Crazy Socks = Crazy Girls

 Aubrey and Addy had

 CrAzY SoCk DaY

 at their school last week.

As you can see from the pictures, 

the socks weren't the only crazy things in the room.

Alaina Nicole

My baby brother (there is a 13 1/2 year difference in our ages) became a father in the wee hours of this crazy morn.  Little Alaina Nicole was born at 3:44 AM weighing 7lb 3oz.  Isn't she just precious.  I wish I could hold her in my arms.  Sam and Teresa, why did you have to up and move to Ohio?  Until just this past summer they have been living in Idaho, attending BYUI.  Our family loved having them so close.  And now they have this sweet precious baby girl and they live half way across the country.

Last week Addy was telling me something we could do to get a lot of money.  I can't remember the details now, but she was so excited about her plan.  She said, "And then, once we have all of that money, do you know what we can do???"  And I said, "Go to Disneyland?"  She looked at me like I was crazy and replied, "NO!  WE CAN GO TO O-HI-O".  My children are very upset with me because I will not buy us all plane tickets to go to Ohio for Thanksgiving.  They are all very anxious to meet their new cousin. 

Little baby Alaina decided to wait until her parents had a chance to vote yesterday before she started to make her appearance.  It wasn't long after they voted that they were on their way to the hospital.  Yesterday was an anxious day for me.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  Waiting to see who would be our next President and waiting for Alaina to come.  I went to bed late last night knowing who the President was, but still not being able to see this sweet face.  It was nice to wake up to it this morning.

Her birth came at the perfect time.  She is a great reminder to me that no matter what, life and love and hope are eternal.

Fun Friday

Our Relief Society had a Fun Friday 2 weeks ago.  And it totally was way super fun.  I wasn't the only one having fun that night, it turns out.  When I left for the church, Zac and Ethan were out back trying to train the chickens.  I tried to explain to them that no matter what they did, the chickens simply do not have the ability to learn.  They could not have cared less what I had to say on the matter, and when I left they were still faithfully at it.

After the whole Fun Friday ordeal was done and over, there were 5 of us left at the church.  Jamie's car wouldn't start.  We were trying to jump it, but her car battery was all funkyfied.  So everyone had out their iphones and were googling her type of battery.  I said, "I could go inside and ask that guy who is playing basketball to come help us."  To which 4 women yelled a collective

 "NO!"

Well excuse me!  Apparently some people have issues.  

Not long after that we had it all figured out and we were merrily on our way home.

I arrived home to the following.  First of all you will notice Ethan's eye is a little more battered than it was when I left.  You might wonder what they are doing.  I did.  They were putting Tabasco sauce on crackers. 

 Then they were eating them. 

 Every time one of them finished a cracker, they got to punch the other one on the arm.

(the matter of his battered eye is totally unrelated to this little stunt)

 Zac was winning.

 And surprise!  I found this in my game room:

What 17 1/2 Years Of Marriage Does To A Perfectly Normal Person

Apparently being married to this man:

 for 17 1/2 years has the following effect on me: 

 Yeah, that's right.  I ate a hot dog last week.  

With sauerkraut. 

Who ever would have thought that would have happened in like, a million years?  I mean, the first hot dog I ate in my whole entire life wasn't even eaten that long ago.  It was on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 to be exact.  So who knew sauerkraut would be so soon to follow?  When you have a last name like mine, I guess it's only a matter of time.  Steve was working at home last week and I talked him into taking a "Walking Dead" lunch break with me.  So while I was taking Addy to school, Steve cooked up the dogs.  And for some odd reason, I put sauerkraut on mine.  Stranger things have happened.  Like this:

Apparently being married to yours truly:

 for 17 1/2 years has the following effect on him: 

He actually used the word bootatta last week.

In a sentence.

We were getting in bed one night and Addy came in our room to tell us something.  She left to go back into her bed and Steve told her to close the door.  So she backed up into the room and proceeded to try and close the door with her, well, bootatta.  And that's when he said it.  He really actually said, "You can't close the door with your bootatta!"  And I about fell outta the bed with shock. 

 But I didn't.

I heart you babe!

How We Managed To Celebrate Halloween For An Entire Month And Live To Tell About It

I'm about as bah-humbug as you can get when it comes to Halloween.  But I have children and so we acknowledge the "holiday".  As soon as they are grown up and outta the house though, my Halloween observance will come to an abrupt end.  I'm totally gonna be like my old grumpy shirtless lawn mowing neighbor and be the only person on the street with all the lights in my house off.  And I will yell at any kids that dare ring my doorbell.

 So nowadays Halloween is celebrated for an entire month. 

 yay.

 Here is a look at our month of Halloween:

It started way back so far I can't even remember when this was.  My camera says this picture was taken on October 5th.  We went to the grocery store and they had all kinds of stuff going on, including Halloween crafts for the kids.  Aubrey and Addy made a mummy and a ghost.

Earlier in the month we had a Halloween carnival at the church.  

Addy decided (all on her own, mind you) that she wanted to go as a hobo.

 Aubrey went as a goth

With friends

Zac went as himself and Emily didn't go because she had a soccer game 

that night and Steve went with her to that.

The Saturday before Halloween we went to a car dealership for a trunk-n-treat.  The main reason we went is because at school Aubrey got a coloring contest page and the prize for winning the contest was an ipod.  Aubrey worked very very hard on her picture and we went to turn it in.  After we left there, I figured we were dressed up (for the second time that month and it still wasn't even Halloween) so we might as well make the most of it.  The shopping center by our house was having a big Halloween shpamoozle and we went there and the girls got this picture taken.  Then we went trick or treating to all the stores.  Because if we are gonna dress up before Halloween, we better be getting candy.

The Monday before Halloween for Family Home Evening, we carved pumpkins.

 Our finished products belonging to the following (left to right): Emily, Addy, Aubrey, Zac

  And Addy and I made doughnuts for the treat

The morning of Halloween Addy and I went to the school to see the Halloween parade.  

Then we helped with Aubrey's party in her class.

And at looooooooooooooooong last the looooooooooooooong anticipated night had arrived.  After several costume changes, tantrums and some incredible disrespect towards her mother- Emily decided to be a zombie baby.  She wore her footie pajamas (which are now footless pajamas) and after several more tantrums and disrespect I did her makeup which she hated but I think looks way zombie awesome.  (This look was brought to you by my many hours of the Walking Dead viewing.)

Addy was a witch and Aubrey was a spider princess.  Zac and Em ditched us and Steve was still working so these girls and I went to our annual neighborhood potluck dinner and then hit the streets.  Steve met up with us not long after that.

After trick or treating we took the girls to see my mom and Lauren.  Then we picked Em and Zac up.  At Zac's friends house we were able to witness this amazing masterpiece.  His friend's mom carved all these pumpkins (she said her boys and her husband carved a few but she did most of them) and she had just started it the morning before Halloween!  Now that is some dedication.  You can't see anything in this picture but I wanted you to see how many she carved.  I took a few close up pictures below.

Thor and his hammer

Her Hunger Games section

YAY!  Halloween had a successful end and now we can get on with the real holidays!  I have already started playing Christmas music.  Now to put the tree up!  Don't be a hater.  It is after all the most wonderful time of the year!

Monday Morning Musings - How Many Emily's Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb? And While We're Asking Questions, How Weird Of A Word Is Bulb?

So I am like, a year behind in blog posts.  Life has been so fast paced lately.  I have actually sat down the last 3 Mondays to do Monday Morning Musings, but I either wasn't in the mood or something else came up and I couldn't even get a sentence out before I had to leave the computer.  But I am determined today to complete and post this MMM!- All in one sitting!  Whenever something funny happens or my kids say something I want to remember, I write it down. That is where most of my MMM come from.  Well, my list is outta control so I'm about to unleash a whole bunch of musings dating all the way back to summer!

So Zac and I were going somewhere and when we got there, it was closed.  Early.  Irritating, right?  Zac was arguing that they were not closed early and I was arguing that they were.  The reason for the disagreement was because they had posted their weekday hours and their weekend hours.  We were there on a Friday.  Zac insisted that Friday was the weekend.  I insisted that Friday was a weekday.  In the middle of the heated argument between 2 people that must always be right (although in my old age I'm starting to cave more) Zac broke the tension by saying, "WOULD YOU STOP INSULTING FRIDAY!  You are hurting it's feelings.  It happens to be a very strong day!"  You  know.  Weekday.  Strong day.  Anyway.  Is your sense of humor genetic?  Because the older he gets the more he reminds me of the following people: his father, his grandfather, his uncle Mike and his cousin Spencer.  They all share the same sense humor.

On Friday Addy had a friend over.  They were eating lunch and I overheard Addy tell her friend that Sun Chips were her favorite because the dots on the chips look like her dads mustache.

In Emily's Utah Studies class she is known as Emily #4.  There are 5 of them in her class.  To make it even more fun for her there is an Emily Lynn (Lynn being the last name) in her class and Emily's middle name is Lynne.  She told me that when her teacher is taking roll and there is an Emily absent he says, "That's OK!  We have more to spare!"  She also said that the other day she came into class and he was playing the Emily song from Thomas the Tank Engine.

One night it was late.  Like super late.  Steve was in bed and I was going to go out to close the chicken coop.  I told Steve that if I wasn't back in the house in 1 minute to come looking for me.  I don't remember (because it has been so long) what I was doing, but I somehow got sidetracked and started doing something outside (In the middle of the night). About 15 minutes later I came back in the house to find Steve sound asleep.  I'm glad there wasn't a murderer or a crazy person or something out there!

I was giving Addy some ice cream.  I put it in an ice cream cone.  She said, "I don't like it in cone.  I like it in a cup about yea big."  And when she said "Yea big" she gestured with her hands as to how big she liked it.  I just thought it was a funny thing for a 5 year old to say.

How ridiculous is this?  We are all riding in Steve's truck.  Emily is sitting next to me talking to me.  Like actually talking and having a conversation with me.  And she is also texting me at the same time.  I looked at her and said, "Did you really just send me a text?"  Kids these days. 

Aubrey has been begging me for a cell phone since Zac and Em both have one.  I told her she isn't old enough to have one yet.  So she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side and asked, "Oh yeah?  Well how old were YOU when you got a cell phone?"  To which I answered, "THIRTY-FREAKIN'-TWO YEARS OLD!"  I think that kinda blew her mind a little.

The kids had friends over and they were upstairs in the game room.  I walked in and these are the actual words that I had to say: "ZAC!  Please do not use your face to play air hockey!"

OK, I still have a big old list, but this will have to do for now!  Happy Monday Everybody!!!

Flashback/Flashforward Friday - P8GNO Goes To Walmart

Flashback: March 2011

 Flashforward: October 2012

Whenever our fierce chick gang gets together, we somehow always end up at Walmart.  We don't set out intending to go to Walmart.  But we do always end up there.  Last year when we went we were banned from the store because of our shenanigans, which you can see by clicking here.  They finally took down the posters with our pictures on them, so we decided it was time to go back.

It was my dear friend and neighbor Lori's Birthday a few weeks ago.  We took her out for a lovely dinner at Noodles and Company.  Then when we asked her where she wanted to go next it came as no surprise to any of us when she answered with DI.  It is after all her favorite store.  Once that store closed, we decided to hit up Walmart.  Because we seriously needed some chap stick.  You know, with the weather changing and all.  I talked the ladies into purchasing my personal favorite brand of chap stick, and the only kind that I allow to grace my face.  Aquafina.  Not only is it the best, it is also way super cheap.  You can buy a 4 pack at Walmart for $2.60.  And we all know that you need multiple sticks to stash in various places.  Such as your purse, your makeup bag, your car, your church bag.

While at Walmart, April wanted to see if Amber could fit into the shopping cart.  I was a little nervous because usually whenever people listen to April they end up with a broken fibula. (click here to read all about it)  Thankfully no one was injured this night.

I did take a couple of videos of them as they went through the check out line.  The girl checking them out didn't say a word or even crack a smile.

It was late and we were all tuckered out after our shopping adventure.  So after we left Walmart we all went home and promptly went to bed.  I woke up the next morning to find my van vandalized.  It was a Sunday and when we went to church we saw that not only was my car vandalized, several other cars in the neighborhood were as well.  People have no respect for other peoples property these days...

My Meatloaf Saga

So I felt so great last night when my kids were so excited about the fabulous dinner I made.  We had my world famous meatloaf and my even more famous garlic mashed potatoes.  The kids started freaking out a few hours before dinner when I began my preparations and they realized what it was.  The whole time it was baking they were salivating.  And then when I took it out of the oven they, along with their father, descended upon that meal like vultures.  They kept going on and on and on in muffled tones, what with all the food crammed in their mouth and all, about how delicious and fabulous and wonderful it was.  I hadn't seen them that excited over food in a long time.  It was a good feeling to know that I had slaved over a meal and made it out of love straight from my heart and it was so gratefully and graciously received.

Contrast that with tonight's meal experience.  The other day we were at my mom's house and she had some frozen dinners that the girls were all excited to eat.  I never buy frozen dinners.  Ever.  It was a new experience for them.  Yesterday I was at the grocery store and they had some frozen dinners on sale for way super cheap so I bought a few for the kids to eat on nights when Steve and I aren't home.  They begged me from the moment they got home from school to let them eat them.  I said no.  Those were for dinner when I wasn't home to make it.  Well I had to take Zac and Em to run a few errands this afternoon that ended up taking way longer than I expected.  Steve won't be home from work until late tonight.  And by the time I got home I didn't feel like making dinner and I didn't feel like eating anything we had anyway.  

So when I announced to the children that they could each choose a frozen dinner to eat, I pretty much got the same excited reaction that I got last night with my meatloaf and mashed potatoes that I spent 2 hours lovingly making.  

Yep.....Makes a  mom who makes dinner every night feel extra super good.

Flashback/Flashforward Friday: Saying Goodbye To A Big Old Friend

Flashback: October 1996

 

 Flashforward: October 2012 

I could not believe my eyes when I opened Facebook today and found pictures like the one above posted by all by Dallas friends.  What???  Not Big Tex!  This big guy and I go back a long ways.  Some of my fondest childhood memories include him.  I remember as a little girl going to the State Fair of Texas and Big Tex was always the first thing I wanted to see.  We would sit by him and wait for him to greet us, "Howdy Folks!  Welcome to the State Fair of Texas!", in his deep cowboy voice.  He is the largest icon for the largest state fair in the whole world!  He was celebrating his 60th Birthday this year.  Not only was he a part of my childhood, he was also a part of my parents childhood when they were growing up going to the state fair.  All day long I read posts on facebook of people mourning his loss.  A friend of mine went to pay his last respects and he posted this picture on facebook.  Someone left a cowboy hat corny dog (we call them corny dogs in TX) bouquet in memory of the big guy.

 

How appropriate.  Look at this picture I found when I was searching corny dogs.

Oh Big Tex, even though the last time I saw you was when I was in Texas during the state fair back in 1996, when I was wearing those way awesome shorts pictured above, I will still miss you and know that the fair will not be the same without you.

Never A Dull Moment - Chickens, Batman, Michael Jackson and Skunks

We had all kinds of exciting things happen here on Monday.  First, it started with the chicken in the house.  I had just taken Addy to school so I was home all alone in the middle of the day.  I was in the bathroom and when I was finished I walked out of my bedroom and SURPRISE!  There was a chicken in the hall right outside my bedroom door.  It totally freaked me out because I had both of the sliding glass doors that open onto my patio open.  My first thought was that I now knew what we were going to have for dinner - CHICKEN!  My second thought was that this chicken did not open the screen door by herself.   My third thought was WHO IN THE HECK DID???  I was certain that there was an intruder in my house.  Then I saw that the living room screen door was not shut all the way and I remembered that right before I went into the bathroom, I had gone out of that door to chase that same dang chicken off of the patio.  I left the screen open thinking I would turn right around and go back in.  But instead I went in through the kitchen door.  So once I established that it was only me and the chicken in the house, I went to work chasing her around the living room until I caught her and put her back out in the chicken yard.  Then she immediately went back to the patio and pooped on it.  Dang chicken!

That afternoon I picked Zac and Em up from school and then we picked up the other kids from the elementary.  Zac had just made this Batman weapon thrower thingy (I can't remember what he called it) in shop.  So he sat in the van and every time one of the elementary kids walked by he would hold it up and yell "BATMAN!"  like a crazy person.

What made it worse was that his arm looks diseased.  On Saturday he was helping Steve stain fence posts and he spilled stain all down his arm.  It actually looks better in this picture than it did the first two days.  His entire hand and arm were solid black when he went to church on Sunday.  He probably scared all the little kids to death with his diseased arm yelling "BATMAN!" at them.  I told him he should tell people that he has the same rare skin disease Michael Jackson had only it is having the reverse effect on him.

Then that night, as I was coming down the stairs, I happened to glance out the window just in time to see  a white stripe walk into our chicken yard.  It was dark so I could hardly see, but I was pretty sure that it was a skunk I was seeing.  I ran and got Steve and he armed himself.  We went out and walked all around the chicken yard, in the dark, looking for a skunk.  Is that brave or what???  But alas the skunk was nowhere to be seen.  A lot of the chickens were sleeping outside the coop and we thought it was because one was sitting right inside the door blocking the way for the rest of them.  (It was probably that one dumb chicken that was in my house earlier that I am constantly running off my patio)  So we pushed that chicken in the coop and started sticking the rest of them in there.  The were not liking it one bit.  So I decided to open the top of the coop and see what was going on inside there.  This is what I found:

So to make a long story short,  a whole brouhaha ensued.  Zac and Em were roused from their beds.  The four of us were trying to evacuate chickens from the coop.  Which surprisingly they were unwilling to evacuate, for as much as they didn't like being shoved in there in the first place.  Every time we would get them out, they would go back in.  We were scared we were going to be sprayed.  Anyhoo, the skunk is gone for good.  I had to take a shower and wash all my clothes when I got back in the house.  The house smelled like skunk all day long yesterday and the yard and coop still smell like skunk today!

I love my life!