Hero in a Half Shell

Growing up 10 minutes from downtown Cincinnati meant the wildlife I typically saw was: some random birds, some random bugs (including nasty one like waterbugs), a squirrel here or there and stray cats. Yep, that's pretty much it.


So, you can imagine how excited I get when I see all of the critters out here near the country. Deer, rabbits, cardinals, blue jays and our newest friend, Herman the Turtle.

Meet Herman.

Mike discovered Herman when he was pulling out of the garage Monday night. Somehow, this HUGE turtle wandered into our garage. Mike had to leave, so that left the kids and I to take care of our new pal. We put him in a box and I went to work on the internet - Herman was a painted turtle. We tried to feed him some veggies, but it was clear that Herman wanted to get back to the water.



The Pear was so excited. He'd jabber, point, jabber some more, pet Herman, etc...



Taylor was in love. I'm not sure how she came up with Herman...


We decided Herman needed to go somewhere a little more suitable than our garage, so we loaded him into a bucket and walked him over to a nearby creek. The kids were soooo sad to see him go!

Swimming away.

Herman's new home. (And yeah, that's so not our house. I can pretend, right?)

Michael, asking where the turtle went (see his questioning hand?).

The Worm, crestfallen.

I'm way behind on blogging. I picked up some freelance work so time is precious! I'll do at least a photo post soon!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Pear Stats - 18 Months

The Pear had his 18-month appointment yesterday (ironically, on his 18-month birthday)! Boy, does this kid hate the doctor's office. He saw a few friends from Susan's house in the waiting room and was happy as can be. Once we crossed the threshold from friendly waiting room to the exam rooms, it clicked in his little (I use that term loosely) head that we were at that place that pokes and prods him, the tears started. I can't say I blame the little (again, loosely) guy after his early months of tummy troubles. We made it through, though.

He's on track with all of his milestones and Dr. Dooley said his language skills are probably a little advanced for his age. He says about 25 words, but when that raging temper emerges, forget about it. He yelled some gibberish at Dr. Dooley at one point, wagging that little (this one is okay) finger in the air. He got just one shot yesterday, his last until kindergarten (with the exception of flu shots). He's never had a bad reaction to shots, but last night, he was really crabby and obviously did not feel good. He wanted to do nothing more than sit on my lap and would scream if I tried to put him down. He did seem to bounce back around 8 o'clock and was back to running around like a mad man.

So, here's what new with the Pear. Side note - His height and weight are exactly the same as Taylor's 2-year stats!:

Height: 34 1/2" (95th percentile)

Weight: 26 lbs. (50th percentile)

Head: Big (still slightly off the chart)

Teeth: 16

Diaper Size: 4

Clothing Size: 24 months shirts; 18 months shorts

Shoe Size: 7

Recent Milestones: Talking more and more; shooting on the Little Tikes hoop; hitting the ball off the tee; climbing everything very quickly; stepping back on his tiptoes when he's excited; giving fist pounds; saying "Bye" and waving as he heads off to bed; giving dozens of kisses before bed, running back and forth between Mommy and Daddy

Favorite Toys: Basketball hoop set; bat/ball set; his big Teddy; Teddy Bear Blanket; balloons; really into book right now - grabs a book and backs onto my lap; peg toy

Favorite Foods: He's getting pickier. Likes Dora soup, spaghetti, peanut butter, bananas, waffles, apples best

Favorite Drinks: The kid will pretty much only drink milk and lots of it! He's on 2% now because the whole milk was filling up his belly too much.

Here's a picture from about a year ago. Looks how much he's changed!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Date Night

Mike and I had date night on Sunday night. It was our first date, sans kids, in over a year. Somewhere Dr. Phil is screaming in horror. Of course, he'd probably disapprove of us spending our last anniversary at a Gus Macker tournament, etc., etc. Hey, it's how we roll.

My mom drove up to watch the kids Sunday so we could drive to Columbus to see one of Mike's former Wabash players, Michael Palascak, perform his comedy act at the Funny Bone. Oh my, he was hysterical. Well worth the trip! The audience just loved him. I'm not a big fan of raunchy humor and that's what made his act even more impressive. It was funny without being crude. He's only 26 and has already been on Comedy Central and performed at colleges and clubs across the country. He has a bright future ahead. Check out his website: http://www.michaelpalascak.com/. He also has several clips on You Tube. Just search for "Michael Palascak".

Mike and Michael.

The Worm and I before the big date. Yes, I even have on lipstick.

Alright, I'm too lazy to start a new post, so I'm going to include a few pictures from tonight on here.

During the summer, Mike is home with the kids the three days that I work. It works out great because we save childcare $$ and the kids get a chance to bond with Daddy. I can already see the influence he's had on them. Taylor is smacking the ball off the tee now and Michael is shooting on the big (Little Tikes) hoop now. Of course, not all influences are good:

Okay, I can't really blame that on Mike, but Michael thought it was soooo funny that Taylor and I were grossed out.

Mike had a summer league game tonight, so the kids and I decided to try out one of Taylor's recent presents - sidewalk paint. It started out innocent enough, but the wheels fell off really fast. I knew baths were in order tonight, so I just let them have at it.

These 3-D goggles are supposed to make your chalk and paint creations "come to life."

Hysterical.

The sidewalk painting quickly became Worm and Pear painting. They were absolutely covered!

They looked like little green aliens by the time we ran out of paint. Their bath water was a very impressive neon lime explosion.

Alright, off to bed now.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Happy Birthday, Blog

It's been exactly one year since my first Blogger post. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

I'll post later about our Sunday night date. Good times!

Par-taaaaaaay!

Let the celebration begin! If you remember last year, Taylor had three different birthday celebrations. Well, it's three weeks before her actual birthday and she already has one party under her belt! Mike has all-day basketball commitments the next two Saturdays and her actual birthday is the following Saturday. I figured she wouldn't get a very good turnout on a holiday, so we had her "friend" party on Saturday. Most of the kids were from her preschool class and she hasn't seen them in three weeks. Her class seemed unusually close, so they were all THRILLED to be together again.



We went with a neutral Luau theme since it was for girls and boys. I'll tell you, I'm absolutely exhausted right now after planning, cleaning, feeding, entertaining and cleaning up after about 10 5-year-olds and their siblings. Whew! It was a great time though and Taylor was just so excited the whole day. She's such a gracious, good kid that you just want to do special things for her. She hugged me and told me "thanks" about 20 times tonight. A few times, I'd catch her staring at me and then she'd just dive on me with a big hug. Makes you want to have a party like that everyday.



The kids ate and played outside, then worked on sand art projects. This was a huge hit, especially for the girls. I bought everything for under $25 too, so it was well worth the price. Next was a treasure hunt, pinata, cake and ice cream and then presents.




The decorated deck, pre-party. We're six for six on no rain during her parties. Thank you, God!

Sand art! Glad I bought two containers of pink sand. :)

Pinata time! Here little cousin Abby takes a swing. Too cute.

Taylor, cousin Haley on the left and friend McKenna on the right.

Taylor getting help from one of her BFF from preschool, Courtney.

Michael and the other handful of boys at the party spent most of their time playing with the balls I threw out in the yard. In that way, boys are easy. :)

Taylor and McKenna later in the day. Look at all of the bruises on their little legs, haha.

Is it just me, or does she look about 7 or 8 here? No that's not Jabba the Hut in the background, it's Champ.

Ms. Social Butterfly had another party to attend on Friday night. Her buddy from Susan's house, Bryson, was turning 4 and had a fun little party at the local swim club.

Bryson (little guy in the middle) and his ladies. That's Taylor on the end.

You'll probably notice that Taylor's hair is short again. I took her for her first salon haircut last week. She got the cutest bob and it's even stacked in the back. It's waaay more stylish than anything I could ever attempt. I also got my hair cut, but have no pictures. :(




She was super excited. My stylist was amazed at how good she was.

The after. She loves it!

Not much about my Main (little) Man in this post, but the Pear is doing great! Loves to have me read books now, continues to amaze me with his daring and athletic ways and just as cute as ever. :)

Until next time,



Mommy Kel

The Difference Between Girls and Boys

Typical Taylor (Yes, I know it's sideways, but it's still funny!):



Typical Michael:

Oh Hail!

Whew-wee! We've had some whacky weather around here lately! Let's see - a tornado warning and power outtage Saturday night, severe thunderstorms two or three more nights and big ol' hail the last two nights. Yesterday, there was a high of 87 degrees; today it was lucky to reach 65 degrees. Crazy!

Hail in my flower bed. It was way bigger than this, but I had to wait to get out there and take a picture.

It would get really sunny in between downpours!

The kids enjoying a break in the weather. High heels and Daisy Dukes - nice look Taylor!

Mooommmmy, I can't go out there. I'll melt!

Yay, it quit raining! Now we can take a walk!

Who could resist this face?

I had to take this picture for all of my friends and family who have not made the trek to Wilmington. This is diagonal from our road, about two football fields away. Back in the day, nobody would have believed that I'd end up living really, really close to the country. (Those are sprouting beans, by the way.)

We had one last graduation party for the year. Kirby and his family are such awesome people! We wish him the best in college and I sure hope his parents and kid brother still hang out at basketball games next season. Taylor gave him a few hundred hugs at his party. :)

Kirby, Mike, Pear.

Taylor loves getting girlied up for parties!

Guess how Michael stayed amused?

Future OSU tailback?

Wow, it's late and I need to get some sleep! Have a good one!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel