Sunday, September 29, 2013

The mountains in fall

The fall colors are quickly becoming beautiful around Jeff's parents' house. Here are some pictures I've taken so far:






This is right up the road from Jeff's parents' house.


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Fall fun

Ever wonder how cider is made? Well, we now know! We went to a cider mill and learned all about how apple presses work. 

It was a cool place that had a fun playground, ducks and geese to feed, old cars, trucks and tractors, pretty flowers and pumpkins, a snack shop with all kinds of apple-related treats and ice cream, of course. There were lots of places to stick your head in and take souvenir pictures. And there was a gift shop that had all kinds of syrups, butters, salsas, sauces, ciders and more.

Biscuit took a nap on the ride over, so by the time we arrived, he was ready to go. He played cowboy and rode his imaginary horse all over the place.

Grandpa explained to him how old-fashioned apple presses work. And Biscuit really liked the sweet cider. They had kid-sized servings of it in pumpkin squirt bottles.

The cool temperatures and the breezes here set the mood for our fall fun.

Here are some pictures from the day:



These ducks have really bad toupees!


Biscuit tries out his sweet cider.

This tractor was cool. It has a slide coming out the back.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

At Grandma and Grandpa's

It was a looooooong trip to get to Grandma and Grandpa's. The 10-hour trip was plenty long, but we've driven it enough times to know where to take breaks.

The problems came from construction on the highway and slow restaurant service. The construction couldn't be helped, but I'm not sure what the problem was at the restaurant. Our server was very nice, but once we placed our order, it took half an hour for our food to come. Being on the road, that was not ideal.

But it did give Biscuit a chance to stretch his legs and be out of his car seat for a while.

He was really, really good during the trip. I bought a couple of new movies, so we broke down the trip into chunks.

We left home and drove until lunchtime. After lunch, we put in a movie for Biscuit to watch. After the movie, he had naptime. After naptime came dinner. After dinner was another movie. And then we were at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Biscuit is excited about the sleeping arrangements because he's getting to sleep in the bottom bunk of the beds where Jeff slept as a kid. Jeff's Mom had covered the underside of the upper bunk with a piece of fabric with baseball players on it, so Jeff was able to share that secret with Biscuit when he went to bed.

He's made himself right at home, and he says he's excited about seeing more of his people.

Here are a few pictures in the car:

Mouth full of chocolate chip cookie. The sun was coming
from the driver's side of the car, but luckily, it was still high enough not to shine straight into the windows.


Naptime with his pillow and blankie. Did
you know that red is his favorite color?

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Road trip

I've never live-posted here before, but we're on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The GPS says we'll be there at 9:37 p.m.

Biscuit is having nap time, complete with his pillow and blankie. Ten hours is a long time to ask him to be in the car, but thankfully, he likes to go and do as much as Jeff and I do.


Sunday, September 22, 2013

First ride in the Barracuda

Jeff and I have wanted to take Biscuit for a ride in the Barracuda for a long time. But the problem is that the car is so old (a 1967 model), that the seat belts can't accommodate Biscuit's car seat.

Finally, we looked around and realized that a booster seat would work with the seat belts. So we got one. And it's been sitting in the garage since June. Our summer just got away from us.

Technically, Biscuit is a few pounds shy of the goal weight for booster seats, but it seems to fit him well, and after I yanked and pulled and wiggled him and his seat, I was sure that he wasn't going anywhere.

Of course I took some pictures and a video of him in the car.

And of course I'll share them.





Friday, September 20, 2013

Yeehaw at the fair

I forgot that I shot a video of Biscuit on the merry-go-round at the fair. It had all horses, but even if it hadn't, he would have walked round and round until he found a horse.

Yeehaw!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

More stuff to do

The errands continue.

I mentioned that Jeff and I went to the eyeglass store yesterday evening. What I didn't mention was that when I tried to use my flexible health spending debit card, it was declined.

I was so frustrated. Our benefits changed back in May after our company was bought out, but I haven't needed to use the card for anything. So of course when I try, it won't work.

I called the benefits people today, and they informed me that according to their records, I haven't worked at the paper since March 31.

Really?

First of all, we didn't even have those benefits on March 31. Second of all, Friday is my 14th anniversary at the paper, and if they knew how much work I've been doing lately, there would be no question about my employment.

So I asked them what I needed to do to prove that I'm still employed. You know what they said? It'll take at least five business days for them to get the information they need to prove that I'm still employed.

Again I say, really?

I told her that my glasses were picked out, measured and awaiting payment, and the store will only hold them for 24 hours. She said to pay for them, and they would reimburse me. I didn't want to do that, but as bad as my old glasses were, and the fact that I had already done all the picking out and measuring, I caved and did it.

Jeff and I went back at lunch today and paid for my glasses. They said they'd be ready this evening, so we went back to pick them up. Jeff decided he would pick some out while we were there, so poor Biscuit was stuck in the eyeglasses store for the second night in a row.

Thank goodness for games on my phone!

As we left the store, I said to Biscuit, "You did a good job being patient in the store this evening."

"It's no big deal, Mom," Biscuit said. "You know why?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because there were no bad guys in there," Biscuit said.

Bad guys or no bad guys, I picked up my new glasses (which Biscuit said he liked a lot), Jeff ordered his new glasses, and Biscuit was more patient that I thought he'd be.

And hopefully, we're done with the errands for a little while.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A crazy day

What a hectic day we had today.

Biscuit and I had dental checkups this morning at 9:20 and 10 a.m., respectively. Both appointments went well, but we both needed followup appointments.

Biscuit had to get a filling in 2012 on one of his back teeth, and somehow, that filling has gone missing. He hasn't complained, and we have no idea how it could've come out.

I have a couple of fillings that I got in high school that are starting to wear out. The sealant material they used back then wasn't as good as the stuff they have now, so I've got to get those two fillings replaced.

My appointment is in early October, but when I called about Biscuit's problem, they said to bring him at 2:40 today. Biscuit's checkup appointments are with our family dentist, but when we found out he needed a filling in 2012, we wanted to go to a pediatric dentist

Jeff gets so nervous about going to the dentist because his childhood dental experiences weren't that great. I was lucky enough to have a great dentist, and I definitely wanted Biscuit to have that same experience.

The pediatric dentist has a sailboat/fish/ocean theme in his office. He sings to the kids while he works on them. He rubs flavored Chapstick into the laughing gas mask before the kids use it, so it has a nice smell for them. He also has a really cool prize and sticker drawer. Each kid gets one of each.

So back to this morning. 

I was already going in late to work because of our morning appointments. Then I counted it up and realized I was going to have to leave the office by 1:45 to drive 20 minutes to pick up Biscuit, then drive another 20 minutes to the dentist office.

Biscuit and I got to his appointment about 10 minutes early. The office wasn't busy, so they called us right back.

Because all the drilling had been done back in 2012, all the dentist had to do was clean it out well and fill it back up. There was no laughing gas, no drama, no waiting, no prepping, no nothing. They had the filling compound ready to go when we got there.

Biscuit sat down in the chair at 2:35. He asked for the Spider-Man blanket, and they started work. At 2:42, the dentist was done.

Seven minutes. SEVEN MINUTES! and they were done.

Biscuit did great. He sat still and opened wide. Dr. Scott made a big fuss over him, and Biscuit got a red car and a Superman sticker for his troubles.

And to top it all off, Dr. Scott said there would be no charge for his work today because the filling shouldn't have come out.

All in all, it was a great experience ... if you can say that about going to the dentist.

Biscuit and I got in the car, and I realized that the whole process took a tiny, tiny portion of the time I assumed it would take. Jeff had an interview at someone's house at 3:30, and he was going to take Biscuit home after that.

Well, that meant that I had to keep Biscuit occupied from 2:45 to about 4:30. I certainly couldn't take him to the office for that long.

So poor me, I had to go shopping!

We went to a clothing store where I had a 20% off your total purchase coupon. I picked up some fall clothes. I used to love to shop, but since the boy got here, it can't be as leisurely as it used to be. With him in tow, I have to stroll through my section, grab what I want to try on, head to the dressing rooms, make my decisions and hit the checkout. No dilly-dallying.

Biscuit and I got to the office and socialized with a few people. Then Jeff took him home, and I got back to work.

Then ... whew, this makes me tired just thinking about it.

After I left work, about an hour later than usual, we took Biscuit to the shoe store for new shoes. That took about half an hour. 

Jeff and I had eye doctor checkups yesterday, so we went into a store to look for new glasses. That took FORever. Biscuit was a champ, though. The glasses guy made him a paper football to play with. Then he played a couple of games on my phone. Then he started pointing out pairs of glasses he wanted me to try on. I tried on his choices, but they're not the ones I chose. He was convinced that I needed red glasses because red is my favorite color.

Copper-colored? Yes. Red? Not so much.

We finally got a quick dinner about 8:15.

As we were leaving the restaurant at close to 9 o'clock, Biscuit reminded me that I told him that he could buy a toy because he did such a good job at both dentist offices.

Biscuit sleeps from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. I know his bedtime is a lot later than other kids his age, but he gets plenty of sleep, and the timing works out well for us.

But even with a later bedtime, we were going to be cutting it close. We had to buy the toy, drive home, get him a bath, brush his teeth and get him in bed. And all he wanted to do was play with his new toy.

It was quite a crazy day, and we missed Biscuit's bedtime by about half an hour, but he got clean teeth, a new filling, two prizes and two stickers (one of each from each dentist), two new pairs of shoes and a new toy.

If he asks for anything tomorrow, the answer is no!

Fair night

We went to the fair tonight. We ended up having a very cheap night!

I had a card that got us free parking, free admission for up to six people and 10 free ride tickets, and one of my friends won a contest for four ride armbands, which entitle you to free rides on everything.

Poor Jeff had to work, so three of our friends went with Biscuit and me.

They gave Biscuit one of the armbands, and he rode and rode and rode. He was a little more daring on the rides that spin around, like these tea-cup swing things and the tilt-a-whirl. But he was not amused by a little alligator roller coaster that went a little too fast for his taste.

I didn't get Biscuit bathed and in bed until after 10:30, and I'm about ready to head there, too.

I didn't carry my nice camera tonight because when we got there, it really did look like rain. So here are some pictures I took with my phone.

Pondering the meaning of the carousel.

Tough motorcycle face.

This ride actually went a little higher than Biscuit thought it would.


Fair pizza for dinner. Not nutritious, but it filled him up.

The poor boy is lost in the Monkey Maze. But don't worry, a cute little
blonde girl came behind him, grabbed his hand, and led him through
the maze of glass. He went through the maze about eight times. When
other kids were there to lead the way, he was fine. But when he
was alone, he forgot to hold his hands out in front of him,
and he smacked his head into the glass ... TWICE!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Mama on the radio

A post from The Daddy Man:

The boy loves riding in my Mustang even though the radio doesn't always work.

A while back, on our way to day care, we had a rare morning where the radio was working.

The Bryan Adams song "Straight From the Heart" came on. It has a piano intro, and the boy put two and two together and realized that we have a piano in our living room.

He said, "Hey, Dad, is that Mama on the piano?"

And I didn't miss a beat, "Yes, boy. Yes, it is." And he seemed satisfied.

So he thinks Mama played in a rock 'n' roll band in the '80s.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

A music man

Jeff, Biscuit and I ran errands this evening. I needed to pick up some pictures at one store and buy a couple of things at another store in the same shopping center.

We came up with a plan. I would drop Jeff off at the store that had the pictures. Then Biscuit and I would go to the other store. Then we'd all meet at the burrito shop for dinner.

As Biscuit and I stepped out of our store, Biscuit stopped dead still and started looking around.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I heard a guitar, Mom," Biscuit said.

I listened, too, and then we heard a band crank up.

"Come on, Mom" Biscuit said, and he started walking toward the music.

"Hang on!" I told him. "We're supposed to be meeting Dad for dinner."

"Call him," Biscuit said.

At that moment, Jeff called me. I told him Biscuit was on his way toward the live music by the fountain, and because Jeff knows how Biscuit responds to live music, he said, "I'll meet y'all there."

The music was just a so-so band playing cover tunes, but I asked Jeff, "Why do even mediocre cover bands sound good live?"

We listened for about 20 minutes, during which time Biscuit ran and ran and ran and ran and ran.

He raced with Monty, his imaginary brother. Then as he walked on the wall around the fountain, he pretended to surf. It wore me out just watching him!

I enjoyed sitting out there because I could finally, FINALLY! feel fall in the air. I'm tired of sweating.

I am not a Southern belle who glistens. I SWEAT! And I'm tired of it. So tonight was really nice.

Here are a couple of videos of Biscuit playing there.




Thursday, September 12, 2013

Out of the mouth of my babe

A few things Biscuit has said recently:

Sick time: Jeff was working from home Monday. I called him a little after 5 p.m. and said, "I'm coming home. I feel terrible."

I couldn't really describe how I was feeling except ... awful.

I got home and immediately changed my clothes and crawled into bed. Jeff came in and felt my forehead. "You feel hot," he said.

"I don't have a fever," I told him. "I can't remember the last time I had a fever."

Jeff got the thermometer, and yep, I had a fever.

I was in bed by the time Jeff went to pick up Biscuit. And then when Biscuit got up the next morning, I was still in bed. It was Tuesday morning, and Biscuit hadn't seen me on my feet since Monday morning. He and Jeff were standing at our bedroom door. I could feel them staring at me. Then Biscuit had a question.

"Dad, can Mom walk?" he asked.

Jeff kinda laughed, and Biscuit looked at him like he wasn't pleased at all with his response.

"Can she, Dad?" he asked.

"Yes, boy," Jeff said. "She can walk. She's just sick, and she needs to rest."

My fever broke during the night Tuesday, so I reset my alarm later and decided I would go into work later than usual.

The nicest part was that I didn't have to worry about anything. Jeff took care of everything, including meals for him, Biscuit and me, bath time for Biscuit, bedtime for Biscuit, daycare for Biscuit ... everything. I have a very good man.

The most frustrating part about the whole thing (well, other than feeling like someone had beaten me with a baseball bat), was that I didn't touch Biscuit between Monday morning and Wednesday evening.

When I picked him up at daycare Wednesday evening, I immediately grabbed him up and hugged him.

"Put me down, put me down," Biscuit said.

"Why?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"Are you still sick, Mom?" Biscuit asked. "If you touch me, I might get sick, too."

"I'm not sick anymore," I told him.

"Okay, then pick me up again," Biscuit said.

And I did. It was nice to get my hands on him again.


Signing off: When Biscuit talks to any of his people on the phone, he always ends his conversations the same way.

When he's done talking, he says, "Well, I love you. Bye."

And that's pretty much the end of it. 

Whoever he's talking to usually says something like, "I love you, too. Bye." Because what other choice do they have?!

Biscuit was in my bedroom the other evening. He was telling me all about his most recent superhero story line.

"Mom, I'm Spider-Man," he said. "And my hands are sticky, so I can climb up buildings. And I'm not afraid to be on top of tall things. And there are bad guys, and I can put them in web jail. And then we can call the police, and then they'll put him in real jail, and he can't be a bad guy anymore. Does that sound like a good plan, Mom?"

"Yep, that sounds good," I said.

Biscuit walked to the bedroom door, then stopped and looked at me. "Okay, well, I love ..." Biscuit said, then he looked around the room, realized that he was saying to me in person what he usually says on the phone and started laughing.

"Did you hear what you almost said?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Mom," Biscuit said. "Sometimes I'm just so silly."

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

A whole week?

If someone bet me money about how long it's been since I posted something here, there's no way I would've thought it's been a week. Well, a week and one day, actually.

It's been kinda crazy around here, but until I get a chance to write more, here are a couple of pictures from last week.

We met some friends at a park that has rides, including this antique carousel.

One of my friends brought a badge back as a trip
souvenir for Biscuit, so he decided he would wear it
and one of his cowboy hats for show-and-share
at daycare. He made the shirt he's wearing. His
class got to make tie-dye shirts as an art project.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Biscuit's water moves

Remember a while back when I was hoping that Biscuit wouldn't have my fear of water?

Watch the video below, and you'll know that a fear of water is no longer a concern.



Biscuit was wearing a float that goes around his arms and his chest, but I'm guessing if he can spend a little more time with his cousins, we won't need to check into swimming lessons!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Family time at the campground

I kept waiting to hear Biscuit padding through the house this morning. But it never happened. That's because he's about 25 minutes away in a camper with my brother, sister-in-law and their kids.

Last year, I sent my brother a link to the campground's website and said, "Y'all should come up here and stay at this campground. We can come over and hang out, and it will be like a little vacation for all of us."

I didn't know that he would take me up on it.

They came up Saturday morning and will go home today. The checkout time at the campground isn't until 4 in the afternoon, so we left Biscuit there last night, and we'll head over around lunchtime and hang out until they go home.

The kids played in the pool yesterday afternoon.


Then we got quite a thunderstorm. We all piled into the camper and waited it out. But that didn't stop the campfire later in the evening.



And then it was bath time. The camper has everything you could need, including a tub.


It wasn't long after bath time that Jeff and I were ready to head home. Biscuit was a little weepy. That's really unusual because he has stayed with them plenty of times before. We figured out that he was just exhausted. I hugged him and could see tears in his eyes, so I started joking with him.

I pointed at him and said, "Hey! If you get in the pool tomorrow before Dad and I get there, you BETTER NOT have any fun!! You hear me?"

"But Mom, I WILL have fun," Biscuit said, smiling.

"You better not! Don't you have any fun without me!" I told him.

"Okay, Mom," Biscuit said. "I won't have any fun."

"That's better," I said.

"But I will," Biscuit said, smiling.

I felt a whole lot better leaving him smiling.

We're picking up pizza for lunch when we head over there, and everyone knows that pizza makes everything better in Biscuit's world!