hadn't seen it, but on our way back home I pulled into the parking lot. The studio is for lease and there is a sign from Ms. Betty saying she has retired. Though she totally deserves it (she is turning 90 this month), we are sad, especially since she didn't really give anyone any warning. Shianne has been going there for seven years now and not only loves Ms. Betty, but has made a lot of friends there.