A Zoo at my house

Here is my little giraffe and tiger. Yes, my tiger is eating his stripes and my giraffe is trying to rip off her head. Not only that I had to bribe my tiger not to crawl off by giving him a ball. Not the most coroperative zoo animals you ever did see. Below left we have what I call "The Lion, the Witch, and the Katie." And lower right we have TJ pulling on Katie's Tail. "What happens when you pull this thing?" TJ slept through most of Halloween night, but Katie did quite a bit of trick or treating. The first house she turned to me and said "Mommy, Candy!" She wanted it right then and there. She was starting to get the hang of it by the end of the evening. Hope you had a wonderful Halloween!

My Haunted "Mansion"

I love decorating for Halloween! Here is our final product last night before I took Katie trick-or-treating. You really need sound to get the full effect (I had my cd player going with chains, and cats ect.) Int the bushes to the right I had my huge spider web and my new blinking skull. There was more "Caution" tape on the garage door and, did you notice? I put a reb blub in the porch light. It is a little cutsie, but Kaite loves that pinwheel in the yard. That one is new this year too. I love decorating!

Our Awsome Pumpkins

Here are our cute pumpkins! They were so fun! Scott and TJ did the smiley face and Katie and I did the pirate skull. I think they turned out really good. Best of all no one smashed them last night so I am going to light them up again tonight. I am very proud of my skull. It took me longer than it took Scott to do his, but I love it. Unfortunatley though, when it in not lite, you can not tell what it is, oh well.

Why the slow blogging last week?

Did you miss me last week? Not if you live in Iowa you didn't! Wednesday I was just sitting around doing my thing. (FYI- my thing is changing diapers) When all of a sudden the gal I babysit for came to pick up her boy and told me how she couldn't afford to fly to IA for her grandma's funeral and was thinking about driving and asked if I wanted to come along. So, I quite litterally dropped everything called Scott, who said "of course, go. I know how important it is to you that your grandparents meet the kids." called my Gramma said I was on the way, and threw together our bags. I had less than two hours from the time she walked in my door until we were on the road. Not such a crazy thing to do on my own, but with the kids! We had an uneventful drive out. I was able to see everyone except my aunt Nita and her family, because they were sick and my uncle Dennis and his family, because they were in Floridia. It was a quick trip, but I was so glad everyone got to meet the kids. We will be back in June for my cousin's wedding. Not my favorite season to be in Iowa, but oh well. The drive back was far worse, as my traveling buddy didn't feel up to doing the through the night thing again especially with all the deer we saw. But we survived. Katie was being a pill as she only got one nap while we were their thanks to my cousins wonderful wife who Katie adores! Plus we got a picture of all my Gramma's Great grandkids. Anyway, I am back!

Carey calls Last Comic Standing crooked

Did anyone see this episode about a year or two ago. Even though we absolutely LOVE this show and never missed an episode, if I was one of these celebrity judges I would have been mad too! At least Kathleen Madigan was chosen. We are going to see her next month!! I can hardly wait. I voted for her every week! Click here for story.

Pulling up

Last night TJ pulled up twice. The first time I don't think he really knew what he was doing, but we made a big deal out of it. The second time he knew he did something cool and he was very proud of himself. Katie was already in bed, but she could hear us hotting and hollering. We could hear her in her room saying "Good job, TJ." It was very cute.

Joke of the day

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack."Miss Whack, I'd like to get a $30,000 loan to take a holiday." Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it's okay, he knows the bank manager.Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral.The frog says, "Sure. I have this," and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.Very confused, Patty explains that she'll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.She finds the manager and says, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000, and he wants to use this as collateral."She holds up the tiny pink elephant. "I mean, what in the world is this?"

(you're gonna love this)


(its a real treat)


(a masterpiece)


(wait for it)


The bank manager looks back at her and says...


"It's a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone."

(You're singing it, aren't you? Yeah, I know you are........)

Shampooing the carpet

A few weeks ago my sisters came over for a visit and we decided it would be a good time to shampoo the carpets since I would have help with the kids and all. Actually, Leslie was very excited about it. We got all the furniture moved and vacuumed about 3 times and then Les curled up under the table in the sofa cushions and fell asleep. Man, she was out. I started just on the other side of the couch. For at least an hour Janie and I cleaned by ourselves. Les never even budged. It was quiet funny. Of course, first thing in the morning someone spilled their pop on the floor, the next day TJ stole his sister's pizza and rubbed it into the carpet. I give up. How does tile in the living room sound?

Circus

Scott and I both took the day off yesterday and took the kids to the circus. Katie was a little scared at first but by the second half she was having a great time. She spent the whole first half on my lap and the second half standing in her chair. When the elephants came out she made elephant noises and she raored at the tigers. It was very cute. TJ on the other hand was not as impressed. He was up for the first 15 min or so, but then he was out. They didn't have the motorcycles in the big sphere this year. I know Scott really likes that. I enjoy all the animals, the circling rings, and the high wire act. I succeded in keeping Scott from running away with the circus for atleast one more year.

Splunking

TJ is getting QUICK. One moment he is playing in the living room. The next you hear him playing happily in the hall way. But when you go to check on him this is the kind of thing you find...

This happened on laundry day and Katie's hamper was still in the hall. As you can see he knocked it over and crawled right in. Didn't bother him at all, he was having a great time. But she sister decided this event needed her involvement and she was on board for the rescue. Unfortunately, an ungrateful recuee decided to pull her hair as she tried to get him out.

Crop Walk

This Sunday I will be participating in the Foothills Crop Walk. If you would like to find out more or sponsor me in the walk click here.

Thank you to those who have already given your support!

Almost a week

I can not believe it has almost been a week since my last post. The kids have been driving me bonkers. With TJ faster than a speeding bullet and the bigger 2 constantly fighting. I have no time for anything. Belly dancing is almost over again. I only have one week left. I am trying to decide if I am going to take it again. It is a lot of fun, but Tues nights are not great for me. Anywho, it is late, I am going to bed.

Elmo Underwear

Well, I finally found Elmo underwear for Katie. You would think I was searching for lost treasure! Everywhere I went I found Hello Kitty, Dora, My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake, Hilary Duff, but no Elmo. Finally, Tuesday I was at the mall (picking up Cinderella) and decided to check all the department stores there. I finally found them at Sears. $7.00 for 3 pair, can you believe that? I was slightly outraged. I paid $14.00 for 6 pair of underwear, all of which now have been peed in! Potty training, what a joy.

September Poll results

Well, that was helpful... 100%... other. FYI- there will no longer be a other option on polls. Comentment isn't fatal. Oh well, since we bought the jet skiis a girl trip is pretty much out anyway. Next months poll will be on... I am still deciding.

The new thrift store

Thrift stores are awesome! I really like the new one in our neighborhood. Today I got 2 new Halloween outfits for the kids and they were each only 95 cents. TJ will be a tiger that kinda looks like Hobbes and Katie will be a pink bunny. I got a dress that will work for Ren Fest or a Witch. My crazy sister wants everyone to know she will be a WP cheerleader for Halloween. Apparently, Janie will be a 70's person. I also got Christmas toys for the kids and a Buffs outfit for TJ and and snow bibs for Katie. Almost forgot I also got a great skirt for church. As you can tell I don't have anything inordinate to talk about today. I will have a busy weekend putting in the gate and moving the Lilacs. Oh, boy! Have a great weekend.

TJ's Baptism

Pictures from the baptism as promised. On top: Our pastor is in the striped shirt and the kids are with their respected god parents. Below: Our parents and my sisters with us. With some exceptions with the food not being the way I ordered it. Everything went great. There were a lot of people that cancelled in the last 48 hours, up to minitues before even. I refuse to let it get me down. The way I see it God has big plans for our little TJ for the devil to have been giving us so many problems just with a littte baby's baptism. As I was driving to church at 9:00 it was cold, overcast, and drizzling, but when I went out to the car at noon to get his outfit the sun had come out and it was beautiful. He was baptized with water from Clear Creek, if you don't know that is the same water that makes Coors. We had a few other kids there. Katie's little friend came up to get a closer look while we were baptizing him, it was very cute, and her other little friend (whose dad was taping for me) was more interested in the goose poop. It makes for a great home video.

So true....

Did you see Baby Blues this weekend? Oh, it is sad, but true. Network TV these days is simply atrocious. There are somethings I can not believe they can say on TV! There are so many times I have to stop and go... did they really just say that? And there are times it is artistic or necessary for they story line, but most of the time I think it is there for shock value. Now, I am not saying we have to go back to to extreme of the 50's where husband and wife had twin beds and you couldn't show belly buttons, but come on people. At the very least watch the language. Baby Blues makes the comment about this being a night time phenomenon, but I could care less what they play after the kids go to be. South Park comes on at 10:30, my kids better not be up then. What makes me mad is when these things happen at prime time. Now I know what you are thinking... stop your belly aching and just turn it off. Well, believe me I do! There are great shows out there that I can not watch, because the content is not suitable for kids (or the weak at heart.) It just erks me off!

Wild at Heart thoughts

We are currently studying Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. This is something I wrote up based on a study from the book. I highly recomend this book for men. I personally would rather read something else, but hey, the guys like it.

Useful Things I Can Do
Read Music
Fix Plumbing
Cook
Change Diapers
Catch and Clean Fish
Take excellent Rads
Change my oil/spark plugs/ tires

Useful Things I cannot Do
Defend Myself
Drive a Nail
Fix a car
Keep plants alive
Properly restrain an animal
Say "no"

Long Awaited Zephaniah Notes

Ok, this 3 chapter book took me a long time to go through. Lets hope I never tackle Psalms :-)

So, anyway, this book was SCARY. A ton of doom and destruction. Probably why it took me so long to get through.The first two chapters and a lot of the third was just that. A very scary picture of distruction, some that is still yet to come. Like the reverse order of creation for all creatures. But it was not all gloom and doom it was also a sorse of hope. Seek the Lord, righteousness, and huimility to perhaps be sheltered from rath. This book shows us how to avoid rath, shows we have total love from the Lord and we can celebrte in that love, and finally justice will be given to our enemy. This is something I need to come back to as I have problems with forgiveness, justice wil be done. Hopefully my next book won't take as long.

My Manifesto...

A while back my awsome friend Nutmeg did this on here blog and I have been working on it here and there since. It is a list (not conclusive mind you) of thing you believe in.

My manifesto…
I believe Jesus came to wash us clean of our sins. I believe this does NOT give us an excuse to keep living in sin. I believe I am going to get mad at someone today. I believe I can change that attitude. I believe it is not worth adding 0.8 years to my life by not eating cheeseburgers. I believe I have the best kids in the world. I believe I have the cutest kids in the world. I believe my husband is a genius. I believe the moon landing is real. I believe fish is gross, but healthy. I believe broccoli is the best vegetable. I believe you can not have a good relationship with your mother-in-law. I believe your mother is nicer to you once you move out and she doesn’t have to wash your underwear anymore. I believe by 22 you should not be doing laundry at your mother’s. I believe God heals. I believe stubbing your toe hurts more than getting a shot. I believe “can not” should be written as two words. I believe “fishes” is a sure sign of ignorance. I believe you shouldn’t listen to people who make you feel stupid. I believe wool itches. I believe I can be anything I want to be. I believe I will be a friend to my friends, even when they are not being friends to me. I believe some friendships last a lifetime. I believe having children after 50 is insane. I believe being an only child is lonely. I believe in anti-psychotic drugs. I believe exercise gives me more energy. I believe no matter how much I practice, I will never be a good dancer. I believe I will keep dancing anyway. I believe no one sin is worse than another. I believe jet skies are way fun. I believe steam cleaners are awesome. I believe junior high is the most difficult time in life. I believe the terrible 3s are much worse than the terrible 2s. I believe a baby with a full tummy is the key to sleeping through the night. I believe in PDF parenting. I believe I have the best job in the world. I believe in PMS. I believe some friends are forever. I believe opposites attract. I believe children should only speak when spoken to. I believe in spanking. I believe my children need to stay in my site while in public. I believe Cold Stone has the best ice-cream. I believe sometimes you love someone more than they love you. I believe CD cases multiply. I believe I will never finish this list.

Edited November 30, 2012
Wordle of this post

Jackson Lake

We spent this weekend at Jackson Lake with our small group. We had a great time. It was TJ's first camping trip. He did great. Katie liked sleeping in her new Princesses sleeping bag. They both played in the sand during the day while we were out on the jet skies. The 2 dots in the picture above are our jet skies. Not sure who is on them though. I LOVE the new jet skies. I was worried that we spent too much on them, but wow, I was wrong. They are so awesome. I got mine almost up to 60 mph. Scott was learning all sorts of tricks. Plus we borrowed a tube to pull behind. The boys enjoyed that. The weather was just perfect on Saturday. It was so relaxing just sitting on the beach and taking turns on the jet skies. Katie learned that when you are picking things up that are under water you have to reach below the top of the water. She had this toy she was plying with that she kept throwing in the water, but then she would pinch at the top of the water to pick it up. Daddy showed her that it was below the water. TJ loved moving the sand with his hands (and eating it.) We made a monster marshmallow that I think made 4 smores. You can see it in the photo on the left. It as hilarious. It tasted great though. All in all it was a perfect weekend.

Ode to Comics

Oh comics, where would we be without them? Well, would you believe I sat down to read the Sunday funnies last night (yes, Tues night) when I saw none other than my husband's favorite Calvin and Hobbes. After some research I have discovered the comics strip has returned to the papers for a couple months to promote the Complete Collection of Calvin and Hobbes coming out sometime this fall. I am pretty sure Scott was Calvin in another life.
And who can forget Blondie. One of my personal favorites I was delighted to see this comic celebrating 75 years, but how is this possible. Scott and I were discussing this and came up with either this guy strarted this comic very young or it has been taken over by his son. It is the ladder. After researching this too today, I found that the comic originally by Chic Young has been taken over by his son Dean.

Happy Birthday

Hey Fer, Happy Birthday!
Enjoy your "Birthday Flowers!"

Patriot's Day

GOD BLESS THE USA BY LEE GREENWOOD

If tomorrow all the things were gone
I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today,
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee,
across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea,
From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA,
Well, there’s pride in every American heart,and it’s time to stand and say:

I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God bless the U.S.A.

My Nemesis Has Fallen

Yes, it is true I too had a nemesis, but after a year long ruthless battle full of blood and gore I HAVE OVERCOME VICTORIOUS!! Who could this masked avenger have been you ask? None other than the project from ... well you get the idea. A little over a year ago we bought this super fast computer with a DVD burner, because our VCR broke. (No seriously.) We decided there was nothing so important that we had to have a VCR to record except... the home movies! Here is where the new computer comes in. I wasn't going to lose our home videos. Our old computer was to slow to burn DVD's. But alas this program wouldn't burn to DVD, the other wouldn't edit, and of course, they wouldn't talk to each other. Well, today I changed all that and made them kiss and make up. Now with the help of a third party program I have conquered this nemesis.

Great Speakers

Ok, so everyone knows I love Joyce Meyer I have read a lot of her books and watch her show on Daystar when ever I can. I really wanted to go to a woman's confrence in St Louis that she is speaking at at the end of the month, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Anyway, I have caught someone new on Daystar a couple times. I think he is really great too. His name is Pastor Bob Coy . I don't know much about him yet, but I have really enjoyed the couple sermons I caught. I am going to add both of their links to my great links column. I used to wonder who in their right mind would watch a sermon on tv. Guess I am not in my right mind. Not only do I watch them on tv, I download them to my MP3 player and listen to them while I am at the gym. Anyway, they are both great speaker, check them out.

Helping Daddy

Scott has been working very hard on gtting his shop in order. So, a couple weeks ago he put up a big shelf for tile, shop vac, paint, ect. Katie was "helping" by throwing nails at daddy when he needed them an checking his measurements as you can see in this picture. it looks really great now and you should see how proud he is when he shows it to everyone.

Weekend

Scott and I spent the morning preparing for putting in the new fence tomarrow. We set the 2 posts in the front and pulled out one that we are going to replace in the back and poured concrete back there too. The kids had a lot of fun watching. Tonight we are going to pick up the pickets with the neighbor and then they will start in the morning. I am going to a sort of prayer service in the morning, so he will be working and watching kids at the same time. But I am sure they will have no problem getting it all in by tomarrow. It will only be about 8 sections worth of pickets. Then Sunday is the first day of Sunday School. I can not wait! It seems like it has been so long since we have had Sunday school. I guess that is what happens when you stop half way through the year.

Discipleship

As disciples of Jesus we are given a mission from God that we hopefully have accepted, to go and make disciples of all nations. To me this means speeding and sharing the love of Jesus everyday to everyone. Although, I am a big fan of missions work and have in the past and plan to do so again in the future more missions work (what a grammatical nightmare, sorry), what about your friends, neighbors, coworkers. Where is your faith then? I am so not talking about putting a fish on your car either, I hate those things. Unless you are an excellent driver avoid the whole fish/car thing, because you are bound to piss someone off (most likely me) and when you do cut them off, forget to use your blinker ect, is that really the message you want to be sending? By the way if you think you are an excellent driver, your probably not. Anyway, back on track. To fill the great commandment we must have confidence and courage, but great news it is not confidence in ourselves or courage from ourselves... It is all God. Which is great, because I have a TON more confidence in God than myself. If it weren't for courage from God, I am not sure I would have any courage at all (sad, but true). Phillipians 3:12-14 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. What I take from this verse is to be good disciples we must have grace for ourselves, we are not perfect even as followers and from verse 14 strive to live the truth. Living the truth is the best form of discipleship. If you are living the truth everyone around you will not be able to help, but see the light of Jesus.

He Sits!

It has finally happened. He is learning to sit. He sat unsupported today for about 2 minitues. I am so proud. He had dinner last night with his girlfriend and she has been sitting for about a month now so, I guess he felt he had to catch up. He is growing up so fast! I was so excited I had to get his picture down here for everyone to see.

Labor Day

It is a nice day here. Things are going better now. My knee is healing from the fall at Pam's. I still haven't gotten my latest FNA results. Scott was digging a post hole for our new fence yesterday and hit the gas line, it is fine though. We went out to dinner with our friends at a great Chinese/Japanese buffet yesterday. I have never had sushi before, but it wasn't bad. We could have eaten there all night. We always have fun when we go out with them. So do the kids, their kids are the same age as ours. Today we are just sitting around playing video games. Scott's brother is up today. We might go to the corn maze later. That will be fun. I am making pizza for dinner. Scott loves my pizza. Katie isupstairs playing with the boys and TJ is napping, but he should be up soon. There is a woman's confrenceat the end of the month in St Louis that I really want to go to. The problem is just getting to St Louis. It is quite a long walk! Oh well, I am going to start planning for it next year though. The boy is up!

Baptism is a go!

Ah, a big relief of my shoulders this morning. Peter called and we were able to schedule TJ's baptism. Now I just have to rent the shelter at the park and order food and cake. I am thinking about getting that Chicago style hot dog place to cater. I think that would be fun. I am printing out the invites as we speak so I can hand them out at church tomarrow. I was starting to think it was going to have to wait until next summer. There is a lot to do, but that's ok. I am sure I will get a lot of questions about why we are doing it at the park instead of at the church. One, Scott and I both have a heart for missions and that means going out of the four walls of the church, two when I think of baptism I think of:

Acts 8:36-39 Philip and the Ethiopian
36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

There is a little pond at the park kind of what I think of as the water in this story. Then, there is the fact that Scott, the kids, and I just like to be outside!

So, anyway, my invites are done printing, time to get them in envelopes.

August Poll

Can you believe summer is over already? Well, there was a hot dog tie. Apparenty, the greatest hot dogs are Ball Park and "Other." Speaking of hot dogs, Scott and I found this great Chicago stlye hot dog place by us YUM!!! September's poll is very important. Two of my friends and I are planning a "girl trip," but we don't know where we want to go yet. Help us out will you?

Getting Better

Well, although Katie spent much of the morning in time out and it seems the kids are catching a cold, things are getting better. This has so far been the best day of the week. Not that it has been a good day. Keep us in your prayers as we try to get TJ's baptism in order. I pray that the Lord takes ahold of this situation so, we can get it taken care of.

Araneus diadematus

This is the spider we found last week. Happy to report it is not poisionus. I check out more pics of his realitives here.

My movie

Ok, to put this in context, this is a "movie script" I came up with from a small group fun night playing Outburst, or some board game.

Old lady orders a pizza. As time passes she looks in the fridge for food and has a flashback to childhodd when her mother would say "you are goung to ruin your appitite" Pizza delivery boy is playing video games at a friends house eating pizza when he gets up to go to work. When he gets to work his boss reminds him he has one more chance if he doesn't deliver this pizza he will loose his job. He needs this job to trade in his Metro for a cool new Jeep. The manager gives him directions to the old lady's house "Left onEastman, Right on Wadsworth, right on Bellview, right on Garland, left on Bellwood, right on Hoyt, left on Saratoga, left on Kipling, left on Chatfield, right on Upham. And it better be warm when it gets there."Along the way there are high school kids pullling a prank switching around street signs. His girlfriend has an emergency he has to take care of. He sees a girl and pulls over telling her he is lost. She takes him inside a building and tells him all about Jesus and how she was lost too. . . he falls asleep listening to her. The next morning the pizza is ice cold, so he is driving around in the summer with the heat on. He starts stripping off clothes and gets pulled over for not using a turn signal, the cop sees he has no clothes on and hauls him in for a drug test. After he is found clean the cops give him directions as he is walking out the boys that were switching the street signs are brought in. Now he has no problem finding the place. Once he finally gets there he is sure he lost his job and will get no tip. She is so hungry and thankful for the pizza shei nvites him in and tells him she'll pay him after she has a piece. They start talking and she tells him the boys that take care of her lawn and walk her dog haven't shown up (the boys that were arrested for switching the signs) Feeling guilty for making her wait so long for her pizza he takes her dog for a walk and then mows her lawn and trims her bushes. She pays him for the pizzas and the other boys' work Sure he has been fired goes home, washes his uniforms. Then returns to work with his uniforms. His manager says "You are so lucky" "I can keep my job?" he asks. "HA! No. But you have a new job if you want it, something about walking a dog and yard work?"

The End

Zoo

Hey, I had a great time with my little sisters this week. They were very well behaved and helped me out with the kids a lot. On Wednesday Janie decided she wanted to go to the zoo. So, we went; we spent about 4 hours there. They kept saying "we don't have those at our zoo," "your animals move, ours just lay there," and "your zoo has better habitats for the animals." So, all in all I think they liked it. I was able to get some really good shots too. One of the elephants was acctually playing with the metal ball the have hanging from a chain. I have never seen them use that before. They had a lot of the monkeys out on the monkey island, that was a lot of fun to see them way up in the trees and playing together. The girls favorite was the polar bears. The male was plaing in the water with a big ball, they really liked that. The female was in another habitat with 2 cubs. She was laying out on the beach and the cubs were wrestling in the water. This grizzly was so fun. When we first got there he was just laying down, but then he got up and went in the water and pulled his head up under this log. This is my favorite shot from the whole day. Then he got out of the water and sat on the log, stratling it like a horse. I have never seen peacock babies so I had to get a shot of these when I saw them out walking with their mother near the lions (good place to walk your children.) I just got a couple shot before they disapeared into the tall grass. The girls were unimpressed with the giraffees as they have so many at their zoo, but I liked this photo.

Katie's favorties were anything that was swimming. When the penguin jumped in the water she said "simin, simin" when we saw the polar bear "simin, momma, simin." It took me a while to get, but I love this picture with Katie's reflection in the glass. And TJ, well, he was unimpressed.

Spider

Check out this awsome picture!! Scott caught this spider the other night in the bushes. We decided to catch it and take pictures of it to figure out what it is. No luck yet. This thing was huge, and the legs were super long. It had 2 creepy spikes on its back too. Anyway, it was super cool, so I thought I would share. I hope you enjoy, and didn't loose your lunch!

3 Days Off

I have 3 days off this week from watching Chase. How nice, a little break. Scott left for New Hampshire this morning on bussiness. He will be back Thursday afternoon. It is not as bad as it sounds though, because my sisters are staying with me. They are good girls. Today we went to the mall, we were going to go to the gym, but it was going to be $8 just to get them in the door. Tomarrow is Janie's day to pick, she hasn't yet, but wants to do something outside where we can all be together. I hope Scott has a safe trip. He hasn't turned on his cell phone yet, so I worry a little. I finally got to see Hitch last night, I really liked it. Kevin James and Wil Smith, what's not to like?

Update- We are headed to the zoo tomarrow!!

This weekend

This weekend starts the adventure that shall forever forth be know as "The Staining of the Deck." Yes folks, after a year of procrastination, we are finally going to finish this monster of a deck. The "Mother-in-law" (grr) is coming to watch the kids (not my idea) while we lather on coat after coat of stain onto our lovely deck. I will be sure to post before and after pics. The sanding shall comence this evening. Another excuse to buy another power tool if you ask me. I have chosen a medium red for the color. I think it is going to look great. I am feeling a little better today. Still coughing, but can't complain.

Mudjacking results

Well, here are the before pictures of the garage floor before the mudjackers came. The corner under the door was a good six inches below where it should have been. As you can see one the right, it was also lower on the left side almost to the front of the garage and the whole back wall needed to come up too. So, they drilled 3 holes in the back and 5 on the side. I don't remember how long it took, no more than 3 hours, including filling in the stoop. Can you believe they did this at nap time and it didn't bother any of the kids?!?! The two guys that came were really nice and polite and did a great job. Anyway, here are the results . . .

I am loving parking in the garage. I can not wait until winter, when I don't have to scrape off ice or getthe kids out in the snow. Even with two feet of snow Katie will still be able to get herself to the car. Heck, by that time maybe TJ will too!

Missing thoughts

I just finished this whole entry about how much I hate baseball and it has now been lost in cyberspace. Grr! So, FYI-I hate baseball. And I hate retyping blog entries, so you just have to pretend to understand how much I hate baseball. And why? I guess we will never know, because my thoughts are floating around lost in cyberspace. :-( Here thoughts, here thoughts, where are you?

To my hubby

To my husband of 7 years, Happy anniversary. I love you very much. Here is to showers that don't work, falling off buses, sewage coming up the kitchen sink, being evicted by a cat, buying a home, graduating from college, having a daughter, and having a son. See? It is only getting better. May the next seven years be "Extreme". With all my love- MB

Birthday to you

As I was sitting here putting up the post about VBS, Katie found a birthday candle and she has been walking around with this candle saying "Birthday to you, Birthday to you" with a left over party hat on from her birthday. It is so cute. Oh, now she has two, a 1 candle and a 2 candle. And now a cat toy, maybe it is the cat's birthday?

VBS 2005

Well, I survived. I had 15 3/4/5 year olds everyday. Mostly boys, very boy boys. There were tough moments, Friday was the hardest. By then they were more comfortale with me and everything I even lost one boy and one left a class to come find me, AH!! Not good. The 3 kids of mine all went (including Chase). They were the bulk of the nursery. I occationally had TJ or Katie, because they were fussing, but most of the time they did really good. By Friday my back was killing me from carring TJ around in the Bjourn. The teenagers kept putting Katie down for a nap, that was VERY annoying. So, it was bible safari so on Friday was lion day so I decided to die my hair red the night before, as you can see the kids out did me with green and blue hair. One of the high school helpers had hers straight up, it looked great.
Everyday we started in art, then went outside, snack, story, game, and ended in music. It was a big day for the little kids. They were always ready to go home. We had about 90 kids in VBS, not including the nursery. It was so nice to get to talk to adults all week and have some place to go everyday. I felt like I was accomplishing something. It was crazy. I can not believe it was a week ago already, things have been so crazy. That is summer for you.

Not in Glendo

Well, the kids and I didn't make it to Glendo, :-( Oh well, there is always next year. Scott went ahead and went up with some friends. Hope they have a good time. If you ask me he should have just stayed here. Oh well, I am beat. Katie didn't go down til nearly 10, TJ got up at 1:00 and 6:00. I think I might go to the museum today, it is not to nice here either. I was wondering why everyone was calling on my cell last night. Turns out I left the phone in the basement off the hook when I was talking to Geoff. I had to switch phones, because I heard TJ up and I never came down to hang it up. Oops. I am tired.

Unsure

Ok, The Weather Channel says high of 58 and low of 40 tomarrow, but the National weather Service says high of 64 low of 49. Once they pick a temp, we might have a decision.

Glendo Prayer

I would like to pray for a miracle and clear skies and 80 degree weather this weekend in WY, but realistically... I need prayer for acceptance that I am unable to go on the trip I have been looking forward to for a year, fun for Scott as he feels obligated to go anyway, and dealing with the jealousy as he goes and I am at home taking care of the kids. Here is the link I have checked 24 times in the last 24 hours: Glendo, WY

My Awsome Friend Heather

I was going to upload a bunch of VBS pics and tell you all about all the craziness last week, but my absolutely wonderful friend Heather is visiting from NJ. She is super wonderful. To the kids she is crazy aunt Heather. She has so many friends here in Denver and she visits her dad in NM or AZ (I always get those 2 confused) I feel so blessed that she always makes time to see us and the kiddos too. She is one of those friends that you can not see for 6 months and still pick up where you left off. Anyway, she called yesterday to say she was in town and she should be here in an hour or too. So, instead of going through all the VBS stuff, I am going to finish packing for Glendo so I can spend the afternoon with her. Yeah!!! I am so excited to get to see her again.

Ren Fest 2005

Yes, it is Ren Fest time again, well, acctually, it is over again. We went the very last day and we only went the one time this year. Good thing there is always next year. We of course saw Puke and Snot and I was very upset to find out that Throw Up wasn't there this year, they were my favorite. We brought our friend Melanie, this is a picture of us enjoying our "Green Dragons" while we were waiting on Scott's moccosians to be fixed. I love taking newbies. I hear that her and her husband are going in costume next year! We did a lot of shopping. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent at Garlic Festival. FYI, you can check out the Garlic Festival link under great links. We took Katie to the petting area, she liked looking at all the animals. We got her a princess hat. You know how much she loves hats! Can't wait til next year.

We love German Shepherds

Apparently, among my elete group of friends, German Shepherd's get the nod. Way to go Diamond! Coming in at a tie for second were St Bernards and Golden Retreivers. Be sure to check out this months poll... Hot Dogs!

Katie's new Elmo Chair

Here is Katie sitting in her new Elmo chair. She now has it in her room next to her book shelf and she sits in it all the time to read her books. Daddy, who is not one for spoiling the kids, saw this when we were at Wal-mart. He just had to get it for his little girl. It was deffinately a good call, because she loves it and she loves Elmo.

Have you missed me?

I relize I have been out of it for a few days. This is VBS week and the kids are all off their schedules and I am BEAT! But, I will be back in action next week. You can look forward to VBS stories, mud jacking results, July pool results, Katie's new chair, and Ren Fest stories. So, I am not gone forever, just taking a little rest.