Sweet Sleeping Girl

Sweet Sleeping Girl (1 of 1), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

A photo Chris took of her sound asleep so sweetly. It is about 11PM, and the room is almost completely dark. So this is courtesy of a tripod, a 15 second exposure, and some Lightroom work!

Happy Easter!

Easter 2010 (7 of 17), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

And of course, the first thing she did after church was locate her favorite toy, Callie!

Butterfly Garden Visit

Butterfly Garden Visit (2 of 10), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

This weekend, Nana and Papa came to visit. On Saturday we went to the Fort Worth Botanical Garden's Butterfly exhibit. Megan had a great time looking for and at the butterflies, while we all TRIED to get some good photos. The very overcast dreary and cold first day of spring did not give the best lighting, but we had fun just the same.

Megan's favorite part? At the end, when we left and she found NEMO and DORY!

Roller Skater

Roller Skate Breaktime (6 of 6), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

Nana and Papa got Megan some skates for Christmas, and the weather just turned nice enough to try them out. She has been so excited for a few days that not even the visit to the ER slowed down her skating plans.

So here are a few photos of Megan in her gear. We left the wheels in the #1 position (which means one of the five won't roll, so it is more of scooting your feet around and less like rolling) but it was the start of the process. And we DEFINITELY weren't going to push our limits on a day we had ALREADY been to the emergency room. Momma just wasn't up for that.

By the way, anyone looking for good kids safety gear. All the stuff at Target, etc. were cheapy elbow and knee pads that were too small even two years ago. But I found this great set on Amazon, and it is fantastic. This is the junior set, and I ordered one for my neighbor and it fits her 7 year old great too. Megan doesn't quite have enough arm for both wrist and elbow pads. They actually overlap a bit. But it is a good quality, and the only place I could find wrist guards in a kids size. Safety first you know.

Traumatic Day

The offended EAR (1 of 1), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

Today we had a bit of trauma. Actually, it started last night at bed when Megan kept getting up to tell us her ear was "popping". We kind of thought she got some water in it at bathtime, and sent her back to bed.

This morning, she wakes me up with the words, "Mom - my ear is still popping and the rock is still in there." Huh? Rock, we never discussed a ROCK.

Flashlight inspection showed something that looked not quite right. same color as earwax, fully filling the back part of the ear. Well crap.

So now my dilemma -- is this emergency worthy. I decided I would be freaked out if I didn't head to the ER, and after Megan had a panic attack about going to the hospital (she kept asking if she would have to go in those tunnels aka MRI machines). I couldn't even imagine what she was talking about. Then she told me she saw it on HOUSE. Which we watch, but don't let her. For obvious reasons I guess, since she must have caught part of an episode that stuck with her.

So now, after a calming talk (and a stop for sprinkle donuts) we take a fairly calm journey to the ER. Where Megan is fine as they look in her ear (yep, it's a rock. And it looks stuck). However, the first bit of removal (with tweezer type tool) yields a screaming berzerk child who had to be restrained.

Oh, and that didn't work. So then ten minutes of ideas and searching comes back with a curved spatula thing which sends Megan into a crazy fit. It took a sheet which they fully wrapped her in like a burrito, and FOUR grown people to hold her and remove the rock while I tried to keep talking her through her through it.

All the bleeding from the ear (and there was bleeding poor girl) was from that spatula not the rock.

So then we had an hour of therapeutic shopping (toys and new shoes for her!) a special girls lunch (she requested the Hibachi Japanese place) cookies, and then learning to roller skate on her new skates (our original plan for the day since Daddy had to work.) The plan did NOT include the ER visit.

Megan's comment after it was all over and we left the hospital. "Momma, I don't want to go there again."

Me either.

Here is the offending rock. That offended the ear. No penny was involved in this event. It is just a size reference.

Our house duster

The cleaning girl dusts (2 of 2), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

After chasing Megan and fussing at her for continuously making messes while I was spending a whole day cleaning, I stumbled upon a good idea from a friend, and instead attempted to give her her very own job.

She had a blast dusting. She did the cabinets, under the dining table, the tops of EVERYTHING, and the legs and backs of EVERYTHING else. The house had a very substantial aroma of orange pledge even with ALL the doors and several windows open during the event.

Megan was so proud, she ran to get Daddy the moment he got home to show him all of her hard work. Also the attire (including the headband) were all completely selected by Megan.

If only she did windows too.... Well, maybe next year!

Happy Birthday Cousins!

Here are a few photos from the Happy Birthday Weekend in Houston. Megan had a blast and a good sugar rush too! She always enjoys getting to see and play with her cousins.

Crawfish Weekend

This week was Lauren and Lily's Birthday Party. Happy 4th Birthday Cousin Lauren! And Happy 2nd Birthday Lily! Megan enjoyed the party and the crawfish boil that is the annual tradition so far for the spring birthday's!

Here is a slideshow of all the crawfish fun. A few photos with the girls, although Lauren decided she just wasn't that in to playing with the live ones. (She liked the cooked ones just fine!) Megan had a blast with them before cooking, and liked them afterwards too!

This one defaulted with some music, but you can mute it by clicking the speaker icon at the top left of the slideshow. Also there are captions if you hover your mouse over the images!

Dance Class

ballet photos (4 of 5), originally uploaded by homanhouse.

This week was Parent Observation week, so I got to go see Megan's routines in her dance class. Here are some of the photos! Her big performance is on stage May 22!

Megan builds a snowman

These are from a few weeks back but show the joy and fun that Megan had in playing in the snow, having snowball fights, and building her first snowman.

P2110251, originally uploaded by homanhouse.

The white balance is awful, sorry. And the microphone quite preferentially picks up my voice. But there is still a lot of cute little girl in the video!