The Cut

A few years ago, we started bringing the boys to Great Clips for haircuts; before that, I had always cut their hair. Neither of them were big fans of it at first, but Kyle does a great job now. I think he kind of likes having a girl cut his hair ;-) But Matt....he doesn't do so great with it. He'll tolerate it if we make him go, but it's definitely hard on him (frustration and tears). Even home haircuts make him a bit upset.

The kind of haircuts that I know how (term used loosely) to give are plain and simple-- short. Matt has wonderful thick hair, and I like his a little longer, only I'm not capable with the scissors of producing any type of style with it. So recently, I had let it get fairly long and would just trim randomly. It finally got to the point, though, where my random trims just weren't working.

Here are the before and after!

I think that the short hair looks very neat on him, but I miss the mop! We'll probably let it grow for a while...at least that's what he says.

Wear a Hard Hat!

Isn't this tree beautiful? That's what I thought...until recently. Actually, I still think it's beautiful, but practical to have in my yard? No. Until we moved into this house, I wasn't familiar with this type of tree; it's a black walnut tree. We have maybe a half a dozen of them, although I haven't counted. All but one, this one in the picture, are along the edges of the property. This one is very close to our house, and is on the "route" that I like to take from the backyard to the front (I could go around the other way, but this way is, or was, more practical).

About a week ago, the tree started dropping its nuts, and we're not talking about small little acorns. These things, in their hard shell, are probably a little bigger than a golf ball. I thought I'd test out how much getting hit by one of those things would hurt, so I held one about 5 inches above my head and let it fall. OUCH!!! And they're falling all the time! When I go outside, it's pretty much a guarantee that I'll hear what hit the ground at some point before I go back inside. I really don't think it's safe to be near it!

After reading about these trees on-line, I've learned that the walnuts are good but getting at them is quite a process. I don't remember all the details, but first, the shell is extremely hard, and it has to be opened in a manner so that the black stuff inside the shell doesn't get on you, because it provides a stain that is awfully hard to get out. Then there's the smell; they have a very strong, unpleasant odor (only noticeable when I pick them up). Oh, AND, apparently the roots of the tree can send out a substance that is toxic to some plants when they come in contact with the roots (such as tomato plants).

The wood from these trees is a quality wood (at least that's what I'm reading), and the shell can even be used for something, and the nuts have more protein than English walnuts.

What I'm a little confused about is that what I've read says that the nuts are harvested in early fall. Hmm....there are at least fifty on the ground right now. ???

******Edited after my trip outside*******

50 is a huge underestimate; it's more like 500

Evan's New Swing

Aunt Georgia

Georgia Irene Eikenberry

August 10, 1918- July 17, 2008

Grandma and baby Georgia

Aunt Georgia at Chelsey's graduation open house in May, 2008

Moving Isn't Fun

1.7 miles. That's how far we moved. With the way I felt at times, one may have thought that we were moving out of the country!

When we were working on getting this house that we moved into on July 3, I went back and forth with my emotions on whether or not I wanted to move. It was really hard on me. I had never really liked the house that we lived in for 14 years, but it was home. It was so comforting having the familiarity with the house and the neighborhood that had developed over those 14 years. More than once John, who would get a bit frustrated with my emotions, would say, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Well, we did it, and here we are. It's so strange, because out of the 3 weeks we've lived here, I think there was only 2 days where I kind of missed the other house. I adjusted much quicker than I had anticipated. Home truly is wherever my family is.

With that being said, moving stinks! Unbelievably, we still don't have everything moved. We have so much "stuff!" We were both over there this afternoon trying to get all that "stuff" that's left. I felt like backing a garbage truck up to the house and loading it up! It's a bit overwhelming. Really, we're doing quite fine here without that "stuff," so do we really need it? Probably not.

We've also run into minor inconveniences along the way. We had to get the panel replaced on our washing machine. The electronics were acting up. We've had the phone company at our house 3 times!! I still don't know if the issue is completely resolved.

I painted several rooms before we moved in. I wanted Evan's room to be the same color that it was at the other house--"verde antique." When I went to Wal-Mart (boo) to get the paint, I couldn't find that color. The boy working wasn't any help. I did find the color "antique green," and I figured it probably was the same thing. Wrong. While I was painting, I tried to convince myself that it was the same; it just looked a little different because of the lighting in the room. Wrong. Chelsey and John were quick to point out that it definitely was not the same; Chelsey described it as "Mint Chocolate Chip Green;" the other in his old room was more of a sage green. I was a little upset about it, so I actually went and bought the "right" paint, and started to paint. After just a couple of strokes, I decided that maybe the mint chocolate chip wasn't such a bad thing (that IS my favorite ice cream).

Everyone else seems to be adjusting quite well to the house. The first evening we stayed here, Evan was a wreck! I thought, 'Oh no, what have we done!' I felt so badly about taking him away from everything he knew, including the usual route that we would take when we went walking; it was such a big part of our routine. But, he seems to enjoy the new area just as much, and he has a fit when we turn around and start heading home, just like he did at the other house.

I really don't think we'll be moving again anytime soon.

***A month or two ago, I posted that Evan had signed and said, "All done." Well, he didn't do that again until this week. Actually, he's not saying it, but he's signing it consistently! Yay! He also said "blankie" twice a couple of days ago. He picked up his blanket and said it, and then 30 seconds later, he hugged it and said it again. Haven't heard it again, yet. Today, I asked him if he was ready for a nap, and he said, "Es," and headed for the stairs.

The view from our yard

Our Walk Today

Evan and I go for a walk almost everyday--sometimes we take the stroller, sometimes he walks. Today, we started off in the stroller and headed to the nearby park. He wasn't very interested in the playground today or the animals at the petting zoo; he just wanted to walk. So, we headed back in the direction of our house with me pushing an empty stroller. Along the way, we came across a puddle---not a big surprise, it rained last night. A side affect of all the rain that we've had over the past couple of months is that Evan has had much exposure to puddles. A favorite activity of his is to throw/drop rocks into them while I say "splash!" I had my camera with me; I don't always have it when we go for walks, but my mom has been wanting me to take a picture of her flowers, and her house was on the way.

So I'm taking picture after picture trying to get the perfect shot while he's picking up rocks (pebbles) and letting them plop into the water. The thing about these rocks, though, is that they were somewhat embedded into the ground---he had to tug a bit to get some of them. Well, at one point, he was standing with his back facing the puddle as he used his little muscles to pull the rock up. The rock came up, and he went down...in the puddle.

My only reaction was, "Oh, Evan," but he would not look at me. It was as if he thought that if he didn't look at me, I wouldn't notice that he was in the water. I called and called his name----nothing.

Finally, I got his attention by holding up some rocks and saying, "Look at these rocks, splash!"

Against his wishes, after a few minutes we headed home. Due to the fact that he was soaked, riding in the stroller wasn't an option. He usually protests as we approach the house and tries to put himself on the ground. Today was no different, but what made it a little more difficult was that I couldn't (or didn't want to) carry him. After I got him inside, he had a bath. It was a win, win situation for him!

Another break

I'm taking another break from "the move." I'm at my parents house using their computer to pay bills and check mail. We're having problems with our DSL connection at our house. Well, actually, we're having problems with our phone in general. There are beeping noises and frequent static issues. I called for tech support yesterday about the computer, and wouldn't you know it, the Internet connection was working perfectly the entire time I was on the phone--about 20 minutes. As soon as I got off the phone, I lost the Internet connection. We discovered that being on the phone allowed us to have an on and off again Internet connection.We called them back; they didn't seem to have any answers so they told us to call the phone department. They checked our line via the "air" and confirmed that there is a problem...no, really!? They were supposed to have sent someone out to our house between yesterday afternoon and today....hasn't happened yet.
This was after having the issues hooking up our DISH. When they came out the first time, they couldn't get a signal because of the trees (I LOVE our trees!) The only option was to put it out by the end of the driveway (not) or have one of the trees trimmed. Unbelievably, we called someone to trim one of the trees. We then set up an appointment to have the DISH people to come back out---on the fourth of July. They were supposed to come out between noon and 5. Throughout the day, we called them, they called us, and they kept pushing the time back. Now remember, Kyle was waiting very patiently to get his Boomerang channel. The guy ended showing up about 8:30 and didn't leave until a little after 10:00. One of the high points of living where we live now is that we are near our park (the big one). This is where they have the fireworks display. We were able to see the majority of them. Some of the lower ones were hidden a little behind some trees (not in our yard), but overall, it's a good view. Kyle, who usually goes to bed at 9:00, sometimes 9:30 if he's pulling a late nighter, was actually up to after 11:00! When the DISH guy left, Kyle shook his hand and said "thank you for my Boomerang channel." He wouldn't look at the guy, but hey, he did shake his hand.

Be very, very quiet..

I don't think John would think that taking a break from moving is being productive...I don't think so either...I'm supposed to be packing...we moved some of our stuff over to the new house yesterday...still have a lot more...I've done so much painting at the other house...we have tons of "stuff"...it's a bit overwhelming...14 years at this house...break is almost over...ugh