Friday Randoms, Photo Edition

The BG and I haven't binge-watched a show together in years so it's been a shock to the system to have fallen so hard and fast for Orphan Black.  While I think it would have to be called "science-fiction" which is not my general preference, the storyline is very accessible and intriguing.  It's on BBC America and, while the second season started last month, we're burning through the first season On Demand.   The main actress plays multiple roles and it is astounding how much you feel like you're watching completely different people.  Highly recommend.

Right, so we watched 4 episodes until very late last night and I also haven't taken any interesting pics this week. So-- BOOM!   Today's post features some never-before-seen-photos from the last several weeks!  

"On" the "truck" at Weggies:

C's first time taking a nap in her brother's bed while he's at school.  As you can see, his Scentsy-sniffing/sorting obsession has returned:

They did a good job of getting into matching positions:

All the kids held up mustache sticks during an (early) Father's Day song performance.   Hers was the least interesting shaped, I gotta say...:

Proper taking-brother-to-the-bus-stop attire:

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Embones? (Treasure Trove Thursday)

Behold a list of my (alleged?) nicknames circa 1990:

Also:  THANK GOODNESS...

NO HEAT RASH!   ;-)

PS:  Didn't it make so much sense when stamps were 25 cents??!!

Slumber Party Fun

A couple of weekends back, we finally made a family movie night happen.  The kiddies were very excited to get out their sleeping bags and have a "slumber party"....although they were ready to get in their own beds afterward so we were able to escape, too!

Then, this past Sunday night, we let them have a true slumber party in the B-man's room with his trundle bed.   They did a great job of going to sleep and staying that way until morning!

By the way-- here's what was screened during the movie night.  If my dear sweet brother doesn't leave a comment right this second with exactly what I KNOW he will write, he is no longer going to be my brother...

(If any of the rest of you come through with the line first, there will be a PRIZE in it!!!)

This Might Give You an Earworm

Miss C did not accompany her brother and dad on a trip to the theater months back to see The Lego Movie but she has now co-opted much of it for herself.   It absolutely cracks me up that a 3-year old linguistically understands the expression "speaking of..." because we did not teach it to her.   But, yes, anytime she hears someone else say "Awesome!" she says...



Also awesome?

 

Gatorade mustaches.

Random Family Fun

If you know me, you know that I enjoy a good day o' random adventures.  So when we realized that the weather would be gorgeous this holiday weekend and that we had nothing scheduled yesterday, here's how the Emily Math went down:

Want to do something outside + BG needs to go to Costco to buy large quantities of Gatorade for football team = go to Costco in town 30 miles away so that we can go to a big park in the middle for some trail-wandering.

Oh, and there happens to be a Cracker Barrel up there??   DONE.

C "talking" to her peeps at the start of the hike:  (she insisted on wearing the shirt with the pic of the two kids in their 2012 Halloween costumes!)

Walking off the trail to check out the creek:

Managed to get all of us in a pic!

Obviously, there was some rock-tossing:

We weren't the only ones out on this beautiful day!

It is possible we came home from Costco with a badminton set....

(It is also possible this blog post took way longer to type than usual because my right forearm is strangely sore from all my volleying!)

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Crazy Feet (and Arms)

I took this video the other morning without the kids realizing it.   Not sure how far you'll need to turn up the volume, but there is a very specific cue from the iPad that amps up the energy a bit!  :-)



Oh, and in case anyone was concerned about equality: the neighbor and I had another sewing session yesterday--after I made a trip back to the fabric store earlier this week--so the B-man now has this:

I didn't even realize until I looked at the receipt that the "cuff" fabric with the space motif is totally glow-in-the-dark!!   (Side note: it is 87X harder to pick fabrics for a 6-year old boy than it is for girls or adults!!)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Treasure Trove Thursday

As we near the end of school, it seems only appropriate to feature an old report card.  This was from 4th grade and it cracks me up that my teacher's final commentary said nothing of my actual scholarly skills:

In case you can't read it, he wrote: "I have truly enjoyed Emily's comments (especially by means of facial expression) on day to day events in my classroom."

Heh.

Apparently, I was warming up for this daily blogging thing even 25 years ago!!  [Insert big smile/slight roll of eyes morphing into a "who knew?!" questioning/innocent sideways look complete with shoulder shrug and upturned hands!]

The Costume Crew

Saturday afternoon, there was a lot of playing outside that was then augmented by some chips and guacamole on the back deck.  While the BG and I relaxed and stuffed our faces, the kids decided that embarking on a "run in the house, put on a costume, and run back out" routine--repeated over and over--would be the most fun ever. 

The girl in one of her ensembles:

 And....the boy who gave us LOTS of giggles!!

Around the 'Hood

The kids and I took a post-dinner constitutional last night.   Clearly, this opportunity for exercise demanded all kinds of bling.   It also warranted a pose in front of one of the classic cars our neighbors restore:

Oh, and then another one...or two:

I wish so much I could have you all standing behind me right now so I can show you how, if I move back and forth really quickly between these two individual shots in my photo software, it looks like the kids are groovin'. Watching them "dance" is just delightful!!!  

I'm happy to report we had what I consider a "good mothering day" yesterday.   I often feel like I fall far below my potential when dealing with the kiddos but we spent several hours outside after B got home from school and that seems to make everything better.   I normally get pretty bored trying to entertain myself outside but I did some serious mowing and actually hit 16,000 steps per my FitBit.  Since the daily goal is 10,000 and a "regular" day for me is probably, eh, 6000-- I was feeling pretty good!

(Cue the celebratory eating of some more amazingly soft chocolate chip cookies!!!)

Can't Wait..

...for Father's Day.  Too impatient to show you the wee ditty of a very cute citrus-bedecked little girl:

My Grandmothers Would Be Proud

Save for the sewing class we had to take each year of middle school (along with cooking, woodshop, and metalshop!), I haven't really ever used a sewing machine.  Last year sometime, my neighbor--who is roughly the age of Grammie--told me she'd love to teach me how to sew but it's just been one of those things that gets talked about in theory...until this week.

She came over Sunday night to say that somehow through her quilting group, she learned about a tutorial for making a "burrito-style" pillowcase and she thought that would be a great first project.  Since she had some free time Wed and Thurs of this week, we decided to dive right in.

Wednesday morning, we hit the fabric store to make our three fabric selections-- and, since we decided to start with a pillowcase for Miss C, we focused mainly on pinks and purples.  The eventual recipient, however, seemed more interested in pretzel goldfish sustenance:

Then we went back to her house (since she has all the supplies) and, after washing and drying the fabrics, got to work cutting and pinning.  As the photographer, I had to snap her in action but she did make me do everything for the most part-- an excellent teacher!

We ran into nap time on Wednesday so then, yesterday afternoon, she brought over the sewing machine so we could work while the kids played.   I clearly got really glammed up for this part of the adventure:

Side note:   I truly had no idea where our ironing board was (Miss C: "what is that???") but I did find it so we could do all our proper pressing and everything!

The finished product!   She loves it!

Speaking of being crafty, let me brag for a moment about the BG's skills.  He loves a good project and decided recently he'd like to bring a little bit of Texas up here and make spirit signs to be placed in yards of players.  He's done the whole thing:  cut the wood, painted the signs, did the lettering.   I think they look fab!

Happy Friday!

Treasure Trove Thursday

Today's tray-zures take us back to Fall 1989 aka 5th Grade.   I constructed quite the "impressive" portfolio of work that year, entitled "More of Moore's Magical (5th Grade) Memories."

Of course I did.

The first entry was, I presume, assigned especially to be displayed at Open House.  I have so many comments upon reading this autobiographical description, but I'll just make one:  had I not yet figured out my distaste of olives?  I mean, I'm not a huge fan of cukes, either, but I'm confused as to why they got top (bottom) billing here!  (click the photo to enlarge and then you should be able to magnify it more from that view to read)

I really should have mentioned my innate drawing talent:

After I took the photos this morning, I flipped to the next entry in the portfolio and found, bittersweetly enough, an interview with my dad.  Here's the final paragraph:

And, in case you've forgotten what he looked like:

HA HA HA HA!!!   :-)

Pizza and Players

The BG's team participated in a very impromptu "dinner and interview" event at a local restaurant last night.  We still aren't really clear exactly where all the interviews will be online but it was fun to see everybody get excited about the event-- even if the restaurant clearly wasn't expecting it to have gotten up to 90 degrees and thus hadn't given up on their "open all the giant glass windows" plan rather than a "turn on the AC" plan.  It was HOT.

The guy in charge interviewed the Offensive Coordinator with some offensive players first and then the BG went up with some of his defensive guys.  They ended up pulling one more player from the table to get another body up there-- I'll let you guess which guy was the add-on.  HA.

I couldn't really hear what was going on (so watching the interviews should be entertaining!) but they did do a "lightning round" of questions for each coach, with questions about favorite color, first pet's name, etc.   The last one was "who is your favorite female athlete?"   It definitely caught the BG off-guard but he was able to come up with a name.  Any guesses on his answer????

As you might imagine, the kids (together with Bella, daughter of the OC) had fun watching, sweating, and doing a little eating:

Approximately 30 minutes after this photo was taken, B came over to show me a very bloody grin.  That sideways front tooth finally came out!!   I put the tooth in my pocket but then soon pulled my hand out of my pocket to wave to someone.....and lost the tooth.  We all looked around for awhile and finally gave up, but then the red-shirted interview guy found it! 

Never a dull moment.

At The Park For A Run

At least, that's what this girl tried to do when we came across a treadmill dumped at a playground (???)!

We have no idea why someone would use the park as a personal dumping ground, but it made a good location for a pic with the P brothers!

Looks Lately

A few of Miss C's recent ensembles:

Whether sporting knee socks, working on "math" in a cowboy hat and dress, cooking "pampcakes" in an apron, or testing out her new rain boots-- she is a happy girl!

Checking The Pearly Whites

Miss C went to the dentist for the first time Wednesday afternoon.  Her brother was due for a check-up (and we're all on the same schedule so my cleaning had been the day before), so we threw her into the mix even though she's about half-a-year ahead of when B first went.

(A fun aspect of having kids born in the same month is that it's really easy to compare timing on certain activities...amiright, Jennifer T?)

Everything went very smoothly and she even got glasses to match her outfit!   She actually also picked a coordinating pink-and-green toothbrush at the end, too, but I didn't get a snap of that.

Side by side comparison of first dental visits (May 2014 and October 2011):

Annnddd......she loved brushing this guy's teeth as much as her brother did!

Happy Friday!

Treasure Trove Thursday

These look familiar to anyone around my age??

I remember LOVING these charms.  I'm so excited that I have been reunited with them-- I think I'll detach all of them from the necklaces and maybe start giving them as little trinkets to Miss C so she can build her own and recycle the fun!

There are several charms I remember immediately (the Sunkist orange juice carton, the puffy glitter heart that used to have some sort of liquid in it)...and then there is a....

hacksaw?  I don't even know.

And, I'm sorry--- is this a pipe?

I hope the silversmiths at James Avery are paying attention to these fabulous charm ideas!

Safety First

The kids and I were "oot and aboot" last evening so we decided to drop in at school and surprise the BG after his 2-hour, post-football-workout AP Bio review.   Safety goggles were, of course, required:

We have a family joke that it's the non-AP Bio teacher in the household who scored a 5 on the AP exam (full disclosure:  the BG's school didn't offer AP Bio), but I gotta say:   it's all a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me at this point!! 

Of course, if I had diagrams of what looks like a monster hand being attacked by the whipped cream portion of a sundae, I might still remember things.....!!    :-)

Pink Ball of Joy

Sometimes, you just need to treat yo'self to a big bouncy ball from the bin at Target!  

You can kick it forward:

You can roll on top of it:

Or you can just kick it behind you which appears to be the most fun thing ever!

Just Peachy

My dad planted two peach trees behind their garage/driveway some years back and derived so much joy from tending to them and making yummy treats from the fruit.  While B looks less than thrilled in this particular (pajama) pose, the kids were super excited that wee little peaches had shown up by the time we left Dallas:

She's got one in her hand!

--
I've been asked many times recently how I'm doing and the short answer is that I'm fine.  On a day-to-day basis, things feel pretty normal.   I just told Geoff, though, that perhaps I should move to LA and try my hand at acting because, for the first time in my life, I can definitely cry on cue. 

Seeing these pics of his peach trees makes me think about all the years he'd come up here in the fall for apple-picking and high school football.  The apple-picking, of course, led to large quantities of homemade apple butter as well as pies with my grandmother's pie crust recipe.  I just went downstairs to look through photo albums of years that predate this blog and took a few quick snaps to illustrate.

2005. 

Stirring the pot!

The bounty that year:

2006.

We got into the act with his beloved Squeezo strainer:

But that adventure had started earlier that weekend with an autumn cruise to the apple orchard in the PT cruiser convertible he'd rented.   I remembered that I had a pic of him in the car but I didn't remember until finding it now just how much this photo showed my daddy's joy:

Ah....it seems I think I'm on a movie set somewhere with this wetness in my eyes....  ;-)