Good times!

A few minutes ago I was teasing Julian and telling her she couldn't take out the cute braid I did in her hair. She protested, but finally gave up in a huff. I went to say goodnight to Logan and came back to find her lying diagonally, face down on her bed. She was shaking and I thought I heard sobs. I said, not quite disbelievingly, "Are you seriously crying?" She laughed and answered in a triumphant voice, "Drama (club) is totally worth it!"
What's more, I assured her it was okay with me if she removed the braid and offered to take it out myself, only to be stopped abruptly. Julian 'hmmed' a bit, then admitted that while I wanted her to keep it in, she didn't want it, but when I wanted to take it out, she had a strong desire to keep it in. She even giggled while she unabashedly stated that she has roller coaster emotions. Very astute, don't you think? I love having an almost teenager to have fun with!

In contrast, on Sunday, I was bemoaning my high forehead and remembering a few years back when a co-worker caught sight of me in a store while I crouched to look at something on the bottom shelf of an isle. Said she, "I'd recognize that forehead anywhere!" Nice.
A couple of hours after that unwelcome memory emerged, I returned home and knocked on my own front door. I expected to be let in by my kids, but no one answered after several knocks and rings. Finally, I saw the blinds part and the door was opened by Logan who said with a big smile on his face, "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere." Well, I happen to like my eyes. I'd rather have them noticed than my forehead any day. I love having a sweet little boy to compliment me.
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What's new?

Man. I need to get a life so I can post about it.

Thrillionaries

WOO-HOO!!!
It was a blast. I was amazed how Twilight Zonish the Twilight Zone one was. Even the musical was terrific. These people amaze me! Mel B, you amaze me!

Thrillionaires this weekend!!!

Come celebrate Halloween season with The Thrillionaires. Here's what's coming up:

October 17
Style: 1. Twilight Zone 2. Alien Invasion Musical
***I'm totally going to this one and taking my kids, too. My sister Melissa will be performing. Only $5 with the discount. Anyone want to go with us???
(I'll have to be late for Girls' Night)

October 24
Style: Teen/Modern Vampires

October 31 - Halloween
Style: 1. 80s B-movie Horror 2. Slasher Movie Musical

If you order tickets online at www.coveycenter.org and use the promo code "ghost" you will get in for 1/2 price ($5)!

Is This For Real!!??

Click on this link and tell me what you think.

Crazy Amnesty Bill

I think it's OUTRAGEOUS!!
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Favorites?

There's still one session left and I'll need to read the talks from the Priesthood session, but so far my favorite talk has been President Monson's talk on serving others. All those stories of the children serving others brought tears to my eyes and I felt the Spirit strongly. He is truly an inspired prophet of God. Such a simple principle can cause so much happiness for everyone involved. It's just what the world needs as we go through these ever increasingly difficult times over which we have no control.

What was your favorite talk?
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The Worst and the Best...

The worst and the best of this week can be summarized by two thoughts...

#1
As individuals, first graders are adorable with their little fingers and toes and big eyes and lisps. But, collectively, I'd rather not be in their presence as a leader of any kind. Two groups of twenty-eight of them in a gym for an hour every day uses up my effort and patience quota. I spend the rest of the day glad to be in the presence of 4th-6th graders...or even better no students at all and just a good book for company. :) Thanks for Graceling, Peggy. It saved me this week.

#2
I've rediscovered the essence of pure vanilla. The undeniable rich and creamy aroma (and taste) of it in chocolate chip cookie dough before and after baking. Mmmm. Yummy. Too many years finishing a big bottle of imitation had erased it from my sieve of a mind. Thank goodness for food storage. If I hadn't have had to dip into it, I might have wasted my precious dough on the counterfeit again.
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To sleep or not to sleep...?

Sleep and sleep related subjects are all that seem to inspire me lately. Do you love sleeping in a cozy bed as much as I do? It's the perfect way to escape the daily grind. Night, day or even morning. If I didn't have to get up in the morning, I wouldn't. Not until my back started to hurt from lying down too long. Yes, that has happened more than I'd like to admit.

While working on yet another poetic expression of sleep last night, a pang of sympathy struck me and I thought of how often sleep eludes my husband, Jarid. This short poem was written for him.

For Jarid
(from his wife, Cecilia)

Where can one find sweet peace
When one can't fall asleep?
When e'en without a peep
Consciousness will not retreat?

How disconsolate the one
Who lies awake alone
At night when sleeps the sun
With thoughts that won't be done!

Oh please, my mind entreats,
Please let him fall asleep!
For with each pulsing beat
His heart craves desired sleep.

I understand that many people have a love/hate relationship with sleep or some other relationship that I can't fathom. How do you feel about it???
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If you don't mind...

If you don't paying only 3 bucks for 3 tickets...
Or trying to find 3 seats together 20 minutes before the show starts...
Or sitting down and wondering what the heck that smell is...

If you don't mind wondering how in the world they could possibly have sold out the early show...
Or being distracted from the movie while you scan dark shapes for whatever it is that smells like vomit and desperately hoping your not sitting in it...
Or chewing stick after stick of Doublemint gum and breathing into the collar of your t-shirt attempting to mask the smell...

If you don't mind becoming increasingly hot and sweaty in the crowded, muggy theater...
Or having to riffle through your purse for an item large enough to fan yourself and your kids...
Or noticing how other shiny, sweaty faces are eyeing your large sheet of Ken Garff coupons...

If you don't mind having to promise your kids you'll never bring them here again...
Or listening to your 8 yr old tell you how much the chairs are hurting his back...
Or panicking and sitting on the edge of your chair for half the movie because you realize the vomit might be dried to your chair...

Then the Towne Center Theatre in American Fork might be the perfect theater for you.
I don't consider myself spoiled when it comes to movie theaters, but this was definitely a first and a last for me.

Ode to My Bed

Although you may find the subject of this poem amusing,
I assure you all the emotions are genuine. :)


Ode to My Bed

by Cecilia Carter

I sigh.
You comfort me
In the coolness of crisp sheets.
Assailed by unspoken thoughts,
I find a quiet place to rest.

I drift.
You cradle me
In gentle curves of mattress.
Protected from life’s urgency,
I find a yielding place to berth.

I doze.
You shelter me
In warm bundles of blanket.
Hidden from threat of hazard,
I find a safer place to be.

I dream.
You let me
In cloaking calm of darkness.
Buoyed up by sweet surrender,
I find a peaceful place to be.

I wake.
You renew me
In clear repose of conscience.
Relaxed by restful slumber,
I find kind tranquility.
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My Very Own Lawn Art

This is the back yard at my parents house. I've been keeping their grass trimmed this summer while they're on a mission. It's my first attempt at using different blade heights in the same "mowing session." Simple, but satisfying..

Top 3 Whiny Expostulations

TOP THREE WHINY EXPOSTULATIONS

Expostulation #1

I've come to understand that my brain travels through space more slowly than my body. Multiple times each day I experience the proof of this.

Case in Point: This morning I was standing in the kitchen thinking I needed to do something specific. In response to what I needed I headed downstairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs I became confused, turned left toward the bathroom and paused, unable to remember what it was I needed. During the pause, my brain floated down the stairs, caught up with my body and suddenly I knew I need only turn right toward the computer to complete the errand I had started.

Expostulation #2

BLTs. These tasty little morsels are killing me. Well, they are in a sense, but more accurately, they are killing my goal to eat healthily and regain my former, shapely physique. Bites, Licks and Tastes seem innocent enough, but add them together and they equal a quite appalling mass of unwanted calories.

Expostulation #3

Unconsciously, I must think that if I wish hard enough my wish will come true. No matter how much nonsense it would make for me not to work, I still deeply wish to be a stay-at-home mom. We could never live without the insurance. Medical copays and premiums are already seriously denting our financial freedom. My kids are both in school full-time. I'd be here alone for the most part. Yet I still find myself wishing with 92% of the fibers of my being that I didn't have to work.

It's not even that I don't like my job. It's just that it takes away from so much I could be doing. Like the other two-sevenths of 'homemaking' that never seems to get 'made. ' And, being able to care for my kids when they are ill without worrying about covering my classes at work. And, being able to volunteer at their school and more completely fulfill my calling in church.

"With a wish and with a will
I stood upon that silent hill
And stared into the sky until
My eyes were blind with stars and still
I stared into the sky."

(Adapted from the last stanza of Ralph Hodgson's "The Song of Honour"
http://theotherpages.org/poems/gp2_7.html)

SO, there are my Top Three Whiny Expostulations. (Just using the word expostulation so many times has made me feel a bit better.)

If you have an expostulation to share, by all means, it's welcome here.
EXPOSTULATION = COMPLAINT
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. When I drive, angels attend. Even when I'm idling.

I merge into the single lane halfway to the freeway from Macey's food store and within seconds see the flashing lights in my rear view mirror. They are inside the windshield of the white, unmarked car I've just passed.

The weird thing is that I'm not nervous at all. I pull to the right as far as I can to keep the officer safe from on-coming traffic. I think, If I get a ticket, oh well, I've broken enough laws without being caught. But, man, I hope I can go to traffic school. I don't have any money.

A middle-aged, stout man walks up to my now open window and asks for my license. Hey! I get to use my new license. I'd gotten it just a week ago in the mail. (See how un-nervous I am?)

Usually, the officer asks if you know why he pulled you over. He doesn't. He simply states that I was going 60.

"I was? What is the speed limit on this road?"

He mouths the word forty as he holds up 4 fingers, moving them as if in slow motion.

"Whoa. That is too fast. I thought I had merged wrong or something. I didn't see the sign."

"That's because you were going too fast. Are you in a rush?"

"No"

"Where are you going?"

"To a cancer follow up at Primary Children's." I motion to the back seat with a wave of my hand. "I guess I was driving like I was already on the freeway."

"Twenty miles over is way too fast." Then, holding my license an flicking it with the middle finger of his other hand, "Should I give you a ticket or not...?"

I wait. Was that a rhetorical question?

After a moment I quietly mumble, "Well, I hope you don't, but I was going too fast." The money for this is going to kill me.

He hands me the card and tells me I really need to slow down. Of course, I agree and reassure him that I will be much more careful.

He shakes my hand and I'm surprised at that.

I point to the Sheriff badge hanging near his belly from a chain. "I see you work for the Sheriff's office. So does my husband."

A few things happen after that, including me admitting that when he sees me pull out back onto the road, he'll notice my right rear turn signal is out. But I definitely drive off with gratitude in my heart.

Thank you, Deputy Sheen.

What did I almost lose today???

MY LUNCH!

That's right. When I pulled from the mailbox this afternoon,
the principal letter with information about the start of school,
I felt a wave of almost nausea welling up within me.
NO-O-O!!!
It's inevitable, though.
Jarid had not one iota of sympathy for me, either.
He never really has.

Also,
I'm learning that if one eats a steady diet of oatmeal cookies,
it improves one's regularity.
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Name my true short story.

I reached up for the mag light on the top shelf of the pantry and tested the batteries by pushing the power button. Good, I thought. I would need this tonight. I had waited long enough. What I needed to do had to be done as soon as possible, all evidence removed before dawn.

My husband and two children were sound asleep in their beds. The house was quiet, but for the padding of my feet as I collected the tools that would be needed to cover up my sin. By morning it would be finished and only a select few would ever know.

After slipping on some shoes, I left the house, careful to lock the door behind me. I found the shovel propped near the back steps in the dirt. I thought myself clever as I slipped the shovel into a plastic grocery sack. No trace would be left in the back of my Explorer, no evidence of my terrible crime. The other three sacks should be enough to temporarily stifle the smell.

I smiled to myself. I only needed to travel a few blocks to the dump site. Using my car in the darkness of the night would be safer than chancing a saunter through the neighborhood with a shovel and bags filled with evidence. There were plenty of SUVs like mine in the area. I'd even thought to cover my license plate with smudges of mud, but changed my mind. Having a cop for a husband had certain advantages and I'd heard him tell of vehicles that had been suspicious for just that reason. I would be lithe and quick.

The quiet purr as I started the engine was comforting. This was my favorite of all cars. Solid and powerful, yet beautiful in form and design. I'd known it was the perfect car for me the moment I'd seen it. Sitting in it for a test drive was but confirmation of my feeling. I felt the satisfaction of owning her now as I maneuvered quietly past the houses with darkened windows. I'd cursed this town many times for not having well-lit streets. Tonight, however, I was grateful for the cloak of dark.

As I approached the site with my headlights switched off and quietly pulled my car diagonally into the gravelly roadside, I noticed movement within the house. My heart jumped. It was nearly midnight. Perhaps in my eagerness, I'd launched my plan too early. I waited in the stillness. I saw no further movement and decided to approach the house to assure myself that I would not be discovered. Getting caught was not an option.

I stealthily crept toward the door. Tiptoeing to peek through the window, I saw that a low kitchen light had been left on, probably as a night light for the children. Maybe it had been one of them moving in the kitchen for a mid-night drink of water. Surely they would have fallen back to sleep easily, unaware of my presence. I was more concerned about the light at the bottom of the stairs that led down from the entryway behind the door. I lingered a moment watching for signs of flicking light that might be a television or other movement within. Nothing. My heart calmed and I felt pleased with myself. Everything was falling into place. I would be gone in minutes. Time to begin.

I felt confident and bold enough to switch on the car's headlights. The light poured over the lawn, lighting the space beneath the tree where I would be working. I retrieved the shovel and one white sack and carried them to the front of the car searching for the exact position of the drop. I scanned the grass until I located the prize. Scooping carefully with the shovel, I removed the first deposit in one complete piece. I let it slide smoothly into the bag. I had worried that I might disturb the form, leaving traces on the grass, but it had lifted perfectly off the ground. I knew there was another. I found it quickly and repeated the process just as successfully. I almost chuckled with pleasure at my good fortune.

With my acquisitions I returned to the back of the car. I delicately placed the first bag into a second one, not wanting to disturb the shape, then made a knot of the handles. The closer to airtight, the better.

I felt a feeling of elation. The smile on my face and in my heart were equally matched. The light from the vehicle cast shadows among the blades of grass, so for good measure I played the light of the mag over the area looking for anything I may have missed. Not finding even a suggestion of what had been there and thinking that perhaps I should be wise and not tarry, I replaced the flashlight, covered the end of the shovel with it's bag and deftly closed the heavy hatch door.

All the way home my heart beat with blissful delight. I had executed my task with consummate perfection, an accomplishment that will live on only in the minds of a trusted few from this night forward.

How To Tell If Your Family Loves You Just The Way You Are.

It's simple.
Shave you hairy arms.
Then show them your arms and ask them if they
notice something different about them.
My husband and kids stared and thought and
thought and stared and only came up with...
"They are skinnier?"
"You have more freckles?"
And my favorite...
"You're losing your tan?"
So, there you have it.
No one noticed the difference,
obviously therefore,
they did not notice (or care) that my arms
were hairy in the first place. :)

Hey. Don't complain.

I still use this site to link to ya'll's blogs.

The Secret Drawer

Tonight while I was putting away the kale...(Yes, I actually bought kale. I have Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup recipe!)...So, I opened the crisper drawer at the bottom of my fridge and I say, "Ooooo! Gross!"

"What? What!?" Logan asks.

I take out the drawer with some spilled spinach rot and he heads over to the fridge.

He exclaims, "Oh! I forgot about that drawer. Look! Here's another one. A secret drawer!"

Facing the sink with my back turned to him, I say, "See if there are any potatoes in there."

Julian races over and helps him take out a bag. She says, "Yep."

"Maybe there are some eyes on them. Why don't you check," I suggest. By now Logan is distracted with something else in the kitchen, but he hears the comment about 'eyes,' so I start explaining what they are.

Before I get very far, I hear Logan yell, "Oooaagh!!" I turn to see Julian holding one of the potatoes for him to see.

What's so great is that he was freaked out long enough for me to grab the camera and snap a couple of shocks. I mean, shots.

After that he wouldn't come into that part of kitchen until he was curtain I'd put it away.

Only Five Bucks!!!!...and a joke for free.

I love a deal.

And since I don't find them often, when I do I'm thrilled.
Aren't they awsome!?Of course I wanted to wear them at the earliest possible occasion.
I did today and they are so comfortable!

While I was purchasing them,
the checker told the kids and me a joke.

Him: "Have you noticed that the word garage
on all the garage sale signs is missing a B?"

Me: "Garage doesn't have a B."

Him: *smile*

Do YOU get it?
Hahaha!
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Can YOU find it???

This is what Julian called her "Masterpiece"
during our egg hunt on Easter.
It's an egg she hid for Logan in the backyard.
Logan hid some in the front yard for Julian.
After the hunts, they switched areas and hid more eggs.
I was SO surprised at how well they hid those eggs.
Some of them I'd never have found.
Would you have found this one?

Correction :-)

Not "otter pop with panda stickers on the backs."
They are sweet and sour sauce. HAHA!!!

Spring Break & Walter Wick...kind of.

Does this look like Spring Break weather to you?
Well, Rascal had fun....BUT...

...the rest of us went to the BYU Museum of Art.

These pieces we very interesting. I took a few photos,
not sure whether I should or not.

Up close. Yep. Otter Pops.At the start of the Main Attraction, a guard saw me holding my camera
and kindly imformed me that picture-taking was not allowed,
so you don't get to see the Walter Wick exhibit.

If you're not sure who he is, ask your kids about the "I Spy" books.
They are sure to know what I'm talking about. :-)

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I can't help it!!!

Ahhh...Remember when Jarid first brought him home..
...in his little kennel.
We upgraded within a week to a mid-size model and thought we were done.

Oh yeah. He's big.

Time to upgrade again.

Julian calls these "Kissing Attacks."
I think he's learned it goes over much better to lick than to bite.
He gets her good and she loves it.

And Mama...Logan loves him. Here he's being pretty tame. But, he's not usually as gentle as Julian. He usually walks right up to Rascal, firmly places his hand on the top of Rascal's fluffy head, and bear-hugs him. Yep. This sweet puppy has been a real confidence booster for him.

And...

... he's not done yet.
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Why do they have to grow up so fast?

This photo was taken at the animal shelter the day Jarid picked him up as a stray.
Puppies are so much cuter than now than they were before I had one.

Today Julian was giving rascal a belly rub.
Do you think his body is outgrowing his head?
I guess human babies do that, too.

We watched Marley and Me last night and now
we're just going to have to keep him forever!!!

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You can't TELL me he's not the cutest puppy EVER!!!

Rascal

Rascal on one of the very rare occasions he's allowed into the living room.
(So you can see his ever growing fluffy bigness.)

How much is that Rooster in the window?

Last week the kids and I went to D.I. to find a costume for Julian. Of course, we found what we needed.

At that point I was ready to leave, but, against my instincts, I let the kids peruse the toy isle all the while knowing I'd say no to anything they may want. (My kids could double the content of that toy isle if they'd clean out their rooms!)

I kept to that self-made promise...with one exception.

Behind the toy isle there are shelves of plush toys. Julian found a cute, little rooster she thought Rascal would love.

Well, I thought, as long as it's not in our house. And who could go wrong spending two bits on a doggie toy?

So, we brought the toy home and Rascal was as pleased as could be that we'd brought a toy for him.

As soon as our big (and I do mean BIG- he's doubled his size in 2 months!) sweet puppy bit into that rooster, we were all startled by a loud "Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!"

With trepidation Rascal jumped back while we caught our breath and laughed a good, long laugh.

Even now, a week later, we'll look outside to see him bravely pouncing on that 50 cent treasure, then jumping back as it calls out a warning cry. Once he barked for 5 minutes while it sat a few yards away on the grass in the shade of our plum tree and relentlessly teased him.

Now, where else but D. I. can you buy such entertainment for only 50 cents?

Excerpt from Logan's Prayer

...And I quote,

"Bless mommy not to get hitted by dodgeballs. Bless daddy not to get shooted by bullets or beated up."

Listening to my kids pray is a daily gift.

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Killing Me Softly

What is it? It's FOOD! That's right. Right now I hate it. Really hate it! I wish I never had to eat another bite again.

I've been up in the night for almost 3 hours now thinking about it. The discomfort in my stomach is dominating my body. And, ohhhhhh, the queeziness! Aghhhhh!

What's worse is that I can't even blame it on being sick. I think I just ate too much. Which isn't really all that much, considering what I used to eat.

AND, it was 8 whole hours ago!!! What is going on???

Even now, as I resolve not to eat even a morsel of food tomorrow, I know deep inside I won't do it. It's torture, this love-hate relationship I have with food!

Gripe, gripe, gripe...I know.

What up?

PSYCH!!! I have nothing to write...or maybe I'm just too tired to think of something great.
At least I bothered to post. Aren't you glad you checked in?

P.S. I did, however, enjoy reading all YOUR latest posts!

Pros and Cons

Cons

No sleeping through the night
No sleeping in, in the morning
No taking naps after school
No kids in the kitchen without an adult
No alone time
Constant vigilance
Holes in our pants
Pee on the tile
No easy vacation get-away
Less money


Pros
More time with the kids
More practicing patience
More challenging tasks
A tidy kitchen
No cat poop in our yard
A soft, cuddly pet
A future jogging partner
A grateful husband
A playmate for the kids
A happy daughter

Check You Child's Homework Before You Send it to School :)

(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)

Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.
I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.
From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

TO THE SPOILED, UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill...barefoot...BOTH ways...

Yadda, yadda, yadda...

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in heck I was going to lay a bunch of garbage like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it SO easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a darn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid, we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the darn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the darn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and messed it all up!

There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone...cause that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were messed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled brats.

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Thanks to Tammy and Stone Sour...

I'm not a huge fan of thinking up answers to questions about myself. But this tag is different. It's called "Four Squared" and you're supposed to look in your fourth picture file, go to the fourth picture and post about it.

I'm on my Mac and it doesn't have many pictures, but I went to the 4th date listed and this was the 4th photo. It's not a great picture by ANY stretch of the imagination, so you'll know I didn't cheat. :-)


The shot was taken at probably 85 or so miles per hour on our way to Disneyland this fall. It's the name of one of the songs on a CD we've listened to over and over while riding together in dad's truck and mom's car.

When I listen to it now, it takes me back to both good times and hard times. It represents hours and hours of time together driving up to Primary Children's Medical Center or to do fun things with family. It brings to mind drives long enough for the kids to fall asleep and for Jarid and I to have some really great conversations. (I love those!) When I hear it I remember times when the kids have giggled in the back seat until they couldn't breath and times when mom or dad have made rulings for 'silent time.'

The song titled after the name of the road on this sign is a song that will linger in my mind for a long time. Thanks Stone Sour!

What am I Gonna Do with My Husband?!

STORY #1

Recently, Jarid shared a portion of the book he was reading called On Combat by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. Entertaining as it was for the kids, I thought I'd share.

"I was monitoring her class," the principal said, "as she stood up in front teaching her kindergartners. All of a sudden a mouse came running across the floor, hit the inside of her shoe, and ran up the inside of her slacks. When it reached her upper thigh area, she latched onto it with her hand over her slacks and started rolling around on the ground, screaming, 'Help me! Help me!'
The principal asked, "What was I supposed to do?! Was I supposed to pull her pants down in front of all those kids to get that mouse? All I knew was we had us one of those 'critical incidents' Colonel Grossman's talking about. So I got all the kids and we got the heck out of there. I sent some female teachers in to help her out, and then later on that afternoon we had one of those critical incident debriefings.
'You've got to do it,' the principal continued. 'It was nothing fancy. We just brought the counselor in, sat all the little Bubbas and Bubbalinas down, and said to the kids, 'Ya'll are fine. Here's the teacher, and she's fine. We sat there and talked our way through what happened. It was all going well until this one little Bubba stood up and said, with wide-eyed kindergarten innocence, 'Yah know, the most amazin' thang of all ta me, was how much water came out of that little mouse, when she squarshed it."
The moral of the story is that to wet your pants in a situation like this is a perfectly natural human response.

STORY #2

A few nights ago I'd cooked some whole green beans in chicken broth. YUM!
The following conversation ensued.
Julian asked me, "Mom, what's chicken broth?"
Dad quickly replied, "When chickens get boobies., they get chicken bras." (It's censored, for the pure. If you aren't, highlight it with your cursor and peer closely, cuz I couldn't change the background color. :)
Disapprovingly, I cried out, "JA-RID!"
He came back with "Okay. When chickens get older and more mature..."
Both Julian and Jarid started laughing hard. Apparently, we need to focus on enunciation.

The finished product...for now.

Yesterday a crew of kids came over to help us finish the igloo. With production at such fast rates, we failed to fix the angle of the blocks in time to avoid this strange shape. But, I think it lends the structure a special personality! Plus, the kids will be able to stand up inside.

We worked for over 3 hours. It was hard work, but fun, and we let the little ones take an extra break now and then. I'm sad they had to go before I could get a picture of them all. Maybe we'll have a crew party when the weather warms up a bit again. :-)