FOR ALL THE MEN IN OUR LIVES WHO ASK, "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG IN THE RESTROOM?”

Ok I got this in an email and just HAD to share it…

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place.   

Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.   

Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall. 

You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants!

The dispenser for the modern "seat covers" (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty.   

You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but  quickly drape it around your neck,(Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on  the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume "The Stance."   

In this position your aging, toneless (Gosh I should have gone to the gym!!!) thigh muscles begin to  shake.   

You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold  "The Stance." 

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, "Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!"  Your thighs shake more. 

You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to  strangle yourself at the same time).That will have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail. 

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work.   

The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet.   

"Occupied!"  you scream,  as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of course.

You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper  -  not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try.   

You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom  never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear,  "You just don't  KNOW what kind of diseases you could get". 

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes.   

The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.   

At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat.   

You're e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d.   

You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket! And then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks. 

You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors .....so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still  waiting.   

You are no longer able to smile politely to them.   

A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe.  (Where was that when you NEEDED it??)  You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this".   

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom.   

Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?"

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with public restrooms (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!).  It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs.  It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse, and hand you Kleenex under the door! 

Send this to all women that understand what bonding in the bathroom is all about!   

A Friend Is Like A Good Bra...   

Hard to Find... Supportive.... Comfortable ...  

Always Lifts You Up... Never Lets You Down, or Leaves You Hanging,   

And Is Always Close To Your Heart!!!   

Share with anyone who needs a good  laugh!

Gift Ideas

Are you looking for a few Christmas gift ideas for that special someone? Or someone who is hard to shop for or seems to already have everything they want? Watch these short videos to give you inspiration… (turn off my awesome Christmas music first so you can hear the good info)

The Forever Lazy

The PooTrap

Booty Pillows

Handerpants

Nathaniel wants the Forever Lazy. And Felicia keeps telling me that we need the PooTrap for our dogs! HAHAHA

Have you heard of Fruitcake Lady?

oh. my. gosh. This lady is hilarious! Apparently this was on Jay Leno.

She reminds me of the “Shoebox” cards lady. You’ve gotta watch this (don’t forget to pause my playlist on the right first, so you can hear what she’s saying):

{warning – you may not want young ears around}

UPDATE: My Mom is doing very good! I saw her at the hospital last night for a little while. Her morphine has her making up funny stories and wanting to bust out of there & go home. LOL She was cracking us up as usual. It was good to finally see her much more awake and aware. She’s been in the hospital almost 2 weeks and majority of that time she has been in tons of pain, very uncomfortable, and unable to talk much or be herself. We can tell she’s feeling better because she’s suddenly worried about getting her Christmas shopping done and cleaning the house for the holidays. She really wants to eat – when she was able to eat, she just kept vomitting last week. They wouldn’t let her eat or drink yesterday. Hopefully today they will give her some liquids, then solids soon. She overheard some nurses talking about pizza in another room, and my Mom said if someone couldn’t get her at least some ice chips that she wanted to leap out of bed and hunt down the pizza and eat it all. hahahaa

She just had some x-rays this morning and now they’re waiting results.

Gotta go. I’m heading to my parents’ house to help get some cleaning done so my Mom can stop worrying. Plus my Brother’s coming in town tomorrow night, so we are ALL very excited to see him! Hope you have a safe flight, Spencer!!!

New Makeup

My Mom and I went to Ulta last night to get a little bit of new makeup. PLUS, they are having an awesome promotion. Check this out!!! {each pic is linked if you want to go see them}
So, I bought this Quad eyeshadow in browns called "Good Girl"

AND this mineral eyeshadow in Amethyst.

Then I qualified for the freebie above.

But, I couldn't resist this HOT PINK case full of awesome makeup!

Oh and the cashier gave us each one of these....

WOOHOOO!!!! Who doesn't love some free makeup?!!!!!

When I got home, Felicia couldn't wait to see what was in my big bag (it was only BIG because that HOT PINK case is good size). She kept asking if the makeup was for her, especially when I showed her the big PINK case. Her eyes lit up. hahaha Oh I had to let her down and tell her it was for ME. But being the nice Mom that I try to be, I put some of my new amethyst eyeshadow on her, blush, lip liner, lipstick, and bronzer (all but the eyeshadow were from the PINK case). She was tickled PINK that I had put *grown up* makeup on her!!!!

I took her picture & she showed Ben (he thinks she looks too grown up with makeup on).

She did her own poses, she likes doing this one like she's surprised or something. She's so cute!

Ok, she took a couple pictures of herself with her own camera and asked me to upload them on the computer so she could see them. Well, her camera has video too. And as we were looking at all her pictures together, we came across this video. She had taken this after I took her picture. She held the camera herself and taped herself in her room (probably looking in the mirror while she was doing it). If there is a mirror nearby, all my kids seem to talk to the mirror instead of me while still talking TO ME. LOL We were all laughing so hard. She was a little embarrassed but I told her it was so cute & SO HER!!! I asked her nicely if I could post it on my blog. She agreed. So, if any of you have a 10 year old girl, you may recognize this behavior, then again this was taped privately. Apparently this is how she behaves when NO ONE is looking! HAHAHA

**You definitely want to PAUSE my playlist - -> over to the right, so you can hear her!!!

Dance Off

Ok, this is for the Star Wars nerd fan in me.

This is funny!
{you'll want to *pause* my playlist over on the right first}

Star Wars Dance Off {part 1}


Star Wars Dance Off {part 2}


If you don't remember much about the movie Star Wars, here's a short recap:

She is soooo dang Adorable!!!

NO Cupcakes

Check out this dog when he's told he can't have these cupcakes {esp his eyes}.

I totally understand how he feels. I'd be staring at those cupcakes the same way if they were shoved in my face & they kept telling me NO get AWAY! hahaha

Ever try home waxing kits?

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - The epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax.

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: "Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet." So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom.

It was one of those "cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be! ? I mean,I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin aroundit tight and pull. It works! OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship.

I drop my under garments and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the one strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my *hoo-hoo* and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (Yes, it was a long strip) I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!! Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip.CRAP!!! Another deep breath and RRIIPP!! Everything is swirly and spotted. I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!There's no hair on it. Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip. I touch. I am touching wax.

CRAP! I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped up on the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

DANG!!!!!!!! I hear the slamming of a cell door. *hoo-hoo*? Sealed shut! Butt?? Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!" What can I do to melt the wax? Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!!

I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right??? WRONG!!!!!!!

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cement-epoxied myself to the porcelain!!

Thank goodness for the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter-

"So, my butt and who-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!"

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking cheeks or who-ha?"

She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

YEAH!!!!!
Right!!
I should be the joke of someone else's night.

While we go through various solutions. I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!

The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend.

It's sooo painful, but I really don't care. "IT WORKS!! It works!!"

I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up.

I successfully remove the remainder of the ! wax and then notice to my grief and despair....THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color......Now that's funny ......... Notttttttttt.

**Ok, so this isn't MY story. It did NOT happen to me. I got this in an email a long time ago and just came across it again. Freakin' Laugh-Out-Loud Hilarious, dontcha think? I did try those infomercial at home waxing kits {even epilady - don't even get me started on that insane torture device} with similar scream-out-loud results just not as dramatic and traumatic as this story! And I only tried it on my legs.**

Dad will NEVER say...

Top Ten Things You'll Never Hear a Dad Say

10. Well, how 'bout that?... I'm lost! Looks like we'll have to stop and ask for directions.

9. You know Pumpkin, now that you're thirteen, you'll be ready for unchaperoned car dates. Won't that be fun?

8. I noticed that all your friends have a certain "up yours" attitude ... I like that.

7. Here's a credit card and the keys to my new car -- GO CRAZY.

6. What do you mean you wanna play football? Figure skating not good enough for you, son?

5. Your Mother and I are going away for the weekend ... you might want to consider throwing a party.

4. Well, I don't know what's wrong with your car. Probably one of those doo-hickey thingies -- you know -- that makes it run or something. Just have it towed to a mechanic and pay whatever he asks.

3. No son of mine is going to live under this roof without an earring -- now quit your belly-aching, and let's go to the mall.

2. Whaddya wanna go and get a job for? I make plenty of money for you to spend.

1. Father's Day? aahh -- don't worry about that -- it's no big deal.

Webkinz

Do your kids have Webkinz? My kids have 3 each. They have been getting them for their report cards at the end of the school year & for Christmas {in their stocking}. Sometimes I play on their account to earn them kinzcash (points for buying stuff in their virtual world). Sometimes I play just because I like some of the games {and they get addicting - like Tile Towers, Goober's Lab, Cash Cow & Solitaire}.

Anyway, LOOK what I got today!
Zebras have ALWAYS been my fave animal and when I saw it advertised on Webkinz, I just had to have it. So, today I ventured to the Hallmark store and got one for myself. I made my own Webkinz account & named her Olivia.

See the fun things I got...errr I mean Olivia got! tee hee That stripey sports car is too cute!!! And how delicious does that stripey dessert look? Mmmm making me hungry :)

Ok, so it's offical, I'm a total dork! But I don't care! LOL

I'm off to play another game before it shuts down for the night (it closes for a few hours at Midnight EST).

What's been going on...

I snapped this pic a couple weeks ago. I had to record Ashley helping to wash dishes! LOL No really, she can be a great helper {when she wants to be}. She was showing Anson how to wash dishes, so they could do it together.


Felicia got rollerblades for Christmas and LOVES wearing them all the time! She loves using them to get to/from friends' houses. One day a couple weeks ago, she fell on the way to her friends' house and skinned her knee.

OUCH!!!! A day or two later, this is how I found her sleeping! Yep, she made a 'sling' for her leg. Pretty creative if you ask me! HAHAHAHA

Ok think we have already hit SUMMER weather. It's been at least 100 degrees for several days in a row. But a couple weeks ago, the weather was absolutely perfect! Especially the evenings, I enjoy leaving our backdoor & our bedroom door {to the patio} open all day. Well, one evening, I left our bedroom patio door open most of the night (the screen was closed). I got up around 2am and closed it. I won't be doing that anymore!

Look what we found in our bedroom the next night! A SCORPION!!! YIKES!!!

This is the FIRST time in my life that I have ever found one of these horrible things inside our home! It may as well be as BIG as these! That's how much I despise scorpions!!!
{remember Clash of the Titans? I hated those huge disgusting scorpions! but totally loved that movie}

Ben carefully picked it up and put it in Nathaniel's bug catcher so we could have a closer look at it. He also decided to get out the black light {we use it at Halloween} to see if it really glows. Those are grasshoppers in the bug catcher with the scorpion.

Now that is pretty cool! We watched it for a little while. Then Ben used the black light and looked around our room and our back patio. Then the scorpion needed to go to heaven {if that's where they even go. LOL}.

Ben went right to bed, I mean after all, it was late and he had to get up early for work. Ummmmm NOT ME!!! I had a hard time even stepping foot into our room. I had to go to the other side of the house {of course, turning on each light before I entered the room} and watched some episodes of my fave shows on the computer (our DVR didn't record them properly). I stayed up til almost 3am. Anson got up at one point coughing, so I let him sleep in my lap for a while. I was so tired, I finally got in bed, but not before I checked the room again. I may sound like a total baby, but I did NOT want to get stung!

Ok, so I finally fell asleep in bed. Ben woke me up a couple hours later when he was leaving for work to let me know that his truck had been broken into and his stereo was GONE! He asked me to please call & report it. I came outside to see his truck and to also see if my van was ok. Whew! My van was fine. Went back to bed. Got up a couple hours later to get the kids up & took them to school. When I got back, I decided to look around the carport and see if anything else was missing. Yep, they took Felicia & Ashley's bikes! Dang thieves!

I called to report everything that was missing. We've had our car stereos stolen before, called to report it, then that's pretty much it.

To our surprise, late that night, the police was at our door! They were asking if the car stereo in their hands belonged to us. What? You actually found it? Ben came to the door, NOPE that's not mine. They caught a couple teenagers (13 & 17) behaving suspiciously near a park. Turns out they had a couple car stereos on them. Well, after talking to them a while, they confessed to stealing several and described where they got them. Led them right to our house. But first, the cops made them tell about the missing girl bikes. They took the cops to the canal and showed them where they had dumped them! The cops made them feel really bad about breaking little girls' hearts! Anyway, the cops went back to the boys' house and retrieved MORE stolen car stereos. They found Ben's stereo! But the bikes can't be retrieved from the very full canal. :(

One of our neighbors is also a police officer, and he tried to help the next day. He saw our report & went to the canal site and called SRP to see if they would send someone to retrieve the bikes. NOPE. They drain the canal once a year in December/January, they can be fetched out then. Darn it. But I really appreciate our neighbor cop trying to help.

I went to see STOMP with some friends. Well, last minute someone couldn't go, so we brought Felicia with us. It was AMAZING!!! Felicia loved it too!

Last week, Ben & I went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was AWESOME!!!!!

Sunday evening, Anson snuck up behind me with the corn holders and told me he was Wolverine! He was cracking me up, so I told him to stand still so I could take a picture. He jumped on the couch {yikes! watch out for the leather! he was careful not to touch anything} and posed for me! Silly kid!!!

The kids really enjoyed the corn on the cob my Mom brought over on Sunday, so I bought more while it was still on sale. Nathaniel helped me shuck it. Awww sweet helper!

Mmmmm it was delicious! We still have some leftover to eat tonight too!

Jack in the Box

Have you seen this commercial?

Ben is obsessed with this commercial. He will stop what he's doing just to watch it. Then he'll rewind it to see it again, giggling the whole time.

{pause my playlist first so you hear it - the song is funny}



I'll admit, it is way CUTE!

The BEST Day Ever

Or is it?

First thing this morning I went to the dentist with Ashley for our teeth cleaning. It's always fun to feel the sharp pokey thing scraping your teeth! And to be reminded that I need a crown for one of my molars. Since I can't afford a beautiful shiny crown, the dentist recommended that I have my filling re-filled. So, they will drill out my filling that is chipped and then put in a new filling. Ashley has an infected tooth, so she needs it pulled. Wwe both go back on Monday to get our work done. YAY!!! NOT.

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I canNOT stand ANYTHING SpongeBob.

Why? UGH he is so ANNOYING to me! His voice especially drives nails into my brain. I honestly can't believe that show is still on.

So, you can imagine my DELIGHT when Ben shows me that he just downloaded THIS song (and THIS and THIS) for Rock Band 2. Now I get to listen to the kids singing those song over and over again. I have to admit that Anson was SO CUTE when he ran to tell me all about the newest songs and when he sang 'Best Day Ever' with the microphone. I think we may have to turn down the volume for these songs or I fear that my ears will begin to bleed. LOL

Ok onto something more fun. Yesterday we took the kids to the park to teach them to play basketball (half-court). Ben & I picked our teams, which of course went quickly because there aren't many to choose from. I ended up with the older kids and Ben had the youngers. Periodically, Anson & Ashley would take off to the slides leaving Ben by himself. Not like he needs more players but it was fun with all the kids. We ended up switching teams mid game, boys vs girls (the way the kids really wanted it). We had so much FUN!! The boys won 11-9. Then we played H-O-R-S-E. Ben & I kept giggling when the kids called each other by the letters they had earned. Nathaniel would say 'I'm a HO' and Felicia would say 'No you're not! You're a HOR and I'm a HO!' tee hee :) They kept asking what was so funny! HAHAHAHA We were dying! Anyway, it came down to Ben & me and I WON because Ben missed his last shot! WOOHOOO!!!!!!

It's Batman Day!!

Did you know that? hahaha

Anson is informing me that TODAY is Batman Day!!

What does that mean?

Well, according to Anson, it means it's HIS day & he gets to play on Dad's computer for however long he wants! He wants to play on Webkinz and a Batman game on Nickelodeon.

He is one funny boy!

Just like about a week ago or so, Anson woke Ben & I up telling us that he woke up sneezing. Then he had snots & had to use a tissue. But he also had a yellow circle thing on his hand called a Fling-Flong. Ummm...A...what? A Fling-Flong. Ok...did you clean it off with a tissue or wash your hands? YES. Uh-Ok.

He definitely has some interesting stories & explanations! HAHAHAHA

We got home from our camping trip last night. We had so much FUN!!!

Our spot was beautiful. The weather was perfect. We all had a wonderful time.

Have you ever noticed how like half the dirt from the campsite sneaks home with you? I made everyone leave their shoes at the door before entering our house, then slowly walk into the bathroom (so they don't drop more dirt in the house) and leave all their dirty clothes in the hall, so I can sort them to start the laundry immediately. The boys took a shower & got all squeaky clean, then it was the girls' turn. Ben rinsed the dirt off the car, then took the dogs in the backyard and gave them each a bath using his yummy smelling shampoo. Both our dogs are black, but due to the amount of ash at our campsite & dirt plus the creek they waded in constantly, they were brownish gray. Now they are shiny black again! Thanks babe, you're Awesome!

Dontcha just love that dirty smokey camping smell when you get home? No one seems to stink until we get home and realize how dirty we really are. HAHAHA I'm still doing laundry trying to get that nasty smell out of the house. Last night, I washed all the kids' blankets, their pillows, all the supposed whites (they looked more like brown & black from dirt sticking to wet socks from playing in the creek), our pillows, and all the jeans. Now I need to finish the rest of the clothes and the dog blanket.

I took a bazillion pictures. I need to upload my camera, then I can sort and share some.

Gotta go. We got back from church about an hour and a half ago, but I still haven't eaten a real lunch yet. If you don't count a small handful of peanut m&m's, 3 pieces of dark chocolate covered honeycomb (kind of like toffee) and 4 Cheezits. LOL

Anniversary, Birthdays, Bunko, Spring Break

Yesterday, Ben & I celebrated our 13th Anniversary! WOW I can't believe it's been that long already! And we dated for about a year and a half. Goodness! Look how YOUNG we look in our wedding photo!! And we thought we were so mature & grown up for barely being 21. HAHAHA

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BEN!!! I LOVE YOU so much! Here's to many more wonderful years with you!!!

Ok, now I'm going to back track a little. Since I haven't been posting regularly, I want to remember some of what's been going on these last 2 weeks.


My Mom had her Birthday March 3rd. I made her a beaded necklace, so I asked her to model it for me. I Love my Mom and couldn't possibly name all the amazing & wonderful things she has done for me. She has ALWAYS been there for me and I think she's the BEST!!! Hope you had a Fantastic Birthday Mom!!!

Our Little Bunny had her Birthday on March 6th! Now Ashley is 7. She also got to have her first sleepover. We let her choose one friend to come spend the night. They were so cute together!

I took this pic before she left for school. She is growing so fast, and keeps getting prettier & prettier!

Ashley blowing out her '7' candle. Suddenly I couldn't find all of our little candles to go with it.

She wanted a white cake with purple frosting and strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting. For the last several years, I've made the kids a cake and cupcakes, but they get special cupcakes just for them. I put numbers on their cupcakes 1 for each year. Ashley loved her 7 pink cupcakes!

Last week, we bought a football to teach the kids how to play. So, for Family Home Evening, we played football in our front yard {Girls vs Boys}. Can you guess who won?

GIRLS!!!!! 35-28! WOOHOOOOO!!!!! They were such CUTE little footballers! Ashley did NOT want to catch the ball at all, but she enjoyed running, blocking & sometimes throwing the ball. Felicia did great too, throwing, catching, running, blocking, tagging! You name it, she did it! The boys did good too, but apparently not as good as the girls! HAHAHAHAA

The main thing is that we ALL had a Blast and they want to do it every Monday now!

Felicia had to finish up one of her art projects at home and was upset and thinking it wasn't turning out the way she had hoped. When I asked her to show me, I was STUNNED!

Seriously, she thought this looked like crap! I had to give her a little pep talk and remind her that anything she makes could never look bad! She is talented!

Another one bites the dust....LOL Anson has been trying his hand at guitar on Rock Band 2 lately. I saw him practicing with the girls and couldn't resist capturing this! He was also swaying with the music!

Ummm who does he think he is going shirtless....Aerosmith? HAHAA

Really, he's good at drums & now he loves singing too! His faves are the heavy metal songs! Cracks me up!!! We're teaching 'em at a young age! tee hee :)

Here's my beautiful Spring garland that Jen helped me make! I didn't notice until after I hung it, but somehow during all our chatting and laughing (while making it) I mixed up the paper for the 'n' and 'g' so it's not consistent with the alternating pattern. Oh well, I think it's still beautiful!

Well, my FIRST time hosting Bunko went surprisingly smoothly. My sister was going to have all the kids spend the night at her place, but she had been sick so she cancelled. Then my Mom said she would have the kids over to her house for a while to watch movies then Ben could pick them up when they were done. YAY!! So we didn't have to worry about what to do with the kids all evening. Thanks MOM!!!

We all had a great time & laughed tons! Dinner was delicious (if I say so myself - hahaha). We had Hawaiian Haystacks {big THANKS to all who brought items}, Hawaiian sweet rolls {sorry I didn't make them, bought them from Fry's}, unusually large fresh strawberries, tropical punch {made by Alicia}, soda, and lemonaide cake for dessert.

Oooh and I won HIGH Score! WOOHOOOO!!!! Here's the prize I chose:

I guess everything didn't go exactly as planned. Somehow, I miscounted the door prizes and was short one. Sorry Alicia (how did we miss that???) I will get another prize for you! Apparently, I'm not the only one who has done that before. Whew! Guess that means I'm not the only dork in the group. LOL

Friday evening my Sister had leave work to go to the Emergency Room for a serious asthma attack. {I'm guessing it wasn't toooooo scary because after my Dad picked her up from work they stopped at Filiberto's on the way to the hospital to get some Mexican food since they knew they would be at the ER a while & would probably miss dinner. What the heck??? Always thinking about food - those two crack me up!} She was able to come home Saturday afternoon and is doing better. They sent her home with several medications and hopefully she'll be feeling better soon! Love ya SIS!!!!

Saturday started our SPRING BREAK!!!! No school (Ben's off work too) for a whole week! YAY!! We have needed a break. Feel like we've all been going and going like that cute little Energizer Bunny!

We all slept in Saturday morning. Dang that felt good! {Well, except for Ben, poor guy still had to work then he has a week off} To my surprise, Nathaniel & Felicia wanted to pull weeds!!! I didn't even ask them or anything! Ok, seriously, don't judge...Ben pours weed killer around our pool every year but it doesn't seem to help with these monster weeds! They seriously pop up overnight and double in size daily!

Nathaniel and Felicia came running in the house and told me to 'come quick & bring the camera'! They were excited to pull these bad boys & kept assigning names according to the size of their roots! Apparently, this was a 'General' because the root was big and thick! HAHA

They had a name for each one they pulled, but I can't remember them now. They are funny!

Nathaniel is out there again today pulling more weeds.

My best friend, Karyn, sent me a gift card for Old Navy and a couple coupons last week. So I went shopping Saturday evening with Felicia and bought a few things for me! Thank You Karyn for the late birthday gift! That kind of gift is welcomed no matter how late!!!! ☺

Ooops this turned out way longer than I wanted. If you made it this far, Kudos to you! And Thanks!

Have a wonderful week! And if you're on Spring Break too, then have a FUN & SAFE Spring Break!!!

Leaving you with this funny video that reminds me of something Ashley would do. She also thought this was HILARIOUS!!!

Things You Don't Say to Your Wife...

Oh my goodness! This is HILARIOUS!!!!

Good for a little chuckle...

GAMES FOR WHEN WE ARE OLDER
1. Sag, you're It.
2. Hide and go pee.
3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear.
4. Kick the bucket
5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over.
6. Musical recliners.
7. Simon says something incoherent.
8. Pin the Toupee on the bald guy

PONDERISMS
1. Garden Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
2. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
3. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
4. Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
5. In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
6. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
7. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out?'
8. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
9. Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if he's going to look up there anyway?
10. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

But Most Of All, Remember...
A Good Friend is like a Good Bra. Hard to Find, Supportive, Comfortable, and Always Close to Your Heart!

Kindergarten, FREE with Purchase & SALE

Not too much going on lately, but somehow I'm staying busy. It's probably the {extended} family drama. It's annoying & takes so much out of me!

On a good note - we got Anson registered for Kindergarten this week. He is so EXCITED!!! We opted for the all day class but due to huge budget cuts coming up (decisions haven't been finalized yet) we may not know until school starts if he will be all day or half day. All my kids have done all day class, so we really wanted him to be able to do that too. Plus if all the other kids ride together in the morning, why not ride together coming home. {they ride their bikes} Whatever happens, he will be thrilled. I'm a little sad to have my baby going to school soon. He's not in preschool and I've really enjoyed having our special time together! He's my little partner in crime! tee hee :)

Kids just need to STOP growing up! LOL

This morning while the kids were getting ready for school, Felicia was having issues on what to wear. Usually they get their clothes ready the night before, but for some reason, she said she didn't have ANY pants to wear. What? I just gave the girls a stack of clean jeans on Saturday! She said most of hers were capris and didn't want to wear the other 2. {we were having this discussion while I was still in bed this morning} Nathaniel told her to wear her blue pants because {the boy she likes} will be attracted to her! HAHAHA Ok, I think he's a little young to be giving advice like that! But her blue pants are CUTE! I told her we don't get dressed just for a boy! {she doesn't need to worry about that for a while} She decided on the blue pants and she looked great! YAY crisis over! LOL Really she looks FABULOUS no matter what she wears!

Today Anson gets his staples out!!! WOOHOOO!! Hope it doesn't hurt him. He won't let anyone touch his *owie head* {his words}. It looks a lot better. I think it's a thick scab. Hopefully it's healing properly and will be all better soon!

I have been having MAJOR allergies lately! Anyone else having the same problem? I wake up with puffy, burning, watery eyes and sneezing! UGH! I've been taking my Allegra-D but it's taking longer than usual to *kick in*! Most of the time I only need to take my morning dose, but now I think I need the evening dose too.

Guess my allergies don't even compare to all the people without electricity in the states with the BIG ice storms! Not only is it FREEZING outside, but they don't have any power or heat inside! Brrrrr. Hope they can all be safe & warm!!!

We've been having some chilly evenings & mornings, but we also had some really gorgeous days recently. So, with thoughts of warmer weather....

I made this Add-on to my kit PLAY. Want to know how you can get it FREE? Keep reading...

***NOTE***
This addon is FREE with purchase of the kit PLAY during Jan 25th - Jan 31st. To get this addon FREE, simply purchase the full Kit PLAY between Jan 25th - Jan 31st. Send me a copy of your invoice {my email address is listed in the TOU inside the kit}. Once I receive your invoice, I'll send you a COUPON to grab this addon FREE.

And these kits are still on SALE - My Girl collection & PLAY

These are also the kits being used in The Great Exchange Challenge at DSO {DigiScrapObsession}. Make a mini-brag (wallet/trading card 2.5x3.5 inches) size QP using PLAY or MY GIRL kits, and you get a copy of all the QPs that get made in the challenge! Better hurry if you want to join, these challenges end on Saturday. Then February's challenges will be up.

Oooops Sorry! This post turned into a long one. If you're still reading this - You're crazy but THANKS!! tee hee :)

one more thing.....Ooooh I'm happy because my Sister and I are having lunch tomorrow! We haven't done that in months! Can't wait to see you sis :)

Who Needs Pockets?

Oh my gosh! This is THE FUNNIEST thing evah!




Totally reminds me of my own kids! My kiddos figured out at an early age that you could use your undies/diapers for pockets or holsters or whatever! hahahaha

Right NOW & How to get rid of Flies

In case you were wondering...
this is what I'm doing right NOW! {well ok took off my mask to type} Playing Star Wars clonetrooper with Anson. I'm the one in the red mask {because according to Anson...blue is for boys & red is for girls!} LOL Not really sure what the kids have done to the masks but I could hardly see thru mine plus it had a weird smell. Eewwwwww!

Ben was at his sisters' apt a couple days ago and while he was there, look what he caught & brought home for Nathaniel!

A super cool Preying Mantis! Isn't that awesome?!!!! Way to go BEN!!! As soon as Nathaniel saw it, he ran to get his bug catcher while giggling with excitement! hahaha

Oh then yesterday, Nathaniel caught a fly & put it in the bug catcher for the mantis to eat. Nathaniel barely told me of the lunch he gave it, then ran back into my room screaming "MOM!! MOM!!! LOOK!!! LOOK!!! It's HOLDING THE FLY!!!"

He set it down so Anson & I could see, then we saw the coolest thing happen!

HE took a BITE!

I had to run for my camera! This is so picture worthy!

Ben walked in & got to see him take the last bite & lick his *fingers* clean! LOL

{please excuse the not-so-clear photo - the bug catcher is clear plastic but kinda dusty on the inside from the previous geckos! Nathaniel likes to catch geckos, play with them a couple days, then release them. I also cropped the photo so you can see his head better}

You should be able to click on the photo to see it larger! hahaha

Ok I know we're kinda dorks but we think bugs are cool & bugs-eating-bugs are even COOLER!!! tee hee :)

Oh hey, gotta go. Need to pick up kids from school!

Crazy Fun Week

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since Sunday evening! WOW!

Here's the week recap:

Monday was pretty good. Felicia planned our whole Family Home Evening (FHE) for that night. She wanted to talk about Baptism and the Sacrament. I helped her only a tiny bit because she wanted pictures to go with her lesson, so I got them out for her. She did GREAT! We all discusssed her lesson & she asked questions & we played a little game! She's a really good teacher/leader! She also planned a little time for Ashley to show off some of her most recent art! Ashley was so excited to do that!

Tuesday my back was FINALLY feeling better! I went to the gym with Alicia & worked our butts off! Oh and Ben actually joined us to check out the class we were doing. He's not a big fan of the classes, but tried it for me. He agreed that it was a good workout, but he probably won't do it again. After the gym, I was off to Barro's for lunch with Anson & friends. He enjoys going there.

Oh oh - and I have exciting news - my SIL Heather (and her son Trevor) moved back! So Ben went to the airport to pick them up & spent most of the day at his Mom's house with his sisters.

Dinner time was super funny! We were ALL laughing hysterically at the table, Ben was even spitting out food from laughing so hard! HAHAHA We were talking about *cooties* and remembering what kids we thought had them when we were in grade school. It was the worst when we had to do square dancing in P.E. and I did NOT want certain boys to even touch my hands! Eeeewww! Part of it was to tell Nathaniel not to be gross at school cuz then the girls won't like him! LOL Ben told me that he was probably one of the gross kids & I wouldn't have liked him if I had known him when we were younger!

That night Ben and I also got to meet Ashley's new teacher. The classes were pretty big so they just hired a 4th teacher and Ashley got moved to the new class this week. She was actually pretty excited about it. Her new teacher seems really motivated & has some great ideas for the kids. We also talked to the teacher she had been with this last month. She was sad to lose Ashley & she said she was doing GREAT! Then we got to have a little key lime cheesecake for dessert! It was delicious!!

Wednesday we went to the gym again and Ben tried the different class with us again. He liked it but again probably won't go again, he'd rather do his own workout. I'm just glad that he checked it out with me. It was fun having him there too. And boy was I sore after 2 days of full body workouts. That's what I get for layin' around all last week because of my stupid back spasm!

Nathaniel & Felicia have had several orchestra classes now and are still happy to be trying it out.

Umm I think this was the night of the 15 minute burst of rain. It was pretty cool. I went to see my Dad to pick up some more fresh peaches & Nathaniel called to let me know that it had rained about 10 inches (in case I didn't know). HAHAHA Ok, Arizona maybe gets 10 inches in one year! LOL He's too cute!

Thursday (which is still Today for me even though I'm typing this really late at night) was fun! I got to spend lots of time reading books with Anson. He brought me a stack of little Nemo books (ok these are Phonics books and consist of maybe 4-5 pages with one or two sentences on each page - they're for beginner readers). There are 13 in the set, but I think one was missing. He is a HUGE Nemo fan so he just loved these. He hasn't let me read very many stories to him. He likes to look by himself. So this was kind of exciting. I didn't make it to the gym because we were having a sweet *moment* even though it lasted almost 2 hours. He wanted me to keep reading & keep reading another then another then another! HAHAHA I LOVE spending time with him while the kids are at school. I have to take what I can get because he'll start school next year.

Friday is BUNKO!!! Need I say more?! LOL

Allright this turned into a novel. Gotta get to bed, so I can get some work done tomorrow. My house is trashed but I had a GOOD day with Anson (and Nathaniel, Felicia & Ashley once they got home from school)! YAY for happy good days!!!