Because Your Sister Said So........

that's why you should blog! OK, OK I hear you. Point taken little sis!

I have so much to share and such little time. For now, you'll have to forgive me for the short of it. My birthday weekend was OK. Spencer had a service call on Saturday that lasted 8 hours. That was not so much fun, but I finished the novel I'd been babysitting because it was so good I didn't want it to end. "Saving Faith" by David Baldacci, just in case you're curious. We managed to venture out though and took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda at the cheepie theater. Yes, we're cheepie parents! Monday was lazy, very lazy. Tuesday was good, I had a lot of laughs, great and appreciated birthday wishes and an amazing dinner at a place called Dickey's Wild Hare. I had the Cobb Club, -a sandwich version of the Cobb salad- and sweet potato fries. VERY TASTY!

I started my Spanish class at IPFW yesterday! Lots of fun! And scary too! I felt so much better when I realized that everyone else was just as nervous as me! Our professor is very nice and my class mates seem very nice as well. I was amazed at how much I actually remembered from High School. There is however LOTS left to learn. Wish me well and say prayers!!

Well, that's the sort of it for now. I'll tell more tales -true ones- later!

A Few Things That Happened This Week...

..were fun, and others, completely strange! Tyson's 5Th birthday was Monday. He had a great time, and as you might expect has tried milking the rest of the week for all it's worth! Last Friday we started the birthday festivities by swimming at a friend's house. On Saturday we took him to Chuck E Cheese, (his choice of course), and then on Sunday we had a little get together with family and friends. We like to give our kids an entire weekend to be special, but as I mentioned earlier they really try their very best to extend it as long as possible. Check out birthday pics on Flickr.

Now, moving on to some of the "completely strange" things; Wednesday was perhaps, if not the strangest day I've experienced, it's definitely near the top of the list! First of all, Brock had an early morning baseball practice. Generally if it's just a practice I don't stay. So, I dropped him off at practice, got home, gave Tyson a snack, and all of a sudden this pounding rain started. It rained so hard and so fast I couldn't believe it. I rushed Tyson to the van and headed back to the baseball complex (which thank God is just down the road). I could barely see to drive my windshield wipers were on the highest setting and the roads were flooding fast. Then it got windy, which really freaked me out. So there I was trying to find my kid in the middle of a monsoon. I finally found him under a pavilion with his team, soaked and muddy but unharmed!

After the rain incident I had to pick my Great Aunt up and take her to an appointment she'd scheduled with her attorney. We dropped the kids off at my mom's and decided to walk to the attorney's office since it's only a couple of blocks from mom's. This is a great idea in theory, not so much in real life! Have you ever seen those TV ads depicting the elderly trying to cross the road but just aren't quite moving fast enough? Well, that's exactly how I felt. My Aunt bless her heart, is in her mid eighties, we had to cross two busy intersections, do I really need to say more? Talk about high blood pressure! We finally get there and the attorney's office door was locked. I tried calling and I could actually hear the phone inside ringing but no one answered. We waited and waited but nothing. I was really dreading the highly intense trip back. Thank God I was able to find a different route back on side streets that were less traveled. Whew!

Since my kids were already with my mom, I decided to ask her to keep them a bit longer. She happily agreed. I love my children but any chance I get to grocery shop without them makes life easier. So I headed to Wal-Mart, list in hand and ready to gather supplies for my family. I walked in the doors and noticed that people were staring strangely at these two tween aged girls just ahead. I could only see their backs -the girls- so I was kind of confused, but only for a while. Eventually I caught up with them and quickly understood why people were looking at them strangely. It was because they were strange. Each of them had bright red lipstick smeared around their lips, hair in uneven pig tails and saying very weird things. No, they weren't mentally challenged. I noticed this middle aged man walk by them and then noticed out of the corner of my eye that he hadn't kept moving. I didn't think much of it at first until I heard one of the girl's say "oh my gosh, are you recording us?" I looked over and he had his Blackberry and was indeed recording them. Then he started telling them to dance and say odd things. Then they all walked over to the bra section and he told them to act like princesses. I was so freaked out! It was creepy. I had just worked up enough guts to walk over and tell him to stop when an employee beat me to it. You know it's icky to think about why he wanted to tape them. When he first started I thought maybe it was just to show people "these two crazy kids he saw at Wal-Mart" but when he told them to do things it became bizarre. Those girls obviously wanted attention but in a moment it could have turned into the kind of attention no woman wants. All he had to do was follow them out. The guy looked clean cut and "normal". Not every monster looks creepy.

Thanks for letting me share.

Miss Piggy, Is That You?

I've been trying to let my hair grow out for what seems like forever. I always seem to flip flop when it comes to my hair. When it's short I hate it, when it's long I hate it. Lately, I've seen all these really pretty long layered styles, and I decided I'd like to have that too. On Wednesday I arrived at my salon appointment with desired cut and color in mind. I thumbed intensely through the style books to show Cherie (my stylist) just exactly what I wanted. I said "lots more blonde and cut just like this". (I usually get subtle blonde highlights.) It just didn't quite come out the way I had pictured it would. Don't get me wrong, she does GREAT work and I've been going to her for years, but I have to be honest, on my way home I wanted to cry. It's not the style so much or the color for that matter, it's the color, cut and my face!! I swear when I looked in the mirror I saw Miss Piggy staring back at me! Seriously, I think the cut is cute and the color too but it brings more attention to my face and I'm so used to hiding. I'm so self conscious that it's really taken some getting used to. Well there you have it, my review of my new cut and color. I attached some photos I took this morning. You can see for yourself.

I Guess It Takes Getting Tagged....

to get me to blog these days! I was tagged by Lisanne. So here goes

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules. 2. Share five facts about yourself. 3. Tag five people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them. 4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I love nail polish and can't stand it when my nails are not painted.
2. I'd really love to have a fast, flashy sports car someday.
3. One of my favorite shows is Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel. I'm a huge fan!!!
4. I cry when I hear soldiers talk about their experiences at war. Seriously, I love the mini series Band of Brother's but I fight back tears every time I watch it. Lately, I've had trouble watching reporters interview Iraq war vets.
5. I really enjoy making people laugh. I believe that laughter truly is good medicine.

I'm tagging Lois, Abby, Mandy, Sara and Jen

Remember Me?

Hi! I say that in the hopes that there is someone desperate enough to hold on the hope (or gives a hoot) that I may someday blog again! If you give a hoot, thank you, I'm back!

Wow, where to begin? So much has happened in the weeks since my last post. Here's the rundown: Spencer visited Las Vegas for work, during Spring Break no less. The kids and I journeyed to South Bend with friends to visit the Health Works Museum. We had a lot of fun and I recommend stopping into Health Works if you ever get the chance. My sister moved to Florida. I miss her but I'm really proud of her for having the guts to make such a big move. I recently completed decorating another wedding cake, only my second! I also became an Avon rep, we'll see how it goes! We attended my niece Avie's birthday party. We also experienced just this morning an earthquake! I'm still finding it so hard to believe but it's true! I was so upset because I couldn't figure out why my bed was shaking. I even accused my poor husband of being the culprit! I had to call him at work and apologize after I learned the news. Well I know there's so much more to share but it's going to take some time. Check out my Flickr account for accompanying photos. It's good to be back!

Photo Blogger

Just a quick post. Here are a few photos I wanted to share with you.

Our New Sofa

Our New Van
New Van Dash
Ty In The Van
Me In The Drivers Seat
Our Neighbors Built A Giant Snowman

Check out the rest on Flickr!

What We've Been Up To.....

is, a lot. Wow! Brock's basketball league continues. He has practice every Thursday evening and games each Saturday morning. We're very proud of him, he is an awesome player and even better team mate. He always tries to pass the ball to the smaller players before taking shots himself. He has learned so much about the game and gained great skills since he started two seasons ago.

Speaking of Brock, we celebrated his b day with a bowling party. It was really a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing him so happy. What I didn't enjoy so much, is, what happened in the parking lot of the alley before we went in. Little Tyson was so excited he didn't pay any attention to where he placed his hands on the car and slammed his thumb in the door. I felt so badly for him. In a way I'm kind of glad that it happened. At least now he knows why I gripe at him so much about being mindful of his fingers around doors. I'm not just a nag now, I actually have a proven point.
His thumb is feeling much better now. It just needed a couple of days.

Doesn't it seem like at a certain point (around third grade) things start to get really crazy? Kids start to change, things become cool or really un cool, the homework gets more complex and you realize your babies aren't really babies anymore. Brock recently had to choose a chapter book to read, then select his favorite scene from that book and construct a diorama. It was for the most part a Dad and Brock operation. I stayed out of the way! I did help paint some legos to represent gold bricks but that's about it. He did a great job and had lots of fun. He also learned a great lesson about friends. There is a little girl in his class that is a bit high strung and most of the other kids are a little mean to her. She was a bit hurt that he didn't give her an invitation to his birthday. He came home from school and told me about how he felt badly but didn't want to become un cool either for hanging out with her. I explained to him that in life we have choices to make and sometimes people just want to be liked for who they are. We talked about how we all want to be given a chance even if we look different or sound different. I pointed out at that no one had really given her heart a chance. I told him that sometimes you have to take chances, to step out there and go against the grain, even if it means other people don't understand at first. I left the decision up to him. He decided to invite her. Some of the kids laughed at him, some of them said they wouldn't go to the party if she was there, others were jealous that she got and invite instead of them. That afternoon when I checked my email, the girl had sent him three birthday e cards. (My email address was provided for RSVP) She was so thrilled that he had invited her. She came to the party and had lots of fun. The best part is that my son, the wise little man he is, said the truest sweetest thing on the way home. He said "you know Mom and Dad, it was a little hard to invite her but I'm glad I did. At first A. (male friend from school) didn't understand why I invited her but he saw me being nice to her and having fun and I think it stared to change him too. I think he started to get it and that means a lot."

Check out our new Flickr posts.