Culture anyone?

Pissarro
Bergere rentrant des moutons

Renoir

Les Roses

Van Gogh

Portrait of Alexander Reid

I decided to take the kids to be exposed to a little fine art and culture today. What was I thinking HA HA. It was family day at the local art museum. It is a really nice museum with some very impressive paintings and sculpture. Priceless works by Degas, Van Gogh, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec. They are all here to be viewed and appreciated.

As soon as we got there Kay vomited sour milk all over both of us. It is a little hard to enjoy good art when you smell like bad cheese. We had to walk about 3 blocks from where we parked (and I forgot the stroller) so I guess the heat made her feel a little ill.

As soon as we walked in the door the security guards were all over us like a cloud of locusts. I talked with the kids before we went in about looking with eyes and not touching anything. They usually do really well. I think the security people made them nervous because pretty much as soon as we got there Cam started asking to leave even though he had been really excited to go.

So we took a quick tour of some of the main attractions then headed down to the class room for art activities. Cam wanted to paint. Kay wanted to scream. She painted for a moment then started crying and would not stop. I really didn't want to go back through the main art gallery with her screaming her head off so I tried to convince her to stop. I finally got her to calm down and we decided to get the heck outta Dodge. We found an elevator and cut out of the nearest exit.

Kay the artist

Cam the artist


On the long walk back to the car the wind picked up and blew Cam's art work out into the middle of the street. I grabbed the back of his collar to keep him from running after it and getting hit by the approaching car and he burst into tears. I told him I would get it but he had to stay on the sidewalk. So I am running after the paper while trying to hold the baby and the wind keeps blowing it further down the street. A very nice man saw my plight and said he would get it so I could go back to calm Cameron down. He chased it down the street caught it and returned it to us. What a nice man. Once Cam had his masterpiece back he was fine.

We made it back to the car in one piece and I was relieved to get back home. Maybe they will appreciate the art museum more when they are a little older. I know I appreciate it more when the people I attend with don't cry and vomit. Oddly enough I think they still had a fun time.

Collection of Mexican masks

Kay and Cam with Luis Jimenez Mesteño sculpture. It is a bit scary. At night the eyes glow red. We always joked that this sculpture was evil. Ironically it seems we were right as one like it fell on and killed the artist.
Something close to this was the last thing he saw. Very sad.

Luis Jiménez was killed on June 13, 2006, in his studio, when a large piece, a mustang intended for Denver International Airport, fell on him. The sculpture was based on the eight-foot-high sculpture Mesteño (Mustang), now on display at the University of Oklahoma.

Kay Rules

Cam and Kay with sculpture of Native American woman

Kay and Cam visit an old phone booth

Parties, Errands, Myspace, and Giant Boxes

Cam and a friend help each other out. (He needed more help than she did.)

Cam at the skating birthday party.

Another busy day. We ran around all day today. Errands and a birthday party for one of Cameron's classmates. We gave her a Signing Time DVD and CD of course.

I signed up for a myspace account yesterday and today I discovered I can cut/past my blogger blogs onto my myspace page. It moves the pictures and everything. Wow. I think I may be a card carrying member of the new millennium. Well, I probably need a Ipod and a cell phone with a camera to be official but hey, I am easing into this with baby steps.

We got Jeff's suit for the wedding and bought a dryer. Ours has been broken for a while (see this post http://specialsigningkids.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-thoughts-on-laundry.html). We were hoping to save up and get some other loans paid off before we bought a new one. I was really wanting to save for a new set of those fancy washer/dryers that can wash a ton and super fast.

We couldn't put it off any more though so we bought the cheapest dryer we could find. Our electric bill for last month was really high because of the dryer running so much more than it should. We are actually saving money in the long run to get something cheep for now and cut the electric bill.

Of course we all know there is nothing better in a kid's world then a giant empty box. So here are pics of the kiddos enjoying one of life's little pleasures.

Cam and Kay in the box.

Cam decided to sleep in the box. Sounds like fun to me.

It was really good for Kay to have a distraction. She has been teething and not feeling very good for a few days. She seems to get a little hostile when she is feeling unhappy. She screams at the slightest injustice. She is usually a very happy, calm baby so it is a bit strange to see. She was quite upset because we had to take away Daddy's MP3 player and PDA. She loves tech. She screamed and chased me with a pool cue. I love her anyway. We all feel like that sometimes.

Walk softly and carry a big stick. Kay and her weapon of choice - a pool cue.

I am baby hear me ROAR!

A sweeter moment.

crazy days and my new picture program

It has been kinda crazy the last few days.

On Thursday we had on the schedule my husband's MRI at 7 AM then had to get the kids to school. Cam had a field trip. I had volunteer time stuffing all the kids folders with parent notices. Then the baby had PT and another meeting to finalize her goals. I had a follow up doctor visit to check on my broken clavicle.

I am officially cleared to return to work on October 8th."Yeah" and "Rats". I need to be making some more money and I have missed the kids so it's good to go back. I will miss my own kids and am not looking forward to being so busy that I can't get anything done so it's not so good to go back. My sister is getting married on the 7th. Also my father in law is in the ICU at the moment. Hopefully he will be doing better by next week. I have a feeling it will be next to impossible to get any days off for the next 6 months or so.

The doctor said I am not any more likely to injure myself now than I was before the accident but I will probably continue to have pain during movement for the next 6-8 weeks until the new bone matures. Apparently I have a very large calcuim deposit over the fracture site. So when I move my arm some pieces of that break off. That is the loud popping I hear. YUCK!!

Another problem is that Jeff's schedule and mine now conflict. So when he gets cleared to return to work we will have a childcare gap. I go in at 2:45 but he doesn't get off til 5 so from 2:30 til 5:30 no one is available to watch Kay and Cam. I don't think it would be wise to let them fend for themselves for 3 hours.

Wednesday I was cleaning the house and finishing up feeding everyone and baking cookies. The baby, seeing that I was distracted, decided to color all over the walls of her brother's room with crayon then she spilled a drink all over the carpet. The good news is Cam's room is one that we haven't painted yet so not such a big deal. I will try the magic eraser and see if it comes off. Oh, I almost forgot she also got into the bathroom (someone left the door open) and emptied all the cabinets.

I finally got the little ones off to bed when we hear crashing from the garage. The giant opossum got in and is out there knocking everything over. How do you get a giant opossum out of your garage? Well, heck I don't know he is still out there.

We tried opening the door and scaring him out but I think he may have gone into the attic.

I am sure our neighbors think we are insane. My husband was standing out front with a big stick (in case it came at him) while I was inside the garage with a push broom smacking everything and making as much noise as possible.

I was trying to remember facts about opossums like are they good climbers and wondering how likely I was to have the rotten critter fall on top of my head. That's when I remembered they play dead when they are scared so making all this noise probably isn't accomplishing anything. At that point I gave up and came inside.

Having a bit of trouble sleeping because there is a GIANT OPOSSUM SOMEWHERE IN MY HOUSE. Next day we called animal control and they said they have live traps for catching them without hurting them. Problem is they are all out at the moment and apparently opossums are really smart and usually don't fall for it anyway. They suggested we play music for it. They don't like noise so this might drive it away.

Today is a little calmer. We went and saw Cam run for his school jog-a-thon. I am finished adding all the digital pictures to my photo program from the computer's hard drive. Now I just have to figure out how to recover the pictures that are on the broken computer, upload all the pictures that are actually on disks, and scan all the pre-digital pictures.

This could take years but I am going to focus on what I have accomplished. This is a really cool program. It takes a while to get everything labeled but once it is done I can find the picture I am looking for so quick and easy. Say I enter the word weird in the search engine. I get more creepy spider pictures and our neighbor mowing in a giant sombrero.

Weird spider.

Weird spider web.

Our neighbor in his special lawn mowing hat. I love this guy!

If I enter silly faces I get:

Kay silly face eating shoe.

Taylor silly face.

Cam silly face.

Kay silly face.

Cam silly potato head face.

Busted gets:

Kay busted writing on Cam's walls.

Kay busted "helping" empty the dishwasher.

Sleeping:

Kay sleeping on the trampoline.

Cam and Kay sleeping in Cam's bed.

Kay sleeping in highchair.


Cam sleeping sorta on the couch.

Wow! The possibilities are endless.

Taylor's thoughts on having a baby brother

Taylor always wanted a little brother. He kept asking us if he could have one. His wish finally came true when he was 9 on the last day of 2nd grade. In 4th grade his teacher asked the class to write a story about a subject they choose. This is what Taylor wrote:

Taylor
September 11, 2004

Cameron, My Baby Brother

Two years ago my baby brother Cameron was born on the last day of school. I had to miss Super Kids Day but it was worth it.

He likes to eat just about anything I eat, but if I don't like it he decides he doesn't either. One of the few things he eats that I don't is chocolate. Sometimes I "baby-sit" him while my parents are busy. If I do a good job I might get extra allowance for the week.

Cameron likes to play games. His favorite games are the ones he plays with me. We play pick up money, where I take my bank and fake sneeze the cap off so he can pick up all the money that falls out and put it back in. Jumping on the trampoline is fun. Cameron calls it "jump jump". Cameron likes to play rhinocerous, where I act like a rhino and charge at him. He jumps out of the way and I crash into the wall and make him laugh. We also play battling bubbas, where we duke it out with fists, feet, teeth, head butts, and hair-pulling (Cameron's arsenal) and soft hits, tickles, raspberries, and pillows (my things).

Cameron likes to watch movies. He likes The Peanuts and Baby Einstein series a lot and enjoys flash movies on the computer. He gets his frighteningly good signing skills from the Signing Time shows and hurts my brain when he signs rapidly.

When my brother was born on the last day of school I thought it was bad luck to miss all the activities, but in the end it was worth it. He likes movies, some the same ones I used to like, (excluding Peanuts, I still like those). He eats what I do and sometimes he sleeps in my room. He may get on my nerves, and sometimes he may be a total pest. Through and through, the same remains, and to him I will always say, "I love you".

Weird phobias and Emo poetry

What weird things freak you out?

Taylor is afraid of frogs. Has been since he was very little. Ironic because he has volunteered to dress up as Hopkins the giant frog that is Signing Time's mascot.

Taylor frog.


Taylor in the hopkins suit taking 10.

Cam is afraid of babies crying. He hates the sound of it and it tends to make him cry too. This made for some very interesting car trips when Kay was a baby. I will have to find a picture.

Cam is also scared of the book Marvin K. Mooney. He hates the picture on page 25. It gives him nightmares of giant fingers being mean and trying to squish him. He is also freaked out by the "plonky guy" as he calls him. I will have to find a picture of that one too.

Giant finger of doom.

I am afraid of spiders and the creepy Burger King Dude. What is up with that guy? I also hate the sound of 3 ring binders snapping shut. I always think of some thing getting snapped in there like a mouse trap. And the sound/action of cassette tapes or video tapes getting pulled into the player. What if it malfunctions and pulls your fingers inside? I know it is irrational and has probably never happened in the history of mankind. I still don't like it.

Oh so creepy.

Yeah, this is what I want to wake up to.

Let's file this one under "Things that make you go Huh?"

I was making dinner a few weeks back and this is what Cam came in and said to me:

"Don't talk to me. You're messing up my world. Your talking makes my life filthy."

He said this with a big grin on his face. Not sure what it means exactly. It sounds like Emo poetry.

Kids are weird.

Cam's thoughts on having a baby sister

Today has been a little crazy. We are getting ready for a garage sale this weekend. Also I am desperately trying to get my digital pictures organized in this new creative memories program. Wow, it's a lot of work.

So today's post is another blast from the past so I can get done and get back to obsessively organizing every image from my life that has ever been captured on film.

Cam's thoughts on having a baby sister.

What do you think about your baby sister?
She's my best friend. I like her boingy cheeks and her little ears.
She has a big mouth. She is dripping and leaking.
She is soft.
She drinks mommy milk.
She is not freaking out. She is happy.
She is a gorgeous pretty girl.
She loves me.

Slugs and Spiders and Opossums. Oh My!

Some days just going into your back yard is an adventure.



Really spooky shot. This looks like Halloween decorations but it is real.


Have I mentioned that I hate spiders? Yes, they really creep me out. It is getting worse around here. The yard has been taken over by giant spiders. They are building webs every where. There is just about nothing worse then walking into a big spider web and getting it stuck all over you. Then as you frantically try to get it off you wonder if the spider that goes with it is also stuck to you some where.

Giant spider in the window.


If I had to pick something worse I might go with.... Flying mutant spider slugs. Yes, slugs are really gross. I still have very vivid memories of walking bear foot when I was a kid and stepping on a slug. They really do squish. But at least they stay on the ground for the most part so you don't have to worry about getting one in your face.

Well, that's what I thought until I saw these mutant spider slugs hanging down from our roof from a web? waiting for us to come out and unknowingly walk into them. Luckily my Hubby saw them and warned me. I would never have been the same after kissing one of those guys.

Hanging mutant slug.

Kinda hard to see but there are a bunch of them. 7 slithering and 2 hanging.


Once you make it out into the yard and the spider webs and flying slugs are cleared away you should be safe. So you would think. My Hubby decided to grill dinner last night and a giant opossum walked across his foot. We live in the middle of a busy city. What the heck is a opossum doing living in our back yard? It crawled under the house. I guess it sleeps in the crawl space. Now I am paranoid wondering how long it will be before he figures out how to get into the house. Freaky!!

My Hubby has a fascination with capturing the weird critters he happens upon. He caught a huge moth the other day and my oldest son tapped on the container and made it pee. They thought that was quite hilarious. I would just like for them all to go away (the critters not my boys) and have no interest in studying them. They did take some cool pictures though so you all can see what I am taking about. We did not get a picture of the opossum, that one even freaked my hubby out a little so he didn't grab the camera like he usually does.

This is what the opossum might look like.


The good news is all the spiders have discouraged the ants. The ants are no longer marching in my kitchen, bathroom, and sun room. I love a parade as much as the next guy but I am not sad to see them go. I have been doing a really good job of keeping the house clean. I think the ants just see kids and figure it's a good place to pick up some free food. Hopefully all the other weird critters will move on soon too.

Giant spider's web in the window.

Giant spider's web on the other side of the house

Yet another giant spider and web by the door

Our Family -- In the News

You have to click on the picture to make it big enough to read.



Taylor had a article published in the November 2005 issue of Boy's Life magazine. It appears on page 62 and he got paid 10 dollars for it. He was pretty thrilled.



Danielle graduation Cameron birth all in one article. May 2002 Norman Transcript.

Cameron front page of September 11 2003 Transcript.

Cameron MDO article September 12 2003 Transcript.

Taylor front page Project Outreach Christmas Party. This was during our many years of volunteering at Project Outreach a respite care program for children with special needs and their siblings. December 23 1996 Transcript.

Jennifer at OU. January 28 1998 The Oklahoma Daily.

Cam terrific kid award. January 14 2007 Transcript.