Little Fish

We've had a very nice and for the most part relaxing weekend. After catching up on piles of laundry and washing both cars, it was time for a dip in the pool. We already knew Gavin loves the bath tub, but this little boy took to the pool like a fish. He's fearless, which makes for a mixture of worry and comfort in this mom.


Gavin will stand on the steps of the pool and fall in our arms. When he goes under water he usually comes back up without so much as a cough. He even started blowing bubbles and can kick his feet. Now we just have to check to make sure he's not growing fins!

Swirly Notes

My head is kind of swirling. So much has been going on lately. Poor little boy got a bad stomach bug right before the weekend and it looks like his daddy may have followed right along. I think both are on the mend now.

My little hometown has shown great heart this week. Several beloved members of the community from the small to the larger than life passed away. The lives they led and their love for Jesus have brought great comfort, but loss is never easy.

The camera is not fixed, but we were able to create a workaround to get the pictures downloaded. Here's a little slide show of what's been going on. Just pretend you're in my living room and I have the projector out.

We had another woodland creature grace our presence. This time it took a dip in the pool. There's no telling how long that raccoon had been in there and couldn't get out.
After we helped it reach dry land, the masked bandit wanted to go for another dip. Seriously? Are you sure about that buddy?
D was asked to play Indiana Jones for our nephew's Indiana Jones themed birthday party.
I think he looked pretty close to the part. Although our nephew kept saying, "It's not Indiana Jones. It's Indiana Dave!" Indy had help from his little sidekick. Remember Short Round?
Well, Gavin actually looked more like a miniature Indiana Jones than he looked like the kid from the movies.

During this past week, Short Round turned 23 months. I know as kids get older this will probably be the last time we refer to Gavin's age in months. I truly can't believe our drummer boy will turn 2 in just a few weeks.
Now instead of fitting inside my belly, he chooses to lay on it. And that's just fine with me.

Bucket List

I bought these plastic tubs recently in hopes to use them for Gavin's upcoming birthday. He has already gotten a lot of use out of those $2.50 buckets. He's just the right size to fit inside.

They're perfect for wearing formal wear.

Playing with friends

You can even store things like blocks in the bucket and then sit on them.

Coincidentally enough D and I were talking about our bucket lists the other day. The 2007 movie The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman probably does better justice to the term, but basically it's referring to a list of everything a person wants to do before they kick the bucket.

Some of the things we can already cross off our list. There's the usual suspects - get married, have a family and the not so usual - pet a tiger (me), travel in Europe. D is still waiting to swim with the Great Whites.

However, there was one thing that both D and I want to do but haven't- ride in a hot air balloon. Actually, it sounds like a great idea to me now, but I have a feeling that I might not be so enthused once we take off and are miles in the sky.

While it's nice to dream and plan, living in the present usually takes the cake. Who knew you could have so much fun playing peekaboo with a plastic bucket?

Blog Humbug

Due to little time and energy (coupled with a broken camera cord) I haven't had much motivation to blog lately. Oh, there are stories to tell and even pictures to share, but I think it may not be too late to have a second round of senioritis. Seriously, tomorrow really should be Friday in my book. Hopefully the blog blues will be gone in a day or two and I can document a little thing called life.

Strawberry Fields

If you're like me, then you are so ready to stop looking at that icky creature on my blog. To appease you and myself, I'm going to tell you about our little trip we took to Froberg Farm in Alvin, Texas to pick strawberries.

We lucked out in that we went the last day of picking. Although if you ask me, they probably could have allowed people to pick for another week or two. The strawberries were not huge, but there were tons of ripe ones.

We had to teach Gavin the fine art of picking strawberries. First, it might be fine to eat one to make sure they are okay, but probably not every one you pick.

Daddy might have helped him taste one or a few.

Once he was quite certain they were Moore worthy, he got the hang of putting them in the bucket.

He took his job of carrying the bucket very seriously. It got so heavy he was dragging it, but he was determined. I think he had a soft spot for the berries because we caught him trying to put a strawberry back in the plant.

We definitely picked enough to last us awhile.

And had an awesome family day together.

Strawberry picking is hard work.

Hey Mom!

Look who was playing possum in our trash can!

Can You Say Random?

I have several thoughts in my head, but really no clear way to tie them together. I think I'll just jump in.

• Today, I desperately wanted to photograph my grandfather sitting next to his only remaining brother and sister out of 13 siblings. I felt like they probably hadn't had a picture taken together in awhile. Tomorrow they will bury their sister. She was 93 and the twin of the only remaining sister. It's sad to lose a loved one, but there was so much laughter and connection in the room today. Aunt Marca Lee probably would have wanted it that way. I hugged my grandparents extra tight tonight.

• At dinner, we were telling Gavin "no, no" because he was throwing some food (he's getting better, thankfully) and the next thing D and I hear coming from his mouth is "no, no." We had the hardest time not cracking up laughing. Okay, we eventually caved in. One thing about Gavin is that you can hardly get him to repeat anything. He just usually does it on his own.

• My blond haired nephew, who looks like he could be Gavin's brother, turns five today. Happy Birthday Ayden!

• Fifteen, quince, 15, I repeat fifteen school days left!

• After a two week break, Zumba is back on and I'm a little sore today. I also slipped getting in the shower and pretty sure I bruised my shin bone. I don't have a bruise yet, but I think it's going to be very colorful.

See, this was random. Welcome to my world.

A Stroll Through Mother's Day 2010

Walk with me (and Gavin) down Mother's Day lane.

Needless to say, Mother's Day was indeed a very sweet day. We spent some time with these ladies, Me Me and Nannie, over lunch.

And we had dinner with this group, but something doesn't look right.

Aww, that's better! Is this the family picture you had in mind Mom?

Best of all, I got to enjoy the whole weekend with my two favorite boys.

I think Gavin was pretty proud of the flower he picked for me.

Doesn't it smell nice?

Smelling the Roses

Things are starting to look up around here. You could even say we're smelling the roses.
The Moore crowd is feeling better, and I even came home with a little pep in my step. The first peppy step I can remember in a longggg time. I think it's a combination of finishing the Kindergarten reading test, feeling better and actually returning to some normalcy. For those of you reading my blog lately, you're probably thinking, "But I didn't think she liked things to be normal?". Well, I guess God has a sense of humor and likes to show us that normal is way better than all three of us being sick. I'll take this kind of normal over fevers any day.

Feeling Puny

It's been a rough couple of days to say the least. After D stayed home from work Tuesday and Wednesday because of allergies/sinus stuff, I took Gavin back to the doctor Thursday to make sure he was over his double ear infection. His ears were clear Yippe! But... one of the little boys at his baby sitter had some sore spots in his mouth and went home sick, so I had the doctor check out Gavin's mouth to be on the safe side. Sure enough, Gavin had those same spots. Thankfully he wasn't running fever and hasn't since. We can just tell he's a little uncomfortable when he eats. Other than that, his energy level is at full steam.

That same night, I started to have a sore throat and it has gone down hill since. Fevers, chills, headaches, the works. At least nothing was coming up or out- ewww.

Since Gavin wasn't going to his babysitter because he was considered contagious, MeMe watched him Friday morning while I dragged myself to school. I came home to find out my worst fear (at the time) Gavin was taking a nap! And a two and a half hour nap. I quickly threw myself into bed and caught a thirty minute nap before picking him up.

Let's just say this little boy was ready to play. The only reason I have any pictures of him is that the camera just happened to be in arms reach.I decided it was time to build a fort in the middle of the living room. This fort consisted of two pillows, a blanket and down comforter. Yea, it wasn't really a fort but my makeshift bed. I have no pictures because the camera wasn't in arms reach and I don't think I was very coherant at this point. Gavin basically got to pull out all of his toys. He even brought a few books for me to read to him. But in order to read, he had to have his Rescue Heroes, blue ball, rabbit, blanket and himself perched on top of the pillows.

After about two hours of this, I decided it was nap time for all. This was pretty risky since he had just woken up from a nap two hours prior, but desperate times calls for desperate measures. Thankfully God answered my prayers and he didn't make a single cry until D came home to rescue us about two and a half hours later.

This is getting long, so here's the short version to wrap up the rest of the story.
D came home. I slept some more.
He took me to the clinic since it was the only thing open.
They were closed. The nice pharmacist recommended something over the counter.
I had my jacket on inside out the whole time. Didn't know. Didn't care.
Slept 12 hours. Went back to the clinic.
Strep throat.
Got medicine. Starting to feel better.
Now I'm up at 3 a.m. since I've been sleeping all day.
The end.