Poor Comet

We spent a few hours at the beach tonight, and Nick was determined that Comet was going to swim... or die trying. See, Nick has high hopes of turning Comet into his "duck dog" next hunting season. Only, Comet seems to HATE the water... So I'm thinking, "good luck with that!" lol

This is how Nick got his moose of a dog into the ocean tonight:

And, here is Comet making his way back to the shore... and almost drowning in the process (those darn waves!):

Here is the dripping wet mutt (but still alive, thankfully) after his swim... and Nick trying to make amends:

And, finally... what's good for the dog is good for the kids, I suppose (although they seemed to enjoy it much more than poor Comet!):

A day at the waterpark

Really this post should be titled (or subtitled) "Never Again!!!"

It's funny how things change from one year to the next... Last summer, I made this post about a similar day at the very same waterpark. We had a fabulous time last year... in fact, I think I said in that post that I wanted to LIVE there. Now I'm wondering, "WHAT on Earth was I thinking?!?!?!"

The kids and I headed to the waterpark this morning with high spirits, looking forward to a fun day in the sun. Uh huh.

We got there 30 short minutes after they opened the gates, and the place was already packed... Not a good sign. It didn't take me long at all to grow very tired of the rowdy pre-teens who were splashing around and knocking into me and my little ones... in the wading pool.

It also occurred to me early on that the two measly lifeguards were not nearly enough for the number of people IN this huge wading pool. Both lifeguards had their eyes glued on the little slide doohickie in the middle of the pool... so if your child was sliding all day, then MAYBE he/she was relatively safe under their watchful eyes. But forget it if your child was anywhere ELSE in the pool.

So, I was a little bit paranoid about letting either of my children out of my sight all day... even though the water is only 1.5 feet deep. But, keeping Avery and Damon both by my side in the pool was NOT an easy task. They, of course, wanted to go in totally opposite directions the whole time. I guess last year Avery was small enough to dutifully march beside me with no complaint... NOT the case this year, unfortunately.

I really could go on and on with complaints about our day and the way this waterpark is run... but I'll spare you.

After 3 hours of F-U-N, I broke my kids' hearts and told them it was time to go. Not a moment too soon... by the time we were 2 miles away, the skies opened up and we had one heckuva storm (that eased my guilt just a little!).

Also on the way home, Damon said, "Thanks, Mom, for taking us there today. I had a good time!" Okay, so that almost made it worth the headache, a day of missed work, and my horrible sunburn... almost. But, I'm still thinking "never again!"

The long-awaited pool pics!

I finally have nothing more interesting to blog about (it's been a quiet weekend!). So, here are the pool pics that I promised last week. The kids and I spent last Tuesday at a good friend's house... a good friend with a POOL, no less. Damon has begged me every day since then to go back and play. My pool-owning friend just might hate us by the end of summer, lol.

Another "milestone" for my baby boy

Tonight, Damon lost his first tooth!!!

I'm a little surprised because we just noticed that it was loose two days ago... so I figured it would "hang on" a little longer than it did! But, it's really been driving the poor child crazy (and interfering with his hot dog chewing in a big way!).

So, this evening, he kept wiggling it with his tongue, and told Nick that he wanted it OUT. Nick sat down and had a long talk with Damon... about his "options." lol And Daddy offered to help him pull the tooth... to which Damon grimaced and wisely declined (forget what I said yesterday about him not being brilliant... I've changed my mind!).

However, a few minutes later, Damon yanked the bothersome loose tooth on his own! He was sooooooo proud of himself and said it didn't hurt at all. I ran for my camera, of course, while Daddy showed Damon how to gargle some healing salt water... and then I shed a few tears.

Even Nick (who usually rolls his eyes when I make sappy comments about how big the kids are getting) said, "Well, Mommy, your baby is really growing up now!" See... that's what I've been trying to tell him!!!!

Here are some pics of Damon's new, slightly altered smile. The first one was taken moments after he pulled the tooth (see how proud he is of himself??)... and the second was taken when we tucked him into bed (the tooth is, in fact, safely tucked under his Spiderman pillow... no worries!).

Damon has GREAT ideas...

I had planned to post some cute pics of my kids enjoying their day at the pool yesterday... but then THIS story presented itself, and I just couldn't resist (so look for those pool pics tomorrow!).

This morning, my children were at the breakfast table, happily devouring their scrapple sandwiches... when Damon spied a bag of golf tees sitting on the table. So, he ripped the bag open and started setting up tees all over the table in front of him in some sort of pattern (sharp side up... see where this is going yet?). Avery was assisting by handing him the tees, one by one. It was a happy scene. I was at the stove, frying more scrapple (because my kids can't get enough of the stuff!).

Next thing I know, Damon says, "Avery, watch this!" Nothing good EVER comes after Damon utters those words... So, I turn around from the stove just in time to see him SLAM his hand down on top of the tees, pointy side up. I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but what he DID accomplish was putting a nice hole in the palm of his hand.

Damon starts squealing in pain, blood running down his arm, and looking to ME for some sort of explanation. As if I somehow willed his hand on top of the pointy golf tees. Yeah, that sounds like a devilish plot that I would come up with while I'm innocently frying scrapple for him to consume, right?

So, I instantly transform from Master Chef to ER Nurse as Damon is wailing that he needs a BAND-AID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will never understand what drives the child to do such things... nor will I understand why I am instantly to blame when he injures himself doing such things. I suppose this will always be one of those mysteries of Motherhood.

Now, hours later, Damon has pretty much recovered. He spent an hour or two being mellow on the couch, watching cartoons... and he's still sporting a Band-Aid on his hand. Avery is now screaming for "more scrapple!!!" And I'm wondering if Damon's promotion to the first grade was REALLY a good idea...

YAY, "easy" blog after a busy weekend!

Thank goodness, my friend Linda "tagged" me! I just got home from a weekend away, visiting my mother-in-law (will blog about that tomorrow, hopefully!)... and my brain is pretty well fried after listening to my kids scream at each other for the ENTIRE 3-hour car ride home tonight!

So, Linda has instructed me to list 7 random things about me (this is bound to be just thrilling... I hope you're all sitting down, lol). Then I have to tag 7 more people to do this little meme. Okay, here goes...

Random, thrilling fact #1: I have lived in the same house for the past 2.5 years. This is thrilling (to me, anyway) because in the 7.5 years since Nick and I started living together, it's the longest we've ever lived in any one place. During our first 5 years, we packed up and moved, oh... SEVEN times. It makes me tired just thinking about it! It's nice to feel halfway "settled" somewhere (*knock on wood!*).

Random, thrilling fact #2: Also in the 7.5 years that Nick and I have been together, we've owned 8 dogs (no, NOT at the same time, thank God!). We started with Stinky the pit bull (who will always remain my favorite dog EVER) and had to get rid of him because we moved to a neighborhood that didn't allow him (shame on them!). Then we got Jessee the mutt... she was pure evil and we got rid of her because she tried to eat our firstborn. Next, we really lost our minds and got TWO puppies (they were a Boxer/Pit mix of some type)--Jake and Junior. I gave Jake away to a nice. loving home because I quickly found out that two puppies was TOO much (after I successfully nursed them both back to health when they almost died from parvo). Junior stayed around for a while... at some point we got rid of him, too (he was a bit insane!). I think Lady was next. We adopted her from the humane society, and she had an obsession with running off. So, she ended up BACK at the humane society. Next was another puppy--Lucky the lab mix. Unfortunately, he didn't live up to his name... he was hit by a car in front of our house 6 months after we got him. And, now, of course, we have Queen Lizzie the Min Pin and Comet the Golden. And as much as these two cost, they're not going anywhere anytime soon. I think after 6 failed attempts, we've finally "found" our pets... for better or for worse!

Random, thrilling fact #3: I have been the member of 4 bridal parties... none of them my own. I was a bridesmaid for my stepmom's sister, Jane; my childhood friend and quasi-sister, Julie; and my sisters-in-law, Missy and Amber. But I've never worn the white dress and walked down the aisle on my daddy's arm! Nick and I were married in a "civil ceremony" at a local courthouse. And it was PERFECT! :)

Random, thrilling fact #4: I failed my driving test on my 16th birthday (and yes, I cried!). I think I was a pretty decent driver, but I was a really horrible parallel parker. I grew up in a rural area where parallel parking was a completely foreign (and useless) concept. Ironically, a few short years later, I lived in downtown Baltimore, where parallel parking was a very necessary evil... and, as a result, I mastered the skill in no time. I used to think, "Man, if only I could go back to the DMV now and show them what I can do!" lol (by the way, I passed the darn parallel parking and got my driver's license on the second attempt... two weeks after my 16th birthday).

Random, thrilling fact #5: I have a bachelor's degree in English. And it's one of my biggest regrets in life thus far (not the degree... the English part!). When I was a clueless freshman in college, a guidance counselor gave me the absolute WORST piece of advice ever... she told me not to choose my major based on what kind of JOB I could get with it or how much MONEY I would make after graduation... but to base my decision on what I ENJOY. She told me to choose an area of study that I would ENJOY studying for 4 solid years. Yeah, I listened to her (because I'm a fairly obedient person). And, oh, how I ENJOYED my years of reading fine literature and analyzing every word of it... boy, that was fun. But, NOW, it would be really nice if I had that job and the money that she told me NOT to worry about. Really. If I were granted just one "do over," I'd go back and study Engineering... or Law... or Medicine. I think I'd "enjoy" the Hell out of it.

Random, thrilling fact #6: I have never broken a single bone in my body (except for maybe my little toe, but does that really count??). I think it's pretty amazing to have lived 31 years with no broken bones or major injuries. *knocking on wood, again* Of course, that probably just means that I'm an extremely boring person who doesn't take risks and get herself hurt in the process... but I'm okay with that.

Random, thrilling fact #7 (thank God this is the last one... this "easy" blog has been extremely difficult): I have absolutely NO fear of general anesthesia. I love being "put to sleep," actually. I think I've experienced this a grand total of three times in my life (twice when I had wisdom teeth removed and once when I had a simple out-patient procedure done at the hospital). None of those things "required" being put under, but I requested it. I know that a lot of people fear being put to sleep because they're afraid they won't wake up. I acknowledge that risk, but I figure if I don't wake up, I'll never know the difference, right? And honestly, if you've gotta go, how much more peaceful and painless could it possibly get? The anesthesiologist is my friend. (I realize this probably makes me sound just a bit peculiar... oh well... so, now you know, lol.)

WHEW! Random facts are hard. Remind me (or BEG me, more likely) never to do that again. So, here are the lucky 7 bloggers that I'm tagging next: Trish, Angie, Elise, Maria, Ellen, Denise, and Kelly.

A day at the park with Avery

On Damon's last full day of school, Avery and I took advantage of our last day alone (for a while, anyway!). We discovered a new-to-us park that's not far from our house, and had a great time playing, sliding, swinging, etc., and just enjoying some Mommy/Avery moments.

Of course, I took advantage of the opportunity to get some good photos of Avery! She's so hard to photograph here lately... she either smiles TOO big or she refuses to look at the camera at all.

Here are some of my favorites from the day, anyway (even if she didn't cooperate very well!):

Last Day of School Pics

I always take pictures of Damon on the morning of his first day of school... so I thought I'd take some this year on the last day, too. My subject wasn't feeling it, though... I got little to NO cooperation from him.

Here he is wiping the sleep from his eyes and sitting on his bed with Comet, listening to his new $1 scan radio that he got at the grocery store the night before... trying his hardest NOT to look at me and the dreaded camera (you'd think he'd be used to it by now, wouldn't you??). He looks like he's about to be sent away to prison for 10 years, instead of anticipating the last day of Kindergarten:



After many failed attempts to get a decent picture of Damon, I started photographing inanimate objects (I was desperate!). Here are some notes from his teacher and classmates... sent home in his little "autograph book" the day before. I thought they were pretty adorable! His classmates really "love" him, in case you couldn't tell, lol:




And this, I assume, is a self-portrait that Damon drew on the back of his autograph book. Isn't he handsome? I guess he was lucky enough NOT to inherit the giraffe neck that he gave his mother in the portrait he drew of her for Mother's Day. Hmpf.

Damon passed!!!

Kindergarten, that is. No, I wasn't really worried... still, it was nice to see "Your child has been assigned to first grade" written on his progress report!

Yesterday was Damon's last day of school for the year. We are all looking forward to summer vacation around here. Summer means that Nick and I don't have to drag Damon out of bed, kicking and screaming, every morning... we don't have to pack any more lunches (before I've had my coffee, no less!)... and I don't have to stress about being home and on the front porch when the bus brings him home at 3:45 each day (or call the school in a panic sometime after 4 when the bus hasn't shown up yet... to be told that the busdriver is running late or is having engine troubles and I should just hang out on my porch until they decide to bring him home, whenever that might be).

And, Damon is excited that we celebrated the end of the school year by letting him stay up until 9:30 last night to watch America's Funniest Home Videos. He's been whining for the past month every night at bedtime (8:30) because he sees commercials for that show every afternoon on Nickelodeon, and we always tell him it's on too late for him to watch. (I'm not making this up... it's really been stressing him out!!)

Damon's teacher had mostly good things to say about my little man. The only part of his progress report that didn't have "full marks" was the section labeled "The Arts." Apparently Damon doesn't like to sing and dance and doesn't fully appreciate "artistic creations or events." I can't say this surprises me one bit... remember THIS??

What did surprise me a little was that Mrs. Davis said: "Damon read through books at the Kindergarten level and well into what we call preprimers. That's terrific! He's at a strong place to start first grade, and it's obvious he enjoys reading."

Really? huh. Damon hardly ever wants to read here at home... even though I DO try to encourage it and force him to read with me more often than not. I'm taking Mrs. D's word for it, though... and it tickles me to think that the child might actually enjoy reading (maybe he IS my son after all!). In fact, tomorrow we're heading to our local library to sign him up for a summer reading program called Reading Road Trip (I think I might be more excited about this than Damon is, lol).

So, anyway, we all managed to survive Kindergarten... 180 full days of early mornings, grumpy/tired afternoons, lots of germs and sick days (25 to be exact... I was properly "reprimanded" for those!), school lunches, homework every evening, and girls chasing Damon on the playground for kisses at recess (we assured him that one day soon it will be the other way around, lol).

Now, we can relax and catch our breath this summer before we get to do it all over again in September. God help us! ;)

Avery and Bear

Several weeks ago, Avery's "Bear" disappeared. It was a very sad day in our house. Avery has been super attached to Bear since she was a baby... and poor Bear shows it! He used to be a nice pink color... and he used to actually have stuffing in him! Now he's more gray than pink... and from chewing on his nose, Avery put a hole there and made it her life's work to remove all of his stuffing, one teeny tiny piece at a time (you might recall this post from last December).


Anyway, he disappeared... and was gone for weeks!!! Amazingly enough, Avery was a trooper, and even though she didn't have her Bear anymore, she managed to survive (and sleep!) without him.


Then, one day, we were playing in the living room, and Avery brought out her favorite Dora backpack (that's full of card games, checkers, dominos, etc.)... she was digging around in her backpack and said, "Mommy, why is there a towel in here??" Mommy had no clue why there was a towel in her backpack... then, Avery yanked on the "towel" and screamed: "It's not a towel... it's BEEEEEAAAAARRRRR!" Oh, happy day!


In celebration of his return, Bear got a much-needed bath (although he's still gray... there's no help for that... pink dye, maybe??). And then Grandma performed a little reconstructive surgery on him. Grandma actually cut Bear's head off (ouch!), re-stuffed him, and sewed him back together (and repaired that pesky hole in his nose)!

So, here's to Avery and Bear. May they have many more happy years together!

We are a part of "Junior Nation"

And only if you're a Nascar fan will that make ANY sense at all... and if you're not, then you'll probably want to ignore this post altogether because it won't interest you in the slightest, lol.

Last Sunday, Nascar's Nextel Cup was scheduled to race in Dover. And my friend Angie was lucky enough to have tickets AND awesome pit passes (because her poor overworked and underappreciated husband has work connections with one of the driver's sponsors). Lucky to have these fabulous tickets, but not so lucky where Mother Nature was concerned... the race was rescheduled for the following day due to rain (the remnants of a pesky Tropical Storm making its way up the coast). Angie's poor overworked husband had to... you guessed it... WORK on Monday, so they weren't able to go to the rescheduled race.

My husband heard of this and his ears perked up... and then he almost hyperventilated when he realized that her tickets might be available for Monday's race (seriously, I think he stopped breathing at one point when he was begging me to call Angie and ask about her plans for said tickets). Angie rocks and didn't want to see her awesome tickets go to waste, so she handed them over with a slight sniffle when Nick landed on her doorstep Monday morning.

Of course, my husband SHOULD have been at work Monday, too, but lucky for him, he works for rednecks like himself who fully appreciate what free tickets to a Nextel Cup race are worth... and they were happy to give him the day off. (Sure, he doesn't have a rockin' salary or a 401K or a little thing called health insurance... but, by God, he got the day off to go see Junior drive around in circles!)

So, Nick and I attended our first-ever Nextel Cup race... a dream come true for my redneck husband.

Now comes the part where I prove to you that we ARE in fact a part of Junior Nation... I took around 200 pictures at the race... and 90% of them are of the red #8 Budweiser car, piloted by none other than Dale Earnhardt, Jr. We were a little disappointed that by the time we got to our seats, dear Junior was a lap down (especially since he'd been in 2nd place when we left our car in the parking lot 10 miles away from the Speedway). But, just being there is an awesome experience... and from my photos, you can't tell that it wasn't his best day. It's still fun to sit amid the "sea of red" in the stands and know that you're a part of Junior Nation for a day.

Taking a minute...

to say HI! to all of my blog fans (okay, really all FIVE of you... I'm not delusional enough to think that I have a huge following, and since only a few people ever comment here... *hint, hint*).

I just realized that I haven't blogged in over a week... again. BAD ERIN. And actually I have lots to blog about!! Nick and I went to our first-ever Nextel Cup race earlier this week (thanks to my friend, Angie... I'll tell that story later!)... and, as usual, I have tons of new Damon/Avery pics to share... and I'm sure I could come up with some cute "kid stories" to share, too (they really DO say the darnedest things! lol).

But, I'm feeling lazy... so I thought I'd just pop by to say "Hi" instead, and let you know that I'll be posting all of that fun stuff... one of these days!

At the moment, I have ants in my pants... Tonight is my playgroup's "Mom's Night Out," and I couldn't be more thrilled!!! I feel like it's been ages since we've done this and I've been looking forward to it all week! I spent the afternoon making the infamous Wild Rice Chicken Salad... it has become a favorite among my mom friends, since I made it for one of our brunches several months ago. It really is yummy... but I can't take credit for it, unfortunately. I got the recipe from my stepmom, Mary, who I believe got the recipe from her good friend Carol (beyond that, I have no clue where it originated... maybe Mary could leave a comment *hint, hint* and give us more info!).

I'll add that recipe to my "things to be posted" in the near future. It's a PERFECT summer dish! You can take my word for it.

So, anyway, Mom's Night Out is being hosted by my friend Jennifer tonight... at her lovely home, complete with a POOL! And what could be more perfect on this HOT day (it was 95 degrees here) than floating around a pool with a cold beverage in my hand, surrounded by my best group of mommy friends (WITHOUT kids, no less)?? I'm thinking it sounds absolutely, positively fabulous (and will give me more material for yet another blog post... later!).

Tomorrow will be a busy day... Damon has a T-Ball game at noon and then we're heading to my niece Rachel's birthday party. She turned 7 yesterday (where does the time go? I'm still working on a birth sampler that I started cross-stitching for her when she was a fetus, lolol), and we're looking forward to celebrating with diva Rachey and her sisters!

So, I'll be back, soon hopefully, with more posts and lots of photos that I know you're dying to see! And just in case all of my "hinting" didn't work earlier in this post, please feel free to leave me a little comment and let me know you're checking in on us and our uber-exciting day-to-day lives (humor me, anyway!).