Wyatt saying Goodbye!
One last popsicle with the cousins!
Goodbye Binghams!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Til November
Earlier today my brother Chris and his family left for Tennessee. After infinity years in school, school, school, more school and residency, my brother is finally done and ready to begin life as real-life, actual doctor. They bought a great house with room for guests, so hopefully Thanksgiving will be coming to you live from Columbia, TN. Okay, maybe not live, but at least with a short tape delay :) Since we learned they were moving I had seriously only been focusing on how fun all this is going to be for them that I kinda forgot to be sad for myself. I came home after saying goodbye and had a small breakdown for a moment realizing I was the only sibling left here in Florida :( I am really going to miss them. However, as I said to Molly, in a world with Facebook and Skype no one ever really goes away. No, seriously, even if you try, you can't get rid of people. Anyways, we love you guys! Drive safe!
Wyatt saying Goodbye!
One last popsicle with the cousins!
Goodbye Binghams!
Wyatt saying Goodbye! One last popsicle with the cousins! Goodbye Binghams!
Monday, June 27, 2011
A Luke Quickie
Overheard today....
Luke: "Cindy, when you hear the beep it means don't tease me. BEEP!"
Luke: "Cindy, when you hear the beep it means don't tease me. BEEP!"
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Updates
My mom had round 3 of chemo on Thursday. She didn't want to go (wait, who does?) but I went with her and she is such a trooper. There is a lot of needles and lab work involved and I think she really handles it all super well. She even let me make her play Mad Libs with me :) AND the lady that passes out free cookies came by right after we got there. So mom gave me her cookie and I got to have two. Even in her suffering, she is still selfless :) She went to work Friday, did a few errands this morning but was feeling pretty lousy by this afternoon :( Chemo sucks! I was telling someone today it's like knowing you are going to get the flu really bad for an entire week, every three weeks for four months. YUCK! I say we forget the electric chair or firing squad and just replace it with non-voluntary, unending chemotherapy treatments. There's your torture! But, she always pushes through it and by a week from Monday she should be functional again. We love you, Mom! Hang in there!
Cindy's soccer game today was great! She scored a goal in the first two minutes and actually all the kids on her team seemed to be firing on all cylinders. It really was a fun game to watch. SHAMELESS PLUG: I cannot tell you how amazed I am at how much better Cindy is at soccer now, than she was last fall. It is like night and day. She kicks correctly and beautifully, she does throw-ins as they are meant to be done, she can correctly trap and turn the ball- it was seriously blowing my mind today as I watched her play. And the difference has been one-on-one soccer training with her dad. Jacob had been training with her for an hour a week for the past few months. It's like magic! I think all of us as parents sign our kids up for rec soccer or other sports and just hope they are good. We have a "either they have it or they don't" mentality concerning their quality of play. After last season I would have said Cindy probably didn't really "have it." Now I am thinking, Holy smokes! She could be GOOD! So it is much like assuming your kids will naturally just know how to make a bed or fold a shirt- they don't. But they just need someone to show them, one-on-one, how to do things correctly. Then they practice and become good at it. MORAL OF THE STORY: Teach your kids to make their beds and they will be good at soccer.
I finally did something about my white rabbit guilt, and constructed a very white trash rabbit run for Rosa on our back patio. It's ugly, but it does the job, and Cindy seems to be (at least momentarily) interested in Rosa again. And Rosa seems to enjoy running around and not being trapped like veal in her hutch all day. (She may be food storage, but I still have a heart.) We now release her for short periods of time to let her exercise and be outdoors. Seriously, I feel much better about myself as a human being for having freed her. Take a look...
This is also a nice shot of Cindy's new grin :)
And finally, I just finished watching the USA v. Mexico Gold Cup Championship soccer game. Sigh....
Cindy's soccer game today was great! She scored a goal in the first two minutes and actually all the kids on her team seemed to be firing on all cylinders. It really was a fun game to watch. SHAMELESS PLUG: I cannot tell you how amazed I am at how much better Cindy is at soccer now, than she was last fall. It is like night and day. She kicks correctly and beautifully, she does throw-ins as they are meant to be done, she can correctly trap and turn the ball- it was seriously blowing my mind today as I watched her play. And the difference has been one-on-one soccer training with her dad. Jacob had been training with her for an hour a week for the past few months. It's like magic! I think all of us as parents sign our kids up for rec soccer or other sports and just hope they are good. We have a "either they have it or they don't" mentality concerning their quality of play. After last season I would have said Cindy probably didn't really "have it." Now I am thinking, Holy smokes! She could be GOOD! So it is much like assuming your kids will naturally just know how to make a bed or fold a shirt- they don't. But they just need someone to show them, one-on-one, how to do things correctly. Then they practice and become good at it. MORAL OF THE STORY: Teach your kids to make their beds and they will be good at soccer.
I finally did something about my white rabbit guilt, and constructed a very white trash rabbit run for Rosa on our back patio. It's ugly, but it does the job, and Cindy seems to be (at least momentarily) interested in Rosa again. And Rosa seems to enjoy running around and not being trapped like veal in her hutch all day. (She may be food storage, but I still have a heart.) We now release her for short periods of time to let her exercise and be outdoors. Seriously, I feel much better about myself as a human being for having freed her. Take a look...
This is also a nice shot of Cindy's new grin :)And finally, I just finished watching the USA v. Mexico Gold Cup Championship soccer game. Sigh....
Friday, June 24, 2011
A Cindy Quickie
Today while we were swimming, I decided to try a new game with Cindy and it was called "I will say something underwater and you try to tell me what it was." For the first try I decided to use a phrase that was fairly common, so I went underwater and enunciated, "Mary had a little lamb" as best as I could. She obviously had no clue what I said because her guess was "The Scriptures are totally lame." The funniest part is, why would I say that??! Oh, Cindy. You kill me :)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A little bit of everything
Guess who is starting to open their eyes!!!!
If you don't think that is the cutest thing you ever saw, call your cardiologist immediately because you obviously do not have a heart.
Okay, so the sunflowers finally bloomed. While they are both no where near as tall as Cindy's skyscraper of a sunflower from last year, they are still pretty. Her tallest flower actually fell over and the squirells bit the head off of it (disgusting vermin!!!), so she had to use her second tallest flower against mine, which still blew my tiny flower out of the water. We are gonna buy more seeds and replant to see if I can redeem myself over the next few months. So the final score is Cindy: 1, Mom: Don't make me laugh! I mean, 0.
Cindy is playing soccer in a little rec league for 6 weeks at the church down the road from us. Jacob has actually been doing one-on-one soccer training sessions with her for an hour each Wednesday for the past 4 months. I have never gone with them, but he always tells me that she does really well, works hard and could have some talent with the ball. At this age, who knows, right? So anyways, we were hoping to see some of her new skills in action. In her second soccer game last Saturday she scored three goals! She was even subbed out half the game and was super anxious to get back into the action; soccer enthusiasm we have not yet seen from her! And I can honestly say as an unbiased observer that she really is the only one on the team that can consistently and very beautifully dribble the ball. And this is a co-ed league! I am super proud of her for sticking with it and giving it her all, despite the hideous weather. Playing in 90 degree temps with 80% humidity is no small feat. We tell her this is all about exercise anyway, so she definitely gets a workout. You go, girl!
Don't mess with the Ravens!
After each game they award patches to the kids so they can put them on their shirts. Game 1 she got this one: (Offense? Good Sportsmanship? Best Braids? I can't remember...)
Second game patch....Best earlobes? Fastest drink of water? I have no clue. Mom fail.
For Father's day we went to my mom's and had dinner with my parents and my brother Chris and his family. Those cousins are just so crazy when they get together!
And here is the first official published photo of my mom wearing her fuzzy head wrap thingy. Which we all agree looks mahvelous!! (And I also love this picture because of Luke's tiny wave to the camera :)
And check this out!
Cindy finally conceeded to letting her other top tooth fall out. That thing had been hanging on by a thread for about a week. And there wasn't hardly any trauma involved. Except for me forgetting to have the tooth fairy visit her. Ouch. The Mexico v. Honduras soccer game ran a little late, what can I say?
If you don't think that is the cutest thing you ever saw, call your cardiologist immediately because you obviously do not have a heart.
Okay, so the sunflowers finally bloomed. While they are both no where near as tall as Cindy's skyscraper of a sunflower from last year, they are still pretty. Her tallest flower actually fell over and the squirells bit the head off of it (disgusting vermin!!!), so she had to use her second tallest flower against mine, which still blew my tiny flower out of the water. We are gonna buy more seeds and replant to see if I can redeem myself over the next few months. So the final score is Cindy: 1, Mom: Don't make me laugh! I mean, 0.
Cindy is playing soccer in a little rec league for 6 weeks at the church down the road from us. Jacob has actually been doing one-on-one soccer training sessions with her for an hour each Wednesday for the past 4 months. I have never gone with them, but he always tells me that she does really well, works hard and could have some talent with the ball. At this age, who knows, right? So anyways, we were hoping to see some of her new skills in action. In her second soccer game last Saturday she scored three goals! She was even subbed out half the game and was super anxious to get back into the action; soccer enthusiasm we have not yet seen from her! And I can honestly say as an unbiased observer that she really is the only one on the team that can consistently and very beautifully dribble the ball. And this is a co-ed league! I am super proud of her for sticking with it and giving it her all, despite the hideous weather. Playing in 90 degree temps with 80% humidity is no small feat. We tell her this is all about exercise anyway, so she definitely gets a workout. You go, girl!
Don't mess with the Ravens!
After each game they award patches to the kids so they can put them on their shirts. Game 1 she got this one: (Offense? Good Sportsmanship? Best Braids? I can't remember...)
Second game patch....Best earlobes? Fastest drink of water? I have no clue. Mom fail.
For Father's day we went to my mom's and had dinner with my parents and my brother Chris and his family. Those cousins are just so crazy when they get together!
And here is the first official published photo of my mom wearing her fuzzy head wrap thingy. Which we all agree looks mahvelous!! (And I also love this picture because of Luke's tiny wave to the camera :)
And check this out!
Cindy finally conceeded to letting her other top tooth fall out. That thing had been hanging on by a thread for about a week. And there wasn't hardly any trauma involved. Except for me forgetting to have the tooth fairy visit her. Ouch. The Mexico v. Honduras soccer game ran a little late, what can I say?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Beach Blanket Blog
Seeing as how I only make it to the beach about once every six months, it was now time for another excursion. My brother Chris and his family move to Tennessee next week (I am sad just typing that :( so I joined them over at Ft. DeSoto beach yesterday for one last hurrah. We got there at four o'clock and stayed till about eight- which seems a little backwards as most people go early and stay till afternoon, but I have decided that that little window of time at the beach on a hot, clear day is my absolute mostest favoritist day trip destination/location ever in the entire universe. I love sunset at the beach. It was magnificent :)
And Cindy, this is what you get for hating to take pictures, a blog post all about Luke.
He actually wore his sunglasses for almost the entire time. Stylin'!
Wyatt just loves to observe Luke. And Luke just loves to act indifferent. 
Cindy did get to use Sadie's boogie board and try to surf. It wasn't exactly like Barbie and a Mermaid Tale...
I like this picture better, but the hair poof I got going on needs some major photoshopping. But this is just more proof that Cindy will smile for anyone but me, especially Uncle Chris :)
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Daddy-O
Happy Father's Day! Since I did a spotlight on five things my mom taught me for Mother's Day, it is now the turn of my dear old dad. Pa Kettle, this is for you!
There is obviously so much more than this, but these will start us off...
1. Air guitar is a true talent. If there is one thing I remember about my dad when I was about the ages of third grade to high school, it is him playing air guitar in the garage while doing yard work. My dad loves good guitar music. Classic rock stuff. Things like George Thoroughgood, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, you get the idea. Anytime my dad was outside doing yard work or general repair or maintenance tasks, he always had his CD player blasting and when a good riff came on, his rake or broom transformed into one rockin' air guitar. He ain't half bad at lip syncing either! I definitely get my love of music from him. Though my song downloading addiction is only about half as bad as his...
2. There are rules for yard work etiquette. I remember one time when I was younger when my dad was out mowing the front lawn and I thought he had gone just a bit too far over into the neighbor's territory. But he told me it is custom to mow one strip over into the neighbor's grass. Why? I don't remember, but for some reason that concept has always stuck with me.
3. The absolute best way to ask for a favor from anyone is to start it with these eight words: "I will give you a million dollars if..." It sounds so simple, but I have used this on everyone from the librarian to my waitress to Cindy's teacher and it always, always, ALWAYS gets a positive response. Try it, you will be stunned at how magical it is!
4. Eggs go with anything. We all know that my dad gave me my deep abiding love for breakfast, but more specifically, my dad taught me that just about anything goes on eggs. Salsa, hot sauce, canned mushrooms, pepperoni, banana peppers- pretty much anything you can think of is acceptable. Especially Parmesan cheese, which I believe is his favorite egg topping of all time. And I do love me some Parmesan cheese :)
5. When on vacation, the appropriate mantra is "You're on vacation, do whatever you want." My family has never taken any elaborate vacations together, but we always did take little getaways when I was younger. Mostly to the beach or to somewhere close by; and always staying in some little no name motel here and there. But while we never did anything outwardly grandiose on these trips, we always had amazingly fun times together. Partly because we are just fun people, :) but also because mom and mostly dad let us feel justified in any whims we might have. Cereal at midnight? Sure! Wearing ridiculous clothes that don't match at all? Absolutely! Sleeping in your clothes? Yup! Not eating any vegetables for 5 days? Certainly! Dad let us all feel like little Frank Sinatras on vacation- we got to do it our way.
Thanks Dad for all you do. I don't kid when I say that I have had many people over the years, when speaking of you, tell me, "You must have had the best childhood!" And I can honestly say I DID :)
There is obviously so much more than this, but these will start us off...
1. Air guitar is a true talent. If there is one thing I remember about my dad when I was about the ages of third grade to high school, it is him playing air guitar in the garage while doing yard work. My dad loves good guitar music. Classic rock stuff. Things like George Thoroughgood, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, you get the idea. Anytime my dad was outside doing yard work or general repair or maintenance tasks, he always had his CD player blasting and when a good riff came on, his rake or broom transformed into one rockin' air guitar. He ain't half bad at lip syncing either! I definitely get my love of music from him. Though my song downloading addiction is only about half as bad as his...
2. There are rules for yard work etiquette. I remember one time when I was younger when my dad was out mowing the front lawn and I thought he had gone just a bit too far over into the neighbor's territory. But he told me it is custom to mow one strip over into the neighbor's grass. Why? I don't remember, but for some reason that concept has always stuck with me.
3. The absolute best way to ask for a favor from anyone is to start it with these eight words: "I will give you a million dollars if..." It sounds so simple, but I have used this on everyone from the librarian to my waitress to Cindy's teacher and it always, always, ALWAYS gets a positive response. Try it, you will be stunned at how magical it is!
4. Eggs go with anything. We all know that my dad gave me my deep abiding love for breakfast, but more specifically, my dad taught me that just about anything goes on eggs. Salsa, hot sauce, canned mushrooms, pepperoni, banana peppers- pretty much anything you can think of is acceptable. Especially Parmesan cheese, which I believe is his favorite egg topping of all time. And I do love me some Parmesan cheese :)
5. When on vacation, the appropriate mantra is "You're on vacation, do whatever you want." My family has never taken any elaborate vacations together, but we always did take little getaways when I was younger. Mostly to the beach or to somewhere close by; and always staying in some little no name motel here and there. But while we never did anything outwardly grandiose on these trips, we always had amazingly fun times together. Partly because we are just fun people, :) but also because mom and mostly dad let us feel justified in any whims we might have. Cereal at midnight? Sure! Wearing ridiculous clothes that don't match at all? Absolutely! Sleeping in your clothes? Yup! Not eating any vegetables for 5 days? Certainly! Dad let us all feel like little Frank Sinatras on vacation- we got to do it our way.
Thanks Dad for all you do. I don't kid when I say that I have had many people over the years, when speaking of you, tell me, "You must have had the best childhood!" And I can honestly say I DID :)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
D'oh!
Why do I always find things like this just a little too late?
You might want to click on it to get a better look at the "Garbage Masher from Star Wars" cake. Spectacular! Luke, I can't wait for you to turn 5!
You might want to click on it to get a better look at the "Garbage Masher from Star Wars" cake. Spectacular! Luke, I can't wait for you to turn 5!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Ouch
It's just as I feared; only 4 people read my blog. Well, either that or you guys are all afraid to tell me what you really think of my sloth video. Or you are afraid to laugh at the video for fear of violent retaliation by the local chapter of Sloth Lovers of America. Yes, that MUST be it! So in an attempt to take away your fears, I have now posted my question as a poll on the sidebar. It is anonymous, so let your sloth loving voices be heard!
And now for something even more hilarious than a flying sloth (okay, yeah, right- we all know that doesn't exist- BUT): My children wearing grandma's wigs! I left the kids with my parents the other day and when I picked them up I got to see these pictures on my mom's camera.
These are just mulletacular, are they not? Their hair color is actually kind of a perfect match.
And this picture of Luke takes the cake for me because he looks like he just got back from Thing 1 and Thing 2's Beauty Parlor McBarlor...
And now for something even more hilarious than a flying sloth (okay, yeah, right- we all know that doesn't exist- BUT): My children wearing grandma's wigs! I left the kids with my parents the other day and when I picked them up I got to see these pictures on my mom's camera.
These are just mulletacular, are they not? Their hair color is actually kind of a perfect match.
And this picture of Luke takes the cake for me because he looks like he just got back from Thing 1 and Thing 2's Beauty Parlor McBarlor...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Please Help!!!
Please watch the following short youtube video and tell me whether or not it is hysterical:
I am awaiting all of your comments to settle the issue once and for all. Well, actually, the issue is already settled in my mind, but I am curious about everyone else's take on it...
I am awaiting all of your comments to settle the issue once and for all. Well, actually, the issue is already settled in my mind, but I am curious about everyone else's take on it...
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