Another installment of Life With the Himstedts

It's been nearly two weeks since I've posted a new blog entry. It's been busy around here, though I don't have a lot of photos this time to prove it. Maybe that's why I don't have many photos. I've been too busy to take them.

I always like to recap what's happened in a week, probably mostly blah blah blah drivel to everyone but me, but here goes anyway. Uh...let's see. I'm trying to recall it....two weeks WAS such a long time ago for someone as memory challenged as me. (My friend Abby and I always talk about how mommies and memories are non-compatible. She says her sister-in-law says she's in the Doily Brain Forgetter's Club, and that she's the president. Seems I may be challenging her position as president, entirely against my will.)

Oh yeah, we had Open House here at camp Sunday before last. The week leading up to it was very rainy and yucky weather-wise, but it wasn't raining for Open House, thankfully. It was cloudy, blustery, and cold, but not raining. March is always an iffy time to have a mostly outdoor event like that, but it's the best timing-wise for camp. We had several camp activities open for folks to try out, and Daniel and I gave tours. We had a decent turnout, and had a few sign up for camp.

**This would be a great place for some pictures of Open House**
(Too bad I didn't take any.)

From Monday to Thursday pretty much run together after that, so I guess nothing significant happened. Except for more rain, including for the second Wednesday in a row on my morning to ride at the barn. I had Macy come anyway, and enjoyed some alone time with the horses. A lady who is sending her kids to camp this summer had a dressage saddle she was trying to sell, and had spoken to me previously about it and brought it along for me to try out. Every horse-related thing I ever personally owned, including horses, brushes, saddles, bridles, etc. have ended up as camp items. I've been interested in (re)purchasing some things for myself, NOT to be engulfed by the camp stuff, so I was looking forward to trying the saddle out. So I got my favorite wet, muddy horse out of the pasture, knocked some grime off with a brush, and saddled him up. I didn't get a real ride in the saddle, but I did like it and ended up buying it from her. From everything I found online I got it for significantly less than it's value, which appeals to the (miserly/penny pinching/thrifty) economically-friendly side of me. One day I'll get to ride in it! Hope I still like it...

I also remember making a trip to Blairsville (north from here, up and over a big, curvy mountain road) with the kids on Thursday. I failed to renew my driver's license by my birthday- February 18- so it was slightly expired, and Blairsville was the nearest renewal location from here. Apparently no one knows about it either, because I was in and out of there with a new license in less than 10 minutes. That has to be some kind of government agency record. I was just glad they didn't ask me how I got myself there. I had James ready to pick me and the kids up from the Blairsville jail, just in case.

Friday I parted with some money at Wal-Mart. It's impossible to go Wal-Marting without spending at least $50. Cleveland is getting a Wal-Mart, set to open late summer. I have mixed feelings about it, as I now only Wal-Mart about every three weeks. (I believe this really is a verb. If not, it should be.) Once it's close to home, who knows how crazy it might get. Run in for one thing, see 18 more things you didn't know you needed until you saw them. The kids LOVE going. Since we don't have TV and commercials they don't know what exists out there until Wal-Mart shows them the way. Thankfully each kid has a thing called "The Birthday List" or "The Christmas List," depending on which event is closer. Anything any of them "have been wanting for my whole life" (as Shannon says), can be written on the list. It works great, and keeps me from being the mean mommy who says no all the time.

Friday night we had a bonfire at Rebecca's house, in honor of her brother and his family who will be leaving soon for the mission field. Rebecca also had some brush and wood scraps left over from the construction of her house to burn, but I'm sure that was just a coincidence. I did make good efforts to take pictures, since it was our kids' first offical roasting of food items over an open fire, but I got just three before the camera battery died. My camera battery lasts for 8 hours which is prectically forever, so I didn't check it before leaving the house. That was a bummer.

Avery works on cooking dinner with Jenny's help.

Elizabeth sits, watches, and inhales smoke. We all smelled like a fire when we left, and Amelia vowed to never smoke again, since it made her throat sore and her breath smell bad. (That's really what she said!) That's what a parent wants to hear regarding smoking.

"Huh? I gotta cook my own dinner? You crazy!"

Shannon was a bit under the weather Friday into Saturday, and ran a fever off and on. Actually we were all under the weather. I've yet to figure out a way to float above it. (That's always been a weird phrase to me. But I digress.) He was the only one who wasn't feeling good, anyway.

Saturday we kissed James goodbye and headed to McDonough. James had to stay at camp, yet again, and work a group that was here. My Granny and Pa Pa's 60th wedding anniversary celebration was Sunday, so we went down for that. Jonathan, Lisa, and Jordan came to mom and dad's on Saturday as well, so we had fun enjoying some time with family. Lisa is looking really cute with baby number two due June 21st. It's another girl, and I'm excited about being an aunt again. Jordan is now 20 months, and is talking up a storm. She even knows her colors already.

Sunday morning Amelia woke up with a fever, but we had stuff to do all day, so I gave her some Ibuprofen and she trucked on. The entire family (including all my aunts and uncles and cousins) went to church with Granny and Pa Pa Sunday morning. Ten of them participated in the church's orchestra, which sounded terrific. I come from a very muscial family. We had lunch at my cousin Gary's house, and the baby got a nap, then we went back to the church for an anniversary party. There was a great turn out. I got to see some folks from the church I grew up in who now attended that church in McDonough. It was fun catching up with childhood friends. I got an invitation from my friend Jennifer to do dinner at her house the following night.

Here are the pictures from the anniversary celebration:

Oh wait, I was too busy gabbing and chasing children to get my camera out of the car! I regret that now. Hopefully a kind family member will send me some pictures.

By Sunday night Amelia was truly miserable, and had developed a cough to go with the fever. By Monday morning Elizabeth started with the cough too, but thankfully no fever. Avery's nose started running. Shannon was just grumpy, still trying to shake the last of his whatever-it-was from the weekend. I applied my life motto: "It's always something." (Particularly when you decide to go out of town.)

Monday Shannon and I got to spend some time shoe shopping and Targeting. (Like Wal-Marting, only...need I explain?) I feel like Shannon is the kid I get to spend the least one-on-one time with, so we enjoyed our outing very much. And we found shoes. Mission accomplished.

Monday evening Amelia opted out of going to Jennifer and Craig's with me for dinner, and went to bed early. I took the rest of the crew and enjoyed a very nice evening catching up with an old friend. Jennifer and I grew up together at church and were buddies through high school, even though we didn't go to the same one. She was also a bridesmaid in my wedding.

It's fun hanging out with someone who it feels like you've seen not extremely sporadically but often over the 17 (Ack! Cough! Wheeze!) years since graduation. DANG that's a long time.

Jennifer and Craig have a two year old son named Gabriel.

Craig attacks the boys.

Tuesday we headed home around nap time, and were glad to see Daddy. My extended family kids me when I come to family events without him, but since they're always on weekends he's usually busy with groups at camp. My cousin Gary wanted to know where I hid the body.

There's nothing else significant to report about our week. Grocery shopping Wednesday, church Wednesday night...and now it's Thursday. This is spring break for the entire state of Georgia, so we skipped Thursday night dinner due to everyone being busy or out of town. James and I took the kids to the Sunflower chinese restaurant. We've been doing Thursday nights with friends for so long I didn't remember how to put together a Thursday night dinner without contributions from at least four other people. And I didn't feel like cooking.

I did snap a few pictures today. The boys got their hair cut this morning, so I thought that was picture worthy. We go to my friend Susan's salon in Cleveland.

I'm glad I don't have the job of chasing a two year old's wiggly head around while trying to cut a straight line...

Avery thinks haircuts are fun.

Here's Susan, my hairdresser, friend, and riding instructor. The hairdo you see before you was what she did to a lady who had to be every bit of 70 while she waited for her color to set. And I let this lady cut my hair.

Shannon likes haircuts too.

In spite of the tickly clippers, which he has a hard time sitting still for.

Today the weather was beautiful, so we met Alison and her boys at the park for a picnic after haircuts. The weather people have scheduled another nasty thunderstormy day for tomorrow, so we thought we should take advantage of the nice weather. Alison's boys have had the same type of mystery crud my kids had this week. Perhaps it's a virus. There's a small chance it could be.

Climbing a wall.

Yep, I climbed a wall.

Looking cute.

Being a monkey.

Driving a car. He kept asking where the pedals were, so I installed a wood chip accelerator and brake. That made him happy.

Avery's imagination has been quite active lately. Yesterday he was crying because Shannon took his bullets. They were invisible. So I took a couple of them from him, ate them, then spit them out at him. I convinced Shannon to eat and spit his out too, and Avery was laughing in just a few seconds. Today he was Robin Hood at the park, and showed us his arrows in the quiver on his back. (I think he looks more like Little John myself.) He asked where the bad guys were, and when I pointed "over there," he spent about 30 seconds looking hard and saying, "Where?"

Several things the kids have said lately have cracked me up. Last week Amelia turned her nose up at something on her plate and I told her she wasn't going to be rude, and that she would try it because I wasn't going to raise a picky eater. She looked at me seriously and said, "Then who's going to raise me if you aren't going to do it?"

While doing school this week we were talking about senses, and she said, "There are nerds everywhere on you. They bring noise to your brain." Nerds, nerves, whatever.

I was helping Shannon brush his teeth last week and when I was done he put his hands on my belly and said, "We should have another baby. Then there would be FIVE kids!" I thought that was a good one.

I'll try to do better taking pictures this week. I want to get some of Elizabeth who is trying to learn to crawl. She's scooting around on her rear to get to things she wants to chew, and can get up and rock on all fours. She just hasn't figured out forward yet.

It's a shade past late now, so I'll sign off. And so ends another (long/wordy) chapter in the life of Corie and family.

Goodnight!

Randomocity

Yes, here we are with another post of random stuff! This last week has been rather low key. Monday and Tuesday were really great weather days, and we enjoyed playing outside both days. That's hard to remember given that it's now Saturday night and it's been raining since Tuesday night! Great for the grass and flowers...terrible for the cabin fever with little kids.

We have some stuff up in the attic of the Lodge that has never made the move to the house. The kids and I went on a hunt Monday and found some treasures to bring home; a few stuffed animals, some books, and a gift Amelia received when she was three that I had stored away, because she was three. Here it is...

A real makeup kit, made for little kids. Right on the package it says Ages 3 and Up. At the time I didn't feel real good about giving a three year old free rein with no less than 10 eye shadows, nail polish, body glitter, and lipstick. Something told me it wouldn't be a good idea.

**FLASHBACK**

Here she is at three, after raiding my purse.

So, now that she's a very mature, capable 5 3/4, I thought it would be okay to let it come out of hiding.

Notice we're on the back porch. I mean, Amelia's Outdoor Beauty Salon.

She has lots of customers.

The final result. Gorgeous, dahling.

Anyone remember Glamour Shots? If I ever get the scanner going I'll humiliate myself by posting a Glamour Shot of myself. It's to die (laughing) for.

Elizabeth is now nearing 10 months old (on April 5th), and is making some developmental leaps forward. Crawling isn't one of them yet, though she's trying. She also cut a top tooth this week, and now makes a fingernails-on-the-chalkboard teeth grinding noise.

I'm okay with the not crawling thing, once she starts that things will be a lot harder for me! I can put her down in one spot and she does manage to scooch forward a few inches at a time to get ahold of things that look interesting to her. More than once she's worked on moving some furniture.



"Let's see, it needs to go a little more to the right, over there...."

"Perfect!"

Tuesday we had playgroup at the Cleveland Park. The kids call it the "blue park," because the slides are blue. As opposed to the orange park (in Clermont) or the green park (in Helen). The details we adults miss.

Intense concentration is required for sliding, lest one face plant at the bottom.



Elliott, just hanging around.

When Amelia got this shirt from Mimi and Papa last year she asked me what it said. I told her and she said, "Why isn't it easy being a Princess?" It's not hard for her!



Kyndal and A.J.



One of the best things about the blue park is the baby swings.

Elizabeth loves them!

Prepare yourself for what happened Tuesday night at dinner. Lately our biggest peeve with Avery at meals has been that he perpetually puts his right (non-utensil) hand in his food while he eats. This week he graduated from his high chair seat to a booster seat at the table with the rest of us. In the other chair he tends to fly under the radar since he sits off to the side, and I am always focused on the others. (No burping, sit up straight in your seat, don't dunk your quesedilla in your drink kind of stuff.)

Here's proof of that lack of attention. I hear him say, "My hand's yucky..."

Apparently he thought it would be a good idea to use his face and head as a napkin.

He's crying because he got in trouble, since we tell him 437 times per meal not to put his hand in his food. I took him into the bathroom, ready to hose him down in the shower, then I thought, "Get the camera first."

The most disturbing thing to me about these photos is how much he looks like the Heath Ledger version of the Joker in the latest Batman movie. Yikes.

Wednesday morning I got up to the sound of a steady rain. Macy D., one of our music minister's daughters, usually comes over for a few hours first thing Wednesday mornings before gymnastics, to watch the kids so I can go to the barn. A homeschooler is a treasure! There was no riding for me since it was raining, but I did get some time to clean the barn since we have Open House on Sunday. I enjoyed myself completely. Weird, huh?

Thursday we stayed at home (it was still raining), did school, laundry, the usual, while the kids questioned me no less than 40 times about when we would go somewhere. Their dreams came true when we went to the Davidsons for dinner.

Friday- More rain! I had a hair appointment, but aside from that we were home yet again.

And now for more randomocity, pictures taken this week.

I love my toes!

Especially after a bath, they're just so...clean!

We have a sign language book that demonstrates some basic signs. Amelia and I were looking through it this week and the sign for dog includes a finger snap. She finally learned how to snap this week.

And she was proud of herself! Most firsts are big deals for little kids. We've had a few houseflies making themselves at home lately, and she killed one with the fly swatter this week, and said, "My first fly!" So I wrote it in her baby book.

Another first, which we've been working on the past few weeks. Elizabeth is starting to feed herself.

Mastery of the "pincer grasp" with a piece of cheese. (It really is a baby milestone, or so the experts say.) Ah yes, I remember my first pincer grasp. On James. We'll leave it at that...

So what's going on here?





Dinner table antics. Everyone has to practice their stupid human tricks. And everyone wants to be like Dad. Try it...

First raise the right eyebrow...

then the left. It's not as easy as you think. I personally can only do the left, and forget switching rapidly back and forth between the two.

Amelia can pretty much do it.

We're encouraging lots of practice, since it's so much easier to learn things when you're young. You just never know when she may need to pull this out at a party or something.

Mwahh!

Here's the kind of stuff I find around here all the time. Apparently even stick horses with no chance of a belly or digestive tract need something to eat. Green construction paper, in this case.

Elizabeth is making efforts to crawl, she just doesn't quite have it yet. She pushes herself backwards and gets stuck under furniture.

"Help me, mom!"

"I give up! Who gave me this woman as a mother? Put down the camera!"

Many rainy days in a row inspire creativity, such as dumping every toy bin so everyone can have a boat/bathtub/elevator/you name it.



Here they're playing "boy in a bubble," or something.

"Yeah, I'm the boy in the bubble. What you lookin' at?"

I found this darling new sister when I came upstairs earlier. Gotta have the blackmail shots.

Like this one of Shannon, taken when he was the same age as Avery is now. (Let me preface it by saying he did this himself.)



Good stuff!

Well, I'm out of pictures, and I'm trying not to look at the clock in the bottom right hand of my computer. If you don't know what time you went to bed it's like you really got 8 or more hours of sleep, right? Good thing I only blog once a week or so...

'Night!