Toys

Think he likes the frisbee that Santa brought him?

First, you gotta' love God, then ...

Open house for Cooper last night. A little disappointed there were no handprint turkeys.... but some good work nonetheless.

Including this little gem.

The kids had to write the kind of person they hope to marry one day.

Hey fourth grade gals, wanna' catch Cooper's eye?

It's pretty simple....

"I would like a Christian.

I would like a WWE fan.

I would like a good girl.

I would like an awesome girl to go to church with."

*sniff*

OK, weekend plans?

A little Friday night lights tonight -- Semi-final playoff game! GO LIONS!!

Putting up Christmas stuff tomorrow...

College football. Of course.

Peace and love, my cupcakes.

See you Monday.

Like

So I pulled the ol' Barbie dolls out since they resurfaced while we were cleaning out the attic.

Connie and I used to really play us some Barbies.

Just looking at the cases makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...




Now, way back in the 70's, the decor of this room was beyond cool. And I'd like you to take special note of the homemade lamp on the little table. Yes, it's a spool and a nut cup. Barbie Creativity at its finest.

Barbie with the wild hair wearing the glittery gold evening gown and her lovely brown coat with white fur. I think Mom actually made that little dress. Yes, she used to sew Barbie clothes for us. And that used to be a Barbie Pet Poodle but now it looks like a Barbie Pet Llama.

Sleeping on the blow up bed in the Mom-made sleeping bag.

Good times, people. Good times.

If you need me this weekend, I'll be at a volleyball tournament. But you probably already figured that out.

Ciao!

Boys.

I had the fun, enlightening, and entertaining experience of eating lunch at school with Cooper and his friends yesterday. Usually we eat at the "special table" (which is just parents and kids), but yesterday he wanted me to sit with him at the "regular table". The members of the "regular table" are five eight-year old boys.

Now, if you haven't hung around eight year old boys lately, let me tell you, you are missing an experience.

Our topics included....

....peeing, pooping, burping, and tooting....

And words that rhymed with those words.

And other words for those words.

And songs made out of those words.

And knock-knock jokes about those words.

They had just learned the cursive letter "a" that morning and Billy proudly said "Now we know all the letters to write fart."

Awesome.

They did crazy things with grapes and pretzels.

Including pretending grapes were eyeballs.

And karate chopping the pretzels.

When they started talking about weiners, I said, "Boys! There is a lady present!"

That's when Zach and Carter turned completely around on the bench TO LOOK FOR THE LADY.

Ahem!

Excuse me....Here I am.....

Then, I got something called "The Cheese Touch" ... which is apparently the modern day version of Cooties. Something from Diary of Wimpy Kid I think.... I'm still a bit unclear by it, although I was told that if you have your fingers crossed you cannot get The Cheese Touch. And if you keep The Cheese Touch for two years, you will die. OK, good to know. It was odd, because they didn't want The Cheese Touch, yet they DID want The Cheese Touch. They all got pretty upset when I said I was taking The Cheese Touch with me back to work. Don't worry, people. I successfully passed The Cheese Touch on to Barrett on my way out.

There was a lot of bonking each other with water bottles, sucking ketchup straight out of the packets, laughing their heads off, and just making a big ol' mess.

But they were hilarious.

And precious.

OK, except for the weiner part....

Loser leave town. Or at least pick up your toys.

There's been a little wrestling going on at my house this summer....

An odd tag-team match between a "real'' wrestler, Batman, The Joker....and two construction workers....

Aha! It's apparently a Money in the Case Ladder Match....

Because THIS is dangling from my ceiling fan over the ring....
(And yes, that is the Batmobile parked in front of my fireplace...)



Nothing like a little WWF decor to spruce up a home.

It was a par-ty

The Captain and Cooper hit the links last week.

Check out this future super-star.....
I love it.

The stance....

The approach....

The outfit.....

The shoes....

And the SpongeBob SquarePants golf ball.....




And how about picture....

Me: "Cooper, I love the picture of you down on your knee checking out the hole."

Cooper: "Mooommmm, that's called reading the green."


FORE!!

Have a good day people.

And now she's a teenager....

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Taking it to the hoop

In celebration of the Final Four and the championship game...

...and as a salute to the craziest March Madness ever...

...and as a big WOOT that Kentucky is out of the tournament...

...take a look at this hoopy playing poochy. And, yes, this video was provided by Connie. Who loves all things doggie.

MawMaw Eva

I saw this obit in the paper yesterday.

And yes, I read the obituaries.....
Seriously, this lady lived to be 111. ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN.

That means she was born in 1899.

And check out all the limbs on her family tree. And those are just the ones that are still living.

1 sister.

7 kids.

54 grands.

153 great-grands.

94 great-great-grands

13 great-great-great-grands

That's 322 family members. Mercy me. That's just....Great. And Grand.

Think about how big their dinner table must be at Christmas. Guess they have to rent out a big fellowship hall thing. And surely they draw names for gifts.

I told Bingmama we should go to this lady's funeral.

She said we had better get there early cause there won't be a seat!



In other news....

I have been a day ahead of myself all week and I almost wished all of you a good weekend.

Oh well, whatever day it is, make it a good one.

And fire up the brackets cause basketball starts back up tonight. Yes!

Spring can't be far behind

St. Louis. Day Dos

Day 2 of the St. Louis trip....

Today's itinerary takes us to the City Museum, the Science Center, Union Station and Hard Rock Cafe.

In other news...

Happy Birthday to the Captain! (I love you and I'm sorry I'm away on your birthday....)

And to my Nephew T. who is officially a teenager today!

For your viewing pleasure today...

Check out this little video. This will make you smile. I promise.

This is the description that was posted with the video: An elderly couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year. Check out this impromptu performance. We are only as old as we feel, it's all attitude. Enjoy! They certainly do!

And seriously people, how cute is it when they pat each other on the rump.

Lucky Girl

Comin' home

Last week, my kids met me at the back door with this...

And this...

They led me to this...

It came with this...

And this...

And this...

Oh and they brought me this...

(Yes there are crackers under there. Three of them. With an entire can of "spray cheese" as Cooper calls it. OK, so his ratio is a bit off cause boy gets carried away with that squirty stuff. But it's the thought that counts.)

And I did this....

It was precious. And thoughtful. And pure bliss.

I'm in love...

....with him....and his itchy nose....

Smile

I love this. Have a happy day people!

My favorite Halloween story

Like any other kids, on Halloween, Connie & I could. not. wait. to get out there and start trick-or-treating. We would practically INHALE our dinner so we could hit the streets. After dinner, Mom would stay home to answer the door for our own trick-or-treaters. Daddy would accompany us on our candy seeking mission. Ever the dutiful Dad, he would stand down on the sidewalk while Connie & I, clad as who knows what, would trudge up to the front doors and do our Trick or Treat spiel. These were the days, people, when we would just go and go and go. From neighborhood to neighborhood to neighborhood. Go home, dump the loot and head out again. Good times.

OK, on to my favorite Halloween story. (At this point, I am betting that Mom and Connie are already laughing out loud as they read this....if they even made it past the title.....)

So here we go....Daddy, Connie & me. Armed with orange plastic pumpkins. Seeking chocolate treasures.

We notice a little dog following us as we walk down the street. Fine with us. He's just trotting along. Not really bothering anybody or anything. Obviously having a fine canine Halloween evening. At this point, we are not even in our neighborhood. So we don't know whose dog it is. But whatever. We're in it for the candy. Dog's not bothering us.

Connie & I go up to a house and ring the doorbell.

(Seriously right now I am laughing so hard I can hardly type this....)

(I can remember this VIVIDLY)

(Sorry, I digress....)

A man opens the door.

Right when the man opened the door, this little dog suddenly RUNS IN THEIR HOUSE.

Impulsively, I CHASE HIM INTO THEIR HOUSE.

I am screaming, "IT'S NOT MY DOG! IT'S NOT MY DOG!"

The woman is at the kitchen sink washing dishes.

(OK, I just snorted out loud cause I am laughing so hard right this minute....)

And this little dog starts running around her kitchen.

Once again "IT'S NOT MY DOG! IT'S NOT MY DOG!"

We finally wrangle the dog and get out.

Maybe the hilarious shock of escapade has caused me not to remember the rest of the evening. Or even what we did when we got to the sidewalk. Or whatever happened to the dog. Or anything. I can't even tell you what my costume was. But I can still - 30 something years later - see that woman at the sink with a dog running around her kitchen. Vividly. Vividly people.

Here's hoping tomorrow you get lots of treats. And no tricks. And no stray dogs running around in your kitchen.

Boys will be boys

It's just a good story

Watch this.
I dare you not to cry.

Take Five

OK people. I'm outta' here tomorrow on vaca! {cue applause and angelic singing and hallelujah chorus} We are going on our annual big family trip to the beach. And in a word: I can't wait. Well, that was three words. But seriously I'm soooooooo ready to go.

I know panic just set in with you people because I know you are worried about your daily dose of Me and My Good Life. Never fear. Dry your eyes people and rest easy. The wonderful thing called "auto post" will take care of that. So there will be a brand new post each and every day while I'm gone. You're welcome.

Five Things I'm Going To Do On Vacation

1. Read -- I'm taking six books. That's a bit ambitious, but we'll see how it goes. Hope I can plow through most of them.

2. Sleep -- I want to sleep in (i.e. later than 4am)

3. Absolutely nothing -- Seriously. Just NOTHING.

4. Enjoy my time with the family -- This will include lots of eating and laughing and playing some games.

5. Crossword puzzles -- Lots and lots of them. Bliss.

Y'all play nice while I'm gone. See you later!

I'M OUTTA' HERE!

Monday. Corner Pocket.

Cause it's Monday. And we all need to watch a dog playing pool.

For the record, the Bloggie Doggie could do this if he wanted to. He just doesn't want to.