Viva Las Vegas

Well, tonight we leave for Las Vegas...after a year of anticipation since our last trip we finally get to go back! We are going with our good friends Chip and Shierine, who are celebrating their first wedding anniversary! We are very fortunate that we got to attend their wedding, one year ago on July 1st, in Las Vegas, ceremony performed by Elvis himself!

This year we are staying at beautiful Harrah's Las Vegas, and we are hoping to win enough money to pay all our bills when we get back! Yeah!

To all of our peeps who can't make it this year: We will miss you! And we apoplogize for any wierd, silly phone calls you might get in the wee hours over the next four days. But it's just because we love you!

Happy Anniversary, Chip and Shierine, and many more!!!

Blooms

I just had to take a picture of this. The hostas are blooming right now and they are so pretty! Also I found the perfect spot for the fern that my sister-in-law Jennifer got me. It is thriving. I only hope when I bring it inside this winter I can keep from killing it...

The fern is sitting on the bench that Joe made me for Mother's Day.

Father's Day

OK, so I found the camera cord, too!

Here are some pictures from Father's Day. We went to visit Dad, Karen and Marilyn out in Polk County. It was fun, we got to go out on the pontoon boat and then we cooked out. Unfortunately, we didn't get to grill any fish , as none of us caught any. Maybe next time!

Scout

OK, so it wasn't that the scanner wasn't working, it was operator error.

As you may remember, we had been tossing around the idea of getting another dog. We had been visiting the humane society (I tried to keep it a secret from Joe but Eli told on me), and the CARE shelter. Well, the humane society is just a depressing place all around. The conditions of that place aren't that great for those dogs, and the cat house had been shut down completely due to a viral outbreak. (They had to euthanize almost 200 cats). Not that we were cat shopping, but who can resist going to look at the kitties? There were some cute dogs at the CARE shelter, which is a much nicer place, and a no-kill shelter to boot. But all 3 of us liked different dogs there. I liked Audrey (who was super shy), Joe liked Arthur (who barked the entire time the boys and I were there), and Duncan liked Wriggly (Wriggly was pretty cute). Eli didn't really have an opinion, he just kept putting his hands over his ears.

Meanwhile, in an e-mail my sister had sent me, she again brought up the idea of us taking in one or both of her pets. As some of you may know, Julie and her husband Charlie are preparing to move to China for at least 2 years. When she had asked me previously, I said no. I had been set on not getting any more pets. But now, since the landscape of the situation had changed, I thought maybe it could be a good idea. We would be getting a friend for Te-Te, and also helping out Julie and Charlie. So I asked Joe, and he wanted to see some pictures of Scout. So I e-mailed my sister, but Joe went ahead and said OK before we even saw pictures.

So now we are very excited about Scout's impending arrival. Julie and Charlie are coming up in July to visit, and they will be bringing her.

The picture to the right is one we took about 2 years ago when we were visiting Julie and Charlie down in Florida. The main thing I remember about Scout is that she kept licking my toes. I asked Julie if she still does that and she said yes. I guess I'll just have to get used to it. Or maybe I'll just put some tobasco on my toes.

Incidentally, they also have a cat, Olivia. I told my sister there really was no way we could handle another cat right now. So they are still looking for a home for Olivia. If there would be any family or friends reading this who might be interested in adopting Olivia, let me know.

frustration

Well, I finally find time to work on my blog, and guess what? Well, the scanner isn't working, and I have a photo I need to scan in. And I also have pictures to download from the digital camera, but can't find the cord I need. Argh! I don't like computers. Please stand by....

VBS

We are having Vacation Bible School this week, and it's wearing me out! I'm helping out in the arts and crafts room, and it's really fun. So far we have made necklaces with strips of bandana fabric and charms, and prayer journals. So hopefully soon I will get some photos downloaded and get caught up with my blog.... Talk to you soon!

Charlie

The other morning I got up for work and when I looked across the half dark room, without my glasses on, I thought I saw Charlie laying on the floor my our bed. Well, it turned out just to be a pile of clothes that I needed to put in the washer (but not quite yet as Te-Te was sleeping on them). It's been almost 6 months since Charlie passed away, just right after the ice storm. I still find myself really missing him. When I sat on the couch, he'd always sit at my feet. At night, he'd sleep on the floor by my side of the bed. I just got used to stepping over him every time got up. He was the only one of the animals that I could completely trust around the boys. They could do anything to him and he would just look over at me like, 'here they go again!". I always loved every summer when we would get him shaved down, except for his fluffy tail. You could tell how good he felt, he would come home and prance around the yard. My only complaint is that during the later years he developed an annoying crayon-eating habit. I had to buy more than one pack to make up for the ones that fell on the floor and got eaten. On the other hand, we always referred to him as the clean up crew. After supper, we would just let Charlie in and the floor would be spotless. This was especially helpful as we had children.

Joe always said after the animals we had were gone, no more. But it didn't take long for him to suggest that maybe we should get a friend for Te-Te. I said no way, two animals are enough. But before I knew it, we both have started making trips to animal shelters scouting out a potential new boyfriend for Te-Te. I don't know, I still have mixed feelings about it. It is really nice only having two animals. But I visit the shelter and see all those poor dogs and think, well, maybe......

I guess we'll see.

Lazy Days of Summer

Well, we had our first day of summer vacation here at the Livingston house yesterday. We got up, and the boys and I went to yoga/Kid's Club at the fitness center, followed by a trip to the zoo. We got home a little late in the afternoon, 2-ish, and I put Eli down for a nap. Of course, I'm used to "resting my eyes" when Eli takes his nap, so I popped in "Happy Feet' for Duncan and stretched out on the couch. I got up a little while later and went and sat with Duncan in the living room. After a couple of minutes, something popped up out of the toaster. He got up and walked toward the kitchen. Me: "What are you doing?" Duncan: "This is my fifth waffle. I'm going to eat seven!" At least he knows his way around the kitchen!

Everybody DOESN'T love Raymond

The other day I did some research on the internet. I know that there is an official name for just about every kind of phobia, and I was curious about what the fear of dressed-up characters is called. Well, I never found it, although I did come across people blogging about it online. In fact, it is a real phenomenon, although nameless, and I know this is true because little Eli has it. From Santa Claus to Chuck E. Cheese, the sight of one of these costumed characters sends Eli right to Mom or Dad, his little hands covering his eyes. When they are far away, he can handle it pretty well. But when they start making their way over, he starts getting real nervous.

So I've stopped making him sit on Santa's lap, and we try to avoid Louie and Fetch when we're at the Cardinal's game.

When we were on vacation last month, we went to a game at Tropicana Stadium...home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It's also the home of Raymond, the Devil Rays mascot. (No, I'm not sure exactly what he is...) After the game, we asked Eli if he liked Raymond. His big brown eyes got even bigger and he answered, "I don't like the Raymond!" So for the rest of the trip, he would just bring that up, out of the blue, that he didn't like the Raymond. (Of course Susan put like an Italian accent on this so we started saying, "I don't lika zee Raymond!" which was even funnier. )

Anyway, even after we were home, he would still bring it up. One day I finally told him, Eli, Raymond isn't going to do anything to you. He nodded his head 'yes'. So I said, What do you think Raymond is going to do to you? He looked all serious. "Get me", he said.

Oh, I know it's normal behavior for little kids to be this way. It's just that Duncan was never frightened of going up to strangely dressed people and hugging them and sitting on their laps....well, I guess when I put it like that, maybe I shouldn't worry about Eli after all.

School's Out!

It's hard to believe that Duncan's first year of school has come and gone. Kindergarten is over, and he is now a first-grader. At left is a photo of him on the first day of school, back in August. We walked to school that day, and I think he was kind of nervous, though I only guess that because he was pretty quiet. We walked him up the steps of Horace Mann Elementary, with his brand-new X-men backpack to Mrs. Hlavacek's class. That's where we left him, but we can presume that his shyness didn't last too long. I think Duncan loved every single day of kindergarten. He didn't like to give up too many details about how he spent his days, but I was able to figure out that he really like art, "centers", computer class, "number sentences", Eric Carle and Dr. Suess. And of course I loved hearing about all of his friends. Dontae, Ryan, and Alim just to name a few. And even some girls: Sarah, Alyssa, Sydney and Katie. I can't believe how much he grew in learned in just one school year. He can read on his own and write words and sentences. He can do math (he is constantly quizzing me with math questions, like I'm "Rainman" or something). Mrs. Hlavacek said he was like a sponge, "he just soaks it up". In her 'end of year letter' to the kids, she wrote why she loves every student the best. To Duncan, she wrote, "Duncan, I love you the best because you are so intelligent beyond your age, but you are 100% little boy!" Isn't that the truth! This was Mrs. Hlavacek's last year of teaching kindergarten before retirement. We are so glad we got to have her as a teacher! She has such a way with the kids. To honor her, Joe and I helped the class plant a tree in the playground. Joe went out the night before to dig the hole (and about a hundred rocks!) and the next day the class went out and each student got to shovel some dirt in. Later on in the day, the principal rounded up all of the students in school who had had her as a teacher and they took a group photo out aroung the tree! I don't have that picture, but I would like to see it! The last day of school was June 7, 2007. The class celebrated by having a picnic outside and then they got to leave early. We walked home, and after about an hour of summer vacation, Duncan commented that there was nothing to do and nothing to watch on TV. It's going to be a long summer! On the days that I work he will be going to Summer Shenanigans at Cox. They will be doing something fun every day. Today, his first day, they went to a rock climbing gym and tomorrow they are going swimming. So, hopefully, that will keep him from getting too bored this summer!

This is a test, this is only a test....

After I encouraged Susan to start a blog to document her move to Atlanta, and to also create a way to keep up with her life once she's there, I decided it was something I wanted to try myself. After I had Duncan, I did a pretty good job as far as keeping his baby book updated and getting his photos into albums. But after the addition of Eli, I am left with piles of unorganized pictures and papers, and lots of emptiness in the baby books. I realize that I need to do a better job of documenting their growing up--the funny stories, the milestones, and the little moments that I want to remember after they are all grown up. I still have intentions of organizing those photos and starting some scrapbooking projects, etc. But in the meantime, I thought that this might be a way to keep track of those little everyday moments. At least it's worth a try.