One LOOOOONG Weekend

Well, I'm officially done with the school year! It hasn't hit me yet, but as soon as I walk out the door each day, the 95 degree heat slams me and I remember that it actually IS summer (although not officially until June 20th or something). It has been MISERABLY hot here. Of course, if you read a few posts ago, you are probably saying to yourself, "Why don't they just take a dip in the world's largest blow-up pool?" Well, we tried. We were so excited about getting in the pool Saturday afternoon. Bryan filled it up and we were all going to lounge to keep cool. We ran to the store to buy my new and amazing camera, got Lucy some ice cream, and then we were all set to swim!

Bryan had fired up the grill and Lucy and I were scooping out bugs that had died in the water. All was well until...the attack of the killer chiggers.

That's right folks, chiggers. Kind of sounds dirty doesn't it? I was watching Lu with her bug scoop and kept feeling like something was biting me. I went over to Bryan and asked him to look over me (poor guy, I'm not a great sight to see in a swimsuit) and he didn't see anything. So, I put down the camera (which is VERY hard for me to do) and Lucy and I hopped in the pool. As I was sitting there, I kept feeling little bites all over my arms and neck and shoulders. When I looked at the edge of the world's largest blow-up pool, I noticed...KILLER CHIGGERS EVERYWHERE! I am talking hundreds of the little critters. Now, if you know me at all you know that I HATE nature. These little creepy crawling CHIGGERS just served to reinforce the fact that the beach is really the only place I care to be outside. I digress... I knew if these little things were all over me, they were probably all over Lu as well. Sure enough, I looked her over and she had some on her too!

Needless to say, we scooped her up, all took showers, drained the world's largest blow-up pool, and were quite mad about the whole thing. I mean seriously, do you remember how much trouble that stupid pool has been? Now it has a CHIGGER infestation? Not only does the world's biggest blow-up pool have to stay on the patio when we're not using it, it now must stay there for us to swim as well. Please take a moment to picture ALL my furniture slammed up against the house and on one edge of the patio. It looks really special. Plus, it isn't symmetric, which once again if you know neurotic me at all, you know I lay in bed and am completely bothered by this.

Saturday night, after all the CHIGGER mayhem, Lucy was up from 12:30-3:30. Uh oh. We knew she must be getting sick. She was coughing and sneezing, and the nose was dripping. Super. At least I am out of school. We skipped church Sunday and just chilled out. Lucy REALLY wanted to go in the pool, but between the 95 degrees and air quality alert, we kept her in. Have you had to do that? Keep a 2 year-old in and calm during a nice, sunny day? It makes for a LOOOONG day. That night, Lu was up from 2:30-4:30. Momma likes her sleep, so by Monday, I was a bit delirious. Thank goodness for coffee.

Monday was Memorial Day. It was very low key for us. We did a few errands, but tried to keep Lucy inside as much as possible. Poor thing was not getting much better. She begged to swim, but we said no. We did let her eat a popsicle outside. She was thrilled!

My parents came over and Lucy and I donned our new, matching tie-dye (red, white and blue) t-shirts. We were pretty cute. There are, of course, no pictures of me, as the camera was attached to my eyeball all day.

We had a little cookout, read some books, and all went to bed EARLY.

Thank goodness Lu slept through the night-well, until 5:30 a.m. So I'm not sure that counts. We went to the pediatrician this morning. They aren't sure if she is having a major allergy attack, or has a little virus going around. I did NOT want to put her on antibiotics again, so I'm pleased with their suggestion to just keep up all her allergy meds. She really feels crummy though. We've been ordered to stay in and home from her school. Her moods are up and down and making a loooong weekend turn into a loooooong week.

So, we now have the world's biggest blow-up pool on our patio, filled with water, which my poor sick child can't even get in. Perhaps in a few more days it will be warm enough to feel like a hot tub. If Bryan and I aren't asleep at 7:30, we might enjoy it! For now, get out the scissors and glue! Hello indoor craft time :)

Cutters

Lucy got her first haircut back in December. It was less emotional that I thought it would be. She didn't actually even realize I was cutting her hair at the time. When I did it, she was caught up in a rousing episode of Sesame Street. I finally had to bite the bullet and do it. I was tired of picking her up from school and her looking like a child who'd been abandoned by her parents (and hairbrush). She looked soooo adorable when all was said and done, and even more grown up. I counted haircut #1 as a success.

Haircut #2 came last week. She was starting to get that "abandoned child" look again. (See picture #1 below) So, I thought it was time to get out the scissors again. Now, I have no formal cosmotology training, but I did a pretty rad job with haircut #1. This time, however, I was not thinking. I waited until Lucy was tired and grumpy before I started. Not a great plan. I pulled her onto my lap on a stool and began to wet and cut. I thought it would be a lot like last time, but I was VERY wrong. She totally freaked out about the scissors (or CUTTERS as she called-or rather screamed-them). She kept screaming, "I don't want mommy to cut my hair!" and "Where are the cutters?!" She was squirming and screaming (definitely glad we weren't at some swanky salon while she was pulling this crap). I couldn't believe how upset she was about me trimming her hair. She really did NOT want a haircut, but after the first few chops, there was no turing back. Bryan was watching in horror as the battle raged on and finally put a stop to it.

So, not really knowing if all hair was even on all sides (and a small flesh wound on my finger later), we dumped Lucy in the bath and that was that. We put her to bed and I spent the next hour lying in bed stressing over whether or not my child was going to look like MORE of a crazy person the next day. When I picked her up from school, her head was a mass of curls! I knew she had some curl to her hair (between her Mimi and myself she had no hope of getting straight hair), but I had no clue it was going to be so curly! (See picture #2 below). Well, the mass of curls didn't help me figure out if we had to do battle with hair again, so...I got the chi after her and straightened the hair out. Turns out, a few screams, some blood, and one tired mommy later...I didn't do such a bad job! However, she was still ticked (as you can see from her face in picture #3!)

Just Call Me Ellie Mae...

May has arrived (and almost departed) and things have been nuts. Bryan finally finished school, the weather has been insane, school is over as of TOMORROW at 11:15, and we are all T I R E D ! Last weekend was super insanely hot, so we decided to put out the new blow up pool (classy eh?) for Lucy. We got a sweet deal on it at my beloved TARGET, and it is rather large (much bigger than that hard plastic piece we had last summer)

So as I was saying, we thought we'd put it out for Lu on Sunday when it was about 92 degrees (please stop and imagine AUGUST!). I suppose I thought I was Superwoman and began trying to blow it up. Bryan told me I was insane (scroll down for pictures and you're sure to agree) and went to buy a pump. The pump absolutely TERRIFIED poor Lucy, and didn't actually do the trick. This thing was seriously large. We borrowed a pump from our neighbors (not sure why they have the heavy duty blow up a blimp pump, but thank goodness they did because we would still be blowing up that stupid pool!) and it finally did the trick. The only problem now was that the water from the hose was FREEZING and our kid was going nuts wanting to get in. She was sunsreened up, had on her floaties, sunglasses, hat, and swimsuit. She was ready to go, but we were not! Clearly, this was poor planning on our part, but hey, we're first time parents!

After about 900 trips inside with our spaghetti pot filled with hot water, we had the pool temp at a bearable 75ish. Lucy jumped right in like it was nothing. I almost died of hypothermia. Bryan joined us too, and as we sat there watching our little water baby, we realized two things: 1. Another 4 adults could have joined us in the pool-comfortably, and 2. Where the heck were we going to store this thing? It is literally the size of my car. Ooops. Guess we didn't think that through when we were giving each other a high-five in Target aisle exclaiming what a great deal this pool was.

Lu swam happily for about an hour. Storm clouds started rolling in, so we had to get her out. She didn't really protest, which was nice. If you remember, she threw full-out fits when we made her come in from the snow this winter. Anyway, bad weather was moving in, and we had NO PLAN for the pool. We tried to prop it up against the house, turn it upside down and put a hose on top, out in the dead spot with a tarp, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, we decided right-side up with a large sprinkler on the bottom would have to work (as flashes of lightning were striking nearby trees). So after it stormed a bit, I looked out back and the dang pool was flying into our neighbors yard. OOPS again! Bryan risked life and limb to retrieve the stupid thing and took it to the garage. Except it didn't fit. Well, it fit, but it was on top of my car.

Leaving for work yesterday involved me madly wresting a GINORMOUS pool and saying not so nice words the whole time. After a good 10 minutes (and getting sweaty BEFORE work) I got the stupid thing propped up against the back wall between two large airplanes my husband insists on keeping hung from the ceiling. However, he was not happy with that arrangement. So this is what we have come up with.

Oh God. We are the Clampetts. Help me now.

Two Cute!

This is now my new favorite pictures! How cute are these two?

Dogwood Arts Festival Weekend

This past weekend Bryan's parents visited from Florida. We wanted to do something different while they were here, so we went to the Dogwood Arts Festival "Chalk Walk" at Market Square. It was GREAT! They had never been to the square before, and we thought Lu would like the chalk walk. Let me tell you, those people do some amazing things with their chalk! This isn't your 1st grade teacher's blackboard...

We were there fairly early, so we can't tell you about who won, but it was a neat morning. We ate at Trio, a great restaurant if you don't know it. We came home and the boys smoked meat (Bryan's DELICIOUS ribs). Susan and I went landscape shopping, and also took Lucy to the "Cupcake Store" as she calls it. Susan had never been to a cupcake shop, but I think she was quite pleased! I think you'd have to be insane to NOT like the cupcake store. When I was pregnant, I was there no less than twice a week.

Anyway, Sunday we went to church and came home for a rousing afternoon of badminton. (Is that how you spell it? I realize I am a teacher, but that's not one I use often :) Bryan and I (well, actually mostly me) ROCKED, and won. Who knew I had such mad skills? No pictures of that, but I swear we are awesome.