Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Generations

One of my favorite photos that I have is a Four Generations pic that includes my maternal great grandma on down to me as a 6yr old. I want a generations picture for Aurora too but I keep forgetting...

So here is a 3 generation pic with Jared's grandma and mom. To cover up my mistake, I have been saying Jared was the weakest link and got voted out of the picture.

Since I was kicking myself over the missed opportunity from above...the next weekend I made sure to get at least one Four Generation picture at my brother's wedding.
We love all our family!

Let's Go Swimming

I have been wanting to take Aurora swimming all summer since she seems to love water, at least bath water so much. There was finally the perfect day- warm but overcast, had A's bathing suit, my parents pool, and Grandma nearby to help if needed or at least to take pictures.


She is sooo cute! I'm sure you can guess what happened the minute I took off her diaper and put on her swimsuit... if you can't guess there is a clue in the picture above :)

She didn't get excited and kick or smile but she didn't cry or get upset either.
She was her usual laid back self except she wouldn't take her eyes off the water and the look on her face seemed to say "I might be okay with this but I'm watching you all the same."
We sang "The Goldfish Song" all day after that.

Reading: Fiction or Biography?

When we first got Daisy, I wanted to name her Cookie after a trouble-making, mess-creating black & white, green-eyed kitten in one of my favorite children's books.
Jared vetoed the name at the time...but after Daisy's escapades last week and many others previously, he has reconsidered. Of course its too late to change Daisy's name...so when he reads the book to Aurora he exchanges Cookie's name for Daisy.

It really is quite amazing how similar the two cats are! :)

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Is it Friday yet?

So when we (aka: Esther) set this blog up, she asked if she should include my name in the signature. She indicated she would, if I would contribute. I assured her that I would just love to help her keep the blog up to date and thus, my name is included. So in honor of that promise, I am blogging, for the first time ever. Sitting in the bathtub with our cat tonight made me decide this day was blog worthy.

For several hours today, I was tromping around the Lord's (not so) beautiful country in Eastern Kentucky. (I was looking at some coal mine impacted areas for work.) Don't get me wrong, Eastern KY is beautiful in its own right, but the coal companies have done a number on the area over the past 50+ years.

This staining isn't natural.

Nor is the dead vegetation.

Anyway, I digress. Ask me later and I'll tell you my true feelings.

So after getting home, I needed to mow the lawn (I wonder if it's time yet? Cats can hide in the grass without being seen? Check. Grass taller than my ankles? Check. Can I bale the cuttings and sell them as hay? Check and double check. *sigh* I so love to mow the lawn.) Anyway, did that once I got home.

Earlier this week, our AC decided it was time to pass on, so the HVAC guy came out tonight and took an amazingly long time to chit-chat (Oh! You're moving to Louisville. My brother's nephew's wife....) and give me an astonishingly high estimate for a new one. So once I finally got him out the door, I went back out to get our little cat, Daisy.

Several days ago, Daisy decided she didn't want to come inside until almost midnight. As part of this whole adventure she cornered a possum.

Consequently, she was grounded (we didn't let her go outside.) Today, she escaped and spent at least 6-7 hours hidden underneath our neighbor's shed. Well, if anybody is keeping track, it's been a wee bit wet this year. So here's Daisy, with extraordinarily long hair, covered in mud and cobwebs and heaven-only-knows what else. And she is laying there watching me the entire time I'm mowing acting like she is possibly hurt. When I get her and bring her inside she is filthy and not interested in food or water. So I say "Jared, what would be the best way to resolve this problem? Hmm, maybe I should give her a bath. That way I can clean her up and see if anything hurts."

Unfortunately, Esther wasn't here at this point to videotape or photograph this little adventure we had. Of course, cats don't like getting baths, so she fought and flailed and freaked out so our bathroom was covered in cat hair, dirt, and water (new floor and all). And of course, she looks absolutely ridiculous and pathetic since she is soaking wet. Anyway, Daisy quickly learned that the safest place for her was on my back, since I couldn't reach her there. So I've got the bathroom doors closed so she doesn't escape, our AC is out so it is already hovering in the upper 70's, and I'm wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, both of which are soaked through. So after some sweat (mine), blood (again, mine), and tears (not mine this time) I was finally able to soap her up and rinse her off. She shed enough fur to block the drain completely not once, but twice. But I finally cleaned her up and then wrapped her in a towel. I don't think I've ever seen such a mood swing in my life. Literally within 30 seconds, she went from meowing like the world was ending to purring (yes, purring) in my arms as I dry her off. Within a few minutes, she'd even fallen asleep in my arms. Let me tell you, there's nothing quite like a wet animal about a foot from your nose. Odoriferous to say the least... Anyway, the word of the day is "grounded." Say it with me now, Grounded, G-R-O-U-N-D-E-D, grounded.

This is Daisy after we gave her a bath soon after we found her.
For comparison purposes....a non-soaked cat.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Jared and I are baseball fans and we are instilling this value early into our daughter. Aurora is wearing a Cubs shirt from Aunt Katie, a fellow hopeless Cub fan like Jared.

On a side note Jared has since lost the beard. Right after shaving it Aurora kept touching his face and talked up a storm to him. She seemed to be saying "There's my daddy! I wondered where you had been!"



This is us at the Lexington Legends. Through Jared's work we were able to get free tickets and dinner and it was a gorgeous night!

This is Aurora after her first softball game ever. Jared and I played for a coed league through his work. It was a lot of fun, even though it rained but Aurora was cozy and dry in her carseat in the dugout.
One of my own first outings as a baby was to my brother's baseball game.
Thus the heritage continues...