"This Is How We Do It"

There's a song playing on the radio right now (pop music) that repeats the line "This is how we do it." I think it should be running through your head when you look at these photos. It does mine.

"Okay, now be sure to catch me boys!"


These last two are called "baskets". They do them when they are introducing the members of our team. The cheerleaders on both of the other, bigger high schools in our town have been heard marveling at the height of these baskets and wish their baskets were as high, but alas, that's what man-strength does. No guys=not so high baskets. Upper-body strength...who knew?

Possibly the best passage ever!

I am reading "Hawaii" by Alan Brennert. In it, a Korean couple is living in Hawaii in about 1920 and has opened a Korean restaurant that isn't doing well. They decide to diversify their menu a bit so eat at different restaurants to try different foods they are considering serving. When trying some American foods the book reads:

"I ordered a hamburger steak sandwich, something I knew was popular with haoles [white people], and took a bite. I rather enjoyed it, as did my husband, though he found it lacking in sophistication: 'This is all? Just a piece of meat between two slices of bread? Where is the poetry in that?'
'Not every dish need be poetic, ' I pointed out.
Even more disappointing to him was the 'hot dog,' which, alas, contained no dog meat and looked rather obscene in the bargain. We decided to add hamburgers to our menu but no frankfurters."

This is possible the funniest passage I have ever read. I am still laughing out loud about it as I type this!

Who's this little cutie?

Aunt Kathi!!!

Too cute.

Church Ball

NBA bound!

Jared is #9.

Check it out, behind Andy in the top photo...there's a referee.
That's some serious church ball!

Twilight

"Twilight"

Written Doctor Seuss’ Way

Jake likes a girl named Bella
Bella likes another fella
See this vamp, his name is Ed,
Ed is pale; Ed is dead
Ed saved Bella from a scamp
Ed must be a special vamp
Ed won’t kill boys; Ed won’t kill girls
Instead he feeds on deer and squirrels
This is James; he’s a tracker
He is sort of a vampire attacker
James hurt Bella for a thrill
Will Ed destroy him; yes he will
But James gave her a little bite
Will she be a vamp? She might!
Edward fixes Bella’s cut
She won’t be a vampire but…
She becomes one later; read some more

She’s a vampire in book 4

Pizza Delivery!

For MB

And quit calling me Hilly!

About "Some Girls: My Life In A Harem"

I gave "Some Girls: My Life In A Harem" by Jillian Lauren two stars. It's a good book but not great. It had potential. It's the true story of an American girl (just 18 when she travels to Brunei to be a party girl for the Sultan's brother for several weeks) and lives in a modern-day (modern in the 1980's) harem. How she came to be invited to Brunei is interesting, but she really drops the ball when talking about the weeks spent in Brunei. She gives long details about some aspects of her days there but leaves huge chucks of the best part--conversations with the other girls and with the prince--out. It was disappointing. Additionally only about 1/3 of this book is about her time spent in a harem. The rest of the book is the before and after of her life. It's a good book, but not great, as I said, but if you have the time and are interested in this subject, it's probably worth a look.

Cultural Diversity

My niece posted this on fb. She just graduated from Utah State. :) I will say that I have noticed there are a lot of blonds in UT. Below this is the prince's cheer photo. It looks a lot like the BYU photo except for way more brown-haired people. Hee hee.

Wacky Me

The assignment was to do a blog (WENDY!) listing quirky things about yourself. I had a hard time with this one because I'm so normal...to myself anyway! But here's a short list. I'm not sure how wacky it is, but it certainly became a list of likes and dislikes. Your turn MB, KAREN S, and BECKY!

I prefer even numbers but my favorite number is 5.

I like 5 because it’s in the middle…like me…I do not have many strong opinions in one direction or the other…I consider myself a moderate in politics.

Mostly I don’t consider politics though. They annoys me. But I do vote faithfully.

I am not opposed to licking peanut butter off the knife.

I like cold green beans.

I like to make sure my bed gets made every day, because I hate to get into an unmade bed at night.

I sing a lot. I have a song for almost anything you say.

I didn’t say I sing well.

I probably should have had my tonsils out years ago. They get infected a lot.

I HATE to cook and clean. HATE it all! There is not one kind of cooking or cleaning that I don’t mind…except maybe organizing closets. I’m pretty good at that.

That does not mean that all of my closets are clean or organized.

I have an English degree that is wasted while I spend most of my day tutoring math. But I really like math.

I like math because it’s all about following the rules.

I follow most rules most of the time.

I think there is no educational value in word finds, but I like to do them so when my kids have one for homework, I do it for them. And I will tell any teacher or principal that I did.

Why did I have kids?

Two conversations from today:

Prince (as we are getting in the car): Can I drive?

Me: No.

Prince: But your driving scares me.

Me: Same back at ya!

I drove.


Princess: Mother, I am asking your sincerely to please don't "like" my status on facebook.

Me (to myself): Your status might be the only thing I like right now.

Yeah, I'm feeling the love.

Senior Pictures

Tyson had his senior pictures taken this fall, and his sister tagged along. She's too pretty not to photograph, so they got some cute ones together too.

This is the one that's going in the year book.

Hilarious!

That's a First

The prince--starting the second semester of his junior year--rode the school bus for the first time EVER yesterday. He has been on buses before: with Grandma on hers, tour buses, and buses to school sporting events and field trips. But he has never ridden the yellow bus to school. Until yesterday. The weather was such that we really, really didn't want him driving to the career center, and apparently his "I am the best driver known to man" testosterone fueled youthfulness also agreed with us because he rode the bus. He did forget, three hours later, that he had ridden the bus, and didn't leave early enough to catch the bus back to campus thus causing him to need to find a ride back in a hurry with someone who also was too cool to ride the bus, but he managed. I hope he rides again today, because there's more snow out there!

About "Paper Towns"

I gave "Paper Towns" by John Green two stars. It's a pretty good book. It is a Young Adult Fiction book about a high school senior who enlists the help of his friends to find his missing neighbor. I really liked the interaction of the 3 boys. They were witty and smart and sweet, all at the same time, but I thought much of the premise was far-fetched. And for the record, three band geeks NEVER become the cool kids the last month of their senior year. NEVER! It was a "pretty good" book.

Okay, I'll just say it...

I was so thrilled to see that the city has some guy out with a snowplow, plowing a jogging path while some of the main intersections are still without sand.

This will do your heart good.

I have changed the proper names in this story because it is not mine to share otherwise, but this did happen recently, and the student referred to graduated from our school. This is written by one of the referees at a basketball game. I hope your heart is smiling by the time you finish reading...and you may need to wipe away a tear or two...but they will be happy tears.

"I refereed a JV game last week, and it was a perfect game. I ref'd the Best Game I have ever ref'd. Did I miss some fouls,... of course, but it was the Best Game I have ever done. Did I miss a few travel calls during the game, perhaps, but it was a perfect game! Did I call a blocking foul when it was possibly a charge?... could of been, but I ref'd the best game I have ever referre'd... For you see it was not what I did or did'nt do that made this the Best Game and the most Perfect Game I have reffere'd, it was for another Reason. The Game was between the Cowboys and the Raiders, and there is an Athlete on the Cowboy's Team that made this the Best game I have ever Referee'd. Did he dunk the ball whenever he got and opportunity, nope, did he dribble the ball and pass the ball in a fashion that would rival any Basketball player in History..Nope. The player who I am talking about on Cowboy's team, goes by the name of Sam, and Sam has Downs Syndrome. Sam got into the game a couple times in the 1st and 2nd halves of the game, and dazzled the Crowd! Sam took a few shots, caught the rim each time, but never could find the bottom of the net. Then Sam got fouled on a 3-point shot and went to the foul line. Sam eyed the basket put up his shot and SWISH, buried it. Sam is in the Books!! He preps the 2nd shot, lets it go and it bounces off the front of the rim to the back, to the side, then just falls outside the rim... Close!. Sam has one shot left, he does his dribble puts the shot up and it's IN!! Sam jumps for Joy, the crowd is on its feet, his teammates are on their feet, the opposing team is on its feet, the opposing coaches are on their feet... my Heart is melting. You see Friends, Thats what made this the Best and Most Perfect Game that I have ever Referred!!"

We got "a little" snow.

It snowed Monday. It took a break for most of Tuesday. It started up again early Wednesday morning and snowed all day. Coming home at 3:30 the roads weren't great but the wind had been blowing so some patches were bare. Our driveway had a small drift on one side. The prince ran the snowblower. Good thing because about then it REALLY started to snow. I took these photos at 10pm. Though it doesn't look like it, there is at least a foot of snow on the bbq--probably more. And that doesn't include the snow that blew off earlier in the day. I don't know how much is out there, but I know it's a lot! In addition to all this fun, it's about 11* below zero right now. Schools are canceled in much of the area east of here for today, but not our school. So let's Rock-n-Roll people! But I sure wish I didn't have to walk across campus later today for a meeting! Oh, and one more thing, it's not done snowing yet!

Road Watch Update--Because you care

This morning, in the dark, near blizzard conditions, there was nary a snow-plow to be seen.

All Better

Judging from this picture, I'd say his arm is healed. Don't you agree? By the way, this is why they like to have guys on the cheer team. UPPER BODY STRENGTH! Notice how they can do a full arm extension to lift Alli, while the team in front of them doesn't? It also makes for cool formations like this one.

Winner and Still Champion!

Sparky wrestled again this weekend and pinned all three of his opponents for another great day. His mama was pretty excited and sent us some photos!

That's Sparky doing an impressive move--using leg to hold part and body to hold part--with his butt pointed at us.
WINNER!

Road Report Update

As I was coming home from work yesterday, there were 4--yes, FOUR--plows driving down Main Street, side-by-side, doing the other side of the street. I wasn't stuck behind them, which was nice, but I had to wonder why they needed four of them. Did they really need one truck just to do the turn lanes? And wouldn't if have been better to maybe have two of them on that road and two somewhere else in town. Because this was 3:30, and there are a lot of city streets, and this was probably only the 2nd time the road had been plowed all day, and it is a major route for emergency vehicles... I know what you're thinking. Maybe I should work in the city planning department. You could be correct!

Maybe it's just me...

Maybe it's just me, but I don't "get" city government. Two times this year, when there was no snow, I followed a snow plow down the street. Why was he out? There was no snow? Today, when there is plenty of snow, icy roads, and poor driving conditions due to falling snow, there is not a plow to be seen, and there clearly hadn't been for several hours. As soon as I hit county roads I was pleasantly surprised to see roads that had been plowed recently as well as sanded. What's up with the city? I know it's a holiday, but it's a holiday for the county too. And some of us do have to work. But maybe it's just me...

Handsome Tyson

Senior Picture.

He'll graduate in May!

These kids keep growing up too quickly.

Poor Baby

The princess has had the mother of all colds for the last week. She missed 1 and 1/2 days of school and 2 nights of dance. I think she's been as sick as I've seen her in years. Croupy cough, chest pressure, head full of gunk. But she's on the mend now. Yesterday she made it to ballet and then spent most of the rest of the day on the couch, playing games on her ipod. I really, really hope the rest of us don't get it. It's a bad one.

Team-building Exercise

Before the game yesterday (girls won, by the way!), the team had an early dinner and did this exercise in teamwork. Tied together, they had to peal and eat 8 oranges. The prince said it was pretty fun and good for lots of laughs.

Guess Who Lost His First Tooth!

SPARKY!

He Who Holds The Flashlight

Lakota said he's the best flashlight holder ever! Good thing he's taking auto mechanics next semester. Maybe he'll graduate up to tool boy.

New Year's Resolutions

There is a preschool in the building where the princess goes to ballet. The students posted their New Year's Resolutions in the hall. Among my favorites:

*Be nice.

*Sleep in my own bed.

*Learn about triangles.

You can learn a lot from a preschooler!

The Shirt

The prince needed a black dress shirt. Off he went, all by himself because he's cool like that, to Penney's to buy one--with his own money, because he's cool like that. I get a phone call from him as he's in the dressing room:

What size did you say I need?

Me: 17 or 17 1/2

Well I tried on a 16 1/2, but it's kind of tight.

Me: Because that's the size you have now that doesn't fit. Try a 17.

I did. It fits better. But I found a really good one for only $10. The only problem is that it's western cut and has snaps on the pocket.

Me: That won't work.

I know, but it's a really good deal AND it comes with it's own tie!

Silly boy. I'm glad he can spot a bargain, and to his credit, he bought the one he needed, not the REALLY GOOD BUY!

I love this whole "growing up" thing, when I'm not sobbing about missing my babies.

First Family By David Baldacci

I just read "First Family" by David Baldacci. I'm giving it 2 stars. It was pretty good. "Pretty good" means if you like thrillers/mysteries, you'll like this one. The niece of the president of the US is kidnapped. Two private investigators (formerly CIA) set out to find her. I had part of it figured out by 1/2 way through the book, which was kind of a bummer, and there was what I thought was an extraneous story-line about one of the agents which I didn't think was necessary. When I finished I really wondered why Baldacci had put in the story about the one agent but hadn't really developed the other agent. I thought maybe he had used these characters before, though this really didn't feel like a sequel. Sure enough, this is the 2nd book for these characters. Because I love a good thriller, I'll try to check out the other book from the library. Happy reading!

"Cookies"

This makes me laugh out loud. I would love to blow it up and hang it in my classroom by my computers, but I haven't found it online as a poster. If you look closely, it's not the "real" cookies monster. Happy Monday!

For My Mom :)

Kind of reminded me of: Dear Beer, I love you. Chuck

Lazy or smart?

Yesterday an 8th grader came to me with his (big) math book and his (small) grammar book. He needed help with both subjects. I asked which he wanted me to help him with because we would only have time to finish one. He looked at both books and then said, "Math."

I asked, "Why? Can someone at home help you more with grammar than with math?"

"No," he said, "My grammar book is lighter to carry home."

Safe Until 2015

Gotta love a little Back To The Future to kick off the new year!

Best Books of 2011

This year I read fewer books than last year--that whole less time on the computer, more time reading apparently didn't pan out, although I did blog less too. Must be life getting in the way. This year I gave 15 books my top rating (10 last year). Most of these books were books we read in our book club. Book clubs are a good thing! I do think that perhaps some of these books didn't deserve the 3* rating, because I really went back and forth on whether or not they should be 2* or 3*. It all lead to the conclusion that I must change my rating system so for 2012, I will implement a 4* rating. I have also decided that I will do a short review on each book I read, not just the top rated books, because what the heck? I've got nothing else going on! Happy reading in 2012.

2011 Books Ranked from 15-1

15. Mennonite In A Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
14. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
13. A Time To Kill by John Grisham
12. The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
11. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
10. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
9. Hester: The Missing Years of the Scarlet Letter by Paula Reed
8. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
7. The Client by John Grisham
6. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
5. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
4. Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
3. Molokai by Alan Brennert
2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

And #1 for 2011: The Help by Katheryn Stockett

Even as I post this I think I should move some of them around or even take them off the list. Does Grisham really deserve 3 spots on the list? Probably not. And the 19th Wife...the fact that it's such a great book to discuss doesn't really mean it deserves 3*, does it? Oh well. I'll just publish it and move on. But before I do I think our book club should read Molokai even though it's not in a kit. It's a really good book!

Who's taller?

The boys have known each other since they were about 2 and 3. The girls have known each other always. Christian and Daniel are a year younger than the prince and princess. We knew that eventually genetics would do it's thing and it happened this past summer...both Daniel and Christian are now taller than the prince and princess. Though the prince is trying to look as tall as Daniel, Daniel really has about 2 inches on him now. Christian has about 3 on the princess. This photo sort of brings a tear to my eye. Our babies are growing up. They are lined up from shortest to tallest...sorry princess. Don't worry. She's embraced her "petitness". At least the prince is still taller than Christian. That might change in a year or two.

The Outtakes

It was surprisingly difficult to get a good family photo last night. The prince, who is usually one of the most photogenic of us, was in goofball mode. I hope this is not an indication of the year to come!

Kind of looks like he was elbowing her.

Wait, how's my hair?

Get off me!

Put that booty away!
Please!

Rockin' The New Year

Last night we went to a hockey game (yeah! the Bulls won) followed by snacks and a birthday celebration as well as ringing in the new year at our house with our good friends the O's! We had a great time. One more "Happy Birthday" to Brian--there, I'm done now. He thinks all this birthday fuss is unnecessary...MEN. At least I have convinced the prince that birthday celebrations are a big deal and should be celebrated for about a month. Hey, it's a big deal if you're on this planet...think of all that could have gone wrong to thwart you being here.

Happy New Year everyone.

Many blessings to us all in 2012.

Pretty girls at the hockey game being chased by boys WAY TOO OLD FOR THEM!

The O's!

Happy, happy!