it's really true

You may or may not have heard that my friend Ashlee is turning 30 next month. Today was the beginning of her 30 Rock Tour. (Links to follow. I'm blogging from my phone at the little gym.) It's just as much fun to see her blog about her gifts as it was for me to open my own last year!

Hopefully this marks a return to my poor neglected blog. It's been a little crazy at my life lately. More so than usual, believe it or not. At the very least I'm sure I have some amusing photos to share.

And now I have to attend to a crayon disagreement. Never fear, I will prevail.

autumn? nope. crazy season.

I'm not sure this past weekend will fit into one blog post, but I'm going to give it a whirl!

Friday night, thanks to my mom being here to oversee what's here of the collective, Joe and I went to the Switchfoot concert. Despite the fact that they are my favorite band ever, this was only the second Switchfoot concert I'd ever been to. And it was fabulous! It was just Switchfoot, no openers. They played the new album ("Hello Hurricane") in its entirety then they played some older stuff. The concert was at Warehouse Live, which is a pretty good venue. I'm not sure I'd willingly attend a standing room only concert for just any band, but with this concert it actually worked. And here's a picture of Jon Foreman when he came out into the crowd and stood with the guy directly in front of us to sing a chorus of one song.


Saturday was Jared's birthday party. He had requested a Thomas (the Tank Engine) cake for his birthday party. And this is why it is useful to marry an engineer (among other reasons):


I also had train engine shapes for the kids to color and then I would assemble them with shoulder straps so they could be trains on the train tracks. Well, that didn't pan out. Instead, after Jared opened his presents, which were literally *all* trucks, with a few clothes thrown in for good measure, he took to driving his trucks around on the tracks. So it all worked out.


Sunday was Ashlee's 5th anniversary at our church. She got a golf cart for a gift. That didn't really have anything to do with us, nor did it add to the craziness of my weekend. I just thought I'd share.


Today, I implemented plan A of the "get Jadyn to stop chewing on her fingernails" attempt. This consisted of painting her fingernails (and her toenails, just for kicks). She chose red glitter polish - one of my personal favorites for the Christmas season. So I painted my toenails too. Her toes look cute, and so do mine! Hooray for having daughters!

I talked to Alaina today...she's doing well. I am really looking forward to seeing her pictures!

This is the conversation I had with Jared this evening. He decided that one of his little cars - a school bus - also had ice cream in it. So he offered me some.

Jared: "Here's your ice cream!"
me: "Thanks!"
pause
Jared: "Give me a money!"

A little later, he offered me some more ice cream.
me: "I don't have any money."
Jared: "Get some!"

hooray technology!

Check this out! Clearly she's tired, but my dad told me today that she's doing really well and having a lot of fun.


She told me that she hadn't written in her journal yet, but that she was going to do that tonight before she went to bed. She also has a black and white (her favorite colors) punjabi, and she has chosen punjabi material for Jadyn that will "look like a pretty princess dress."

So far, so good. /whew!

Thanks to my cousin Dev for posting pictures on Facebook! Isn't technology amazing? :)

boys are special, reason #111 and #112

So I'm driving home from the Galleria area at 6:00pm tonight. (Enough said, right? It gets better.) I was picking up my sister's and daughter's passports which had been freshly approved and stamped with visas to India. I had Jared and A.J. with me. (Told you it was better.)

Determined to suck it up and deal the best I could, we made it out of the visa office without a trip outside/to the bathroom/wherever for some, um, more stringent discipline. Anyway, we're in the car, sitting in traffic, and Jared is alternating between entertaining me and telling me which way I should be driving. At one point, he starts singing "Twinkle Twinkle," and asks me to sing along. So I do. Then he asks me to sing the Doxology (we've started singing that at bedtime also...long story), so we sang that together too. As soon as we finish, he says, "Okay, time to go to bed now! Going to sleep in the car!" He then closed his eyes and leaned against his headrest, feigning sleep.

Of course I had to play along. "Jared, are you sleeping?"

Without blinking, "Yes!"

A few seconds later, in his delightful yelling voice, "Wake up time!"

After about 30 minutes and 10 miles, I asked him about one of his classmates at Mother's Day Out. I had been tipped off about this particular classmate from my informant.

"Jared, was Aubrey in your class today?"

"No."

Knowing otherwise, I persisted. "Jared, was Aubrey in class today?"

Unintelligible mutterings, then, "Yeah."

Different tactic. "Jared, is Aubrey your friend?"

Without hesitation, "Aubrey's a girl."

Clearly, being a girl disqualifies one from friendship status in Jared's world.

Ask for pink state of Texas cookies...



get pink state of Texas cookies!

I would give you one, but they're for Azina's going-away party. She's moving to my house next weekend!

the dawn of understanding

You may have heard the tales of Jared's naptime and bedtime exploits.

So I have taken to locking the door to the bathroom and putting up the gate in his doorway so that he cannot get out or relocate the bathroom accessories to his bedroom.

This afternoon, I did as usual, first locking the door to the bathroom.

"Mommy, you lock the door?"

"Yep. So you can't get in and make a mess."

I put up the gate in his doorway.

"Mommy, now I'm stuck in here!"

"Yep."

Hysterics ensue.

old fashioned sing-along

(to the tune of "Frere Jacques," emphatically and at the top of your lungs)

R-E-D red
R-E-D red
That spells red
That spells red
Fire trucks are red
Stop signs are red too
R-E-D
That spells red

(take a breath, then continue, same tune)

I am special
I am special
Look at me
You will see
Someone very special
Someone very special
It is me
It is me

Go ahead, try to get that out of your head now.

Uh-huh. That's what I thought.

You're welcome.

firsts, part ii

And the winner of the first package? A tie! Jadyn's shoes and my anniversary present arrived at the same time on Tuesday. The curriculum arrived the next day.

I love this plate! And it was engraved by the artist.

But never fear! There are more exciting firsts to report!

Last night I made the first new recipe I've tried in my new kitchen - my mom's beef and noodles (homemade noodles!), except I made it with venison. The noodles were fabulous, and I'm told the venison was good, too.

(Curious what the last new recipe I tried in the old house was? Molten chocolate lava cakes. Definitely a high note to go out on!)

The most recent first? Today, right before naptime, was the first time the girls locked everyone out of the rooms. Their bedroom and the boys' bedroom connects via a bathroom, and they locked all the doors and pulled them shut behind them. Awesome. Consequently, I took apart a doorknob for the first time for a reason besides painting! Time to take those Lois Lane lock-picking classes...

firsts

Two weeks ago, we moved into our new house. It has, logically, led to a series of firsts that we have experienced recently. It's the kind of thing that OCD nerds like me keep track of.

This house has a gas stove, which is new to me. The first thing I cooked on it was omelets, successfully, I might add.

The first dinner we had for our Friday night Bible study was tortilla soup and sopapilla cheesecake, which makes sopapilla cheesecake the first thing I baked in my shiny new oven.

Last night, to celebrate Lisa's triumph over her last exam for her master's degree, we had the chocolate fountain for the first time in the new house.

I'm waiting to see what the first package to arrive at my house will be - Jadyn's new Crocs (her feet finally grew!), our new homeschool curriculum (which I am very excited about!), or our anniversary present (which I am also very excited about!).

As for the boxes...well, there are at least a few rooms where there are no boxes. That's all I can say...

how to tell if your kid is a nerd, tip #12

If your six-year-old has ever thrown a tantrum that sounded anything like this, "I wanna write a nonfiction book!" then your kid is a nerd.

movin' to the country/gonna eat a lot of...cookies

Ever wondered what 116 decorated sugar cookies look like?

Wonder no more!


And some close-up shots.


Do you want some cookies? All you have to do is volunteer on a Creekside Christian Fellowship children's ministry team!

In other news, go to my mom's blog and help her name her business! She's giving out a prize, which you get to pick too!

spew

The children and I went to Target yesterday afternoon. Now, in order to make this a bearable experience for everyone involved, I often employ an incentive (read: bribe) in the form of an icee as a reward for good behavior.

They kept their end of the bargain, so I kept mine. I paid for the icees and distributed the cups, and then we moved down the counter to icee dispensers. As we were paying, some kids came in and stood by the icee machines as they waited for their parents/guardians/responsible parties to buy their own icee cups.

It would have been one thing had these children merely been standing there waiting for their icee cups. No big deal. Not terrific manners, but not a big deal. However, these children - I think there were 3 or 4 of them between the ages of about 4 and 10 - apparently just couldn't wait another minute for the icee goodness and were using their fingers to swipe the drips off the end of the icee nozzles. Gross.

But even this wasn't good enough for them. They then proceeded to stick their nasty little fingers INSIDE the icee nozzles.

It was on the tip of my tongue to say something. I had no idea at that point if their responsible parties were around (I later figured out that they were behind me in line), but that wouldn't have stopped me. I was honestly too shocked and appalled at their behavior to actually form the words to tell them to stop.

So let this serve as fair warning. If I ever see anything like that again, rest assured that I won't suffer the same vocal paralysis. I will be making my objections known because seriously, that's just disgusting.

I turned on Pandora on my laptop.

Jadyn: Can we hear a fourth of July song?

Me: (a little bewildered) Like what?

Alaina: Like this. "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the fourth of July..."

guess what time it is?

Game time!

We're going to play a little game called "put a caption to this picture." I'll post pictures from our trip to Omaha, and you can think of an amusing caption for each one. It'll be great!











Aren't they cute?!?

where were you while we were getting high?

No time to blog...too much painting. And if I'm not painting, there are about a million other things I should be doing. What was I thinking?!?

My house smells like paint.

Don't believe any allegations that I have committed appliancecide. They are untrue. (But I will post a picture when my new dryer gets here!)

yesterday

We had church in our brand new building yesterday. I've never been part of a church that has built a new building. The church I grew up in bought their building, but I don't remember the first Sunday in that building. I'm sure it was great, but those kinds of things just don't impact children like they do adults.

The funny part is that our building isn't done. Apparently it's about 70% done. But there's something kinda cool about having church there, while it's still being finished. I guess it feels more like being part of the process.

Yesterday morning, I was sitting on the edge of Jadyn's bed to do Alaina's hair.

Me: Alaina, could you sit on the floor please?

Alaina: Yeah, I'm too big.

Me: You are tall.

Alaina: I get that a lot.


And now for the completely nerdy part of yesterday. Don't judge me because I'm very excited about this. My very first fanfic was uploaded to the Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive yesterday! I've only written two, and this is actually the second one I wrote, it just got uploaded before the first one. I just had to share because it's a big deal to me! Okay, I'm done now. :)

out of the box

Some of you may not believe it, but sometimes I just have to let the nerdiness out.

See, I hear the disbelieving sounds you're making. You can't believe that it's ever hidden away. Well, it is.

Joe and I went to see Star Trek on Sunday afternoon. It was fabulous! I really, really loved it.

If I can get away with it, I'm going to try and escape and go see it again. (Anyone out there up for a late night nerdfest with me?)

Here's a fun quiz to test your nerdiness. I missed one.

Have you seen Star Trek yet? If not, why not? If you have, what did you think?

Happy May Day!

I couldn't find a picture of a basket with popcorn and jelly beans, but that's what you'd be getting if you were anywhere in my vicinity on May Day.

But Happy May Day anyway!

Yes, I know it's probably some made-over pagan festival. Yes, I know that basically no one outside of the midwest has any idea what May Day is or has even heard of it.

But I have these great memories of one of my best friends and her sibs (who lived two houses from us if you went through the backyards but three if you went through the front yards) leaving styrofoam cups filled with jelly beans and popcorn on our doorstep, ringing the doorbell, and running away. Then we'd reciprocate. We always found each other, but we never made anybody kiss anybody else because "ew."

So Happy May Day to you, and if you should come to my house, I'm still not gonna kiss you. Jared probably would, though.

hmmm...

I'm not sure how this fits into the conspiracy, but I went to HEB tonight for lunchables for our play date at the water park tomorrow. And when I checked out, the dude asked me if I wanted some reusable bags...for free. So I said, "Sure." And now I have 3 reusable grocery bags. Which is cool, I'm all for reusing stuff, but I wasn't about to actually buy the bags myself.

I'll let you know when I work this into the conspiracy theory.

walks like a duck

I'm beginning to suspect an Earth Day conspiracy.

I haven't quite worked out the specifics, but something is going on.

Last night, sometime after midnight, the power blinked. Not unusual by itself, but the first in a series of troubles.

All morning, the cable has been erratic, as has the internet.

Then my brother called me, on my cell phone, and the connection was terrible - kept breaking up - which is unusual.

I think the environmentalist wackos found me.

They're welcome to come find me. They'll be getting my carbon footprint on the rear.

Disclaimer: I'm all about environmental stewardship. But there is nothing on this planet more important than people. Oh, and once/if the environmentalist wacko "scientists" start applying the scientific method in their experiments, magically most of our "problems" will disappear. Have you heard the ice is actually getting thicker in Antarctica? Global warming my big fat toe.