Nov 28: Thankful

Today, I am thankful for Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. It has made the morning a little better :-)

Nov 27: Thankful

Today I am thankful for laying in bed until 10... I didn't get to sleep until 10, but I didn't have to get up :-) Good start to a lazy day!

Thankfuls are back...

Every day in November, I have posted something I am thankful for as my Facebook status. We all have 'those' days where you really have to think about what we are thankful. I liked having to sit and think of something on 'those' days. Puts things back into the correct perspective. It is so easy to focus on the things that we perceive as wrong in our lives.

So... I am going to continue. Just not on Facebook. I am going to try to come back to doing daily thankfuls on here. Hopefully the Facebook experiment has put me in the habit and I will continue... hopefully :-)

Today, I am thankful that, though it is always hard to say goodbye when family comes to visit, we already know when we are going to see them again. It makes goodbye a little easier when you have a {rough} date of next time.

That's confusing, but I hope you know what I'm talking about.

Girl-ism...

Talking with God...

A couple of nights ago, I went in to tell the girls goodnight and say prayers. Faith started saying hers in a horrible, monster voice. She just laughed and laughed. I told her that I wouldn't want to talk to God that way and told her {again} that praying was her time to talk with God and that she should take it seriously. To which, she said:

F: So, God wouldn't think that is funny?

me: No, I don't think so. I think we are supposed to talk with God as truly and honestly as we can and that there are times to joke, but when we say our nightly prayers we should be serious. I don't think he wants us to joke around like that.

{silence, then...}

G (in a very somber voice from across the room): Do you mean God doesn't like knock-knock jokes?

Apparently, G has been using her prayers as her time to try out new knock-knock jokes. I made sure to say that I think that God has a great sense of humor and would love her jokes, but that there is a time to be serious.

Dora

I'm a fan of Dora. Really, I am. There's something pretty cool about your child(ren) learning something from any source that they can't learn from a parent (in this case, any sort of Spanish). Rob and I both took French in high school and college. The kids all know how to count, say hello, basic words, etc. (well, G knows more because of the Spanish classes in KY, but that's not relevant here...)

It's all great... until... you are sitting in Pizza Hut and a family of Hispanic descent sits down near you. They are all speaking English. However, the Dora-acquired knowledge chooses that moment to ooze out of your children.

"Hola"

"Uno, dos, tres"

ME: HUSH and turn around!

Them: "But they know what we're saying."

Me: Palm slap to (my) forehead.

Bones's Itsy Bitsy Spider

Cute Faithism

I just want to write this down so I don't forget.

Sunday, Faith was out running errands with Rob. We all met for lunch at a local Chinese restaurant.

After lunch, we were parting ways again. I was sitting in the car, with the three kids going with me. Faithers jumped up on my running board... and told me she loves me more than ice cream cake.

SO sweet.

{If you don't watch Phineas and Ferb, this will make NO sense, but you can watch THIS to start to understand.}

Goodwill Find...

We went to an Ugly Sweater and Bad Beer party on Saturday which meant... a trip to Goodwill was in order! We found some hideous sweaters, but I also came across a sewing machine cover. I've been wanting one, so I went over. $15. Okay, that's a few dollars cheaper than you can buy one at Walmart. So, I opened it up, to see the condition of the inside. There was a sewing machine inside! The sewing machine AND the case were $15! And this is a solid machine... not a piece of plastic on it!

I checked out, buying only the ugly sweaters. But that sewing machine was on my mind. I even dreamed about it Saturday night. When I woke on Sunday, I asked Rob if he minded if I got it. I didn't even know if it would run. He laughed, and kind of rolled his eyes a little, but didn't mind.

Look what has a new home {ha}...









Got it home, plugged it in... and it works! Well, the motor runs and the needle goes up and down. I can't figure out how to thread it, so I'm not positive it sews, but I'm researching it. I found a users' manual on the internet, but have issue paying $20 for the manual on a machine I bought for $15! It may just become a cool piece of decor :-)

{the pictures aren't that great... I took them last night, using our dining room light}

Field Trip Pictures

Each of my {school-age} kids have gone on a field trip within the last week. They've all asked to take a camera. Having what I consider a *nice* camera, I cringed.

Ummm..... well.... we'll see.

So the night before Grace's field trip, Rob and I remembered that we used to have a not-so-*nice* camera. Our first digital camera. It's a bit of a clunker but takes decent pictures. Problem solved.

Here are pictures taken by our kids on their field trips: {side note... I'm using blogger's picture loader this time. The pictures aren't THAT great and it would take me a while to load and resize them into photobucket.}

Bubba's Kindergarten class went to a pumpkin patch. A parent/volunteer agreed to hold his camera while he played. You can definitely tell which pictures were taken by her and which were taken by him :-)






*On the bus ride home


Bub's pumpkins




*Bub came home with two tiny, little pumpkins. Notice the size of his seat-mate's on the bus -- yeah, that giant orange thing on the left side of the picture. Yeah, that's the other kid's! What would make my Bubba pick such little pumpkins? Because his mama {aka ME} told him that he had to carry his own pumpkins on the walk from school to home. Hey... don't judge! I already carry his backpack!



F's 1st Grade class took a trip to a dairy farm. Most of her pictures were taken on the bus. I guess she misses riding the bus... If anybody needs a picture of an emergency exit or windows or even the backs of bus seats, let me know. We have plenty.

*There were lots of pictures of feet and legs...

*she even took one of her OWN legs!

G's 3rd grade class went to the zoo. She took the funniest video EVER, but it would take too long to upload here. Any suggestions on alternate video locations?!?

*This is a picture of a picture. Why? Because she said she couldn't get a good one of the birds in the cage, so she took this one.

*that would be a donkey

*that would be G's gorilla impression. Kind of gives me flashbacks to The Blair Witch Project...

Soccer Pics from today

The Bumblebees played the Cobras today. Game ended in a 2-2 tie. Unfortunately, Bubba let in one of the Cobras' goals. He saved three more, though! AND he scored one of ours! Sounds like a good day to me!







OOPS...


Got it!

New (to me) music

I think I live in a music bubble. I always listen to the same things... branching out only by what the radio plays new. I was on Facebook the other day {surprise, surprise} and saw a post by an old friend about the Avett Brothers. They are from NC, which makes me pre-disposed to want to like them. I was so wonderfully surprised. I LOVE them! Every song I've listened to has been incredible. Kind of a folksy sound that I love.

Water Paint

The weather here has been gorgeous... a bit warmer than I wish, but the cold is coming and I'll be missing the warmth. So for now, we are eating up the sun! Enjoying afternoons outside -- kids playing in the street with their friends.

These pictures were taken while the big three were at school. I am ashamed to say that this is Bones's first experience with water paints. And he LOVED it - and I have some great art to add to our back door! We will definitely be doing this again!

Things I am thankful for now that the weather is turning cooler...

1- We don't pay an electric bill. That means I can turn on and off the heat anytime I want. And in MidMissouri, I can go from heat in the morning to air in the afternoon and turn the heat back on at night. Yeah, it's like that here.

2- Flannel sheets on my bed.

3- Remote starter on the car -- it can be warm when we get in it :-)

4- Beautiful sunny days that aren't so hot as to make me have sweaty shirts by the time I walk to school to get the kids!

5- Open windows

6- The {outside} trash can doesn't stink so much when it's cool. Maybe that means the raccoons/skunks will leave it alone.

Bones-ism, well, kind-of

Bones colored on the wall. Again. And of course, he found one of the few non-washable crayons in the house to do it. They are very rare in our house. I think there are only about two left in the house and those have been stored in G's school stuff. Well, he found it.

Anyway... out came the Magic Erasers. I have such a love-hate relationship with those little puffs of white magic. I love that they can get the crayon off the wall and they polish baseboards oh so well BUT I *hate*, *hate* how they feel in my hand. Imagine -- fingers on chalkboard. They make my skin crawl. SO... I always wear a rubber glove {black gloves with cool zebra stripes on the ends -- which will be significant in a minute} when I use them.

Before I clean the walls, I always make the kid responsible for the mess try to clean it up. So, Bones had already tried to wipe the crayon away with a rag. In I walk, rubber gloved armed with a Magic Eraser. Bones disappears.

I'm full into the wall scrub when I notice he's back. With the package's other eraser... and an oven mitt {black silicone, to be exact} on his hand. He was so cute, I immediately started cracking up. He said:

Glub. Like you. Me clean.

:-)

Couple of -isms and Thankfuls

Faith-ism

If you have a Nintendo DS, you will know what pictochat is. For those not in the know... it is a way for players to talk with each other, wirelessly, between gaming systems. They have to be relatively close... it isn't a large network, just a fun way to type back and forth. Imagine IM'ing via Nintendo.

Anyway, my oldest three pictochat all the time. Since Faithers and Bubba aren't the best spellers in the world, most of the time, the pictochat screen is filled with doodle drawings from one to another.

Flash to today, in the car on the way to Springfield --

Faithers and G were in the back, being unusually quiet. I couldn't figure it out until Faith says:

Mom, it is so fun to pictochat with paper.

Yep, they were passing notes back and forth in a notebook. But she doesn't call it writing notes... no, it is pictochatting on paper.
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Rob-ism

Rob and I were discussing the naming of our children the other day. We agree that we named them well and that their names match their personalities.

For whatever reason, we started talking about what we didn't name them. I have always really liked the name Seamus. Love it. Good, strong name. Rob would never consider it. Finally, I asked him why. He said because our last name wasn't O'Fairel!

Ha!
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Thankfuls

1- I have a husband that thinks a lot of me. He compliments me and makes sure the kids hear it. So, tonight, I put Bubba in bed and he called out -- "Goodnight, pretty mommy". What a sweet bunch of boys I have!

2- Target has started selling their brand of diapers in "Club Sized" boxes. I guess that just means a lot more diapers. Since the nearest Target is an hour drive and they seem to be the ONLY diapers that don't break Bones's butt out -- I bought TWO of their "Club Sized" boxes!

3- Rob is safely in Vegas. I am always nervous when he travels -- but at least this travel is in THIS country :-)

4- Bones pooked on the potty tonight. WooHoo!

5- With Rob's help, I am caught up on laundry. Granted there are two piles to fold and put away, but one of them is sheets and that's too easy! It's always nice to have a jump on Monday!

What are you thankful for today?!?

Random Sunday night thoughts

I watch a lot of Discovery channel... well, I should say... when I watch TV, it is usually one of three channels: Discovery Channel, Animal Planet or Food Network (I do love Cupcake Wars).

Problem is... when I watch these channels, I feel like I can do anything. Currently, here are some of the things on my list to do:

1- Cook cupcakes everyday so my house always smells like -- well -- cupcakes.

2- Climb to the summit of Everest. {See THIS}

3- Go camping in a rain forest, for a month WITHOUT getting lost.

4- Get an online degree {there are a LOT of online education commercials on these channels}

5- Own every Shark product ever made.

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Okay, that was just something random. Now for the 'real' stuff :-)

We went to the St Louis Zoo today.



It was very fun to go back and see how things have changed since we were there last (3 Jul 05). Lots of changes. Rob was disappointed in some things, but overall everything was great!

It's so fulfilling to see the kids' excitement -- and knowledge of certain animals. Though today, the focus was on poop. Yep, I said it. Poop.

Every time we went to a new area, I'd ask the kids what they saw.

"Elephants" or "Monkeys" or "Lemurs" is what I would hear... but one of them would always chime in with ".. and poop" {or in Bones's case "... and pook"}.

Don't know what it was about, but they were fascinated. By the end of the day, every time somebody would say "poop" somebody else would say "well, everything poops". Funny kids I have!

Glitches...Why are there always glitches?

So, as you can see, I used the advice given and found a new background. Problem is... i can't adjust the width of the posts to accommodate my huge pictures. SO... I will be sizing down the pictures in the future. Where's the glitch?

I can't get PhotoBucket to size down the pictures already on here. Well, that's not exactly true. If I go to photobucket, they are sized down. Since they are linked to the blog, it should automatically happen. And it does... sometimes.

Oh well, from here on, I think I've got it figured out. Just know that if you want to see those huge pictures, they will be overlapping the column on the right. Maybe if I put the column on the left... hmmm

I'm going to try that now.

Soccer pictures are coming. Bubba has his next game at 1300hrs today -- that's right... 1300hrs. Ugh... I only like soccer season when games are over by noon. Yikes... did I just put that in writing?!? It's true though. We can't really *do* anything when the games don't start until after noon. Oh well...

Blog Template

So, I was trying to change my template and lost it... so I'm back to the basic. I'll figure it out, but it may take a while (mainly until the kids are back in school this week).

Why was I trying to change it? Because I can't stand when there isn't a date stamp on the blog entries. My old one just had a timestamp, but no date. Finally got past the point that I could stand it anymore.

I really want a cool background, but need something I can modify the template (to accommodate my big pictures :-)) Anybody have any good *free* template sites they would recommend?

Blog Catchup...

Lots of stuff going on... here are some highlights :-)

Gasp... has it been this long since I've blogged?!? Josh's birthday... I can't believe he is FIVE! Since he is ALL about cars now, we got him some motorcycles that race. This was taken just before the red one busted into my knuckles! Ouch!


The world's longest game of Hopscotch -- or a good effort at reaching it! This stretched from our house, up the street past about five other houses. Quite a game! And quite a bunch of kids!


Rob got promoted! WooHoo!

This is me, changing his rank out. Josh was happy to have the old CPT rank :-)



My sweet husband had flowers for me -- in Engineer colors, no less!




And we took our first trip to St Louis. It was a bust. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the day we picked to go would also be football season opener games for Mizzou (downtown STL) and Washington Univ (Forest Park, aka the zoo) AND a Cardinals baseball game. Traffic was INSANE. We were late to our Arch reservation, had to pay for parking (though we had a free parking pass for making reservations online), and got our patience tested. By the time we made it over to Forest Park (still not knowing about the Washington game), we were redirected AWAY from the zoo. All we wanted to do was go up in the Arch and go to the Zoo. We didn't get to do the zoo. Next time. Next time... we will do a bit more research into that one.










If you've never gone up into the Arch, this is the 'pod' you have to ride. Horribly small. Horribly creaky. Horribly cramped. Horribly small (did I mention that?).





And apparently, I wasn't the only one feeling a bit claustrophobic. Check out the terror in that face!



Since we weren't able to do everything we wanted to do, we felt like we'd let the kids down a little. That is, until we drove by and saw this baby lit up...



Ahh... fresh and hot. A yummy ending to a not so great {but quite a learning experience} trip to St Louis!