more ugliness uncovered!

The next room on our never-ending list is the playroom. Or at least that's what we're calling it now, because that's where all the boys' toys are. Also there's a couch, chair, table, and tv, so maybe someday we'll use it as a second living room or something. Anyway, it currently has white beadboard across the bottom half of the walls, with bright orange paint on the top. As if the orange paint itself isn't offensive enough, there are flowers painted all over the walls. The wall above the doorway into the kitchen is stenciled with the words, "Wouldn't it be better if the moon was made of mac and cheese?". No, really it is.

Mike is taking off the beadboard today. We knew there was drywall underneath, because that room is part of an addition that was built in 1995, but we had no idea if the drywall was "finished." (Whatever that means, and thanks, Dad, for making me worry about it!) Luckily, it seems to be finished and in good shape, just ... ugly. There's some kind of two-tone green thing going on. This is not a room that I want to leave half-finished for weeks while we're working on it, unlike the dining room.


P.S. If you're eagle-eyed enough to spot the bouncy chair in the corner of the picture, NO, we don't have any "news" to share. I got it out of the basement when baby Gracie was visiting, and I didn't want to put it back until I had something to put it in to protect it from bugs and wet.

update: wasp potter's field

The scouting mission revealed a few stray yellow jackets flying around aimlessly. Mike thinks these are the ones who happened to be away from home during the ambush. They'll either join the yellow jacket colony in the side yard (briefly, because Mike plans to attack them tonight) or go off somewhere to die. Meanwhile, how creepy is this picture? Mike put a rock there yesterday to mark the hole so he could find it in the dark, and now it just looks like a headstone over a mass yellow jacket grave.

busy and buzzy

Liam is having quite a busy week. Monday night after school, he went with me, Yami, and Aunt Loni to shop for shoes in South Bend. (Max would have gone too, but got sent home from daycare with *another* high fever. Luckily he's fine now.) In the world of shoes and clothes, Liam is no longer a toddler -- we have to shop in the boys' section for him. After shopping, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, where Liam tried salsa on his chip for the first time (before we could stop him). He wasn't anxious to repeat that experience, so my mom ordered ranch dressing for his chip dipping instead, and he was very happy.


Tuesday, Liam's class went on a field trip to the park. It was the first time we've had to sign a permission slip for anything. Liam reported when he came back that the park is his favorite place in the whole world.


Today, Liam's class is having a tea party. They're practicing manners, so all the kids get to dress up and drink tea and eat tiny sandwiches. He was very excited when he left for school this morning -- I can't wait to hear the report when he comes home.

Meanwhile, Mike has been hunting. We have at least two, possibly more, underground yellow jacket colonies in our yard. Monday morning while mowing the yard, Mike ran over both entrances (about an hour apart) and got attacked by swarms both times. Luckily, he only got stung a total of three times. So yesterday he did his research, and prepared for war. He had to wait until after dark, because that's when all the yellow jackets are home. He put on jeans (with the cuffs tucked into his socks), a long-sleeve shirt (tucked into his belted jeans), a hat, and tennis shoes. Then he armed himself with a Maglite, a bottle of wasp spray, a can of super insecticide powder, and a can of dirt. He approached slowly with the flashlight, spraying ahead of himself to kill the guards. Then he dumped the insecticide into the entrance of the colony, dumped the dirt on top, and tamped it down. He emerged from the sneak attack unscathed, but has to do a scout mission today to find out if there were any survivors. Wish him luck!

baby's first time out

Max paid his first involuntary visit to the time-out bench today. The crime: He grabbed Liam's hair in fistfuls and refused to relinquish his death grip, despite his brother's cries of pain. As you can see, he didn't much care for the punishment.

heritage festival

This morning the boys and I headed to nearby Knox with my mom, sisters, and Klaudia for the Heritage Festival. We enjoyed a delightful pancake breakfast on the courthouse lawn, then wandered down the cobblestone streets looking at the wares. The boys decided to play some games, including this one, where the point is apparently to pick up a numbered duck and then collect the prize that corresponds with the number. Not very challenging, but they enjoyed their prizes (Max: plastic sailboat, plastic lizard; Liam: tiny can of play doh, plastic badge) for a little while.



Then Liam decided he wanted to get his face painted for the very first time (well, the first time not counting white out). He carefully surveyed the available options, and chose a cat, then specified that it should go on his right cheek.


Max came over to see check out the action.


Liam surveys the final product:


Liam is very happy with the cat...


...which, of course, rubbed off before we even made it home. Another fun morning here at circus forticus!

bye bye, paci!

We've been preparing the boys to get rid of their pacifiers for a few days now. On Sunday, we told them they would have three more nights. On Monday, I told them they would have two more nights and took them to the store so they could pick out soft toys to keep in bed as a replacement. They picked these teddy bears that laugh maniacally when you squeeze their feet, they're awful, but what could I do? Last night, I told the boys it would be the final night for pacifiers. And this morning came the moment of truth. We gathered all the pacis in the house, and the boys threw them (with some ceremony) into the garbage. Liam, at least, understands that the garbage men will come and take his paci away forever. Max, maybe not. But he did join his big brother in saying "Bye bye, paci!"

"I'll miss my pacis," Liam added mournfully.

your children are not to be trusted

the boys went to bed around 7:30 or so, and max stopped complaining and passed out around 8, as is his custom. however, liam decided to fight the inevitable that is sleep, and he was still up and causing trouble past 9. but eventually things got quiet, and i went up to check on him around 9:45. he appeared to be fast asleep in his bed, and i thought all was well.

then around 10:45, max started whimpering in his sleep, so i went upstairs to investigate. oddly enough, in the middle of the upstairs hallway, there was a pile of wooden animals, trees, and other items from liam's brio train set (the table is in his room) that weren't there before (i.e. when i last checked on him, when he was "asleep"). i didn't think too much of it, as i might have just stepped over the toys before and didn't notice. i got to max, and he was having a dream or something, and a little back rubbing calmed him down.

so i went and picked up the train accessories and put them back on liam's train table, and i realized that there were no train cars or engines on the train table. i figured that liam had them in bed with him, but then i noticed that liam wasn't even in his bed.


then i heard a sniffle in max's room, and i turned to see liam sleeping in the day bed. which is in max's room, if you haven't figured that out yet.


so there are two possibilities. either liam was asleep when i checked on him the first time, then woke up, moved all the parts from his train set into the hallway, and then went to sleep in the day bed. OR, liam was faking sleep when he heard me coming up the last time, and after i left, he went and played in the hallway for half an hour (or more) before crashing in max's room. guess which possibility i'm betting on.

so where were the train cars? greta found them, lined up in along the base of the hallway railing in all their glory:






sneaky little monkey. "weaseling out of things is what sets us apart from the animals! except the weasel." -- homer simpson

double your fun

In this house, we have to buy two of everything. Fights erupt at the slightest provocation, say, when one touches the other's toy. You'll note in the picture that there are two dump trucks, two magna doodles, etc. If you look closely, you may also see two spider-man flashlights. Max wants to be just like Liam, even if his dump truck is full of mega blocks instead of hot wheels.

Today, we had the pleasure of double doctor's appointments. Our new pediatrician pronounced both boys fully recovered from strep throat and in otherwise excellent health. Liam continues to be above the chart for height (41.75 inches) and in the 90th percentile for weight (37 pounds). The doctor pointed out the obvious, that he's tall and thin, especially tall for his age. Max is in the 75th percentile for both height (33.5 inches) and weight (26.8 pounds). He was following Liam inch for inch and pound for pound until he got RSV right before his birthday and lost a bunch of weight (5 pounds is a LOT for a baby!). But who knows how tall either of them will end up being? The important thing is that they're physically and developmentally in perfect health.

One thing that was kind of fun was that the doctor interviewed Liam, and he amazed us by answering all of her questions fully and politely. She asked him if he sits in a car seat, if he knows what a smoke detector is (Oh, yes, he's VERY familiar with that one!), what he likes to eat, what he likes to drink, all kinds of things. She said that Liam's speech is excellent, and his development ahead of what she expects for his age. Which, by the way, she terms "The Age of Opposition." Don't we know it?! Meanwhile, Max is currently enjoying "The Age of Imitation." Bullseye on that one too. Max may have to go back for immunizations (we're still waiting on the records from Chicago), but other than that, neither boy has to go back until their next birthday. Woo hoo!

P.S. When you click on the picture above, take a look at Liam's magna doodle. That's a cat. Which he drew himself. With no help. He's THREE! Maybe he got a little something from my mom in the art department?

avalon learns why you should never leave your cell phone unattended

The boys, with Aunt Bethany's help, decided to call and have a chat with Daddy, who stayed at home for the morning.

rained out

Sunday morning the boys and I headed to my mom's. We joined the family for a pancake breakfast, and the plan was to then explore the "Taste of Starke County" (yes, really) along with an 1850s revival that was taking place at the fairgrounds. But the rain came down hard during breakfast, so we retreated to my mom's house to wait for it to pass.

The rain never did pass, but Mom has a (mostly) covered porch, so the boys were able to play outside. Then they realized that they could access the uncovered portion of the porch, so they went out and played happily in the rain. Max mostly just wandered around, getting himself as wet as possible, but Liam got the bright idea to try to fill one of my dad's buckets with raindrops. Industrious, isn't he?

a great adventure

Since we're between major house projects, this morning we decided to explore our new community a little more. "But Holli," you may point out, "It's your hometown, and it's small. How much could it have changed?"

Well, thanks for asking. It's been 20 years since I last lived in this town, and I'm surprised by the things that have and haven't changed. Today, all the surprises were pleasant. We decided to pump up our bike tires, hook up the trailer, and explore the relatively new Greenway Trail.


We rode through town to get to the start of the trail, then headed out. The trail is for walking, riding, and jogging, and it's really nice. It goes through all these wooded areas, and winds back and forth over the Yellow River via a series of wooden bridges. It was a cool morning, perfect for biking.

Since the morning was for the boys too, we took a detour to Centennial Park. The curly slide may well be the one I remember from being a kid, but beyond that, the play area is unrecognizable. There's a huge wooden play village. Some of the parks we went to in Chicago (like Indian Boundary Park) had these structures, but not nearly to the scale or intricacy of this one. The boys had a blast playing there for about an hour. Liam was so excited by the "big park" (as opposed to the school playground where we usually take them) that he was yelling and whooping in excitement and actually scared away the only other kid (a little girl) who was there to play. He wasn't being that wild, though; she must be easily frightened.


After the playground, we walked off to explore this little area with a small stone bridge over grass, a wooden bridge over a creek, and the most wonderful stone staircase and rocky hillside ever. Then it was back on the bikes to finish riding the loop of the bike trail as it wound along the river and through the woods. It's incredibly pretty, and there are little areas every so often with benches so you can sit and contemplate the view. Kind of randomly, at the only area we stopped at (so I could take pictures) I found that one of the benches had been donated by my family. Something old, something new.


The pictures from today turned out to be pretty good (if I do say so) and there are far too many to put in a blog post, so if you're curious, you can go here to see the full album (with captions, even!).

here comes the story of the hurricane

i'll probably get in trouble from multiple directions for that post title, but whatever. it made me laugh.

so we had a bit of a storm last night (wednesday night into thursday morning), with severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings all over the place (the talking faces in the tv said a weak tornado caused some minor damage to argos, a town about 8 miles south of here).

that reminds me of a funny story: one evening during my freshman year in college in champaign, there were some rather nasty storms moving through. a kid from harrisburg, pennsylvania, who apparently had no experience with and a horrific fear of tornadoes (kinda like my earthquake phobia, i imagine), ran into my room shouting, "oh god! there's a report of a tornado in gibson city!" my friends and i all feigned shock, and i shrieked, "that's only 30 miles from here! we've gotta get down in the basement!" and the kid ran for the stairs and the underground, while we all laughed ourselves into nosebleeds. ah, good times, good times.

anyway, we just got some wind and a lot of rain here in plymouth, but it was the pre-storm lightning that was most impressive. here is a series of pics i took over a 10- or 15-second period. i think they're neat, and maybe you will too. and if you don't like them, it doesn't really matter. i'm not getting paid for this stuff.

look who's still home with fever

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here, health-wise. After being home with fever (and no other symptoms) Thursday and Friday last week, we discovered white patches in Liam's throat and I hustled him off to a clinic over the weekend. Diagnosis: strep throat! He got some antibiotics, and seems fine now, other than some lingering crankability issues.

I'm sure you'll be shocked -- stunned, even! -- to find out that it was Max's turn Monday morning. He woke up with a fever, but no other symptoms. We decided not to wait, and took him to our new pediatrician that afternoon. Diagnosis: wait for it... strep throat! Since Max hasn't done well in the past with amoxicillin (which is what Liam got), they gave us a prescription for some fancy high-powered stuff and off we went to get it filled.

[On a side note, can I just tell you a new bonus we've discovered living here? The ped phoned in the prescription to the drugstore, and we got in the car and drove straight there, which took approximately 7 minutes as it is across town. We pulled into the drive-thru pharmacy just as they were finishing the order. In Chicago, that process would have taken us more like an hour and a half. Yikes!]

Anyway, it's Thursday now, and Max is still home. He just can't shake the fever. He just got up from his nap feeling warm, and I took his temp under his arm -- 102.2. Poor kid. When he's got some medicine fighting the fever, he's fine. Otherwise, the whole week has been nonstop irritable crying.

Oh, and did I mention that Mike and I are fighting off a (different) mystery illness ourselves? It's all happy fun time here, people!

surprise party: toddler's eye view

Today we threw a surprise party for my Yami's birthday. Mom and Dad were busy all morning cleaning, and Liam and I weren't sure what to do around all that activity, so we decided to fight and make each other cry all morning. [Ed. note: They set a record for most bursts of tears in a three-hour period.]

Then lots of people started to come into our house, and I didn't like that. Uncle Bob said hi to me and it made me cry. My mom and dad had to hold me all the time after that. We waited and waited, then finally Yami came. Liam and I ran outside to meet her, like we always do, but when she came in the house all the big people jumped out and yelled "Surprise!" Yami must have been surprised because she said a bad word. [Ed. note: "Oh, sh*t!" But in a good way.] We ate lots of food, and then it was time to sing the birthday song to Yami.


After that, I started to have fun being around all the people. I played patty cake with Aunt Bethany,


learned about this suncatcher thing with Uncle Doug,


and played with Yami's gift. [Ed. note: It was an "Old Lady Survival Cane," complete with magnifying glass, horn, old lady crossing sign, and calf-length stocking. Charming.]


Everyone seemed like they had a fun time, and I did too, but to tell you the truth, I was happy when everyone left and Liam fell asleep on the couch. Then I had Mom and Dad all to myself until dinner time. I played and played! Then Mom made dinner, and it was really good. Yum! Yum!....Yuu...zzzzzzzz.



Anyway, happy birthday, Yami! Whatever that means. [Ed. note: We'll work on it.]

max goes undercover

He craves the spotlight, yet yearns to be able to walk down the street without his screaming fans begging for his autograph (which will be worth big bucks on eBay someday, by the way).

part 4 of our ongoing series "the evolution of a house"

We're too tired to dance a jig, but we're doing it on the inside. At last, the dining room is finished! I'll do the before and after pictures below. You might have noticed that there's not a single picture to be found on our walls yet, and you'd be right. We're just not sure where everything should go, so we're taking our time to figure it out. Also, we've worked so hard patching up these walls that we don't want to put any more holes in them than absolutely necessary.

Anyway, the dining room. To say it's a big change might be understating the case. Here's what it looked like the day we decided to buy the house. Note the lime green paint job, the white wainscoting, and the weird plaid valances. No actual curtains, which is very strange to me because that window is right at the road.



And now, here's the dining room today. A lovely rose color on the walls -- my grandpa tells me it's the same shade my great-grandmother had in her dining room. I guess I must have remembered that somehow. I never thought of it, but as soon as he made the comment, it clicked in my head. We've restored the wainscoting to its natural wood glory, and put patterned sheer curtains in the windows. We (or more likely, my mom) may end up hemming those so they stay in the window frame to show off more of the wood, but we'll see. Also, check out the great cabinet we picked up at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago.

progress

The trim is up!