"Mom Rocks"

I was busy the other day and my kids came up to me with this "really cool" present for me. I obliged with their requests to try it on. I think it is so sweet that they made something for me and that they were so excited about it. I also think it really improves my overall appearance.

I must say that I would love to have a really skinny body like the one on the bag, however, the proportionality of the head to the body is a little disturbing. On a positive note, they were thoughtful enough to cut shoulder slits in the sides. Bravo work children!

Accomplishments -- Brad's style

After giving me a lot of flack over patting myself on my back, Brad came up with a list of his own accomplishments. He actually kept waking himself up at night laughing and thinking of more for his list. Enjoy!

1. I have never been able to keep a goldfish alive for longer than 60 days. I've tried five times.
2. In my 10 years of marriage, I have successfully gained weight every year.
3. I like quiche and I'm not afraid to publish it in a blog.
4. I successfully drove my car, with a gun in it, in and out of Mexico.
5. I was stopped by US customs on my way out of Mexico at which point I was frisked and partially molested by an over-zealous customs agent.
6. I have spanked each one of my kids in public and dared, through glaring, any spectators to say anything. Never has there been one comment.
7. I have officially been asked to leave an all-you-can-eat buffet at Sizzler. (They claimed they weren't kicking me out but towards the end they were serving three shrimp at a time with twenty minute intervals. They kept asking if we wanted dessert, to which we responded, "What makes you think we are done?").
8. Once I drank a whole 12-pack of Mountain Dew in one day.
9. I have eaten bacon alone as a meal.
10. I was officially kicked out of church basketball because I suck at basketball and I found they tend to discourage punching and kicking.
11. I have passed out from laughing.
12. I have never found a humorous moment in the show I Love Lucy.
13. I have never, ever, lost a wrestling match to one of my kids.
14. I am not afraid to admit that I am afraid of Chuck Norris
15. I have never, ever, worn a pink shirt, thus proving I am not gay.
16. One of my best friends in high school was black. This qualifies me as an expert in racial relations.
17. I once went 130 mph in a car.
18. I won the Arizona State Power Lifting Championship while having an allergic reaction to cream cheese and could barely breathe.
19. When our ward was desperate for a Webelos Leader, I promised our bishop that I would be a half-assed leader. I followed through with that promise for seven months until they released me.
20. I have somehow managed to stay self employed for almost 9 years.
21. My wife still stayed with me even though I am self employed.
22. I had a crew of homeless men helping me on my commercial paper route in return for a ride to the other side of town. They would ride in the back of my truck and do most of my work.
23. I worked for 13 months at a fast food restaurant. During that whole time I never revealed how much I didn't care about the customers' opinion of my food or service.
24. While working at the fast food restaurant, I made a hush puppy as big as a softball.
25. I am positive I invented the greatest breakfast cereal ever: frozen Oreo cookies with milk.
26. I am the only person I know whose piano teacher asked him to quit.
27. I played the trombone in elementary school for two years and it stretched my lips out to the point where they have never been the same since.

Fun at Penguin Park

Last Friday we went to Penguin Park in Kansas City for our playgroup. I had to go to the Lowes down there anyway so I was able to kill two birds with one stone. We took Jorja's friend, Lindsey, with us. This park is really fun because there are three main play areas, each designed for different ages. Then they have lots of giant animals. The penguin has a small slide, the kangaroo has a large internal slide, the large elephant has a jungle gym attached to it complete with a large tunnel slide, etc. They also have the BEST merry-go-rounds there. They absolutely fly and if the kids don't hold on tight they go flying as well!

Jorja and Lindsey on the baby elephant. What cute girls!

We went to this park last year with our family. It was a Saturday and there were two ice cream trucks there. We bought our kids some ice cream, even though it was a complete rip-off. Now, every time we talk about Penguin Park they think we are going to buy ice cream. Hmmm, they have a lot to learn!








Going down the big slide attached to the large elephant. It is pretty high up but no higher than the slides our kids go down at our local park. It is scarier just getting up to the slide than it is going down. Lindsey came down first and then she went with Jorja, who was scared to go by herself. They were having so much fun while Logan was stuck at the top, afraid to come down. It took him a while but as you can see, he ended up having a great time. I loved the static-y hair







Lindsey is such a cute girl. I kept trying to get a candid picture but she would slide down and then pose!













Going on the merry-go-round. I think they spent most of their time doing this. The little boy in the background is Max Shurke, another boy in our ward. He is only just two years old and has no fear. It was fun watching them have so much fun.

Logan playing on the fire truck. They rock back and forth and you can put a bunch of kids in the back. I bet the people who design these park toys have a lot of fun.

Ta-da!
I wanted a fun picture next to the giant giraffe and it took me a few times to get a decent one because they were all goofing off. But it was worth it! What cute kids!!! And what a fun day.

After Lowes we went to Sam's Club and ate free samples. While we were there I had all three of them in a shopping cart, all in the basket area. As we were walking down the isle, the whole front end of the cart collapsed. It was slow-motion-like so nobody was hurt. In fact, we had a good laugh at it. They all thought it was kind of fun. Logan even said, "Mom, let's do it again!" It was pretty much broken so we got a new cart and were off again! Then I took them out to Ci Ci's Pizza for lunch. That is my kids' favorite place to go. It is a pizza buffet. I like it because I don't have to pay for my kids' meals until they are four years old.

It's a Ribbit!!

Logan caught a frog, which he calls "Ribbits" in our yard a couple of Sundays ago. It is amazing the different things a frog can do when "prompted" by a new master! I don't know if this is the same one that has been in our yard all summer or not. But if it is, then it is a very stupid frog. We find it and release it moments before death only to find it again a few weeks later.

Last summer the kids caught a frog and made it go down our slide and into a filled blow-up pool. I bet that frog made that trip a hundred times, each time followed by a rip of laughter.

I don't know why my kids are obsessed with bathing with their new finds but it is all the rage in our household, especially among Jorja and Logan. Last year they bathed with their Halloween candy, which was great because most of their candy dissolved in the water instead of in their tummies and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen! The tub had a nasty chocolate ring around it and what didn't dissolve looked like poop. Good times.

There's my princess about to kiss her prince! I'm just glad she wasn't afraid to touch it!

Now isn't that the look of pure joy? I don't have to say anything else.













Oh what fun they had! Jorja wanted to get in the pool but she has some bumps on her torso that are contagious so we didn't let her. She was pretty disappointed but she still had a lot of fun.

Chinook Helicopter

A few weeks ago Jillian's school was visited by a US Army Chinook helicopter. I had planned to go and eat lunch with her anyway so we all were able to see the giant helicopter together. They were so much bigger than I had imagined; these are the vehicle transportation choppers. The special ed teacher's husband is one of the pilots and did this as a commemoration to Sept. 11th.



The children were able to go up by class to tour the helicopter and when they were called down, there was a mad dash!

















The inside of the Chinook from the back side. This helicopter had been to Afghanistan.

Jillian with her second grade class. She is the third from the right.

Jorja really wanted to touch the propellers. She thought she was such a big girl!

What I've been doing....

I don't think I've ever been as busy as I have been the last couple of weeks. My house is definitely suffering because of it! So, here is what I have been up to:

• Working with Brad. I have run errands, demolished a shower, helped him install drywall in a garage ceiling and helped him remove some flooring. The last was probably the hardest. It was some black work-out mats that were 4'x6' and at least 100 lbs each -- we moved 10 of them. We had to use pliers to grip them because they kept falling out of our hands. We couldn't use our fingers for a while. Brad was amazed at how strong I was. I told him I am "Strong Like Brenda" like my shirt says.
  

• Coaching soccer . This happens twice a week and then a game on Saturday. On Tuesdays I coach another team and on Thursdays I coach Jillian's team. It is an odd situation and I don't enjoy coaching the other team as well because I just don't know the girls very well but it works for now.

• Trying to figure out my blog. I'm going to put this on my list of accomplishments! It has taken me forever to figure out how to change it but I did it! Yippee!!
  

• Grocery shopping. This is never-ending and seems to take so much time!

• Cleaning my house. Even though I work on this in my "spare time" it still isn't clean. In fact, it is quite disgusting. I did, however, finally mop my tile. Right now we are working on controlling our fruit fly population. Apple cider vinegar and a fly strip is doing OK, but it hasn't completely eradicated those pesty bugs!

• Watching General Conference. This was especially awesome because President Monson announced that a temple will be built in Kansas City!
  

• All the motherly things like making meals, going over homework, supervising kids cleaning, settling arguments, laundry, more laundry, etc.

• Calling stuff like preparing for meetings, going to meetings, emails, etc.

• And of course talking with friends and family.

I finally got a nap in today. General Conference came just in time! I laid around all morning watched conference, took a nap, finally got dressed :) and then watched conference again. It was WONDERFUL to stay at home today. But it's back to work with Brad again tomorrow. I am hoping to be able to stay at home more this week.