I heart spring

All of these are growing in my grandparents’ backyard. It’s quite a feast for the eyes!

xo

nessa dee

IF: Ahead

It’s been quite a while since I’ve participated in IF. I’m not quite done with this guy, but I thought I’d get him up before I miss another week.

xo

nessa dee

New Shoes

After posting all of the pictures of my feet a while back, I realized that my shoe collection, or rather, my collection of mostly tennis shoes, could use a little makeover. So I’ve been on the lookout for some cute summer shoes that will look better than my usual attire when I happen to take pictures of my feet.

Well, several weeks ago, when I was out and about looking for my Marion Ravenwood costume, I happened upon a very summery pair of bright yellow wedges [maybe?] and on impulse, I bought them. I’m not sure why though because yellow is not one of my colors, and I do not own a single piece of yellow clothing, and therefore have not worn the shoes yet. But I couldn’t just let them sit in the closet in all of their cuteness, unappreciated by anyone else, so I took them out today and decided to paint them; not the shoes themselves…but a picture of the shoes.

Until I can wear them, I’ll have a constant reminder of what’s waiting for me in my closet.

xo

nessa dee

Catch & Release

My daughter, who’s completely grossed out by things such as tomato sauce on pizza and fried okra, is not adverse to picking up any creepy crawly that comes along. She almost sheds a tear anytime I squish a spider. [Mind you, I don’t squish any spiders that I know are nice, or any spiders that are larger than a thumbtack because the squishiness would be too much for me to handle] She questions why we eat meat, so I’m almost positive vegetarianism is in her future. The girl once found a garden snake in my mom’s backyard, lured it into a bucket and wanted to keep it as a pet. I don’t know where she gets this extreme love for ALL of God’s creatures, but it’s definitely not from me. We didn’t keep the snake.

Since we’ve moved in with my mom and grandparents, snail hunting has become the thing to do. The snails have been devouring my grandpa’s broccoli and many a snail has fallen victim to the bottom of my grandpa’s boot. Not good when you have a mollusk lover around. So, in order to appease the masses, Audrie and Finn were sent on a mission to find and capture as many snails as they could, and release them far away from the garden [in the front yard]. This is the result:

48 snails saved from the boot. Well, actually 49. We found a straggler who had hidden on the edge of the back porch table on which they were kept until their release.

Audrie has no qualms letting slimy snails slowly slide up and down her arms.

After we watched the curious creatures [and after I took a billion pictures of the things] the time came to release them into the wild.

I’m pretty sure they’ve made it back to the garden by now. But, as long as Audrie’s here, we won’t be having escargot for dinner.

xo

nessa dee

Lasts

The last thing in our freezer before we pulled the plug:

Our last meal in the dining room:

My last threat to make someone sit in “that” corner:

[Okay, that might not be accurate. I’m not sure what we were doing, but I do have that “Do you want to sit in timeout?” look on my face.]

The last of our furniture being loaded onto the truck:

We had a good 7 years in our first home; lots of laughter and some tears, a lot of joy and some pain, many firsts and some lasts; all memories that we’ll hold onto for a lifetime.

Goodbye old friend. We sure will miss you.

xo

Jonathan, Nessa, Audrie, Finn and Trixie

My life at the moment…

Pretty much every room in my house looks like this. I’m not a fan of living amongst chaos and mess. It stresses me out , and I get irritable. However, if I can see an end in mind, it helps me to keep calm and carry on. Wednesday night marks the end of this chaos, and the beginning of a different kind of chaos: 5 adults and 2 kids living together in a small, 3 bedroom house 30 minutes away from J’s work, my church, and A’s extracurricular activities. But if all goes as planned, we’ll be out in three weeks, long before we have the opportunity to really get on each others’ nerves.

I’m actually looking forward to the short time we’ll be living with my mom and grandparents. The last few visits we’ve been watching the ongoing saga of Wendy and Wesley, a woodpecker couple building their home.

We’ve also enjoyed watching my grandparents’ beautiful garden flourish and have enjoyed several of the spoils. Every time we’re there, life seems to slow down, and instead of frantically hurrying from one activity to another, we enjoy simpler pleasures like sitting on the front porch listening to the birds sing while we talk.

So, yes, I’d say I’m looking forward to relaxing for a few weeks before the craziness begins again.

xo

nessa dee

Finnanigans

Finn as a monster on his birthday:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mom, you make things taste good!

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While on the toilet: Mom, I’m just going to sit here a while and think.

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Finn: Mom, can I tell you something?

Me: Sure, Finn, what is it?

Finn: I want to ride on my airplane that’s up on my ceiling, but I have to be little, tiny, tiny.

Me: Yeah, you’re too big to ride on that airplane.

Finn: But when I’m growed up, I’ll be big like this [reaching for the airplane] I can get my airplane and I can magic myself little and climb in the airplane with the spiders.

Me: Spiders! Maybe you can magic the spiders away.

Finn: Yeah, I can magic kill the spiders away.

Me: But what if they’re nice spiders like Charlotte, and they tell you salutations, which means greetings, or hello.

Finn: Yeah, Charlotte said, “Greetings!”

Me: No, she said, “Salutations!”

Finn: Yeah, and Wilbur said, “What does salutations mean?”

Me: That’s right. Now go to sleep.

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Finn at Audrie’s soccer game with his new work boots and rake:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Me: We have to wait until PaPa gets over his stomach bug before we can go visit him.

Finn: Did PaPa eat a bug?

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While washing his hands: Only I can reach my flaucets and you can reach your flaucets.

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Finn: Mom, you know what I’m doin’?

Me: No, what?

Finn: Sewin’.

Me: Oh.

Finn: Would you like to see the hanger I sewed? And a mustache?

[He found a bunch of pipe cleaners]

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Finn with a bucket full of weeds: Mom, do you want to come help me plant some food?

Me: Sure, what kind of food?

Finn: Good food.

Me: What kind of good food?

Finn: Potatoes, French fries, mashed potatoes, pears, and curly fries.

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Finn on jokes:

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Robot.

Robot who?

A robot eats pizza and it talks and it says…awkward.

*********************************************************************

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Banana.

Banana who?

[tipping an imaginary hat] Good day.

**********************************************************************

Finn telling his Nonna a variety of knock knock jokes ending in “Good day.”

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Finn on the toilet talking into a bar of soap:

Hello?

Yeah, yeah.

I’m on the toilet.

Yeah.

Bye.

[ring, ring]

Heeeelllllooooooo?

Alllllllrrrriiiggghhhttt.

Yeeeeeeeeessssssss.

Byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee.

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Finn: Mom, can I wear my Easter outfit?

Me: No.

Finn: Pllleeeeeaaaasssseee

Me: You can wear it on Monday when we take pictures.

Finn: Then can I wear it at MiMi’s for Easter?

Me: Yes.

Finn: Then I will look cute, like the president.

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Finn, taking an oat off of his oatmeal bread: I’m going to plant this seed and grow a bread tree.

Audrie: You can’t grow a bread tree! You have to use flour and water to make bread.

Finn: Okay, I’ll plant this seed with flour and water and grow a bread tree.

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Finn: Mom, I love you.

Me: I love you, too.

Finn: Mom, let’s be friends.

Me: Okay, I’d like that.

xo

nessa dee

Capitol 10K

On Sunday Jonathan and I ran the Capitol 10K here in Austin along with a few friends. It was a reunion of sorts as we did so 5 years ago. The thing about the Capitol 10K that makes it so much fun is that no one blinks an eye if you dress up in costumes. In fact, it’s welcomed. Five years ago we all dressed up in Superman shirts and wore capes, while our friend Dan was a chicken.

I had never had so much fun running 6 miles. People cheered us on, bands played music on the side of the roads, there was no pressure to run for time, and our friend, “Dan the Chicken Man” made the radio and the paper. Since then, we always said that we would run it again, but as it happens, life gets in the way, people move, and we missed the race each year. Well, thanks to our good friend Abby, who got the gang back together, we once again ran the 10K. This year, though, we had to go all out with our costumes. Our first idea was to run as all things slow, a turtle, a sloth, a snail, snail mail, and dial-up internet since none of us trained for the race. But, in the end, we decided to go as the Indiana Jones trilogy [the 4th movie doesn’t exist in our minds]. Jonathan and I were Raiders of the Lost Ark, Erik and Abby were Temple of Doom, and Dan was The Last Crusade.

It was misting and muggy the whole race. We were soaked with sweat; some of us were carrying props; Dan sported a leather jacket for half of the race; none of us had run 6 miles since 2005. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Of the 20,000 people in the race, it seemed that only about 2% dressed up. The whole race we had an identity for people to cheer us on. We kept hearing people shout “Go Indiana!” and “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” or people singing the theme music to keep us going. Several runners cleverly commented the they were “Keeping up with the Joneses.” We took pictures with quite a few folks and even made the news as one of the “crowd favorites.” It was our 15 minutes, or more like 1 hour and 15 minutes of fame. More than that, it felt like the reigniting of a tradition we hope to keep for years to come.

Plus, I can’t tell you how fun and awkward and freeing it is to run in some totally ridiculous costume. I think I might have to dress up for every race I attempt.

xo

nessa dee

Four

Finn officially left the world of toddlers today and has joined with the ranks of preschoolers. Everyone tells you when you become a parent that it goes by quickly, but I really think that time sped up for this one. I can’t believe that he’s four already; that my baby’s not a baby anymore; that my toddler’s not a toddler anymore; that these little toes…

have become these big feet…

that these tiny hands…

now fill our own…

that this sweet face…

has become this beautiful, messy-haired boy…

that at once your sister looked like a giant next to you…

and now, not so much…

It seemed like only yesterday when I first met you…

And now, you’re four…

Happy birthday, my dear, sweet, silly boy.

I love you.

mom