Vacation Bible School 2009

There have been so many funny things said around here lately, and I have been forgetting to jot them down when I hear them :( We have been busy with VBS and now the planning crunch for school, so I'm hoping to blog more in the near future. Until then, here are some cute VBS pictures. The theme was The Boomerang Express (The Australian Outback). The kids had fun!

This year, I helped in Q~ and H~'s class, so most of my pictures are from there, but I did happen to snap this one of N~ up on stage practicing for the family night program.


J~ in the nursery...


Q~ and H~'s Class.


The busiest place in VBS: Crafts


Yes, a kangaroo in diapers. There is something just wrong about that.


Obviously, it rebelled.


At the end of family night, the kids got to throw water balloons at the pastor.
S~ didn't get one.

Not including the lack of water balloons for S~, it was a very fun week!

Naptime

We have been staying up late and sleeping in lately...so goes summer. Today I had this conversation with N~.

N~: Hey mama { I think it's so cute that he still calls me this...I know it will end soon :( }, do you know what?
Me: What?
N~: I think I'm nocturnal. I wanted to take a nap today.

I tried to keep a straight face.

However, I think I might be nocturnal too! :))

Caught

I pulled pictures off the camera this morning, and I found about 20 little 5 second long videos of everything, and nothing.

At first, I wondered who the culprit was until I saw this one.



The proof is in the little pink Sketchers.

Skunked Up

Our beautiful inside golden retriever Lucy, has become an outside dog.

Here's Why

I question the existence of these creatures. I mean, really....

Anyway, she was 'skunked', bitten, scratched, and all around whipped by a creature 1/10th her size.

Soooo....we have had her groomed shaved, bathed, and taken to the vet. She is on antibiotics, some kind of lotion stuff that I don't touch, and she is a TERRIBLE patient. She will not take her medicine, so we have to stick it in a spoonful of peanut butter to get her to lap it down. Add to it that she looks like a lion (they shaved everything but her face and tail...it is hilarious) and she is just PATHETIC.

Alright, I'm getting to my funny kid story point. The other morning, Ben was giving Lucy her daily dose of anti-skunk pill and H~ comes outside to watch. She looks at Ben and asks:

Watcha doing Daddy? The dishes?

Uh, yeah, gross.

Take heart, if you come over for dinner, I will use the dishwasher.

The inside one.

J~'s News

Affected to Tea

Tonight I had the pleasure of being invited to the most beautiful tea party in town.

It had the best china...



The hottest tea...


The nicest companionship...


The cutest conversations...

One of which went like this:

H~: Would you like some cotton candy to go with your tea?
Me: Sure! I would love some!!
H~: Well, don't give any to S~, because she's affected to cotton candy!
Me: Huh?
S~: Yummmm....Cotttttooonnn Caaannndddyyy...I'm affected to cotton candy...
Me: Affected? Really! I see...

And, although this party was a female only affair, every party has it's crasher...


I'm addicted to my kids...I think they're really cute!

Too Hot

It is so hot here today! We took the kids to the splash pad and even then they were ready to come home to the AC. I had a little fun with Photobucket after we got home...

The Before: With red cheeks from the heat...

The After: It's a miracle...no heat!


Here is my other blue-eyed beauty....

That was fun! Not the scorching heat part, but the editing!
Staying Cool,

A Pudgy Mirage

Maybe it's his age. Or maybe it's just Q~, but he has been a riot this week. Tonight I was walking through Wal-Mart with him and he asked me if he was fat. Don't ask me, I don't know...

After that, he said "What's that called when you see something but it's not really there? A ma.....mmmmm.....mmmmaaa......massage?"

Obviously, in Q~'s mirage, he's pudgy...

Things Found in My Washer/Dryer

Because good ideas are always stolen, I mean gleaned from others, I thought that I would start a list of items that I've found in my washer/dryer. My cousin's list is HERE, and it is hilarious. I decided to start mine because of today's take. Here's what I found in my washer.


That's right, a bathroom key, piece of erector set, shell, tootsie roll wrapper, lego man, glass stone, and some flying bullet thingy. Luckily I found the tootsie roll wrapper BEFORE the wash...

I've always said that my laundry was alive......see, it's leaving me presents...

Frankie

We are doing Bible Drill at church this summer on Wednesday nights. I LOVE Bible Drill! I loved it as a kid. N~ loves it too. He is very good at it, and I'm really proud to have a chip off the old, I mean really, really young block. He is so competitive, that it is a great fit for his personality.

Q~ and H~ are not quite as thrilled with the program. They don't quite have the order of the books down, so tonight Ben decided to quiz them. He threw out this question to them:

"What book comes between Joel and Obadiah?"

Q~ answers with a question of his own.

"Frankie?"

Yep, Frankie.

Double Digits

This little tiny 9lb 4oz baby...


Is 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you N~!


P.S. This isn't on my profile, but if you would like to see his blog, you can visit him here.

1200 Thread Count Question

"Do Egyptians sleep or do they stay awake all night like God?"

This is what H~ asked me, just now as I was going to bed. After I giggled, she said, "No really, do they have beds or do they sleep on the sand?"

More giggles. She finished off with, "Do they have sheets?"

Finally I said, "As a matter of fact, they do."

Golly Gee

There has been quite a bit of talk around here lately about what is or what is not a curse word. We didn't initiate this in any way, it must just be something that kids are naturally inquisitive about. I remember doing the same thing as a kid.

One of the borderline words in our house is the word gosh. I just don't like how close it sounds to taking God's name in vain, and there are plenty of good alternatives, so we discourage the kids from saying it. Well, last night, someone said it, (the guilty party shall remain nameless) and S~ heard it.

She started getting all worked up about it, and trying to find the right thing to say, she started wagging her finger at me...when she finally got it out, this is what she said...

"MAMA!!! That's a sight word!!!"

The Broom Horse

S~ has taken to eating crackers in a VERY messy way. So today, I had her clean up after herself. I don't know if it is entirely appropriate for a mother to find humor in a daughter's struggles, but I did. It was incredibly funny to watch this short little thing trying to handle a broom. To move it so as to sweep up all the crumbs...under the table...


However, after I gave her the green light to put the broom away, she turned, straddled it, slapped it's rump, and yelled "CHARGE!!!" and rode that broom all the way to the laundry room!

Kind of reminded me of an old blog post from 2007...

Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorite movies. Hilarious movie. In the movie, the sisters have a slightly insane relative (brother I think) that lives with them. He thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. Every time he climbs the stairs he brandishes his saber and yells 'charge' all the way up to his room. Kind of repetitive in the movie, but humorous.

Funny thing is, I don't think my son has seen this movie. Nevertheless on his way up the stairs to get his sister out of her crib this morning, he grabs a swimming noodle, you know the really long kind, holds it up and yells at the top of his lungs..."Sonora, have no fear, Sir Nate the Great is here".

Charging ahead,

Moose Prey

Today out of the blue, Q~ asked me if calling someone a 'big fat overgrown hairy moose' was a cuss word.

What could I say?

To add to the moose theme, tonight H~ said,

"Mama, what's a moose's prey?"

To which Q~ replied,

"They don't eat prey, they ARE the prey baby".

11 Years

We are celebrating our 11 year anniversary today!

Honestly, I don't know who these kids are...


Now these two I recognize...


While we were getting ready to take our 'real' picture, H~ snapped this one...I loved it and thought it summed up the last 11 years...


Very thankful today,

Oh No!

Watch out world...looks who's mobile...





He's pretty proud of himself...he flips right over the minute you put him down...

Oh man, I'm not ready for this! :)

Last Rites

So we were eating dinner the other day...chicken. Again. Q~ was in fine form that evening as he speared a piece of meat with his fork and said,

"Say your prayers chicken...bawk bawk"


I don't know what to be more worried about...that Q~ talks to his food, or that he's waiting for it to answer...

Six Months

J~ is six months old today!


It is hard to believe that he is already at this milestone! It seems like we waited forever for him to get here and now his babyhood is flying.

I wish that I could slow down time....

S~

She is so cool! She is unique, beautiful, and very entertaining. Tonight at dinner we had a rotisserie chicken, and as soon as it was set on the table, the verbal battle for the legs began. "I get a leg, me too, no me, no me" etc, etc, etc...As soon as they were claimed and S~ did not get one, she piped right up and said...

"Well, I'll take an arm then."

What's it Going to Take??

The kids spent an hour cleaning their rooms this afternoon. I should have taken before/after pictures, because the difference was HUGE! I was thrilled! When Ben came home from work he went to check out their work as well. He looked it over, was pretty impressed, and said

"Now boys, what's it going to take for you all to keep it this way?"

(Using his best car salesman voice by the way)

Q~ answered,

"YEARS and years of practice."

At least he has a firm grip on reality...

Swagbucks

Alright, I admit it, shameless post to help me earn swagbucks. Click the banner above, sign up, and the first 100 bucks you earn, I earn too! You earn 'swagbucks' for just doing a normal internet search using their search engine (which is google and ask.com by the way). I figured I would give it a shot and try it out, seeing as I search the internet already. I've been using swagbucks for a about 2 weeks now and I have 28. The prizes work out to roughly $1 worth of merchandise or giftcards per 10 swagbucks. Check it out!

Vacation Stop One: Michigan

Well, we are back. We made our trip, came back in one piece, and slept for a week. I'd like to blog about everything we did in one post, but since that is impossible, I will break it down. Nothing like looking at other people's vacation pictures, right? Right.

First Stop:

MICHIGAN

We drove for two straight days to get there. The kids did really good on this leg of the trip. Things were new, including our vehicle, which we bought the week before, so the kids were happy, thus making the parents happy!

We stopped to see Lake Michigan before driving up to see our family. There was a man here playing relaxing music on his guitar, making it a very enjoyable experience. VERY BEAUTIFUL, as was the entire state! Here is H~ seeing for the first time what looks like endless water.


Now, does this look like a man that just drove 18 hours? I don't think so...looks pretty darn good to me!


The next day, we got up and went to the Coast Guard station to see the helicopters...Ben's brother is a pilot, so we had up front accessibility.


Ahh...the sling...


Afterward, we went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore...the kids had a great time! It reminded us of our Colorado dune experience from last vacation...


S~ was old enough to really enjoy it this time though...


I thought this was a neat photo.


The kids found the best way down, it just wasn't quite as fun coming back up this one.


Great picture of Ben and his brother Jeremy and their little ones.


The next day we went to the beach. It was freezing cold, but if you'll look in the distance, all the kids are in the water. I was cold on the shore with a sweater. Kids.


After we got back, we had a bonfire in the backyard. This is a priceless picture of one of my nephews. I love it! What you don't see on the end of that stick, is the marshmallow that was supposed to go in the graham crackers I was holding for him:)


The kids also played baseball that night. Here is Q~ on second base. Prettiest second base I've ever seen. Kid's not bad either!


J~ had his first solid food while we were there: Bananas...he didn't much care for them...


Two of a kind:


Talk about a gaggle of kids!


We had such a great time hanging out with our family! It was so peaceful and beautiful!

Next Stop: Chicago...