FWIES!!!

It turns out that Lucy has inherited her sister's fear of bugs, mainly flies or "fwies" as Lucy calls them. We live close to cow pastures here and it seems there is consequently a larger population of flies. If you leave the door open for even one minute you are guaranteed at least one fly. They are a constant battle. I have to say I have developed quite the fly killing skills. Of the last twelve or so kills, only two have not been on the first try. I am, of course, very handy with the fly swatter, but I also have used a kitchen towel, magazines, and a plastic sandbox shovel. I'll stop boasting now. The other day Lucy was in the bath and I had killed a fly (the sandbox shovel kill) and I wasn't sure where the dead body landed. I was busy getting ready when Lucy starts screaming, "A fwy!!! A fwy!!! Fwy!!!" I could not get to her right away but I figured she would get up and move. She was too frozen in her fear and as the fly steadily floated toward her her screams escalated. I finally scooped the carcass out of the water and saved her from dreaded fear. If it was only flies Lucy screamed about then it would not be so bad. I do not like them buzzing around my house landing on my counters and dishes. But, Lucy thinks any black little spot is a fly. For example, a little black string balled up caused such a shrieking spell that I had to stop doing dishes for twenty minutes because she had the death grip on me after seeing that scary string. She also will not come down the stairs by herself right now because there are some black specks of dirt or something on the tile at the bottom. I guess for now and for my sanity I'll just have to start keeping my floors a little cleaner.

Man vs. Shoe

This will probably only be funny to people that actually watch Man vs. Wild, a show on the discovery channel. This guy, Bear Gryllis goes to extreme regions and shows you how to survive out there if put in the situation. He will eat "ANYTHING" for proper nutrition and protein for survival. So we were watching this one episode in the rainforest and Bear had just finished skinning a lizard with his knife so he could cook it over the fire. He then took the same bloody knife and started to cut holes in his shoes so when he started walking again the water would drain out. Before he could get to that explanation Esther couldn't take it any more and screamed, "Is he going to EAT THAT??!!!!" She really thought since he was eating a disgusting lizard he was also going to continue on to his disgusting shoe. Although, if the shoe did have some protein I wouldn't put it past Bear to try it.

Vacation with the Mallotts

Our friends from Texas came last week to visit. We had a BLAST. They are the kind of people everyone wants to have for friends or neighbors. We have really missed them. John built their house in Texas and he built ours down the street a ways. She brought me a baby gift when I had Esther was born and I was so impressed with how nice that was since she hardly knew me. Then then we got to see each other a bit more since our mail regularly got mixed up and before we knew it we were playing games together every weekend (mostly NERTS which, for the record, I never won and we played SEVERAL times). Anyway, we have been looking forward to their visit since we left Texas. We played hard when they arrived. Here's a short list of all we accomplished: Golden Gate Park, Pier 43, 41, and 39, Lombard street, H&M shopping trip, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Carmel By-the-Sea, Monterrey Bay Aquarium, Other parks and playgrounds, Woods National Monument, Stinson Beach, 5 or 6 rounds of NERTS, and a few other games. Whew. The only low point of the whole trip was someone backing into our recently purchased minivan in Carmel. That was a bit of a downer but the rest of the time was SO FUN. The kids had so much fun together. I forgot I had two daughters half the time because Esther was so preoccupied with her friend Chloe. Even Lucy was not her usual demanding self because sweet little Bennett was always playing with her. By the end she was requesting that he "hold" her. I can't thank them enough for coming out here and we hope it's not too long before we see them again!

This is a picture of their cute family. They are the kind of family that you can always tell how they feel about each other. They are all about family and they are great parents--we are really grateful for their example.

Lastly, I have to say that any time John gets to take three days off it's a vacation whether we go anywhere or not. I love hanging out with that guy!

A Miss Yanery Visit

So I'm behind on my blogging since I have pretty much been on vacation the last couple weeks so first, I have to catch up on our visit from Miss Yanery (that's what Esther calls her). We just love hanging out with her and since she moved away it hasn't been the same. We had so much fun when she came--cooking, sewing (I finally finished my quilt project I started over a year ago, thanks to Yanery's moral support), bowling, shopping, and having girls nights out, even including the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice (super cheesy but still enjoyable as long as you're prepared for a strange musical). Another reason I'm glad she came back for a visit is because they day she left I was so sick (one of my usual stomach viruses) that it didn't feel like a proper goodbye. Also, she brought me an awesome birthday present--mommy/daughter aprons and Martha Stewart's Cookie recipe book. Thanks Yanery for a fun-packed visit (come back soon!)

Dental Follow Up

Just so you know... my dentist appointment was just as bad as I was expecting it to be. Due to a miscommunication with the office I was twenty minutes late for my appointment so I started off feeling anxious and wondering if the dentist was going to take it out on me (he's actually a really nice guy and there's not way he would do that but I still couldn't help worrying). It was not that painful either but it was still AWFUL. Here's a list of reasons why my hands were shaking during my appointment and why I felt like I wanted to cry afterwards.

1. Keeping my mouth open for an hour and fifteen minutes straight.
2. The assortment of nasty-tasting things in my mouth the worst being the lidocaine.
3. Two people (the dentist and hygienist) hovering uncomfortable close to my face for the duration of my appointment.
4. The sound of the drill on my teeth.
5. The sensation of the drill shaving away at my teeth (AAAAAAAAAAGH).
6. Not being completely numb in a few parts and truly FEELING the drill.
7. 20 different tools going into my mouth doing who knows what.
8. Two of the cavities being worse then the dentist expected (no patient ever wants to hear that--just keep drilling).
9. My large donation to the dentist's next trip to Hawaii.
10. The awkward numbness on half of my face resulting in ugly half smiles and drooling when drinking.
11. The complete vulnerability I feel on that chair... kind of like a kid. I don't understand why I have to be there (I'm a perfect brusher and flosser) or exactly why they have to do what they are doing to my teeth.
12. Did I mention my appointment was 1 hour and 15 minutes long?