394 Love Thursday

Its an excuse to share my atempts at heart ornaments. The red one helped to occupy me while Connor rode in circles in the driveway. My handwork leaves a lot to be desired :)

And I can't mention Love Thursday without telling you to check out Chookooloonks blog!

393 Commissioned Work

Fine... so it was commissioned by my kids. And it might have been more of a constant annoying request than a commission.
Katie zeroed in on my stacks of felt I have been playing with making ornaments. She saw the pink and purple polka dot felt and asked if I could make her a purse.... then she asked again ... and again ... and again ... and (you get the idea). She must have asked twenty times in one night. I had set up my sewing machine to mend some of Chip's shorts that ripped, so while she was at school yesterday I made her a purse. Then Connor HAD to have something for himself, and I wasn't going to make him a purse. I made him a wee little pouch to keep his dollar in (the one on the right). Then I knew that Katie would HAVE to have a wallet of her own, so I made the other one for her....Then Connor wanted a red one .... ...And when Katie got home she wanted one that was Ole Miss colors ... And eventually I ended up with all of these ...

Katie needed a matching wallet for her purse (which still needs a strap)

Connor also scored his own Ole Miss colored wallet.While I was out taking pics of the newest crafts I had to take some pics of the kids. They were running around like wild things (of course). Connor was flipping and rolling all over the yard, and it was hard to get him to stay still for any amount of time. Okay ... impossible.See!!?? INSANE!Before we zoom in to Katie's face I feel the need to warn you that she had applied RED lipgloss VERY LIBERALLY to (and around) her lips. She may not have been trying to replicate The Joker look, but it was extremely close. Luckily, most of it had worn off when I brought out the camera. And she is still gorgeous... but completely nuts.This is Connor from this morning. Right before he went out the backdoor and peed on the fence. Moms, take my advice ... never teach your kids to pee outside. Believe me, it sounds really convenient at the time, but in the long run you will regret it.

392

The perfect weather has already grown old ... I have no excuse as to why Connor can't spend all day outside. Well, not one that holds up in his little head. He is in wee boy heaven. He can ride his bike, throw his football, and it is still warm enough to play in the water. And Mommy is in hell. I just want to be inside. I need to be cleaning ... or at least formulating a plan of action so that I will be able to clean when I finally tuck two worn out kids into bed. Instead I am sitting outside watching him ride his tricycle in endless circles in the driveway. I am sitting on the back steps watching him play in his sandbox and slide. I have been taking out ornaments to sew. Something I can put down in a hurry when Connor decides it is potty time. Where is Winter??

391 Falling

Fall has finally arrived, but who knows for how long. The south is notorious for the ups and downs in the weather. Thursday we were having record highs, and Saturday we were a balmy 74 degrees. We spent Saturday morning outside. We even had our breakfast picnic style. It was so nice to lay out on a blanket without sweating and having to fight off the bugs. Look, proof we were outside before noon... That is a morning glory in Katie's hair.

I am not real sure why Katie looks like she is strangling Connor to get him to smile, but this picture makes me giggle. Sunday was another gorgeous day. Katie had spent the night at a friend's house, and around noon she called to tell me that she could not find her test kit. Come to find out her test kit was in my purse ... she had taken her night time pill and her morning pill without ever checking her sugar. Needless to say we were not pleased. Sure, it was my fault that it was in my purse, but she should have realized that she did not have her test kit that night. I would have found it and brought it to her ... no big deal. Now we have to question whether she has been checking her sugar at all when she sleeps away from home, or at the very least, question how often. The anger is completely fueled by fear. Until you are a parent you don't truly understand how quickly fear turns to anger. It is something I have to work at ... especially since Katie likes to scare us on a bi-weekly basis. I picked her up and brought her home. We wanted her to understand how serious it was for her to check her sugar.

Later she was playing in the backyard and she could see Mia and Kaitlyn in Mia's yard. After several failed attempts to scream a conversation over the five backyards between us, I allowed Katie to just invite them down. They had a blast playing in the yard. Chip even got roped in to playing a bit. I am not sure how this all came about, but Chip covered the gazebo area of our deck with a tarp to create a little clubhouse area. It is pretty cute inside, but a complete eyesore from the outside. The kids love it, and that is the most important thing .... right?!I had fun in the Schnuck's produce section. I bought a couple bags of apples and a honkin' big pumpkin. The apples looked so good that I had to snap a few pictures.Katie wants to carve up the pumpkin now .. but only because she wants to toast the seeds.I have been playing with felt again. I can't find the patterns I drew last year, so I am back to winging it ... yeah, I know, punny. I have a little work to do, but I think I will just say this one is a woodpecker. And another gorgeous sunset ... too bad it is marred by power lines and houses.

390 Indian Summer, TAKE IT BACK!

It is hard to believe that it is almost October! Temperatures seem to be stuck in the 90's and my love of the outdoors is stuck at Slim to None. Of course that has not stopped Connor from insisting on spending as much time as possible outside. Playing in the water, blowing bubbles, riding his bike, and (most importantly) throwing the football. One morning we stayed outside for two and a half hours after dropping Katie off at school. I was allowed to procure coffee to make it bearable ;) ... he is not such a tyrant that he would not allow me coffee. Or he is smart enough to know that I would have forced him inside without my caffeine fix. It is hard to say no to his little face (which has managed to stay pristinely white in spite of the blazing sun).Our Sunday plans started with a coupon on the back of our grocery receipt. Katie had mentioned wanting to go to IHOP and there was a "buy one, get one" coupon right there. Chip suggested we hit IHOP before the church crowd descended, and I suggested we head on to the zoo when we left, before it became too hot. Of course, we can never leave the house at a reasonable time. The church crowd was gathering when we drove by IHOP, people camped outside the door for their Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity. To head off the tears that would surely have come, we softened the blow with a Happy Meal, and drove on to the zoo.

This time we started in Primate Canyon.The last time Chip was able to come with us it had been closed. I don't even think he had seen our new gorillas yet. We got Mwelu in 2008 and this entry in the Keeper's Blog is adorable!He was very wary the whole time I had my camera out, and I don't think he was enjoying the attention.As soon as I put my camera down Mwelu ambled over to their stream to get a drink. I thought it was pretty cool. The heat also had one of our orangutauns hiding under a sheet in the shade. At first I thought they were indoors, but Chip pointed out this one. He said it looked like she was wearing a dress. I can see it :)Connor had a blast with Daddy to lift him and show him stuff. So cute!And one of our baby giraffes was practically posing as we walked up. How sweet is this baby?!Thank goodness we brought that wagon ... at least it gave Connor something to do. One of our favorite little hideaways. Not only is it fun ... IT IS AIR CONDITIONED! The polar bears weren't out, and even the sea lions were lazily swimming around in the heat, but I didn't care ... IT WAS AIR CONDITIONED! Chip tried to snap a pic of Connor and I. This little boy walked around the corner and asked if he could be in the picture. We didn't want to hurt his feelings, so we said he could. Connor didn't seem too pleased with the whole arrangement.Our little Captain :) On our way to the pandas we were delighted to see one of our elephants taking a dip. It was the first time I had seen them in their pool. It looks so very refreshing!Connor was getting tired. Too tired to pull the wagon WITH Katie inside. I couldn't help but laugh ... even though I shouldn't. We were all getting tired. We told Katie we could go through Cat Country or she could go swim in "the Nile" ... you can guess what she picked. Even I got in. The water felt wonderful. The rocky bottom not so much. We had a wonderful time, and Chip made it home for the afternoon games. Lucky for us the Saints didn't play until Monday ;) The Memphis Zoo still remains my very favorite family day escape!