The Butter Bean on the Balance Beam

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In other news....

Leslie got home from Oregon last night. It has taken until this afternoon but we are all back to normal again. Those of you that know me, will be very surprised/pleased/shocked to hear that I didn't raise my voice once, nor did I steal out of the house in the middle of the night to flatten any tires, I didn't throw and break anything, I didn't hit or punch Leslie, I didn't even try my hand at a bit of drink sabotage. Actually, Evelyn never even knew that there was a problem, outside of my one crying jag.
Oh my, am I growing up? Or was I just tired? Who knows.
Either way, The Rogue Bos'un isn't on my shit list anymore and I am no longer having those chest achy feelings.
We're good.

Monday is Gymnastics Day

Well, today was the second day of The Bean's foray into gymnastics. Her enthusiasm is holding, especially since she has her own little gymnastics leotard now. Today was also the Valentine's Day exchange with her class. She is coming along with the moves , though the cartwheels will take her awhile to perfect. I just sit and watch her and smile like a fool, she just looks so cute running around out there.

Why is it?

Why is it that you can be married for fifteen years and then one evening, your spouse says something that cuts so deep you forget to breathe for a bit? Why is it that after all of this time I suddenly feel like your garden variety military wife? Why is it that some days you work all evening in the house and hold on to your shortening temper with your child and then ....right at bedtime...the humidifier in her room tips over and you end up with a gallon of "cool tap water" on the floor? And then, that's it, you spend twenty minutes soaking it up and bawling your eyes out while your child stands by and gives you stickers and bits of chocolate that she has stashed in her room from God only knows when, just to make you feel better. Why is it that the person who really made you cry is in Oregon having popcorn and watching a movie (in a real honest to goodness theater) having a grand time while your chest aches and your four year old is trying to fix you?
Why is it that some days being a wife is quite possibly the hardest thing that I do?

Grandparents in Charge

When the Grandparents are in charge- unexpected things can happen. Take the picture above. There they are all decked out, outside building a snowman, having fun. There is a problem of sorts of you look closely though.
Yes those are huge shoes on Bean's feet and yes that is plastic taped to her legs,plastic taped with painters tape no less. Let's back up.....
Grandpa and Ev are together-alone. They decide that it's time to go out and play in the snow. It was time to put boots on. Now, Ev and Brev do have boots that LOOK the same but she has a size 5 and he has a size 9- you can definitely tell the difference when you look at them. However when Gpa put HER boots on her, Ev was convinced that they were Brevin's - despite the fact that they must have been fitting fine. So she convinced Gpa that they are wrong- so he hunts up old tennis shoes of Brevin's and some plastic and some tape and viola! Ev is outside ready.THEN it's time for Gma and Brev to go thru it all. Gma cold only find one pair of boots and she thought they were Brevin's , even though he was complaing the whole time they were getting them on and apparently? there was a struggle to get them on. So the boots somehow get on and they go outside where BRev continues to say that his feet hurt. Of course they did, they were about 4 sizes too small!!! So in the picture above one of the kids is standing tip toe and in pain in boots that are way too small and the other is flopping around in shoes that are too big with plastic on.
Looks like they managed to have fun anyway!

Overheard Conversation

Evelyn: okay Brev we are on a boat to Scotland but there are alligators that want to eat our faces off so we have to be careful!!!! Okay?
Brevin: otay beam we do dis

(the sounds of much rustling and preparations)
E: oh my! here we go! okay Brevin? Brevin! Brevin keep your weather eyes about you for alligators!
B: Beam, what weddur dies bout me?
E: ummm. just keep your eyes peeled for those alligators!
B: beam, what deep yur dies deelded meam?
E: (sigh) just. tell. me. IF. you. see. an. alligator.
B: otay beam!

For you land lubbers out there "weather eyes" is a Coast Guard term, it means to watch carefully.

Brevin Survives An Onslaught

The Bean and I are at Smokewood. This means that for portions of the day, Bean's attention is turned from me to other members of the family, that means that she has lots of others to TALK to.
I have recently mentioned that her talking has reached a new, unbelievable level. I thought that it couldn't get worse.
It did.
At times Leslie and I are convinced that she has gone without oxygen for several minutes- if not entire hours. I am not kidding here. She is no longer The Jackhammer- now we call her Hacksaw.
So, this morning, the adults were all out, except for myself and I was crocheting. This means that Brevin was left defenseless against The Hacksaw. For nearly an entire hour, he put up with non-stop commentary,suggestions and instructions! Eventually, he walked down the hall and frantically jiggled my Dad's bedroom doorknob to be let in. It was like a scene form a murder mystery- really. He approached the door, anxious and needing in, the door was locked, he jiggled frantically while glancing over his shoulder as Bean came toward him, chattering and instructing....the door opens....Brev slips in and ... SLAM!!! closes the door in Bean's face. Escape complete.
Bean did not miss a beat. She huffed a bit, and came to me where I had the pleasure of a 5 miinute re-cap of the activities that she had guided Brev through over the past hour. It didn't matter that I was 5 feet away during the hour of play. It didn't matter that I reminded her of this. She just HAD to tell me. I HAD to listen.
I couldn't help but laugh during that hour as I listened and watched. The two of them really are funny together. Brevin does have the perfect personality (sometimes) to deal with Bean. He just sort of does his thing while she talks and he throws out the occasional "yeah beam" and he sort of complies with her many requests. When he's had enough- he dissapears for awhile. Sometimes though, he does freak out and he starts picking at her and then before you know it, they are having Smackdown 2009 Version 12 or something.I wnated so badly to record her endless shatter today , so you would all kow that I am not making this up- however I had no video equipment with me.
Here is a written sampling:
brevin brevin oh my goodness i have an idea we can build a castle lets build a castle we have these popsickle sticks we can use ok ok grab some of these and help me move these out we dont want to spill any we want to move them over her because we want to make a surprise for del-del dont we brev/ we want to surprise your del-del right? (yes beam) oh okay lets do that oh wait these are not sticking oh my lets ummmm oh i have an idea (now she whispers--lets get some lip gloss)(they run into the bathroom and grab two huge tubes of fruity lip gloss and then start applying it to the tips of the sticks until I intervene) oh well that really wasn't going to work anyway ok let do this lets use pillows and blankets and make a seceret castle wouldn't you want to play in a secret castle? (yes beam) ok well, hum ok lets grab these pillows from the couch we need moere though could you do me a favor and get some pillows off of grandpa's bed? (yes bean- and he trundles off) but remeber to let grampa know that you are borrowing them because crime doesn't pay! okay brev BREVIN OKAY? (yes beam) (then he marches into Dad's room for a pillow raid and tries his best to explain what is going on) okay let's do this put that here, no here, NO HERE (otay beam) oh good now lets.......no brevin don't put your feet THERE (kicking sound ensues) agghhhh! brevin that's all my work you are messing up ! goshamightymastersartkit!!! what are you doing? stop. sigh. see what you have done? you have totally destroyed the secret castle now where are we going to sleep? (oh it's otay beam) no it is not (yes it is don't hab a hard dattak) chatter chatter chatter.......ESCAPE...... recap to mama and on and on and on
God help us every one....