Return and Report: June 2011 Edition

It seems like time is flying this summer. A week is like a day practically. Things have been busy, but also fun. What have we been up to?

Mark
Sent off his prospectus draft to committee members a week or so ago...in the process of waiting for revisions. Since then, he's been doing lots of reading in anticipation of what comes next. He's been on campus this past week as part of the hiring committee for the new college librarian. His other jobs include taxi-ing the girls to their multitude of activities, pushing Parker on the "wee" (swing), mowing the grass every other day (practically!), discovering the joys of a gas-powered weed-wacker, and enjoying the Next Food Network Star.

Suzy
I have immersed myself in the art of garage saling and am having a blast! My proudest moment thus far was walking away with a vintage Fisher-Price baby toy for a couple bucks. Besides that I have found some great things for the whole family; clothes, shoes, toys, furniture, athletic equipment, lawn/garden equipment, and basically the pieces for re-doing the half bathroom!! A pedestal sink, mirror, and light fixture for about $50. It's been great!!



In addition to garage saling I've been trying to figure out this whole extreme couponing business. I've been clipping my coupons from the paper, matching them with store sales, and stocking up on some sweet stash!! My food storage shelves have never looked so bright and shiny, and FULL!! I've still got a lot to learn, but it's been fun to feel the rush of adrenalin from getting a great deal! My proudest moment there was walking away with Pantene shampoo/conditioner for 97 cents a bottle, and BIC razors for 13 cents a piece!

Maryn
Sustained her first serious sunburn of the season at Artrageous Day Camp for Girl Scouts. Seriously, this burn was way worse than Crystal Lake. She is peeling now, and let's just say Mark has found a new hobby. EWWWWW!

Both of the girls had a great time at the Father's Day hike in Starved Rock. It's so much more fun to hike around muddy, precarious terrain when their over-protective, OCD Mom isn't nagging them. (They actually said that...:-)







Maryn enjoyed her week of acting camp at Stage 212. It was finished up with auditions for their summer production of Willy Wonka. Maryn and Avery were both excited for the prospects. Sadly, with over 100 kids trying out for only 30 parts neither of them made the play this summer. They both had great attitudes about it though, and figure better luck next time.

Avery
Avery actually attempted to prevent her sunburn at Girl Scout camp and ended up with only patchy burns over her back and face. At least she tried, right?!? I think they both learned their lesson. She loved the slip 'n' slide they had set up from the top of the hill into the lake...very cool.

Avery won 3rd place in her basketball camp. She absolutely loved it, and is so excited about when she can finally play intramurals in fifth grade. I really think the height thing gives her an advantage.

She's also been doing great in softball this season. Even though over half of their games have been rained out so far, their team has done really well. She's enjoying it more too, which is the most important thing. We were scheduled to finish up at the beginning of July, but it's looking like rain make-up games may take us into the 2nd or 3rd week.

We attended the wedding of Mark's colleague, and my boss at the Writing Center this past weekend. In anticipation, we all got dolled up for a "night out on the town". I curled the girls' hair, they wore cute outfits complete with accessories, and Maryn even wore her first pair of "high heels". It was fun to see them look all grown up, and have Avery keep asking how her hair looked all night long. Only down side was the rained out outdoor wedding, and free bar that was free-flowing all night. Needless to say we left early.



Parker
Her hair is long enough for piggies now. That's her top news. That and plenty of time on the swingset. Oh, and I also found her a new bed at a garage sale...painted it white and I think it's pretty durn cute. She's not sleeping here yet, but will when we say goodbye to her crib...whenever that happens!

A Peek At Parker's Personality

(Parker discovers pockets, June 2011.)

Parker is 21 months old now. I realized the other day that she is the exact age that Maryn was when Avery was born. I can't imagine having Parker and an infant right now. For lots of obvious reasons, but mostly because I have got my hands full enough with this little peanut as it is. She is a whirlwind and definitely keeps us all on our toes. She is really growing up these days, and I figured it would be good to document a little bit of it for you.

Parker's speech and communication have really just taken off in the past month or so. We are understanding her more, she is trying more, and it is so fun figuring it all out together. Her favorite words right now are "hi", "bye", "see you", and "moo". I may have already mentioned this, but she is friendly to a fault. She is just so insistent about making sure that everyone has received her friendly greeting that she essentially assaults them with her "hi's" until they either reciprocate, or just leave to which she will insist on saying "bye, see you"! Everyone in the restaurant, the store, an office, etc. No one is off limits. Most people think it's cute and reply in kind. It's the other non-friendly types that is interesting to see how they react to her. She is just so darn determined though, and we can't help but love it. When we've gone out to eat lately, she doesn't eat her food because she is so busy saying hi and bye to everyone.

She is exploring a lot more these days. She's pretty much left her toys in the dust most of the time in favor of wandering around the house and getting into stuff. The girls' room/stuff, the computer desk stuff, kitchen cupboards (mostly the snack shelf in the pantry), the bathrooms, my nightstand, my closet, etc. She spends hours just unloading stuff and bringing it to us. As you can imagine it's not always the greatest having to redirect her and return items a million times a day, but I can appreciate her natural curiosity and eagerness to learn and figure things out.



She is such a funny girl. She has a great sense of humor, and makes us laugh constantly. Recently she figured out how to "fake cry". We'll ask her if she's sad and she'll squint up her eyes, stick her lips out, and say "boo-hoo". So dramatic!





She loves a show on TV called "Brainy Baby". When she is wearing us out, or needs some "chill time", we ask her if she wants to watch "Brainy", and she'll squeal, clap, and run to the family room, climb up on the love seat and wait for the familiar intro and songs. This is her favorite thing right now!! Especially a segment called the Mother Goose Club, where some teletubby type figures sing nursery rhymes. Her faves are Itsy Bitsy Spider, and This Little Piggy.





Parker likes to sing! I hear her humming to herself quite a bit lately, and she loves it when we sing to her too. She also loves reading books. Her favorite right now is Jamberry...can't wait for Braeden to read it (or recite it) to her!! She also loves playing outside...she calls her swing the "wee". Her favorite foods are crackers and raisins, but she's a good little eater and will eat pretty much anything we give her...knock on wood!! I watched her eat her raisins the other day, by squashing each one with her thumb, then she'd raise it to her mouth, and eat it off her thumb. It was so methodical, it kind of freaked me out a little. Could she have a little of her dear old mum's OCD already?!? LOL!!



She loves her "baba" (bottle), and her "beebee" binky. She also is still pretty attached to two of her blankies; the one that Aunt Shalee got her, and the one that Aunt Melanie Day sent her (from Molly). She does not leave her crib without them!! I know it's probably not the greatest parenting that she has these things still, but I can't help it. They are the last real "baby" items left. Giving them up means that she's not a baby anymore and I just can't go there yet. :-)



We sure do love our Parker Faye!!

Memory Monday (With Pictures!!)

I'm happy to say that I lived through my first experience co-leading a Girl Scout troop this year! And I have to admit it wasn't that bad. In the end, I learned a lot, made some new friends, and am feeling much better about "belonging" to this wacky community of mine.

Here are the girls' sashes after adding the last of the badges they earned this year. Not bad, eh???





After Christmas, one of the parents suggested we consider hosting a "service-area" event for Girl Scouts from the area at our local LaSalle Canal Boat visitor's center. The LaSalle Canal Boat is a 19th century replica and is one of the last of it's kind traveling on the Illinois Michigan canal. Instead of being powered by a typical boat engine, it is pulled by a mule. It is pretty interesting to see, and hear about pioneer days in the Illinois area.

But anyhoo, it required MONTHS to plan this event. So for the past 4 months, I have been having monthly meetings and countless email correspondence with Girl Scout big wigs, LaSalle Boat directors/coordinators, and my co-leaders planning out what culminated at our June 4th event. And it went great!! We didn't end up with as many registrations as we had hoped, which unfortunately meant that our troop didn't make as big of a profit as we had hoped, but money or not we still had fun. The only big issue was the weather. It was over 100 degrees with the humidity factor that day, and we had to cut our event a little short due to many of the girls dropping like flies from heat exhaustion. Bah-Humbug!! I think I lost 5 lbs. in sweat alone...make that blood, sweat, and tears!! LOL!!

Here are some pics from the day:




The mule who pulls the boat...it's a tough life!!






The back of the two Tonica Maryn's...our Maryn on the left, and Maryn E. on the right watching that poor mule pull the boat.

Parker

I think I mentioned in one of my last posts that Parker loves cows. She thinks every animal says "moo!" We have been having a blast garage sale-ing these past few weekends. Last week, we hit up Spring Valley (a little west of here) for their town-wide sales. Mark found Parker a cute stuffed animal cow. She loved it, but upon further inspection we discovered that it stank up to high heavens...like it had been boxed up in a dank basement for a few years. As I smelled the cow, I told her, "oooh, this cow needs a good wash!!" It was in desperate need of a warm, sudsy soak in the washing machine. However, this was a concept Parker didn't quite understand (or so I thought). She just wanted the cow, and we all tried to explain to her that it was dirty, and needed to get washed before she could play with it. When it finally emerged from the washer and dryer, she grabbed it, pulled it up to her little face, and breathed in deeply. Then she handed it back to me, shaking her head, and saying "no-no, wash." I couldn't believe she had grasped all of that! But indeed she did, because now her new cow friend is affectionately named "Wash, the cow". She carries "Wash" around, sleeps with him, and sniffs him regularly. It's a hoot.

Shummer Shedule

Ready, set, GO!! That's pretty much where we're at with our summer plans right now. Yesterday morning was the last actual day the girls needed to be physically present at Tonica Grade School, and as of 8:15 a.m. they were set free...like 2 bullets out of a shot-gun ready and raring for summer F-U-N!!

So where does that leave me?!? Ready or not, here they come!! LOL!! Parker and I have officially been out-numbered by family members who are "off" for the summer. I have no control over my house, or the organization or cleanliness thereof. My house has been taken over by summer may-hem, and frankly I don't know how I feel about it quite yet.

I want to be excited, footloose, and fancy-free; but there's that little devil angel on my left shoulder who keeps pointing out the newly acquired clutter popping up in random places, the dirty laundry accumulating from outdoor play, softball games, and wardrobe changes for the upteenth time..."it was cold when I woke up but now I'm hot and I need to change into shorts, etc."

AAAAAGH!! What's a Mom to do?!? Let me rephrase that...what's a Mom who suffers from OCD to do?!? LOL!!!!!

I love my girls and I'm glad they're home, and I'm going to try really, really hard to suck it up and have some summer F-U-N right there with them!! :-)

So here's the shedule for June:

5-11: Avery goes to Basketball camp!!, 3 of the 4 girls get their teeth cleaned at the dentist, Avery has 2 games, Mom works 2 nights, Dad has leadership training at work, etc.

12-18: Girls go to Artrageous! Girl Scout camp (3-day day-camp), Avery has more softball games, Mom has more work, Dad and girls go on a Father's Day hike in Starved Rock on Sat. for Activity Days, and Parker tries to get a decent nap in once a day.

19-25: Happy Father's Day!!, Maryn goes to Acting camp at Stage 212 in LaSalle, Avery has more softball, Mom is happy to go to work for a little peace & quiet, and Dad tries to eke out a few more pages of dissertation writing (yeah, he's actually trying to get some work done amidst all of this hub-bub!!)

26-30: Possible trip to MI. for a GNO with friends (?!?), more softball, and more trips to Culver's for the Flavor of the Day!!

How's your June shaping up???