A Veritable Smorgasbord

It's true. What Templeton says about the fair. There were...

(sing with me)

Melon rinds and bits of hot dogs
Cookie crumbs and rotten cotton candy
Melted ice cream, mustard drippings
Moldy goodies everywhere

Lots of popcorn, apple cores
Banana peels and soggy sandwiches
And gobs of gorgeous gook to gobble at the fair

Yes, the fair this evening was a veritable smorgasbord orgasbord orgasbord...

The Dinosaur Museum

Before we high-tailed it to the mountains, we gallivanted to Norman to visit Ann, Omar, and Molly (of course). Henry and Sam ADORE Molly. They pepper her with kisses and want to be within eye-shot of her at all times. It's a good thing for Molly that she doesn't share towns or schools with the boys. They'd be watching her every move.

Even diapering is exciting when it involves Molly.

Bewildered with all the attention

Wrestling over who gets to snuggle with Molly next.

Henry's smug expression tells me that he thinks he's won the battle...but I wonder, what will he do when Sam outweighs him someday? Paybacks are, well, you know...

She needed a pacifier to take the edge off

To give poor Molly a break from her cousins, we took the boys to the "Dinosaur Museum" (aka. the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History).

I think he saw Sharptooth!

Dinosaurs clearly aren't Molly's thing...that, or she was plain pooped after being loved on at home for several hours by two crazy boys.

Just chillin'...checkin out the dinos. When no one's watching, they're like two peas in a pod.

On a point

At least we know this one didn't die hungry

No, not a Yellowstone picture...this Tatonka was fully stuffed and mounted with other prehistoric creatures in Norman.

The Dinosaur Museum was definitely a haven for testosterone

And of course, to leave the museum, you must walk the drooling children past the gift shop...where every new and exciting dinosaur they've just seen with their naked eye is staring at them through the plate glass window saying "pick me", "pick me". So what did we do? We succumbed to the pressure and let each of the boys pick a new plastic pet. Somehow, after picking his first choice, Henry talked Sam into picking his second choice. And of course, Sam thinks whatever Henry picks out MUST be the very best.

Showing off his new friends to Molly

These boots were made for walkin

Hey, Papa Papa. Check me out...some stud Grandpa got me these cool boots. It's too bad mom won't let me wear them to school. And she says I can't go hunting in them either...she says I can't have a gun until I'm at least 30.

Green Mean Fighting Machine

July was a particularly busy month. I painted not one, not two, but three rooms. Wade's job was to entertain the miniatures while I primed, and primed, and primed...and finally painted.

I tackled the dining room first which was putrid green. Gag.

I'm not sure what crafty painting technique Mrs. Former Homeowner was trying when she painted her dining room walls. Whatever it was, it didn't work.

Okay, so it didn't look terrible, but I prefer something brighter. It took two coats of primer to cover all that green!

After two coats of primer...and after painting around the trim.

This is about the time when I started getting nervous about MY color selection. 'Harvester' was beginning to look more like the sun and less like the golden wheat the name implied. I was aiming for more mustard and less yellow. But, I crossed my fingers, had a glass of wine, and kept painting.

Nerves steadily on the rise...

Lucky for me, after 'Harvester' dried, it was much less shocking.

Overall, I was very pleased with how the room turned out. Wade must have been pleased too because he let me move on to the guest bathroom the following weekend (pictures to come). Eventually, we'll add window treatments and make other minor repairs and changes, but the lighter color certainly brightened the room. Goal accomplished.

Not a home project, but a DIY nonetheless. After sniffing paint for an entire weekend, I was finally crazy enough to let Henry make his own pizza. What you can't see in the pictures are the heaps of mozzarella and tomato juice all over the kitchen floor and counters.