Super-Green!

Isaac got his next TaeKwonDo belt today. His Daddy's not here to make a super-duper video montage, but I figure this one will work. The commentator is me. :-)

He had to break a second board because the first one was too easy. Even Isaac said it was "way too easy" afterward when I asked him about it.

Yay Isaac!

Good job!

After...

It's hard to explain the feeling I got when I saw a squirrel sitting on the stump eating the guts out of this pumpkin.

I asked the squirrel to hold the pose while I got my camera but he didn't cooperate. The pumpkin, however, was happy to comply.

Well. "Happy" may be a stretch.

Halloween is Hard Work

First you have to decorate the yard.

Then you have to design your jack-o-lantern.

Then you have to GUT your jack-o-lantern.

Then you have to talk an adult into carving your jack-o-lantern.

Above is Isaac's.

This one's Todd's.

Josiah's.

Hunter's.

Of course, after all this comes the hard work of walking all over the neighborhood and begging for treats.

Phew.

Bet they can't wait til it's over.

:-D

Cosmic Question

Well. "Cosmic" as in, "for the cosmos at large," not as in, "concerning the cosmos". Here's the deal. I get an email from 1-800-FLOWERS today. It says, Did you know today is the most popular birthday in America? and proceeds to offer me a fabulous deal on a bouquet of roses for any special birthday person I happen to know. Well. As it turns out, today is my Mom's birthday (congrats on being popular mom!) I think, "Score! I'll send mom roses!"

Well. Turns out, it's not available for delivery today. So, why offer me a bouquet for the most popular b-day in America but not ON the most popular b-day in America? Shouldn't you have sent me this email earlier?

Hey. I know it's not your fault my Mom's roses are going to be a day late (surprise, Mom). That's poor planning on my part... which surprises no one. I'm just suggesting that maybe a little better planning is in order for your email campaigns.

I do appreciate the deal, though. Thanks.

That is all.

(gotta love how Blogger messes with fonts)

Looky Here!

Look what they have at Giant now! How crazy is that? Celiac is obviously becoming a SERIOUS issue. I didn't even think to buy one. I just stood and stared....and took a pic.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Birthday SCORE!

This is what the boys were trying to be sneaky about yesterday. They gave it to me at Chili's by pretending to go to the bathroom and coming back to the table with it. :-)
Yes, I pay the ukulele. And, yes, this one sounds great!

Okay... I'll tell now.

I completely forgot to take a pic of the completely perfect card that went with all this. I may have another chance, though. I went to lunch with some girlfriends today and Todd took the boys out to lunch too. Burger King. Burger King is actually quite a hike from our place. When asked "Why," he said that he wanted to take them somewhere 'special' since I was eating somewhere 'special'. I hate Burger King and they love it, so this made sense. Until they got home. As soon as Josiah saw me he proclaimed, "Mom! We bought you a 'not tellin'!!!"

:-D

I'll let you know what the additional "not telling" is when I find out.

"Not Telling"

My birthday's tomorrow. I don't tell you this in order to get anything from you, but to set up the story I'm about to tell.

Todd took the two older boys shopping tonight while I took lil' bit to Tae Kwon Do. After class, I asked Ike, "Do you think the first words out of Josiah's mouth when we get home will be what they bought me?" Ike said, "Yup. But I'll stop him first."

Soon after arriving home, Josiah hollered for me from upstairs, "MOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!" over and over until I came to the stairwell.

"Yes, sir."

"MOM, I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT WE GOT YOU FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY," he yells down.

"Okay. Thank you!"

Isaac says, "Well, guess I'm not gonna have to stop him."

5 minutes later Josiah comes down to my office. "Mom, we got you 'not telling', 'not telling, 'not telling' and some 'not telling'."

"Really? That's a lot of 'not telllings'."

"Yeah. And we got you some 'not telling' related 'not tellings'."

"Mmmmm. Nice."

Sometimes, I love my life.

And, in case you're wondering why they waited until the day before, Josiah inherited his "not telling" issues from his Daddy. Todd waits until last minute because he can't stand not telling. :-D

Sittin' Pretty

Have I mentioned how much our cat loves the new fish tank?

Dad? Is that you?

A friend of mine shared this with me today. It made me giggle. I mean, really, a cheeky homeless person. How fun is that? So I forwarded it to Todd. His response, after a chuckle, was, "He looks kinda like your dad." And I realized that if, for some reason, my Dad ever became homeless and decided to panhandle (if you know my Dad, you see the irony in that thought), this is exactly the way he'd do it.

'Cause my Dad's clever like that. And cheeky.

:-D

P.S. If you can't read it, the sign says, "I BET U CAN'T HIT ME WITH A QUARTER."

P.P.S. Don't do it Dad! You can always come live with us!

'Shrooms

This past Spring was a wet one for us. It rained so much I started feeling moldy...and so did my yard obviously. These are just a few of the various mushroom varieties we ended up with in our yard alone.

In other news...

Our family went to a ball game the other night. I didn't blog about it here because I blogged it elsewhere. My friend, Alissa, is fighting lymphatic cancer. She's a friend from my knitting group back in DFW. She can't get out this summer because of her chemo and asked us to send her postcards of what we do this summer to help cheer her up and keep her entertained. A few of the ladies in our group took her request one step further and put together a Flat Stanley type of blog to track Alissa's "adventures".

There's some great video of the younger boys in the blog. You should check it out!

http://travelwithalissa.blogspot.com/2009/06/play-ball.html

Once upon a time....

A few months ago, Todd disturbed a nest of baby bunnies while cleaning up the yard.

They took off in all directions and some headed for the street so he gathered them up and put them in a box back in the corner he had found them in.

We put the nesting "fluff" into the box to keep them warm and safe. Their mommy accepted the box with good grace and all of them grew up and hopped away. We still see one or two of them every now and then.

Hooray for urban wildlife!

New Ventures

I got a new job.  Have I told you that?  No.  I'm pretty sure I haven't, because I've been working so much I haven't blogged!  Of course, you and I both know that is just a lame excuse.  I haven't blogged because I've been lazy, but I did get a new job!

I'm working part time from home for a friend who has started up her own marketing and web design company (Sisarina.com).  I don't have an official title at this point, but mostly I'm her personal assistant.  She was willing to take me as I was and train me from the ground up and I am learning so, so much!!!   I'm learning Quick Books and web content writing and site optimization and all sorts of stuff I'd never heard of before.  I even went to a Tweet Up tonight (a networking event for people on Twitter).  I'm loving it!  Occasionally I even feel like I have a clue. Though those times are few and far between, I have high hopes!

I'm still planning to teach next year.  Even if this job ends up being more hours, the preschool needs me.  Cocky as that sounds, there is a lot of class restructure going on next year and they need teachers who have been around a little while to help smooth the transition.

Until I get around to uploading my photos of Todd holding baby bunnies and the kids playing and such, here's a shot of the azaleas we had this Spring.  They were so amazing!  Like our stumps?  They came from a walnut tree we had to cut down on the church playground and they make great stools/end tables in the yard.

Family Bonding

Please note the presence of all 3 children in this fight.  Later on there was some serious (Hunter actually said, "Epic") armpit action.  I didn't get pictures.  Sorry.

Happy Mother's Day!

Look what I got!  I didn't take a picture of the actual camera because I'd have needed to go get my old camera to do it.  It's pink! (and, yes Dad, I did read the manual.)

I got it today instead of tomorrow for two reasons.  1) Sundays are insane at our house and more importantly 2) Todd can't sit on a gift for more than a couple of days without imploding.  I am so cool with that.

Anyway.. Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there.  Love ya!!!

Random Spring Break photos.

My parents at the beach.

Easter treats. (yeah, it's a cake pop. it has a marshmellow tail.)

Public Service Announcement:

http://baconcamp.org/Bacone

I haven't made these yet, but I thought that for the greater good of mankind I would go ahead and start disseminating the information.  I think it is valuable.... maybe even life-changing.  Definitely artery-clogging.

In how many languages can you say, "YUM!!!"? (maybe "triple-bypass" as well?)

Dear Mr. Groundhog, P.S. ...

I take it back.

Groundhogs Can't Count

Dear Mr. Groundhog,

I would like to lodge a formal complaint.  10 weeks ago, your shadow predicted 6 more weeks of winter.  Now, I am aware that in some parts of the world 40 degree daytime temps would be considered swimming weather, but not here.  Not south of the Mason-Dixon.  I saw snowflakes during lunch last week.  SNOW!  I hate to be a nagger, but I hardly think a few 60 degree days sprinkled in make a "Spring". 

 Can you do something about this please?  

And have a word with your shadow, would ya'?

Isaac's Birthday

We started Isaac's birthday off early by all donning mustaches whilst he opened his presents, most of which were Bakugan-related.  He also received some pet frogs and a metal detector.

From that we moved on to Assateague Island.  It's about a 4 hour trip through some beautiful farm land.  The island is famous for its wild ponies but it also has a fabulous beach.  Here's a shot of Ike trying out the new detector.  He found 51 cents.  The coins remarkably resembled some coins which had recently been residing in Todd's pocket, but we won't mention that.

(Yes, that's Todd in a cowboy hat.  The farther we move from Texas the more he reverts.  Go figure.)

On the way home from the island, we stopped for some birthday treats.  Cake Pops, of course!!  Cake mixed with frosting, put on a stick and covered with chocolate candy.  Does it get any better?

It was a great day, good weather, safe journies and fun side-stops.  When I get my hands on someone else's pics from the day, I'll show you some ponies.

Parental Creativity:

Dear Josiah,

This looks like a very fine, $5 tooth to me. I do not have a $5 bill with me tonight, but I will be sure to make a 5 dollar deposit into your parents' bank account in the morning so that they can buy you something nice.

Good Job!

The Tooth Fairy

Spring in Bethesda

Coming soon:  Isaac's Birthday, My Parents' Visit and Easter.

Extra points.

It's a bright, sunny (though slightly cold) day today and the boys are out of school for Teacher Inservice.  Josiah is entertaining himself by dressing up as Link from Legend of Zelda.  I think he gets extra credit for having fun playing and also embarrassing his big brother at the same time.

SCORE!

Squirrel Feeders.....

They're cool but they do NOT keep the squirrels out of the bird food.  They DO, however, make for nice, plump squirrels.  

No.  I am not setting Todd loose with a BB gun in my yard to fetch us dinner.  I've learned my lesson.

:-)

Whatcha doin' son?

Last week on a particularly warm night, I went outside to find Josiah for dinner.   He was tearing down the sidewalk at top speed grinning from ear to ear.  That particular grin is usually reserved for mischief involving brothers so I asked him who he was playing with.  His reply?  "I'm playing car chase, Mom."

My son was chasing cars.  He would wait down the walk for a car to round the corner then see if he could beat it to the big oak tree in front of our house.

I replied, "Son, you can't do this stuff out here in public where people can see you."  But since I was also grinning and reaching for my camera, I'm pretty sure he didn't take me seriously.  I don't think you can see his grin in any of these pictures.  I wish you could.  That grin is the most amazing, contageous thing in the world.  We do almost anything in this house to see that grin.

Even let our kid chase cars.  In public.

:-)

Snow Update

Just FYI:  breaking ice and shoveling out a parking lot . . . . both also suck.

(this is Josiah playing in the snow and also hiding from the wind)

Even action figures enjoy a good snow day.