Burgers and Bowling

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We, along with Holly, enjoyed being kings and queens for a wonderful Memorial Day in Baton Rouge!

The kids love action, action, action and food, food, food, of course. Burger King was our first stop. I assumed the food would be easier and cheaper at a fast-food place than eating at the bowling alley. The little AND big kids celebrated youth by wearing classic Burger King crowns.

We have discovered, as a family of six, that paying for six separate individuals is usually more expensive than paying up-front for a membership or getting a package deal for entertainment. Bowling proved this true, again. It was far less expensive to buy a whole two hours of bowling with a pizza and pitcher of a drink that it was for us to pay for seven people to play one game! We, therefore, enjoyed two full hours of bowling fun plus (yes, more) food and pink lemonade.

A little playful competition was fun for us adults, but NOT as fun as watching the kids' unique bowling styles. I can't explain their styles, so I decided to "video clip" them with my camera so y'all can see for yourselves.

Notable to mention is Jillian's off-camera faux pas. She was getting tired and carried away with her independence and threw the ball, forgetting to let go. She let go in mid-air, but before she was falling (with the ball) to the floor. She fell, splat, on her rear and found herself looking at the ceiling as she laid about three feet past the "let go of the ball" line and cried. The moment was so cute it made us giggle, but Jillian's pride and bottom hurt. Nothing a little pink lemonade couldn't help fix.

Circle Bowl must not mind dents in their lanes, because I'm sure we left many!

Full of Pee and Vinegar

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The meanest, ugliest-looking turtle found its way into our yard a few weekends ago.

Animals, insects and reptiles that meander their way into our backyard in the daylight have no chance of leaving unnoticed. Four very curious kids are constantly keeping their eyes peeled for something new to catch and investigate.

Thank goodness they had enough sense to come get Daddy's help with this one. Thank goodness they took my and Travis's advice in being cautious with turtles. We told them never to put their hands near a turtle's head and ONLY hold a turtle on the rear-part its shell because some turtles can stretch their necks completely back to the middle of their shell and strike.

The kids said they found the turtle by the trampoline and found some kind of container (Madalynn didn't elaborate) to try to put it in. Right away the kids realized this wasn't the average, laid-back kind of turtle that doesn't mind going for a ride in the wagon or being thrust into a bucket of water to see if it's a swimmer! Keeping their limbs and digits a safe distance from the turtles mouth, they tried a few more times to capture the turtle before summoning Daddy. They know not to count on me when it comes to scary-looking reptiles!

Travis came over and immediately knew this turtle was a fighter, so he carefully picked it up and held the VERY back of it's shell. One of the kids opened the door for him and he brought it in and showed it to me. I backed up when I saw how Travis was holding the back of the shell, its head pointed toward me. Yikes!

He and I confirmed neither of us had ever seen such a strange, prehistoric-looking turtle like this one. He then invited me to the backyard for the show. Boy did that turtle put on a show!

It would raise up on it's clumsy-looking legs (kind of like a cat raises it's back) and pull it's head back to warn us not to mess with him. Oh, but the fun we had messing with him!

Travis finally scooped him up in a flower pot and used a plant tag to pester him to demonstrate how quickly and aggressively he attacked. I'm glad it was that plant tag and not Travis's finger.

We then put him out on the lawn and let him perform. We had some more fun watching the mad turtle, then Travis (for the safety of the dogs and all of us) scooped it up and took it out behind the fence to go on its merry way.

I did some Internet searching and confirmed the turtle was a common snapping turtle (Snapping turtle. Duh, Jae). Besides the fact that the turtles head was long enough to reach clear over to the middle of its shell to strike, its LONG dinosaur-like tail, knots on its shell and most interesting pink and "knobby" skin made the turtle all the more ominous.

Tropical Punch

Our new sago palm!

This is the biggest "baby" offshoot of the main trunk.
Here are a few more of the little sago babies I removed from the trunk and transplanted.


We added our first "palm tree" to our landscape this weekend!

Learning to garden in Louisiana has been fun and interesting. I know Kansas plants, trees and shrubs, but tropical plants have been a mystery to me. I've had to read up on and learn about them by seeing the real things in landscapes.

Curiosity and wonder have plagued me since we moved here about these short, stubby little palm trees that seem to just boldly and gracefully fountain from their centers. I searched my woody plants manuals (tree/shrub dictionaries) and could not find a palm resembling these punctuated little tropical plants. Were they palm trees, tropical plants or a shrub? I wondered. I finally stumbled upon one for sale at Lowe's one day and found it was called a "sago palm"-and the littlest one they had was too expensive to buy for our landscape!

Turns out the "sago palm" is neither a shrub, tree or tropical plant! It's a cycad, a unique species of plants described as "prehistoric." They've been around for a long time and haven't changed much since their beginnings. Interesting, huh?

The sago palm Travis labored to get home is a GEM of a specimen! Probably worth hundreds of dollars, our new sago palm is mature. We estimate, upon researching details on the Internet, that our palm is around twenty years old. It's "trunk" is about about 2' tall. Research revealed sago's grow in trunk height a mere 1 foot per 10 years. I had never seen one with a trunk!

The MOST amazing thing, is that the sago palm was FREE. ADM has been in the process of buying out homes from citizens near the elevators that are annoyed from noise and grain dust. The houses are being demolished and the land leveled. I casually asked Travis, "Are there any plants we might be able to dig up and bring to our yard before they're destroyed?" He was a little hesitant (it was an out-of-his way honey-do request) but said he would go look for me.

He called me the day after and asked me if I wanted a sago palm. I said, YES! He was a bit confused by my enthusiasm. To Travis it was just a plant he wasn't sure I wanted. To me, it was a blessing from God! The palm was packed into a too-small plastic pot. Travis cut it off and brought it home bare-root.

He got home after dark and told me to come outside. He shined a flashlight on the palm and I was speechless. WOW, I was thinking. Then I looked at Travis and asked, "Has the person who left this had a chance to come get it?" Travis said, "Plenty of time. She came and got lots of her other plants, but left this." I couldn't imagine someone just leaving it behind.

The next day (Saturday), the sun revealed what I hadn't noticed by flashlight- little "baby" sago palms! The "babies" were offshoots of the main stem and some were even attached at a below-ground level.

I carefully removed each one of the babies from the big plant and put them in a separate box-eleven in all! The "branches" are VERY sharp, so we very carefully picked the big palm up by the trunk and took it to its new place. It's now front-and-center in the front bed. All the babies are now hanging out in pots in the backyard so I can nurse them to growth.

Thanks God and Travis!

After: Mother's Day Makeover

My kitchen window view before...

My kitchen window view after!
Front view before...
Front view after.
Looking toward the house before...
Looking toward the house after.





The plants are in, the plant stand is "planted" and there are now borders defining my Mother's Day gift as an official bed!

Railroad ties and the plant stand Travis made, a half-price pot from Hobby Lobby, and the cross that our realtor gifted us with when we moved in (that we hadn't yet found a good place for) make up the "bones" of the bed.

Transplanted purple fountain grass(on both sides of the plant stands and yellow coreopsis (all the little chopped-off-looking plants) from another one of my beds are now positioned to grow up and make beautiful plant mainstays of the bed.

The potted plants are orange zinnias and the bright green foliage is sweet potato vine. To allow for versatility I have two "holes" on each side of the bed plan for specimen or seasonal plants I can change out as I want to. I haven't decided what to put in those "holes" yet. I'm watching how much sun each side of the plant stand gets so I can match plants to the light requirements so whatever I plant there will live.

Now I'm eagerly awaiting to see what it looks like when all the plants fill in to maturity! I will take a few pictures during the continued "transformation" as the plants grow.

I LOVE it. Thanks, my Love, and kiddos!

The Mother's Day Gift that Wasn't

I have learned that I must be very specific when giving Travis gift ideas and to be very careful about what I say I want in casual conversation. I'll give him props. My Baby listens to me!

Thank goodness I was VERY specific about my Mother's Day wish this year. Travis was considering buying me a shot gun! NO kidding. My e-mailed Mother's Day request got to him whilts he was making final plans to secure the gun. Whew! Close call.

Imagine my surprise and amusement when I unwrapped a jigsaw a few years ago for my birthday. Travis and I had been out cruising with the kids a couple weeks before (by birthday is in December) admiring Christmas decorations. I specifically like homemade wooden lawn decorations. I told him, "I need a jigsaw. It would be handy around the house and small enough for me to use for crafty things without hurting myself or someone else."

Travis was listening and took my request quite literally. In my mind, I thought a jigsaw was more of a "home improvement" type purchase that wasn't categorized as a birthday gift. Yes, I have used my jigsaw and, yes, we do still laugh about the birthday present every time one of us pulls the jigsaw out to use.

I have to give Travis a "hand clap" (for those of you in Kansas we call it a "hand," or "round of applause") for listening to my ramblings about hobbies, dreams and things I want to try.

We were headed to Baton Rouge in very stormy weather to go to the skeet shooting range, where Travis had a date for a shoot-off with his co-worker buddies a few weekends ago. The weather had been very dicey all day and I was not thrilled about going along just to make sure the kids behaved and stayed safe so they could watch Travis shoot. I was expressing my frustration with him. I said, "This situation would be a lot more fun and interesting to me if I could shoot, too. I actually want to learn to use a gun and go to the shooting range with you, it's just that we have four kids and that's pretty impractical for this stage in life."

Travis was driving and already busy planning what kind of shotgun he was going to get for me after I finished saying "I want to learn to use a gun and to go to the shooting range with you." He apparently didn't hear the, "...that's pretty impractical for this stage in life" bit.

He had picked out a gun that was a good weight and "fit" for me and had it all planned out for Mother's Day...that is before I told him exactly what I wanted.

I look forward to a time in my life when Travis and I and, possibly, all of the kids can go shoot skeet together and a I can have my own personal shotgun. I've also planned out the kind of Harley I will get when Travis and I have the freedom to ride the open roads (assuming we can afford it, of course). Until then, though, I will continue being thrilled about doing safe and family-friendly life-stage-appropriate things in life.

Mother's Day Makeover

Before: What I used to see when I looked out my kitchen window...
Travis looking studly with his shovel. Madalynn (in true firstborn form, directed the moving of the sod.
Justis is Mr. Details. He's removing a corner weed we missed in this picture.
Jillian's job was to look cute.
Dawson's gloves swallowed his little chubby hands...but they were Daddy's gloves, therefore he HAD to wear them!














Travis went above and beyond in blessing me with a Mother's Day garden makeover, including a custom-made plant stand he made from a little drawing I gave him!

Watching the designs and creations that I imagine come to reality satisfies a need inside of me. I love to create, to re-design, maximize the potential or functionality of something, and leave it more useful and beautiful than it was before. God put that desire in me.

A stronger desire God placed inside of me is to love and invest in my family so each one of them can discover and experience the full potential of the unique plan God has their lives. Imagine my joy when the six of us worked together to make a transformation. My family, creating and God all-in-one. Now THAT'S a great Mother's Day!

The sound of a saw woke me the Saturday before Mother's Day, and I went outside to find Travis already working on making my plant stand dream a reality. Several hours later I had a beautiful new plant stand that was exactly like the one I drew!

An eye-sore of a spot in our yard had been sitting half-dug up for about a year now. I see the area every time I look out the kitchen and living room windows. It has an ugly concrete pad that used to anchor a tower the previous homeowners had there. A piece of white PVC conduit sits beside the concrete pad. We're guessing the conduit houses the wires that were hooked up to the tower.

I tried, on my own several times, to dig the spot up to remove the packed-in grass and weeds that were especially dense there. Digging a flowerbed is something I've done plenty of times, but this spot was just difficult. Travis used round-up on it several three times for me and I would start digging and give up, then the weeds and grass would just re-invade the half-dug mess.

Travis came to the rescue, as always, ready to help. He had been willing all along to help. I was the one who had to (again) put aside my pride and stubbornness and realize asking for help is a wise decision, not a sign of weakness.

The dreaded "grass-clump" of a dug-up mess was next on the list to take care of. Travis and I begrudgingly took our shovels and started digging. The kids, as usual, asked, "Can I help?" I thought for a moment and looked down at the 8" sod clumps Travis was removing and realized they would be great fill-ins for the huge holes in the yard the pesky armadillos dig.

My little busy bees happily went to work, relocating the sod to the armadillo holes and stomping it down into them. Every bit of sod taken out to make room for the new garden found a home elsewhere in the yard. Unfilled holes still remain but there are considerably fewer of them thanks to the kids' hard work. I followed Travis with the round shove, turning the now-workable soil to prepare the bed.

Proper edging was an essential part of this garden plan, because it's a wet, dense spot and creeping grass likes flower beds. We priced all kinds of edging options, but thrift is essential in optimizing materials. We decided to stop construction of the bed until we could find the right edging.

God knew what we needed, not surprisingly, and provided free railroad ties for edging. Travis brought them home Friday night and had them cut and put in place before I even made it outside Saturday morning! I filled the garden with more soil, helped Travis put the plant stand in the middle and used transplants from my overzealous (but beautiful) perennials from other beds to create a beautiful bed I enjoy looking at.

One thing did make Mother's Day a little difficult for me this year-the fact that my mom is 16 hours away and I had to wish her happy Mother's Day over the phone. My mom passed on her gardening knowledge to me, by the way. I would not even know a weed from a flower if it wasn't for Mom! Gardening and enjoying the details of each different plant always makes me think of my mom.

I now think of Travis, my children and my mom each time I look out my kitchen window. They all played a part in creating the beauty of the flower bed, and the garden reminds me of the irreplaceable blessing my family is to me.

The Thunder Rolls

I've always loved thunderstorms, specifically late spring and early summer ones. Jillian apparently does not share my enthusiasm.

A particularly thunderstorm storm rolled in one night and kind of hung over us for several hours rumbling, flashing and raining. Nothing serious (tornadoes, that is), just a good soaking.

Jillian kept coming out of her room and saying she was scared. She's a bright one, so she uses the most persuasive-sounding excuse to be out of her bed while STALLING. Travis and I thought she was pulling the scared-of-thunder card to win a night snuggled between mommy and daddy.

All finally fell silent, Travis went to bed, then I went to check on the kids before I turned in for the night.

Jillian found comfort in big sister Madalynn's bed and was peacefully sprawled out and sleeping, while Madalynn slept crunched near the wall. Madalynn is mostly covered by the blanket in the pictures, but you can see her hand in one of them to prove she's really there. Madalynn and Jillian, though five years apart, love each other and have an understanding with each other only sisters can have.

Understanding the boys is a bit harder for me, namely because I'm a female. I walked into the boys' room and found Dawson lying on the floor beside his bed with a laundry sack and big teddy bear. I have NO idea why he was on the floor. I did tuck him back into bed after taking the pics.

Oh, and we do put pajamas on Jillian. She likes to sleep in her undies, even for naps, so she usually has the PJ's off by the time she's asleep.

A Purse Full of Mud...FOUND!

The police officer at the city dispatch office asked to see my i.d. I gave it to him and said, laughing, "My other one is in there," pointing to the stapled-shut, brown grocery bag he was holding.

A raised eyebrow and quizzical look as he carefully un-stapled and opened the brown bag confirmed the officer thought I was crazy. He pulled out a mud-caked, crusty, old-looking purse...MY PURSE THAT WAS STOLEN A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO!

For my blog followers, you can click on the link below to see the blog I posted last year after my purse was stolen:
http://thedavisdish.blogspot.com/2008/04/purse-snatching.html

Straining to see over the tall officer's shoulder, the dispatcher wanted to see what the fuss was over, too. "Dang, girl! What's that?" she asked.

Still smiling like a very emotionally-disturbed person, I said proudly, "It's my purse! I reported it stolen over a year ago and asked the detective to call me if anyone ever found it. They found it in a culvert."

The secretary just shook her head and laughed. Her chuckle was visibly a half-hearted, "Is-this-woman-serious-or-just-crazy?" response that made it clear she was bummed the sack didn't hold something exciting or mysterious, like a mud-caked wedding ring or wallet stuffed with money. She was also probably wondering why I wanted a mud-covered purse back.

Not to allow her to steal my joy, and still too amused myself to focus on the fact she did not share my enthusiasm, I happily took my prized paper grocery sack and answered a million questions from the kids about what was in the sack as we loaded back into the van.

"Why are we at the police station?" Dawson asked. "Mom, wasn't your purse red?" Madalynn queried. "Mom, did someone use your purse?" Justis asked. Jillian just kept trying to get her hands on the sack. I explained the reason we had to see the police is that they had something that had been stolen from me, no the people didn't use my purse, and that the now-brownish black purse was, in fact, red at one time. I also told Jillian, NO, she could not dig around in the mud-filled purse.

The anticipation of the "opening of the purse" was almost too much for us all to bear on the ride home. "Can't we open it now?" Justis kept asking?

The kids all piled out of the van and hurried behind me as I carried the brown sack to the picnic table. They waited, standing and staring at the brown sack, while I got the camera. Impatiently, they waited until I got a couple of "just how I got it back" pictures. Then, I pulled the wallet out of the top and started finding all of my cards. Yes, I can again check out a library book from the Steven's County Library in Hugoton if I ever need to! I pulled my wallet out.

MY GLASSES! Like the absent-minded person I usually am, I have thought (for a year) that they were lost somewhere in the house and I just hadn't run across them again.

Rain started to come down on the dirt-covered pile of found treasures spread out on the picnic table. I thought, "What can a little more water hurt?" and left the mess there so the rain could halfway wash the dirt off. I hurried and dumped the remainder of the purse (little mud clods, pens and a quarter) on the grass and came back under the awning where the kids were standing to stay dry. "Justis, please turn on the hose," I asked as I picked up the garden hose conveniently lying at my feet. I plopped the purse out on the concrete and just gave it a good spray-down, filling it several times with water to get all the mud out.

The purse and wallet, once red and now black, are not worth keeping, but I salvaged my glasses, and all of my "cards" (save the cancelled credit cards) are still good!My cell phone and the less-than-$20 cash I had in my purse the night it was stolen were the only things not found. I'm not surprised.

I don't know if they ever tried, but the thieves weren't able to charge anything to my credit cards, write checks or use my ID for anything since I had immediately called and cancelled everything at the crack of dawn when Travis found the van broken into. For that I am very thankful and extremely blessed. I now make certain the car is locked and the purse is out of the car before I go to bed!

Cheesecake and a Teddy Bear

Jillian, Holly and Madalynn at Copeland's
Holly and the kids at The Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge
Madalynn pampered her bear with an "air shower."
Madalynn with her finished Hannah Montana bear


Madalynn LOVES gifts and feeling pampered, so it was no surprise that she was very specific in communicating her ideal perfect birthday date with Aunt Holly.

Her wish? She wanted for all the girls (me, Holly, Jillian and her) to get all dressed up and go to Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro for supper and then hit the Disney store at the mall to spend her birthday money.

Praise God Madalynn is flexible! She kindly (yet reluctantly) allowed her brothers in on, what turned into, her date afternoon. We DID dress up. She picked the boys' clothes out for them so they would be appropriate for a dinner date.

The black and white polka dot dress Aunt Holly gave Madalynn for her birthday was perfect for a special afternoon. Holly brought a black and white skirt/shirt ensemble that coordinated perfectly with Madalynn's black and white. Madalynn was thrilled they "matched."

She got to practice being flexible again when we got to the mall and realized the Disney store was no longer there! She happily decided on spending her birthday money to build a Hanna Montana bear at Build-A-Bear workshop. She picked the bear, pushed the pedal that put the "fluff stuffing" into the bear, picked a heart and even put in a Hannah Montana song via a little sound chip she put inside the bear's paw. She enjoys how the bear reminds her of her special day.

Copelands is conveniently located near the mall and that's a good thing, because Jillian was pretty overly-stimulated by dinner time. The carousel, riding in the "fire truck" mall stroller with Dawson and seeing how a teddy bear is made just kind of pushed her over the edge of excitement and into brain overload. The food was great, as usual. Jillian found it hard to sit still, though.

Eating two huge pieces of wonderful cheesecake for dessert was a great ending to a wonderful day!

Carousel

To the mall (with Aunt Holly) on a mission: to help Madalynn spend her birthday money AND ride the carousel!

Madalynn wanted to use her birthday money to buy something-anything-from the Disney Store at the mall. The Disney store packed up and closed sometime between the time we were at the mall before and the day Madalynn went to spend her money. We were sad, but not shaken, because the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge is HUGE and we knew Madalynn would find something to spend her money on. We also kept our smiles on because shopping is not all there is to do at the Mall of Louisiana. The Carousel and indoor playground give restless kids (and their parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents) to go exert their energy.

A visit to the mall of Louisiana is rare for us (maybe three times a year) so we always go with a few dollars to spring for carousel rides for the kids!

We looked around the kids' stores first, Madalynn spied a couple of "maybes" to spend her money on, then she decided to think it over during a carousel ride.

Jillian's whirl around the carousel that day was probably the first she remembers. Little vaquero Dawson frantically ran to find the ONLY carousel animal for a cowboy, a horse! Justis bravely decided to be independent this time and pick a riding location based on the coolness of the animal as opposed to the proximity of an adult. Madalynn sat beside Jillian with Aunt Holly in-between.

The carousel ride turned out to be a historic one. ALL of the kids smiled and no one cried or got scared!

Getting everyone off was a different story. Jillian was patiently waited with a smile for the carousel to start moving again, when Holly broke the news to her that the ride was over. Then the fuss came. Not for long, though!

Big win for a mini-golfer!

Holly, Travis and the four kids went mini-golfing one evening Holly was here. The private putting lessons Grandpa Chadd gave Dawson last summer apparently took, because Team Dawson ended up as the Cinderella Story of the evening, pounding his opponents in 18 holes of miniature golf.

Well, Cinderella herself (Jillian) technically won, but she played true princess style...by walking up and dropping the ball in the hole. Princess Jasmine, (big sister Madalynn) showed the proper princess game etiquette and grace by overlooking Cinderella's attempt to win by cheating. Hehe.

Outdoor lights assisted them in seeing the holes they were aiming for, since it got dark probably about halfway through their game.

I'm surprised Travis conceded to Dawson without a rematch, but he humbly admitted the win to me when they all got home (I stayed home b/c I was feeling a little ill). Math-teacher-big-sis Holly's score-checking must have kept Travis honest!

Holly and Justis did what you're SUPPOSED to do when you play miniature golf...HAVE FUN!

Upon fact-checking this post with Travis, he said he took score himself, but he really stopped keeping track. Dawson apparently pulled a few princesses, too, picking up his ball and carying it to the hole. SO...who really knows who the real winner was...but it made for a good story anyway!