(originally posted on my old blog on June 24, 2008)

We’ve told our son, Kylin, several times, over the years, what our names are. My real name is “Elizabeth”, but I’ve gone by “Lisa” for most of my life. So today, Kylin asked me what my middle name was, I told him. He repeated it back adding the “Lisa” to it. So I asked him what my real name was. He thought for a minute and then said, “Mom”. Maybe I need to have my birth certificate changed to reflect his perception of me.

I’m currently watching a videotape that Kevin took earlier today of some local trains having a railroad crossing demonstration. I’m starting to think that my voice is sounding alot like my mother’s. Yikes! When I mentioned that, Heather started to get a little worried that the same would happen to her. I told her, “Behold your future!”

Kylin’s latest responses to the following:
1. When he asks us a question that we don’t know the answer to, or when he asks where something is that we have no idea of it’s whereabouts, he says, “Well you should have known!” or “Your lying”

2. When we tell him that he needs to get his chores or his schoolwork done before he can play, He’ll say, “I’ll do it super sloppy!” (and “super sloppy” has been the reason that my dishes have received more chips in the last month when the dishwasher is unloaded). I finally heard the word “sloppy” way too many times and finally started to take away minutes from his computer/video game time. He’s a bit more aware of when he’s about to say it now and sometimes manages to stop himself, but he does slip up a bit.

The weather is finally nice enough that we can eat outside. Kevin cleaned up the patio, and cleaned up the patio furniture, put up the umbrella, and brought out the cushions. So for the last 3 days, we’ve been having dinner outside. If the nice weather continues, we be doing this every evening.

Kylin’s pretty happy with the warmer weather as it means that he can go outside and play which is a good way for him to burn some energy. Heather is ok with being outside, but she doesn’t play really. She’s happier sitting out in a chair reading her latest find from the library.

So that’s my latest tidbit.

Lp

(Originally posted on my old blog on May 22, 2008)

I thought that since I had put in an earlier status message that I was taking care of an injured husband, I should probably elaborate a bit.

This past Sunday afternoon, Kevin went out for a bike ride with a friend. We had had some rather hot weather so Kevin took some water with him. What wound up happening was that after riding for 6 miles, and then resting in the car, he tried to get up and walk and when he did, he passed out, hitting his head on the pavement. He had some short term memory issues and so his friend called me, and I went to pick him up and take him to the ER. The doctor said that he probably had been dehydrated when he fell. Kevin did get a CAT scan and thankfully, there were no major injuries other than a mild concussion. The doctor also said that the memory issues would go away too and by the next day, his memory was much better. After two days to stay home and rest (he was really sore and still is), he’s back at work gaining sympathy for the scratch under his eye and telling folks that I beat him up 😉

Then on Tuesday, our “baby” turned 10. He’ll be the first to tell anyone that he’s not a baby. We have a new Chuck E. Cheese in town and Kylin wanted to have his party there. His party consists of mostly adults, and we discovered later at the party that adults really can’t visit in a restaurant where there are little kids yelling, and screaming and marching around chanting “Chucky, Chucky…..”. Kylin did have a good time. He likes noise. He likes to contribute to noise and has been since he was born. He and Heather played in the arcade and “won” all sorts of little prizes like tattoos and stickers and candy etc. Kevin was hoping that Heather wouldn’t want to go there for her birthday, but she does. So we will probably change the plans to where the adults can come to a more quiet environment, like our house, for the family party and then one of us will take Heather, Kylin and maybe a friend back to the noisy Chuck E. Cheese.

(Originally posted on my old blog on May 12, 2008)

I only mark this one as “The Day After Mother’s Day” because I didn’t have a chance to blog yesterday. We had a full day of celebrating and by the time we came home, I was too tired to type.

So, today, I write.

Mother’s Day, at this house started with my husband waking up with a headache, sinus pain and not having slept very well. Yet he crawled out of bed, and took a steamy shower (hoping to relieve his headache) and set out to make Mother’s day happen for me. While he was in the shower, Kylin came in and asked if he could take the next shower and when I told him that he’d have to wait until his sister and I had had ours (due to having to wait an hour between each shower for the water to heat up and that we needed time after washing our hair, to fix it), he had a meltdown and a major conniption fit. So Kevin worked on adjusting that attitude with the boy. After that Kylin said that he’d have a good attitude and wait for his shower. So, all is borderline “well”. Kevin drove down to the store and picked up a Sunday paper and a magazine for me to read while I was going to be confined to my room while he made breakfast. He also stopped at a coffee stand to buy me a delicious vanilla latte. The person at the coffee stand asked him how the day was going so far and he said, “Well I woke up not feeling well, I have a cranky kid and I’m trying to make Mother’s Day nice for my wife!”. So he came home and gave me my reading material and set out to cook breakfast. Trying to judge by the smells coming from the kitchen, I could only guess that maybe he was making an omlet with green peppers (I could definitely smell those) or biscuits & gravy. Finally he arrived with breakfast and the guessing was over. I have fried eggs, vegetarian sausage, O’Brian potatoes and english muffins. He also made homemade “egg McMuffins for the kids. However Heather didn’t like hers because the english muffin was whole wheat. I looked at it later and discovered that she didn’t eat the egg inside either and when I pointed out that she still could have eaten the contents, she said, “I hadn’t thought of that!”. She still didn’t eat it. When I finally came out to the livingroom, there was a flower on my desk and Kevin told me to look out of our front door and I saw the hanging plant that Kevin had put together for me. It was full of dark pink and purple flowers. What I like the most about it was that he put it together himself. Then it was time for Kylin’s shower and he asked me what he could wear. When I pointed out that he could wear his nice yet casual shirts, he had another fit because he wanted to wear a play t-shirt (and they were still drying in the closet. Plus we were going to someone’s house for a family dinner, it wasn’t like I was asking him to wear a suit). He finally dressed and we started hoping that his attitude would be better during the day…………….at someone else’s house.

After we were all showered and spruced up, we headed over to my grandma’s as she was going to join us on the drive to my dad’s in Creswell. On the way, Kevin asked if I had been to my mom’s grave recently. I haven’t in at least two years. It’s been 12 years and by now, going to the cemetery isn’t what it used to be. In the first few years after my mom had passed, I did go more regularly, but now, it’s like I put the flowers in the built in vase and see the headstone that I’ve seen many times and then what else does one do except go home. I didn’t have plans to go yesterday. I may this week because we did have Mother’s day and the cemetery just happens to be where she is.

We picked up my grandma and headed to Creswell. She was happy to spend the afternoon with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Of course when my sister and her family arrived, everyone wanted to play with my little nephew. He’s nearly 10 months old and he had changed a bit since we saw him at Easter. Yesterday was also my sister’s 25th birthday. Back when I turned 25, my then 9 year old sister informed me that I was “half of a half of a century old. So, in the last couple of years, I started “training” my daughter to say the same thing to my sister when it was her turn. That came yesterday. My sister was expecting it though. My dad made dinner as usual, but decided to save himself some clean up work and he used paper plates and cups. So he was actually able to sit and visit a bit more rather than being in the kitchen the whole time.

In the early evening, we left my dad’s, we took grandma home (along with two hanging plants from her children), went to the store, picked up pie and ice cream, and went to visit Kevin’s parents. Kevin bought his mother a metal lunch box with pictures of Elvis Presley on it. She loved it! She loves collectibles and music from the 60’s so that gift was just right for her.

We arrived home after 9 and we were so tired. Other folks think that mother’s get the day off to kick back and relax. I don’t think that it’s my turn yet.

Lp

Hello Everyone,

This is the first of what is hopefully going to be a photography/creativity blog.    Who knows?  One day it could very well be my only blog.  It’s a bit early to tell.  However, I do really enjoy taking pictures, mostly of nature, sunsets………..and babies.  So as this blog progresses, hopefully so will my skills and equipment.

I took Photography in college 20 years ago…………………..back when film was used.   Let’s see how much I remember, how much I’ll need to relearn, and how much I’ll be learning for the first time.

Elizabeth