Thankful....

Beauty is everywhere....

(from the garden, circa Spring 2008)

Faith is turning into a young lady!

(school photos early 2009)

Aradia and Big J

(St. Augustine, 2008)

A Good Sleep

(Ava and Bear, about 10 minutes ago)

The Milk Maid says Thank You!!!

Hot-Hot-Hot Friday Mish-Mash

As we age, strange things happen to our bodies. As we have children, the oddities grow by leaps and bounds. Strange hairs suddenly appear on areas that were formerly bare, acne improves or worsens- depending on your skin type, and the occasional hot flash may begin to creep up on you like a four year old with a garden hose leaving you soaked from your head to the creases behind your knees.

I've been privy to all of the above (and more, trust me- so much more), but the worst part of it all has to be the hot flashes. Take one part post-pregnancy hormones, add in a heaping cup of breastfeeding for 19 months (oh sure you stop bf-ing thinking you'll be free of all that jazz but NOooOooo), shake that around with an 86 degree day with 99% humidity and what do ya get?

A little something like this:

"Turn off the A/C!! It's a little cold in here woman!"

--The Milk Maid says what's YOUR caption for Ava?

maybe she can warm up on this exercise equipment! we can hook Ava up to a tread mill and power the whole house... like a hampster in a wheel, round and round she'll go. neighbors will come from miles around to see her, bring her an energy bar, and beg to lease her out for themselves. "PLEEEZE they will beg- let me borrow that kiddo for my house. i need four jobs just to pay the electric bill. pooey and poo poo poo!"

Fluffin' Stuffs

Zeus decided to de-fluff his new toy a couple nights ago...

And apparently the urge to de-fluff is rather catching!

Scene from the Great Pillow De-Fluff 2008, Faith's room

I can't be too mad at Faith for that since she brought home an all A's progress report! This was her 1st all A's progress report or report card ever. Her guided reading grade has come up from a 74 to an 89 to now a 100 average. The only grade that dropped at all was math, and it was from a 96 to a 95... and there is no way I can complain about that. I'm totally impressed with my Faithie-Poo!!

I took Faith on a little Tar.get shopping adventure this afternoon and got her some more evil stupid expensive worthless Pokemon cards and collectibles. What ever it takes to keep her motivated, right?

Ava gets her stitches out tomorrow. We don't have an appointment, but I think (?) we are just supposed to show up. If I'm mistaken, I will let her just gnaw the sutures out like she's already been trying to do any way (insert face full of exasperation here). Here's a pic of her arm for all the curious onlookers:

I'll leave you today with the mental image of what I see in front of me:

A toddler pulling her shoes off, bending over to the floor to grab a toe and putting it in her mouth, and the sounds of slurp slurp slurp as she contentedly licks the salty toe-sweat away!

--The Milk Maid says chew me up and spit me out!

Baby Llama Drama

We added 2 new animals to our collection last weekend... 2 female llamas! Their "real" names are Alexandra Grand and Fantasia. The names I call them are Alex and Fanta. The names Faith calls them are Oreo and Cookies and Cream. Ava calls the llamas "mamas" and "meme!". Jef just yells "Hey llamas!".

Here are photos of our new gals:

Llamas do this thing called cushing when they are being transported. All cushing means, simply enough, is laying down. Llamas are great travelers. I kept trying to convince Jef that we should take Murray (the male llama) for a ride inside of Jef's VW bus when we first got him . Jef thought I was insane. However, when the llama girls came rumbling up to our small farm in the back of a Chevy Astro van, Jef got to wipe that little smirk of doubt off his face.

So, what happens when you combine 2 female llamas and a male llama? Oddly enough, the male llama who'd been extremely docile for months turns into a RAGE of HORNEYNESS that has not been rivaled in this area for many, many (many) moons. As llamas are induced ovulators (um- how FREAKIN' convenient!) we are pretty sure that Murray has knocked up both females. The females, once bred, will spit at the male and then kick him if necessary. Pretty much the way humans act, I do say.

Anyways, approximately 11.5 months from now we should have 2 llama babies (cria) on the ground and frolicking about. Let's all bite our nails for the next year in anticipation *wink*.

If you didn't catch the title of my post it's an homage to my BFF peeps B & K... if you haven't seen their fantastic news then mosey on over and give them a big whooowhooo!

--The Milk Maid says K is the leader of the pack!

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

A few weeks ago my pal K came into town for a little teacher's learning seminar deal. After picking her up from her hotel we drive back to my casa for an evening of fun! I made K wait in the car while I went in to pick up Faith that afternoon from my parent's house. My mother is classified as a scary encounter on a good day, even for me- I couldn't throw a new friend whom she's never met to the wolves on the first visit.

Faith was excited to meet my new buddy from Texas and she bounded down the steps and ran to my SUV. Faith plopped right into the backseat and skipped her usual stiff glare and apprehension towards new people. An explosion of blabber erupted from Faith. K noted that Faith looked so much like me, and before I could interject my usual, "Well yes, but you should see her father" line Faith blurted out something to the effect of:

It's like a cloning experiment! We both look just like mommy!

K laughed. I blushed a little, but I knew exactly where Faith had gotten that line from. Not only do my kiddos look like me, they freakin' repeat everything I say verbatim.

The night went on and I indulged K in a few old photo books from when Faith was a baby, when Ava was a baby, my wedding... and then I showed her MY photos-- baby pictures right on through high school. She kept giving me this look, like damn they are clones.

She asked me why I'd never blogged the pics before, and I told her that I did once but it was many moons ago.

So for your viewing pleasure (and some comic relief) here are a few photos of Faith and Ava as babies along with me, The Milk Maid, from once upon a time... I apologise in advance for the poor photo quality, my scanner is down and these are photos of photos! I will let everyone guess who is who on the first few numbered shots!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

The Milk Maid always styles in overalls!

For B&K... You know the krimped look was IN (I swear this is as geeky as I got)!

I just proved myself wrong... this is a whole other level of geekatude!

I made up for it a little in high school though...

Any one want to wager a guess on my age in this photo?

--The Milk Maid says smooch it!

Friday Mo-Photo

File these under "Reasons to wean an 18 month old".

Told You So!

I told you B and I would be doing this at MAMU:

I don't recall the last time I laughed so hard or drank so much. And to be quite honest, I'm not sure if I did more laughing or imbibing of frosty cool beverages! Either way, I'm glad to have met all the wonderful ladies at MAMU!

There will be a full post later, as I am (much like K and probably a few others) still nursing a wee bit of a hangover!

I will leave you with this tidbit though:

The key to Med Term test success (which I had a 2 chapter test this very morning) is to travel with a cranky toddler, spend your whole weekend futzing around with some kick-ass ladies, drunk dial a few peeps, pass out at a rather late time, get up 2 hours later to travel back home, then study for about and hour all so you can say, "I made a 100 on my genitourinary system and female reproductive system test today!"... And your best friend can call you a dork or a bitch or something like that.

--The Milk Maid says this one is for you Tracey (and all your clear parts!)

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New Hair Monday

I got tired of my plain do. I've been edging towards something fun and funky for a while, but I had not found that "it" I was looking for. Until the other day...

So, I went and got a little jazz to the old tresses today!

My mother, being the saintly and kind hearted person she is (insert lightning strike here), could only manage a, "Well did you mean to do that?" as she pointed at me like I was from another planet. Dad did his usual routine of saying nothing.

Anyone interested in two slightly used, highly moody parents?

--The Milk Maid says money can't buy you love, but it sure can help finance lust!

outdoor furniture

Milestone- 17 Months

Not really sure where the time has gone...

Happy 17 month "birthday" my Ava!

Home Again!

We got home yesterday around 3... mostly ahead of the storm system that blew across the South East and other parts. We stayed under a tornado watch until 9-ish.

We had a blast on the trip! The girls loved the aquarium and the dinosaur museum we went to. We also got a hotel with a heated pool and everyone enjoyed a little dip. We were so exhausted that we ordered from a steak delivery place and ate at the hotel on Saturday night.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell... Here are a few pics (the ones from the aquarium didn't turn out, so these are Tallulah Gorge, the dino museum and hotel shots):

Pre-Trip...

Ava can now say, "I got it!"

Even when she doesn't always "get it".

What it should say, "Welcome to Tallulah Gorge, a big ol' deep hole your dumb ass will fall into if you don't stay behind this large FENCED ENCLOSURE. We know, we've seen it happen!"

The bottom is down there, somewhere.

You can see parts of the bottom of the canyon from the top, I am told. I wouldn't get too close to the edge, so I guess I will take everyone's word for it.

Mama and the girlies!

Our little hotel- the new home of "SWR" (Sissies World Wrestling)

I think Faith got sucker punched here...

The neighbors loved us, I'm sure!

Big J, scoring some grub for us!

At the dino museum!

Faith under the Apatosaurus.

"Everyone look- mommy is taking a photo!"

"I got it!"

"Dude- like woah"

"Lalalala- can't here mommy- lalalalalala"

Faith in front of the megalodon jaws.

The storm we hit, at the top of Clingman's Dome (near the NC/TN border, going thru the Cherokee National Forrest).

Very bad weather- I was glad to get down the mountain- You could see for miles the day before!

I've Turned Into A Mommy-Photo Blogger... Someone Stop Me!

Here are a few (more) photos of the kiddos and the pup... The are pretty self-explanitory, but let's face it-- commentary is just so much fun.


Faith had school photos today. I always try to take a photo before she leaves the house and compare that to the school photo. Always a surprise! (I don't know why she looks so squinty eyed in this photo... she looked much more chipper in person!)

Ava is a climber. Tables, chairs, over the back of the sofa, stairs, into the toilet-- you name it, she plays Hillary to its Everest.

And now for mama's boy! Mr. Zeus is growing and growing (and eating) (and pooping, but not in the house thank goodess). His ears are looking pretty good, don't ya think?

Maybe he will grow into those ears. Isn't he a handsome fella?! I want to buy him doggie clothes, but Jef said that's kind of weird. I guess I will just use people clothes then!

--The Milk Maid say ooo, weee, schweetz!

memory foam mattress