Winter Joy!

Artists at work

The boy and I pulled out the water colors today.....Here is our joint creation!

Laziest on the block

So...The Husband and I are officially the laziest on the block. As IF there was any doubt before, it's now official. Our neighbor has now cleaned up the leaves in our yard TWICE just because she is nice and she is retired and she is so thankful to have at least one GOOD neighbor (the drug-dealing dude across the creek is the other neighbor). Unfortunately I don't have a good "before" picture, but I think you can imagine it based on the trees in our yard. Here is the "after" picture. This is 1 day AFTER...so there are some scattered leaves here and there. Yesterday afternoon there was not ONE leaf on the whole driveway. A little scary, if you ask me.

Was this your house?

The houses along the main road by our house are coming down! Just a day or so ago there was a house standing here.

The world has a new color

What are you laughing at?

"Bus"

OK---so the I-man has discovered the song"Wheels on the Bus". Please help us!
It's a pretty annoying song...so I became determined to find the least annoying version of this song. My project this weekend was to browse samples on iTunes to find just that! AND I THINK I FOUND IT!!! Thank you Victor Johnson for making this album: Country Blues for Kids
Take a listen. You might even like it!!!

What color is that?

If you ask the I-man that question he will tell you PURPLE! He doesn't even need to LOOK at what you are asking...he knows it's purple. Everything is purple. Purple cars, purple toes, purple ball. It makes us laugh..but how do we know he isn't right?

Playground safety

Does this slide look safe for a 1 1/2 year old? Does this slide look safe for a 30 + year old? I should say NOT, but what does the 1 1/2 year old want to climb the whole time we are at the park? The friggin' stairs of said slide. Doesn't want to slide down, just wants to climb the steps to the top. I do not like this slide.

Cool Toys!

I LOVE this site Back to Basics Toys.
Who else had this...the Evel Knievel Super Stunt Set!!!!!

Accountable even in someone else's dream?

So, what do you think? The other night The Husband made a cameo appearance in my dream. I-man and I were driving to meet him for lunch, in the dream, and called him to let him know we were on our way. He said "OK. Can we make it a quick lunch?"

This response irritated me! Why couldn't he have called and just said he was busy that day and we should meet up another day. I mean we were driving all the way over to HIS work to have lunch with HIM and he acts like it's a big inconvenience to have a nice lunch with us!?!?

The Husband claims that he's not responsible for what he does/says in MY dream, but I beg to differ. What do you think?

Dog walk: the dialog!

OK!!! We now have a new feature to the Dog Walk series! The dialog! On Sunday morning we all went on the dog walk (well, except the cat). There was running commentary the whole way by the youngest member of the group. There was LOTS of pointing, too.

Pointing and saying..."Guck! Guck" (truck)
"mmm!" (I'm not sure how to write this...it sounds something like the peeps from a guinea pig)
"ower" (flower)
"doggies"
"mmmm!"
"cars, cars"
"Mama's, mmmm! Dada's"
"Doggies"
"Guck"
"rocks"
" slide" "all done"

It's October.....

Do YOU have your Halloween costume picked out?

Product recognition

So the other day I was about to put the I-man into the car and I opened the front car door to put my bag down. He spots an old Starbucks cup sitting in the holder next to the driver's side and points to it saying "Dada, Dada".

I've given in....

Most of you know what a mess our yard is. Shady, patchy, and full of crappy out-of-control ground cover. Well....I've finally had it with a patch of dirt next to the driveway where we used to have a woodpile. What to plant there....hmmm....I hate to confess that I've given in and bought some Hostas. The Walmart of plants. Here are my plants and below is the area where I hope to plant.

Back home

I-man and I are back home after a week vacation. We went to Minnesota (to the lake, of course) where we had fun jumping on a trampoline with cousins. We also went to Kentucky where we had fun sliding down the big dog and riding a pony with his cousin. We are back home, now. Not too happy about it!!!!!!!!!

Cars

I-man is a car guy. This started a few weeks ago and now he'll demand for one of us to push cars around with him on the floor or on the ottoman. Here's a photo of a few of them the other day. I was thinking of getting him a doll and tea set to balance him out a little bit.

1st photo request

A tougher assignment than one might think

Photo Requests?

Just looking for photo requests.........what would you like to see? Subjects? Scenes? Actions?

They have arrived.............

Ramblings

Maggs and I scared up a GBH (Great Blue Heron) on our walk this morning. Also saw a hawk in the woods. It was thick with humidity this morning and wet from the rain last night. Maggs was pokey and I got annoyed because I walked through a bunch of spiderwebs. Phew.

The nanny (AAPH) stopped over last night and hung out with I-man and I this morning before she went to Chicago for a flight to London. Last minute vacation for her. She deserves it. She called from the plane saying "I hate Chicago traffic". Guess she JUST made the flight.

Photos....took about 184 today. Do you think I have a problem?
Baked some zucchini muffins today. They didn't rise. Why didn't they rise?

Why you should look down before heading out the door to work

...because if you don't you might accidentally slip on one brown shoe and one black shoe and not even notice it because they are shoved under the bench in the dark hallway. And it might not be until noon before someone else points it out to you...

Surely you've all done something silly like this....tell us your story! I know there are some creative writers out there!

Why you should wear two pairs of shorts on the dog walk

So yesterday morning we all went for the dogwalk together. I-man, THe Husband, Maggs, and myself. After we had made one circle around the woods it was clear that Maggs needed less commotion in order to get her business done. So, The Husband and The Boy went back home. When Maggs was ready she and I made our way across the bridge and up the stairs. Then I felt a very sharp stinging pain in my right thumb. Then I felt it on my right leg..in at least two place. OUCH. Then I looked down and noticed about 10 bees (or hornets?) IN STINGING POSITION on my shorts! Yikes! I acted VERY quickly and pulled the shorts off, left them on the trail, and ran home! Good thing I was wearing another pair of shorts underneath! Another reason to keep that silly 80's (or was it 90's) style going....
All in all I came out of that incident with 4 bee stings. Maggs was untouched and fortunately I-man didn't get stung either as they had gone home another way. I sent The Husband back over to retrieve my shorts awhile later. He didn't find a nest. I really must have looked pretty funny yanking those shorts off and running home!

Our new neighbors

VERY tired.....

First trip to the zoo and I forgot my camera!!!!!!!!

I can't believe that I forgot my camera! We took I-man to the zoo for the first time. Well, he's been there twice before but this is the first time he's gone where he GETS IT. Did I mention that I forgot my camera? His highlight list: 1) THE PRAIRIE DOGS (got him laughing when they dug in their holes) 2) The young bobcat (splashed us when he was going after some toys in the pool) 3) The goats in the petting farm (DOOOGGGGIIIIEEESSS).

We also took him for his first trip to Bonnie Doon. No camera AGAIN. And they don't even have a website. It's an ice cream place that hasn't changed since it opened. They still have drive-in. We went inside and I-man REALLY wanted to use his spoon to dish out some of his dad's banana shake. He is still a bit sloppy with the spoon, so there was a lot of banana shake on his face and on the table.

Garden Help

Dogwalk Wednesday

Boy in the front pack, Dog on the leash. We went the other direction today. There was a group of kids gathering for what seemed like a day camp day. As I walked down the stairs I note stuffed animals scattered in trees, paths, fences, etc. They must have been organizing some kind of game. The boy had to climb around the cabin stairs and that was fun. On our way back we noticed a stuffed white owl smack dab in the middle of a poison ivy patch on the side of the trail! Is it mean that I chuckled...just a little bit?

Weekend

Had a thrilling trip to Kokomo and back on Friday. The Boy threw up. So we stopped at Discount Tires, cleaned up and turned around to go back home. Six hours in the car. He fell asleep 2 miles from home. Fun was had by all.

Tuesday DOGWALK

Brought to you by I-man:
As you can see by the drawing, he rode the whole way in the backpack! It was a fairly quick walk and we didn't even get bothered by mosquitoes. It was cool today, so we both had sweatshirts on. Maggs said she didn't need one.

Broom for the boy

Had to get a broom for the boy. He likes to help when we sweep. This was the only one I could find. Phew...thank goodness the broom advertised "Little boys like to sweep too" or I might not have bought it.

Trouble with the hired help

Turns out the nanny doesn't change diapers and doesn't do 2am call.

And the nanny job goes to.......

AAPH!!!!!!!! (OTA...Aunty Hovis). Ok, so the excuse to come here is to look for bike helmets, but The Husband convinced her that instead of going to Indy for the helmet today she should come here instead! With the promise of good whiskey, hanging with I-man, AND going along to get his first ice cream cone certainly helped seal the deal.

Friday DOGWALK

Maggs dressed up today for the walk, as you can see. She is sporting her ND bandana! The neighbor dogs are saying "HI" in the 2nd picture. It might be hard to see, but they are sporting their summer haircuts!
I-man rode in the front pack most of the walk today. Here we are covering him up to protect from any mosquitoes! It was a pretty quick walk. Once around and not too much pokiness by anyone! After we got home I noticed I had put I-man's shoes on the wrong feet! Good thing he didn't want to walk too much today!

Dog Walk: Itchy & Scratchy Edition

by Guest Contributor: The Dad.

This may be my last fill-in post given the chilly reaction to my efforts on the dog walk.

The dog walk today was a challenge. We went to our standard spot -- The Res -- at the appointed time, and Maggie did her thing as one would hope. However, the mosquitoes are starting to come out in force. Ike and I spent a lot of the walk discussing the relative itchiness of Poison Ivy v. Mosq. Bites. Given evidence collected on the walk, I argued that the bug bites were worse for the first 20 minutes, but the PI had staying power.

One of the big differences between when Moose and I take Ike for a dog walk is that he generally likes to just hang out and ride in my arms the whole time. He doesn't even feel the need to have hold of the leash most of the time. I'm not sure why that is. Today, as you can see from the picture, he had to take a short little walk, but he quickly wanted back up in my arms. (Note, too, that Dad didn't even dress him funny today.)

When we got back to the house, Ike had to do a bit of yard work. You can see how nicely Moose's gardening is coming together in the front of the house. We recently reclaimed the part on the far right, converting it from the omnipresent vinca to grass. Moose says she's surprised she's advocating planting grass anywhere, but that's how pervasive the darned vinca/perriwinkle is.



In the course of Ike's yardwork we came across a moose. This one comes via Aunt S and has settled into the garden well.

After that we had to take a ride in the wagon, which got a smile from the boy....

Tuesday and Wednesday dogwalk

....done by The Husband. No pictures, no story....he took The Boy on Tuesday and said it was uneventful. Today he only took Maggs. How can I be married to such a boring guy?

Monday walk

We got off to another late start since someone went back to sleep and slept till almost 10! This is why it was Dogwalk in Pajamas, part II. We spent a good part of the time in the meadow. Maggs was pokey. Here is a pic of the leash contraption

Friday DOGWALK....wet

Yes, today it is raining. But the dog MUST be walked. We had a bit of a slow morning...someone was wide awake at 5am so we were up playing from 5-6am then went back to bed till 9:30....The DOGWALK did not get going until 10:56. We were dressed in shorts and t-shirts...then we opened the door. It was cool and rainy. So, a sweatshirt was added and kid moved from backpack to sling. Not too many photos taken today because of the rain..but here are a few.
The poppies are blooming in the center planter and the false solomon's seal is blooming in the yard.Walk was peaceful. The Boy was pretty sleeping and we listened to the rain falling on the leaves. He didn't even ask to get down to walk. Good thing...it was wet! Arrival back home: 11:22am

Thursday Dog Walk...Guest Writer: The Dad

The dog walk was done today by me, The Dad.

Our buddy Gladys (aka, Michael...don't ask) was in town today, which meant that the Boy was distracted and not totally into the dog walk. For those that don't know, we have a two leash contraption set up because the Boy usually feels like he has to hold the leash, and we want to have a bit more control over Mags than he can provide. Well, today, Dad ended up with both leashes, as the Boy just wasn't into that today. All in all, the walk was really pretty boring. I carried the little guy and both leashes, Mags did what she was supposed to, and we all came home. Now, don't get me wrong -- he was terribly cute during the whole thing, but it was a relatively uneventful walk.

When we got back, we said goodbye to Gladys. He was off to ride his bike to Chicago...through Hammond, East Chicago, and all that. I'm not sure that exactly sounds like fun to me. I tried to get the little guy to say "Bye, bye" for Gladys, but to no avail. (I did manage to get him to say "okay" today...or at least his version of it.)

Well, since I didn't take any pictures on the walk, here's one of the Boy in his glasses from today.

Plant Quiz!!

Please enter your guesses!







This one with the pink flowers, I'm just looking for a family...because I don't really know what this is exactlyyy

Wednesday DOGWALK

10:06 am. I said to the boy "Go get your shoes, it's time for THE DOGWALK!". He walked from the family room to the kitchen and grabbed one shoe. Someone slept in late this morning because he woke up during the middle of the night wide awake calling for THE DOGGY. So, we decided that THE DOGWALK could be done in our pajamas! Yeah! Here we are getting ready to go.

He got to ride in the sling for most of the way. We took lots of pictures today because I'm updating the website for the organization that manages the woods and facilities. We needed new pictures of the buildings. We also had to stop and walk around at one of the little cabins in the woods and play with the rocks by the firepit.

It is hot today and Maggs decided it was too hot for her while we were playing at the cabin. So she went to hid under the porch. Can you see her here?

Finally, we had to have some fun playing with the dirt on the trail.

Here we are...at the end of the walk. A successful, fun morning! Perhaps we should all learn a lesson here...it's more fun to spend the morning in your PJs!!!!!

Tuesday dogwalk...

9:12 The boy grabs his shoes from the basket and brings them to me so I will help him put them on. Time for THE DOGWALK! Welcome to a new feature on SDMOOSE. I hope to bring you reports from our dogwalks a few times a week. But will these reports be interesting enough to keep you reading? Stay tuned!


Here we are at the END of the walk. As you can see, someone insisted that the wagon go along today.

First we had to stop and talk to the neighbor on our way to the woods. She was putting about 4 packages in her mailbox "return to sender". Her 92 year-old mother apparently orders many things from the mail! Maggie loves our neighbor (treats) and The Boy is finally smiling at her. Today he played the fun trick of throwing something out of the wagon multiple times so she would pick it up for him. I thought MY kid wouldn't do that trick! Then he wanted out of the wagon and took off exploring down the road. So, I said goodbye to the neighbor and chased him down.

This is the first time the wagon has been "invited" along on the walk! It worked ok, in that the boy rode in it about 1/2 way. It slowed us down a bit and I think it maybe threw Maggs off a bit as she didn't do her thing that she is supposed to do on the dogwalk! Darn dog. The Boy yelled "DOGGY" a few times on the walk. Another first. Arrival home: 9:59. Time to get going to Ava's for another walk....it's going to be hot here today.

kkyoarrd trouuble

...ssoo iiwilll justt posstttapppiccture

`+`

Tornado warnings...

This evening we had our first tornado sirens...warnings of the season. I was google chatting with a certain AAPH and I commented that I've been told that a tornado sound like trains, therefore I'm screwed. You see...we have grand central station running through our backyard. I hear trains running like every 5 minutes. She then said "yeah...I thought about telling you that, but thought the better of it" Nice friend!

ps. It's pretty funny to hear the cat MMMMMEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW on the baby monitor. She's doing it right now.

Happiness!

Kindergarten report card QUIZ

Hmmm...so the Husband and I were sitting around today watching the boy and trying to keep him from hurting himself with his climbing and running around. I said to The Husband "I bet his first report card is going to say_____________________" (chose from the following or add an idea of your own)

1. At least he's cute
2. I really appreciate his enthusiasm
3. Don't you ever feed this boy?
4. ? other ideas?

How well do you know us?

Another quiz!
1. Whenever I get into the car (the one with the satellite radio..we have Sirius) after The Husband has been driving it...what station is it ALWAYS tuned to?

2. The Husband recently had to make a trip to Urgent Care...why?

3. I-man's G'ma recently came for a visit. She bought him a clothing accessory. What is it?

4. I usually take how many pics of the boy on days I'm home with him: 1) 10 2) 100 3) 1000 4) what are you talking about? You never take pictures of the boy

5. I-man is currently most interested in which three of the following list: 1) bugging the cat 2) eating 3) walking the dog 4) climbing stairs 5) sleeping long stretches at night 6) taking pictures of me

what tree is this?

Return of the plant quiz!!!!!!!!!!

Amish Peanut Butter, part II (or...I man walks the dog)

The first title is just to get your attention.
This morning we walked the dog in the woods. Like we always do. But today I-man INSISTED on getting down from the front carrier to walk at about the half-way point. He didn't have shoes or socks on. He didn't care. Then he INSISTED on holding onto Maggie's leash for the rest of the walk. So, he walked the dog. He did really well and didn't let go. At one point he needed to be carried (of course!) but he kept holding onto the leash. Wish I had a camera today on the walk, but as I have said before...you can't capture every moment on film.....even though I try! Ha!