March 10 (+2) on 10

She's getting braver. I don't know if it's the super-awesome fish treats, or if the kids have learned to be quieter around her, or if she's going senile. My vote would be for the fish treats.

Fish, Ellie? FISH!???



He's the mechanical-minded one - asked for a toothpick and went and got himself a light. Then he announced that if he spun the wheels backwards all that junk caught around them started to unwind itself. Not too bad for a six year old. Then again, he's always had an interesting connection with cars... ahem... having been born in one.



Our drive to church. Kind of bleak. Kind of still winter. Endless month of March. I'm totally okay with it this year, which is unusual.



Ye old styrofoam cup, always begging to be mutilated.

Peek:



And a peek back:



You have muddy pawprints on your sunroof too, right?

See the reflection of the little girl feet?



This was right before his head smashed into my lens... which smashed my camera into my glasses. My new glasses. My only-four-days-ago I got'em glasses. My I-gotta-go-back-and-get-them-adjusted already again glasses. My this-is-exactly-why-I-got-two-pairs-of-them glasses. I win, dear readers. I win.



She's three. But she's almost four. And when it gets deathly quiet, it's still a dreadful thing. Blue sand dunes all over the kitchen floor? True story. I lose.



Just try, ladies. Just you try coming through that door.

WHAM!



And there's most of the menagerie. What should we add next? Turkeys? Goats? Emu?



The spoiled floppy purring one. And there. All the cats made it into one blog post.



Did I mention she's still a handful? Some nights this is the only way (without tears) I can convince her to head into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

February 10 on 10

He's creating a masterpiece drawing on the iPad. What kind of masterpiece, you ask? The kind with a rocket ship that suddenly lights on fire so all the frogs have to jump out and then you draw parachutes on them, of course, because frogs can't fly very well on their own. Mouth open concentration required. Cute sister optional.



We were in a blizzard warning, or blizzard watch, or prepare yourself HERE COMES THE WIND, or church and 4H cancelled or something like that. I was confused. But then I saw Marshall hunkered down in the chicken coop and figured something must be brewing. The critters always know.



More creative concentration in full swing...



Then, instead of a blizzard, the sillies arrived. What else do you do on a so called Snow Day when someone "accidentally" smashes a plant?

Mom: "Hey, all you need is a toga!"
Kid: "What's a toga?"



I call this one: "Brave children onward through the snow"
Alternately titled: "Mom kicked them straight out the front door"



Kids outside, peaceful house inside, my Ellie slinks out of the attic temporarily.



Two hours later, he's nowhere near ready to come in yet... and by the way, for all my Southern friends, it was so warm out the dog was panting. True story.



Prelude to bedtime. How do you comb a Dad's hair when he hasn't got any hair to comb?



It's obvious what this is, right?

What, you can't tell?

Hello. It's a Christmas Tree.



The commute to my virtual office is a short one. Blowing snow and ice has Interstate shut down? Whatever.

Not all online chat agents barely speak English and live in India. Sometimes they live in the middle of North Dakota. Some forward-looking companies want their customers to have someone knowledgeable to walk the aisles of their online stores with them, except, in a less creepy way. And if you (by some act of God, or perhaps lack of regard for normal safety standards that most humans have) smashed your Nikon D90 at an off-road race in SoCal... I'll promise we'll get along okay, even though I love Canon. And I'll tell you the Mack Diamond warranty might be nice for "normal and abnormal wear and tear" but it's too bad it'll only cover your gear and not your personal injuries. And then I'll sell you a sweet new Nikon camera.

I am really loving this job, it's such a perfect fit for where I am in life right now.



Oh, and dual monitors? Kicks butt.

Hello 10th

Hello Kitty. Hello breakfast strawberry.


Hello schoolwork.


Hello snakeskin!


Hello Paw-lee!


Uh. Hello mess.


Hello sensory experience. (are you annoyed with the hello stuff yet?)


BUSTED! Caught shopping in Daddy's stuff.


Hello 14-inch circumference eggplant! (can't help myself - I tried, and anyway, Hello Kitty started it)


Helllllllooooo broody Mimi!


Hello "why am I missing a pic?" Hello whatever.

Hello linky:

March 10 on 10

A very good day.

7:42am
So tough to stop playing long enough to eat your breakfast. Such is life.


8:46am
One of the boys has been begging to do this experiment.

The time is an hour off because we've been pushing our clocks ahead gradually all week. The Daylight Savings change is too hard on the kids (one in particular) otherwise. Today we ran the full hour ahead, which was much less confusing for this mom rather than the odd minutes we were off the rest of the week.

10:03am
Already a gorgeous day outside. The beginning of what is supposed to be amazing weather this week.

When the sun is this lovely, these birds sometimes toss a wing up in the air and flop a leg to the side, to soak up as many rays as is poultry possible. And they don't care one bit how ridiculous it looks.

10:46am
Okay. Not only did we have sun... we also had mud. Lots of mud. Did I mention glorious?


11:51am
Just part of a busy builder's pre-lunch project.


1:13pm
An exercise in symmetry?


2:48pm
So I gave the kids mini-marshmallows and toothpicks and told them to go crazy.


3:45pm
This. Wielding two and a half pounds worth of camera with my right hand. Holding a curious little Bantam upside down with my left hand. Dangerously close to my minimum focus distance, which calculates generously to a depth of field of less than half an inch. *dramatic curtsy*

Didn't bother to sharpen for web, but heck yeah, I nailed my focus.

4:39pm
Sad story here. I'd like to pull out my free-pass "damn thyroid excuse" please. I'll be spending some money on seeds this year, and I bought a nice plastic storage box so I don't end up with soggy seed packets again.


6:43pm
Squishy mud + crazy jumping + snow pants + little girl who wasn't going to waste time going to the actual bathroom when she can just do it in her pants. Clothesline. Fantastic day.



Linking up with A Bit Of Sunshine Ten on Ten Project

February 10 on 10

8:49am
Breakfast thief strikes again. I need a granola superhero to save the day.


9:56am
Okay. Honestly? This electronic device is really stinkin' cool.


11:00am
Brother to sister: "There's no duck in your truck. Where aaaaaaaare they?"
Sister to brother: "Oh. They hiding."
Brother: "Nooooooooooooooo!"
Mom: "Dude. Where did you find a duck?"
Brother: "In the toybox"

{shirt reads "DADDY THINKS HE'S IN CHARGE", which does actually have a story behind it}

12:09pm
Evidence. Someone was making a computer again.


1:28pm
Naptime. Waiting for Ellie to come snuggle and purr.


2:17pm
What happens if you set the dial to automatic when you can't reach the focus button on the backside of the camera:


3:52 pm
I finally sat down to sort through the mountain of containers and lids that have been crawling across the kitchen floor for a day and a half. And... sabotaged again.


5:04 pm
Desperate times call for desperate measures:
Stop.
Drop your truck that doesn't have it's "rubbers" on.
Watch a movie.


6:09 pm
Headed in to town, way later than a sane Mom or Dad in this household would... to be social, which is also an irrational decision. I admitted to my husband that I was being a real raincloud about the whole thing. He tried to tell me that he had only recently become a more social guy, "I was just a late bloomer."
Me: "So you're saying I haven't bloomed yet."
Him: "Uh, no. It just took me awhile to grow up."
Thanks honey.


8:29 pm
The road back home. And yes, I may be anti-social but I did have a good time.


Ten on Ten