Introducing the Tarksandsons.

It has been a great ten years guys. Come on home just anytime, we do have a few Methodist churches here you know.

Introducing Tark (oldish ((jk)) ), Cat (29!), MG(8), and Westers (3) Tarkandsons.

The Poky Little Party

Do you know why it took me a month to post pictures of The Son’s second birthday? Because I thought it would be a good idea to give all of the little party guests dog collars with their names on them. That means I had to photo shop each and every one of the 200 pictures to blur out peoples names. Fun times. Now that I FINALLY finished, there was no way I could post them all here without boring the bejebus out of people who do not care about looking at that many pictures of a two year old’s party, so if that is all you want –skip to the bottom of the post and there is a montage for you.

We had two separate parties for The Son this year, and the overall theme for both was, “Your parents are poor.” For his actual birthday we had family only over for a Thomas the Tank Engine party. I spent exactly zero dollars on decorations. Okay that was a lie, I bought one mylar Thomas balloon that still has not deflated. I am giving it another week and then it is just going to disappear. I took a red sheet we already had and used it as a tablecloth, used a piece of blue felt as a runner, and then took a large toy train and used it as a centerpiece. I added blue and red streamers and set Thomas books and trains all over. Somehow not a single picture got taken of this, all we got were fifty shots of The Son playing with his new train table. (which, by the way, I got the best deal EVER on. I got it and all of the track for FIVE DOLLARS at a yard sale, I added it all up on Amazon and it is over $250 dollars worth of trainstravaganza.  All I had to do was refinish the top and give it all a good scrub down.  It looks brand new.  This made buying the expensive trains much more doable.) I made the cake, and decorated it at 2:30AM, so it is good there are not really any pictures of it.

We had his real party a week later at a local park, which I loved, because I did not have to clean my house at all. Here are his invitations, the second picture is the inside obviously. I was all OCD about the invites, they took hours, but did turn out pretty darn cute if I do say so.

For decorations we made a dog house facade of plywood, and put it in front of a pop-up tent, then filled it with blankets and stuffed dogs. The kids LOVED this part.

I just used paper green tablecloths (would you laugh at me if I told you I returned the first batch of tablecloths because they did not match the grass in the book?) on the picnic tables, and put stuffed dogs on top to hold them down. I found tiny little silver dog bowls at the dollar spot at Target, and ShoeShe used a paint pen to write each child’s name on them. My original idea was to fill them with puppy chow (subbed soy butter for peanut butter so it was toddler friendly), and use them as party favors, but we ran out of plates(oops!) so they all got used for fruit and cake.

I also took parts of a playground that we recently tore down at church, and made it look like a picket fence, then posted signs identical to the ones in the book. This was so cute and FREE! The only other decorations were dozens of different shades of blue balloons that I floated in the rafters of the park pavilion to look like the watercolor sky in the book, but somehow there are no pictures of that either. For favors I took balloons and tied them to a stuffed dog, and the kids got those, their dog bowls, collars and dog ears.

My plan was as soon as the kids got to the party they would sit down and color their dog ears, these were pieces of white foam pre-cut that were then glued to cheap headbands. While they were doing that, I would be pinning on collars I made for them of foam and felt, I spent forever doing this and most of the kids left on the collars for just a couple of minutes. I also had planned to paint their faces like little dogs, but only a couple of kids would let me. Lessons learned….two is too young for a lot of party activities still.

They still looked mighty cute in their ears and collars.

In my plans, after they were all doggied up, everyone would eat (hotdogs, chips, dip, fruit, and puppychow), and then we would have story time. I would read the Poky Little Puppy, and then pull out all of the things that the puppies see and smell. (You should have seen how cute the grasshopper Shoeshe made was) The kids were interested for two pages. Then they started randomly pulling things out of the box. I stand by the idea of story time, I think if we had let them run off energy at the playground first, it would have worked better. I did not even bother trying to get them to play the games I had planned, they just wanted to run around. I had planned on playing Poky, Poky, PUPPY! (think duck, duck, goose) and red rover, red rover.

The cake, however, the cake was perfect. Look at this people, have you ever seen anything so cute? It told the whole story, AND tasted good.

My planned agenda may have completely fallen through, but it was still a great party.

I’m on your side when times get rough and friends just can’t be found.

See comments for details on photography.

When you’re weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I’m on your side. when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When you’re down and out,
When you’re on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I’ll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pains is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

by: Paul Simon

A Happy Child. My Happy Child.

A Happy Child

I saw this day sweet flowers grow thick –
But not one like the child did pick.

I heard the packhounds in green park –
But no dog like the child heard bark.

I heard this day bird after bird –
But not one like the child has heard.

A hundred butterflies saw I –
But not one like the child saw fly.

I saw the horses roll in grass –
But no horse like the child saw pass.

My world this day has lovely been –
But not like what the child has seen.

by: W.H. Davies

See comments for details on photography.

A man (er, little boy) on a tractor.

The dog walked just like it was smiling,
the man drove like the world was all right.
The tractor hummed on like a part of a song
that you sing to your children at night.

His work was laid out there before him
in rows of green, his whole life was revealed.
Oh what I wouldn’t give if I could just live
like a man on a tractor with a dog in a field.

Let me do what I’m doing,
let me be where I am,
let me find peace of mind
on my own piece of land.

When I’m lost, help me to let go
and find some way to feel
like a man on a tractor with a dog in a field.

by: Rodney Atkins

See comments for details on photography.

I am the Walrus. Coo-Coo, KaZOO!

I am not really a walrus.  In fact there are no walruses (walrusi?), or any kind of sea mammals anywhere in this post, I just like the title.  You know me, anything for a Beatles reference.   We had been planning on going to the zoo for several weeks, and the day we had planned to go dawned cool (for August in the South anyway), cloudy, and gloomy.  We decided to go anyway and were joined by the last minute addition of MMIL and BIL!  It was awesome because the zoo was practically empty of annoying people. (Although there was this one lady who kept screaming at her kids and was not wearing a bra, and she REALLY needed a bra.  She could have tripped on those things.  Did I ever tell you about the waitress at the restaurant we always went to in college who never wore a bra?  We had to duck when she passed out our food.  Remember her Cat? Tark?) What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the zoo.

So anyway, I have been holding on to the pictures that we took the day we went to the Capital City Zoo for three weeks now just waiting to be inspired to write a post about them.  It turns out that looking at other people’s zoo pictures is boring.   So I made a silent, short film instead.  Cannes here I come!
Enjoy.

Birthday Rewind

I love planning parties.  I know it is overkill for a toddler’s party, but he will never remember them so really they are parties for ME!  We are in full party planning tilt at TheHuckablog World Headquarters as we get ready for the big 2.  I did not have a blog this time last year, apart from the imaginary one in my head, so I thought we would have a little time warp back to last year.

The theme (I love themes, lame I realize but they make planning so much easier) was Rubber Ducky, look who’s one.  To say I had a few ducks at the party would be somewhat of an understatement.   I used turquoise blue linens with white accents, plus, of course, yellow ducks. In the background you can see the ducky cupcakes “swimming” around in a galvanized tub.  For food we had cheese and quackers, fresh fruit, ducky cookies, little weenie thingies, spinach AND cheese dips, “mallard”mars, and ducky cupcakes.  I always only serve tea, lemonade, and water at parties because they are inexpensive, and look pretty in glass pitchers (are you NOW convinced of the OCD?) There were blue and clear balloons everywhere to look like soap bubbles.

This is the “smash” cake, made by my mom.

Cupcakes made by Cakes by Stacey, (ask for info and I will send it to you).  She hand made those little almond bark ducks on top.

In the back yard I took blue tarps and made a canopy to cover the whole back porch, and then had tons of blue and clear helium filled balloons trapped underneath.  I took more blue tarps,  put them over blankets spread over the bricks, to create a soft surface, then added three blue kiddie pools with MORE rubber ducks.   Do you see all of the children who attended his party?  All ONE of them?  We are hoping the kid to adult ratio at this year’s party is a little better.

More pools and balloons and slides and neighbors.

You can’t see it very well but his onesie says Lucky Ducky, I am One! From The Gap.  I had the I am One added.

I could not find party favors I liked, so I made my own.  I spray painted party hats turquoise, found stuff to make ducks in the scrapbook aisle at Hobby Lobby, and used stickers to put different sayings on each hat, then topped it all off with a shimmer top coat.  Time consuming, but they turned out cute.

I was bummed at the lack of kids, so my Mom was a good sport and donned one.

I made the banner for his high chair, with construction paper, ribbon and more stickers.   I can’t show you the front of the house for security reasons, but I painted big yellow duck feet prints coming up the drive, and had a sign on the door that said “Welcome to the Huckablog Tub!”

We had a good time and all the adults had a blast.  I am not telling what all to expect for this year so you will be surprised, but I will give you a hint.   I hope you like dogs.

Best in Show, brought to you by Kibbles and Bits.

Welcome sports fans, and animal lovers alike, to the 10th annual Home Town Library Dog Show. We are pleased to be reporting LIVE from the show ring! The crowd and contestants are abuzz with rumors of a rookie in our midst. Get familiar with his name fans, you will be hearing it often in show rings for years to come. He is the strangely named, The Son Huckablog. He is already renowned for his cuteness, and fearless attitude toward all the dogs.

While new, his journey here has not been without trial. He had originally hoped to show the dog, which he also owns, Katydid It Huckablog. Sadly, it was decided without a barrel full of Puppy Ritalin she would be unable to compete because of her, how shall we put this kindly, robust personality. A last minute switch to Sassafras Huckablog, the elderly dog of The Son’s Gigi and Pappaw, is keeping The Son in the competition. Other tribulations have plagued the House of Huckablog, it seems that The Son’s very own Mama, Hey You Huckablog, came down with a case of “so tired, I need a vacation”, just this week. The Rookie again had Gigi and Pappaw come to the rescue. They brought The Son to their lush compound for two days of rigorous training. It is rumored these training exercises included the ever controversial tractor rides and sandbox playing method. I guess we will just have to wait and see how effective all that training was.

Oh, ladies and gentleman, look who has just arrived here on the dog show premises; it is that rookie we were just discussing, The Son! He appears to be wearing a heartachingly adorable plaid overall and is matched by Sassafras (oh note from the owner, she prefers to be called Sassy). Sassy is looking quite winsome, and nowhere near her 77 dog years old. The Son and Sassy go straight to check out this year’s current favorite, the yellow lab, Bonkers. Yes folks, this competition will be fierce.

The rookie and his dog engage in a last minute visualization exercise.

Aw, look at that fans, the pug has handily won the crocodile hunter class. He will be competing against The Son again in that most important of arenas, the cutest dog class.

It is the moment for which we all have been waiting. The Son Huckablog and the geriatric Sassy take to the ring. They are both showing signs of extreme concentration as they begin to circle the ring.

In a unprecedented move, The Son tries to flirt with the judges. Oh, that is a risky move. Will it pay off? Now might be a good time to mention the judges panel is made up entirely of female librarians. Yes, The Son may just know exactly what he is doing.

Here the rookie goes, making his final lap around the show ring.

What a competition. The judges have asked a handful of competitors to line up for a final looksee. The Son brings with him his biggest fan, his Mama. He gives a final wave to the judge’s dais. Sassy seems to be distracted, or is trash-talking the other competitors. One would hope not, that, and rear-end sniffing could get her and The Son disqualified.

Now is the tense time. The competitors go back to their respective pits to await the announcement of the winners. We can see from here that Coach Pappaw Huckablog is mentally tallying other dogs’ scores to see how the Son ranks. Ssssh, here come the announcements.  “Attention ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to announce the winners.

The winner of the Cutest Dog class is first-time handler, The Son Huckablog, showing Sassafras. Would you care to make an acceptance speech young man?” “You like me! You really like me!” Oh, listen to that crowd roar!

What a lovely gold cup and blue ribbon. This organization has spared no expense. The Son is making his way over to the winner’s circle to have his first true experience with the dog show paparazzi.

What a day, what a day. The Son and Sassy both look hot and worn out. It is time for a celebratory bowl and sippy cup of champagne, or water, whichever.

There goes an amazing competitor. I can’t wait to see what they bring to the show in years to come.

Delicious

A couple of weeks ago when Ma and Gabs were visiting, The Husband and I took Gabs and The Son to the Krispy Kreme.  At their big store in Capital City, they have the bakery behind glass so you can see the doughnut making machinery.  The doughnuts, and the cheeks, taste as good as they look.  The Son loves machinery so he was superpsyched by the doughnut machines (Or perhaps it was just the sugar?).  He was so cute and curious the guy operating the machine came up front and gave him a raw doughnut to play with.  The Son said, “Ewww! Yuck!”, and then proceeded to try eating it.

Happy Fourth of July

A Year ago today……