Staying Cool

The warm weather has finally hit our area, which is pretty late but I am not complaining, it was nice to actually have a spring. Yesterday was probably our 3rd day of good heat.

Day 1 (Saturday) we were gone all day and didn't know what our house was like.

Day 2 (Sunday) Darrin and I were both sicker then dogs and we stayed home ALL DAY, it wasn't till around 3pm that Darrin couldn't take the heat anymore and woke me up to get in the air-conditioned car and go for a ride. After returning home we suffered through it, with fans and opening all the windows for the night-time cool. As you may have figured our swamp cooler is not working very well. If you ask me it wasn't working at all, Darrin wasn't convinced. He insisted if I turned on the pump first thing in the morning it would work, that it needed a good amount of time to wet the pads. I wasn't so sure, I could FEEL hot air pumping into our house. Something was seriously wrong. I think it was divine intervention that made Darrin sick on Sunday, so he could really feel the heat of our house, and look into the problem further. But, this was all on Sunday and he was sick, so the fixing wouldn't have to wait till AFTER work on Monday.

Therefore, Day 3 (Monday) the girls and I were home suffering through. What did we do? Here's our tips on staying cool:

Take a nap

This is step #1 - if your asleep you can't complain, but proceed with caution because you will wake up HOT and usually a little more grouchy then when you feel asleep. (Apparently, this also works much better, with no covers, and little clothing.)

Eat or Drink something COLD

Get Wet

When all the above steps fail to keep you cool, just get wet...

Hello Hair!

Well I have to say I LOVE the colors in my hair. I used to be so daring (when it comes to hair) but since I've had children I haven't even messed with the colors (I heard that you just don't know what colors will come out when your so hormonal from pregnancy). So after playing with my new do, I have realized that I have missed something in my life and that is COLORS in my hair!

Oh yea! So I got bangs too. So after years of no bangs, for all of you out there with bangs, what do I do with these things? I forgot how annoying they can be (I am constantly pushing them to the side) is this normal? Do I just let them hang in my eyes? Any tips? Maybe they should be shorter??

Bye Bye Brown...

I've planned for awhile now that when the summer came I would highlight my hair. Then in the fall I would dye it all back brown again. I'm going to dye it all back because I am too lazy to upkeep highlights. So I called my hairstylist this week asking her if I should do a blonde and a carmel, or a blonde and a red? She said let's do all 3! Really? She thinks so, so we shall see. I wanted to post some before pictures. Now I am really nervous though because you'll all be expecting some "after" photos and if it doesn't turn out so well I can't pretend it never really happened! If you don't see "after" photos for awhile you can just assume I wasn't so happy with the results.

my budding hobby

Okay, for those that see me regularly I want to apologize up front. I am going to AGAIN talk about some new idea that I am pursuing. For those that don't know me well enough to be annoyed then pay attention closely. I have started a new fun thing... I am now taking photos! I have been reading others blogs and it seems this is not such a new thing for alot of you. I think with the new digital cameras making things look so nice, some have joined the band wagon, and I am one of them.

I actually started this because I got roped into taking photos for a wedding reception my dad couldn't go to. I was so nervous, the night before Darrin and I went to borders and I read a whole bunch of books on wedding photography. I then said lots of prayers and showed up. So that of course sparked my interest in photography and a I had the bright idea that I needed a website. I read about a site where you can upload and set your own prices for photos and then everything is shipped to them. I got my dad to finance (it really was supposed to be for him.) I did put some money into it and then nothing happened. I realized I had just wasted money unless I did something. So I called a friend and took photos of her kids. Which then lead to another friend, and another friend. I haven't done too many yet but I am loving it. So now I am just really trying to learn more, and do more. Here are some pics from a recent outing at the park, I'm planning on making a photo frame collage in the play room with some of these. If you are interested in some other shoots I've done the link to my website is http://www.casephotography.smugmug.com/

Secret Garden

Saturday was our "Family work in the yard day". As for Family this is what it looked like, Jaya was playing outside with the neighbor boy and Eden was in sleeping. So I guess 3 out of the 5 isn't bad for family representation. It was Baylie that was so funny though. She was serious about cleaning up the yard. She got out her garden gloves, and borrowed a pair of "scissors" which were really pruning shears and went to work with Dad. I was in the garden weeding and was just quietly listening to them converse. Baylie was just non-stop chatter. I'm not very good about remembering all the cute things she said, but it was more the volume of talking that I thought was cute. She wouldn't stop. She told Darrin all about hippos, and of course there were some wild stories thrown in. She apparently found it too difficult to prune and stand so she went and got her little bathroom stool, which then lead to the realization that she could hide in the bushes and prune!

This is the picture of our roses, look closely you may see a little girl hiding in her secret garden.

Bruiser

The other night we were sitting around talking as a family. Eden was sitting on my lap, lunging forward then sitting back, lunging forward then sitting back, over and over again. I was holding onto her shirt as she was doing this. I am not quite sure what happened next, but all I know is she lunged forward and never came back. Instead she literally jumped headfirst into the coffee table. I looked right as she hit and fell to the floor. I was sure she had smacked the corner of the coffee table right in her mouth, therefore I was too afraid to pick her up, I didn't want to see little baby teeth and blood everywhere. Darrin ran over picked her up and rushed into the kitchen, asking "why didn't you pick her up?" I told him I was too scared to see (now guilt stricken). I asked if there was blood everywhere, and Darrin came out and said "I don't see any.' I instantly saw where she hit. She had a large bump across the bridge of her nose. Which as you can see has turned into a bruise creeping into the corners of her eyes. She was a trooper though, she let me hold an ice-pack on it, which helped a ton.

This whole event has lead me to wonder why didn't I pick her up? I keep telling myself I definitely would have if Darrin wasn't at home, but maybe I'm just saying that to make me feel better. I have realized I don't like to see blood, at least not lots of it. So even if I think there will be lots of blood, I don't want to look. Good thing I was never a doctor, and good thing my kids don't get more seriously hurt or they may just stay there till dad gets home!

Personality

I absolutely love it when my "baby" starts showing more of a personality. It's fun to see that there is actually a mind in there that is working. Most should know what I am talking about, when babies go from just smiling to deliberatly doing things. This of course brings on a lot of added work because now you have to respond but I do love to see this personality come through.

It started with Eden randomly wearing a necklace after she had been in the toy room with the older girls and first I thought nothing of it, because they are often dressing up, and dressing Eden up too wouldn't be that different. After several days of this I started realizing that she is dressing herself up. It's so cute to me, to see her cruising around the house with her bright blue beaded necklace (I think this is her necklace of choice). One day I caught her with 2 necklaces, one unfortnately had seen it's last days with the elastic broken poking out here and there, but Eden didn't care. (I secretly threw that one away). Anyway, my baby is growing up, and it looks as if she will be following in her sister's footsteps with the dress-up!