UM....Excuse Me.

But has anyone seen my cell phone?? It's been MIA for about.....oh, a week now.

Please let me know if you find it.

And then, if you haven't done so already, go vote on my logo in the post below.

Help Me With My Logo

So I've been redoing my website and I'm hoping to wrap it up here in the next 2 weeks. I want to revamp my logo so I've been playing around with some ideas and I'd like your input as I'm not really sold on anything so far. So....if you would (and you must. because I said so. And I'm the boss of this blog or I'll take my logos and go home), peruse these logos and then vote on the one you like best.
THEN....if you feel like going the extra mile, leave a little input in the comments section. I like this one, but _______ or, I WOULD like this one, except that _______(the colors are weird, the font looks out of place, I hate trees, etc. etc.), or, This one looks good, but it needs more _______.
One vote per person please. :)

Thanks!

Here are the Options:

#1 (the Oval):

#2 (the Cherry Tree):

#3 (the Swirly Thing):

#4 (the dandelion):

#5 (the damask):

#6 (the blocks):

Our Garden

New feet within my garden go,

New fingers stir the sod;

A troubadour upon the elm

Betrays the solitude.

New children play upon the green,

New weary sleep below;

And still the pensive spring returns,

And still the punctual snow!

--Emily Dickinson

Ingredients Needed To Make a Garden:

1 Rototiller
2 Virile Studly Men (to operate and transport said tiller)
2 large bags of time-release fertilizer/garden soil
Seeds
Previously soiled children
Sunshine
Patience

The Week In Review

Ok, let's see....Spring Break Started off with a bang on Good Friday, and Steve-0 and I launched into full-fledged spring cleaning the house on Thursday night.
In one 24-hour period we spring cleaned the entire house. It sucked, but it needed to be done. Now I don't have to worry about Tyler catching the Ebola virus from our floors.

Friday afternoon Steve's parents rolled in to town (much to the boys delight) to visit for a few days. I was just glad that the boys were crawling into bed with someone else at 3 am. Steve said it felt good to be able to actually roll over in bed. A night without being smacked in the face with a small fist is rare indeed. If you don't understand, you've never slept alongside small children.

Saturday we went to the coolest Easter Egg Hunt ever, hosted by Clint's Dad and mom. Wish I had thought to take some pictures, but I was unaware of the cool factor seeing as how I was depraved as a child and never participated in an egg hunt. *sob* I know. The HORROR.
Anyway, this was the coolest Easter Egg Hunt ever. Let's just say the boys walked away with a more than fair amount of cash and prizes. Steve and I got $17, a paring knife, a phallic balloon animal, 27 mosquito bites (steve), and minor sunburn.

Easter Sunday after church we all went to the park and had a great afternoon. It was a beautiful warm sunny day with perfect weather, but not-so-perfect kite flying conditions (although grandpa surely tried). The boys played with their new Easter basket toys from grandma and grandpa (frisbees, velcro ball, boomerangs, bubbles, etc). We had a picnic, explored the river, played with new toys, tried to fly a kite, played on the playground, and then went to Two Scoops for gelato. Yum.

Good Deed Tuesday.....I slacked. I thought about it, but with family in town and spring break-itis creeping upon me, I didn't do anything. I know. --->hangs head in shame<-----
Rather, we were on the receiving end, when we were good deed tuesday'd by steve's mom and dad, who filled up our pantry and fridge with food which was awesome. Because well, we think food is a good and necessary substance to survival. Our fridge is bursting at the seams. I think after Steve unloaded groceries I actually heard the refrigerator burp and say thank you.

So, that was the recap of our week.....Here's a few pics of our Easter Sunday picnic.
Hope you all had a great week. :)

Go Ahead...Smack My Hand

I know, I know...I'm sorry. I've been MIA for about oh...a week now. But we've had family in town so things have been busy and I haven't had a chance to sit down and reconnect to bloggerland.

New posts coming soon.....Easter Sunday, gramma and grandpa, random thoughts (oh I KNOW how you love those!), Good Deed Tuesday....it's all coming. I just have to play a little catch up.

So, in the meantime, you can watch this little video clip. I'm a sap about animals so I'm not TOO ashamed to say that the first time I saw it I teared up. JUST A LITTLE. And it was probably just because I had something in my eye. Yeah. That's it.

Here's the background. These 2 guys bought this orphaned lion cub that they found for sale in London, and named him Christian. After a time, they decided that they wanted to reintroduce him back to the wild so he could be like all the regular lions. Come ON dad! All the other carnivores get to live outside!

Anyway, so they scrape all their money together and arrange for him to go to Africa to a wild animal compound owned by this guy George Adamson.
Upon Christian the Lion's arrival in Africa, Adamson arranged a friendship between Christian and a previously captive-then-freed lion named Boy. Boy and Christian become good friends and Boy serves as the bridge that Christian needs to connect with the wild and find a new pride or pack or whatever...new lion family.

Well, a year or so later the two guys decide to go to Africa and pay Christian a visit. They weren't sure if Christian would remember them, or if they could find him, and if they did what his reaction would be. Here's what happened when they did reconnect......

Owen's Nimnastics

After we signed up AJ for soccer, we were trying to figure out something for Owen to do recreationally as well. We mutually landed on Gymnastics, and this past Thursday marked O's second time going. Initially, I was a little worried about how he would do, as he has trouble sometimes processing directions and following instructions as other kids do, but he has done GREAT. I've been so proud of him the past 2 weeks as I watched him from the balcony listen carefully to his instructor and learn to do the things she teaches. Owen asks all week when he can go to "nimnastics". AJ likes to come as well and watches with us from the balcony with a mild envy. Owen has done so well, that if he wants to do it again when this session is over we'll probably let him do it again. And AJ too, when soccer is over. AJ especially likes watching a group of elementary aged boys do their class while Owen does his. I'm glad that there is an entire class of boys for MY boys to see that "nimnastics" is not just for girls.

They usually warm up on the trampoline a little to get the wiggles out...Owen says the trampoline is his favorite.

Last Thursday they worked on forward and backward tumbles on this triangle-shaped wedge. Owen had some trouble coordinating the backward roll, but the forward roll he did just fine.
Owen says that rolling is his favorite.

Like I said, I've been SO surprised at how well he listens and how patiently he waits his turn. On his first week, one of the other mothers observed and commented to me how well he listens and the first thing that popped out of my mouth was - "I know! I can't believe it!"

Oops. I mean, thank you.

Proper form...keep it tight baby.

He is the BEST at this dismount pose thing that they do. Look how tight his form is (says mother with abnormal amount of pride)

This is where the real work begins. If 5 year olds can do real work. AFTER they do crunches (yes, crunches - to tighten up their core and prepare them to be future gymnasts, I guess), they go to the bar. No chalk on their hands yet, I guess that's for the 6 year olds.

They practice what they'll do on the bar with the mat under them first...

And then they move off the mat. He grabs the bar, does a chin up. Then the instructor helps him flip under the bar, and then he has to hold himself up above the bar, like so:

And then, the dismount!

Perfect! Almost.
Owen says the bar is his favorite.

How Fast Can You Think??

Saw this over on Casey's blog and it is HARD! Your mind just freezes up and you'll draw a total blank! FYI: Spelling has to be correct, as I learned whilst repeatedly trying to spell Kazakhstan! :) Try it and see how you do!


49

World Water Day

Hey, in case you didn't know, tomorrow is World Water Day.
It's so normal to brush our teeth a few times a day, wash our hands after every bathroom trip, shower daily, fill up the pool, wash the dishes, do a daily load of laundry, make coffee, and on and on and on, that too often we take for granted the fact that clean healthy water isn't an option for everyone.
Take a look at your own water consumption and consider the long- reaching effects of our everyday consumption of the world's most abundant resource and maybe check out some water-saving tips to cut your H20 consumption.

Good Deed Tuesday 3/18/08

Don't forget it's....

Good Deed Tuesday
...because not doing nice things for others leads to body odor.

Erica and I are teaming up for a good deed today. We're meeting in a few hours to execute. More on that later...
In the meantime, check out my photoblog for pics of Amy Lynn and Daniel's baby that I photographed yesterday.

Later!
___________ UPDATE _________

My friend Lisa is doing the whole single mom thing while her hubby Dan is away in NYC working this high profile, fancy-shmancy job. We love us some O'C fam, and Dan has been away for, let's see....about 3 and a half months now so Lisa's been holding down the fort on her own - kids, bills, driving, laundry, housework, lawnwork (or not), well...she's goin' solo for now.

So Erica and I thought that we could do some good deed'n at their house today so after E went over to let their dogs out (her daily gig) we stuck around for a couple of hours and cleaned their house and piled up their scattered yard full of broken tree limbs.
Erica set to work painting this beautiful vase, and then we filled it with flowers.


And by "Erica set to work painting this vase" what I really mean is, I found it in their cupboard.

Let me tell you people, this house was hosed. Dog hair on the floor, dishes in the sink and in the family room, laundry piled in the laundry room, underwear on the floors. It was appalling, it was cluttered, it was unbelievably messy....but enough about my house. Let's get back to Lisa's house, shall we??

So we cleaned up while Tyler slept in the bedroom and the boys watched a movie and played outside with ginormous venomous beetles (thanks E, THAT was a heck of a lotta fun - *shiver*).
AJ and Owen enjoyed the secret - "We're gonna clean up their house because it's SOoooooo messy! They don't get a sticker if they don't pick up their rooms!" AJ volunteered to wash the windows, but then he disappeared to watch tv. The bum.

Anyway, that was our good deed for today. Now...post yours. Or did you even DO ONE?? --->insert guilt-inducing expectant stare here <------

Eight Months....

Tyler turned eight months old last week and he truly is such a great baby. I've said on multiple occasions to Steve that I've just really enjoyed having Tyler. Not that I didn't enjoy the other two, but Owen was a surprise, and our first so I think with him there was the first time parent panic of are we doing this right? is he growing right? am I feeding him enough food? will he make it to his first birthday? and those type of things that babyhood seemed to fly by so fast. And AJ...well, with AJ there was also 1.5 year old Owen who kept me so crazy busy that I hardly had the time or presence of mind to really just drown myself in the beauty of my baby.

But Tyler is different for some reason. AJ and Owen are older, and more self-sufficient. Tyler is a solid 3 years behind AJ and the true and solitary baby of the family. And I've just really enjoyed loving on him for the past 8 months.

I had a migraine today and my husband blessedly, in a saint-like manner offered to take ALL THREE kids and go over to our friends' house and let me rest and shake off my headache. I took a glorious 2 hour nap all alone in the middle of our bed and I dreamed about skydiving and that I was on America's Next Top Model (hey, it could happen). I did NOT dream about Cheerios, or packing school lunches, or laundering muddy jeans, or making dinner, or poopy diapers, or editing photos, or my never-ending to-do list. It was FABULOUS - thanks Steve-o! You rock my socks!

Here's a couple of Tyler when all my boys got home this afternoon.....

AJ's First Soccer Game

AJ had his first soccer game this morning, so we can officially join the ranks of "those people" who do the whole "Saturday a.m. soccer-parent-fanatics". I guess I'm literally now, a soccer mom.
Anyway, AJ did GREAT and Steve and I had a great time at his game and we laughed A LOT. Watching a group of 6-12 4 and 5 year olds chase after a soccer ball is funny stuff. Seriously.

AJ even got to kick off the game. Here's his coach telling him what he's supposed to do.

And yes, their jerseys are SALMON. Not pink. Not peach. SALMON. And they are, without a doubt, the ugliest jerseys EVER. Really, they'll make your eyes bleed. At least we won't lose him in a crowd.

Anyway, he got right into it....




Then he morphed into a chimp. I'm not sure what's up with the monkey face, but maybe he's just REALLY concentrating.



Owen cheered for AJ for a few minutes, reminding him that there's "no crying in soccer and you have to score a goal, okay AJ?" and then he wandered off to play in the dirt for awhile. And by "awhile" I mean the rest of the game. Hey, dirt is a RIVETING substance, man.


Kick'n some girls butts in a race to the ball....



He would occasionally get caught up in admiring his own shoes and cleats while he ran. It IS a rather handsome get-up, don't you think?
Notice in the background, the team whiner (see previous soccer post)



Fighting it out with his own teamate for the ball. This is the kid who we originally labeled the "the super athlete" in the first soccer post, but we have since renamed him "the mean kid". More on that later...


Notice his stature. He's just slightly er....smaller than the other kids. By an average of 2-6 inches. But he hangs with 'em just fine.

He even scored a goal.


Hey, when you're freaking awesome and you know it, you just have to celebrate it.


Love that kid.