Annalise successfully went peepee in the potty at home today. She does it at school, but hasn't at home. Here's the skinny: She got out of the tub, dried off, told me she had to go "poopy" so I sat her on the toilet and .... tinkle, tinkle, tinkle she went in the potty. So proud we all had a "hooray" shouting fit and she looked very proud of herself. There you have it folks, a little over two weeks after introduction to the potty and the 21-month old Annie is proud to tell everyone that she went in the potty like a big girl.
She also appears to be breaking a new tooth on her lower left side. It's a little fang tooth.
Today Madeline spent 2.5 hours at a riding academy and learned all about horses. She rode twice, led a horse and learning just about everything there is to know about horses. She went with her Daisy's troop and had a great time. Of course it was a little tentative on the jouney out to the academy because the Goole Map was WRONG and led us to the home of a very nice old woman who had just about everything you could imagine stored on her lawn (including a variety of free range chickens. We finally found the stinkin' place and on Ryan and I's way back to civilization I nearly ran over an eight foot long bull snake that chose the very moment to cross the road. Yeah, I don't like worms and snakes don't bother me too much but a large snake playing "chicken" with my car was almost enough to make me vomit. Words cannot describe how happy I was to get back to paved roads with street lights and big concrete buildings. There is irony, of course, in the fact that I am now a county planning director. lol
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Access Denied
Finally two weeks after my last day I received this message when trying to check my old email account. I told my old boss last night that I could still access my old email account and that I had been forwarding work-related messages on to my co-worker. I am happy they finally shut the account down. One less thing for me to think about.
Two weeks at the new job. Things seem to be going well. Very busy and it's a change. It's very difficult without an assistant but obviously I am managing. I was able to get through 30 of the more than 6o applications. So far there are a couple good candidate and the rest are not a good fit. By tomorrow I should be done reviewing those applications and moving on to other things. Things like site plan reviews, zoning determinations, violation complaints and staff reports. That and working on agreements for storm and sanitary sewer lines with adjacent communities. I bet Johnny Carson would see lots of overtime in my future.
Fireworks season officially started yesterday. While we have not personally purchased any fireworks we have the extreme joy of listening to all of the neighbors fireworks. I wouldn't mind them if during the weekdays they stopped before 10pm and didn't include blocks of Black Cat's.
Girls are doing well. Annie gets hurt nearly everyday at school on the playground. She has lots of scrapes and bruises. Madeline had an encounter with a jungle gym bar in exactly the wrong place and had to go to the doctor. She is doing much better today but still store. Madeline is almost finished with the first session of swim lessons. She will hopefully test out of level 2 and move on to level 3 next week. I am keeping my fingers crossed. She's doing very well.
Ryan is forging ahead with the arts council. He travels in a couple of weeks to OH for a project interview. I hope they get the job so he can work on another federal courthouse. He's having a good time with the garden.
Garden update: breaking news, this just in... the strawberries are winding down. Blueberries are blue, peas pods are being harvested everyday, beans look good (a few baby ones are on the plants), grapes are pretty big now, blackberries are on the verge of turning black and the raspberries are blooming! There are green tomatoes on the plants, a yellow squash is almost ready to pick, baby cukes cover the plants, and everything else is growing nicely. I will get some pics and post them soon. Right now I would be mosquito food if I went out there, so I will wait until mid-day this weekend.
Two weeks at the new job. Things seem to be going well. Very busy and it's a change. It's very difficult without an assistant but obviously I am managing. I was able to get through 30 of the more than 6o applications. So far there are a couple good candidate and the rest are not a good fit. By tomorrow I should be done reviewing those applications and moving on to other things. Things like site plan reviews, zoning determinations, violation complaints and staff reports. That and working on agreements for storm and sanitary sewer lines with adjacent communities. I bet Johnny Carson would see lots of overtime in my future.
Fireworks season officially started yesterday. While we have not personally purchased any fireworks we have the extreme joy of listening to all of the neighbors fireworks. I wouldn't mind them if during the weekdays they stopped before 10pm and didn't include blocks of Black Cat's.
Girls are doing well. Annie gets hurt nearly everyday at school on the playground. She has lots of scrapes and bruises. Madeline had an encounter with a jungle gym bar in exactly the wrong place and had to go to the doctor. She is doing much better today but still store. Madeline is almost finished with the first session of swim lessons. She will hopefully test out of level 2 and move on to level 3 next week. I am keeping my fingers crossed. She's doing very well.
Ryan is forging ahead with the arts council. He travels in a couple of weeks to OH for a project interview. I hope they get the job so he can work on another federal courthouse. He's having a good time with the garden.
Garden update: breaking news, this just in... the strawberries are winding down. Blueberries are blue, peas pods are being harvested everyday, beans look good (a few baby ones are on the plants), grapes are pretty big now, blackberries are on the verge of turning black and the raspberries are blooming! There are green tomatoes on the plants, a yellow squash is almost ready to pick, baby cukes cover the plants, and everything else is growing nicely. I will get some pics and post them soon. Right now I would be mosquito food if I went out there, so I will wait until mid-day this weekend.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Garden progress and carnival
Peaches are looking tasty
Carrot patch
Cukes, peppers. Behind that are the carrots, strawberries, onions and potatoes
Annie's first carnival ride
We ate some tasty treats before going back to the rides
Garden Pics
Blackberry in the making
Lettuce patch
Already devoured
Beans and peas (which are already forming)
We have a ton of baby grapes
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Storms
As most of you may be aware we've been battling some very nasty storms lately. Last Sunday morning at 2:30am a tornado touched down just a couple of hundred feet from Ryan's parents house. Luckily no one was hurt during the storm which spread a fairly decent path across the metro area. Unfortunately last night there were storms and four boy scouts were killed nearby. I spent two hours with the girls in the basement during the storms. Ryan was out driving in the storms despite being REPEATEDLY told by me to get ahead of the storms. He didn't listen to me and instead followed the storms in and drove through some bad parts of it. Meanwhile his mentally fragile wife was sitting in the basement with his two neurotic children. It was not a happy scene at our house last night. Ryan got home after everything but heavy rain. He experienced some flash flooding issues. Today I am mentally and physically exhaused, and Ryan's on my sh!t list. :)
Wrapping things up
I have been so incredibly busy finalizing my last days with my current job that I haven't had much time to post to the blog. I do have images and stories to add but I will have to make time for those this weekend. My co-workers are putting together a little shin-dig for me this afternoon with cake. It should be fun. Tomorrow is my last day and I hope to skip out a little early and go to lunch with co-workers. This week I packed up my things and cleaned out my drawers. Everything is set to go. I just need some help carrying out my boxes tomorrow. They'll stay in my truck until the move to the new administration building in about a month. In the meantime I plan to house myself in another department's office. Things will continue to stay busy at the new place as furniture is ordered and maps/plats packed and moved.
Home has been continuously busy as well. Annie cut her two "fang" teeth this past Sunday. They're coming in at the same time. She doesn't show much sign of discomfort. I believe she has six more teeth after these two finish coming in. She has a decent set of chompers that, thankfully, are just used for food. It's nice that Anna hasn't gone through any type of biting phase. (I attribute that to breastfeeding)
Madeline is in the midst of swimming lessons. She would like to spend everyday at the pool and she nearly does. Once a week at her summer program and twice a week for lessons she is in the pool. She is still taking Spanish lessons from Miss Lisset. We are practicing more at home now, much to Madeline's disappointment. Madeline recently declared that she is going to be a singer and dancer when she grows up. I jokingly told Ryan and I'm okay with that, as long as it's not around a pole. Sorry for the crude humor but it's one of the ways I maintain sanity. haha
Anna started Montessori school and loves it. Though she is still angry with her teacher because she's the one who "takes" her away from dad every morning. I guess Annie is warming up to her a little more now. She's gotten hurt almost everyday with a nasty looking bruise as current proof. She plays hard on the playground since all of her injuries were sustained there.
Ryan is busy with the arts council and work projects and as usual I am only about a fraction of an inch away from going nuts. :)
Home has been continuously busy as well. Annie cut her two "fang" teeth this past Sunday. They're coming in at the same time. She doesn't show much sign of discomfort. I believe she has six more teeth after these two finish coming in. She has a decent set of chompers that, thankfully, are just used for food. It's nice that Anna hasn't gone through any type of biting phase. (I attribute that to breastfeeding)
Madeline is in the midst of swimming lessons. She would like to spend everyday at the pool and she nearly does. Once a week at her summer program and twice a week for lessons she is in the pool. She is still taking Spanish lessons from Miss Lisset. We are practicing more at home now, much to Madeline's disappointment. Madeline recently declared that she is going to be a singer and dancer when she grows up. I jokingly told Ryan and I'm okay with that, as long as it's not around a pole. Sorry for the crude humor but it's one of the ways I maintain sanity. haha
Anna started Montessori school and loves it. Though she is still angry with her teacher because she's the one who "takes" her away from dad every morning. I guess Annie is warming up to her a little more now. She's gotten hurt almost everyday with a nasty looking bruise as current proof. She plays hard on the playground since all of her injuries were sustained there.
Ryan is busy with the arts council and work projects and as usual I am only about a fraction of an inch away from going nuts. :)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Sunday
The girls at the splashpad
I put flowers at the monument the Friday before Memorial Day
I put new ones out there today that were more Americana
Annie helping out after we got back home
A day at the splashpark
Madeline had a lot of fun with the splash toys
And had fun ushering her sister along
Annie loved the smaller squirters
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