Pool is Open!!!

It's that time of year again...

The neighborhood pool is open. It always opens Memorial Day weekend and closes Labor Day weekend.

Here are some photos from our first outing of the year...

Ready for the walk to the club house

Getting used to the water


Settled in and enjoying our swim - of course, T Rex insisted we take a sphere!


T Rex "swimming" to his sphere


Victory! The sphere was reached.

Wishing you all fun filled days and a way to stay cool during these warm days!

Last days approaching to get your comments in for this month's giveaway.

Another Weekend Project

This was last weekend's project.

I've been looking for an "after swimming" robe for T Rex. I really have not been able to find one. There was a "toweled hoodie" at our local department store but when I tried it on him, it was too small so I took it back. It's really hard to find ones in his size. So, I decided to copy the pattern from one of his hooded vests and tweak a few things and here you have it!

I think I'll probably make another one because I am very dissatisfied with the terry cloth material I used. I wanted it to be like a wearable towel but the terry cloth unravels horribly. Someone suggested using an old towel and try it again. That's an excellent idea and I might just do that. I guess that $1.99/yd fabric really lives up to its price. I used velco to fasten the hoodie rather than attempting button holes on such difficult fabric. It works perfectly and T Rex enjoys closing and opening it on his own.

Here he is modeling it while "vacuuming" the remnants of my sewing project! He is a very clean child! Note he carries two spheres in the other hand.

Next weekend's project will be May's giveaway winner - the giveaway continues until the end of the week. I am planning an apron. Click here to see what it will look like. Alternatively, if you are May's giveaway winner and you prefer something other than an apron, I am happy to make anything else I've previously used as a give away item.

Onto next weekend's project...

Tuesday's Tribute - "Shelley"

T Rex Dad and Shelley have been friends since 4th grade. At that time they played soccer together. Since then they've been close friends through junior high, high school, etc. Hence, it just makes sense that she is now an honorary aunt and god parent to our little T Rex.

She's truly a spectacular person. Aside from the fact that she's probably the smartest person we know, she's a tremendously caring and giving person. No surprise that with such qualities she chose to become a physician. And not just any physician - an anesthesiologist (how many times did I have to spell check that one?). Yes, she was on speed dial when we were getting that epidural for T Rex's birth.

We love that's she the total sci-fi guru like us. Makes it easy to share the same interests. And it also means she gets our obscure jokes that only the most hard core Star Trek or Stargate fans would understand.

I find it interesting (and hopefully I'm not sharing too much here) that she had horrible asthma as a kid - much like our little T Rex. It gives us hope that this will not stop him from doing amazing things, just like her.

As frosting on the cake, she is married to a totally awesome guy - Rich. They have their own blog, News From Summit Ridge. They are always taking amazing trips - usually involving some kind of mountain climbing. Last year's Christmas card was taken from the top of one of those "hikes". And they're die hard Seattle Mariners fans - yes, they were even married on Safeco Field!

T Rex absolutely adores "Aunt Shelley" - her and Rich came over for dinner this weekend and T Rex took her hand and away they disappeared for 45 minutes to play until it was dinner time. Then after dinner was over he went to sit on her lap for another 20 minutes. Usually he does not sit on anyone's lap for more than a few minutes. (I can barely get him to hold still long enough to finish drinking his milk before bed.)

We feel so fortunate and blessed to have such am amazing person in our lives.

Don't forget about the May giveaway going on until the end of the month.

For more Tuesday's Tributes Visit:

All of Our Children...

In the beginning there was Sydney - the black Lab. Initially she was my dog - I brought her to our marriage and T Rex Dad adopted her. If you've followed our blog for a while you know she's had a couple bouts with cancer and lupoid onchodystrophy but seems to continue to thrive at the age of ten. Coincidentally, she and I have the same birthday.

Then shortly after we were married - Anya joined the family. She is a Bolognese - a rare breed of small dog. So rare at the time there were only 4 breeders in the US with waiting lists at least 6-12 months out. Thus, we looked into importing from Italy - origin of the Bolognese. She was not the original Anya - our Anya was delayed because she was scheduled to arrived the week of 9/11 and the attacks on the World Trade Center. All flights were grounded and cargo was halted.

Thus, the breeder sold our dog and gave us the daughter of the world champion. The only stipulation for giving us his prized puppy was we were obligated to breed her at least once. We agreed and our Anya (papered name "Pompeia") arrived in late October. She was our "first born" child and still acts as such. She really is the queen of the castle.

As agreed, we bred Anya and she had three puppies: Andreanio, Dolly, and Jack. Andre went to a wonderful lady in Ohio who uses him as a stud for other litters. My mother kept Dolly and my sister-in-law took Jack. Sometime I'll post photos of them as puppies - too cute! Two years later we bred her again. This time, the puppies did not make it and Anya had to have an emergency C-section and hysterectomy just to be saved. It was horrible - especially when she came home from the dog hospital looking aimlessly for her puppies. She mourned for months and we feared her spirit was broken. Then we got an email from Andre's mom in Ohio - she had a female puppy needing a home. We thought this would be just the ticket to perk Anya's spirits. Enter Sonador or "Sona" (pronounced "Sewn-ya-door" or "Sewn-ya").

Sonador is very playful but fairly shy. She will fetch all day if you let her. And one of her favorite pastimes is chasing the birds. Anya is nothing like this. The best way to differentiate between them (other than Anya wears a red collar and Sonador the blue) is that Anya acts like a human princess and Sona acts like a dog - one likes to be petted and groomed and the other just wants to run and play. Anya treats Sona like she's her own personal pet!

Then there's our little T Rex - our first two-legged human chid. You know all about him. Note in the photo below he is playing with the same toy Sydney has in her mouth in one of the earlier photos. And both he and all the dogs were drinking from the same water. As fate would have it, he is allergic to dogs. Horrible huh? He started having breathing issues at 6 months and was diagnosed with asthma and allergies. The scratch testing showed the only thing at that point he was allergic to - dogs. That has changed our lives significantly but the breathing issues are improving. He will still break into hives occasionally after playing with Sydney - never the little ones, but it is so hard to keep them apart - they love each other SO much.

Sydney is unbelievably protective of the little guy - I fear for anyone strange approaching our yard - her hackles and teeth really come out! She'll even sit at the base of the slide and wait for him.

This is first flattering photo I have EVER captured of all three of our four-legged kids all together. I guess after photographing a moving target (AKA T Rex) I've gotten pretty good at capturing photos!

And now you can say you've been introduced to all the kids!

Don't forget about the giveaway going on until the end of the month. I will be working on projects all weekend and post photos of them next week as well as announce the winner of the giveaway.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Wordful Wednesday - Our Lucky Charm

Wordful Wednesday - brought to you by:

*Wordful Wednesday is for those of us that like to showcase a photo(s) but that just can't seem keep our mouths shut about it(them).

Life just seems to keep getting better - especially since this little one joined the family! There must be a correlation!!!

Don't you think it's very appropriate he is wearing shamrocks, which he put on himself, hanging around his neck?!?

I just love those bare feet!!!

Outdoor Toy Shopping...

We've been wanting to get some outdoor toys for T Rex but are on a rather tight budget with me starting school next month. Therefore, rather than heading to the store to buy something new we've been checking garage sales and craigslist.com for the past several weeks.

This weekend we found the jungle gym of the genre we've been looking for. We have limited back yard space and a small child, thus we were very specific about what we needed and wanted. As luck would have it, the playset was located only 5 minutes from our house - very unusual since we live on the outskirts of town. All the more reason I think it was meant for us!

Our friends were kind enough to loan us their truck to haul the set as well as provided a place for T Rex to hang out while we ran our errand. The set was in excellent condition and was exactly what we were hoping for. We paid the sweet family their asking price - an amazing deal - and we came home to set the gym up.

All ready for a T Rex to play

In fact, the friends who loaned us the truck and watched T Rex posted a photo of the boys playing while we were gone. You should check out their blog: Cooper au fil du temps. We might have the jungle gym but they have the pool and the sandbox!

T Rex had a wonderful time playing on his new set. However, it was really warm this weekend and I wanted to do something that would provide cooling relief after climbing on the slides. The first thing we did was hose the set down so the parts would not burn our little guy. Then we discovered he loved sliding down with the water running on the slides. Thus, I think it will be a regular thing for him to be out in his swimming attire while he plays on his jungle gym in hot weather.

T Rex Dad also slipped on some swimming trunks and participated in the fun!

Lastly, taking the advise of my friend Caitlin (click here if you want to read her posting that gave me the inspiration), I made a "water table" for T Rex out of a sweater box. You know those plastic ones that are meant to fit under the bed? This particular one has wheels - high tech! I filled it with water, T Rex's bath toys, and he spent hours - yes, hours, playing with it. I estimate this container costs around $8 - significant cost differce from the $75 kids water table I saw on Amazon.com! (Time playing allowing Mom to work in the garden - priceless!) He did get quite wet but that was the intended point - to cool off.

There you have it - outdoor toys on a budget. Alas, the bike trailer I was saving for is going to have to be put on hold another year but I think we'll be staying home more with the play gym in the back yard anyway.

Wishing you all warm fun days of your own!

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom & Dad Tales and/or T Rex Tales). Entries doubled for followers.

Busted!!!

I've been noticing an animal control vehicle parked in the neighborhood the past few weeks. We sometimes see coyotes and I figured one might be causing problems and someone called animal control.

Last week a friend came over with her toddler and we took the kids for a walk on a nearby trail. Sydney, our Lab, begged to go with us. We've been taking her running on this trail for years. In fact, our backyard borders the trail.

We embarked on our walk. Recently, signs have been posted on the trail stating dogs must be leashed at all times. I still let Syd run off the leash - no one was around and we watch people from our backyard run their dogs off-leash all the time. It seemed to be an uneventful walk. Syd was a little hyper since this was only the second time I had taken her on the trail this year. The boys were content with their snacks of puffs but alas they started to get antsy so we turned around. Syd continued making her rounds sniffing every bush in sight.

We noticed a few bikers on the trail above us but Syd paid them little attention. We also encountered a couple other dogs also off leash but they sniffed each other and went along their ways. Then there were a couple of bikers wearing bright yellow vests making their way toward us.

Finally it clicked in my head - animal control was patrolling the trail making sure people keep their dogs on leash. The officers turned out to be from the sheriff's office. Indeed they stopped us, but I had Syd on her leash by then (yes, I do take it with us). The officer proceeded with his questioning starting with "How are you today?" What I wanted to reply was "How my day is really depends on how this conversation is going to end." I resisted the urge to back talk, though - really resisted - and clicked into polite charming person mode. I did not want a ticket.

He asked if I saw the posted signs - yes. He asked if we walk on the trail often - honestly, it was only the second time this year (no lie). He said they are patrolling to make sure people keep their dogs on leash on this trail. I mentioned our backyard borders the trail and we've walked on it for years and no one leashed their dogs. He said that was exactly why they were enforcing the regulation. I mentioned the animal control vehicle parked for the past several weeks and just assumed we had a coyote problem and was relieved that was not the case. He said he would give me a warning and sent us along our way.

On a side note, the boys sat perfectly still and quiet during the conversation with the officer. Something about his sheriff uniform that must have been intimidating!

We continuing on our way and finished the walk successfully. Anytime no one melts down - a definite success! Upon reflection I can only conclude a couple of things. One the economy must be really bad if officers are giving out tickets for off-leash dogs. This is Idaho and not the big city. We live on the outskirts of town - barely in city limits. It's not like we're in a downtown area letting our dogs run free. I guess the state really needs money to finish construction on our roads! Secondly, it is a little disturbing that we've seen significant increases in home robberies and drug activity, and yet officers are riding their bikes on a nearly deserted trail handing out tickets for off-leash dogs. In the officer's defense, he was only doing his job and was very polite about it. And, we were in violation of the regulation.

Oh, well. We were busted but got off with only a warning this time. But I still watch folks from my back window running with their off-leash dogs. It does not bother me - I just hope they don't get busted too!

Wordful Wednesday - Bird Strike

No, the birds are not going on strike. Rather, T Rex Dad has been cleaning the kitchen windows again (along with a certain helper pictured below). He always does such a great job that the birds try to fly right through them. Note to self - have him clean the windows after spring mating season.

Generally when we have a bird strike the bird gets up and flies away. With the exception of once we had a hawk grab a bird sitting on the fence and then the hawk, with his prey in talons, flew into the window. His prey was dead but he was not. He waited on the fence for a while but he never came back for the slain bird leaving me to handle his dirty work. I know, circle of life. Still traumatic for me.

Yesterday I had a blue finch crash into the window. When I went to see if it was alright his mate was by his side trying to nudge him to get up. It broke my heart. When she flew away I went out thinking I would bury the fallen avian. I picked him up and noticed he was still breathing. Great - was I going to have to watch him die? I was not up for that - especially with T Rex watching my every move through the windows that were causing all the troubles.

After setting him on the grass I noted how beautiful he was. I had never seen such a blue bird before. I decided I would hold him until he passed away to where his other flying friends would meet him at the far green plains. Then he started to perk up. He sat up and perched on my finger. It was quite charming. I felt like Snow White!

He perched another few minutes while I examined his wings. They seemed intact. If he had a broken wing, I knew someone who could fix it, but he probably would never get to see his mate again, and this saddened me. Then, he hopped a few times and flew to the fence post when he perched another few minutes.

Of course, little T Rex was glued to the windows watching our every move and grinning every time I showed him the bird. I stayed outside until my winged friend flew to meet his waiting mate. I was fearful a hawk would snatch him up while he was resting on the fence and all the attachment I had developed for my new friend would make it even harder to handle.

Thus, a happy ending. After he flew off, I imagined he went off to be with his mate and their nest of eggs that will soon hatch and bring forth more gorgeous blue baby birds. Not to mention, a really cool experience, having a wild bird perch on my hand!

For more Wordful Wednesday postings, visit:

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom & Dad Tales and/or T Rex Tales). Entries doubled for followers.

Tuesday's Tribute - My Mom

Nearly seventy years ago my mother made her entrance into the world. Born into humble beginnings, she was one of many small children living in a small house in Cabezon, New Mexico. Her parents only spoke Spanish but insisted she learn and only speak English.

At age eight she contracted rheumatic fever and was left paralyzed in her left leg. Her older brother used to take her down to the river when he went fishing. There she would try to move her leg in the mud along the river bed. It is suspected this acted as physical therapy and helped rehabilitate her leg. As a result of the illness, he would suffer other life long health complications.

She attended Catholic school until she was a sophomore in high school. Because her family could not afford tuition for her attendance she would work for the nuns cleaning the school and chapel. She tells a tale of how she once fainted while cleaning the second floor balcony of the church (don't let her around candles - they make her faint) and was saved when she landed on a nun who happened to be standing below her at the time.

She graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1958 and shortly thereafter married my father and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. My sister was born a year later and my brother three years after that. She spent the next several years busy raising two small children. My mother became pregnant again but was involved in a car accident and lost both the babies at 20 weeks.

My brother and sister continued to grow becoming involved in school and sports. She kept busy attending games and even started taking community college classes in addition to working a part time job at a preschool where she would later become a director. She even developed a curriculum for teaching English to Spanish-speaking children that was adopted by several schools in the Las Vegas area.

During my sister's senior year of high school my mom surprisingly became pregnant again. Because of her medical history, age, and early complications her physician cautioned her about continuing the pregnancy because he felt it would be a risk to her health to have the child and the small amount of testing they did at that time indicated the baby would suffer many birth defects. Mom declined and said she knew her child would be fine and even if it did not live it would be loved as long as possible. And she agreed to endure any pains necessary.

Indeed she did. Her original due date was Halloween. Let's just say, she went a little long (my birthday is in December). She was sick most of the pregnancy and suffered nearly every related complication one can have. How she stayed motivated to have a baby that probably would not live, I do not know and hope to never have to understand. But I made my entrance into the world ten minutes before she was scheduled for a C-section. And I was fine - normal, at least as normal as any one really is! I did have a few health issues preventing me from leaving the hospital but I finally went home on Christmas day - the nurses wrapped me in a stocking. It is still my stocking to this day!

Sadly, my parents marriage of 25 years ended when I was only three. Complicated really but now they've been divorced longer than they were married and I think they are both in good places. It is interesting to talk to my dad about my mother - she was the love of his life. And I think it was the same for my mom - he was her great love. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Mom and I spent the next 15 years on our own. My dad was not really involved in our lives. There were lots of hard times and also a lot people who were there when we needed it most. For that we will always be grateful. There were many times when my mom went without so that I could have food or clothing. I was involved in many extracurricular activities in school. The way Mom would pay for them was by making tortillas or tamales and I would sell them. It paid for four years of cheerleading camp and a trip to Europe with the Spanish Club (she insisted I see Spain since that's our homeland). Oh, and there was that whole bout with bladder cancer she had while I was in high school - but she never made a big deal out of it and most people did not even realize she was sick.

I don't know anyone who gives like she gives - no thought of how it will impact her. If someone needs something, she is there. I certainly would not be the person I am today without my mother. Goodness, I would not even be here if she had not gone against her doctor's wishes. Her health has never been all that great. However, inside there beats the heart of a warrior.

I am so proud to call her my mom. She does not have a computer and thus does not know what I write in my blog. But I tell her every time I see her how much I love her and how grateful I am for all she does for me.

Thank you, Mom.

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom & Dad Tales and/or T Rex Tales). Entries doubled for followers.

I'm One of Those Women...

I'm one of those women...
who has been peed, pooped, and puked on (and not just because I'm a nurse)
who has stains on most of my clothing from the aforementioned reasons
and will walk around the store wearing the clothing not aware of the stains.

I'm one of those women...
who sometimes isn't dressed until noon
whose hair style of choice is a bun or pony tail
and does not notice the funny looks people give her when cruising the mall because when she finally looks in the mirror she notices when her child threw that cup at her it caught that pony tail and it's now sticking straight up.

I'm one of those women...
who always has an audience when peeing
who has spent hours kneeling before the commode either because I was vomiting for months from morning sickness
or teaching a little one to GP ("go potty")

I'm one of those women...
who who leaves the house in disarray when embarking on a journey to the grocery store with a little one
who considers said journey with a little one to be a major feat if she makes it home without a melt down
and will give a toy to her child to play with upon entrance into the store and sneakily leaves said toy on another isle before departing so I don't have to pay for it.

I'm one of those women...
who can function on only a few hours of sleep
who continues to rock my little one even after fast asleep
and checks on the sleeping child multiple times during the night for reassurance.

I'm one of those women...
who worries every day that her child will be healthy and happy
who savors every smile, laugh, and hug,
and knows that despite all my flaws I am the best mom in the eyes of my little one.

Yes, I'm one of those women and proud of it!

Happy Mother's Day!

(Update - Yes, I did write this.)

Indoor Container Garden - Update

I did my first harvesting today!

Two whole radishes.

I can get a bunch of rashes at the grocery store for $0.69 and I will probably yield a bunch total. I don't think rashes are the best bang for the buck when it comes to container gardening. But at least it only took a month to grow them.

On the other hand, I can grow a large amount of spinach in a small space and it will continue to yield without continuously planting more seeds. Some of it is ready to cut but it will be another couple days until I we're ready to eat it.

The cucumbers are coming right along - actually lovely to look at. The onions are slow - they are on the "120 days to harvest schedule" - not good if you have problems with deferred gratification (like me) - good thing I planted ones outside that will be ready in half the time. No photos of either the cucumbers or onions.

Ahh, the cherry tomatoes. They are actually beautiful to look at and somewhat fragrant. I have high hopes for them.

There's the update - stay tuned as the harvest is just beginning!

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom & Dad Tales and/or T Rex Tales). Entries doubled for followers.

End of the Rainbow...

We had an amazing rain storm this evening. As the sun was setting the most brilliant rainbow appeared.

Here is the "end" of the rainbow:

We did not seek out the pot of gold as we feel we already have a life full of treasures.

Wishing you all days of rainbows and treasures.

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom & Dad Tales and/or T Rex Tales). Entries are doubled for followers.

Moms, Toddlers, and Twilight

This past weekend I had my mom friends and their boys over. All our hubbies were either working, traveling, or otherwise occupied. Hence, it was decided we would all get together with our kids, get them ready for bed, and then settle in to watch Twilight.

We were going to eat dinner with the boys - sort of a mini-dinner party. Then get the them bathed and off to bed. After which the rest of the evening would be ours to enjoy - popcorn, ice cream, pie, and Edward Cullen!

In theory it sounded like an ideal plan. But in the end, T Rex was able to stay on schedule because we were at home, Caitlin and Joseph had to go home early because he would not sleep upstairs in our port-a-crib, and Cooper and Colleen were able to stay but Cooper was up the entire time and is still off schedule.

Oh well. I did feel bad for the other moms having to deal with off-schedule kids but at least it was still a fun evening. Here are some highlights...

Dinner party with the boys - left to right or back to front: T Rex, Cooper, and Joseph.

A little after dinner entertainment - aka Baby Einstein.

Tub time fun - you can only imagine how hard it was to get a photo of three naked boys with no private parts being exposed! They had a grand time in the big tub!

Thanks ladies and little ones for a wonderful time!

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom Tales or T Rex Tales). Entries are doubled for followers. Giveaway will run through May 29th.

Tuesday's Tribute - in Photos

This week's tribute is to waterfowl and their babies. This time of year in Idaho we start to see baby ducks and geese. It really is wonderful to go and watch them. It also gets really fun when they begin conducting flight school. I'll try to get photos this year for posting. In the meantime, enjoy these photos...

This was the first family we saw upon arrival at the park - Canadian geese.

T Rex, his friends, and their moms. We had to keep the boys in their strollers to avoid angry waterfowl parents - very sharp beaks. You can see from the photo T Rex spotted the geese.

T Rex saying his new word "geese" - he's been calling anything bird-like "geese".

Mallard duck mother and her nine babies - imagine nine babies - Poor dear!

Wood duck family - very rare to see - they are extremely shy and keep secluded. These are the most lovely ducks in my opinion. They only had one baby - you can see it on the far right in front of the mom's beak.

May giveaway going on now - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom Tales or T Rex Tales). Entries are doubled for followers. Giveaway will run through May 29th.

Weekend Projects and Giveaway...

Yes, I was busy this weekend. I fell a little behind on my sewing projects last weekend so I did catch up this weekend. It could not have been a better time for it - remember the wacky Idaho weather? Well, it was like that again but we had a pretty nice result this time.

You cannot tell from the photo but it was a full rainbow - lovely.

First, Nina over at Juggling Mama here are some photos of your purses/bags. All are reversible so you are actually getting six bags instead of three. They turned out pretty good.

On the left - the tiny bag is intended to hold the larger bag. On the right - a little purse

Secondly, here are a couple pairs of capri pants I made for T Rex. A friend suggested this will help preventing some of the skinned knees he'll likely get this summer playing outside.

Lastly, I finished my cherry apron - it turned out pretty cute - especially with the red thread stitching.

Left - front / Right - back

I will be making another one of these aprons for the winner of May's giveaway. Rules are the same - one entry counted per comment per posting per blog (T Rex Mom Tales or T Rex Tales). Entries are doubled for followers. May's giveaway will run through May 29th.

Good luck and keep those comments coming - we love hearing from you!