Grandma and Grandpa Bane

So back in the early part of June, Grandma and Grandpa Bane came to visit from California!! Dalton had been looking SO forward to them coming. It's funny because I told Chris that we can no longer tell Dalton ahead of time when something special is coming up, because he has no sense of time. So he spends an entire month asking over and over when we'll be doing that special thing. Well, I broke my own rule and told him about four days before their arrival. Every day, he got up and the first words out of his mouth were "Are Grandma and Grandpa coming today?!?" And every day I had to break his heart!

But they finally made it! We had so much fun while they were there. This is the first visit where I haven't had to work...in the past I've either taken vacation and worried about what was piling up while I was gone, or I would work half days to get it done, but had to miss part of their visit. It was really nice this time around to not have to worry about that! Even better, since my "job" now is taking care of the boys, it was even better because they helped out!!

This picture of Jackson was taken at their hotel room one day after we went swimming. Isn't he cute?

Jackson had his very first experience swimming while they were here. I thought, hey perfect! The pool is inside and heated, and I don't have to worry about sun burn... but he didn't care for it too much. :)

Grandpa enjoyed getting on the floor and rolling around with J.

And Grandma sure was more relaxed! I can remember when they came for the first visit after Dalton's birth (I think he was a week old). Jil was so worried that she would drop Dalton, or hurt him somehow. With Jackson though, since she'd had recent baby exposure, she was much better!!

We did a ton of fun stuff while they were here...Turpentine Creek, Pea Ridge Military Park...I'll post more in the coming days, there's just way too many pictures for one posting!!

Catch Up Time

So now it's time to play catch up!! But let me ask all you other bloggers out there that use blog spot...is anyone else out there having trouble once you upload photos? It used to be so simple to upload five or six or however many pictures and move them around to where I wanted them. But now I'm having trouble moving them down the page...are any of you having that same problem??

So let me start with an update on my fundraiser for the rescue...we were able to raise an amazing $5,200!! That's more than double what we raised last year. My goal was to hit $3,500 this year, which would have been a thousand dollar increase. Below is a photo and caption that ran in the local paper...the quality isn't great because they didn't post it on their website, so all I could do was cut it out of the paper and scan it in.

We FINALLY got Dalton a pool for the back yard, just one of those little plastic ones. We always wait too long and in past years they always sold out before we bought one, but we did it this year! Here he is doing "a cannon ball" (or his version anyway). As you can see by the hair, this was taken before the great self haircut of '09.

And here's the happy little man!! He's still just rolling all over the place. Still not sitting up on his own yet. But hey? Who needs to sit up or crawl or walk when you can get everywhere by rolling?

As you can see, he can still fall asleep anywhere!!

It was really cute the other night...he fell asleep like that, and Chris was putting Dalton to bed. Dalton found one of Jackson's rattles in his room, and he said that he had to go give it back to Jackson. So he comes out, finds that Jackson is asleep, and this is where he put it.

What a goof ball!! So in the following few days, I will be posting pics and stories and updates from the last several weeks (I hope). It will be a busy few days coming up...dentist on Monday, doctor on Tuesday, cat going to vet on Wednesday with a baby shower Wednesday afternoon, have Michael on Thursday...I could go on but don't want to bore you with the mundane details of my life!!

Another Trajedy

So I've been really really bad about blogging these last few weeks, with good reason. Chris' dad and step-mom were here the last week, and we had a blast and did lots of fun stuff, but I'll have to save that for another post. Plus, my rescue group is gearing up for our largest fundraiser of the year, and I've been super busy preparing for that.

Now, yesterday I went to a baby shower (which is not the main focus of this post). Chris was home with the boys while I was there. On my way home, I picked up a kitten that was in the middle of the highway that I almost ran over (also not the main focus of this post). When I get home, I walk through the door, and Chris says "Oh, by the way, Dalton gave Peanut a haircut with your eyebrow scissors." What? So I track down Peanut, and sure enough, he's got a fresh new do!!

Dalton cut his whiskers off. And there are also large chunks of hair missing from several places on the back of his neck and all down his back.

So, I go to find Dalton to have a discussion with him about how he should NOT be cutting any one's hair...not his own, not the pets, that only mommy should cut hair....and I walk into his room and this is what I find.

He cut his own hair! And what a terrible spot, right in the middle of his forehead, and down to the scalp!!!! I was so upset with him. He had such "pretty" hair (if a boy's hair can be pretty, his definitely was.) I asked Chris if he knew that, and of course he didn't. He notices the cat's hair cut but not Dalton's!!

So I sat there for a minute, and decided that even though it KILLED me to have to do it, that it would look so much better if we just shaved his head. THE HORROR! So Dalton, of course, cries and cries. He said that it was going to hurt, and I explained that it wouldn't hurt, and it would grow back. So then he says "Okay." And that was that.

So we shaved it.

I cried as I started to shave his head. It was horrible. And then got teary eyed again as I looked at the floor when we were done, and all his beautiful hair was laying in piles on the floor.

And Dalton looked at me and said, "It's just hair, Mommy, it will grow back." Well, yeah, I guess you're right, oh wise one.

Later he said he liked it, because it was short like Daddy's (Daddy's hair is not that short!!). I told him not to get used to it, because when it grows out, we're keeping it the way we always have. But then today I sent him out to play and had to put sunscreen on his head, and he said he hated his hair. :)

He looks pretty proud of himself in the above picture. I just can't believe that he did this, I am so upset! And yes, I know...It's ONLY hair, and it will grow back. But.... but.... but... his hair!!!

Update On The Shed

Just a quick update on the shed...Chris and my sister Julie started working on it a week ago. They worked all day Saturday, Sunday, and then again Monday (Memorial Day, and Chris' birthday) off and on in between bursts of rain. Saturday, they got the floor done. It took all day to get that done, and then to lay it out on deck blocks and get them all leveled. Sunday, they got three walls up. And Monday, they got the fourth wall up and the tresses for the roof. (Tresses? Is that right? I don't know.)

My sister Julie rocks! She can do anything... they worked on it again today, and the roof is done. Tomorrow she is coming back, and they will put the shingles on, and then all we have to do it paint it and we're done!! HOORAY!! I will post the final pictures tomorrow, I hope.

What In The World??

I'm not quite sure what goes on in this house when I'm not here, and I'm not sure really that I want to know...

I was gone all morning and part of the afternoon today. I worked adoptions at Petsmart today for our rescue. I got home around 3:00. This is our fireplace...

Do you notice anything out of place in this picture? Anything at all?

That's right, folks...on the top left of the bricks, that is a baby washcloth, stuck to the bricks. What in the world??

It's Almost His Birthday!

Tomorrow, Chris will be 30. We're so old! (kidding!!). I was successful in planning a small surprise birthday bar-b-que for him. When the first guests arrived, he didn't LOOK very surprised, but when I asked him about it later he said that he was surprised, he had no idea, he was just really tired (he and my sister worked all day long putting together a storage shed in our back yard).

Now, I get so busy with enjoying the party and the company that I forget to take pictures, but I got a few last night. Here we are singing happy birthday, and Chris (and Dalton and Quin!) blowing out the candles.

I just realized in the picture above it looks like Dalton has a bottle and a glass of wine! Man, he's going to need to get into AA. He's starting so young...

For his present, we got him a new grill that he had his eyes on...("we" as in myself, his dad and Jil, and his mom and George). Chris was actually mad when he saw it! I kept it at the neighbors' house for a few days to keep it a surprise, then when he was in the shower about an hour before the party, my sister and I moved it over to our yard. Chris kept asking me if he could fire up the grill (I had told him that Heather and Jeramy were coming for dinner so that he wouldn't make plans!)...I told him that he knew they were always late, so just wait.

Once everyone got here, I told him to fire it up. Then he goes out, and he got mad!! He says that he feels bad because he didn't get me a present for my birthday (we had agreed not to get presents), but our grill recently caught on fire/blew up, and we do a lot of grilling, so it really just made sense to get it. So of course this first picture below is right after he saw it, and he looks kind of sad and dissappointed, don't you think?

But all in all, he had a good party. While we were all on the back porch talking, Chris actually fell asleep in his chair!! The poor guy worked so hard all day building the shed. So I sent him to bed around 10:15 or so, and we all kept up the party!!

Chris, you old man, the boys and I love you so much! I hope your thirtieth birthday was something that you'll always remember!

Not Unless My Mom Does It...

Sorry, one more funny story, but no pics.

Usually I cut D's hair myself, by hand with scissors. Last time I cut it, I used electric clippers b/c we had just bought a new pair and I wanted to see how they did. Well, not great. His hair is just so fine that the clippers didn't get it all, and it was WAY TOO short...the longest attachment setting said 1 1/2 inches, but it turned out to be like, 1/8 of an inch.

So last weekend, I decided to take him to get his hair cut at a real salon, to get it all straightened out and fixed before I screw it all up again. We went to Regis, and he's sitting in the chair, and there's this mom next to me with her baby, who'd I'd guess to be about eighteen months old. She says that today is his first hair cut, and would we mind if they watched so that he could see there was nothing to be scared of? I said I didn't mind, as Dalton is really good for hair cuts, so he would set a good example for the kid.

So they cut D's hair, and the little boy's mom is going on about how fun it is, so on and so forth. So we get done, and we're at the desk paying, and the little boy is behind us and he starts crying, and saying "NO NO NO" really loud. Dalton walks over to him and puts his arm around him and tells him, "Don't worry. It's not scary. There's nothing to cry over. It's fine, and you get a sucker when you're done. It won't hurt. Unless my mom cuts your hair, and then she'll cut your ear." And he walks away as the kids cries harder.

Are you freakin' kidding me?!? The little snot just ratted me out! ONE TIME, two years ago, I barely clipped his ear with the scissors, and it didn't even bleed. One time. One stinkin' time!! And the best part is that he says this all nonchalantly and just strolls away licking his sucker, while the kids goes into even bigger hysterics!!

Sometimes, this child cracks me up!!