paul mitchell clyde

A few nights ago, Erin wanted to straighten her hair. Clyde was so sweet and volunteered to do it for her. She jumped @ the chance for Dad to do her hair. He used to dry it and straighten it all the time when the girls were younger. Now that they can do it on their own, we have stopped doing it for them. {sigh} It was just a nice moment. He brushed the boys' hair and styled it as well. My Paul Mitchell Clyde...

The same day, Jacob ran into our dining room table...face first. The bruise was instantaneously purple. Then there was the swelling. We put a bag of frozen corn over it and the swelling did go down a bit, thankfully. He looks like he lost a fight, AKA Rocky. Then the next day, Josh came home with a bruise on his cheek. He said that a boy in his class and he were playing Star Wars, on the playground, and that he ran into a pole. Boys.

we owe it all to yellow

A few years ago, Penny was really sick. She maintained a high fever of 104- 105 for days. We had taken her into the pediatrician several times, to which they couldn't figure out why she had the fever. She didn't have an ear infection, strept, the flu, pneumonia, or anything bacterial, warranting antibiotics. After several days of this high fever, Clyde took Penny back into the dr. and her recent blood work, yep, blood work, showed a high white count, indicating an infection but they didn't know where. To rule out a UTI, they had to use a catheter, on our 15 month old. This she hated, but she hated Clyde even more for taking her and allowing the dr.'s and nurses to do what they did. That dr.'s visit seriously damaged Clyde and Penny's relationship. She didn't trust him anymore. Since that visit, she has been wary of Clyde. It has taken nearly 2 years for Clyde to gain her trust back. She has been warming up alot lately and we can say that 'lellow' has something to do with it. We have never named our cars. They are what they are...the van, the wagon, the fox etc, until we bought the beetle. It has been lovingly named Yellow by Penny. When we saw the beetle on craigslist, we liked it for being a turbo, a 5-speed, & a VW beetle. It was Libby who pointed out that Penny would be in (say in a high pitched voice) Heaven, because it was yellow.
Clyde and Penny had a real bonding moment this past Saturday when they washed yellow. She loves to be a helper and Saturday was no different. She helped Clyde scrub yellow. She had her hand crocheted dishtowel scrubbing away. She lifted up the windshield wipers to wash the glass even. When it was time to rinse the car she stood behind Clyde, holding the hose with him.
Then he gave Penny the hose and she delicately rinsed Yellow, taking her time on the rims, the handles to the car,the windows, it's doors & the inside of our garage. :)

Then when Clyde was giving Yellow a final rinse, she walked over and just held his hand. What a sweet moment to have witnessed. And we owe it all to Yellow.

(p.s. don't you just love Clyde's hot calves?!! {{wink!!}})

a busy friday

This is just our typical Jacob. I turned around to find this:
Our Friday was a busy Friday. We started out with a Terrific Kids ceremony for Josh @ school. Their school has a ceremony and then serves a small breakfast. We are very proud of Josh and his wonderful accomplishments. His teacher had some really kind words to say about him. Way to go Josh!

Josh was a bit nervous when accepting his certificate, pencil, and bumper sticker.

Once the ceremony was completed we then had to race to a lab to have some blood work done for Miss Penny. She was a trooper and thankfully there was a spare pair of hands to help hold her down. She was so upset. Of course, in true big brother style, Jacob laughed. Penny didn't even want the nurse to put a band aid on her after she was done. When we were leaving the building, Penny was still crying and screaming, but screaming for her Dadda. I felt really small. I know though had Clyde taken her for blood work, she wouldn't have spoken to him for a week.

After blood work, we went home for speech. We ended up planting a few veggies. I do think it is still a bit early, but will hope that the few that we planted will start to sprout.

Once speech was over, we went to the farmers market with the E family. We really enjoy the farmers market. My favorite part is this little shop that sells some nice black licorice bites.

(Penny's speech teacher gave her this really cute yellow rain jacket & a yellow duck umbrella. She carried the umbrella around everywhere yesterday and only took the raincoat off when she became too hot to wear it. This girl loves yellow!)

We made it home in time to open the door for the older Wardlings to get off the bus. We had a bit of a breather, when a friend called to remind me about the Family Support Network's annual Children's Museum Night. We hurried to get our shoes on and we were out the door again for some family fun @ the Museum. Clyde and Erin met us there on their way home from school. The Wardlings loved the museum. After we checked in Penny ran into the market of the museum. She was really excited to play. In the dr's office, in the museum, Clyde found a shot needle and thought that Penny would totally flip, since she had just had blood work herself, but instead Penny was brave and stuck out her arm like a pro. The boys were total monkeys climbing on everything. The big girls played just as hard as everyone else. It was a fun nite. I was so exhausted from our day, that I put myself to bed around 8:30; haven't done that in a long time. It felt really nice.

children's museum

jacob in the house

Ever feel like this? Clyde sent this to me today and I just had to laugh. This is so our Jacob.

green @ the brown house

I am pleased to announce that Libby is feeling much better. The antibiotics did their job and she is doing much better...well enough to go to school today. I am so grateful for antibiotics and that Libby feels better!
It is spring and with spring comes our garden. We do not have a huge place to plant a big garden but we are going to use what we have. I am thinking that this little place in front of our house will work. I would plant in our back yard, but our crazy dog, Uno, would most likely destroy it.

On closer inspection of our garden spot, there are several plants that are already sprouting.

like our hostas...

my hallobourous rose...

greek oregano...

and soon to be the lettuces that I bought last night.

When I had my Mama's getaway last month, Clyde bought me a blueberry bush, a blackberry bush, and another rose bush. I am so looking forward to getting them in the ground. We had to wait until after the frost. I didn't want them to freeze and die. I am so excited to get in that dirt and plant my garden. Last night when I was walking in the garden section @ Walmart, I just had to take a moment to smell the dirt in bags. It so reminded me of working in the greenhouse when I was in HS. (That was one of my weekend/ summer jobs.) I transplanted plugs of pansies into their cells, along with other plants like the hostas, marigolds, spider grass, etc. It was so pretty to see the flats of pansies, as long as a greenhouse, ready to be sold or planted. All those colors just popped. I just love to watch the progress of the plants. What is amazing is that we'll be able to eat what we grow. way cool!