food issues

this morning i was eating a poptart in bed. it was a yummy chocolate fudge with chocolate frosting and white sprinkles. i'd only eaten about a 1/4 of it when ian indicated that he would like some. i passed it to him; he looked at it a second and licked the entire front of the poptart from bottom to top! he grinned at me and handed it back. at one point in my life i would have been disgusted and horrified by this. now, i just smiled back at him and finished the poptart. having my family here this week has caused me to think about food issues. i don't have a problem sharing food with the kids. they often seem to like what i'm eating (particularly snack items, but often meals as well) and i'll gladly feed them off my plate, a bite or two anyway. drinks i'm more hesitant to share, especially at ian's age. with him, if there is an open glass nearby, any or all of his food may end up in his glass. (or your glass, as the case may be...) and this doesn't even begin to discuss backwash. i will occasionally share drinks, but it is cautiously. as i thought about this, i thought about my family. my parents do not share their food & we do not share theirs. my mom doesn't like to eat out of the same popcorn bowl as anyone else & even daddy (who will eat a tunafish & jelly sandwich) doesn't share food. we just don't do it. i shared food and drinks with my friends (i even took chewing gum from a friends mouth as part of a girls camp skit), but we didn't share food in the family. i remember shortly after cory & i began dating, we had had sandwiches delivered to his parents house to eat. he's one of seven children so there were quite a few sandwiches being eaten. i remember he and his siblings passing sandwiches back and forth to one another as several people tried bites of different sandwiches. this was culture shock for me! to each his own! i guess it's just interesting how food idiosyncrises evolve!

blowing a gasket

two incidents in the past two days have caused me to blow a gasket. the first was on sunday. elise and ian were playing with this big copper tub in the kitchen. they were filling it with toys and shoes and things and seemed to be having a great time. i was in the living room watching this, thinking it was cute. while i could see them playing my view was partially blocked by the couch, so that i couldn't see everything that was taking place. this was a crucial mistake on my part. at some point, they dumped an entire box of goldfish into this tub. next, they proceeded to dump them on the kitchen floor and crunch them under their feet. this is the point where i realized something was up....and blew a gasket! boy was i mad!

the next incident happened yesterday. for a little background, we had our carpets professionally cleaned on friday. the kids & i had just finished lunch and had gone to my bedroom while i cleaned up the lunch stuff. elise came running into the kitchen and goes, "hurry mom! ian's doing something bad!" i ran into the bedroom to find ian dumping out a bottle of shampoo onto my carpet! exactly how do you get that up? add water? scrub? i honestly don't know! in the meantime, i blew another gasket! just two exciting events in the life of a stay at home mom!

the new dress up

elise's new form of dress up is putting ian in a dress or a leotard or some other kind of outfit...particularly a girls outfit. ian seems not to mind too much, elise has a ball--so all is well. i have to say, i think it is quite impressive that she manages to get him into such outfits. that, in itself, is quite a feat. it's hard enough to get him into regular clothes...but somehow a four-year-old gets him into a leotard. now that's really something!

yes, that's ian in a skirt...

elise is teaching ian to play "checkers"... 

would this be checkers or chess? 

elise and emmy after a day at the lake

poor, poor thing

elise's new adjective is "poor". the other evening after swimming lessons, elise saw a cat cross the street. she goes, "did you see that poor little cat? he was just out in the street. poor little cat!" she totally does the voice inflection, too, like whatever it is is just so pitiful. another night we were walking in the grass & she spotted some patches of clover. she asked what it was & i explained it to her. she said, "oh we're just walking on this poor clover. i hope we don't hurt it." when i play dolls or stuffed animals with her there is always at least one animal that is "poor" for some reason. this morning it was her big, 18 in, soft baby doll, wilma. she handed her to me and said, "poor, poor baby wilma. her mom just left her. she wants you to hold her." i patted poor wilma's back for a while. then elise brings up this little barbie and says, "wilma, your mom's back!" she takes the two dolls, the BIG baby & the little mom, and has the mom look at wilma and go, "wilma, look how you've grown while i was gone!" i cracked up b/c i'd just been thinking how funny it was that she had the little barbie as the mom & big ol' wilma as the baby!

swimming germs

when we got to swimming lessons last night amanda & heidi were telling me how the instructors and been rinsing vomit off the pool deck. apparently they had had quite a few children throw up. they said the kids eat a big dinner and then come and are nervous & scared & throw up. i'm kind of skeptical about that theory. i think its the stomach bug and the kids (all swimming & swallowing water) catch it from one another! i hope i'm wrong, but as many of you know, i'm a little paranoid about the stomach bug!

more adventures with ian

yesterday he was eating one of those ice cream things (i think they're called nutty buddies) and the end of the cone either broke or fell off or something. only before i realized it, he had dripped ice cream all over himself and throughout the house. of course quite a bit dripped down his hands, and he smeared that on the tv and various furniture. nice.... he also turned the ottoman over and and punched holes in the lining with my knitting needles. at supper he turned he dinner of pancakes into a basketball/football game as he tossed pieces of pancake across the table. of course he gets in trouble. and he doesn't like it at the time. but how quickly he forgets....

the glasses are half empty

yesterday morning cory couldn't find his glasses. he looked everywhere! ian has (a time or two) played with his glasses and "misplaced" them. but they have always turned up shortly. he finally went to work without them. later in the morning i walked into elise's bedroom and just happened to spot one of the lenses on the floor. so far the frames & other lens have yet to resurface. last night cory was trying to watch the spurs/pistons game, but found it was impossible to see the score without his glasses. he finally went and got the one lens and held it up over his eye when he wanted to see the score! now that is sad! so this morning he went and had his eyes checked! yeah! i mean, it's only been, like, four or so years! but he has temporary contacts for now & will get permanent ones in about a week, along with a new perscription for glasses. his eyes, he found out, are 20/100. he asked the lady, "is that bad?" she answered, "well, you aren't legally blind, but you're on your way!"

from the mouth of babes

elise said the sweetest prayer on the food today at lunch. here it is as close to word for word as i can remember.

"heavenly father, help us have a nice day today & help me have a good time at my swimming lessons today. and tonight. i mean today, and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and a bunch of days. and help my mama feel better. i feel sorry for her to feel sick. help her feel good & help her baby grow healthy and strong. and bless the food. in the name of jesus christ, amen."

that is the sweetest girl in the world! when i hugged her and told her how much i appreciated it and how much i loved her she said, "oh no prob! it's no big! i just knew you were going to say that!" =)

swimming lessons

elise started swimming lessons last night. she taking them with two of her best friends, so that makes the class more fun. she did great from what we could gather, although they don't have a very good setup for parents to watch their children & they don't want the parents out there to "interfere." her instructor said she went under water, kicked her legs (which were very strong) and some things like that. so it was a success. she was so excited about it, that when she woke up this morning she was already ready to go! i'm afraid it may be a long day...

elise uses the telephone

elise answered the phone for the first time yesterday. i had felt yucky in the morning & it was nine or so before i got in the shower. i had the bathroom door open so i could hear the kids should they destroy something or try to kill each other or whatever. i heard elise go, "she's actually in the shower. i'll have to get a message." i'm thinking, surely she's playing an imaginary game or something--she couldn't actually be talking on the real phone! after i got out, she said, "you were in the shower, so you just couldn't get the phone." she was even able to tell me who it was and when i said i would call them back, she said, "no, they said they will call you." she was right, too. although i was shocked, i thought she handled it perfectly! she was very grown up and professional sounding. since i hate the phone anyway, it looks like i may have a personal secretary on my hands!

worn out

what a weekend this has been! it seemed to start last week, where we had activities almost every day that kept us incredibly busy. on friday afternoon (after spending a day at the lake), we packed up and headed up to my parents house. we got there about 9pm, and after a little while of visiting and whatnot, some folks there decided to watch "a beautiful mind". i, however, did not even make an attempt to see it. i was too exhausted, too worn out, and all that stuff. the next morning i worked a while on cory's mailers for work, then loaded up with all the family and went to a different lake. we had a nice day there. it was cool & overcast, so being in the water didn't feel too great...at least for the grownups. ian, and elise in particular, really seemed to thrive there! i played a little frisbee with the boys and sat at the edge and watched elise for a while. it was a lot of fun! cory was good enough to drive home and let me climb in the back and sleep. it was so nice & peaceful. after we got in and worked on getting food ready, we had a party for adam's & logan's birthdays & daddy's father's day. after a little bit of visiting, we loaded up the car and headed back to the house! we got home around 11pm, crashed and woke up sunday morning. we had an early morning with picking up a girl at governor's school & taking her to church. (believe it or not, we actually got her picked up and made it on TIME for church! amazing!) after church we took shaundra back "home", and went straight to cory's parents for an afternoon of visiting. we had a great time (all the cousins love being together) and then we got back home around 10 or so last night. and now, here it is monday morning...and i'm just stunned! all i want to do is curl up on the sofa and watch tv or movies or read a good book! we definitely need a break! whew!

craft night

last night we had our monthly craft night. i "taught" monica, heidi, & amanda how to make a dress (like the blue & red one elise has on in the picture). actually, all of them have at least some sewing knowledge, so mainly i just helped them cut out the fabric & piece the pieces together. i got the idea from a dress that i had bought for elise. it was cute with ribbons for the straps and a tie around the middle. i traced the dress and made a pattern, which we used to make the dress. heidi said her mom used to do that all the time to make them clothes. we all decided that it was much easier that way than using a "real" pattern, because when you make it you see how it should be put together. anyway, all three of them got a dress completely done by the end. monica made a smaller one out of purple eyelet material with white trim. it was for a one year old & looked really cute. heidi's was for her little girl about elise's age. it was orange with white flowers and pink & yellow flowered ribbon. amanda's was pale pink with sequined fringe that was so neat. i was so impressed with how good all the dresses turned out--even with putting a zipper in! we also had lots of fun chatting & giggling! it was actually about 1:30 before we called it a night! it was late & i am tired today, but it really was worth it. we laughed about our kids, cracked up over some funny bathroom stories, and just had lots of girl talk. i think our craft nights are as much about the girl talk as they are about the craft. we get something made, learn a new skill, but most importantly we grow closer to one another as friends!

tummies

elise is really excited about a new baby in the family. she remembers some about my being pregnant with ian, so it's not a completely new experience for her. every day (several times a day) she will come up to me and say, "oh wow! look how big your tummy is getting!" if she weren't so cute i'd be offended!

sweet relief

the a/c repairman came yesterday. i was about as glad to see him as the dr. who gave me my epidural! he diagnosed the problem, picked up parts and replaced them. thank goodness the kids and i had errands to run, b/c it took a l-o-n-g time for our house to cool down. understandably, though. when your thermometer on your thermostat is at 90 degrees (the highest it will go, which probably means it was hotter...) it takes a while to cool off. but this morning, it is nice and cool! hallelujah! in talking to cory, we realized that our a/c has gone out or messed up during each pregnancy. with elise, i was eight months pregnant and it was mid nineties & i was miserable. the boys had come down to visit for spring break & they were miserable too! then with ian, it wasn't as hot, and we had lots of fans to plug in, but it still was not a good thing. and now this time! what a track record!

hell can't be any hotter

our a/c went out today. i had morning errands & got home with the kids around noon only to find the house temperature at 80 and no a/c working. of course it was mid 90's today, so tonight the temperature inside is 90 degrees. no joke. all the windows are up, the ceiling fans running, and floor fans going, but to no avail. i realize that i am, to some extent, totally spoiled. i know, logically, that there are people in the world, people in our country who live w/o this luxury. but it is totally miserable, completely unbearable--just incomprehensible the heat i feel at this moment. the repair man comes tomorrow, but gosh knows, it can't come soon enough!

Making a SPLASH! More fun at the creek today by the Jarrell Bunch! 

racing

okay blogger faithfuls...here's your reward for being so diligent. we thought we'd be let you be the first to know that we'll be adding baby number three to the barnett bunch in about nine months! Yeah! we're really excited, a little nervous, and wondering if maybe we're racing to the looney bin! stay tuned to "under the bamboo tree" for more information and updates! love to all!

faster, faster!

kyleigh, marleigh, emmy, & elise swinging grandma's swing for all its worth!

this isn't our first time in front of the camera!

elise modling a dress i made for her. she had ian stand beside her to be her boyfriend =)

the prize makes it all worthwhile

elise's "my little pony" tatoo from the dentist

i tip my hat

when i got home shortly after midnight from my all evening crop, cory had done so much to get the house clean. he's amazing! he's quick, he's thorough, he's effective, he's productive...and he does it all with a smile and a good attitude. so i tip my hat you you, babe!

scrapbooking

last night i went to a "crop", which for anyone not into scrapbooking (i cringe to even think that's a possibility), is a party where you just bring all your scrapbooking stuff and work on your books all night. this one was from 7-12 at night. i got there about 7:30 and left around 11:30 and got seven pages done. i could have done more, but some people there really were in the mood to show me things (like pictures of theirs and stuff). i enjoyed that part too...that's part of the whole crop experience. last night, however, i was in a power cropping mood and didn't particularly want to do anything that took away from that. (i did manage to take a break long enough to scarf down some brownies!) none of my close friends went, which was not as fun. i got to know some new people and get to know several people better, but i did miss my crew! i'm thrilled to be as close to caught up as i am on the kids books. i've gotten to august 2004 in elise's book & september 2004 in ian's....i'm almost there....

dentist

elise's first dentist appointment was yesterday. we had prepped and prepared her and she was very excited. she woke up before 6 and immediately asked me, "are you ready to take me to the dentist?" wow! anyway, her appointment wasn't until around noon, so we had a while to wait! we got there and pretty soon the hygenist took us back. she let elise climb up into the chair and showed her how it moved up and back. elise like that pretty good and smiled a bit. you could tell she was a little nervous too, though. the fun kind of took a back seat right here...the lady wanted elise to open her mouth. elise flatly refused to open, would not even look at the hygenist, and kept shooting ugly looks at me. after some encouraging and cajoling (and the promise of a prize at the end) elise opened up for her. i have to say, the lady was sooooo good. she really handled the situation beautifully and with ease. an example: when she finally got elise to open up, she gushed, "oh my! look at these beautiful, white teeth. what a pretty smile you have! and to think, you weren't even going to show me these pretty things. you were going to keep them to yourself! they look great!" she put elise at ease and helped warm her up and make her feel good. they didn't do a formal cleaning, just mainly got elise comfortable with the idea of a dentist and what happens. she told elise that next time she would "tickle her teeth" and showed her what she would use. she even "tickled" elise finger with it so she could feel it. elise really did fabulously. and she got a new barbie toothbrush, spongebob toothpaste (ian even got to pick out some too!) and then she got two prizes at the end--a bouncy ball and a my little pony tatoo. i think it was a positive experience & elise is already looking forward to having her teeth tickled and getting two tatoos next time!

mischief

so far this morning ian has put straight pins down in my sewing machine and then stripped down to his birthday suit & painted much of his body (private parts included) with toothpaste. then he climbed into the bathtub (fully clothed) while i brushed elise's teeth and proceeded to turn on the water! dare i ask, "what next?"

refreshing

yesterday ian was doing something funny. he recently figured out how to scoot the kitchen chairs around so that he could climb up onto things and create more mischief. so yesterday he scooted his chair over to the refrigerator and stuck his head in to the ice/water thing. he would push his head against the thing to make freezing cold water come out, soaking his head. he laughed and laughed--it was great fun!

bambi

we sat down to watch some of bambi as a family yesterday. as we were getting started, cory commented that he wasn't sure if he'd ever seen bambi all the way through. there is a very long "tour of the woods" opening sequenc,e where there is nothing but soft music and trees...and more trees. after that cory said, "no wonder i've never seen the whole thing!" but as we continued, very shortly thereafter a reference is made to bambi, calling him "the little prince". cory halted the show and goes, "wait! you mean to tell me that bambi is a boy?" after some laughther, he goes, "who names a boy, bambi?" we decided it was true that he'd never watched the whole bambi movie before!

poopy

after wiping elise's poopy the other day, cory mentioned to her that she might want to learn to wipe herself off. she looked at him with utter disgust and said, "nooooooooo!" cory was like, "well, why not?" elise, still disgusted said, "because its gross!" hmmmmm.....

girls night out

last night elise & i went to eat at Tripps for "girls night out". on the way there we were playing games in the car. (elise loves to play games in the car, like "i spy", "i'm thinking of a person", "rhyming game" or whatever) one of her favorites is "joking game". this is not one of my favorites. it entails elise telling jokes like this, "knock knock...who's there?.....bathtub....bathtub who.....bathtub microphone." then i am required to laugh my hardest and then tell one of my own. i don't have a large repertoire of jokes, so pretty quickly my jokes degrade to the elise brand of knock knocks (i.e. ones that have no point and make no sense). this could go one for quite sometime. so last night elise wanted to play this game. i told her, "elise, let's play something else. i'm not very good at the joking game." she responded, "yes you are mama. come on mom, just tell one." i tried again, to get out of it, but elise would have none of that. she said, "you're great at this game, mom. and i promise i'll laugh at your jokes!" that did it, right there. she was so earnest and sincere, how could i not tell one! and she did as promised. she laughed like i had actually told something funny!

we had fun at tripps. she ordered spaghetti, i had the chicken stir-fry. both were delicious. i thought i would die laughing at her slurping up one long spaghetti noodle at a time, in true "lady and the tramp" fashion. it was cute. she was very neat, though, and kept her napkin in her lap throughout the meal. we had a great time--just the girls! on the way home we swung through the mcdonald's drive-thru for ice cream for elise (vanilla), which she thought was delicious. then she had me speak things in spanish all the way home. the spanish thing actually seemed to be the highlight for her (go figure). next time we'll just drive around for an hour speaking spanish and save the time and money. but seriously, we really had a nice time!

mistress mary quite contrary...

...how does you garden grow? this year i have a garden. thanks to daddy and his borrowed tiller, we dug up a section of our yard and planted a garden. it may not be the biggest, it may not be the most professional, it may not be the best....but it is a garden, by george, and that counts for something! i've planted, weeded and watered. so far i have blooms on my tomatoes, one grape-sized green pepper, and everything else appears to be thriving. below are pictures of where we came from and where we are now.

in the beginning.... 

garden beans from early on... 

garden beans today 

my tomato plants today...blooming fiercely 

my garden today 6-01-2005 

cory's baby-sitting

i had a dentist appointment today at 12:20. cory graciously agreed to watch the children at his office for a couple of hours. so we left home about 11, drove into town, swung by mcdonalds for nuggets and fries and pulled up in front of cory's building. cory took the kids on up & i drove off to the dentist. you can imagine what the rest of my day was like. meanwhile back at the office, ian slept a little, elise played "abskids" (www.pbskids.org), they ate lunch. at some point they must have gotten tired of that routine, and being at the office, their entertainment was limited. so cory began letting them send papers through the paper shredder. apparently this was great fun...for a while. but eventually they had to kick the fun up a notch. they started getting out the shredded "confetti" and would sling it into the air, yelling "surprise" with each toss. cory actually let them do this for a while, but all good things must come to an end. only elise & ian didn't want it to end. eventually, after not listening, they each got a talking to which left elise crying for her mom...at which point ian (somewhat oblivious up til now) began crying for his mom. (that was something he would jump on board for!) it think all were ready for this little escapade to end: however, tonight everyone has agreed to try it again sometime!