I scream, u scream...

We all scream for

ICE CREAM!!

I love Sunday afternoons when we break

out the ice cream after dinner.

I know, three cartons of Cookies 'n Cream.

It's called a week supply around here.

On a completely different note.

Tyler had to do a project for school and used this picture.

I'm just curious...exactly what was the project?

We had a lot of Daff dog drama yesterday.

Spence & I were ready to give the creature away...

and said as much.

Maddie was not pleased as you

can see by the note she stuck on her door.

I think there's even a tear smudge.

This girl loves her pup.

While the cat's away...there's drama all day

The last few days have been un-stinkin'-believable!!

The first of my exciting news is....

I'M A COLLEGE STUDENT!!!

woohoo! I'm taking music appreciation for my humanities requirement and interpersonal communication for my speech requirement....

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL...

pictured below are $265 worth of books...yup. two books.

Then I discovered this beauty in my poop room downstairs...

apparently B & B Works air fresheners

MELT the paint off of your cupboards.

Hmmmm...would have been nice to know.

On Saturday (sorry no photos - I was too freaked) there was drama .

First, I woke up at the crack of dawn to take Spencer to the airport

for his TWO WEEK trip to Stockton, California.

Then, after running kids around hither and yon for hours, I came home to find that the PIPE to our spa had EXPLODED in these sub-freakin'-zero temps that we've been having in HOUSTON. Is it supposed to be in the low 30's for weeks at a time????

No. I don't think so.

Huge fountain of water spraying 7 feet in the air for HOURS. Big water bill a comin'.

Thank goodness for nice neighbors...and tender mercies....it didn't happen in my house.

We were able to shut it off.

Oh, and did I mention?

SPENCER IS OUT OF TOWN?!?!?

The next joy was when a FULL bottle of DOWNY, mmmm April Fresh,

got violently overturned and spilled in, around, under, and on my washer and dryer

and anything in the near vicinity.

That was lovely.

Who did it, you ask? According to everyone here,

"It just fell off the washer." Huh. Imagine that.

At least it doesn't smell like dog in there anymore.

Another tender mercy.

That evening I BUZZED Rydger and Kyle's hair.

Way. Way. Way. Overdue.

They looked AWESOME until...

Rydge came home from school Monday with

his improvements to his BUZZ.

The child has a BALD spot.

Two BALD spots to be accurate.

That night (still Saturday) Tyler came home from his buddy's house

and told me he'd been STABBED. Are you kidding me?

Sure enough - there was an 'accidental stabbing' of his hand.

It was Dang deep. Couldn't get the thing to stop bleeding for two days.

He's okay. I just told him to buck up.

And of course,

SPENCER IS GONE!
Sunday morning, I woke up, pressed clothes
(Spencer I missed your ironing skills!!!)

and got the troops off to church so that I could be

set-apart as RELIEF SOCIETY PRESIDENT

in our new ward.

Yes. I laughed too. After I regained consciousness.

And did I mention...

SPENCER IS GONE????

I hesitate to go on... it's just too much, right??

Monday morning I went upstairs to wake up the kids and I felt COLD air coming from the vents. As afore-mentioned, it's in the 30's here - in the low 20's at night.

WHY WHY WHY is the air conditioning on????

I stressed all day ( in between cleaning and getting ready for the stake rs pres to come orient me) and finally called my neighbor down the road to come and take a look at the thermostat. I'd pushed too many buttons ....it was all gibberish to me at this point.

Sweet neighbor came, and in two minutes had heat blowing out of the vents.

Sorry for the big A/C bill in December, Spencer. Apparently you have to change the setting from 'cool' to 'heat'. Huh. What do you know?

But he didn't have to worry about it much,

cause...

SPENCER IS GONE!!

The last of this little drama was while spraying Clorox Cleanup in an attempt to clean the toilet downstairs. I noticed when I squeezed the trigger, the nozzle was spraying in all directions. I looked around...it didn't hit the shower curtain or rugs.

Whew. Dodged a bullet.

Bathroom clean...check.

The stake rs pres arrived just as I finished. As I answered the door I looked down at my NEW Christmas sweatsuit and saw HUGE bleached out spots all over my legs.

Nice impression. Carumba.

Let this be the end of the drama this week.

I'm heading to CA on Friday morning to BE GONE with Spencer for the weekend.

Ahhhh....

RANI IS GONE!!!

PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm freakin' out!!!

I changed my background and

LOST ALL MY LINKS

to your blogs!!!!!

Please, please send them to me!

I'm WAY too ADD to remember what they are!

Thanks, peeps!

Dang Daphne

How can someone as cute as this....

Do this....

And this?????

I know.

Go ahead. Say it.

I told you so.

Downy Fresh

The stockings are gone.

The tree is so bare...

And there's MOUNTAINS of LAUNDRY

piled high in the air!!!

Why is it when the kids are home for break I struggle

keeping up with the stinkin' (literally) laundry???

I usually fold as I go...today I took down Christmas

in between loads.

I hope I have a good LONG movie to watch while I fold.

Not pictured: two loads of towels, load of jackets, load of whites.

It's over.

(The pictures loaded out of order and I'm WAY too lazy to re-load.)

In our family we have a tradition.

After we open gifts, we go to Denny's for breakfast.

On the way to said breakfast, as part of that tradition,

I can always count on my Christmas Loving Husband to sadly sigh,

"It's Over."

So much hype and excitement. Over in an hour.

But it really was a goody this year.

Below: We went to Gigi and Bub's for they afternoon.

SCORE! But better than the gifts were the company.

I SO SO SO SO love living near my family!

(and yeah- that huge gold wrapped gift is MINE!)

Here is my babe in his Christmas morning position with his new friend Daff.

Santa was stupid this year. He brought a bitty bike for my big boy.

Thank goodness he kept the receipt.

Didn't seem to matter tho.

Rydge was totally distracted by his stocking and forgot all about it.

I love my little OCD, line things up in a row, kid!

Kyle's dreams came true with a Rip-Stik and Madden '10.

I wonder if he got the subtle hint with the

deodorant, AXE, toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss in his stocking?

My non-smiling brace face.

Santa brought him "a sport camp of your choice".

He's pretty psyched.

But I think, as always, the new boxers were his favorite.

Lulu got her Christmas wish.

The Justice papasan.

It doesn't really match her room decor...

but we'll work with it :)

Hayley and Lulu loving their new

animal pillows from Gigi.

A Christmas memory. Rydge got a nerf gun from Kyle.

Shea got a rubber chicken for his pup, Petey.

The rubber chicken became the target for the Nerf gun.

I hope Uncle Shea is a good aim, Rydge.

It was so great hearing from so many of you this Christmas!

We love you and hope your day was marvelous.

Here's to a WONDERFUL New Year!!

Mom caved.

My critters have been begging me for a pup

since Hobbes died five years ago.

Being the sensitive, loving mom that I am

(and taking only five measly years to make

my peace with this anxiety filled change)

I finally caved in.

Meet Daphne -

affectionately known as "Daff".

She's a 2 yr. old dachshund/beagle mix
She's sweet, snugly, soft and lovable.

And she better NOT pee ANYWHERE in my house!

Merry Christmas, Kiddos!

The Week Is Over

What a week.

I'm super pooped.

I think my lip is even drooping.

Here's to a GOOD night's sleep!

Casper Strikes Again

I'm not one who normally feels

the need to photograph toilet paper.

However, the mystery entity that

does no good around here -

the no-gooder, or do-badder,

has struck again.

The guest bath ran out of toilet paper.

There was one spare roll beneath the sink.

This is what I found inside the

cardboard tube of the new roll of paper.

Red Sprinkles.

3/4 GONE.

Seriously?

I just don't get these people.

Photo Shoot

We had a thoroughly DELIGHTFUL

photo experience yesterday.

My goal is to get ONE decent pic of each kid

just ONCE a year.

Is that too much to ask????

Kyle definitely thought so.

The 'flash' delay gave

him way too much creative leeway.

Seriously, dude. You're ELEVEN!
For. The. Love.
This child challenges me to no end.

And NO. I never got a decent shot.

Guess I'll try again next year.

Portrait of Me

Rydge asked me for a suggestion of

something he could draw during church.

I whispered to him to draw a picture of me.

This is the remarkably life-like result.The likeness is uncanny.

This kid has serious potential.

Dontcha think?

Christmas LOVER

Spencer won't let me take his picture.

I had to sneak this one.

This man is CUH-RAZY about Christmas.

We've been listening to holiday tunes for two weeks.

He comes home every few days with a new

Christmas decoration for the yard or house.

He just couldn't WAIT to put up our new tree.

Since our ceiling is like 100 feet tall,

we said adios to our 11 year old,

put lights on manually tree and we bought

a pre-lit 9 footer this year.

( I couldn't find a 100 footer anywhere.)

He's a BIG CHRISTMAS LOVIN' KID!

As a matter of fact, he's outside as I type,

putting up Christmas decor IN. THE. RAIN.

I love that fool!!

Weekend Fun

Warning : Many photos...

Tyler had his first piano recital on

Friday night. Here he is getting

in ONE last practice!

He did an amazing job.

He's only taken for a year,

but you'd never know it!

Thanks for your support

Gigi & Bubs!

Saturday we headed to Galveston to

watch my sweet sweet niece compete

at JAMFEST! Cheer competition.

Hayley's team did an amazing job.

They work SO hard!!

It's a whole 'nother world!

Spencer loved jammin' to the

loud tunes!

Here's all the fam fans!

Hayley's performance was flawless!

So glad we finally got to see the 'real thing'!

Here she is!

LOVE this girl!!

(I think the bow needed to be a

little bigger, tho :)

After the competition, we headed to the beach.

The weather was perfect!

And the kids swam, of course.

There were actually WAVES.

That's a rare occurrence.

The Rydger loving life.

Crazy kids!

Love the grafiti'd seawall in

the background. Only in Galveston.

Scary to think of that underwater

during IKE.

Gigi posing.

Mermaid?

Kyle buried in the sand.

Ready, set, hike!

Lulu's turn.

Great weekend!

Thanks Elmers!!!

God Bless the USA

Kyle had an assignment for Social Studies to research and make a poster of a family member (friend, acquaintance) that served in the US Military.

He wanted to honor my Uncle J. and he made a really nice presentation.

I've been thinking the past couple of days how darned blessed we are to live in this country. (Even if it's being run by some less than desirable leadership.) I've felt overwhelmed with the sacrifices made by so many who fight for our freedoms as well as the sacrifices made by their families.

My mom's brother, Uncle J, made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life serving in Operation Desert Storm. At 27 years old he left behind a wife and three kids and a lot of family and friends that loved him. He died for a country he honored and loved.

As I contemplate Veteran's Day, (and all of my loved ones who have served and do serve in the US Armed Forces. See Gigi's blog on my blog list to left.) I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't somehow pay tribute and recognize those that serve this country and fight to maintain the freedoms we all take for granted. I know this is the promised land and I'm filled with a gratitude beyond words to live where I do and worship how I will.

Uncle J wrote a letter to me that I received after I'd learned of his death. At the end of his letter he said simply "I really miss trees. There aren't any trees here. Hug a tree for me." I'm not going to take all of these Houston trees for granted today. They are getting hugged! In memory of J and all those who have served and do serve and sacrifice in my behalf.

Thanks Veterans!