Our House Guests

So a couple nights ago I was in the bath. When I saw a little anole...or gecko...anywho a little house lizard hide behind the shampoo next to me. I yelled to Ryan and he came to look. He was about two inches long including his tail. I joked he wanted to go swimming with me. I picked up the shampoo and the lizard flew through the air into the tub! I squealed and squealed while Ryan couldn't quit laughing. He helped me up (I didn't want to step on the little guy) and we sorted through the bubbles to find him. I found him, got him into my hands and he flipped out jumping right back into the water. The next time I think he realized we were saving him...he stayed still long enough for me to put him on the ledge by the window. He stayed completely still. I bent back down and finished my bath as quickly as I could. When I stood up again...he was gone. Whoosh. So we have one freshly bathed anole...or gecko...or little house lizard running around the house smelling of coconut lime verbena.

A couple days later, it was almost bedtime and Ryan went out back to turn off the sprinkler. As he reached back to shut the sliding glass door he felt something latch onto his hand in three places. Panicked, he said he made a verbal (eeeaghyaaaaa) sound (think karate chop sound) and threw whatever had landed on him across the yard. Heart racing, he turned off the water and came back inside white as a ghost. You see, Squirt, the generic name for the almost dozen larger lizards (about six to eight inches including tails) we have seen out back, many nights will sit on the kitchen window or on the back sliding glass door and eat bugs (light from inside attracts them to the window creating a tiny feast for our little friends). This particular night, he just so happened had decided he wanted Ryan to give him a, uh...lift. To where...somewhere unknown in the yard. Have no fear...I've seen several back eating in the past couple of nights. So we have house guests. At least during the summer. And so long as they keep eating the spiders, that's okay by me.

On a side note, we had a trumpet vine volunteer itself on the trelis...it's been blooming this week. What a pleasant surprise!

NYLO and boys

We had a nice weekend. Last Friday night we went to the NYLO in Plano for my friend Melanie’s birthday. Ryan and I just about destroyed the surprise too. But, we ended up keeping her tricked until her husband Justin surprised her. The NYLO was really neat. Had a fantastic outdoor patio/lounging area. Big egg shaped chairs you could sit in, lots of benches, a really cool fireplace…just a neat place to hang out. We had a great time! Saturday morning we got a few things done around the house then went to lunch at Saltgrass. We had every intention of coming back home, dropping off our food and head back out to the grocery store, but instead got sucked into Man on Fire. What a good movie. I usually do not like violent films…but when it comes to hurting or endangering children…I guess it is easier for me to handle. As soon as it was over Ryan headed to Fort Worth to meet some friends to see G.I. Joe. I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed, did laundry, and headed to the grocery store. We were keeping the boys on Saturday night and I know they are allergic to stuff so I wanted to be sure I got the house somewhat cleared of anything that would bother them. I was just about finished filling my cart when Trisha called and said they were on their way. I bought the Gogurt, chocolate pudding, strawberry jello, strawberries, blueberries and a few other goodies then loaded the car. I bought some bottled waters and a packet of those crystal light singles. Wild strawberry. It just sounded good. I got home, got things put away and the laundry put up. One of the ladies in our office made a fruit dip the other day with light sour cream and powdered sugar and I gave it a try. Just whisk your powdered sugar into your sour cream until it is as sweet as you like it. I even added a little almond extract for flavor. I was impressed. Extremely easy and quick. I had just finished when the boys and Trisha arrived. She’d driven through and gotten us Subways for dinner. We ate and I made all the boys strawberry drinks with the Crystal Light. I thought I had been so smart to get them something sugar free…until after dinner when Trisha started looking at the box. “Huh? Crystal Light energy? Dayna do they put vitamins in it?” I was like I don’t know…until she saw it. “Contains Caffeine.” Oh no. I immediately let the guys know I would put the last of their drinks in the refrigerator and they could have the rest tomorrow. Trisha just giggled. The boys had brought a few of their Wii games and their Wii remotes. So after dinner, I connected their remotes to our Wii and let them start playing. They were having all sorts of fun. And everyone was really good at taking turns too. Ryan got home just as Trisha and Wesley were about to leave. We waved goodbye and started the slumber party. Mario Cart, some Smash Brothers Game, and a few Wii Sports games later, we turned off the Wii and got ready for bed. I made popcorn and turned on Ben 10 (which I think I was the only one who watched). All the boys are quite interested in everything Uncle Ryan does right now, so they were huddled around the computer with him looking up rides at Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor. I was asleep on the couch when all the guys came back into the living room. I woke up a bit and laid on the futon mattress with Quinton and Mathis (we’d pulled it into the living room for the slumber party). Harold still wasn’t in the mood to lay down so he kept hanging out with Uncle Ryan in the computer room. He finally came into lay down about ten till midnight. I had turned off the video and put in onto the Fox Soccer Channel. It was showing a game and I turned the volume almost completely off. He had been quiet for about thirty minutes when he quietly asked me, “Aunt Dayna, where is Uncle Ryan?.” I replied “Asleep in our bed Harold.” He said okay, then fell asleep :o) I woke up the next morning to the door closing. Uncle Ryan was going to get doughnuts! Mathis woke up too so he and I sat awake chatting and watching cartoons. Quinton wasn’t far behind us. We all laid there until Uncle Ryan got back. He had driven all the way up to the doughnut shop by our old apartment only to find it had closed. So he went to Krispy Kreme…but it had closed! So he ended up at the shop literally a quarter mile from the house after driving all over north Irving. He did notice that Las Colinas also has a NYLO on MacArthur though! We both were excited about that. We ate our doughnuts and finally got Harold up. After we got the futon/bed picked up, we started to play the Wii again. We played for about an hour then started packing up to head back to Arlington. We left our house a little after twelve. We asked the boys what they wanted for lunch. Mathis and Quinton wanted lunchables and Harold wanted a hot dog. So Ryan dropped the rest of us off at Matt and Trisha’s and headed to the grocery store. Trisha was at work and Matt was on his way home from a wedding in Louisiana. Mom had Wesley at her house taking a nap. All the boys and I were hanging out at the house. We played outside, played inside, watched a bit of Ranger baseball, and a couple of the guys even got some rest in. We had just a good time with all of them. Mom came over with Wesley around five and Ryan went and picked up some pizza. We all ate then were visiting when Trisha got home. It was about eight when we got back home. I vacuumed, Ryan swept, went over the bathrooms and mopped (I accidentally spilled strawberry milk on the kitchen floor while heating it up for Quinton the night before). Afterwards we sat in the living room and watched a couple episodes of Burn Notice…which we are about caught up on…which is quite unfortunate. All our tv shows are in transition right now…what are we going to watch! We had such a great weekend. Only wish it could’ve lasted a couple more days :o) Have a great week everyone! I think Ryan and I are planning on going to the Elephant Parade in Sundance Square tomorrow night at 7:30 if anyone is interested in joining us. Of course it will depend on what time we can leave work and such, but we both really want to watch the elephants snack on some watermelon!

Surprise!

We had a nice weekend last weekend. Friday night we shopped. Saturday we got the tires in the Nissan aired up (our tire pressure light came on 4th of July weekend…and since the tires have Nitrogen in them…we have to take it to the dealership), I got my hair cut (three inches!!!), laundry done, and headed over to mom’s to visit with everyone (Becky and the girls were in town so we all met at mom’s for dinner). Sunday after church I came home and baked and baked and baked. A double batch of peanut butter cookies (1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 tsp vanilla…bake at 350 until desired doneness) and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. Which sounds somewhat easy, but when your oven is on the fritz, it can be challenging. We took party supplies and baked cookies to Trisha’s that afternoon then stopped by mom’s to visit with Becky and the girls before heading to the Ranger game. We had traded in several games earlier in the year and asked for the best seats we could get…we sat on the 2nd row in section 37. Not too shabby! Nice being so close to the field you really could see facial expressions the players made! Not to mention we got to see star minor league pitcher Neftali Feliz trot out of the dugout and head out to the bullpen wearing Derek Holland’s old pink princess backpack. Feliz is supposed to be the real deal. We even stuck around after the game and cheered for him as he walked past us…along with a good chunk of the fans. Anywho, it was a quick game by Scooter Feldman (the pitcher) and we were headed home by 9:30. We’ve recently started taking a different route home that shaves off a good twenty minutes. Take Legends up to the access road…take 30 to Beltline, then Beltline up to 183 and exit Story. Took us maybe fifteen minutes to get home. NICE! We might try the new 161 since it has opened one of these days, but I still have a feeling that we’ll like Beltline better.
Monday morning I woke up at 6 and was in the office by 7. I worked until 3 then headed for Irving. Stopped by the house and changed clothes, grabbed Ryan a change of clothes, our camera, and oh yeah, the car bill. No Snapfish albums yet. Drat. Becky would have to wait until next time to see the Hawaii pictures. I had ordered two dozen balloons from Party City so I laid down the seats in the Nissan and picked those up. Bright pink, purple, yellow and white. I was pleased. Then off to Olive Garden. Mom had placed the to go order and it was ready for me when I got there. Perfect! I loaded up the car and headed to Trisha’s. Mom didn’t expect anything when I walked in with a ton of balloons…after all…all seven of the kids love balloons! The kids were playing on the water slide in the backyard. Well, except little Quinton who was recovering from a little virus. He was inside napping. At 5:00 we went in and ate. Man, I could eat Olive Garden salad everyday and be a happy woman. So good! Maybe I just need to try to figure out their dressing recipe and start making it at home…hmm. We’ll see. After everyone ate mom and Becky opened their presents from the Otey’s and the Smith’s. That’s when my cousin Monica and her kids pulled up. Mom asked, did you know they were coming over? All of us just shook our heads and kept quiet. Monica and the kids came in and we all visited. I began tying balloon bunches all around the house. Trisha excused herself and began prepping the dining room. Becky kept mom distracted. Then Aunt Sheila, Uncle James and Granddad arrived…then Jill, Marshall, Sarah and Dylan…then Aunt Terri. Mom asked Becky and Jill. Are we having a party? It is only family right? Jill shook her head. About that time the doorbell rang. More and more people from school, lunch bunch, and just close friends started arriving. We had done it. Kept it a surprise. Even cooler, all the kids knew and not one of them said a word to her! In all reality, it was Harold’s idea after all. On his way home from my birthday he had asked Trisha why MeMaw never got a party on her birthday. What a thoughtful guy! Hanz had made cupcakes, cheesecakes from Sam’s, cookies, Rita’s cinnamon squares, Aunt Terri’s banana pudding, Uncle James’ pound cake, and Trisha made punch. It was a wonderful evening. Most of the kids played outside while adults chatted inside. Trisha made a scrapbook. She bought cards and had all the guests write their favorite memory or note about mom on them. Last night she pasted them all in her book along with the guest sign in, invitation, gift list, and eventually a snapfish picture album. After everyone had left, we all sat around and read the cards outloud. There were tears and laughter…especially at Marshall’s memory (ask me about it later). It was ten o’clock. Everyone was tired. But mom had told the kids they could do sand art (make necklaces and bracelets) earlier in the day. She made colored “sand” with ground up sidewalk chalk and salt. Sweet Lindsey just could not let it go. She had been asking Becky every fifteen minutes during the party when they were going to get to do the sand art. So at ten at night, we all sat around Trisha’s dining room table and made sand art necklaces. When we were finished, we loaded up Becky’s mini van with gifts, food, kids and balloons and waved goodbye. Ryan and I got home about 11:00 and I immediately got in the shower. I think my body was on autopilot because I barely remember climbing into bed. I remember Ryan giving me a few Neftali Feliz stats from his first major league outing then falling fast asleep.
Tuesday morning came fast. I woke up very pleased I had showered the night before, dressed and headed into the office. I felt as if I were drugged all day. Even contemplated going to nap in the Nissan…neigh, that might just make it worse. On the way home I stopped by Via Real for chips, salsa, queso and black bean soup. Got home, ate, turned on the water in the front, watered my plants in the back, then curled up on the loveseat. After Ryan got home and ate, we rented Revolutionary Road from our Fios thing. I really like Kate Winslet and we’d heard good things about the movie. But ya know, it really is a difficult movie to watch. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but Ryan and I neither one liked the two main characters. We had no idea what the message was supposed to be either. Was it marriage is hard work? Or marriage can be messy? Or don’t let go of your dreams? Don’t forget who you are? Don’t have kids before you are ready? Anyways…definitely won’t be buying it, but might watch it again if TBS puts it on TV. We got into bed about 9:30 and turned on the Ranger game. Saw a few pitches from Derek Holland before I fell asleep.