An Insomniac Rock Star

Could it be possible that I still have jetlag?  Travelling west always seems easier than travelling east.  Westward travellers gain hours, so this should be a snap, right?  Unfortunately now that we've gone west and stayed, I continue to want to add hours to each day.  I stay up a little later each night and consequently sleep a little later each morning.  This is particularly easy to do since my husband is a night owl who requires very little sleep and always suggests watching Clash of the Titans (or something similar) at 11 pm.  Lili is often up at 6 or 7 am, but will snuggle back down and sleep for a few more hours if I pull her into our warm bed.  This has become a problem.  Or maybe it hasn't.  Maybe this is precisely what summer time is for: lying in bed until 10 am while dreaming about giant lizards with underbites who want to be my friend.  Whatever the case, I still feel like a slob.

My chidren have also over-adjusted to our time zone change.  Especially Emma.  She already had issues with settling down and getting to sleep at night, but now it has gotten ridiculous.  She is up and down several times after 10 pm to tell us she can't sleep.  "Of course, you can't," we answer, "You keep getting out of bed and wandering around the house."  I decided that the best thing for her might be some high-interest children's novels for her to read in bed at night.  (Perhaps they shouldn't be quite as interesting, however, since she often reads the entire book in one evening.)  So earlier this week, we headed over to Barnes and Noble to find some late night reading books for Emma.

I suggested "Princess Puppy Palace" or something equally as cute, and Emma's eyes almost rolled out of her head in disgust.  Emma has decided to rebel against all things pink and girly.  (Yes, this is the same girl who had a "pink" themed birthday the year she turned six.)  Emma now wants to be a rock star and prefers skulls to butterflies.  I am serious.  So what book did we take home that night? 
Beast Quest: Ferno the Fire Dragon 
You will be happy to know that this is the first in a series of Beast Quest books, so she will be kept entertained at bedtime for a while now.

Blueberries for Lil... and the rest of us too

Oh Y'all, I think this place was made just for me.  PYO blueberries and obscure used books all in the same spot??  Oh Yeah!  I'll take a giant bucket o' blueberries and that old Graham Kerr cookbook for twenty, please!

Lili was an extremely active participant on today's berry picking outing in Freeland.  She grabbed bunches of blueberries (as big as her little fists could accomodate) and shoved them, stems and leaves included, into her hungry mouth.  We were in our element.

Emma too

And sweet Sophia

And just when we thought our adventure was over...

Emma stepped in that huge pile of pine sap.  It looked like the bottom of her foot was covered in hot marshmallows.  She was mortified.  I laughed almost until I cried.  Then I took a photo.  Then I helped her clean it up.  I'm a good mom like that.

Summer love to you all...

Meredith

If You're Happy and You Know It...

There is not much to report this weekend except that we are happy, and we do know it.

Life has been treating us well.  The girls enjoyed their half-day camps this past week.  They came back with some excellent campfire recipes.  We tried one tonight: orange campfire cakes.  They also both did really well at gymnastics camp and have decided that they would like to pursue classes this fall.  We were especially impressed with Emma's demonstration at the end of the week.  See, those long legs can be trained to do some very elegant things!

Summertime means that we girls are on a pretty relaxed schedule.  Sometimes we aren't sure what day it is.  Lots of nights we forget to go to bed before ten.  EVERY morning Lili somehow manages to find a spot in our bed where I coerce and extra hour or two of sleep out of her.  When September rolls around we will dream of fresh number two pencils and apples for the teacher, but for now, we are enjoying these lazy summer days.  So... we're ready for a new week.  I think blueberry picking may be on this week's agenda!

I Had a Birthday Yesterday...

Some of my most favorite people helped me celebrate.

I had a lovely cake and some flowers as well as lots of carefully chosen greeting cards. (The cake says: Happy Birthday to the Best Mom-- that's me...totally.)

I made a wish (on giant dinner candles since remembering to buy birthday candles is something only moms can manage.)

I had a little help eating my cake.  Even though Lili is not technically supposed to be eating cake at her age, she aggressively protested this policy and earned herself a few bites.  Who could resist?

I was loved and entertained by some of the best in the business.

It was a good day, y'all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

The Skinny (Addendum)

As I type, I am listening to the sounds of three giggling little girls rolling around in the floor of our office.  The littlest Carson is producing some particularly exuberant belly laughs.  Weekends are great.

I realized that in my last family update, I excluded the feline member of our family.  Emily, the cat, is in hog heaven up here.  Although she is supposed to be an indoor cat, she is having none of that.  The call of the forest and of all God's critters is too loud for her to ignore.  She seems to love the sunshine and trees as much as I do.  She has also enjoyed murdering several little woodland creatures and offering them up to us on our back deck as tokens of her unfailing affection.  I guess you can take the cat out of McCleansville, but you can't get that rural, country-lovin' moxie out of the cat.

Additionally, for your viewing pleasure, here is a new candid photo of Baby Lil enjoying her dinner of black beans, tomatoes, cheese and raspberry yogurt.  She still insists on eating by her own self while seated in a chair at the table with us.  Despite her fearsome table manners, she is an absolutely lovely dinner companion who typically laughs at all of our jokes and is up for whatever happens to be on the menu... as long as she gets to feed herself!

"Check out my cute teeth!!"

Have a wonderful week!

Love,  Meredith

Summering... in Michigan, Y'all!

This morning some friends took us to the Downtown Farmers Market which was tons of fun for me.  I do so love the farmers market!  We came home with some Traverse City cherries, plums, Georgia peaches, local lemon-infused honey, locally grown tomatoes... oh, and one apricot that Lili just couldn't resist...

"Hello!  You cannot put those delicious things within my reach and expect me to exercise restraint!"  The stall holder graciously said she could take it as a free sample.  Babies are excellent negotiators like that.

And finally... I know you are wondering... yesterday's Kung Fu Panda show was fantastic!  George and I were so proud if our two eldest, who seemed very comfortable up there on a real stage.  They both delivered their lines with conviction and got lots of laughs from the audience.  Hooray for Summer Camp!  Next week they are learning gymnastics and campfire cookery skills.  (Well, you didn't think we were just going to relax this summer, did you?)

After the show: Fung Fu Panda and his Master Shifu

The Difference Between Girls and Boys

Here's the skinny on us this week...

The Carsons are getting settled slowly but surely.  We are enjoying the summer sun and readjusting to Stateside living.  I still require at least two hours in the grocery store, but I am beginning to feel slightly less bewildered each time I go inside.  I do find that I miss the fabulous array of cheap, quality dairy products that are available in British supermarkets.  American cheese and yogurts are especially poor in comparison.  I paid about $7 for a small chunk of Irish Kerry Gold cheddar last week, but (yum) it was worth it.  I also miss that giant aisle in Tesco that was full of nothing but tea and coffee, but I will cope.  Don't you worry.  I'm still enjoying my washer and dryer and some dark chocolate Reece's cups...where have THOSE been all my life?

Sophie and Emma have been enjoying their Kung Fu Panda camp at the Community Center this week.  Sophie has been befriended by a big girl (age 12) named Sydney who thinks Sophie's "accent is so awesome."  Emma has been ever so serious about learning all of her lines and getting into the dramatics of it all.  Kung Fu Panda camp = Drama + Martial Arts (in case it wasn't clear).  Tomorrow is performance day, and I am excited to see if they will be as confident and animated on stage as they have been at home all week.

Lilianna Gwyneth is the cherry on top.  George and I often remark that we wish we could just freeze her here at this age for a little while.  Wouldn't that be nice?  She is beginning to show us signs of true affection.  She reaches for me and gives hilarious baby kisses, which are open-mouthed, vocal and fantastic.  She can easily be turned into a little box of giggles, but seems to end up with an annoying case of the hiccups everytime she laughs.  She now has four delightful little teeth (two up, two down, Mom).  Those teeth are finally popping through like crazy.  It seems like everytime I look in her mouth, there is a new tooth (and thankfully NO poisonous wild mushrooms).

Today I was able to do some friends a favor by looking after their two children, who happen to be little boys.  Did you know that boys and girls are completely different animals?  You would think that years of working in elementary schools would have taught me that, but apparently I had forgotten.  I have been up to my eyeballs in little girls for the past eight years, so I needed a refresher course in boys.  Today I got one.

I wondered, when their mom dropped them off, why they each had a backpack with a spare set of clothes.  Two giant mud puddles and an afternoon run through the sprinklers answered that question.  The noise level at my house also seemed to increase by about 100%.  (I honestly, didn't think that was possible.)  'Boy Noise' is different than 'Girl Noise'.  My girls often scream or squeal at each other.  They sing operatically and make other vociferous girly sound effects.  Boys stomp and throw and bang and shout like barbarians on a mission.  It's what they do.  To me the funniest illustration of boy vs. girl differences happened today when my girls were at camp and I had the two boys (and Lili) to myself.  The three year old asked, "Meredith, will you play a game with us while the girls are at camp?"  Sure I would!  Did they want to play Crazy 8's or Candy Land?  Nope.  They wanted to play "a game with guns and sword fighting."  I decided that this was not the best game for me to play with a baby on my hip and finally talked them into taking out the Play-Doh instead.  Wow.

I enjoyed my day with boys today, but I think God knew what He was doing when he gave me a house full of girls and George.  I think I'm better at tea parties and Barbies than I am at dump trucks and hand to hand combat.

Gourmet Baby

Yesterday morning, after attempting to do a bit of gardening with my little companion, I sent the following email to the mycologist to whom I was referred after speaking to Poison Control:

Hello,

These are photos of mushrooms found in my yard in mid-Michigan that were possibly ingested by a 9 month old baby. When I realized she had gotten into them, I scooped all of the mushrooms out of her mouth and attempted unsuccessfully to induce vomiting. Her behavior is currently normal, and she is showing no signs of illness or discomfort, but I just wanted to check. I am not sure if any of the mushrooms were actually swallowed, but she certainly had one in her mouth that was well chewed!
Thank you for your advice.
Sincerely,
Meredith Carson, mother of Lilianna

A quick fifteen minutes later, I got a call back from Poison Control saying that these had been identified as puffballs which are completely non-toxic.  Thank God!  Then the Poison Control operator took down all of my details so that she could enter me into the "Bad Mommy" database.  I was already in there after I called several years ago when Emma, at the age of 2, ate nearly an entire bottle of Tums Antacids when I was in the shower one morning.  I don't know how Sophie made it through early childhood without eating something questionable... actually, she probably just did it without my knowledge.  Go ahead a put another tick mark next to my name for good measure, Poison Control.

I had also sent a copy of this email to my good friend Jenny who works for the State of NC in the Water Quality Division.  She is a clever, often outdoorsy girl, so I thought she too might have some insight on Lili's magic mushrooms.  Not two minutes after I had heard back from the official mycologist, Jenny emailed back with the same ID.  The mushrooms were, indeed, puffballs according to her mushroom source in the DENR office.  Additionally, Jenny informed me that these puffballs are apparently delicious when sauteed in butter.  So our Lil' has made a tremendous culinary discovery in our front yard.  What more could you want out of a Monday morning? 

At the end of the day there were still weeds all over my garden, but all of the children survived without any major traumas.  I call that a pretty successful day.

A Woman With a Past

Over the weekend, we unpacked lots more boxes.  Strangely they seem to be multiplying in the garage, but George assures me we will get through them all one day.  We feel a bit like archaeologists digging through the boxes that contain evidence of who we were in the past... before Wales.  We have found scads of old photographs which have reminded us that we didn't always have these lines around our eyes, and that I used to be completely stretch mark-free once upon a time.

Our children are also enjoying discovering these relics of our past.  One of my most dear finds is pictured above.  It's my Ernie.  He was my version of "Lambie," and as you can see from the above photo, he had to endure a pretty serious open-heart procedure which was performed lovingly by my late Grandmother, Adeline.  I loved that boy so much that I nearly chewed his ears off entirely.  (Now George finally understands that that is just the way I show affection.)

Among our other great childhood toy finds were: a box full of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (not mine), a remote controlled Corvette with a cord (also not mine), and FOUR Cabbage Patch Kids.  Emma and Sophie are completely smitten with those horrible "Cabbage Babies," as they call them.  Giselle Heniretta, Vivian Lorraine, Ernie Rick and Bubba Blake have come out to play again.  I am not, however, sharing ear-less Ernie.  He's all mine.

For more giggles about old childhood finds, check out my friend Shay's blog from her archives:

http://shayhabes.blogspot.com/2009/12/creepy-mccabbage.html

and

http://shayhabes.blogspot.com/2009/12/creepy-mcbarbies-too.html

Need a New Best Friend? Go Car Shopping.

After what feels like ages of searching, I am finally in possession of my very own new-ish Mommy-mobile.  We have had a long and exhausting search which has taken over our lives and emotions this week, but now we're halfway there.  One vehicle down; one to go! 

We have also made the acquaintances of several car salesmen who wanted to be our new best friends (as long as we were in need of a vehicle).  I know that not all car salesmen are slick and shifty (like the pretty decent one we eventually purchased from in the end), but some of them are.  They like to use your first name too frequently and assure you that they understand your needs.  Most of them had no concept of my needs.  "Big Al," for example told me, "Look Meredith, you got kids.  You got a lotta stuff.  You're gonna be driving them and all thier friends all around town.  Heck, you prob'ly also got a lotta big friends just like me.  I'm a big guy, you know.  So you're gonna need a big vehicle to suit your family's needs."  Al didn't have a clue.  (I've been driving a Ford Focus for the last few years with my three kids.)  In the end, I was pretty annoyed with his assessment of my needs and with the pre-recorded spiel that constantly spewed from his never-closing mouth.  I was also annoyed with his overly familiar use of my first name and the fact that he referred to other people like me as "gals."  (Am I a little hormonal this week?  Who's got chocolate?)

So in the end, I didn't wind up going with Al's giant, gas-guzzling minivan, but I did buy a slightly more sensible minivan from another dude, who happened to be much less slick and even confided in me, "Meredith, I hate minivans.  They are so not cool."  I totally agree with my new best friend, Kevin from the Nissan dealership.  Minivans ARE completely lame, but it looks like that's what I need right now.  Next week I will be driving Sophie and Emma to Kung Fu Camp in my new Mommy-mobile, and maybe that's just a little bit cool.

Happy Weekend to All!!

Fun Fourth Back on Home Turf

Our first "Fourth" back in the States in pictures...

Riley and Sophie make the blue Gatorade moustaches work!

Food cooked outside just tastes better.  Right, guys?

Nice Arm Candy, George.

Lili of the Lake

Seaweed... or is that Lakeweed... is an excellent source of fiber.

Big Project

Quality Time With Dad

This eventually became something huge.  I'm not exactly sure what it was, but it was big.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

If I'm too tired to stay up for the fireworks tonight, does that mean I've done something right?

I Think I'm Gonna Like it Here**

Even though it was a perfectly warm evening, we couldn't resist building a fire in our backyard firepit and making some real American S'mores.  (There wasn't a Cadbury Digestive Biscuit in sight.)

How cool is it that I can do this in my backyard??  It's like the best part of camping without having to set up a tent, and then I get to go in and sleep in my own cozy bed.  Riley "Cutie Pants" Fitzgerald was an excellent marshmallow-roasting companion.

Lili was so impressed by the whole affair that she sprouted a new tooth!

Remember: Only you can prevent a forest fire.  Be sensible with those flaming marshmallows, kids!

** I wonder how often I quote song lyrics on this blog?  Apparently my life is a chocolate-covered musical... not a bad thing at all if you ask me.

A Tale of a Couple of Places

Now that I've gotten these pictures off of my camera, I can share...

We've said goodbye to Wales.  The above photo was taken at Gelynis Farm, the beautiful B&B in Radyr, where we stayed after our furniture had been packed.

We've also said goodbye to love...

It was one of those bittersweet, long goodbyes (as you can plainly see).

Then we packed everybody up and embarked on a long and exhausting journey. (The above photo was taken less than an hour away from our house in Cardiff.)

Finally we arrived and began to get settled in the Great Lakes State...

Some good friends here took us out to one of the local lakes and Lili got to sit on a sandy beach for the first time in her little life.  She quickly got bored with the sand and made a b line for the water.  That girl has absolutely no fear at all!

"This is like the biggest bathtub ever!"

Happy Summertime from all over the place!

Love from the Carsons :)