ah, the conversations we have at bunko - want to play?

L: M, are YOU the high one?

*****
A: I don't care if you can see it, DON'T TOUCH IT AGAIN!
L: It was just my monkey.
A: THAT'S WORSE!

*****
B: Oh! It vibrates.

*****
A: Don't hit me!

*****
N: (muttering) Suck.
A: What?
N: IT.

*****
A: Ooh, I just want to pet your arm.
H: It's like cottage cheese, but it's a sweater!

bedfords know how to party!

Uh, why are you party-goers in THIS area? We are here to BOUNCE!

Like this: Blake, Ryan, Sean, & Tjabe.

A cascade of blonde, red-faced fun. (Top to bottom: Ryan, Ellese, Blake)

Everyone had a great time, but I was completely wiped out afterwards, so I'm thinking that we'll do a party every other year. Or maybe every third. We'll take the years in between off as sabbaticals. Also, bah humbug!

Birthday singing was hilarious - the cookies didn't hold a candle well, plus I'd forgotten the lighter, so no candle at all. When everyone was done, he leaned forward with lips pursed, looked down, and burst out laughing. He chose the dog bone cookies and helped me bake them, I later topped them with cream cheese or browned butter frosting, and they were DELICIOUS and didn't require a fork or plate. Finally, B's face in this picture melts my heart. That kid is such a punkin!

At Parties 'R' Us, they let you put your handprint on the wall if you celebrate a birthday there. We've been going for a few months now, and the walls are accumulating many many prints. Blake chose yellow, then went over and slapped his hand to the wall:

Now he points it out to his cousins every time we go. I cannot believe I have a five-year-old, mostly because I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I am a mother. A MOTHER...

but clearly, I AM thirty.

blake's first round of birthday fun

We spent a January weekend with my folks, and Grammie and Papaw gave Blake his gifts early, while Maddox circled hopefully. Later that night, Blake apologized to me: "Mom, I'm sorry that you didn't get any presents for your birthday today."

This child is going places. Probably while drunk.

Grammie: Blake, which candles do you want on your birthday cake? (said while offering a selection)
Blake: Um, all of them!

All of them! Blake was thrilled because Grammie made him rum cake. Okay, she made US rum cake, and we all called it his birthday cake. He was just excited that he actually got to have a piece of cake with alcohol in it.

Andy and Michelle were as excited about Blake's birthday as he was, though Moira (in the car seat) appears far more ambivalent. For the last two months, I've traded childcare with Michelle so both of us could get two child-free days of work, and though the swapping is coming to an end, it has been such fun to have a little girl in the house. Getting to see so much of my old friends and snuggle their little girl has been a great addition to my winter!

"I LOVE HOODIES!" upon opening a present from Grammie Gee on birthday morning.

A parrot from Grammie, for wearing during pirate patch time. Blake loved this bird and made me hold him so that he could watch B during swimming lessons that day.

John Deere prezzies from Grampa Steve & Grammie Patsy. "This is the one I've always WANTED!!!"

This is just the pre-game. We had an actual party at the local bounce house, with five friends invited. I've decided that, while it was fun, I will probably limit parties to two friends and make them SUPER special from now on... all those kids, even with focused things to do and jump on, wore me clean out. I need to find the balance of being a cool mom with being an ALIVE mom at the end of the day. It's in there. Somewhere.

Coming soon: the bounce house pics, my birthday pics, and the home improvements we've been making. Whew!

i generally avoid temptation, unless i can't resist it

To date, I've gotten five bottles of wine for my birthday. Five. That seems like it should seem like a lot, right? However, I think it is just right. Suits me right down to the ground.

I think they are telling me that I do not, in fact, drink ENOUGH. So I should perhaps drink more.

It's been a day full of good news (more to come on that later), and I think I shall celebrate by opening a bottle tonight. Because a day without wine is like a day without sunshine, or something like that.

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!

We closed on Tuesday, my birthday, but I didn't want to post anything until I saw the money land in our account with my own two eyes. Just logged in and saw the money with my own two eyes.

We are officially free of the Spokane house. PRAISE GOD!

Let me say that again:

Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!!!

Ok, so to use that phrase for something so small is a bit sacrosanct, but it's how I feel to the letter. Thank you for all your prayers and loving encouragement, even when the encouragement was "At least you don't have to foreclose." I needed every bit. The help with painting and cleaning and remodeling and sheetrocking and rewiring and garbage-removing and prayers and and and...

My friends and family bless me to my toes. Rob's friends and family too. And thankfully, all those friends and family are mixed up together so I can't tell where one ends and another begins. How fortunate are we?!

happy early birthday to me

My jury duty was canceled - they settled out of court - and a friend has volunteered to take Rob to the airport by 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I've gotten to see out of town friends today, was given a coffee card to one of the best places in town (oh! how they know me!), and taken to lunch by another friend who then found a coupon to get me $13 off two frames I needed that were already 50% off. I'm spending my birthday money on a hot new pair of jeans and highlights in my hair, Rob's given me an accidental hickey and (hopefully) a cordless drill, and we're planning a birthday party that will involve bowling with a bunch of friends. We've signed everything we've needed to for the house to close tomorrow, and coughed up the small fee to have the money wired to us (overnight transaction instead of waiting two weeks for a check to clear), so including the mortgage could give us three big fat debts paid off by the end of this week!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow's going to be like.

he's made a huge mistake

I had a friend over for lunch the other day, one whom I rarely get to see. It was impromptu, an off-hand invite to join me and Blake for leftovers, and at one point, I dragged out the two receiving blankets I've made recently (both pink, one because I fell in love with the fabric, one because I ruined another friend's blanket squares trying to make a blanket for her).

"Look!" I said excitedly. "I made these. Aren't they pretty? I love them."

"Very cute!" she replied with enthusiasm, then looked at me kind of searchingly. "Is there something else?"

I gazed at her blankly. "I made them all by myself? With my own sewing machine?"

She looked a little confused. "But I thought... with receiving blankets and suddenly having me over for lunch that, maybe... you might have an announcement?" She looked up hopefully.

"Uh... OH. I am NOT pregnant!"

What is funny is that she thinks I'd be able to keep a secret like that for long enough to think ahead and make blankets and plot a little lunchtime bomb-dropping. I'm the kind of person who'd announce on here and Facebook and probably via text that Rob and I are going to start a family, that I'm ovulating, and please don't stop by tonight. And when I told Rob all of the above, he dropped his head into his hands and moaned, "What have I gotten myself into?"

HAHA! It's a little late to be asking that, mister!

to: person(s) who've been praying for me

Thank you. I can absolutely feel it. I'm not sure what exactly you are praying for, but please do not stop!

The past few days have been a marvel of motivation, which is a sure sign (in my life anyway) that God's moving, and I like it.

we were there too, i swear!

Some friends and I had a ladies' weekend in Billings a few days ago. There weren't any ladies there, but we four showed up, so it was good. The rule was "no kids that aren't physically relying on your body for sustenance"... and even with that severe limitation, I was the ONLY ONE THERE without a child. I win!

I figure Reese is making up for all the parties we didn't throw at my parents' house growing up, because she's taken advantage of their absence in such a way before. They leave town, she drives in, hot tub is used. I was finally able to come on one of these ventures, and it was great fun, minus the part about leaving on Blake's birthday to drive two hours in the heavily snowing dark. As my friend Kellie would say, you couldn't leave your car because the flakes were that big. You'd be concussed.

But I made it! Got to say good-bye to the parental units who were off to Costa Rica and join the non-ladies for a glass of wine and some good face time. I always appreciate their laughter and candor and great conversation and points of view. We ate well, despite the grill acting up (I ended up "grilling" NY strip on a panini pan), slept poorly, and had to break and run on Sunday morning due to illness both in Billings ("I need to go home") and in Bozeman ("My husband needs me to come home"). It was a good time, all told. And the weird thing is, I have very little proof that the adult members of our party were there.

I got home, we opened up the house for a Superbowl party relocated from the Schuyler house, and it was loud and merry and a capital end to the weekend. Except for the part about the Colts losing, but I only care about that for Gailzee and Rachel.

OH NOES! Where are the babies?!

Oh. There they are! (l-r) Hank, Sawyer, Joel.
Close one.

In various stages of undress. There are adult hands on the right and a foot on the left, but this is it. The sum total of my photos while we were there. Awesome.

I love a queen who knows the wisdom of eye protection.

*Edited for better taste: I love a dad who doesn't take himself too seriously... AND permits photos of said fun (probably against his better judgment)!

sorry about that

A: You better finish that. We don't abuse alcohol in this house.
R: (polishing off the bottle of wine) There. You happy? No abuse here!

*****
R: (while clearing off closet shelves, grabbing a polished box) Holy cow! What the heck is in this? (hefting) It's heavy.
A: (turning around) OH. Um, that's... Blake.
R: O_O
(meekly)
Why don't you hold him?

...

I thought you knew what you were going to do with his ashes?
A: (weakly) Yeah. I just haven't done it yet. He's really heavy, and it's a bit of a hike, and I'm a weenie, and I haven't quite figured out how to make it happen...
(and then we hugged)

best thirtieth birthday ever!

Rob found out the other day that he's being sent back for more Apple training. Hurray! He got the highest test score of ALL the Vann's employees who have taken the first class. Hurray! I get to drive him to the airport by 6:00 a.m. on February 16th.

Wait, that's my birthday! Shouldn't I get to sleep in now that I'll be old?

Oh well, at least I'll be awake and able to call the clerk of court between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. to get my final instructions for jury duty that same day.

Sweet!

Also, I had to pluck it to be sure (because it was short, not because I was freaked), but I found my first gray hair today!

Now, if I could just rustle up two pieces of legal paper, I could print the last required document so that Rob and I could get it notarized and overnighted to Spokane. Because we'd be able to close within about three days of them receiving it... and would then be able to pay off one of our (thankfully few) debts. I think those two things outweigh all the rest, but all the rest are a great passel of reasons for me to plan on one or two beers tonight.

why i love bunko (not a sonnet)

A: Here's a smaller cutting board, but it's not as beautiful.
N: ALL wood is beautiful.
A: You said that just for me, didn't you?

*****
L: What's this?
A: Hmm. I was going to say "meat salad," but that doesn't sound right. Or good.

*****
A: SUCK IT.
G: ALL wood is beautiful!

*****
M: Did you just tell us to whack it?
A: Did I?
M: YES.

*****
S: Those are my nipples.

(A: I forget the context, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking about what we're all thinking. Mostly sure.)

*****
C: You have to CUP your dice.
X: What are you cupping over there?

*****
C: I feel like I should be on Maverick with this hoe-down music.
A: BLUEGRASS IS NOT "HOE-DOWN MUSIC."

*****
L: I'm so FULL. I think I need a brownie.

*****
A: I'm sorry that you had to see it, but you DIDN'T HAVE TO TOUCH IT!
L: It was my pen!
A: I don't care, it still feels dirty.

yes, he really said all that

(taking his first bite of dinner) This is super good! Know how much I'm proud of you? (flings arms out) THIS MUCH.

*****
I just like your face. That's why I hug you.

*****
(upon waking to me gently scratching/tickling his back)
MOM, NO! Your hands are cold.
...
But don't worry, I still love you.

*****
B: Was that me when I was a little kid?
A: Nope.
B: Well, it should be. I should have that costume... and a gun.

*****
A: Listen, lippy, you need to choose a tone and words of respect when you speak to me, please.
B: Mom, I do not like that you call me "lippy."
A: Then quit mouthing off to me, please.
B: If you call me "lippy," I am never hunting.
A: Wait... what?
B: If you call me "lippy," I am never hunting. Do you want me to hunt deer? Do you want me to hunt deer for you with Papaw?
A: Um, yeah?
B: Then do not call me a "lippy." It's not the fact that I don't love you. I DO love you. It's just the fact that I won't hunt deer.
A: Mmhmm.
B: Why are you laughing? What's funny?
A: Um... something I'm reading.
B: You're not reading anything. You're writing down what I am saying.
A: O_O