Wild Card Wednesday.....water

The Kept Woman also known as the Garage sale diva plays this little game.....my W for this week is water....in the form of rain. I feel like the Wonder Twins..."Wonder Twins power, activate. Form of water, form of tiger"....or something like that anyways.

We had a nice little shower to cool things off yesterday. Will was super sad because he was supposed to have kickety kick ball practice. How sad is it that I was secretly elated when I opened my email and there was a "practice cancelled" email. Bad mommy!

So I let them do their favorite thing....go play in the rain.

We live on a street with a slight incline....We also have a few oak trees in the yard. Water + acorns = at least a good thirty minutes of fun! They looked like little squirrels gathering as many nuts as they could. They were sticking them in pockets I didn't even know they had. I am sure I will find some in the wash this week. They carefully placed them right in the center of the stream.....

Whew hoo! Look at them go, Mommy! Then of course we get into the argument 'mine beats yours'.....yada yada yada....What can we do next?? I know, kick your shoes off kids....stomp stomp stomp like a dinosaur. Yes, we watch too much Diego in this house!

I had a hard time taking pics of Will again....he is back to using his arm as a shield and running. I wasn't running after him with my new camera...far be it I drop my precious little baby!

So, that's all folks. btw, the rain cooled things off tremendously! We couldn't go say goodnight to the moon since it was still cloudy...but we did see a few twinkle little stars. But I will take cool and cloudy over heat any day!

Happy Wednesday...

Wild card Wednesday.....there was an old lady who lived in her shoe

The Kept Woman wanted to see our shoes to prove to her husband that all these random bloggers across the world have more than her....Not sure if I am helping you out any though.

These are shoes that I am not wearing now that it is so super hot. The ones on the bottom are dressy shoes....one black, one brown, and one from my wedding. I kept the wedding ones thinking I could dye them one day....uuhmmm they are still white....ten years later. I don't know any fashionista wearing cute white shoes with a little bow on them. But I still hang on to them.

These are the ones I wear on a daily basis.....Again a bunch of khaki, brown and black. Wait, right at the top is a speck of Kelly green. ....Kate Spade Kelly green....nearly the only ounce of color in my entire shoe wardrobe. To the right of the tennis shoes are a pair of orange and brown rain boots.....but that is about it.

So, even counting some boot boxes that are barely visable, I probably have less than 25 pairs of shoes. I keep a great basic black, brown, and tan of a few styles. I am a firm believer of one pair in, one pair out. I try to keep my closet as organized as possible. I know I can go to it at any time and throw together a casual outfit, an outfit for lunch with the girls, a date outfit, or something totally formal. Same goes with shoes....

Did you play?

Wild card Wednesday...W....Will is in kickety kickball.....shoes....will be back next week

The Kept Woman wanted to see our shoes.....but needs another week. So no shoes for now....but

Will had his first kickety kickball game tonight at 6:45. I didn't really want to go that late. But at least I knew they would be tired. I wouldn't have to deal with them coming out of their rooms fifty times.

I thought their colors were blue...I went to pick up his shirt this afternoon and it is grey and black. Black??? I don't have black shorts. So I head to Walmart next. They don't have any 4T shorts, so I go over to the big boy section. Score....there were one pair of 4/5 XS black shorts.

After dinner I get the water bottles packed....It was over 100 degrees today, so I pack two for everybody. I put his kickety kick ball shirt on him, he got really upset when I showed him his shirt with a big number three in the back. "But, Mom, I am FOUR years old now!" Oh dude, how do I get past this one.....Pulling it straight out of the air I told him that he got to kick third at the game. He accepted that....I hope he forgets by the time we get there!! Then I got his new XS black shorts on him.....it took me back to my teaching days. His shorts are just a tad too big and they are dragging past his knees. I found a safety pin. I pinned it up and just hoped he didn't go digging back there and make it pop open. What can we do the game starts in 15 minutes.

I load up the car....

sunscreen....check

water....check

kid in shirt and right color shorts.....check

We get to the field with five minutes to spare. Okay....lots of grey and black shirts running around....no other kids. The other teams' coach quit this week and no one bothered to tell us. It was a good thing since the one thing every good momma needs, I forgot.

Camera.....at home.

Oh well, we practiced kicking the ball and running bases. They did so much better than they did the first time.

Watch out Bumblebees.....the Mosquitoes are ready!

Wild card Wednesday..B...oh wait, no it is R.....

I think I might need some of that brain empowering chocolate ice cream The Kept Woman is having because I could have sworn the letter of the week was "B".....but it is not....it is R.

R, how do I get B and R mixed up? I am not in preschool anymore. Granted I am around nothing but two preschoolers...so maybe it is rubbing off. So I am stealing her "R" and going with red as well.

So either B for Bubbles or R for Red....these are some pictures I have already on the computer. I love this bubble dipper from Gymboree....the kids can't eat the bubbles at all. Eating bubbles leads to upset tummies. Upset tummies lead to moaning and groaning all evening...something I try to keep to a minimum these days since I am parenting solo for the time being.

Livi has the red going as well, in the little gingham hair bow .....score...she does not have the handy dandy Gymboree so guess who was moaning and groaning??

So for a girlie who thought the letter was B....I think I pulled this one off.

happy Wednesday y'all

Wild card Wednesday...W....Will is in kickety kickball.....whew hoo

The Kept Woman , who just needs to go buy some good knives... assigned no letter, so I am going with the old standby.....W





Will started kickety kickball this evening. Apparently kickety kickball is a step below soccer for the preschool set. It is a blend of soccer and t-ball. The kid kicks a ball and runs the bases.





Because we were moving last summer, Will did not play any organized sports at the ripe old age of three. So at four, he is just getting in the game. It was so funny...obviously not a single one of the ten kids had played much of anything either. There were kids running for the pitcher's mound....kids running to second, then to the fence. All of this is in 98 degree weather.










During this time Livi found some other little sis to play with. They were playing in the dirt together. She might like to wear bows and dresses every day, but she will dig in the dirt with the best of them!








Do you notice anything about this team? Of the ten kids, only one dad was present. We don't even live on post, but so many dads are deployed. I guess if the wives didn't take up the slack, there would be no teams. Not that I jumped at it when the Parks and Rec called asking for volunteers!





On a lighter note, I find it quite is hilarious is that we only have one practice, then a game in a couple of weeks. The team that we play was practicing tonight as well at the same field.....I think we can take them! Look at that aim, he is good to go....let's just hope he runs to first.

Wild Card Wednesday....Wild Animals

Not sure if The Kept Woman is playing this week....but when I get stuck in a routine....well, we all know someone with a little bit of an OCD....so let's just leave it at that.

We are lucky enough to have a few trees in our yard. This is a new neighborhood, so not many do. It is nice because it does provide some shade in this Texas heat.

We have this little bird feeder an old boyfriend's parents gave us long ago. That is a whole other story,....okay where was I?? Oh yeah...bird feeder....well, I fill it usually on the weekend. We are out in front washing cars and playing with the neighbor kids. So it gets done then. All the birds flock to the house because apparently the flavor I buy at the commissary rocks!

I got it filled....all the birds in the neighborhood come out for a party. Seed is flying everywhere. The little birds are picking up the leftovers from the grass below. The big blue Jays are hogging it from everyone. When they get their fill, the cardinals come. yada yada yada, Come Tuesday, I notice the thing is empty! EMPTY....it is a good sized feeder.

Seems like the furry tailed little rat in the neighborhood likes the seed as well. Not only does he like it, he tells his friends as well...."Hey guys, easy feedings over at 1234 Easy Street".....because in less than the 2 hours I was gone this morning to drop Will off, go to Livi's music class, and come home....it was all gone. They had cleaned it out.

Apparently the bird seed wasn't enough. This one proceeded to try to chew through the string holding it to the tree.

When Livi saw him out there, she growled at him. It did not even faze the little rodent! Then she was mad because it wasn't afraid of her. She thought it was going to get her. Great ...now I can add squrril to her list of things she is afaid of....Batman being the first!

He even gave her the evil red eye look! Little beast....I guess I better go back to filling the seed, or my pour little feeder will be on the ground after he chews through it.

happy Wednesday y'all

Wild Card Wednesday: P: Princess in Pink

From The Kept Woman who is finally loving the Land of Snow and Cheese.

Since I am feeling kind of bossy, I am going to pick my own letter for wild card Wednesday..... because these are the pictures I have on my camera.

This last weekend Livi was invited to a big girl party for my friend J's daughter, for blogging sake, let's call the birthday girl Princess. Princess had several friends her age, then Livi and another toddler girl. We went to a place called Justice for Girls. They got the royal treatment with the movie star party. Each girl got to have their hair done in an updo with a little sparkle headband.

Note to self and anyone else going to one of these parties: SKIP the glitter in the hair....she still has glitter on her scalp. I cannot get it out. We are still in swim lessons, so I am washing it every night.....sparkles are still in there. I guess we will be sparkly for some time!

They got a pink boa that keeps on giving.....I am still finding pink feathers all over the house. Livi already is a diva in the making....the boa only reinforces that.

They got a makeup kit but I just let her do the lip gloss. She is barely 2 (and a half)....Heaven forbid I forget the half...but she has plenty of time to do that. I just want her to enjoy being a little girl for now. When she wasn't looking, I tossed her little makeup palette into Princess's birthday favor bag. I really don't need to be cleaning kid makeup out of berber carpet.

She did really well despite the party running into her nap time. She did have to take a short Bunny snuggle break in the huge pink furry chair. She came home with a huge goody bag of stuff. While she was picking out her stuff for her goody bag, she threw in a glow in the dark bracelet thingy for Will, as well as some stuff that made blue bubbles in the tub. I was pleasantly surprised she thought of getting him something!

Last but not least, I would not have been able to take Livi to the party if sister-in-law M had not stayed with Will and another little boy. I really did appreciate it and I know Livi did too!

happy Wednesday y'all

WCW: H....Home decorating from Hobby Lobby

From The Kept Woman who is keeping little girls in tutus all over the Land of Snow and Cheese.

I finally got these gates hung. A friend of mine has a real antique gate that is hung just below the bar in her kitchen. I totally loved it. I looked at the place where I got the big rusty rooster... but all she had were some ivory ones. I didn't think ivory would work well in my home. So when Hobby Lobby put all their iron work on sale half off, I knew I would find something there.

I grew up fairly close to where Hobby Lobby started. I never realized they were just a regional store. I can go in there, and depending on the kids' behavior, an hour will have gone by before we know it. There are crafts, framing, party supplies, furniture, and lots of rusty iron things.

This one is actually two gates butted right up next to each other. Trying to hang a gate on little nails with no help is a pain. I think they kind of lean into the center, but they are staying that way until Mike gets back.

***Getting off on a bunny trail here***

It was in the paper and mentioned at the Town Hall meeting last night that his group will be home between Christmas and mid January!!! Whew hooo!!

Back to the gates.....when my friend saw them, she really liked the painted wall behind them. She has a very eclectic home, so I can't wait to see what color she paints behind hers. It was white...but I doubt she can leave it that way!

Happy Wednesday...or almost Wednesday y'all! Did you play??

Wild Card Wednesday: Letter of the Week: K

I feel so Sesame Street-ish saying, "Brought to you by The Kept Woman who randomly assigned the letter K this week. Just because I am sticking with the Sesame Street theme, the number of the day is 2....

two kids....doing summer fun things.

This is a picture of Will playing with the bouncy sprinkler ball he got for his birthday. I just really liked how it captured all the water droplets but you can still see him.

Livi is running her sweet little legs as fast as she can so as not to get sprayed by the big boys she so wants to keep up with. I am surprised she even had any energy left. I dragged her to go eat at Pei Wei and a super Target this afternoon. But she hung in there.

Then here is Will's audition for "Dancing with the Stars"...he was totally posing and cracking me up. At one point he had two of those cones on his head looking like the old Madonna bras! I am surprised he let me take these pictures because he usually runs when he sees it these days. But he was doing "crazy pictures for Dad".

"Cheese me for Daddy, " she is saying.....this was right after Will's posing with the cone. Then she turned around and gave me a squinty-eyed squirrel grin. I love that little dimple on her cheek.

Happy Wednesday....did you play?

Wild card Wednesday...we have success!

From The Kept Woman who is in the same potty training boat I am.....

Yes, I took a picture of my little one using the toilet...but it really is funny. She has the peepee thing down pretty good. She is in underwear while we are at home, out and about running errands, she is back in diapers. Like the TKW said, the power of M&Ms is amazing. I bought a bunch of the Easter ones when they were clearanced out at the PX for like fifty cents a bag. One little "purpur" M&M is saving me $$$bucks on the diapers.

Back to the picture....See those maracas in her hand. While she is trying to do the other business, she suddenly asked for her maracas. I am clueless as to why she would want those ....then I remembered this little incident: Tuesday Update: Muffin Monday....Mexican Surprise where she had to make music for us with the measuring cups.

Okay, I roll with that. You need some music to make the poops come out. Maybe this is just a remedial form of a magazine for the two year old set. I find the maracas and she starts shaking...AND singing. I kid you not, she sings,"Shake shake shake the poopies out, shake shake shake the poopies out, Shake shake shake the poopies out...all day long". It was so funny! It took all the restraint I had not to go grab the video recorder. I did grab my camera though. Can you see that look on her face...the one that says, "Okay mom, you really are best friends with Crazy" put the camera down and wipe my booty. So it worked the one time, so now the maracas live in the little cubby on the step stool in front of the sink.

Since this was the first time she did poops in the potty, she asked for the little brown ice cream....she means the Nibs, those chocolate covered ice cream balls. So my dear friends, those are not the little turds she just sang out of her booty, but little ice cream balls. She was dang proud....and so am I!!

I guess I should start a savings account for her therapy now if she ever finds out I blogged about her maracas.

Did you play??

Stuff Portrait Friday - Pink and Little

kristine wants something “Pink and Little” in honor of her new grand baby.

I am pleased to announce I think Livi is pretty much potty trained. She prefers to wear pink princess underwear on her little booty. Dora underwear is also a favorite. She will say, " I promise not to peepee on Dora." Good thing!

She did have a minor accident today involving a swim diaper, (sorry friend J). She wanted to wear underwear out running errands this morning. We went to her story time at the library, Target, then home to drop stuff off before we had to pick Will up at 11:30.

Today was Will's last day. They had early out. We had a swim party this afternoon. During all of this, she only had the one accident. She will tell me pretty much for both...oh how do I say this lightly....duties.

So woohoo!! I think I might have bought my last box of diapers....well except for the ones she will wear at night. Will is only 16 months older than her. I was trying to remember when he started wearing underwear to bed instead of a pull up.

Gotta cut this short, it is storming like crazy here and I am on the laptop... I don't think the battery will last much longer.

Happy Friday y'all....

Did you play??

Wild Card Wednesday.....preschool style

From The Kept Woman since eating paste brings back such fond memories....I give you preschool pictures ....if you look real close you might be able to see some glue.

On Monday I went to do a little shopping and lunch with my friend J.....she casually mentions she might pick up teacher gifts for the kids' teachers. Her little girl is in Will's class....she is the one who introduced them to Mr Snow. Anyhow, where was I??

Oh yeah....teacher gifts.... I was like..."Teacher gifts....dang! I forgot all about that. " Most of my 13 years of teaching was done in ghetto schools. There was no such thing as teacher's gifts. Okay, I take that back, there were a few. But most of it was apple crap. I do recall making myself a promise that when the time came I would have nothing to do with apple crap being given to my kid's teachers.

Nice friend J had mentioned that she thought some Godiva chocolate would be a great gift. I would have loved to receive any chocolate, much less Godiva. I got there a bit before she did and noticed the Godiva chocolates were marked down 50%. I scooped up two of the biggest boxes they had. When she got there and saw them she thought I had stolen her idea. Silly girl, I got your back, I was just saving you some $$. She ended up getting a box for the director as well. With the 50% off, she saved $44!!

So what can I do that would be equally as loved and appreciated as a box of heaven?? I happened to see these little key rings by Brighton. I could put some cheese ball note in there about the lessons he has learned here are the key to his future.........Okay, no I didn't put in any cheesy note...I did let him sign his name. I wrote a simple "thank you for all that you do" because there is no way I could handle that many 3-6 year olds!!

Will really does love his teachers. When I am doing something that isn't "right", he will let me know that Mrs. C does it "this way". Yeah, yeah, I am sure she does.

When he gave each of them their present, he said, "Happy Birthday!" Okay, maybe the concept of a thank you gift didn't quite get through to the "I am not three years old, I am almost four" year old.

Happy Wednesday, did you play??

Wild Card Wednesday...What did we do on Mother's day??

From The Kept Woman who is a tutu-making fool these days....

On Sunday after Livi's nap we loaded up and went to the park. We met my friend Jill there with her little girl. Mind you it was already 90 degrees ! But I will attempt to not gripe about the temperature. Mike sent me this picture he took last week....yes, that says 110 degrees. Now I grew up in Oklahoma and it does get that hot, but not in May!!!

So since after an hour or so everyone was super hot we headed over to Mr Snow. Who doesn't like a nice cold cherry icee on a Sunday afternoon. Livi loved hers of course. She had the red mustache to go along with it. Will has texture issues and wouldn't even try it. He ended up eating a scoop of Blue bell ice cream. Not as good as Braums, but heck we are in Texas now.

This reminded me of when I was growing up. Before frost free refrigerators, I would scrape the top layer of frost out of the freezer and pour red Koolaid on it! Who knew I could have been selling those babies for $1 a pop?

Afterwards we went home and straight into the bathtub. I knew there was no eating dinner. So after the baths we just had a picnic on the living room floor of cheese and crackers. We watched Backyardigans...the cartoon of the week it seems. Not a bad afternoon.....

Did you play?

By the way this is my 97th post....anyone have any good ideas to do for the 100th??

Wild Card Wednesday: M...Mother's Day

From The Kept Woman who is a tutu-making fool these days....Our assignment this week is to use the letter "M"...

as she says, "So…if you want the Completely Useless Bonus Points that Mean Nothing your picture should have something to do with the letter M."

Happy Mother's Day to me...yippeee

A few weeks ago Husband told me he ordered me something for Mother's Day. I tried checking the balance on our checking account to see if I could figure what it was...(I couldn't...Tiffany's doesn't charge your card until it ships!!)

He told me I could open it when it got here. I was kind of surprised the delivery person left it on my front porch! At first I didn't realize what it was because it was in a plain brown box with only a shipping address. I was wondering what Husband ordered from NJ. Then it was wrapped in white tissue. Finally under all that was the little blue box, more aqua than blue....a beautiful monogrammed bracelet.

So all the way from Baghdad, Husband managed to make me smile and cry all at the same time! Happy that he knew it was something I would love, sad that he couldn't be here to put it on me.

Thanks, husband, I love it! I wear it daily. I tried to take a pic of it on, but that just wasn't working for me. I don't know that I will let Will play with the new camera!! So this picture will have to do for now....just imagine it on my very tan wrist.

By the way, we are at the 7 month mark in this deployment. Because of the extension, we have eight more months to go. I was so mad when all the news of the extension was brought out.....we were at month six....almost half over....Now here we are a month later and it is not even the half way point!!! UGH....oh well, I knew he was a soldier when I married him.

Wild Card Wednesday: Miss Mindy's shopping day

From The Kept Woman who knows how to treat a dishwasher....

Today my friend Jill and I did a "What Not to Wear" with another friend Mindy....she had recently gotten some birthday money and wanted some fun clothes that she could still be a mommy in but not in sweats all the time. We had so much fun! She ended up getting a ton of stuff, from shirts, dressier shorts, shoes, accessories, even a bag that wasn't a fanny pack! We had a great time. I really had to restrain and not buy anything, but I did cave for one little purchase.....

Isn't this the cutest little thing you have ever seen?? I got it for a steal so it doesn't really count. I didn't get to eat lunch with the girls since I had to pick Will up from preschool....

The other reason I had to restrain from shopping was I had to replace my camera. Sadly I left it outside Sunday. Will had asked to take pics with it. It was sitting on the steps of the play structure. When I was running around the house looking for it on Monday to take pics of the lemon poppy seed muffins.....I couldn't find it. With a pit in my stomach I glanced outside. It was sitting there....and it had rained for almost the previous 24 hours.

ETA: My dream camera is a Canon Digital Rebel XTi......this little baby....

I was going to get one in July anyway....Mike had ordered me one when he was home on R&R....but they were backordered. So I was just going to wait....but now the time has come to take the plunge and get my dream camera. I can't wait to get it!!

btw, my early Mother's day present got here....but no camera to take its pretty little picture in its pretty little blue box.

Plenty of M's to choose from with Mindy, muffin Monday, Mike, Mother's day....

happy Wednesday!