Wordless Wednesday

I love this picture. I have no idea why Adelae looks so disgusted. I love the fact that Brinna's looking at her like she's a crazy lunatic. heehee.....

For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom.

I'm here...

...sort of... I've learned that there are some companies overseas stealing people's images off of blogs and using them for advertisement. So, I'm trying to figure out how to watermark my pictures before I post anymore.
There have also been some issues of other bloggers stealing posts, so I'm also working on getting my blog copywrighted.
I'm hoping to get all that stuff figured out today or tomorrow. I have a lot of great pictures to post from our camping extravaganza, not to mention a few stories to share.

Coversation with Adelae

I know how you all love Adelae's witty remarks. Here's a few new ones

Me "Adelae I love you a thousand times!"

Adelae "I love you and Daddy and Brinna a thousand times too!"

Me "Aww..that's so nice!"

Adelae "But I love myself a million times."

I was making Hamburger Helper the other night for dinner (I know, I know..totally unhealthy) and I let Adelae pick which one.

Me to Ben "Adelae picked our dinner tonight."

Ben to Adelae "What did you pick?"

Adelae to Ben "My nose?!"


I know all parents have had that moment when your kid says something embarrassing in a public place. I was at the chiropractor paying my co-pay and Adelae was scratching her behind.
I leaned down and whispered "Honey, we don't scratch our butts in public. It's icky."

Adelae replies with "But Mommy, it itches very badly. I think I have bugs!"

Letters of Intent

Dear Mr & Mrs G;
I wrote this post to you awhile ago when you were calling our previous dog over to your house. Now I'm writing it again.
I have been very patient with you, Mr. & Mrs. G, in regards to my animals. I've asked you nicely. I've pleaded. I've begged. Well, no more Mrs. Nice Shaun. Nope!
I let it go when I saw that you had MY dog in YOUR dog kennel. I politely asked you not to do it again. I bit my tongue so hard I thought I was going to bite it in half. I put on my kind neighborly face and simply said "Please call me next time." You got a little huffy with me, Mrs. G, but I let it go.
Flash forward a few weeks. I was out in the garden (which you can't see from your house) and I HEARD you call my dog over to your yard. I peeked around my shed. I saw you in your front yard, hands cupped around your mouth and I heard you shout "Vinnie! Come here boy!" I nearly lost my marbles right then and there. I grabbed the dog's leash and hightailed it over to your house. You were feeding my dog treats. I saw you with my own two eyes. I once again explained that you were NOT to call my dog over to your house. Your response, Mrs. G, was to say "It's not MY fault he comes over here." (Which is EXACTLY what you said LAST time with our OTHER dog that you were CALLING over to your house.) My response was "Well, Mrs. G, I was out in my garden and I heard you call his name." Your response was "No, I was asking Mr. G if he had seen Vinnie lately." Ooooookkkkkkaaaayyyyy..... I once again said "Mrs. G, we're trying to teach Vinnie his boundaries. If you play with him when he comes over, it's reinforcing negative behavior. You are more than welcome to come over and play with Vinnie anytime you want. In fact, I'm sure he'd love to play with you in his own yard with his toys." Your snotty response, Mrs G, "We're not going to NOT play with him if he comes over. We just love that dog." Oooooooookkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy again. So, I asked you, Mrs. G if you would like to keep Vinnie for your very own. You see, I would rather you keep him then have him get hit on the road. Your response, once again in a very snotty tone was "No, we're too old for dogs. They're too much work." Ummm...yeah..I was kind of speechless. Well, not really. I had a lot of things to say, but in the interest of respect (which I seem to have, even though you don't) I bit my tongue even harder. I looked you straight in the eye, Mrs. G and I said "If we can't teach Vinnie to stay in the yard, he's going to have to go back to the pound. I won't have him getting killed because you keep reinforcing his bad behavior." Your response, Mrs. G was something like "You should have trained your dog better."
Now, let me ask you something, Mr. & Mrs. G. How am I suppose to train my dog if you keep calling him across the road? How am I suppose to teach him to respond to his name and the command "come" if that's the technique you use to get him into your yard? How?
This situation has a very simple ending. Stop calling my dog across the road. Walk over to my yard if you want to play with him.

Sincerely,
Your fed up neighbor

I guess I'm "acceptable"

I belong to several mommy internet websites. In one particular forum and opinion was posted that really threw me for a loop. A woman stated that she only has one child and only ever wanted one child. I don't have a problem with that. I think if you want one child great, if you want fifteen children, also great. It doesn't really affect me either way. As I read more of her post I was absolutely appalled. She stated that she believes that one child is perfect, two children are "acceptable" and three or more "i just don't see the reason for it." Wow! was all I could say. She also went on to state that "i always try to assume accidents, when i see large families." I can't even begin to process that. How can some one, especially a mother, think that way? How can this woman feel sorry for people with more than one child? If that wasn't bad enough she had this to say "it seems self indulgent and selfish to me. who are you helping? your kids, by dividing your time amongst them? your husband who sees you less and less with each child? the community in general? your friends, because now you can "keep up"? i don't get it. and i'm not asking to." Umm...what? Seriously? You should all know by now that I'm very rarely speechless. This truly has me speechless. I can't even begin to wrap my mind around how someone could think this way! Each and every child is a blessing, accident or planned, 1st or 10th.
Isn't this some sort of bigotry? I mean she is clearly against people with more than what she considers the "acceptable" amount of children. She clearly stated that she has no desire to learn more about larger families. How is that any different from people that are so entrenched in race hate that they refuse to speak with a person of a different nationality. How is it different from people that refuse to speak to homosexuals? How? In my opinion, it's not. I feel sad that she's going to pass this sort of judgmental attitude onto her son. I keep going back to her post and re-reading trying to find something that makes it less appalling, so far it just gets worse and worse. I just sit here shaking my head.
So, what do you think? Is it ok to have more than one child? Ten children?

Dying to Camp!!

Some of my most vivid memories from my childhood are from our various camping trips. We always camped several times a year. My uncle and aunt (that raised me) owned a cannery and they would always shut down for a week in July. We always went camping that week. When I was young we always went to Hocking Hills with our neighbors, whose son happened to be my very best friend. We would hike and hike and hike some more. As I got older, we would go to different state parks across Ohio and Indiana. I remember canoeing, horse back riding, and one time we even went spelunking. For the last year I've been obsessed with camping. I want to go SO bad! I want my kids to experience the great outdoors. We had great plans to go camping last summer, but I decided tent camping while 9 months pregnant might not be such a good idea. So, we never got around to it. This year we WILL camp. I WILL be done! Probably not for a week, but we will go!
On Memorial Day weekend I convinced Ben to get the tent out and set it up in the backyard. He thought I was a bit loony, but he did it anyway. We set up our "campsite" and campfire. We cooked hot dogs and s'mores. I was really worried that Adelae wouldn't sleep in the tent. At 9:00 she looked at Ben and said "Daddy, it's dark now. Can I sleep in the tent?" She crawled into her little sleeping bag and fell right asleep.
Sadly, Brinna was sick, so she and I had to sleep in the house. It rained a little bit and I didn't think the damp night air would be good for her. But, we're still counting our first little camp out a success!