Outside??

Today Lia woke up and asked "outside?" She is an outside girl. She also immediately followed that up with "bath?" I'm not sure if that means she wants to take a bath outside...aka swim?...or the two are unrelated. Either way, she loves to be outside and in the bath.

Outside we did go! Lia got her first sidewalk chalk. She loved everything about it. Scribbling on the ground, walking with things in her hand, carrying the box. Lia has nothing but love for the whole sidewalk chalk experience.

Here's our clothesline from hell. The pole has come out of the ground and now the string broke. Grrrrrrr! My clean towels people! If you knew how much I hate to do laundry, you would understand that this is a horrible travesty!

And this is Lia and Pa in hats. No one rocks a monster hat quite like my dad.

Highs and Lows...

Lows: Today was our last Gymboree for awhile. I can't say that I wasn't filled with sadness. Lia just loves it there. However, I want to take her to the park, swimming, and just plain outside more often in the next few months. I was definitely more sad when they announced next month is Gymbo's Birthday. They are having a birthday party complete with visits and pictures with Gymbo. I think that's what Lia dreams about at night. But alas, we will not be attending because we are not going in July. It's a sad day here at Casa Christman.

Highs: We are happy to be gearing up for our big 4h of July extravaganza. Only on the 3rd of July. But extravaganza no less. I do need to do some house cleaning and there is a 20% chance of rain...but we won't let that switch this to the low category. We have lots of friend and family who are planning to come. We are excited to see everyone for swimming, cookout, lawn games, and fireworks. Hopefully that rain stays away for us.

Middles: The neighbor is cutting his field and bailing up his straw. Oh my sneezing nose and aching sinuses. The other middle is I am really close to finishing Shaun the Sheep...but his ears are giving me fits. I'm pretty close to sewing up the holes and winging it myself. But alas, I'll figure it out. I just know I will...

Simple Pleasures...

Can you guess what is the most fun for Lia??? Here's a hint...

Here's another one? Do you have it yet???

Yep! Sittin' in chairs. This girl cracks me up!

Rise and Shine

This is a picture of the water creepy creepin' up my lawn. The grass is really tall but it is flooded the whole way up...over the driveway and all.

So in honor of our near disaster this morning...I wrote a little song about. Wanna hear it? Here it goes! Everybody now!

The call came from David there's gonna be a floody floody

the call came from David, there's gonna be a floody floody

Fix that sump pump soon good buddy buddy

Almost had a flood.

So Becky went out in the rainy the rainy rainy

Becky went out in the rainy the rainy rainy

made the water flow a new laney laney

Almost had a flood.

So much for spending the morning being lazy lazy

So much for spending the morning being lazy lazy

Made the septic alarm go crazy crazy

Almost had a flood.

Back out in the rain to move the pipey pipey

back out in the rain to move the pipey pipey

Then back in for Lia's bottom wipey wipey

Almost had a flood.

The rain stopped and finally we could take a resty resty

rain stopped and finally we could take a resty resty

It all turned out for the besty besty

We didn't have a flood!

Life as I know it...

This cute little bug loves the bath or as she calls it "baf."

She also gets the cutest little rat-tail when her hair is all wet.

This teenage boy is my oldest nephew. He stayed with me for a couple nights. He loves him some video games. Good thing my hubby is fully stocked with xbox, kinnect, and wii.

This tween is my oldest niece. She stayed with us too. She liked that she got to sleep in the basement, stay up as late as she wanted watching TV, and swim in the pool. Note her bed is centered right in front of the TV. I hope her brain isn't rotten and her eyes aren't permanently damaged.

Speaking of the pool...here they are much more energetic. This was a morning I was sitting in sweatpants wrapped in a towel to keep warm. Too cold to swim...yup. BUT I will let them do all manner of ridiculous stuff to maintain my status as "cool Aunt Becky." Okay, maybe not cool anymore but at least somewhat fun. :)

Fritz

This is my brother-in-law. He's crazy. He made it my "birthday" every time I went out to eat with him through my entire teen years and much of my twenties. He's a baby whisperer. He's a fellow beer drinker for my hubby in a family that doesn't really do alcohol at get-togethers. He called me Beckybobobbrain for many years and still calls me Bobob.

He's also has a really big booboo right now. The good news is I get to hang with my niece and nephew for a couple days. Which I've been talking to my sister about doing anyhow. The bad news is that I get to hang with them because Fritz is needing some recovery time. So if you're a praying sorta person, you might add Fritz for the next few days. Thanks.

Oy Vey

Just a few days ago my sweet hubby took a swim with his iphone. Bad for him, great for me because I got to update my phone while we were at it. All turned out fine because we had a warranty. Whew. Fast forward to today, when I went searching for my phone. Imagine my horror at seeing it sitting out on the deck railing, after a rain!! It works, except for the phone use. I can only hear on speaker phone. It is currently sitting in a bag of rice in hopes that I can rescue it. Once again, a no picture post. :( As David said, I guess we just can't have nice things.

I am also working on a baby sweater that is giving me fits. No matter how I try, I can't seem to pick up the 7 additional stitches the pattern says to pick up. It is once again on hold until I can seek the advice of an expert...most likely my mom. It will really crush me if I need to frog the entire body portion. I already have knitted the sleeves 2 times!

So as I've put aside my sweater for now...I'm branching out into new territory. Double pointed needles. It is a crazy experience. You have three needles crossed in a triangle formation and use a fourth needle to knit. I feel like I'll end up poking out my eye with all those pointy things. I am gaining a little faith in myself. If I can make this work, I will end up with Shaun the Sheep. Trust me, he's cute.

Not cuter than my daughter.

No way.

Even though I have my first non-family-babysitter on Saturday so I can go to the movies.

I might have a meltdown.

I might call the house a million times.

The end.

Whew!

What a few days it's been around here! Lia just learned that pieces of the puzzle can be put in as well as taken out. This is very exciting for me because I'm tired of putting the pieces back in when she's done with it. I actually was able to snap this picture the second she popped the circle in the right hole. One proud Mommy here!

Little Miss Hollywood has been enjoying this nice weather. Since it's been a little hot and sunny, we've stocked up on sunscreen and spent a lot of time in the pool. Lia also got sunglasses which she thinks are funny and wants to take them on and off a million times!

Yesterday evening around 8 or so, this flew right over our house really low. We could hear the fire thingie (what is that called anyway???)! It was pretty neat. We see a lot of hot air balloons, but this is the closest one has ever been. It has blue ducks on it but you can't see them from the angle.

Lastly, tomorrow is my sister-in-law, Megan's baby shower. She is pregnant with twins. I've been diligently working on these baby blankets and hats for Margot and Charlie. I hope Megan likes them. I started the blankets before we knew the sex of the babies, so they are the unisex green and yellow. For the hats I tried to make one more girlie and one like a boy hat, but still matchy without being too matchy.

Now I can get back to knitting Lia's sweater. I had to frog the two sleeves and start again. I've gotten one of those sleeves 98% finished. I need to get the other one done, then I'll be ready for assembly. A big step for me. I hope it goes well!