Every Day, From Here to There...

POTW-6 and shoveling and cake!

2012-02-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

We have a lot of snow.

The mounds in the front yard are 3 to 4 feet high.

If it weren't for Ryan's dad we would have a ton of ice out in the street again. He said he likes to shovel so he came on tuesday and did!

Becky thought my birthday cake decorating skills are amazing. She loved her cake. Good thing she doesn't watch Cake Boss! (Oh, and people are wearing their PJ's because Becky declared that she wanted a PJ party.)

Ryan and the kids piled up a TON of snow in the back yard and spent a few days digging it out. Now they have a lovely quincy that will probably be there for a month.

And we tried to put out a bird feeder, but the ground was frozen so we stuck the hook in a pot. It fell over later in the day. Hopefully we'll get it in the ground soon.

Icicles

2012-02-08T06:59:00.000-08:00

This storm has created some spectacular icicles. Everywhere. Not just the people with clogged gutters are experiencing this. Everywhere you look you can see curtains of icicles that are much better than those Christmas lights. There is so much snow that the water is just dripping out over the gutters and freezing. Here they are on our house:

And some on the apartments near where I teach violin lessons:

Notice the foil on the window...yep, I teach in the ghetto. These icicles are about 3 feet long.

Pic of the Week-5.2.0

2012-02-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

The snow hasn't stopped yet.

The neighbors have made it a group effort and we've all been helping each other with our snow. One guy has a snowblower so it only ended up taking about an hour to get our driveway

and even into the street cleared.

The official yard stick measured 20 inches!

Look Who's 5!

2012-02-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Becky's been asking if it's her birthday since the day after Christmas. Today her dreams came true. She said she could do lots of things today, and then with each thing she said she could do (like not whine at me) it was because she is five now. The party and cake will be in a few days.

POTW-5 and Ice!

2012-02-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the snow is almost gone. Time for another storm. One is due to roll in tomorrow.

Here is our pic of the week:

We've already had quite an eventful week here on our street. Notice that we no longer have an ice skating rink in our cul-d-sac? Well, take a moment to remind yourself... behold the glacier:

And now:

All I had to do was call the city. At least we haven't suffered with it for 38 years (like our neighbors). They brought out all this equipment and had the ice compleatly gone in an hour. I would have taken pics but I felt weird when there was one of these out there:

and this:

and this massive thing I can't find a picture of.

I should've taken a picture.

Off to School Pic of the Week-4

2012-01-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

Starting to snow as Zach leaves for school:

20 minutes later:

Another 20:

Hmm, Ryan took his motorcycle to work today...

July

2012-01-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

Back in July we went to Utah for a family vacation! We went for Ryan's cousin's wedding and then stayed for 9 more days to have fun. Of course we spent time at Temple Square:

My favorite flower at Temple Square:

(Hey Olivia, I took this all by myself...are you proud? Or do I stink and just don't know it?)

We also went to the children's museum 2 times! It was really cool!

Keep going...I've posted a few other things...

Basement Shelves

2012-01-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

I love our basement shelves. We built them at the end of July. These ones are for food storage and some kitchen stuff we use less often (like the turkey platter for thanksgiving). We're going to build more in the laundry room for...junk.

Scroll down for this week's pic of the week!

Pic of the Week-3

2012-01-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

Not much different than last week. It did snow and melt since my last picture though. And I took this at a really bad time of day too. Oh well...I'm no professional. :)

Pic of the Week 2 (1 technically)

2012-01-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over. I didn't blog about it all. But it was good. The end.

So, I'm maybe weird but I like to know things about previous years. Like, I like to know how many days it snowed in previous years, and when the first snow was, and when I planted my seeds for transplanting into the garden, and when we had really cold days or really hot days in the summer. Weird stuff like that. Here is my project for this year, partially brought on my my excitement for my new front yard garden: I'm going to take a picture each week (and actually post it that week too...which means this post is late) of the front yard. So here it is. From week 2 of 2012:

I also enjoy seeing the snow melt and come again. See, I'm weird. There's a lot to talk about in this picture that I have not ever blogged about: When we bought the house it looked like this:

We painted! (And got new windows, and pruned our tree)

Also, we totally changed the yard. Which will be easier to see in the spring.

December 13

2011-12-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

Ryan and the kids set up the Christmas train under the tree.

And I made more cookies.

What's With the Blogging Binge?

2011-12-12T23:05:00.001-08:00

Well, it's about Christmas and you should probably start here and work your way back...

December 12

2011-12-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Our house has been a cookie factory today. I've made lots of different kinds of cookes. But the focus for the sake of the kids was decorating sugar cookies this evening. Still have more cookies to make...

December 11

2011-12-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

We made our favorite Christmas cookes. Secret recipe. Don't ask. They are so tasty. Mmmmm.

December 10

2011-12-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

The 10th was a big, busy day. It started with Ryan going to pick up our route for Baskets of Joy. Then we headed to Georgetown with my parents to try out a new tradition.

The kids went with my mom for a horse drawn cart ride around the town.

They had fun.

We even got a quick pic with the beautiful horses:

We had some tasty candy from the local shop, ate chestnuts roasted on an open fire, listened to the "Jingle Singers" and browsed the local shops. This is what I would have loved to buy:

When we got back from the mountains we picked up the Baskets of Joy from the house and set out to deliver them. They are put together for Seniors who might not have a lot going on for the holidays. We didn't get to see each of the people on our route, but the people we did see were very happy and grateful for a visit. The kids had TONS of fun and can't wait to do it next year. They wished we had more baskets to deliver.

Overall it was a really fun day!

December 9

2011-12-12T22:49:00.000-08:00

We watched The Polar Express. Ryan made yummy food. And after the kids went to bed we watched another Christmas movie. It would have been our traditional Christmas Vacation viewing, but we had to move that to a different night.

December 8

2011-12-12T22:47:00.000-08:00

The kids each have a special Christmas book given to them by Ryan's parents. Each year we take time to read them with their accompanying letters.

December 7

2011-12-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

We had fun decorating our lovely tree. Here it is all finished. And re-arranged 20 times by Becky:

Please take a moment to notice my reciently finished sheer curtains that go behind the drapes in the living room:

(Close-up for easy viewing)

December 6

2011-12-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

I have pictures for this one!

Ok, one picture. I made the gingerbread this year. Fancy. Then I got Sciatica for a week. I blame it on the gingerbread. (really it's from laying 264 fourteen pound bricks in my front yard...that's another story). Ryan, his dad, and the kids made the houses while I was gone teaching violin lessons. I'm not fond of making them so it was perfect for that day.

December 5

2011-12-12T22:37:00.000-08:00

We got a lovely tree from the "Trees for Charity" lot. The man who runs it is so nice and easy going about people who might change their minds. Multiple times. He also runs a wedding and party business so he sets up his giant blow-up bounce houses and slide and lets kids play on them as much as they want to. Our kids jumped in the bounce house for at least 10 minutes while we sat in the warm, running car after we got the tree. It was 4 degrees out. They didn't notice.

December 4

2011-12-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

We really enjoyed the Christmas Devotional. Sometimes it's hard to get the kids into this so we made Ginger cookies and drank hot cocoa or apple cider. The kids had fun and really listened too!

December 3

2011-12-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

We went to the Ward Christmas Party. The End.

December 2

2011-12-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

We brought out the Christmas music CD's. Christmas music is a pretty big deal in our family. Ryan's dad has an extensive collection (that is a major understatement) and so we listen to LOTS of Christmas music.

Some of the kids' favorites this year are:
I want a hippopotumus for Christmas-becky
R2D2 We wish you a Merry Christmas-b&z
I'm A Christmas Tree-b&z

Some of my favorites:
Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (by Hilary Weeks)
Ave Maria (by Celine)
O, Holy Night (Celine, of course)
Christmastime (Hilary Weeks)

December 1

2011-12-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

Here's what the card in the calendar looks like

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I don't get into the Christmas season very easily. But on the first I decided that I needed to suck it up and get into it. So, that day the kids didn't actually take anything out of the calendar because the christmas boxes were still packed away. But that day I took them out and put out some of our decorations. I also got out the Advent Calendar and we got all geared up for the rest of the month!

I REALLY need a wreath. This is the one I want above the mantle:

It doesn't look exactly like this in "real life".

Or I could make a wreath like this:

OR what I would also love would be a wreath something like this if it will stand out enough:

Or this:

Ok, I'm done.

25 Days of Christmas

2011-12-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

They're half over and I haven't blogged about them! First let's start with this:

Each day of December leading up to Christmas includes some type of Christmas activity. Each morning the kids open that day's door and find a little card that tells them what it is. Sometimes there is candy behind the door too!

Becky Yesterday

2011-10-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Becky: How can I pray for a baby?

Me: What kind of baby?

Becky: A girl.

Me: Like a doll?

Becky: No, a real baby.

Me: Thinking she means for ME to have this baby... Who's baby would this be?

Becky: Mine, when I'm a mommy...so how can I pray for a baby? And it needs to be a girl, only a girl.

Peter Piper's Phenomenal Pickling Party

2011-09-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

We made 5 batches of phenomenal pickles. That means 40 pounds of cucumbers.

People are lining up at my door offering to PAY to have these pickles. They are tasty. Super tasty!

If you're looking for my recipe don't bother...its a secret. But if you're really nice you might get a jar. :)

Bananna Pudding

2011-08-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should update my blog. I don't know. My big problem? I don't have the time. But look for something of substance soon. I promise. Really.

Did you see the cover of the Martha Stewart Halloween issue? It kinda looks cool.

That's all.

You Are ALL Fired!

2011-05-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

Why did NO ONE tell me I spelled BLOG wrong in my last post?

Until nxet time...

I Bolg in Spurts

2011-02-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

And this is why: I can't seem to keep up with things. My kitchen could look like this:

Which doesn't make me think I should stop everything and blog. (Thankfully this a random old picture from a few months ago. Today my kitchen is in pretty good shape)

My basement DOES look like this:

I started organizing the basement a few months ago. It was going really well. Then Christmas happened. Then I needed to get into a few baby clothes boxes. THAT turned into a disaster. So this is the current state of my basement. My goal for 2011 is to make it better. :)

I've caught up on my blog. AND on the gardening blog. So, if you feel like knowing what we've been up to for the last 5 MONTHS read on. But I won't be offended if you don't. I obviously didn't care enough to blog about it until now.

I'm going to go clean something.

The Solar System

2011-02-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

"Did you no that ther is a planet that is huge? It is called Joopter."

Becky Turned 4

2011-02-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

If Snow White makes friends with Polly Pocket she might end up looking like this:

And if they hang out a lot, they might end up in a bannana boat. This WILL NOT make Grumpy any less grumpy.

Happy 4th Birthday Becky!

Spiders and Snow

2011-02-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

At the butterfly pavilion my kids held "Rosie" the tarantula.

Zach built a Quincey.

Utah October 2010

2011-02-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

We went to Salt Lake City for Ryan's cousin's wedding in October. We got to spend some time with the kids at Temple Square.

Becky has decided that she'd like to get married here. So this is Becky at age 3 1/2 preparing for wedding photos.

Becky and I also stopped by the Denver Temple a few weeks later. She liked it there too.

My Crazy Idea

2011-02-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

Back in August I got this CRAZY idea that I could make 20+ jackets for a bunch of Mary Kay ladies. Well, I did it. I was a lot of work and very stressful.

The hardest part was attaching hundreds of tiny crystals to each jacket. But I think they turned out pretty well!

Other Important Notes: I work best when I'm watching TV. I watched all 7 seasons of The Gilmore Girls (for the second time...the first time I watched it I made a wedding gown), lots of Jane Austin Movies and The Extended versions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There might have been more, but that's what I can remember. I ended up sewing for about 170 hours.

Sometimes I Cook REAL Dinner

2011-02-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

We call it real dinner because I usually don't cook. I like to cook. I am perfectly capible of cooking. But I don't. Anyway, this was just spaghetti but to my kids it was AMAZING!

Weird Kids

2011-02-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

Becky colored her leg. Yuck!

My children decided to clean the windows!

Zach playing math games.

It Reminded Me of The Lion King

2010-10-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

Tonight we drove home from Grandma's in the dark. Becky was suddenly really excited and said:

"Mom, I see the moon! It is a whole moon. It found all of it's pieces!"

Me, "Wow, that's really cool".

Zach, "Becky, that's not how it really is. The moon is always whole but sometimes we can't see it all."

Becky, "no that's not true"

Zach, "Becky! It is true! I learned about it in school!!!"

You Need One of These

2010-09-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Remember a while back when I posted an ode to my carpet cleaner? Well, get ready, here comes more:

I got a new toy today. It's a prize for completing my giant sewing project that I shouldn't have taken on. But my prize is totally making it better. (Maybe I should explain and post pics of the sewing thing...that's for another time, this is much more important).

Here it is:

Let's have a moment of silence to contemplate the majesty of my new floor cleaner...

Seriously, I am in heaven. We have a really lovely laminate floor that we installed a few months ago. We have it in the dining room, kitchen and family room. It's really pretty and really shiny. They call it a "piano finish". That piano finish means that every speck of water leaves an ugly water spot if you don't dry it up. So, cleaning the floor until today consisted of me on my hands and knees with a wet cloth and a spray bottle of Lysol. Then after a section was clean I had to dry it with a towel.

But now, all I do is use my magic machine. It takes a little longer than vacuuming carpet. It scrubs with magical brushes then is sucks up all the water and yuck. I don't have to do anything else.

Now I can be like those ladies who always seem to have a perfectly clean floor. Maybe they had a secret. Now I'm in on it and I don't mind sharing.

PS it was on sale at Kohl's for $150, then we had a 30% off coupon.

Crossing a River, Kindergarten, and a Fence

2010-09-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Zach wasn't in the water, but it REALLY looks like he is standing right in it. Just a goofy picture.

Kindergarten started a few weeks ago. So far Zach loves it. So far I love it. We were lucky enough to be at the only school in the district (as far as I know) that gives everyone full day kindergarten every day. I'm not complaining.

Becky and Dad were also there to see him off.

And then there's the fence issue.

Well, the story from the beginning: When we moved into our house there a fence in a small part of our back yard that cut into our yard. There was an old, yucky, half dead tree at the corner of the lot that someone decided to start on fire. It burnt the fence at the corner of our yard. Someone put up a new fence, but not in the original place. It surrounded the dead tree so you couldn't see the base of it, or the burnt up fence behind.

We cut the tree down for Mother's Day. That was my present.

Then we stacked the wood from the tree. We won't run out of wood any time soon.

But, here is the problem. The wood pile was exposed to the kids that walk past every day. There is a drainage canal behind our house and it is a great short cut for school kids of all ages. I was worried that some other intelligent kid would start that big wood pile on fire.

I got some old fence sections for free. My father in law helped me haul them to where they needed to be.

Then they sat there for a month.

Then I fixed the fence.

Or at least I tried to. This is how it will be until some muscles come and fix it properly. I bet you weren't aware of my awesome fence building skillz.

Family Pictures

2010-08-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Check out our family pictures taken by the lovely Olivia Langford of Creative Eye Photography!

Water Slide!

2010-07-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

I remember wishing I could do this when I was a kid. And actually getting to do it a few times at my grandparent's lake. Becky is the primary captain of water pouring. And Zach will do it on his own if he has to...he pours then hurries to go down the slide. Please excuse my not-so-great camera skills. That's why my fabulous friend is taking our family pictures!

Time to Rake Again

2010-06-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is me raking Zach's room. I do this on a regular basis, like all other chores. I'm sure it's not healthy for my children. On my most recent raking expedition Zach locked me in the garage when he saw me getting the rake. It was hot in there.

I can't stand the mess. I hate falling over stuff in the night when my kids need something. So, I rake. Any questions?

Oh, and in other news...the neighbors made a sand box for the naked kid. Just hold that image in your mind for a while.

Allium

2010-05-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

I Want This Tree

2010-05-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Are You A Wait-er

2010-05-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

Not waiter. But a person who waits.

My complaint today stems from another Walmart experience. Maybe I should not go there. It drives me crazy when people wait in the parking lot for a spot. It's a huge parking lot. Yesterday there was someone waiting, half way in the main road along the front of the store and half way into one of the lanes for parking spots. They were blocking traffic. That irritates me.

The worst is when a person stops cold because they see someone walking out of the store and toward a car. They wait while the car is loaded with a cart full of Walmart junk, then loaded with 3 crying kids. Craziness.

When people do that to me, I take an extra long time to finish. Then I sit in the car for a long time before pulling out. :)

Steamables

2010-05-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

What is the deal with these?

Seriously!

I forgot to pick up frozen broccoli today at Samual's, so when I was at Wally's I figured I would run down the frozen aisle to get some. All they had were minuscule bags of frozen vegetables that you're supposed to steam in the microwave.

Now that's really cool that you can do that. There is even a video you can watch on the above website about "steaming technology". But seriously, you can just do it yourself. It's called watching the microwave so you don't overcook the vegetables. It's not rocket science folks. (And I know all about rocket science, people.)

So, how do you feel about it? Is it worth twice the money to you to not have to pay attention? Maybe it is. I'm wondering.

I guess I'm just irritated because thats all you can buy now. And it's all twice as expensive as just a regular bag of broccoli.

I didn't get any by the way.

Maybe I've Been too Harsh; a Naked Kid Update

2010-04-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Since we last chatted about The Naked Kid a lot has happened. For example, he jumped on the trampoline. He frolicked in the vegetable garden. But that's not why I'm posting. Today I observed the Grandpa chasing The Naked Kid down and helping him get dressed. You have all made good points, lots of VERY nice ideas on how to deal with it. Since I'm not Vern (translation: I don't have the guts), I think I will just hold off on saying anything for now. Maybe the child has some sort of disorder, like Turrets, except he takes his clothes off at random times. Well, maybe not, but anyway, I'm dealing with it. We'll live, and the leaves should be popping out of the trees soon, so then I won't have to see it. (Unless I am in my vege garden. But I will be fully clothed in MY vege garden.)

But I REALLY wish it was acceptable to photograph this craziness...it is HILARIOUS! You are really missing out on a good laugh.

The Naked Kid

2010-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, posting two days in a row...craziness.

This is what I see out of every window in the back of our house. Out the sliding door, the kitchen window, the large dining room window and the kids' windows. It's not bad, we have space between us and the next house. There is a drainage canal between our fence and the people behind us, so there's space. I know it's small, but if you click on the picture it will get bigger for your viewing needs.

On any given day I might be innocently doing my kitchen chores and look out the window to see "The Naked Fat Kid". He has got to be at least 4. And he weighs a lot...like 50 pounds. I have no problem with the weight, but I don't like to see it un-clothed. This kid rolls around in the grass with the HUGE St. Bernard (You can see him in the pic), or rides his little red tricycle or runs around. ALL in the nude. I haven't seen him jump on the trampoline yet. I hope I never do. It's really weird. The mom is out there with him all the time, yelling at him about this or that. But she is there. And what's even weirder (apparently that IS a word because my spell check didn't flag it) is that I started seeing this kid naked in January. I know we have warm days in the winter here in Colorado, but even when it was only 45 or 50 degrees.

So, since I'm going to be here for a while, do I just deal with it or do I try and do something about it? Zach actually came in the other day and said "That naked kid is out there again." Now sometimes he has clothes on. But at least a few times a week he doesn't. What if he is in Zach's class at school next year?

It's just weird. I don't think it's NORMAL to let your kid run around like that when people can see. It's not like they live in a particularly sheltered area. He is just out there for all to gaze at.

Tell me your thoughts.

PS I DID NOT photograph The Naked Kid in action, cause that's just weird. But it is pretty funny to see. :)

Post 101

2010-04-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

Has anyone noticed how RUDE people have been lately? Someone honked at me yesterday because I was going too slow for them. Granted, it was rush-hour. But I'm not a slow poke either. The biggest thing I've noticed though is women in their "Golden Years" seem to have no patience anymore. Well some of them...many times in the last month or so my kids have upset some random woman or another in a public place by simply being in the way! You know, kids sometimes don't look where they are going and dash in front of a person. I always apologize right away and they don't even acknowledge my presence. It's like they are too disgusted to even look me in the eyes. Irritating. Are we being hardened by all that's going on in the world? I thought that was supposed to help us be kinder, usually it does. But I guess people are crabby about earthquakes and giant waves and such.

Anyway, I took pictures. Not of rude ladies! Of stuff, life, the things going on here.

Becky turned 3. We ate pink cake.

While I was diligently not eating wheat (I regressed for a while...) I made this actually pretty tasty raisin bread.

Zach made Valentines for his preschool class. Sometimes I still find glitter in the kitchen drawer.

I found a caterpillar in our front yard while I was raking in EARLY March. First insect I had seen in months. Now we have lots of spiders in the basement again...they were gone for 4 or 5 months. It was nice.

My bulbs I planted in the fall started popping up.

Then they started blooming.

The biggest excitement of all came about 2.5 weeks ago when we started installing our floor. Yipee! No more CARDBOARD floor. (We put cardboard on the floor because we had painted it to seal everything (the bad junk) in but couldn't install the floor yet, so we were protecting the paint). Did you know cardboard doesn't clean very well? Did you know I have two small children? Those things really don't go well together.

This is how we kept the children occupied while we worked. There WAS a couch sitting at the proper distance from the TV, but obviously it wasn't good enough. PS can you tell me what movie they watched?

We are all on a NO SUGAR, NO GRAIN, HIGH VEGE and a little bit of fruit and dairy and meat diet. The reason why is for another post, but here is a yummy salad I made up. YUMMY.

Becky wanted me to take a picture of HER salad too.

THE END

I Keep Meaning to Take Pictures

2010-03-10T20:26:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have to have a picture to document whatever I'm talking about. I think that's to try and make up for my mediocre writing skills. Anyway, I was asked after my previous post why I have to wear shoes in the house. Well:

There are always random, possibly sharp things lying on the floor somewhere. (Insert picture of thumb tack sitting point-up on my kitchen floor. Thank you Zach.)
Back when Becky was potty training, well, you get the picture on that one. (No picture needed.)
People keep spilling stuff in the kitchen.
Our carpet is super old/gross/creepy/hard.
I need support.
Sometimes I trip for no apparent reason, which messes up my ankle. Usually wearing shoes helps me avoid random tripping. (Insert picture of me flailing as I fall to the ground. I did this just a few days ago. Ryan thought it was funny.)
I'm just used to it.
I really like my lavender shoes. (Scroll down to re-view my lovely shoes.)

Other things I've wanted to/attempted to take pictures of that haven't made it to the www:

Becky shoveling snow in her swim suit. My caption was going to say "Only in Colorado."

The foot-wide swath of grass that was taken out of our front yard by the snow plow on Monday. Monday people. It hasn't snowed in a few weeks. The city was removing the ice skating rink that was in front of our neighbor's house. I was nice enough to chip away at the ice in front of our house many, many weeks ago. Why must we be punished?

The tulip/crocus/grape hyacinth bulbs that are coming up already. I covered them. February is just too early.

Zach's lightsaber.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I've got for tonight.

If You Were Me and You Had to Choose...

2010-02-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

Would you choose black rain boots or lavender?

Mine came in a lovely box with red circles all over it delivered by the UPS man on Thursday and I LOVE THEM! They are for gardening. They're a little tall, I kind of look like farmer McGregor in them, but I DON'T CARE! They are lovely! They make me happy, and they only cost $5 more than the black ones at the Big-Blue-Box store.

That leads me to some other lovely footwear that I received for Christmas. These ...are my house shoes. $75 house shoes. Crazy, I know. But I have to have shoes on in the house and since I spend most of my time at home it seems like a good purchase.

Are you seeing a theme here? Yes, I have a fetish. It's not a shoe fetish either. I've had this disease for almost 15 years. I just really like lavender things. Love the smell of lavender too.

What's your favorite color?

Can Someone Please Tell Me if This is Normal?

2010-02-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Things that come out of Becky's mouth on a daily basis:

"I don't want those socks!"
I go to put them back,
"I do, I do!"

"Not those shoes!"
I go to put them back,
"I do want those shoes!"

"I don't want that cup!"
pause
"I do, I do!"

"I want the pink teddy bear in my bed."
bring the bear
"I don't want the pink teddy bear in my bed!"

You get the picture. I'm spending a lot of time pretending to put things away these days. What is the deal! Is this normal?

Not Such a Bad Mood Anymore

2010-01-30T09:09:00.001-08:00

My sweet friend Katie showed up at my house last night with a bag of wheat free goodies. Including these cookies. And they are really good! So, once again chocolate has cured everything!

My picture taking skills aren't quite as good as the internet picture, but you get the idea.

I'm in a Bad Mood

2010-01-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

I'm in a bad mood because I am allergic to wheat and I've been trying to pretend I'm not and I really can't anymore because it is making me feel HORRIBLE all the time. SO DON'T BRING ME ANY COOKIES!

Don't these look delicious?

Maybe We'll Have to Put Him in Fencing

2009-11-28T10:50:00.001-08:00

Zach turned 5 earlier this month. Forgot to mention it...oops. He's been in school for a month now and loves it and is doing well. He recently has become interested in Star Wars (which he's never seen and really doesn't know much about) and made swords so that Ryan and he can have sword fights in the back yard. He is getting really good!

He got Ryan pretty good here!

Something Exciting is Happening at Our House on Thursday...

2009-11-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Something to top off this:

We Have Way Too Much Junk!

2009-11-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

I brought the camera with me today to do the classic "first day of school" photo shoot. No pictures were taken. Oh well. Zach started pre-school today. He loves it. I love it. Ryan loves it. The only person who is maybe a little bummed would be Becky. She wanted to know where her cubby was. But alas, he had to come home and take a nap instead. I worked...with NO interruptions. I think this is the start of a beautiful time in my life.

I found out that we have way too much junk. Way too much. I have NO idea how we squeezed all that junk into a two bedroom apartment. It's ridiculous. I'm a little disgusted. We haven't been able to park out car in the garage for 2 months. (It was the 21 boxes of kitchen cabinets that kept us from pulling in, but still.) So that's where I started today. If you are a mom: you'd be surprised how much you can get done in 1 uninterrupted hour. Amazing I tell you. My legs really hurt though.

This evening I had to get out the Narnia books. Zach and Ryan have finished "The Magician's Elephant" and have decided to read The Chronicals. I'm excited. I listened too. But here is the problem. We Have Way Too Much Junk. It took too long to find the books. They were in the very last book box. (I think I opened 7 at least.) It wouldn't be so difficult if we didn't have boxes stacked half way to the ceiling in the basement, 5 layers deep. Let's clarify, the box I eventually needed was in the final layer, at the bottom. Now my semi-tidy basement with 5 layers of boxes lining one wall is a DISASTER. But there's always tomorrow. You'd be suprised how much you can get done in 1 uninterrupted hour. Have I mentioned the uninturrupted time I get every day? UNINTERRUPTED! (4 days a week, for 2.5 hours each day counts as every day in my book.) It's beautiful. Now, just so you don't think anyone's life is this perfect (mine included, I'm just still in that honeymoon stage) read this. The part about Facebook and Blogs is what I'm refering to. Always makes me feel better. It's a good read. Don't miss it!

How do you feel about your junk? Talk amongst yourselves.

Blog? What Blog?

2009-09-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

My friend said she noticed I haven't posted for a while and figured we must not be settled in our house yet. She hit the nail square on the head. This is NOT a joke: I have not completely unpacked a single box. That's right folks, we've lived here for almost 3 months and we're not settled. So Audra: congratulations on unpacking and feeling like you've been in your new place forever. Maryam: sorry your B-day card is STILL late. It'll be there before Christmas, I promise. I did actually buy one the week before your B-day.

But, we have good excuses!
A few weeks after we moved in we noticed that the kitchen sink was draining slowly. We stuck a drain king (high pressure attachment for hose) in there and tried to see if we could clear the line. Then water started dripping down the basement wall under the kitchen. Then the subfloor that we could see from the basement was wet under the kitchen. Then we determined that we would have to remove the cabinets to take care of the drain situation. So we did. We found where the pipe had broken in two places. Seemed a little strange for a drain pipe. So we put the drain king in the clean-out downstairs. After 30 seconds water started seeping up through the basement floor. This was a really special moment in our house owning experience. Roto Rooter wanted $6,000 to fix this problem. We fixed it our selves for under $500. And that $500 includes hiring 7 Mexican guys to cut and remove an 18 inch wide, 30 foot long hole in our basement floor. My husband is awesome.

Anyway, to go along with the drain issue, we had a moldy floor in the kitchen issue. So we got all that taken care of, along with removing the moldy cabinets. Much debating brought us to the conclusion that we might as well do our kitchen re-model now rather than wait. So, here we are, working on getting the last layer of flooring out of the kitchen (1975 asbestos filled linoleum) so we can start installing our new cabinets.

I'm so grateful that my husband doesn't mind working on stuff like this. The only thing we've had to hire someone to do was put in our new windows. So, the two of us (along with Ryan's dad sometimes...thanks Brent) have been able to get a lot done in the last few months. We did know we would have a lot to do to get the house in good shape, and we really don't mind the work. It's nice to have plenty of space, and know that it will all be how we want it...some day.

Finally...

2009-08-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

I have a partner in crime! I thought I was living with three slobs, but Becky has suprised me. Yesterday she helped me fold and put away laundry. Then I found this lovely line of shoes in her room. There is still hope!

Port-A-Potty

2009-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

What's Goin' On

2009-07-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Zach is suddenly very fond of peas:

Zach wrote his own grocery list last week. He asked me how to spell these items:

My children made a Birthday cake for me on Saturday while I was naping. Ryan was in charge. His coment when Zach presented the cake: "I thought I was watching them really well, apparently not." He later found a box of matches in Zach's room. We keep the candles and matches together in a bag. Usually in an unreachable place, but not on Saturday when it was still in a box...

In other news:
Zach stacked 8 pieces of bread in the toaster oven this morning (two stacks of 4). He thought we were all really hungry. Luckely he told me about it so I saved the middle pieces before they got warm.
We planted our pot garden. Not "pot" crazy! Just look on my garden blog, then you'll understand.

Things That Shouldn't Be in the Toilet

2009-07-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Not really sure what this is...it was in our toilet in our new house. We still have a problem though, so we're wondering what else is in there!

Ok, now for Jay's wedding. We got to go to Albuquerque for the weekend (minus two kids, woohoo!) for Ryan's best friend Jay's wedding. Here are a few pics, it was fun!

Here's Ryan, Chris McNeal, Jay and one of the other groomsmen.

The Happy Couple at the end of the ceremony.
Jay got creamed...whip creamed! And strawberry jammed too.
Ryan (Best Man...he gave a really good toast bytheway) and Jay at the end of the reception.
Finally a picture of us together.

Little Mommy

2009-06-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is "Naked Baby"

Please notice what is on her knee.

99 Bottles of Coke on the Wall

2009-06-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way to music camp. Riding a bus with 45 kids to Winter Park. Sounds like fun huhh? Had a blast last year, so it should be good. And I even packed a jacket this year, so hopefully I won't freeze! Wish me luck! My group this year is composed of 12 kids. 9 of them are ten-year-old Asian boys!

Under Contract

2009-06-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

We close in 3 weeks.

Mr. Fix-It

2009-05-27T05:54:00.000-07:00

This is my husband.

This is my dryer.

They have a close, personal relationship. You see, we have fixed our $37.50 appliance five or six times since we bought it five years ago. This last time was a real mystery that lasted 2 weeks. No, I'm not complaining about two weeks without a dryer. I did complain actually, until I found out that my neighbor has been without a dryer for like a year because theirs is gas and they only take electric dryers here in the fine apartments that are The Reflections at Cherry Creek. But I digress. Not really actually...part of my complaint (before I was not complaining) was how the management responded to my drying dilemma. You see, I had put off doing laundry long enough that I had quite a stock pile of loaded laundry baskets. It was a Tuesday, I decided to start with our bedding. When I discovered our dryer problem (running but not heating) I had wet sheets and a wet mattress pad. Those mattress pads take forever to dry in the dryer. It was a hot day, so I ran a string from my upstairs neighbor's porch to the fence. Granted, this was a very obtrusive way to dry sheets. But I hung the pillow cases over the actual walkway, so people just had to duck a little. (This explanation is taking a long time, hope you're in it for the long haul...)

The manager, Kim, was out walking the grounds with the guy who is really in charge. They were discussing this I hope:

See how much they care about us? This non-grass area that should be a lush carpet of water sucking Kentucky Blue Grass translates into a lot of dirty clothes in the last year. Sometimes multiple changes of dirty clothes in one day. Digression again. So, apparently they were discussing the situation. I'm assuming Kim was mortified by my use of string because she walked on over to me (I was out with the kids and our neighbor and her kids) and informed me that we're not allowed to hang laundry here. Not worried about the "grass" though. Or at least she hasn't been for the last year. Anyway...back to the dryer:

My amazing husband finally figured out what was wrong. He fixed it. Then he fixed it again because the first fix wasn't quite good enough for my snooty dryer. So, the moral of the story (do you like how I'm wrapping it up so quickly) is that we have lots of clean, dry clothes here. And I owe it all to my fantastic Mr. Fix-It.

Did I mention that he fixed Zach's dresser too?

Basket Liner

2009-05-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Maybe this isn't really worthy of this blog, but I'm really happy about the basket liner I made this morning. I know it's a simple project, but sometimes simple and fast is good. Right?

The material is actually black, it's hard to tell in the picture though. The liner is a little big because it will shrink a tad when I wash it. I didn't pre-shrink. What can I say, I'm a risk-taker! No, actually I didn't pre-shrink because the dryer is out of commission at this time, so no shrinking would actually happen if I washed it and hung it out to dry. ANYway, that's another story.

See how much nicer this black is than the cream fabric the basket came with. The cream was nice in theory, say if you don't have kids or if you aren't using it by the door for the shoes. So I went with black.

This thing has actually been washed recently. It just doesn't get much cleaner than this. The blob on the left is tomato soup. Nice touch huhh? Just don't think about what it did to the shoe it hit first!

Prom Dress

2009-05-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

I had a last minute prom dress client last week. It was exciting because it's my first non-friend or family job! Anyway, I asked the girl to send me a picture of her wearing the dress, but haven't gotten anything yet, so this will have to do for now. It looks much better on...so hopefully she will send me a pic.

Marvelous Day

2009-05-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

If you don't know who this guy is, you should:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHMPdrCvCkE&feature=related

We love Steve. We have his CD's and they make me happy. I love the one about the elephant, and Marvelous Day, and the one about the ducks. And, well, most of them.

That's all.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a typical Mother's Day here including a green snot nose for Becky and a zombie husband. I got to sleep all the way until 6:30. It was thrilling! Ryan was so exhausted from staying up all night working on a paper that he didn't wake up until I was in the shower. But I got pancakes. They were good. Zach made me some Mother's Day cards, and gave me some chocolate. Becky also gave me chocolate. Ryan gave me a nice miniature rose plant (when he gave it to me he said he had gotten me a dozen roses-there really are 12) and more chocolate. The chocolate is almost gone. I was really stressed out after Sacrament meeting because we didn't get our customary box of chocolates. But the young men saved the day when they brought us plates of cookies and chocolate dipped strawberries in Relief Society. I would have preferred the box of chocolate. But I'll live. As you can see, chocolate is pivotal in the enjoyment of Mother's Day!

"It's Just Not Your Color" or "What the heck are you doing?!?!"

2009-05-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

See how it just really doesn't match her skin tone? She needs more pink in her foundation.

I tried to tell her, but she was really concentrating. She was sure that my foundation would work just fine for her rosy skin.

Thank goodness Mary Kay makes a cleanser that gets all this stuff off!

Soap

2009-05-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

I don't think we need to worry about Becky getting Swine Flu. She washes her hands for 5 minutes before rinsing!

Kids These Days

2009-04-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

If I let myself cool off for half an hour I probably wouldn't write this. But since I'm not cooled off...these kids were outside throwing rocks. One hit our window. I went out and asked them to go somewhere else because one had already hit our back door and I don't want to deal with a broken window tonight. One of the kids said "how did we hit your window?" The nerve! I recovered quickly and said, "I don't know, but it did." So they reluctantly left. Why is a 10 year old boy being so rude? I'm a little miffed.

How To Start Your Day

2009-04-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

Zach likes to do Yoga in the morning. He makes me do it with him. This morning Becky was up too, so we all did it together. Didn't last for long though...Becky wanted to sit on my lap!

The kids for Easter.

Homemade Ant Farm

2009-03-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

I've been a little preoccupied this morning reading three month's of blog entries by our Relief Society President's daughter. Her 3 month old baby passed away yesterday. I knew he had been sick since he was born, and wanted to know the whole story. Very sad and eye-opening. Makes me that much more thankful for the Gospel and for my healthy kids.

So, while I was neglecting my own children...ironic huhh...they made an ant farm. Zach has informed me that the ants are very hungry and he is taking care of them. This is the case that holds his plastic horn. It is now the residence of 3 ants. (Actually I think only 2 are living). Zach picked them up from the bathroom floor with toilet paper and made them "comfy" in their new house.

We don't live in a landfill by the way, the ants just come out from under the walls in the bathrooms and kitchen if any crumb of anything is left on the floor. So as you can probably imagine, I clean my kitchen floor daily!

Do these ants look happy to you?

I'm also very distracted because my friend from Church's house had a serious fire on Sunday afternoon. Everyone is ok, but I fear that the house is in very bad shape. It doesn't look very good to me. Most of the family is out of town right now. I just can't stop worring and feeling badly for them. I can't imagine this happening and wondering and waiting to see what the actual damage is. It's been a rough start to the week for our ward.

Why Am I Telling You This?

2009-03-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure, I just had fun watching my kids suck down their oatmeal this morning. You can't really tell from the picture, but Zach is using a giant serving spoon. I think that's what made this morning's daily ritual interesting.

I got a new plant yesterday. Whenever a new family moves into our ward the Filmore's bring them a plant in an egg shell. My first one didn't make it because I didn't care for it very well. My interest was sparked when I saw my friend's blog and how far her move-in plant has come since they moved in. So, I'm trying again!

Don't miss Sproutlings!

A Word to the Wise...Or Not So Wise

2009-03-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

Do you see a problem here?

Here's what happens when one hastily grabs a spice from the cabinet while making cinnamon rolls:

See the difference? Yeah, I did too, just in time. Everything turned out fine.

Yumm!

Things I Forgot to Mention

2009-03-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

This was Zach's idea.

On St. Patrick's day we toast with root beer in tiny mugs.
Here are the kids carrying on the tradition.

Zach finally got his cast off. The only trouble, besides the screaming bloody murder, was the doctor putting a 1 inch cut in his arm. It only looked like a scratch when it happened, but this morning it was red and looked more like a cut. So, we'll nurse that till it's better and hopefully it won't leave a scar. It's really not very pretty. But Zach got two suckers and a sticker for all his trouble.

I also put something on my gardening blog, the link is on the right at the top.

Here's What I Know

2009-03-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

I know thousands of people have been checking every day to find out if we got the house. Well, we didn't. Brother so-and-so's dance must have worked. Ha! JK. But thanks anyway to all of you who tried to overturn his efforts. Remember, there is something better out there...

It snowed during the night.

I gave up on Wuthering Heights for now, I'm reading Teaming With Microbes instead. Very thrilling actually.

My kitchen is a mess...again.

My laundry is almost done...for now.

I'm getting my teeth cleaned tomorrow.

I saw this really awesome thing called Reflections of Christ that I LOVE! Wish I knew before so I could buy the book and get Mark Mabry's signature on Friday. I'm a little obsessed.

Which brings me to Time Out for Women. It was so awesome. If you can go, GO.

I'm watching season 2 of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

Zach is using copious amounts of tape to do something.

My friend is having a baby today. I think of her as the ultimate champ at birthing kids. I was there for the first one (well, down the hall) and she made it seem so easy. This third one is her first boy. I anticipate that I'll be hovering near the computer all day awaiting the "mobile upload later".

Ryan is writing a paper about how Regan would have handled our current economic situation for his English class.

I left Becky going potty yesterday for a second and came back to find her scrubbing the toilet with Ryan's hairbrush. Shhh, don't tell!

And now I shall tackle the kitchen.

Here's What I Think

2009-02-26T07:42:00.000-08:00

I don't usually talk about anything of much importance on here except for Celine, Pride & Prejudice and my kids. (In that order. Ha, just kidding.) I'm really bad at supporting my arguments. I'm not a great writer or speaker like Ryan. But I have an opinion and feel like talking about it.

We started looking for a house to buy in November. NOVEMBER! We figured that that would give us enough time to find a house and be moved in by the end of this week. We have extended out lease to the end of March, so we've got another month now.

On December 11th we made an offer on a house we liked a lot. It was a short sale, so we knew ahead of time that it might take a little while to go through the process. But we still had plenty of time. We waited 2 weeks, raised our offer because there were 2 other offers, then waited 4 more weeks. Then we found out that the bank had decided to foreclose rather than short sale. So in 6 months to a year that house will be on the marked again.

So we started over. We found another house we liked, but had only seen it once and our Realtor was going out of town for a week so we waited. When she got back we saw it again. We made an offer 2 weeks ago. So now we wait again.

Why am I complaining to you about this? Well I just needed to give you an idea of how it's all going so you can understand my opinion of the "housing crisis" or at least 1 aspect of it. I think existing home sales are down not just because people aren't looking to buy or can't get a loan. I think it's because the banks are RETARDED! The bank (Wells Fargo by the way) had 3 people competing to get that house. They could have had it off their hands. But instead they strung us all along for 2 months and then decided to spend more money to foreclose instead. And I've had a lot of people tell me similar stories.

So now that that is out... we like this house we're waiting on. We really want to move out of our apartment. Ryan really wants a garage. I really want a yard. Zach and Becky really NEED a yard. Cross your fingers or do a dance or whatever you would do help us get this house. This guy in our ward keeps telling Ryan that he is doing a "rain dance" so that we don't get the house and therefore move out of the ward. Very considerate huhh? (I hope he isn't actually doing some dance, cause that would be creepy.) So someone do a dance in our behalf to counteract his weirdness. :)

And if we don't get it, (knock, knock) then as our lovely Realtor Becky says "there is just something better out there for us".

Now I'll go through my daily ritual of looking at the house listings. Have a nice day.

I'm Beginning to Think That is Just How She Is

2009-02-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last night was probably the third best of my life. (Second best was seeing Celine in Vegas). My friend Lara and I went to see Celine at the Pepsi Center. The concert was actually supposed to happen in November, but because she was very sick, she had to postpone a few concerts.

Here's what I loved about last night:
In person, she sounds exactly like she does in her recordings.

She loves her audience.

She talks-a lot. You really get to know her.

She is so sincere.

She told us how sorry she was that she was 3 months late to Denver.

I'm not a big fan of heals, but she just looks awesome in her 4 inch heals. And apparently she has a shoe fetish-3,000 pairs of shoes!

We sat in the very back row-no joke-and it didn't matter. We could have been in the front and it would have made no difference (well, unless she actually touched me in the front row, then it would have been better, but how likely is that?)

When Ryan took me to see her in Vegas (remember, second best ever) she had been sick and it was her first concert back. Once again she told people how sorry she was that they had made plans and had to change them. I was thinking I was just lucky to get to hear her talk about so much at these concerts, but I'm beginning to think that is just how she is...

Naps All Around

2009-02-20T12:35:00.000-08:00

Lately I've had a fascination with my children at zero velocity. Poor kid, looks uncomfortable.

Children Who Aren't Moving & Johnny

2009-02-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

An unusual site in our home:

And my pretty pillows I made for the couch we don't own yet to go in the living room of the house we don't own yet...

And something else while I'm thinking about it. We watched Benny & Joon for the first time the other night. Amazing, I know, considering how much I LOVE Johnny Depp. Have I mentioned that before? Anyway, I only saw Edward Sissorhands a few months ago. So I'm behind, whatever. I watched Pirates a million times if that makes you feel better. Johnny Depp is great, he really becomes his character. How does he do it?
Thanks Penny for enlightening me!

One more pic just because... :)

Broken

2009-02-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Zach broke his arm last week. He was climbing on the rail on our porch (a normal activity for him) and when he jumped off he slipped on the ice below. Both bones in his right wrist are broken. We were pretty disappointed when he ended up with a cast that goes above his elbow. We had told him it would not be that big. Apparently little kids try to take their casts off so they go above the elbow to prevent this. I'm sure he would have tried at some point, so I guess we'll just deal with it. I feel really badly for him though, he can't even get his hand to his mouth, and he looked so uncomfortable last night when I was tucking him in. Zach is adapting well and I think he'll get through it ok. But he's not very happy that he can't ride his bike for 6 weeks!

Becky's 2nd Birthday

2009-02-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

Becky turned 2 today. She helped me clean the beaters after I made the frosting.

We did all the usual party stuff.

She loved all her new friends.

New Favorites?

2009-01-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

Interesting sales are going on now. Here's one I saw today. (No, I don't shop at Hanna Andersson's. I don't have a money tree). I like the idea of new favorites. How is it possible for the favorites to be new if they're new?

My Thoughts on Today's History

2009-01-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

I can't exactly explain my feelings today. I'm excited for the History that is being made today. Although I voted for McCain, I strongly feel that Obama is the right man for the job right now. So, I'm huddled by the TV this morning, awaiting the Inauguration of the first African American President of the US.

Burning the Midnight Oil

2009-01-16T16:24:00.001-08:00

We're all adjusting to Ryan's new schedule at work. Since he started almost a year ago he has worked from 2:30-11pm. Now he works from 6am-2:30. At first I felt like I had flown to Australia. Now I'm fine with it. I'm more of a morning person so it's nice to get up early and throw open the curtains.

It's effecting Zach in a weird way. He has been getting up at the strangest times. For the last few nights he has woken up at around midnight. He doesn't come to us though. He just goes into the living room and puts on a DVD. We've got him trained! Ha! So I wake up to see lights blazing all through the house and hear the TV running. It's hard to convince him it's still night time now that we get up at 5 and to him it's still night time then since it's dark. But we try. Anyway, this process repeats a few more times--about every hour--until it's finally time to really get up.

But now he's got a pretty bad cold, so maybe he'll be too exhausted. Or maybe it'll be worse...

Gerbil Tea

2009-01-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Zach wants a gerbil. I had 2 gerbils when I was a kid: Bert and Ernie. But now, I really like our clean, not smelly house. So pets are something that don't thrill me. Well, at least it will take a while to earn the $14 dollars he needs.

Ryan and I were talking about tea at dinner last night. A friend on Facebook is always talking about the "yummy Chai Latte" she just had. I wasn't sure what it is, and thinking it might be coffee I looked it up. It's black tea with spices. I was explaining it to Ryan, wondering if this friend knows what she's drinking. Zach mentioned that the far Grandma drinks tea, black tea. I said she does, mostly herbal tea though. Then I caught on, he was talking about coffee. So I clarified for him. Then said, "she mentioned that you were telling her that we don't drink tea and coffee." "Yep", he said.

Here is where things got very enlightening. Zach said: "you can make gerbil tea. You get a cup and you put a gerbil in it and you stir it up."

It's all so clear.

Catching Up

2009-01-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

We went on vacation. 3 days with no kids. It was...quiet. It was also really hard to sleep-in. We tried.

I am not exactly a skiing ace. Here is how cool I am:

Here is how studly Ryan is:

But we had fun. Our feet still hurt, but we had fun!

There was this dude wearing a chicken suit boarding down the mountain. Very interesting.

The kids got along with my parents swimmingly. They were so well behaved. Maybe they should have stayed longer. I should ask how much tuition is to the "Rogers House of Obedience".

I am feeling a little rebellious today. I ate a big fat plate of nachos for lunch. Translation: I'm allergic to corn and I ate a big plate of anaphylactic shock. Nothing has happened to me yet. Maybe I'll try a nice loaf of wheat bread next week. How accurate can those blood tests really be?

And bytheway...I'm sitting on my foot RIGHT NOW.

Random Information

2008-12-29T22:06:00.001-08:00

I was writing a few checks today and found Zach's name written on one of the checks. At least it was in pencil. I think it was a Christmas pencil.

And something else: if you know me well, you know that I often sit on my foot (the right one) when I'm sitting on a chair or the couch. I know it's weird. I've done it for years (at least 15) and feel uncomfortable when I have to sit like a princess ("A princess never crosses her legs in public. Why don't you just tuck one ankle behind the other, and place the hands gracefully on the knees." -100 points for you if you know who said it). Well, my bad habit has finally caught up with me. My right knee and ankle have been sore for a few days now. So I have to quit. Wish me luck!

Virtual Christmas Card

2008-12-29T21:54:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and hope you have a Happy New Year!

Christmas At The CLOSE Grandma's

2008-12-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

What can I say about Christmas at the close Grandma's? Wow, craziness, chaos, happy kids, happy adults (99% of the time), food. And I got a vacuum! Yipee! It SUCKS!

I had to search through 200 pictures, looking for funny ones.

Great Grandma Pilz was there. The kids love seeing her.

Christmas At The FAR Grandma's

2008-12-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

We went to the far Grandma's house yesterday (my parent's house; across town) for Christmas and my Grandpa's Birthday.

Apparently I can get that look on my face when I open a present even though I'm a big kid.

We All Get Ready for Christmas Somehow

2008-12-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I found this desk and brought it home, even though I had no where to put it. I'll use it when I have more room. It ended up in front of the fireplace since that was the only space left in the house. Yesterday morning I came into the living room to find this:

Zach was preparing for Santa's visit.

Zach Made Cookies

2008-12-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

Babysitters are Great

2008-12-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we had our usual babysitter over to watch the kids for a few hours. Usually she doesn't get to actually see the kids since the go to bed by 6. (If you know me you know I'm not kidding here!) Anyway, this time Zach was still up. So we just told Zach to go to bed when he felt tired. (If you know me you know this is a statement that doesn't usually come out of my mouth...ever.) But we figured we shouldn't stress out a 12 year old with trying to wrestle him to bed if he would rather play Lego's with her. So, when we got back all was well and both kids were sleeping.
When I drove our babysitter home I said, "I hope Zach didn't give you any trouble, I tried to get him to bed but it just didn't work out" (Adults would understand this to mean, well, what it means. To her it meant something different.)
She said, "next time you should try reading him some books. He got tired really fast when I did that."
I smiled and said "Thanks, I'll try that!"

I'm glad she has discovered this little secret so early in life!

This is too Funny to Pass Up

2008-12-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't seen Twilight, and haven't read the books, but still found this quite amusing. Twilight fans read on:

Cast Change for New Moon

And if you think I'm lame for having no clue who these people are, well, I'm lame! But don't really care. Have a great week!

Ba D'oing D'oing!

2008-12-13T07:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I'm amazed at what Zach can do. But I shouldn't be. We have taught him a little about how to use the mouse and keyboard. This morning we were listening to Christmas music. Zach's favorite seems to be Jewel's rendition of "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer". Here's how I know. He keeps switching the song back to that. No Celine Dion for him! (But usually he likes her bytheway!)