Reconnected

I love these two bigheads.

We are finally back online after being down for most of the week.  Our modem suffered a fatal cooshball attack and another one had to be ordered and installed. Many thanks to Kentrell, my helpful AT&T technician, who now knows my favorite pet's name, favorite singer, mother's maiden name, best friend from elementary's school's surname, and the last four digits of my parents' home phone number.  Security has gotten out of hand if you ask me.

Here are some updates:

• The Sambino can roll from back to front and front to back now.  He is 14 pounds and 24.5 inches.  His head is enormous. The pediatrician says he's perfectly stealable.  He now has a third type of carrier, an Ergo.  Love it.  Need to block ebay from my web browser. 
• John was happy with his two quarters from the tooth fairy.  A neighbor friend told him she got $5 for her first tooth and I promptly informed the both of them that that was before the recession.  Clearly, John's TF is much more fiscally conservative than the one across the street.
• Brian's team lost the first game, but it was a close one (3-2).  John & Sam attended practice yesterday afternoon while I went out with friends for dinner.  There were no issues getting either of them to bed, and Sam slept from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. again.  John, however, woke up at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and 6 a.m. for various reasons (itchy warts, monsters, "Why did you get home so late, Mom?" and "Is it time to get up yet the little hand is almost on the seven?").  Lordy.
• 
  
  Our seedlings are going bonkers.  Even the peppers have decided to grow now that I warmed them up with a heating pad underneath to keep the soil at 80 degrees.  Some of these will be going in the ground soon, and then I'll put more stuff in egg cartons because I've lost my mind.  The entire yard would have to be tilled in order to sustain all of these plants, but I'm still going at it. 

• Recently our backyard neighbor cut down all the trees that made up our backyard shade and the big limb to hang a rope swing.  So, we bit the bullet and made some nursery owner north of town really happy today.  Brian rented a large Dodge Ram pickup and hired a 220 pound 8th grader to help him and John plant them. 

Eight arborvitaes, two Stephens' hollies, a redbud (not pictured), and I'm not sure what that big Christmas-tree-looking thing in the middle is, but I can tell you it ain't the hemlock I requested.  Something about hemlocks being a lot of trouble and I can't be expected to look after it properly what with the new baby and all.  So they brought me a forsythia instead.  Hmph.  Well it is pretty, but the jury's still out on where to put it. 
That's about all the news from these parts.  If you know any good farmhands, send them our way so we can make it through the summer.  And if you have knowledge of canning or have a food dehydrator for sale, we're interested in that too.  I can't stand the thought of a deep freeze on my back porch, but it may come to that if we're not careful. 
As always, onward, upward, and sideways.