Spring

Let the planting begin!

Lunch date

We went to Pizza Hut for lunch today, Alicia and I. The sun was really shining bright as you can see in this first picture. So, we wondered...what can we use to block that light so I can get a good picture? Because you know I like a good picture.Maybe her hands? Possibly my purse?
Or our drinks?
Personally, I think that the hands provided the best sun block. Although, the purse brought out the blue in her eyes. And the tea kinda gave her a tan look (well, maybe not).

Yes, we were just having fun. It's always fun with the two of us.

Soccer is over

This was Shelbie's team. Tim was the coach. It included 5th/6th grade girls. I thought it was great that Shelbie could get to know some of the 6th graders that she will go to middle school with next year. The girls had a great season. Don't ask me the stats on that because I don't know. I had to miss watching the first 5 games they had because of my night class but it made watching the last few games that much more special to me. Shelbie played defender mostly again because that's the position she loves.

It was also Landon's last game last night too. He had a lot of fun. This last game was awesome. The ending score was 4-5 (they won). It was such a great game to watch...lots of action out there. Landon made a goal too! He took a shot for a handball on the other team. He made it high and it went right in. What a great way to end the season.

Alicia

I was told by Alicia to look at her blog because she had wrote me a poem "Ode to my missing friend, Danelle". Oh my gosh! When I read it I cracked up. I was feeling a little blue today and what an uplifting, fun thing to read from a best friend. We haven't had much time together lately and it's made me sad. But, our friendship continues on strong. We will spend some time together today getting some flowers for my flowerpot. Thank goodness because I miss her too!

What a nice poem she wrote for me. It's funny and quirky and it's Alicia. She's awesome. I could not live without her in my life. Thanks Alicia!

Gary

This is our friend, Gary. He's a great guy. He deserves a lot because he gives a lot. He is probably one of the nicest guys I've ever met. You never hear bad things come out of his mouth. He is a Christian. A good Christian man. You can just see it and feel it when you are around him. I don't think he realizes how much I admire him for that.

Anyway, a cool thing happened to him lately that he deserves. He is an architect at a firm that he has dedicated a lot of years to. He was made "Associate" a while back. Now, you may ask what that means. I can't answer you really. But, I do know that it's a big deal and that he deserves any kind of promotion that is thrown his way. Way to go Gary!! You rock in my book. Oh!! I can't forget Abbie (his daughter) in the picture. She's a sweetheart. I will tell you more about her in a later post. Stay posted!

Bear

This is Barry (aka Bear). He is the Praise Team Leader. Let me tell you something about him....he loves his music. He not only sings but he also plays the guitar and drums (not all at once!). I snapped this picture after church a couple of weeks ago. I think he was showing the kids some guitar tricks or something along those lines. All I know is that I'm happy I just happened to have my camera in my purse that day. The kids were intrigued. It was kind of like Jesus when he sat down and the children flocked to him and sat at his feet. That's what I thought of when the kids did this to Bear. Cool.

Jump Jump!!

I know these are fuzzy (yet again). I hate that..fuzzy pictures. But, the sun was going down and the kids were moving fast. It's the best I could get. It was a great night to jump on the trampoline. After a hurried dinner of tuna casserole (one of Shelbie's fav's) the kids rushed out to jump. Landon is getting pretty good at the flip and I absolutely love that pic of Shelbie. If it were clear I would frame it.

**Note to other mom's: She really does get haircuts but she is growing her hair out. (I didn't want you to think she needed a haircut really bad)

Sunday tidbits

The kids had a tea party today. It consisted of granola bar crumbled up, macaroni and cheese, Doritos crumbled up and tea of course. Hot tea with sugar and milk. Shelbie pulled out her tea set she got from Mark and Michelle several years ago. It was a set to paint yourself. It's really cute.
Landon is still really into his Legos. He keeps saying that he wants more legos for his birthday. We are reminded of this every day. He has two big drawers full of legos but apparently that is not enough. He wants more Star Wars legos of course. This ship thingy he made today was from a variety of legos that he has. I think he did a good job building it.
After I worked today I was so sleepy. I came home and laid down on the bed and crashed. I slept for maybe an hour. When I woke up I felt like something was laying on me. I realized the cat crawled up and found a warm spot to sleep himself. I guess my butt is cozy.

Lunch date

Look who I had lunch with yesterday! Yup, it's Julie! She's being a goober here in this picture. Nothing new for us girls...we're just gooberish. Check out those salads we had. Mmmm.... Can you believe I took a picture of them? I wonder what the restaurant workers thought when I pulled out my camera. Maybe they thought I was a famous food critic. (is that how you spell critic? it doesn't seem right). Anyway...maybe they thought I was a famous food critic with my goober associate.

Julie got new glasses. I love them. You can't get the real look-see on them because she has them all cockeyed here. But, they are cute. I want them for myself. And look at her eyes, they are gorgeous. Big and brown with long lashes. Lucky girl.

We had a great lunch catch up and laughing. She's such a great friend.

Happy

I know this picture is fuzzy but just look....

Look at the happiness.

Feel the love from Grandma to grandson.

I feel it when I see this picture.

Funny

Ok, I know this video is a bit of an inside joke. Michelle & Nancy will know what is so funny. But, the reason I wanted to post this clip is because I want everyone to enjoy the laughter of Michelle. She is a barrel of laughs. And, if she happened to be stuck deep down in a barrel we would all still hear her laughing. Her laugh is contagious. It is wonderful noise to my ears. Love you Michelle! I love your laugh too!

Tulips!

I am a little bummed that my tulips are not going to bloom this year. The hail hit them hard a while back and they look terrible. The leaves are all broken and yucky. That's depressing and downright wrong!

So, I took this picture of Roy and Wanda's tulips. I enjoy so much seeing all of them around town adding color to the greenery. It's my favorite time of the year.

It's not the same not seeing them around my mailbox though. That's sad.

Birthday fun

We asked the 4 kids to get together for a picture. This is what you get. Emi and Shelbie lovin' on each other. Landon trying to get in on it. And Valleri standing off as a teenager would, just wanting the picture to be over with!

Grandma made the ice cream cake.
Click the link if you wanna read about the turmoil she went through to get it done! It was a yummy cake. I don't usually like chocolate cake but this one was good with that ice cream in the middle. Mmmm...

Michelle was showing me her sunburn from sitting at the track meet. Ouch! She looks like a lobster. A pouty lobster. Look at her sticking her pouty lip out. Is that how you spell pouty? I think so. ?????????????

It was a beautiful day to be celebrating Emi's birthday. The kids and dad's staying out on the porch. That's nice because that keeps the mess out there. Because we all know that the messy ones are the dads and the kids! HA!

A day off of school

Look what we did on Monday, when we didn't have any school! I wanted to take pictures but DIDN'T HAVE MY CAMERA!! Actually, I had my camera but when I went to take pictures the batteries had been taken out. I won't say who took them out but it was one of my lil punks. So, all day I kept saying "that would be a great picture, if only I had a camera!" or "I'd take a picture of that if I had my camera!". I just had to give my punk a hard time. Alicia said I was holding a grudge. Who, me? Hold a grudge? Nah.

It was a gorgeous day outside and the kids loved this time outside. It was a great time to get muddy and wet. This was totally Landon's element. He loves to be outdoors looking for frogs and getting dirty. After we got home the kids stripped off their icky clothes and took their showers. After Landon got out he came to me and gave me a kiss and hug and said "thanks mom for letting us get dirty, you're the best mom". Awwww. Now, I wonder, who wouldn't let their kids get dirty and just have fun? I say "Go for it!".

Alicia got a ton of great pictures and I will get a disk of the pictures and probably eventually post some on here. Thank goodness she had her camera with her!!! Not only did the kids have a great time but I also enjoyed this time with Alicia. She's a great friend. We were able to sit and talk and watch the kids. It was a time I didn't want to end.

Weekend

We spent part of the weekend at my sister's and my mom's. We set up for a garage sale in mom's shed. There was a ton of stuff to go through. I hope they get rid of it all.

Part of our entertainment when we visit is Pam's dog, Jenny. She's a Jack Russell terrier and she acts like she's human. It's quite entertaining. She is Pam's baby that's for sure. Spoiled rotten!
Look at that fried chicken mom's cooking. Mmmmm....nothing is better than mom's fried chicken. Well, her roast is pretty good too. And her apple pie. Oh, and her banana pie. And her fruit pizza. And I don't want to forget her turkey dressing. Ok ok, I guess there are a lot of things that rate pretty high when it comes to her cooking. But, that chicken was awesome.

Oh, and that picture of Shelbie is taken with Hayley, my niece. She's grown up so much since I'd seen her last. She's absolutely beautiful not just physically but her heart is beautiful too. She is such a sweetie pie.

Look who's 12!

E - Energetic. Yes, she is energetic! She is a dancer and is now in track. What fun energy!

M - My niece. It's true. She is my niece. My favorite 12 year old niece too.

I - Intelligent. Even though her mom says she is known more for her beauty than her brains I still know she's intelligent!

L - Lovely. This girl has a heart of gold. She is loving and genuinely cares about otters. Oops, I mean others not otters.

Y - Young. Since it's her last name then I guess she's still "Young" even though she's 12 now!

Happy Birthday Emily! You are a sweet girl. I just wanna put you in my pocket!

Laura

This is my friend, Laura. She's a hoot. Anytime I need a good hearty laugh I can call on her. Seriously folks, she is funny. I had a great time with her the other day. This following story is pasted here from her blog. So, this is her telling the story......

Laura said:

okay, for those of you who've ever seen the movie 'stand by me' you can somewhat relate.
with mother's day around the corner, i asked my friend to take some pics of me that i could frame as a gift. amoung the wooded areas of our town, scattered with trash and the occasional empty jar of vaseline (gross), we found a couple of scenic spots. then one of us had the brilliant idea that i should climb up to the nearby railroad bridge, because that would make a wonderful picture and this particular railroad bridge was never used any more, so what could it hurt?
so, i climbed up the gravel incline and slowly made my way to where i could sit with my legs dangling over the edge; when i heard a train whistle blow. now, realistically i knew in my mind that the train was not coming within miles of us...however, all i could picture was wil wheaton and jerry o'connell running from the train.
as i slid back down to my friend, who was laughing hystarically, we both joked about how funny the story was. then, wouldn't you know it, a train made it's way across the rickety old railroad bridge.

Oh man, that made me laugh so hard. I had such a good time with Laura that day. I didn't even get a picture of her with her legs dangling down because she didn't want to get her jeans grimy from oil and dirt. I don't blame her. But, I made her take a bunch of other pictures that day. She leaves for China in just a matter of days. Yes, she's going to China for a year. Far far away. She's leaving me here in Kansas. She's been all over the place, lucky girl. I will miss her when she's gone. I know we'll keep in touch through email and myspace but still will miss her presence and her humor. She's a great friend that I'm so happy to have!

Can I brag?

Ok, give me just a minute to brag. A mom brag. I'm so proud of my kids. They recently took their state assessments. The results made me proud!

Landon: Math - 94% Reading - 90%

WOW! This is exemplary scoring. I knew he was smart but did not know if he'd be able to stay focused during testing time. Apparently, he did not have any problems.

Shelbie - Reading & Math - 98% on both

WOW! Her scores were the highest out of both 5th grade classes. Now, that's something to brag about!

Good job guys. You made me proud and you also led me to brag. See what you do to me?

School project

One of the 5th grade projects is to make a solar system. It had to be made to size and done in a creative way. It was Shelbie's project so she came up with the ideas on how to make it. She decided she wanted to for sure use clay for most of the planets. In this first picture she is painting Saturn. She made Uranus and said "Hey Mom, I made this one brown because Uranus is brown." Get it? Hardy har har. Sick sick child. The Uranus joke was popular with Landon too. Of course.

Here she is at her school conference tonight. You can see her planet project on the shelf above. I wanted to get a closer picture but this is all I have to share with you right now.

Sunset

I told you that I pulled off the highway the other night to watch the sunset. Well, I snapped a photo. It's not the greatest picture but it was awesome to see in person. I was admiring the Kansas sunset and realizing just how fast the sun goes down once it hits the horizon.

Blue Man Group

Shelbie and Tim had a daddy/daughter night. They went to see the Blue Man Group. During the show they announced that you could text a message to try to win backstage passes. Tim did this and by golly he won! They both said the best part of the show was going backstage and getting autographs and seeing these mysterious blue men in person. Sounds like they had a great time together that night. I'm not really sure what she is doing in this picture. They were waiting for the concert to begin.

Putt Putt

It was a daughter/son night out. I first called it a "date" and Landon quickly corrected me. He said we were not on a date!! How embarrasing. Sorry Bud. I didn't mean a date...I said don't be late. Uh...ya...sure...that's what I said. Uh huh.

We went to All Star Sports (his choice). First, we played miniature golf. I won by 2. It was a close round. Every time we approached a water hole he used his club to get out any loose balls that other people hit in there. In the end he had a handful of balls to turn in.

After this we went to the arcade. We had a great time together. Once we got back into town we went to McDonalds for an apple pie. Mmmm.....

Today

Some things I liked about today:
1. Church
a) worship music.
b) youth confirmation
2. Peace and quiet while cleaning someone else's house
3. Getting paid
4. Minature golf and arcade fun with Landon (more on this in later post)
5. Singing in the car with Landon
6. Stopping on the side of the interstate to watch the sunset


Some things I didn't like about today:
1. Shelbie biting my head off for no reason after church.
2. Hearing from Shelbie that Landon was not good during Sunday School.
3. Kids fighting in the car.
4. Having to clean someone's house (work on Sunday..not fun)
5. Finding out my iPod battery was dead when I needed it
6. Missing Oprah's Big Give show

Reading

I've been busy working this week so I have not have much time to even think about blogging. But, I did want to fil you in on a book I've been reading. It's called Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs. He's the author of Running with Scissors. That was a great book. Anyway, I'm totally into this book but I will do a new post sometime soon....after I finish reading this book of course. If you have not read anything by this author I would recommend it. He also wrote Magical Thinking and Dry. All of which I have read and enjoyed.

Now, I am off to bed because the early bird catches the worm. She also gets the kids out of bed, gets them breakfast, makes sure they are dressed decently, gets them to brush their hair and teeth, and takes them to school. Then early bird takes the kids to school. On time.

Poor eggs

Oh no! Tim saw two of the eggs broken this morning and laying in the flower bed. Something got to them. That is so sad. I think there is one egg left. Who knows if the momma will abandon it.

Ducks

We have ducks in our yard. On a regular basis ducks just roam around our yard. Slowly and aimlessly. They walk in the middle of the road. We have to stop and let them get out of the way. Slowly. Did I mention how slow they are? Landon found some duck eggs by our bushes out front. They were hidden by leaves. Now, when we leave in the mornings we see the momma duck sitting on her eggs. This weekend there were 2 eggs and as of this morning there were 3. How exciting it is to know that her babies will hatch someday. I have no idea how long from now that will be. Maybe I will research on that. Anyway, here are some pictures of the eggs. Oh...and no, we have not touched the eggs or bothered them. We don't want the momma to disown them or chase us!

New Job

Did I tell you I got hired today for a new job? I will be working as a shahbaz. If you have any interest in finding out about this take a look at this article I was reading. I'm excited. My class is almost done, next Monday is my final. Then, the state test is next month.

Just thought I'd fill ya in on my happenings as of lately. ta ta for now.....

Monks

Ok, it's a fuzzy picture but you get the idea right.??? We're monks. Singing monks. This was a skit we did at church on Sunday. It was Holy Humor Sunday. This was a first for our church, to participate in Holy Humor. We had skits, puppet shows, joyful music even with the choir using kazoos. I think each year this will be expanded.

Anyway...back to the monks. I know you're dying to know about them. We'll, this was a skit. A funny one. I could try to explain it, or show the short clip I have of it. But, it's not the full clip and you'd be confused by just a bit of it. And, I'm too lazy to explain the whole thing. So.....just know it was fun to dress up like a monk and to pretend to sing a "monk-ish" song. Not a monkey song...a "monk-ish" song. Ya, "monk-ish". There ya go..you got it.

These are days of laughter and joy!! A joyful time to remember Jesus' resurrection.

Waiting for Normal

A while back we took the kids to Barnes & Noble and let them pick out a book. Shelbie picked Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor. She flew through this book in no time flat and claims that it's the best book she's ever, ever read.

She kept telling me I should read it too. So, last night I did just that, I sat down to start reading it. Tonight I finished it and I would agree with her that it's a great book. The main character, Addie, is Shelbie's age. She is neglected and yet remains optimistic. This book will make you feel thankful for what you have, it truly humbles you.

It made me think about "normal". What is normal? The book said "Normal.....is when you know what is going to happen next. Not exactly what, because probably nobody gets that. But Normal is being about to count on things. Good things." If this is normal then I'm glad that I have that. I'm glad my kids have that. Poor Addie did not have that.

I would recommend this book to anyone, child or adult. The book is recommended for ages 10 and up. We have the book if anyone wants to borrow it!