Fun Niamh

I love this picture of Niamh. I wish I was savvy enough to make it bigger on the site because her face is adorable and she is obviously having a blast being goofy. That's the way I love her the most.

I won't go into detail about the way I love her the least.

For All You RNs

HLHS by Niamh. No Flow, No Grow.

Memory Like An Elephant (whatever that means)

All of a sudden my daughter has morals. I don't know who taught her that. As I pulled in to the parking lot at UVillage, we saw a Mall Cop, you know, a Renta Cop. Niamh says to me, "Mama, there is a Police Man. Do good things." I didn't even broach the topic of Mall Cop vs Police officer, but said, "I always do good things, don't I?" Here comes the response...."NO! Remember you parked in the wheel chair spot at the grocery store!" I swear, I don't know what she is talking about but she does bring this up every now and then. I guess it happened, and I guess I'll never be allowed to forget it, even though I don't remember it. Well, I used that Renta Cop against her the whole shopping experience (and the threat of not giving her the cheesecake I was planning on making for dessert). Every time she touched merchandise or crawled through clothing racks, I told her I was going to tell the Police Man, and not give her cheesecake. Of course, she always threw back at me, "I'll tell him you parked in the wheel chair spot." And Finn would back her up with, "Yeah, Mama, he's gonna put you in jail."

Que Le Pasa, Calabasa?

Niamh got in to the Spanish Language Program at John Stanford Elementary! WOO HOO! I am more than thrilled. I think speaking a second language is the coolest thing ever. She will be able to go to any South American Country and ask anyone on the street, "Es ese perro agradable?" (Is that dog friendly?) How handy is that! After going through the stress of not knowing if we would even get in to our reference school (ridiculous), we then had to stress about the language she would learn. Oh, maybe some don't know (does anyone even read this blog of mine?) that John Stanford is a language immersion school so the kiddos start learning half their school day in another language right off the bat, in Kindergarten. The other language program is Japanese. Still pretty darn cool but I think Spanish will get her farther in her travels and restaurant menu analysis.

What did Niamh say when she heard she would be in the Spanish program? "Good, because I already know half of Spanish."

Well, we want her to get a kick start at learning the other half so she is enrolled in Summer School. Really, I just wanted to kick start what my life is going to be like...I get to have just one kid around while the other is at school! How sweet is that, My Friends?

Doesn't she look thrilled to be at summer school? I should really have turned the camera on myself to show my own big grin.

OH MY GOD!

I just went downstairs to Finn saying, "Mommy, come look at me." What a BIG smile he had on his face coming up to meet me. HO LEE SHIT! Niamh tried to convince me that she had no part in this but then I saw the necklace on his neck and how it came together so perfectly at his nape. Nice try, Girlfriend. Now, to parade him around the neighborhood...

Uh oh, I just heard, "Mama, we're cleaning the windows." I better go before they have dish soap all over the windows and buckets of water on the floor.

World's Best Dad

This is why Steve is the World's Best Dad.


Here is the link to the larger screen version on YouTube

She's A Funny Little Thang

Oh Niamh, as her Daddy would say, "She has tendencies." Tendencies toward what?, you ask. Well, she is a hoarder. I see in her future, boxes of cereal stuffed inside the microwave, cookie rolls shoved behind the couch cushions, her favorite trinkets (probably ceramic figurines or snow globes) not displayed but hidden in case someone should come and steal them. All of the above items were hidden under her pillow tonight. What ends up under her pillow each night is not necessarily her most prized possessions, just possessions. I don't know what she thinks will happen to them if she doesn't hide them in the night. How does one sleep on top of Shel Silverstein?

Pictured here are the candy wrappers I found in her extra closet in her room. This is another late night activity in which Niamh likes to partake. We can only hypothesize that she gets out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, climbs on the counter to the top shelf in the kitchen, grabs a handful of Halloween candy, sits in her dark little closet, and feasts.

The hoarding and the sneaking sugar are not behavior we are unaware of. All of this is just photo evidence of it. She has tendencies. What more can I say?

Signs of Summer!

A lot more of this. A lot less of this.

Picnics on the Parking Strip in front of the house. This summer we swear that the backyard will be completed so that we can stop dining next to cars buzzing by.

Mommy's wearing tanks and drinking beer in the middle of the day (instead of fleece and Jameson's). Not pictured, Mommy doing 25 situps/day, just in case I drink enough to get in a swimsuit. Good thing I am pretty good at keeping my wits about me.

Eddy is tethered to the front porch to get some fresh air.

General fun outdoors. Here, Steve is racing the kids on the plastic car.

Too Much TV?

You know your kid watches too much TV when...

• You are driving down the road and see this on a billboard and your 5 year old says, "Hey, look, its the Geico Money."

• You go to the grocery store and next to the seafood there is a small television tuned to the Discovery Channel and your 5 year old says, "Look, Finn, its Deadliest Catch." And your 3 year old says, "They get crabs, Mama."
• Your daughter asks nervously if our tv will be ok on Friday or if it is going to turn to snow. (Friday is when analog televisions will no longer work and the picture will turn to snow.)
• Your 5 year old asks you how the picture gets on the television, you can't give her an answer, so, she explains to you how satellite television works. (Thanks, Sid the Science Kid).
• Your child yells to you from the basement, where she was sent to play, that "The man says the Earth is going to have another Boom! Are we ready?"
• Your little girl folds her arms across her chest, and starts doing forward bends over the bed and says she is excercising. (I'm thinking it was an infomercial for a home gym.)

The Future of Finn

So, in a previous post, I made reference to Finn joining the circus later in life. In looking through my stash of pics of the boy, I found these and thought I would post them and we could all see his potential future career path together. Apparently, there are several paths other than Barnum and Bailey to which he may be drawn.

Trash Collector. Not bad, a government job that doesn't require that I pay for a college degree that might just get wasted. I'd much rather save that money for my dream car. He wouldn't have to work weekends or holidays, and he'd get to drive a great big truck with a scoop that goes up and down.

Mama's Boy. He already excels in this position. I think he could probably maintain this job whilst working another job part time. The future Mrs. Finn Westover might ask that he cut his hours. For this, I already don't like her.

Rock Star or M.A.C Cosmetics Artist. The kid does love his sister's lip gloss and earrings. I could sure use a makeup artist in the family. I have such a hard time blending the shadow up to my browline.

College Campus Streaker. Every College needs one. Why not fill the need.

College Graduate. Ok, so it isn't a career choice, but it could be a goal. I am pretty sure that "Scholar" is a job title. In this shot I think he is pondering the path of his doughnut as it is digested by his body. He knows that food and drink make you poop and pee. He's off to a good start.

EMT or Ambulance Driver. Better than an Ambulance Chaser.

Heavy Weight Champion. If anyone lays their hands on my Sweet Finn, I'll kick their ass. Don't challenge me. This one is out. So are Football Player, Hockey Player, Hurling Player, and Race Car Driver. All are too dangerous for my kid. I guess I should add Soccer Player to the list but that is his own fault.

Clown. Here we are, back to the original thought. I won't rule it out but I am going to research the starting salary of Circus Clowns.

Say What?

Fiona: "Finn, I love coffee. Do you know that I love coffee?"
Finn: "Yeah, but I don't love coffee."
Fiona: "Someday you will."
Finn: "Yeah, when I'm a girl."

Tonight's Tears

Tonight, I told Niamh she must wear Finn's pull-up because I was not changing the sheets 3 nights in a row (we ran out of the girl pull-ups a few days ago, gotta get an order in with the Grocery Fairy). She was ticked. The tears rolled. The sighs heaved from her little chest. She swore that Finn was laughing at her and making fun of her. All this because "Boy pull-ups aren't opposed to be weared with princess jammies."

The photo was taken the morning after. Looks like she is over it but as I was about to take the shot, she told me to make sure you can't see the boy pull-up.

Finn

A Bunch of Jokers 'Round Here

Sometimes Niamh and Finn are so freaking hilarious. This conversation just happened.
Finn: "Mama, did you know that one time Niamh saw a flying garbage can?"
Niamh: "No, I didn't."
Finn: "Yes, you did but you were still 4 so you don't remember, remember?"
Niamh: "No, I didn't, Mama. Finn is telling stories."
Me: "I know, sometimes Finn is silly."
Niamh: "Why didn't they send us the serious kid? I thought we ordered the serious kid. Why did they send us the silly one? I wonder where the kid we ordered went."

While I'm at it...

Niamh almost sent me to my room without dessert yesterday at lunch because I wouldn't try a piece of her ham. Niamh loves deli ham. I can't even think of eating ham. After about 15 years of being vegetarian, all I can do is poultry and seafood. (My doc told me I had to change my low protein diet when I was pregnant with Niamh. The sacrifices started with her in the womb.) Anyway, she was at the table raving about how delicious her ham rolls were and I should try one. I politely declined. She wanted to know why. I said I don't like ham. She wanted me to try "this" ham, "its amazing". Yes she said her ham was amazing. Anyway, it came down to Niamh lecturing me on trying foods because I always make her try foods and "sometimes I'm (Niamh) surprised that I like them, like edamama (soybeans)." Eventually I had to pull rank on her and tell her to leave me alone. "I just don't like ham. Ok? That's the end of it."

It Was Hot

It was pretty darn hot yesterday. What do the Westovers of Wallingford do when it is hot? We go to Molly Moon's Ice Cream! We walk because we are Seattle folk and Seattle folk walk when possible. Also, I am trying to train Niamh, Finn, and Eddy to walk like normal people and dog so that we can walk Niamh to school every morning when she starts in September. Ok, fine, I am the one that needs the training in controlling the 3 of them without losing my cool because Niamh is picking flowers from people's prize gardens, Finn stops every 8 feet because he is distracted by a truck or airplane, or Eddy is pulling me in to traffic to meet another dog a block away.

Here they are at the "Jungle House" checking the progress of the raspberries which we will start to steal as soon as they ripen. Its tradition. We've been stealing berries from this house for 3 years.

Niamh mentioned more than once how she was pleased with her outfit choice. Very fitting for a hot day.

Amost there, Molly Moon's is just a half block away.

Eddy pushed the limits on "No Dogs Alowed" and licked the bare legs of every customer who walked through that door.

The kids chose Birthday Cake Ice Cream. I had Ginger and brought home a pint each of Vivace Coffee and Vanilla.

This was my poor attempt at a group self portrait. Nice face, Finn.

The walk home was not as enthusiastic as the walk there. "I'm hot." "I'm tired." "Carry me." They also need endurance training. The walk is 10 blocks there, 10 blocks back. Niamh wanted to know a short cut. For the love of Pete.

Eddy was the first to fall to the wayside in the shade for a break. He wasn't going to budge.

The other 2 quickly followed.

We Are So Outdoors People

Our friend, Julie, invited us to go camping with her in her brand new (to her), previously loved, super cool Camper. We graciously accepted her invitation and packed for a night in the wild. Wild it was. We were 3 moms, 4 kids, and 4 dogs. Julie, Mason, and doggie Lola also invited new mom Therese with her 7 week old son, Kaz, and her 2 Chihuahuas, India and Sadie. Niamh thinks "chihuahua" is a fun word and has ditched her plight for a cat. Now she wants a chihuahua.

Yes, I said "a" night, as in one night. But, you never know what you are going to need when you are out in the elements.

Dog (Eddy) was my co-pilot. Along the drive, Eddy's constant struggle to get his huge body comfortable in the front passenger seat created a few problems. He knocked me in to neutral twice, kept standing on the side mirror controls so I was looking at the top of my own car more than the cars around me, and even honked once while I was out of the car and he jumped in to the driver's seat.

Please focus your attention on the outside temperature reading. To quote Goldilocks, "It was not too hot and not too cold. It was just right."

According to google maps, our drive was to be 63 minutes. Somehow it turned in to 3 hours. Finn really had to pee at about hour 2. So, we pulled over and Finn had his first Man Pee, standing up with his mommy holding his wee wee so that he didn't pee on his foot or his sister.

This was our little paradise. A gravel lot in an RV Park with more residents than campers. Just to the right of my car was a bathroom with hot shower. And, in front of our site, was a swift running river with a lovely dirt river bank that had a steep drop off on to some rocks. It was perfect for the kids to play.

After setting up camp (hooking up to electric, gas, and sewage) we just hung out, had a few brewskies, ate some delicious food, and watched that the kids didn't get swept in to the river.

Truly, I think that Eddy had more fun than any of us. He was allowed to be off leash and run wild (because we ignored the signs that mandated otherwise). He met all the dogs in the trailer park, fell in love with one of them (picture below), ran in the water, and just roamed where he pleased. I kept saying it and I'll say it again. If Eddy died tomorrow, he would die a happy doggie.

Just a few more pics

It was a good thing I brought this truck with us. Just goes to show there is no such thing as over packing.

Mason and Julie, proud owners of a mobile home. I am soooooooo jealous.

Niamh eating human grade dog treats. She liked them so much, she had two. Then, I had to cut her off.

Did we not learn anything from Brit?

Julie, Mason, and Lola hanging in the camper.

This photo reminds me of those drawings where you are supposed to find the things that are wrong. In case you can't tell, Lola has 3 legs. The other thing that just isn't right (or fair), is that Therese had a baby 7 weeks ago and fits in to her skinny jeans!

Baby Mason in the morning. He and his buddy, Kaz, slept until 8:30am!

Little Kaz Bleu. He is truly kissable.

On the drive home, which did take only about 63 minutes, everyone was pooped from so much frolicking.

Then, back in Wallingford, Finn woke from his car nap soaked in urine, the screaming began, and I knew we were home...so did the neighbors.

All our photos consolidated at this link.