Don't Soak the Shredded Wheat

Last week, after The Lift (our youth service), John and I had fun rehashing the night's successes and failures. Overall, things have been going great on Wednesday nights - good turnouts, great p&w, funny series called "Nacho Sueno" featuring some nacho libres in a wrestling ring, and great preaching. But we have yet to master the game. About a month ago I gave John a list of funny games and instructions so he didn't have to come up with them for awhile. Well, after several weeks of somewhat botched games, I will be doing the game tonight. As soon as I saw the 2 girls hurling handfuls of soggy shredded wheat across the youth room I knew I would be volunteering to take over the games.

We also decided we should write a book on how not to do games titled, "Don't Soak the Shredded Wheat". Or "Burning Hot Oatmeal: It's Just Not Cool". Or "Apples, & Onions, & Spam, Oh My!" Take your pick.....

I'll let you know how the game goes. =)

Some Birthday Pictures

I forgot to post these along with the videos from my birthday dinner at Bonzai Garden...

My Baby Doll

Aulora was in a great picture taking mood today so I took picture after picture. It would have been a goldmine of pictures if not for the waterhose or window in so many or them! =) She was quite happy to be outside in the breeze.

I'm sure her first little toothy will be making an appearance just any time now. Everyday I open her little mouth and look and feel around thinking it will be there. I'm sure she'll surprise me with a great big chomp when it comes in. That's usually how I find these things out!

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

I would soooo love to have a house covered in vines so that whenever I wanted to take pretty pictures I would have a nice background! I've been obsessed with vines for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I always wanted vines painted or growing on things. Once as a teenager I brought in long beautiful vines from outside and put them all around the door frame of my closet. Even after they were brown and dried out I didn't want to take them down. I loved them! =)

Anyway, back to the subject. Can you see the adoration in Julia's eyes for her big brother? They may bother each other sometimes but they love one another alot!!!

Treats From The Ice Cream Truck

As we were getting out of the car today after school, John David spotted the ice cream truck down the street. He dropped his backpack on the spot and ran in the house, hollering all the way. He was soooo excited and in just a moment he was back with his Superman wallet to flag the truck down. He chose a Roadrunner popsicle and Julia chose a bubblegum one. They were very, very happy.

Giggles from Aulora

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This is a video taken last Friday night when John David and Julia were jumping around making Aulora laugh. The lighting is not good but you can still see and hear good enough that I went ahead and posted it. I've learned that videos work better in the daytime when the sun is streaming in the skylight. Our livingroom was very bright that night but it just doesn't work without the sunlight. =(

Out to Dinner at Bonzai Garden

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Here's some videos from my birthday when we went to Bonzai Garden which is a Hibachi grill. (That's my most favorite thing to eat!) The kids love going there but it's a rare treat since it's not too cheap. =)

Austin Pictures

We went to Austin a couple of weeks ago (as I mentioned in an earlier post). If you want to see more pictures go to my dad's blog: http://daveslifeonline.blogspot.com/ Thanks Uncle Jeremy for the pictures!

Arghhhh!

Recently, I had an eye infection that made my eye very sensitive to light. John thought he was really funny when he bought me an eye patch. John David thought he was even funnier when he put his pirate hat and beard on me. Hardee har har boys....

A Spring Tea Party

We went to Wichita Falls for part of Spring Break and while we were there we went to a tea room. Aulora also had a hat but it was difficult to keep it on. John David was not happy AT ALL that he had to have a tea party. I thought he would be ok since his Uncle Maka was going too. At least he smiled for a picture. Notice the picture of Julia drinking from her tea cup. Her pinky is up!

My Little Penguins

Here's my babies pretending to be penguins. How cute is that?

Easter Weekend

Our Easter celebration began Friday night with opening the box Granmamma and Dodie sent and then watching "Charlotte's Web". The next morning we had our Egg Hunt at church. We did it all inside since it was snowing and sleeting outside. Yes, I said snow! Crazy weather for West Texas in April. On Sunday we went to church and then over to our friends' house (the Garcias). We've spent many Christmas Eves and Easter Sundays with them since moving here 6 1/2 years ago. We ate a delicious mexican lunch and then had a cold egg hunt outside. We had lots of fun! Julia was loving all her candy and John David loved his coins. It was a wonderful weekend but it wore me out. I took John David to school this morning and, after I did a few more things, I layed back down I didn't wake up until 11:00! It was oh so very nice.

Easter Sunday

Here's our Easter picture from yesterday after church. Not the best picture but at least we got one. =)

Cheese!!!

This is what we have to work with! Everytime we try to take pictures, we are blessed by the many faces of John David. It is next to impossible to get a good picture of everyone! We usually think of something silly to say to try to keep the kids' attention (like yesterday it was "stinky Nate!") The result, however, is often a overly happy look on my own face (as evidenced by the final picture). Oh well, at least we try....

And the grand total is......

This makes me laugh out loud. It's scary that there are such ignorant people out there.....

I'll Tell You What I Want, What I Really Really Want

I love my kids but right now I'm really loving me some silence. Oh that feels good..........I wonder how long it will last?

Att: Future Me

I just had to take a few minutes to record something so that when my children are older, I will have proof of what actually happened. So if you're in a hurry and don't want to take the time to read all this, please feel free. This is for "future me" - me in 10 years or so. =)

Yesterday had been a great day - just as I had posted yesterday. But I wrote that entry moments before all the craziness began. I posted my thoughts and was about to get in the shower when I heard Julia hollering and crying. Now, all the kids were in bed already. Aulora was asleep and John David and Julia were supposed to be going to sleep within only a few minutes. So when I heard Julia, I headed to their room to find out what was going on. She was scared because John David was looking down on her from his bunk and saying she looked yummy to eat (all this with his scary monster voice). So I comforted her and told John David not to do that anymore (and explained that if he did he would have a spanking). I left their room, glad once again to have the night to myself.

It was only a couple of minutes before I heard Julia hollering yet again. I went back to find that this time John David's foot had been trying to eat her. So John David had a meeting with me in my room. I returned him to his bed and gave a stern warning to both of them that it was time to go to sleep. NO MORE PLAYING!

Now, at this point, a person would like to think this story is over. I would like to think it's over! But no, it is not.

A few moments passed and I heard them both hollering and crying now. And because of their loudness, Aulora was now awake too. I walked in their room, and in a loud voice said, "That's enough! This is ridiculous! GO TO SLEEP! NOW!" John David started bawling and buried his head under his pillow. "Stop scaring me!" he was saying. I told him that I wan't being scary, I just wanted them to go to sleep. He continued to carry on and on saying that I was being loud and scaring them and that wasn't nice. He wouldn't look at me and insisted on keeping his head buried. Now, because he was crying, Julia felt obligated to do her part to and so began her pathetic little "hoo hoo hoo" crying from the bottom bunk.

There really are no words to paint a picture of the scene. I just stood there in disbelief as he went on and on. Nothing I could say would make him stop. He was quite convinced that I was mean and scary and needed to apologize to him! I have no problem apologizing to my kids if I've done something wrong, but as I explained to him, I had tried being nice, I had tried giving warnings, I had tried giving spankings, but none of it worked! So I had to be loud. Finally, I just left the room, thinking he would settle down quickly and go to sleep since it was now an hour past his betime, an hour past my time. But no, he got even louder. So after a few minutes I went back to their room and mustered all the sterness minus meaness that I could and demanded that he stop and go to sleep immediately. I'm proud to say that worked.

When I relayed the story to my mom afterwards on the phone, she told me they would probably never forget that and they would probably twist it into some huge thing saying stuff like I stormed in their room when they were almost asleep and started screaming at them. She says this because Jeremy and I have stories that we tell which she insists happened quite differently. Like my brother is convinced that he was beaten with a wire coat hanger in a hotel room once. My parents say that absolutely didn't happen and I certainly don't remember it happening. Or there was the time that we played football in the rented house we lived in and spilled rootbeer all over the white carpet. We just stood there looking at it as it soaked in. Our mom turned into quite the monster (or so our childhood memories would like us to think) as she yelled, "Bring me towels!!!" So there, my children, just try to turn me into a screaming beast. I will have the last word with my carefully typed blog entry from 2007.

Is That Your Final Answer?

This makes me laugh....................

Strange Facts

When I was in jr. high or maybe high school (I can't remember exactly when) I was obsessed with strange facts for a time. I had a notebook that I used to record them in any time I came across one. Of course the internet was already around, but it wasn't something I used at all. If it had been, I would have loved this site: http://www.huddlenet.com/reallife/uselessfacts.html

I came across this site earlier today and I still haven't had time to read all the random things, but they sure are interesting. This is the pointless kind of trivia that could win you big money on a game show. =)

On a different note, today was a very pleasant day. I went grocery shopping this morning (hadn't really gone in awhile so it was quite an undertaking!), did some housework, taught piano, cooked dinner for the kids, went on a walk, and played balls in the front yard. We finished up the night with a couple of bedtime stories. Now all the babies are in bed and I'm about to go take a shower to wash off the smelly "outdoor" smell. I love springtime!!!

April Fool's Already

Unbelievable! It's April already! The best part of spring for me is that our trees bloom again and the bare branches of winter are no more. My trees are what I love most about my home and I love them so much more when they are full of life - leaves, nuts, nests, birds of all colors landing and flying around the feeder, squirrels, cats, and sometimes even lizards over a foot long! Tomorrow I'm going to plant flowers in all the pots and hanging baskets and I can't wait to see it when it's done. It will be so pretty! If I had my camera I would even take a picture but my camera is sitting in Wichita Falls where it was left by someone who will remain anonymous at this time. =)

John David played an April Fool's joke on me today. When church was almost over, one of our teens looked over and said, "You have a clothespin on your shirt!" When I looked, sure enough, there it was. Then I remembered John David doing something as I was getting Julia dressed earlier. When I showed it to him in the lobby afterwards he said, "April Fool's!" He was quite amused with himself. What a funny little guy. He really makes me smile.