The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 8

[bear74]

Terry - that was an extremely thorough post!! You should check your work mail this week -

Steve has always told me that Julia is a mini me and she has spent her weekend proving it!!

Yesterday we were falling asleep and I told her we needed end of the year gifts for her teachers - and she says to me

"how about if we go buy little blocks and make them into a key chain that says LECC" - her building has a huge set of building blocks like this in front of it so she wants to make them a mini one

I was very proud of her creativity - so we went to michaels to get the blocks and I said - what if we make them a tote bag too - and so we went to pick them out and she says no- let's make them aprons for when we do crafts!
I thought she has awesome ideas for being so young - and we are doing both

then as she was going to bed - she asked how I knew which cup she wanted her drink in - and I said cause if I were you that's what I would have chosen - she started giggling and said "Mommy - we are so much alike they should have called you Julia!!!"

People always tell me I am just like my mom and I always thought that was a huge compliment - but now I know that the best compliment is when they tell me Julia is just like me!!!

Love the gift ides. Man is her Mommy's DD

 

[bear74]

All of a sudden after taking care of sick kids all week, I don't feel well. So I probably will be off til Tues.
and for everyone.
Congratulations to Kyle.
Everyone have a great Memorial day.

Feel better soon.

 

[bear74]

Thought I would show you pictures of "Barbie World" since it is so slow today. When the girls were little, I got tired of Barbies everywhere in my house. I talked Chuck into helping me build a half wall 12x12 area with shelves on the walls in the basement and we named it "Barbie World". Barbies and accessories were only allowed in this area. The girls set up different rooms on the shelves and spent many happy hours playing with Barbie & friends. A few years ago when they had stopped playing with them, we wanted to reclaim that area of the basement. The girls absolutely, positively would not let me box them up. We have a small area in the corner of the basement which will some day (maybe) be Chuck's sauna (plumbing is set) but until then it was just an empty space. So, Barbie World was moved there. Here is a sampling of the "rooms" in Barbie World. The American Girls have also moved out of the girls rooms and now share Barbie World (including their couches, beds, etc.). Mind you, this is maybe 1/3 of the whole area that is setup.

I would love to have had an area to set up my barbies like that. of course I did not have near as much stuff as that.

 

[bear74]

Since Phil finally got our camera uploaded (the computer is in his office and I rarely get a chance to get in there)...here's a few pics...

How can we even doubt that it's a good idea to move to St. Louis after these pics with Terra and her cousins. Kassie is almost exactly a year older than Terra and Connor will be 2yo in July.

And this one was just too cute of Connor...

They are cute. When are you moving?

 

[bear74]

Hi DDA! I'm back from our camping weekend. Thanks for keeping it down. It only took me about two hours to catch up. We got to our campsite at around 6:30 p.m. on Friday. When they said rustic cabins, they really meant rustic! Ours was complete with spiders and small holes in the walls and floor. We swept out the spiders, set everything up, and it was quite cozy. However, there were boulders everywhere! At the bottom of the stairs leading into the cabin, there was a huge rock that you couldn't move. It was really fun getting up and down that last step. Then on Saturday evening, we noticed hundreds of carpenter ants on the ceiling (wooden ceiling, peaked, with rafters). We went and told the ranger, and he thought we meant just a few ants, so he came with Raid. When he walked in, he went, whoaa!! you really do have ants. He was going to try to move us, but there were no cabins left. He sprayed with the Raid and some other stuff underneath the cabin, and then the ants were dropping like - well, like ants from the ceiling! We swept them all out and didn't have any more problems. We managed to laugh it off and had a good time, anyway. I actually managed to finish the book I was reading before we left and another one (Mary Higgins Clark's "Two Little Girls in Blue"). It was a page-turner like her others. We packed up and left this morning at around 11:00 a.m. When we got near the Friendly's near home, we decided to stop for ice cream. When we came out, Melanie's car wouldn't start. Since I had the perishables in my car, I came on home with two of the girls (granddaughter and friend) and Melanie called a friend to come and try to start her car. It was some sort of loose wire and he got it going. She then came here, moved the stuff that needed to go back to my storage unit into my car and took it all over. Then she came back and picked up the girls and went home. I took a shower, put on pjs, and relaxed here. Even with the few mishaps, it was a good weekend. The weather was great - no rain at all.

Glad you had a good time, inspite of the critter problems.

 

[bear74]

And here are some highlights from our weekend...

On Saturday, Terra was playing Super Hero most of the day and was thrilled when I thought of making her a mask.

Then yesterday she loved the butterfly garden at the Museum of Science. We spent half an hour with Terra wanting to identify all of the butterflies with the guide.

This is her "Tinkerbell-holding" pose...she decided that like she was holding Tink was the best way to try to be still so one might land on her (several had been fluttering around her for a long time).

And finally...Terra's first crush...Lucky Bob - street performer extrordinare getting ready for his grand finale (spinning a plate on a stick in his mouth and juggling three clubs while standing on the board/tube/box here). We have to watch his show almost every weekend and she got so shy when talking to him yesterday. It was just too cute! One day a few weeks ago when she gave him his tip she told him, "You're my favorite juggler."

adorable pictures

 

[bear74]

I am back and sick. summer school starts tomorrow and i am a jittery bunch. i have no clue why. not nervous at all just jittery to the point of it being hard to do stuff. havent been sleeping well the past 3 weeks either. oh well. hope everyone is fine.

Karen I hope you get some sleep soon.

 

[bear74]

hope you all enjoyed your day!!!

My friend came over and we lounged in the pool from about 1130-430, it was great! My other friend came over with his daughter too,,shes getting so big! almost 6 months old--we saw her roll over too, which she just started to do!

Tomorrow, i have a CT scan and then work for a bit..nothing too exciting!

Jennifer good luck with the CT

 

[bear74]

It looks like one landed to me!

too cute Kate

 

[bear74]

Hi, everybody!

Long time, no talk. I hope everyone had good holidays! Mine was the definition of hectic with a company picnic, but it's over for yet another year - thank goodness! This time next week, I will be sitting on a beach thousands of miles away - with Mickey Andy Mouse by my side! As I told Vicki in a PM earlier tonight, I hope to do some catching up while I'm on vacation (my time is just not my own right now - I have missed all of you a ton!), and will try to give Andy some good, relaxing fun - and maybe a pina colada or two. Has everyone been just posting pics of PM's adventures in the main thread, or have separate threads been started?

I've got to get to bed with another long day ahead of me, but I hope everyone is well. Know that I think of each of you, and pray for you, daily.

enjoy Hawaii.

 

[PNO4TE]

Hi, everybody!

Hi, Lindsay! Glad you are getting to go on your trip. I hope it is as relaxing for you as you deserve!

 

[bethbuchall]

Hi, everyone! We're back. We had a very nice (though too short) weekend trip to my parents' house. We didn't do anything special, but it was terrific and relaxing. They have an inground pool which they opened last weekend. My dad spent unreasonable sums of money to heat it for us, so we spent most of the weekend in the pool. The hot weather was perfect for us, but now that we are home without a pool, dh is ready for the cool weather that is coming.

June--glad that you had a great time camping despite the ants and the Raid. I'm afraid that I may have packed it in there and headed for the nearest Holiday Inn! Thanks for reminding me that I wanted to put that Mary Higgins Clark book on hold at the library. I saw it when it first came out but forgot to put it on hold.

Tia--I love the photos of Terra and her cousins (and Kate, I love the little addition that you did. You have such a knack of making things look natural.) It was great to see a photo of you again...I also fall into the trap of thinking you are the Aurora in your signature.

Denise--I hope that everything is looking up for you!

I know that I missed people, since I just skimmed quickly and didn't take any notes. So here are and for anyone that needs it.

Beth

 

[yellowfish78]

Morning DDA! Just stopping in to say hello before work! The tops of my legs are stiff, thanks to the sunburn, and should make for an interesting day at work...I'll have to raise my work chair to make sure I don't cross the legs at all!
I hope everyone has a wonderful 4 day work week (for those that work) and that it'll cool off some (for those that don't so you can enjoy the outside)!

 

[marcij]

Hi, everybody!

Long time, no talk. I hope everyone had good holidays! Mine was the definition of hectic with a company picnic, but it's over for yet another year - thank goodness! This time next week, I will be sitting on a beach thousands of miles away - with Mickey Andy Mouse by my side! As I told Vicki in a PM earlier tonight, I hope to do some catching up while I'm on vacation (my time is just not my own right now - I have missed all of you a ton!), and will try to give Andy some good, relaxing fun - and maybe a pina colada or two. Has everyone been just posting pics of PM's adventures in the main thread, or have separate threads been started?

I've got to get to bed with another long day ahead of me, but I hope everyone is well. Know that I think of each of you, and pray for you, daily.

Lindsay -- thanks for checking in. I hope you have a fabulous vacation!

 

[marcij]

Hi, Chanon. My skin is ultra sun sensitive, and I always feel sick when I have sunburns, so I have to be particularly careful when outside.

I hope your legs feel better ASAP!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

Morning everyone!
just stopping in to say hi before its time to leave! going to be another hot one here today 92 degrees!
have a great day!

 

[UP Disney]

I'm off to an employee appreciation put on by the Governor (I work for the State of Michigan). You can tell it is an election year - she has scheduled an appreciation in the U.P. this year. My staff and I are all going to take advantage of the free goodies.

Hope everyone has a good day!

 

[lmartin2711]

Morning everyone!
just stopping in to say hi before its time to leave! going to be another hot one here today 92 degrees!
have a great day!

It is going to be a hot one here today.....95 degrees!!!! My DS has ........ strength, speed & agility..........training today from 10:30 - 12:30 at the high school. I fixed him one frozen gatorade and one regular gatorade. Plus they have water there at the camp. After swim team practice this morning I told him to sit back and relax for about an hour and drink lots of water to hydrate himself. I know my DH will keep an eye on him but it will be a hot training. A few of the boys from swim team are doing the training plus just about everyone he knows from football.

Oh well..........I need to get get started here at work. I will check with ya'll later.

Lynn

 

[tmfranlk]

It looks like one landed to me!

Thanks, Kate! It looks so sweet. I can't wait to show it to her though I have to quit crying first.

 

[tmfranlk]

Hi, everybody!

Long time, no talk. I hope everyone had good holidays! Mine was the definition of hectic with a company picnic, but it's over for yet another year - thank goodness! This time next week, I will be sitting on a beach thousands of miles away - with Mickey Andy Mouse by my side! As I told Vicki in a PM earlier tonight, I hope to do some catching up while I'm on vacation (my time is just not my own right now - I have missed all of you a ton!), and will try to give Andy some good, relaxing fun - and maybe a pina colada or two. Has everyone been just posting pics of PM's adventures in the main thread, or have separate threads been started?

I've got to get to bed with another long day ahead of me, but I hope everyone is well. Know that I think of each of you, and pray for you, daily.

Good to see you, Lindsay! I am so glad to hear that you will still get to join your family in Hawaii. It will be a much needed and well-deserved break, I know. Take care of yourself and we look forward to seeing you some more when you are able to reclaim some of your time.