Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Birthday to the King!

Long live the king!

Family NIght!

We had an impromptu family night last night that turned out to be a lot of fun.

1. A question of should we go out to dinner? Should we stay home? Who wants to go to dinner? Who doesn't? Where should be go? How about here? I'll go if we go here... All got resolved so we all headed to Mongolian Grill. For those of you who don't know, you throw a bunch of veggies (broccoli and baby corn for the kids), meat (lots and lots of meat for all but me), and noodles in a bowl. Add some sauce. Some guys cook it on this really hot slab o' metal. Then they put it in a clean bowl for you (because your other bowl had raw meat in it--I just figured that out last night--duh!), and you enjoy it steaming hot! The bonus for everyone in our house except the prince is that if you get a medium bowl, you have leftovers for lunch then next day. The prince eats all of his.

2. Next we headed to Hobby Lobby. I love that place and could spend hours there, but when I'm there with the family we're pretty much in and out. Get what we need. Only look around a little. So we got the flowers and other cemetery decor we needed, perused the perimeter of the store, and we were out of there.

3. Next we went to visit the graves of the Grandpas. We added cool butterflies to the grave of one grandpa who already had nice flowers and did flowers and butterflies at the other grandpa's grave. It had been misting, sprinkling, or raining all day, but we didn't get too wet. We were even able to go to a 3rd cemetery and find the king's grandparents' graves...which we don't visit all that often so finding them in the wet dusk was a trick. It was nice to remember for a few minutes.

4. Since we were next door to the bowling alley, we decided to bowl a game or two to round out the night. We had to buy socks for the king from the vending machine--who knew you could do that! And I had to remind the princess that she was not to get grouchy if she was losing (or getting many gutter balls--both distress her), but we had a great time. The king was the big winner, the prince was able to break 100, and the princess, well...she was able to keep a smile on her face most of the time! By the way, I think the bowling alley is the only place in town (besides my hairdresser) who doesn't take debit cards. Really? In this day and age? You have disco bowling, but you don't take debit cards? The good news is that they are smoke-free now!

5. We got home about 3.5 hours later. I think we were exhausted from all that togetherness! :) Good times!

Excuse the photo quality. Cell phone camera.

It's True

Women and cats will do as they please, men and dogs should just relax and get used to it.

Counting Down

Only 4 1/2 more days of school for the princess and me. The prince has 5. Summer is just around the corner, and it'll feel like it today when it reaches 76*. Saturday...not so much. I think it's supposed to be only 55*. Someday I'll put my geranium back outside--someday.

The Edible Car

Every year the 6th grade science teacher does an experiment where each child makes an edible car and then races it down a ramp. The car must be of a certain measurement, it must have axles and wheels, and it must hold the teacher's small action figure across the finish line. The cars are timed, and the car with the best time wins a prize. The kids design them and have to tell how force, gravity, acceleration will all affect their car. Then it's time to build and race! When the prince did this, he chose a large dinner roll that we hollowed out. We attached pretzels to the bottom like skis with peanut butter. This was breaking the rule--not having wheels, but she accepted it. His action figure stayed in the car across the finish line.

This year the princess made rice crispie treats, used large pretzel sticks for axles, and cucumbers for wheels. The plan had been to use donuts, but they were too small for the pretzels. Race day was yesterday. Yikes! The kids were crazy with excitement. Many a gram cracker car held together with marshmallow fluff was destroyed on the school bus ride before they ever got to school. But the kids had a lot of fun. The princess lost her wheels before her car made it down the ramp. The grossest car I saw was an apple that had been hollowed out. It was turning brown and slimy! Ewww!!!

Grandma happened by while we were building and lent a hand.

The finished product.

Before/After

The King's Party

The king decided he would like a garage party for his birthday though he tells everyone it wasn't a birthday party but a "celebrating the end of winter" party. It was suspiciously close to his birthday though...

So we invited friends and neighbors. Ordered some food. Cleaned the garage. And away we went. It was a lot of fun. We never had too many people at one time and we didn't ever sit in the garage with no one around. The weather could have cooperated better. It was chilly and rained sometimes, but it was okay.

I brought the camera into the garage to record this special occasion, but what you are seeing are the only photos I remembered to take! Oh well! Maybe next year...although he swears he doesn't need another party for a long, long time!

The princess invited a couple of friends over to entertain her during the party. Here they are eatting--again!

Yummy Costco cake!

The Birthday Boy!

The Puberty Song

In this photo the prince is entertaining us with the puberty song. In his health class they were put in groups and assigned a chapter from the book which they then had to present to the class. His group was assigned the chapter on puberty. Nice. At least it wasn't the chapter on STD's. So he wrote the puberty song. It's hilarious. You'll have to come over to our house to hear it. Request it. He's full of himself enough that he'll do it. I'd publish the words here, but well...some of them aren't quite right for the blog, but I will tell you the opening line: Puberty, it's a magical thing. You're hooked now, aren't you? Come on over to hear more!

Just Hanging Out On A Friday Night

We are all getting MUCH NEEDED haircuts today. But last night the prince asked the princess to straighten his hair so he could see how long it really is before the haircut. The princess is a master at the straightener because she has lots of wave in her hair, and the prince has hair that starts to wave and flip, the longer it gets. So there he was, on a Friday night, having a beauty treatment!

And here's the end result. Yep, it's time for a haircut. A really, really GOOD haircut. Not just "a little off the top."

Yikes!

Another Party!

Grandma and Aunt Kathi joined us for another birthday celebration Wednesday night. The ice cream cake was such a hit, that it made a repeat performance.

Phew! His eyes are open this time!

Do you see all that smoke???

Lots of money...always the perfect gift.

And a flip-video camera from us.

Anyone want to guess who's WHITE foot that is?

Loser!!

Stupid Russel. If he had only grovelled a little, he would have won Survivor. An inability to swallow his pride cost him $1,000,000 and me $50. And I could use that money!

Happy Birthday Nug!!

When the prince was little we used to call him "Nugget". We meant GOLD nugget, but everyone thought we meant CHICKEN nugget! It was often shortened to "Nug". He doesn't care for that name anymore!

This isn't the photo I intended to post, but through the magic of technology, and some happy clicking on my part, that photo is lost in cyber-land. But that's okay...he's mighty cute in his Santa Suit.

And here he is last fall! The family party is tonight. Then we'll be done with his birthday celebrations so we can start celebrating the King's birthday! Bring on the birthday bashes!

Good One!

I hope you can see this. It was light when sent to me. Wish I'd had it to post on April Fool's Day, but it was too good to put away until next year! Have a good Tuesday!

Fuddy-Duddy

The king is a fuddy-duddy.

This weekend he was visiting with someone around our age, and the other man went on and on about teenagers, cell phones, texting, clothes kids wear...

Holy Smokes. After he left, I said, "He's an old fuddy-duddy." The king said, "Then I'm a fuddy-duddy too because I agreed with everything he said."

I am thinking perhaps the king has forgotten what it's like to be young and have a world of possibilities ahead of you. But what it might really come down to is the king and this other fellow might be jealous. If I couldn't have it, you shouldn't have it. Or...if it was good enough for me, it should be good enough for you.

Having spent the last many years in a computer lab, I can see that, like it or not, this is the future. And you know what they say...hop on or get left behind.

I don't think, in the long run, that texting will ruin the English language. I don't believe that kids wearing shorts to school--IN THE WINTER--hampers their ability to learn. I do believe that in this day of Aides, legal medical marijuana, texting while driving, meth, STDs...I have more important things to worry about than whether or not my kid is sitting with his friends at Wendys and every kid at the table is on their phone texting someone else. I don't care.

What I do find funny is when someone has an IPad with a Scrabble board on it, and around it sit people with their IPod Touches. Each IPod Touch has the tiles for that person. Through super-cool technology, they move their tiles to the IPad. To me, I'm all about texture. I want to handle the tiles. I want to flip the pages on my book, not hit the forward button on my Kindle. Which is not to say that this technology wouldn't be cool when traveling...

The Real Reason He Wanted to be Mascot!

The prince got to participate in some mascot-mania yesterday during a graduation party fundraiser. For three hours he got to stand on a street corner with cheerleaders and encourage people to have their cars washed and serviced at a local joint. He had some fun and even went to Burger King for a break with one of the girls. Yep, he had to take the head off to eat the cheeseburger!

Survivor Finale Tonight!

The Survivor Finale is TONIGHT!!! And my man, Russell, is still in it to win it! We'll see how it goes down tonight, but I'm warning all my Survivor/Blog friends now that if Russell wins tonight, there will be a blog entry tomorrow SHOUTING IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS (there is $50 on the line, after all). If you don't get to watch it tonight, don't log into my blog until you have seen the show. Oh yeah, baby!

Trophy-mania

I got in trouble by one of my faithful viewers for not blogging in the last 36 hours or so, so I'm trying to make up for it! Wait until tomorrow's post. I might even do 2 tomorrow!

Here is the princess last Saturday night--exhausted--after her final dance competition of the year. The studio did great with all 1st and 2nd place finishes on their various dances. The princess is holding her 1st place trophy for her solo. The duet and group dances also took 1st place.

Next comes the recital...can't WAIT!

Birthday #1

Bummer! This is the only photo I got of him, and his eyes are closed! Yikes!

Fifteen candles on an ice cream cake make it start to melt!

After the burger fest and the ice cream cake, the gang decided it was time to work it all off, so at 8:15 they jogged to the lake and back. Now that sounds like a fun birthday party!!! They came home and played the Wii and watched movies until the wee hours!

That's a Big Burger!

The prince is still 8-years-old at heart so every year he wants a birthday party will all his peeps. This year we met the gang at Fuddruckers, bought them dinner, and then they came over and spent the night. The boys were awesome. No trouble at all. I was in bed at 10:30 with the door open, and they never woke me up!

The prince thought, since he was the birthday boy, that he should get the one-pound burger. Okay. He also had onion rings and a drink. He's a glutton. What you are seeing is not a tiny order of rings--it's the standard size. It's just dwarfed by the burger.

The gang! Tommy, Mitch, Daniel, Reed, Theo, and Lakota!

Final Track Meet

The prince has his final track meet of the season today. It's a city meet, and he said yesterday that he will not throw javelin. He's been practicing shot put all week to work out his kink in his throwing. He said he's back on track and throwing his normal distances so I'm excited to go watch him this afternoon and cheer him on in the beautiful, 65* SUNSHINE! Yippee!

The Perfect Food

I have decided that a meat/bean burrito is the perfect food. Meat=protein. Beans = protein AND veggie. Shell = grains. Cheese = dairy. (I sprinkle mine with cheese.) YUMMO!

Fire

When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the fire department usually uses water. :)

Happy Birthday Princess

My favorite little princess turns OLD today--7! Check her out in her new outfit her cool mom surprised her with this morning. Later her cool mom is bringing her Sonic lunch to school. Could this day get any better???

I'm a loser!

Sorry Grandpa. I forgot to post a Happy Birthday wish on the 7th. Hope it was a good one filled with lots of sunshine!

Not Looking So Good

It's not looking so good for the Survivor pool. We lost Danielle on Thursday. And it kind of looks like they are all gunning for our man, Russel, now. Yikes. I could almost TASTE that $50 for awhile!

The Perfect Mother's Day Card

My family got me the PERFECT Mother's Day card:

Front: Mother's Day is a chance for us to treat you like a queen!

Inside: A queen with really lazy subjects who don't listen well!

Love it, and love my family. I got pjs and a German Chocolate cake for Mother's Day!

Life is good!

Happy Mother's Day

Behind every great kid is a mom who is sure she's screwing it up!

Note to self:

The high school only has 2 shot puts. Kids are assigned to bring them to away meets. The prince is in charge of bringing one to the meet today that is out of town. So he brought it home after yesterday's meet and then left himself a note not to forget it this morning. Why might he need to leave himself a note? Because the last time he was responsible for the shot, he left it in the locker room. Then they only had one shot!

I also like how he signed the note to himself. What a goofball!


As if a track meet weren't enough, we've also got a dance competition today. The princess dances in 4 dances today and while practicing one of them last night, she told me, "I almost made myself cry?" "Why? Did you mess up or hurt yourself?" "No. It's the song where I have to look all sad and I almost was able to make tears."

Oh boy!

In more dance drama, last night at rehearsal, one of the girls popped her hip out. She probably won't be dancing today which messes up one of the dances the princess is in. DRAMA! Girls are so good at it. I'll stick to silly shot put notes.

Dear Mommy

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, the student council wrote letters to each staff member. I found mine in my mail box this afternoon. As luck (coercion? poor planning?) would have it, my daughter got to (had to?) write mine. Here is what she wrote, and keep in mind, she hasn't called me "Mommy" since she was 3:

Dear Mommy,

You do an awesome job at watching over naughty children. It's probably really frustrating having to keep all the knuckleheads on track. We should get some ice cream after school to celebrate your awesomeness!

Princess

Honestly, some peoples' children!

Teacher Appreciation

Wohoo! Gotta love Teacher Appreciation week. The boss bought lunch Wednesday. The administration/board made breakfast today. PTA is bringing in lunch later today. I get a 10 minute massage compliments of the PTA at lunch. And a student brought me a candy bar and flower today! Life is good!

Vampirates!

I just finished the book "Vampirates-Demons of the Ocean". Ouch. It's sort of "Pirates of the Caribbean" meets "Twilight," but it doesn't quite pull it off. I don't recommend it. It's a children's lit book. Your kids might like it. I don't recommend it for the grownups. Vampirates...PLEASE!

The Roof Fairy

You've heard of the tooth fairy who mysteriously shows up when you lose a tooth and leaves you money, right? Well, we have a roof fairy. He's burly, buff, has an air compressor, and goes up on the roof and fixes it. You don't have to call him or anything. He just does it!

Sweet!

The guy who built our house and 5 others on this street (and lives in one of them) called the guy who roofed these houses to come repair the damage. There was a good chunk of damage to the house two doors down from us, and I watched them repair a large part of the roof over the garage on the house across the street from us. Our damage was minor...just one portion to reattach, and it was at the peak. The roofer and two helpers spent the better part of the day on our street. They are thinking it might be faulty shingles. I have my doubts...

But however it all plays out, it's a good thing they showed up yesterday when it was relatively sunny and wind-free because today it's snowing!!

Finished

Just took my last pill for my tonsillitis. My voice is not 100%, but it's definitely on the mend! I'll be able to whoop and holler at the dance recital this weekend!

Roof too?

Looks like the wind got some of our roof too. The king said it's curled up in at least one area though he hasn't been up there yet. Guess we're going to need a roofer... At least it's not blowing as I post this. And our neighbors don't report finding our shingles in their yards. Our next door neighbor found his other next door neighbor's shingles in his yard...

Too Much Wind

I am tired of the wind. It is still howling--up to 69 MPH. We have now lost a patio cushion, the flag pole is down, and we found rain gutter in the curb...not sure if it's ours or a neighbor's. I'm really, really tired of wind. It woke me up numerous times last night. It blows in through the fireplace. It blew the internet connection out this morning, and I had to reset that this afternoon. Enough. And to top it all off, I make my dinner menu out a month in advance. I had bbq stuff on there twice this week. The bbq won't stay lit...even if I could make myself go out there. So I guess we'll bake the chicken breasts. Chicken teriaki sandwiches with Swiss cheese are not nearly as good when baked. The prince is at his class party right now. I wonder if they moved that inside? I can't imagine the inflatables working outside right now. I'm done whining now.

For Jeanette

Tommy's Birthday

The prince has a friend who lives with his dad. His mom lives in another country and is only able to see him about once/year. She usually comes for his birthday, but she couldn't make it at that time this year. We decided to have a celebration Friday night when he was over--any excuse to eat ice cream cake (the princess would say). Happy Birthday Tommy!

Silly Wind

The wind has been blowing for days. Last night the news said we had the strongest winds recorded in the area at 59 MPH. A friend from work took this photo of some "damage" in her neighborhood. There are mangled tramps, trees and debris all over town. It's still blowing. My patio cushions are sitting in my living room...we almost lost one!