Happy Father's Day

For those of you that read our blog and have never met Bill, I married a cowboy at heart. I say "at heart" because it's been a long time since he's been a real cowboy! But he was, once upon a time, a cowboy...ropin' and wrestlin' steers, bare-bronc ridin' cowboy!!! That's one thing that first caught my attention about him (and of course his heart that is as big as the Montana skies). Although he's many years removed from rodeo-ing, it is both of our desire to introduce Claire to it. I know nothing about being an equestrian, but that's why it intrigues me. I've been on a horse once before today!

Today, we celebrated Father's Day at our dear friends, The Morrison's. Rick and "Su-Su" were an intregal part of Bill's life before I entered the picture. Once I entered the picture, I realized you don't find many people better than them. True and honest to the core...and a barrel of fun, too! Rick and Susan have two horses - Burt and Rudy. After we ate lunch today, we went outside to play with the horses.

What a blast we had! Claire and I were definitely over-dressed. Her in her red smocked bubble suit with her church sandals and me in my Ann Taylor top, city shorts and high-heels. We would definitely stick out like a sore thumb in the game "Which of These Doesn't Belong." But we did our best to play the role and guess who was the first to jump on the horse? You got it...ME!

Bill took Claire into the house to change her diaper before her big riding debut and when Susan asked me if I wanted to ride, I took the opportunity to impress my husband! I kicked off the heels and into the saddle I went. I thought I did pretty good job hoisting myself over. I asked for a ladder or a step stool, but they convinced me I could get up there without it and I did! Susan led me into the riding pen and gave me a beginner's lesson in leading a horse. And off I went. And again, I thought I did pretty well for only the second time on a horse. We walked in circles, we changed directions and we even got up to a trot!

As Bill and Claire made their way out to the pen, I could hear Claire cackling! Would she get on with one of us or would she be scared?

I let Bill take a turn and he was able to get Claire up there with him. She wanted to be held...no sitting in the saddle for her!

In the video below, if you listen carefully, you can hear the occasional nervous cackle by her. I'm still not sure if she enjoyed her ride, but both of us are just beginning this sport.

After Bill and Claire finished their turn, Molly, Rick and Susan's daughter that REALLY rides horses took her turn. Claire kicked off her shoes and wanted to run around in the sand in the riding pen. I did get the bubble suit stripped off of her before she started rubbing sand all over her and tossing it over her head. We had a really fun day and I'm sure we will do it again. By the time we were leaving, our girl was pooped out!

Wanted: Green Thumb

My grandmother has a green thumb. Granny Dorie would prefer to be outside, in her garden than inside..any day! Me, I absolutely prefer to be cleaning my baseboards and scrubbing tile and hardwood on my hands and knees in the air-conditioning rather than pulling weeds, dead-heading flowers and fertilizing in the heat. However, in my imagination and dreams, I would love to have the beautiful flowers that Southern Living makes look so easy.

I do fairly well with the easier classifications of flowers (however, I did just kill 3 wave petunias after only one month...what could be easier to care for than a wave petunia).

When we moved into our house after getting married, Bill went a little over-board with western cedar. As most know, Bill built the house while I planned the wedding. He did an absolutely wonderful job and since our house is the smallest in the neighborhood, he decided to give it some "curb appeal." So, we have beautiful western cedar window boxes, beautiful western cedar planters on the front porch and western cedar shutters that completely set our house apart (oh, and don't forget the western cedar arbor in the backyard that he built me for our first anniversary).

So fast-forward to each spring of our married life. Each spring I get my April copy of Southern Living and get my inspiration for the window boxes and planters. Every year is different and I spend hours at the local nursery picking out the perfect combination with the idea that, by chance, the editors of Southern Living are going to drive by Fairview and put me on the cover of the May issue!!!

Each year, I am so excited about my flowers. I have all the right tools. All the right potting soils. Fertilizers, check! I go to planting these beautiful combinations of beautiful flowers. One year my theme was pink and yellow. The next was purple and white. This year, it is red, white and yellow.

With the visions of being a May (or even June) cover story for SL, I go to work. I transfer and plant. Fertilize. Water. Dead-head. Water some more. For about two weeks. And then it gets hotter. And I get tired of watering. And the excitement of being a cover story diminishes. And the dead-heading starts to seem that every flower is dead. So by late July, everything is brown and I head to the backyard to dump my flowers and potting soil and hope for a better year next year.

However, this year "was" going to be different! I am embarrassed to say how much I spent at the nursery this spring. I won't ever tell, but just know that I justified it by saying that our return would be in when the heavenly rays shone from heaven on our flowers and buyers flocked to our house to pay more than the asking price! (Remember, our house is on the market and we are moving on to the next house with all the western cedar of this house, plus front porch posts...will someone let me know if western cedar is out of style!)

I chose some harder classifications of flowers this year because I wanted the eyes to be drawn to the house. I never have done well with geraniums. For me, simply, they are high-maintenance. My mom has said, "Don't get their leaves wet because they will turn yellow," "Don't over water them, wait until the soil is a little dry and then give them a big drink of water...this is when they bloom." I think that is a needy flower and what about the poor flowers next to them that have to wait 2 days to get a drink of water...maybe that's why my petunias have already croaked! And to know that I spent so much on these high maintenance flowers. The pressure is on to keep these flowers alive until the house sells.

So, in conclusion, I need a green thumb. I have to help these flowers survive past July. As I sit in my comfy "computer chair" looking out the window at my dead petunias and happy geraniums, I wonder if anyone will ever look beyond all the western cedar of the new house and notice if I go to silk flowers next spring!!!

I'm going to dead-head and fertilize!

P.S. As you can see from the video below, Claire did not inherit the green thumb either. She is not helping my mission of healthy and happy flowers!

Swimming with the Coleman's

I had our Saturday all planned out. Bill planned to work at the new house all day long, so I knew I needed to plan some activities for me and Claire. This was not going to be my typical Saturday of cleaning house (plus, after talking to the realtor, we decided to wait until July to list the house so that means that I don't have to keep the house in tip-top order for a whole month). Usually, if I'm cleaning house, I clean while she's napping and then Bill and I tag-team when she's awake.

Also, for my sanity, I just needed a plain ole fun day with her. We had a tough week last week with a few battle of the wills where, for once in my lifetime of being a mother, I was actually thankful that I worked outside the home. To further convince myself that I was on the correct path, I called Carrie, my friend with twins, to just make sure her insanity of staying at home with the twins and working from home was greater than my insanity of working outside the home. I never meant to gloat in her misery, but after the week with Claire, I was gloating in Carrie's affirmation that her plight was worse than mine!

However, on Friday, the last day of the bad week with Claire, we went to the doctor for a follow up on her ear infection. The verdict: still infected! The darn child! Despite the occasional dig in her ear, she gives me few other clues that she still does not feel good. Unless, you can chalk our hard week up to her not feeling good. Now you can add guilt onto my list of reasons to make Saturday a fun day for Claire. So, the weekend plans became a redemption for our bad week and a peace offering for my lack of mercy in her not feeling good.

We took her to Jim-N-NIcks on Friday (it was really for our anniversary, but she loves those cheese biscuits and the balloon at the end of the meal) and then Saturday we went to the pool with Cutler and Caroline, Carrie's twins.

Here is Claire playing on the front porch as we waited for Caroline and Cutler to take their nap to go to the pool. Notice the pig-tails. Moms first venture at doing an "up-do". And notice the sunglasses...she wouldn't wear them last summer and won't take them off this summer.

Fast forward...to the pool! I met Carrie in the parking lot of the pool to help her get her 2 kids, 2 floats, a beach bag, a bag of snacks and drinks and a stroller (and this is just Carrie's stuff, my list was just as long) into the pool. I had 2 turtle floats under one arm, while holding Claire's hand and pulling a wagon with Cutler buried under a beach bag. Carrie had Caroline in a stroller and a couple other float options and her beach bag in her hands. We made it into the pool looking like a 3-Ring circus. We made it to a spot (no chairs available) and unloaded our goods and the kids and get into the water!

After playing in the shallow water for about 10 minutes, we got the kids all squared away in each of their floats and ventured to deeper waters. After 3-4 minutes of finally relaxing with all kids content in their float, the whistle blew. It was Swim Break Time. So here we go, rounding up all the kids and all the floats and getting out of the pool. (It's too much work to have fun!) We did find a chair at the break-time and only after 15-20 minutes at the pool, the kids were already ready for a snack!

After break-time, we got them all rounded up and back in the water! The kids loved it and were all 3 pooped out by the time we rounded up the 3-Ring Circus to leave. Carrie and I are going to try it again on Friday!!!

Swimming, First Crushes and Popcorn!

What do all of these have in common? They are all things that Claire has experienced in the past 2 weeks. Sorry for the lack of updates in the last few weeks. It has been a busy season of work, family and traveling and this blogging Momma hasn't had time to take many pictures, let along download them and write about them. So, beware before you start reading...this one is a long one!

On the Mommy front, I have traveled to and fro the month of May. From Boise, ID to Louisville, KY to Birmingham, AL (this one was not work) to San Antonio...the jet-setter is weary.

On the Daddy front, Bill has been busy taking care of Claire while I've traveled, working on the new house and doing "honey-do's" to the current house to get it on the market.

On the Claire front, well that one is a little more exciting.

First, on the "crush" front. I knew Claire was always a daddy's girl (since the day she was born) and realized as she got older that she just likes boys in general. One day we were at the new house and our friend and neighbor, Brian Welch, was driving by Claire. See below for her reaction to Brian:

Then, this week when Mr. Britt came to mow the lawn, Claire ran to the window and sat and watched him as he went back and forth:

I think she's had her first crush!

Bill and I decided to make a quick trip to Birmingham, AL over Memorial Day to visit Uncle Bobby, Aunt Patti, Payton and Landon. We just needed to get away from the house and the stresses associated with it. So we packed up early Saturday morning and headed south. Uncle Bobby and Aunt Patti have a pool; so while the boys headed to the SEC Baseball Championship, the girls headed to the pool! Claire had a blast in the pool - squeeling, splashing and smiling for an hour. Here's my favorite picture of her in the pool (notice her wearing sunglasses - she would have nothing to do with sunglasses last summer).

And finally, popcorn! When I was growing up, most Sunday nights, the Wiman family would eat real (not microwaved) popcorn after church. This past Sunday night, I had a walk down memory lane. It had been a busy Sunday morning and afternoon and we skipped church Sunday night. I wasn't up for cooking supper and as one of our dearest friends, Brad Coleman, says, "If you come to the Cato's at the end of the week, there's nothing in the pantry." (I have an art about grocery shopping where I have mastered only buying what is necessary for one week - experiencing neither famine nor feast- because I don't like to waste and I don't like a really cluttered refrigerator or pantry). All that to say, I had not gone grocery shopping yet and the pantry was the way I like it...empty! I had bought regular "cook on the oven" popcorn during the holidays to make caramel corn. So that is what the Cato's had for supper Sunday night. And Claire is joining in on the Wiman family tradition of liking popcorn on Sunday nights.

That has been our life the past couple weeks. We would love to hear from all of you too!