The One Tower

At this point in Zany's life, being the baby and having four older brothers is pretty great.  They all cater to her and all give her the attention is desires when she desires it.  She has gotten pretty good at choosing the "best friend" of the day from her assorted brothers.  Her oldest brother, Quinton loves to torment her with unwanted kisses.  He also loves to jump out and scare her whenever he can.  Zany has been know to punch him in the eye and also draw blood with her sharp nails.

This day they were getting along famously!  Quinton and Zany decided to build a tower supertall. Good for her she picked the tallest brother to be her "best friend."  

How tall is the tower?

Taller than Quinton!

Quick take a picture before . . .

The tower comes tumbling

I am sad to say winter is over here.  It was wonderful while it lasted, I was able to have lots of fires in my wood stove since it was so cold this year.  We currently have temperatures in the mid-60's and it is to continue all week.  It is feeling very spring like here and the bees and flies know it too as they are out and about.  We never did get any snow here, I always have hope for some though.  With these spring like temperatures, I have commenced spring cleaning.  I am trying to get it all done before the blazing heat comes and you don't want to do the extras.  

I even tackled a project I have been meaning to get to for years-making remembrance books for my kids.  Nothing fancy just all their artwork, certificates, school photos and class pictures put in page protectors and roughly organized by year.  Each kid has their own three ring binder and Quinton due to his having lived so long has by far the most stuff.  McCoy was a little sad he had such few things in his binder.  I assured him by the time he was Quinton's age he would have a full binder.  I asked McCoy if he had any papers to add to his binder.   McCoy ran to his backpack and pulled out a huge stack of papers, the entire year's worth.  No wonder he didn't have much for his binder; apparently, I am not the only one who needs to spring clean!

Cactus Bowling

Guest Poster: Eddy Carlton

This the first blog post of a non-Germaine sister and I feel pretty rebellious.

Rhiannon and I went to Phoenix a few weeks back and while she went shopping I went to the Cactus Bowl with my buddy Scott.

                               

We took the Metro Light Rail to the game and although it was empty when we first boarded it quickly filled.

                                

 Chase Field in downtown Phoenix (normally a MLB Baseball stadium) was transformed into a football field. 

                                  

  The opening of the roof.  Para-shooters. came down with the flags and game ball!

                                         

                                          

                                

New hat and hoody courtesy of Rhiannon just in time for the game. 

                                

The infamous Scotty on the way back home on the even more crowded light rail.  We were right up against the door. 

                                 

       Even though ASU lost we had a great time. Thank you Rhiannon for being such a great wife and allowing me a little bit of fun without you. 

A Horrific Tail (not for the squeamish)

Now that Eddy is a principal he can come home for lunch once in awhile which is something he never could do as a teacher.  (Such a fun mid-week date!)  We had some leftover pizza hut pizza and I was heating it up in the oven so it would be nice and toasty for when Eddy arrived home for lunch.  About the time I was expecting him to arrive, he called to say something had come up at school and he would be a half hour late.  I then turned off the oven to keep the pizza warm till he got home.  About forty minutes passed and Eddy called to say he say wouldn't be able to make it all.  Zaynzley and I sadly decided to eat some pizza without him.

Just about then Archy got home from school and saw Zany eating pizza and wanted some.  I reached in the oven to get him a piece and I saw a MOUSE running around in my oven!  I screamed and slammed the oven door shut.   I immediately called Eddy and told him what happened and asked what I should do?  He recommended turning the oven on, which is gas, and cranking it up to 500 degrees.  I said I would but demanded that he come home immediately.  A mouse in the oven isn't something a girl wants to face alone.  I disturbingly wondered what the smell of roasting mouse would be like? Maybe the smell of the leftover burning pizza would hide any other odors. Then my thoughts turned to the fact that the pizza Zany and I just consumed was recently in the company of a mouse.  That darn asiago pizza hut crust was just to much for a mouse resist.

As I waited for Eddy to get home, I watched the oven temperature slowly rise.  If only I had cleaned my oven door so I could see into my oven better and see what was happening but it was to dark to make out any activity.  We gave the oven a good ten minutes at 500 degrees.  We then trepidatiously opened the oven door to see black pizza but no mouse.  Eddy then decided to pull the oven out from the wall.  Out came the mouse alive and well and it ran across the kitchen accompanied by screams (Eddy's or mine who's to say) and went under the dishwasher.  I decided the best thing to do was borrow a Red Ryder BB gun from a friend and shoot the mouse when he came out.  Eddy set up a sniper nest, and lay in wait for the mouse.

Zany joins Eddy in the sniper nest

I went to walmart to buy mouse traps of all kinds and to buy what I imagine hunters would eat while lying in wait for their prey, jerky and a vanilla pepsi.  I delivered the soda and jerky to Eddy and he continued to watch for the mouse.  At one point the mouse began to come out and Eddy shot but the mouse went back under the dishwasher.  We put out the glue traps and Quinton joined Eddy on stakeout with another BB rifle.  They waited for over an hour and no mouse.  I decided the best thing to do was turn out lights and have all the kids go to bed and have the house quiet.  We put barricades to keep the mouse in the kitchen.  About five minutes after the house was quiet I went back to kitchen and I saw the mouse on the glue trap. I called for Eddy.  

Just then Declan and McCoy were on their way to the bathroom and get a drink and got to see what happened next.  I yelled for Eddy to shot the mouse, meanwhile the mouse was struggling desperately to get off the glue trap.  Soon only the mouse's tail was caught on the trap and Eddy fired several shots from close range.  We were afraid the mouse was going to get his tail off the trap so Eddy grabbed some pliers and got hold of the mouse's tail.  Eddy then began bludgeoning the mouse with the rifle.  After ten good whacks it was all over!  

Barricade with Zany and Eddy still on Sniper duty. 

She actually feel asleep next to Eddy on sniper duty.

(Walmart bag with more kinds of mouse traps.)

Whack-A-Mouse

Who knew all that time Eddy spent at Chuck E Cheese 

playing Whack-A-Mole would one day pay off!

Eat what you kill, right?

All in all Eddy spent 5 hours lying on the floor waiting for a mouse, and it was his first hunt and first kill.  I don't think I will mount that trophy though!  If you asked me what true love was when I was youngster I would have pointed to fairytales and said Happily Ever After, of course.  Now that I am older my answer would be different.  True Love is to be willing to lie on a cold floor for hours because you know your wife will freak if she has to go to bed knowing there is a mouse roaming the house. 

My Hero the Mighty Mouse Slayer!  

Thanks for my Happily (Mouse Free) Ever After!

Vintage Christmas Past

With Christmas come and gone, I finally have time to go through some of my photos of decorations and highlight some of my favorites.  I have been collected vintage Christmas for years now and it is getting harder and harder to find.  This year I hit an estate sale of a elderly lady who loved Christmas and I scored some great stuff.  Eddy claims it is three days to put up and three days to put down.  He may be right but it is so delightful!

Some of my favorite ornaments:

Golden Elf

King Henry VIII

Ashlee brought this naughty guy back from London-The Tower of London and gave it to me as a gift a decade ago, apparently you can buy all his wives too at the tower.

Vintage Santa & letter to Santa holder

You roll up the Santa letters and put them in the holder and Santa can read them before he unloads his presents just to make sure he got it right.

Such a darling Santa

I can't get enough of these elves!

Christmas Angel & new this year a cameo ornament

Family Room 

Mantlescape Winter Woodland

Carolers

I got this cutie that lights up for only a dollar at the thrift store.

 I love Nativities too but most often when you find vintage ones baby Jesus is missing.  I have determined to buy random baby Jesuses whenever I come across them.  This year I searched the thrift store several times until I came up with most of a vintage Italian nativity.  Luckily I had the baby Jesus from last year.

Italian Nativity (on right)

First year of our marriage Eddy and I bought this Nativity at Costco.  I love when Mary can hold baby Jesus.

White and Gold Nativity

Peanuts Nativity new this year

A group of joyful carolers

I've thought about getting snowbabies for a couple of years, so when I saw all these at the estate sale I couldn't resist.

Snowman Collection

I am always so hopeful that we will get just one snowstorm during winter, but we usually don't.

Just love these sweet NOEL angels

Ashlee and I in photo of a most memorable childhood Christmas

Taking all the Christmas decorations down is such a chore, but a couple of days later I am already looking forward to next year and putting it all up again!

A Day with the Carltons

Recently Rhi and Eddy had the chance to go to Phoenix so Eddy could attend the Cactus Bowl to support our old Alma Mater, ASU (Arizona State University).  Do you think they took any pictures for a blog post? No. Only I the little red hen of our blog is keeping things up. Anyhow I wanted a Schedule of Events, as I like lists and following them and so do most of the kids as well. Being around so many lists for their whole lives, has rubbed off on them. Here is our agenda, I tried to get pics of most activities. Quint was gone most the day at a campout.

One of the first things said to me when I arrived was "We dressed the Geese" Rhi has these two cute geese that being a Carlton, each has a full wardrobe and they change clothes with the seasons.

After lunch, 12:20 to 1 pm time for Scootin!

McCoy also chose a scooter

Looks like it may be time for a new bike!

Then everyone colored together 1- 1:20, though we all decided we liked to color together, and next time shall allot more time to this pursuit

1:20-2 time to play with toys, Imaginext I believe

2-3 pm we went to the park, to shoot some hoops,

be Sheriff Callie,

Play American Ninja Warrior. I  love this pic of Archy as it reminds me of how the boy from the Jungle book sometimes climbs trees

And Swingin.

From 3-4 it was a choice between reading books or cleaning. Shockingly everyone chose reading

4-5 time to Play outside

5 pm time to eat! Bean Burros and Eddy's wonderful Red rice

Quint is home! Here is regales his parents with tales of his adventures of camping in the cold.

Then everyone showered, got into PJs and we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We had a little free time before bed, I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day!