30 April 2008
A Month of Skylar-April 2008-Recap
These are all the pictures of Skylar from this month in one slideshow. Taking a picture of her for the blog every day was fun, but it did get old at about day 5 or so. Having to remember to get a shot of her and get it posted was very stressful and I don't recommend it. Because you know what stress does to you? It messes with your ability to poop. And nobody needs that.
29 April 2008
28 April 2008
Best supporting actress
"Scott, I have a flat tire. Totally flat. Like, if I drive it'd be on the rim."
"So don't drive. Where are you?"
"Well, I'm at Robin's house. But I can't leave because of the tire. Sooo, I'll just go outside and change it."
"NO. I'm on my way right now. DO NOT DISASSEMBLE THE CAR."
Scott came and began to change the tire and my gawd could Ford make it any harder to get the spare tire off? I mean you have to use all the tools from the jack to turn and turn and the little cable goes down an eighth of an inch with every 3 turns or some crap like that. Finally it was low enough and Scott climbed under the car and unhooked it. Then he cranked up the jack a little. Then he got the tire off. Then he cranked up the jack a little more. Then he wrangled the tire onto the car. Then he started putting all the nut things back on.
And it was hot. Hot enough for him to take off his ACU top, and I was just standing there because I'm not allowed to touch anything and it was boring you know? Just standing around watching. So I tried to think of something to say. Conversation is nice, right?
"Wow, it's a good dang thing you don't work for Nascar."
And it's really not important what Scott said, just know that if you're ever in that situation MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
"So don't drive. Where are you?"
"Well, I'm at Robin's house. But I can't leave because of the tire. Sooo, I'll just go outside and change it."
"NO. I'm on my way right now. DO NOT DISASSEMBLE THE CAR."
Scott came and began to change the tire and my gawd could Ford make it any harder to get the spare tire off? I mean you have to use all the tools from the jack to turn and turn and the little cable goes down an eighth of an inch with every 3 turns or some crap like that. Finally it was low enough and Scott climbed under the car and unhooked it. Then he cranked up the jack a little. Then he got the tire off. Then he cranked up the jack a little more. Then he wrangled the tire onto the car. Then he started putting all the nut things back on.
And it was hot. Hot enough for him to take off his ACU top, and I was just standing there because I'm not allowed to touch anything and it was boring you know? Just standing around watching. So I tried to think of something to say. Conversation is nice, right?
"Wow, it's a good dang thing you don't work for Nascar."
And it's really not important what Scott said, just know that if you're ever in that situation MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
Happy Birthday Owen!!
Today is Owen's 4th birthday! I told him he could have anything he wanted for his birthday dinner. Just say the word and it's yours. Any restaurant in town. Any food.
"I'll have a Kid Cuisine."
"No, come on Owen, think of something really special!"
"Okay, I'll take a Hot 'N Ready!"
So I gave up and bought the boy some pizza. Then we had some leftover birthday cake from his party Saturday night.
Before the party we got the new trampoline set up, as we tragically lost the other one. I cannot tell you what I went through to get this new trampoline, but it involved lots of phone calls to Academy, who never got a shipment of the one we wanted, and then a trip to Sam's to buy it there only to realize all the pieces weren't in the box, which resulted in a slightly panicked, slightly rude phone call to the manager, who sweetly agreed to open another box and get out the missing part for me so my party would not be ruined.
I truly don't understand it, but this trampoline is much much bigger than our last trampoline, even though this one is called a 13' and the last was called a 15'. I'm assuming it's because they are different shapes and perhaps the people who measured them measured different parts but it's not important. What is important is that it was fully functional in time for the party and let's face it, the trampoline is the whole reason people come to my house, if you don't count the um, uh, well, the other reasons, but I don't want to get in to too many of them on here right now. I will say that I hope people don't come over because when the guys reminisce at work phrases like WOMAN, JUST TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT ALREADY come up. Because while that would be funny, IT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN SO QUIT ASKING.
This is a picture of Tamra, Malik's mommy, doing a back-flip. It's truly amazing what adults will try on a trampoline if you give them lots of alcohol before they get on it.
This picture kind of demonstrates the vast number of kids you can comfortably fit on this trampoline. Everyone has plenty of room to jump and there's still half a trampoline not being used. With the round one kids tended to drift toward the center and that brought on lots of bumping and blood. Something about the square makes jumping in your own space easier.
Note the adult on the trampoline. One thing you don't want to hear while jumping on a trampoline? "I should have worn my support bra." Another thing (spoken by an adult but not the adult pictured)? "Pee is coming out." And last but certainly not least? "Jumping on the trampoline is like doing one big kegel for me."
This is cake Owen picked out down at the WalMart. I know, I know. It hurts me to look at it too.
Owen patiently waited for us to finish singing beforespitting all over the cake blowing out his candles.
This is Owen and Malik, his best friend from preschool.
Owen got lots of presents!!
And for some reason we've kind of stopped doing the whole singing thing with all the kids. I have no explanation for this, but I'm going to try to start it back up. I think I need to sit them down and have about 40 or so run-thrus and just get everybody's name in a song and then just post them as the days come. But that's kind of cheating. Also, they all hate each other now and won't sit beside each other for extended periods of time, so that makes things a little difficult. Almost as difficult as it's getting to get Skylar through an entire shower without having some incident with poop. I mean really, how hard can it possibly be? DO NOT POOP IN THE SHOWER. Gawd.
"I'll have a Kid Cuisine."
"No, come on Owen, think of something really special!"
"Okay, I'll take a Hot 'N Ready!"
So I gave up and bought the boy some pizza. Then we had some leftover birthday cake from his party Saturday night.
Before the party we got the new trampoline set up, as we tragically lost the other one. I cannot tell you what I went through to get this new trampoline, but it involved lots of phone calls to Academy, who never got a shipment of the one we wanted, and then a trip to Sam's to buy it there only to realize all the pieces weren't in the box, which resulted in a slightly panicked, slightly rude phone call to the manager, who sweetly agreed to open another box and get out the missing part for me so my party would not be ruined.
I truly don't understand it, but this trampoline is much much bigger than our last trampoline, even though this one is called a 13' and the last was called a 15'. I'm assuming it's because they are different shapes and perhaps the people who measured them measured different parts but it's not important. What is important is that it was fully functional in time for the party and let's face it, the trampoline is the whole reason people come to my house, if you don't count the um, uh, well, the other reasons, but I don't want to get in to too many of them on here right now. I will say that I hope people don't come over because when the guys reminisce at work phrases like WOMAN, JUST TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT ALREADY come up. Because while that would be funny, IT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN SO QUIT ASKING.
This is a picture of Tamra, Malik's mommy, doing a back-flip. It's truly amazing what adults will try on a trampoline if you give them lots of alcohol before they get on it.
This picture kind of demonstrates the vast number of kids you can comfortably fit on this trampoline. Everyone has plenty of room to jump and there's still half a trampoline not being used. With the round one kids tended to drift toward the center and that brought on lots of bumping and blood. Something about the square makes jumping in your own space easier.
Note the adult on the trampoline. One thing you don't want to hear while jumping on a trampoline? "I should have worn my support bra." Another thing (spoken by an adult but not the adult pictured)? "Pee is coming out." And last but certainly not least? "Jumping on the trampoline is like doing one big kegel for me."
This is cake Owen picked out down at the WalMart. I know, I know. It hurts me to look at it too.
Owen patiently waited for us to finish singing before
This is Owen and Malik, his best friend from preschool.
Owen got lots of presents!!
And for some reason we've kind of stopped doing the whole singing thing with all the kids. I have no explanation for this, but I'm going to try to start it back up. I think I need to sit them down and have about 40 or so run-thrus and just get everybody's name in a song and then just post them as the days come. But that's kind of cheating. Also, they all hate each other now and won't sit beside each other for extended periods of time, so that makes things a little difficult. Almost as difficult as it's getting to get Skylar through an entire shower without having some incident with poop. I mean really, how hard can it possibly be? DO NOT POOP IN THE SHOWER. Gawd.
27 April 2008
26 April 2008
24 April 2008
Jennifer, High Chair. High Chair, Jennifer.
"I am so tired. I'm going to fall asleep as soon as I close my eyes."
"Yeah, me too. I can't get comfortable though. What is all this under the sheet?"
"I don't know, I can't see anything without my contacts in. What does it look like? Are you eating something?"
"Mmm. Wanna Fruit Loop?"
Not just another pretty face
"Daddy! Mommy got me a new preschool for next year and I'm going to get to go every day!"
"Wow, every day? You're going to learn so much!"
"Yeah! I'll be handsome AND smart!"
23 April 2008
Happy Birthday Scott!!
Today is Scott's birthday! He is 35 years young. We got him some shirts and a couple pairs of shorts because I am sick of seeing him wear his "I'm A Hero Because I Gave Blood" t-shirt over and over. Also Owen and I went to WalMart and Best Buy today and got some accessories for the wii wii and right now he's playing the golf game with his new golf club.
note: The tennis racquet was a bad idea because when Owen plays tennis he gets closer and closer to the television with every shot and twice he slammed the thing right into the screen. Yikes. Luckily Scott was not here to see it however Informer filled him in. It turns out Informer also told her teacher and her entire 1st grade class about my birthday and that they got me an iPod that cost $149. I don't think I really need to tell any of you this, but Informer is definitely not the one you want to take Christmas shopping with you.
I do not have a picture of Scott to put on here because he will not knowingly allow me to take his picture and lately I've not been very sneaky. I would also write some sappy note to him about how he's the greatest and we all love him to pieces but he never reads this blog so that would be a waste. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not even sure he knows we have a blog.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT! WE LOVE YOU!!
22 April 2008
Because sometimes you need to cry
If you ever feel overwhelmed, and I know I do sometimes, you should check this out.
Something else that may help you cry out some frustration? Getting Skylar out of the bathtub and drying her off when all of a sudden she takes a giant POOP right on the bathroom rug.
woo-freakin-hoo.
21 April 2008
Build me up buttercup
I got a box from my parents today with birthday presents for me, Scott and Owen. Makes you feel good, you know, when you get presents and acknowledgments regarding your birthday. Makes you feel loved, like you mean something to somebody. Then you look at the loving, meaningful card.
This is the card my parents picked out for me. Of all the birthday cards available to purchase, and lets face it there are gazillions, this is the one they chose.
Pretty good, right? Here's what the inside said.
Oh, and they put A DOLLAR in the card. I'm telling you, those two are hilarious.
On a better note I received a very nice card from Jake and Maggie about dog pee.
On an even better note along with the card inside the box was a Wii. The kids were like "What is that?" and I said "Owen got a Wii for his birthday from Pops and Nana" and Haley said "Oh my gosh Owen you ROCK!" They tried out all the games and had so much fun. It was the best thing ever for them--they LOVE it. Owen even managed to get a KO on the boxing. I can already see that I'm going to have to get the rechargeable batteries for the remote. And I'm so sorry that I don't feel like putting any fancy links on here tonight but I'm totally pooped out because I just watched Scott sweat off 10 pounds boxing on the thing. I tried the boxing and honest to God I almost had a heart attack. What a freakin workout! It's not all easy breezy with this thing people-YOU MUST PACE YOURSELF or you will surely suffer some injuries, like I could totally see me throwing out my back with the tennis because I am in no way Katie Sharapova. I also nearly threw my shoulder out bowling. Bowling! Then Scott tried the bowling, played baseball and won 9-4, then golfed and then played tennis. And tennis my friends is definitely not his strong suit and my goodness did his little Mii get an ear full of bad words everytime he missed the ball. He finally managed to win, and I truly believe in my heart Skylar's first sentence is going to be "I will not let those damn little Miis beat me again!" Well, either that or "I swear I'm about to shove that tennis ball down your freakin throat." It's a toss up at this point.
Okay, so I went back and added links. IT'S BECAUSE I CARE.
This is the card my parents picked out for me. Of all the birthday cards available to purchase, and lets face it there are gazillions, this is the one they chose.
Pretty good, right? Here's what the inside said.
Oh, and they put A DOLLAR in the card. I'm telling you, those two are hilarious.
On a better note I received a very nice card from Jake and Maggie about dog pee.
On an even better note along with the card inside the box was a Wii. The kids were like "What is that?" and I said "Owen got a Wii for his birthday from Pops and Nana" and Haley said "Oh my gosh Owen you ROCK!" They tried out all the games and had so much fun. It was the best thing ever for them--they LOVE it. Owen even managed to get a KO on the boxing. I can already see that I'm going to have to get the rechargeable batteries for the remote. And I'm so sorry that I don't feel like putting any fancy links on here tonight but I'm totally pooped out because I just watched Scott sweat off 10 pounds boxing on the thing. I tried the boxing and honest to God I almost had a heart attack. What a freakin workout! It's not all easy breezy with this thing people-YOU MUST PACE YOURSELF or you will surely suffer some injuries, like I could totally see me throwing out my back with the tennis because I am in no way Katie Sharapova. I also nearly threw my shoulder out bowling. Bowling! Then Scott tried the bowling, played baseball and won 9-4, then golfed and then played tennis. And tennis my friends is definitely not his strong suit and my goodness did his little Mii get an ear full of bad words everytime he missed the ball. He finally managed to win, and I truly believe in my heart Skylar's first sentence is going to be "I will not let those damn little Miis beat me again!" Well, either that or "I swear I'm about to shove that tennis ball down your freakin throat." It's a toss up at this point.
Okay, so I went back and added links. IT'S BECAUSE I CARE.
20 April 2008
19 April 2008
18 April 2008
Special Day!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SURI CRUISE!!
Something else is happening today too... Hmmm. I can't seem to remember. Something... OH YEAH!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE SHIELD'S 2ND BABY. (I'd say Happy Birthday Grier Henchy but nobody knows who the heck you are.)
So have a great day and eat cake and all that jazz.
What? Oh THAT'S right! Today is my birthday and I am 25. No, wait that's Morgan. I'm 29. Sooo anyway, I got an iPod. Because I used to have an iPod but my dad stole it from my house. So Scott took the kids out sneakily when I was gone to a meeting on Wednesday and got me another one. Today the kids were so excited to give me a present, and I ooohed and aaahed and thanked them and said "Where on earth did you get me this wonderful present?"
And Haley was very matter-of-fact: "Well Mama, we got it at Best Buy and it cost $149."
She could so be an informant.
17 April 2008
16 April 2008
Can I get some cheese with my whine?
It is roughly 9:40p. Skylar has been awake for 12.5 straight hours.
It has not been pretty.
For four straight hours this afternoon she cried. She didn't want me to hold her, but she didn't want me to put her down. She wouldn't eat or drink, she didn't have a fever, I could find nothing wrong with her at all. She just cried. I finally decided to leave her in her crib and that maybe she'd fall asleep. Well, she didn't.
I think at some point she may have fallen asleep for about 20 minutes, but of course that was when Owen decided he needed something from inside her room, and I said No, don't go in there, and he went in there anyway and she started screaming again.
Then I decided to lay on Ashlyn's bed with her, and that seemed to calm her down for a minute, but of course that didn't last. See, I have three other kids, two of whom cannot be left alone together. We also have a cat, who at some point was put in the dryer. Also, these kids will go days without talking to me, but the minute I need quiet they are all in my face asking questions. Stupid questions.
Scott got home and she was still crying. I calmly recounted my day and then told him I was leaving because I had a meeting. I told him to call me as soon as Skylar moved out of the house and I'd come back.
I don't think I can convey just how un-fun she is. She screams at the drop of a hat and she throws things at you, will slap things out of your hands, and she also throws tantrums. She is impossible to control in a restaurant. I do not like to take her to other people's houses and I do not feel comfortable leaving her with people because I know they do not want to listen to the screaming and crying either. She is more consuming than all three of the other ones put together. I don't understand why she cries all the time. At this point I don't feel like she will ever stop crying. The amount of crying Skylar does simply cannot be normal. And it's not an "I'm in pain" cry, it's just crying.
You know, at first I was sad that I was having another baby. Then, when we found out it was a girl I gradually got used to the idea and started to get excited. My last baby would be a little girl, and the others would be in school and she and I could hang out and have fun. We could paint our toenails and do mommy-and-me gymnastics and go to the park...all sorts of things. And I can't do any of those things with her. She isn't happy with anything I try to do. It's terribly hard and hurtful to me. What in the world am I doing wrong? She doesn't give me a second thought.
I am rapidly approaching the end of my rope. I think it's about time to tie a noose in it and slip it around my neck.
15 April 2008
I wish that's what they were
(driving past Fort Concho, you know, where they are housing all of them)
"Hey look! Polygamists!"
"What? Where?"
"Over there by that building."
"Who? Those women with the long dresses on?"
"Yeah."
"Mama, that's not the right word."
"What?"
"You're using the wrong word. You said polygamist. I mean, I don't know what a polygamist is, but they aren't polygamists."
"Well then what are they?"
"Can't you tell? Look at them! They're pioneers!
She's got flat abs too
"My reading buddy hurt her leg."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Now she's got crunches."
"What?"
"You know...crunches. To help her walk."
14 April 2008
Maybe it's a sign
Today Owen decided he would have chips and salsa for lunch along with a cheese stick. (Shut up! It's better than what Skylar ate, which was cotton balls, as it took me a few minutes to realize they weren't marshmallows-but Amy was distracting me. anyway...) I got the chips out of the pantry and I!Can!Do!It!Myself!! grabbed the jar of salsa. Then, while holding the glass jar at chest level, he let go of it. In the second it took to reach the floor I had a mini heart attack, and then? The glass jar of salsa bounced off the floor. And I caught it off the bounce at about mid-shin height.
It took a second for either of us to say anything. We just were staring at each other. The first thing that finally came out of my mouth was "Holy crap!" and Owen nodded and said "Whoa, that was pretty damn close!"
So, you know, if you throw out the fact that the 3 year old was cursing I'd have to say this might be a sign that things around here are on the up and up.
13 April 2008
Ladies' Man
Saturday Owen went to a birthday party for a little girl in his preschool class at the bowling alley on post. Alexandria (she goes by Alex) is his girlfriend. She is the one with the two long pigtails. Ashley is the girl beside Owen. She is also his girlfriend. And, as you can tell, she is enamored with Owen. I don't know what goes on at that preschool, but all the girls love Owen. It's probably better I don't know I guess.
In the end there were 7 or 8 kids there and when it came time for cake Alex's mother said "Okay everybody, let's sing!" and all the kids started singing the ABCs. Then it was time for presents and another little girl wanted to help and Alex didn't want anyone touching her presents so after yelling NO! at her twice Alex punched her right in the face at the table. So the little girl cried and her dad got upset and Alex's mother tried to make Alex apologize and Alex refused, so Alex's granny started yelling at Alex and then there was more crying. You'd have thought it would have ruined the party but it didn't bother Owen and Ashley who were down at the end of the table fawning all over each other and sharing a cup of sprite. The whole thing just reinforced my opinion that kids of certain ages to not need to have huge, elaborate birthday parties thrown for them in public places. At your house? Well, that's fine. But it looked like Cinderella threw up all over the bowling alley and that coupled with all the crying 4 year olds was definitely distracting to all the soldiers engaging in massive amounts of PDA on the couches while Pour Some Sugar on Me blared over the speakers. I would have felt sorry for them but at the same time these are some of the same soldiers who do stupid stupid things in the middle of the night and cause my phone to ring and cause my husband to be very uh, grumpy.
Tuesday James from preschool is coming over to play. James' mother is coming too, and I can't wait for this, because she is Korean and doesn't speak very much english. And the english she does speak is wrong. So she is one of these people who tries to talk to you, but it's clear you don't understand her, so she talks louder to you. And I'm like Listen Lady, you can shout if from the freakin rooftops, I still don't know what the hell you're talking about, so here's a thought: Come over to my house, and you can talk Korean and I can talk Southern and we can just nod and smile. And even as the words come over to my house were coming out of my mouth I knew it was a bad bad idea. It's going to be so uncomfortable. Just thinking about it makes me throw up a little in my mouth. I need to get somebody to call about 20 minutes into the visit and if it's going badly we can do that thing where you pretend there's an emergency and you have to leave. Any takers?
In the end there were 7 or 8 kids there and when it came time for cake Alex's mother said "Okay everybody, let's sing!" and all the kids started singing the ABCs. Then it was time for presents and another little girl wanted to help and Alex didn't want anyone touching her presents so after yelling NO! at her twice Alex punched her right in the face at the table. So the little girl cried and her dad got upset and Alex's mother tried to make Alex apologize and Alex refused, so Alex's granny started yelling at Alex and then there was more crying. You'd have thought it would have ruined the party but it didn't bother Owen and Ashley who were down at the end of the table fawning all over each other and sharing a cup of sprite. The whole thing just reinforced my opinion that kids of certain ages to not need to have huge, elaborate birthday parties thrown for them in public places. At your house? Well, that's fine. But it looked like Cinderella threw up all over the bowling alley and that coupled with all the crying 4 year olds was definitely distracting to all the soldiers engaging in massive amounts of PDA on the couches while Pour Some Sugar on Me blared over the speakers. I would have felt sorry for them but at the same time these are some of the same soldiers who do stupid stupid things in the middle of the night and cause my phone to ring and cause my husband to be very uh, grumpy.
Tuesday James from preschool is coming over to play. James' mother is coming too, and I can't wait for this, because she is Korean and doesn't speak very much english. And the english she does speak is wrong. So she is one of these people who tries to talk to you, but it's clear you don't understand her, so she talks louder to you. And I'm like Listen Lady, you can shout if from the freakin rooftops, I still don't know what the hell you're talking about, so here's a thought: Come over to my house, and you can talk Korean and I can talk Southern and we can just nod and smile. And even as the words come over to my house were coming out of my mouth I knew it was a bad bad idea. It's going to be so uncomfortable. Just thinking about it makes me throw up a little in my mouth. I need to get somebody to call about 20 minutes into the visit and if it's going badly we can do that thing where you pretend there's an emergency and you have to leave. Any takers?
Ashlyn ate Squidward
Saturday we ate dinner at Lin's, which is a chinese buffet here in town. It's a little nasty, and the last time I ate there was one afternoon with Amy months and months ago. Before that it was in February of last year when my mother came to visit us after Skylar was born, and that was the time a little girl threw up all over the bathroom in front of Ashlyn and Haley and my mom. I have never taken my dad there, as he only eats real american beef and that's not exactly what they serve down at Lin's.
I am so proud of Ashlyn. She used to not eat anything. She wouldn't try stuff and when we would make her take bites of food she would cry and cry fearing she was going to fall over dead. Well, Saturday we were at the bar and just for fun I put a squid on her plate. AND SHE ATE IT! Now I'm being totally honest here. The picture looks staged because it was. After she agreed to eat it and actually took a bite I decided to take a picture and then she was all embarrassed, so the picture didn't turn out good, but she totally ate the squid. I was shocked. There is no way in hell I'm eating one of those things.
Then Owen of course wanted his picture made eating his wonton, which was cheese but he ate only because we told him it was sour cream. Haley ate a roll, some pears and a cookie. Skylar ate a bunch of cold peeled shrimp and some straw paper. Scott had 14 plates of just the beef from the beef and broccoli and also some sushi. Seriously, what is wrong with him? You know one time he got kicked out of an all-you-can-eat buffet in Gatlinburg because he kept eating all the roast beef. No kidding. And those people Saturday were watching him really closely! I had all the spicy chicken and all the spicy shrimp, but I also had some vegetables. But all this is just so unimportant. Yeah, we went to dinner. Yeah, we all ate some food. But Ashlyn? Ashlyn ate Squidward.
I am so proud of Ashlyn. She used to not eat anything. She wouldn't try stuff and when we would make her take bites of food she would cry and cry fearing she was going to fall over dead. Well, Saturday we were at the bar and just for fun I put a squid on her plate. AND SHE ATE IT! Now I'm being totally honest here. The picture looks staged because it was. After she agreed to eat it and actually took a bite I decided to take a picture and then she was all embarrassed, so the picture didn't turn out good, but she totally ate the squid. I was shocked. There is no way in hell I'm eating one of those things.
Then Owen of course wanted his picture made eating his wonton, which was cheese but he ate only because we told him it was sour cream. Haley ate a roll, some pears and a cookie. Skylar ate a bunch of cold peeled shrimp and some straw paper. Scott had 14 plates of just the beef from the beef and broccoli and also some sushi. Seriously, what is wrong with him? You know one time he got kicked out of an all-you-can-eat buffet in Gatlinburg because he kept eating all the roast beef. No kidding. And those people Saturday were watching him really closely! I had all the spicy chicken and all the spicy shrimp, but I also had some vegetables. But all this is just so unimportant. Yeah, we went to dinner. Yeah, we all ate some food. But Ashlyn? Ashlyn ate Squidward.
11 April 2008
10 April 2008
They're bigger in Texas
So we had a storm last night. And I can't even begin to recap the entire night, because the time line is so messed up in my head, probably because I didn't sleep much. I know the tornado was supposed to hit at 11:45 but the sirens started going off a little sooner than that, you know, to give you fair warning to get in a closet or basement or interior room or whatever, and around 11:42 Scott decided it was serious enough to go get all the kids rounded up.
We woke them up and put them all in our bed to see what would happen and Skylar was all WOOHOO PARTY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!! and Frosty was carrying on because I shut the bedroom door, forcing him to be in such CLOSE! PROXIMITY! to all of us. Then shortly after that the storm hit, and the hail was so hard and loud we were worried it would break the bedroom window. The sirens were wailing and the tv was beeping non-stop warnings across the bottom of the screen and there was a pop and the power went out.
This is the perfect example of why everyone needs to own a laptop computer. We turned it on and were able to watch noaa to track the storm. It occured to me later that I have no explanation as to how we were able to connect to the internet through our router and modem if there was no power going to them, and even now I'm stumped by that, but it worked. So we sat in the dark for a short period of time, and the storm got louder and louder and everyone started to get nervous and all of a sudden there was a HUGE! LOUD! BOOM!!! and the entire house shook. At that point I jumped off the bed and Scott jumped up from the floor and we started grabbing kids and it was all GO GO GO and right then the power came back on.
And we all kind of froze and listened and waited and stupid me, sitting in the middle of a terrible storm, said "So, do you think that was a transformer that blew or something?" and Scott was like "NO! That sounded like lightning hit the ground really close!" We waited and just as quickly as it hit it was over, and there was just rain and lots and lots of lightning, and then the tornado warning expired and the sirens shut off and we put the kids back in bed.
On the way back to our bedroom I looked out the sliding glass door into the backyard and you know what? What that sound was? It was our trampoline. The storm had picked it up, flipped it over, broke it in half, and threw it across the backyard into the side of the house. So it looked like this:
And Scott, bless his heart, was thinking back to how the weather channel said that even though the bad part was over we were still going to be having really strong wind gusts, and he was all "We probably should go out and try to flip it back over and lay it down." I saw two potential problems with this. 1. We are in the middle of a lightning storm, those poles are metal, and I'm not entirely sure at this point that it didn't already get struck by lightning once so there is no way in hell I'm touching it, and 2. They are reporting 65 mph wind gusts and about the time we get that thing up on it's side one is likely to come along and blow us clear to Mexico, and I don't speak good Spanish at all so there's no way in hell I'm touching it. I can't even say the name of the street we live on.
So we waited until this morning to take care of it. Sadly, this is what is left.
Of course the kids are traumatized. Owen and I jump on the trampoline every day. Most of the time Skylar jumps with us. And on the weekends we are all on it doing flips and playing. We are all crushed, but I have already called the insurance people and they are going to give us some money for it. There's a deductible of course, but getting something is better than nothing.
And you know, it would be bad enough if that was all, but then today was a beautiful clear blue sky kind of day but there were wind gusts. I'm not sure of the speed, but I think is was like 1000 mph or something and of course our trash can blew away again. I saw it in front of the neighbor's house and went to get my shoes and by the time I came back I couldn't even see it anymore. So I went running up the street and there's all kind of crap blowing around that was left over from the storm and about 5 houses up the street I found it (it's a good think Scott spray painted our house number on it otherwise we'd have to buy another one, our 5th) and I grabbed it and turned around and was almost decapitated by a KIDDIE POOL. And I wish I was joking, but I'm not. A plastic kiddie pool came flying up behind me out of nowhere while I was running down the street and when I turned around it almost knocked my freakin head off.
We woke them up and put them all in our bed to see what would happen and Skylar was all WOOHOO PARTY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!! and Frosty was carrying on because I shut the bedroom door, forcing him to be in such CLOSE! PROXIMITY! to all of us. Then shortly after that the storm hit, and the hail was so hard and loud we were worried it would break the bedroom window. The sirens were wailing and the tv was beeping non-stop warnings across the bottom of the screen and there was a pop and the power went out.
This is the perfect example of why everyone needs to own a laptop computer. We turned it on and were able to watch noaa to track the storm. It occured to me later that I have no explanation as to how we were able to connect to the internet through our router and modem if there was no power going to them, and even now I'm stumped by that, but it worked. So we sat in the dark for a short period of time, and the storm got louder and louder and everyone started to get nervous and all of a sudden there was a HUGE! LOUD! BOOM!!! and the entire house shook. At that point I jumped off the bed and Scott jumped up from the floor and we started grabbing kids and it was all GO GO GO and right then the power came back on.
And we all kind of froze and listened and waited and stupid me, sitting in the middle of a terrible storm, said "So, do you think that was a transformer that blew or something?" and Scott was like "NO! That sounded like lightning hit the ground really close!" We waited and just as quickly as it hit it was over, and there was just rain and lots and lots of lightning, and then the tornado warning expired and the sirens shut off and we put the kids back in bed.
On the way back to our bedroom I looked out the sliding glass door into the backyard and you know what? What that sound was? It was our trampoline. The storm had picked it up, flipped it over, broke it in half, and threw it across the backyard into the side of the house. So it looked like this:
And Scott, bless his heart, was thinking back to how the weather channel said that even though the bad part was over we were still going to be having really strong wind gusts, and he was all "We probably should go out and try to flip it back over and lay it down." I saw two potential problems with this. 1. We are in the middle of a lightning storm, those poles are metal, and I'm not entirely sure at this point that it didn't already get struck by lightning once so there is no way in hell I'm touching it, and 2. They are reporting 65 mph wind gusts and about the time we get that thing up on it's side one is likely to come along and blow us clear to Mexico, and I don't speak good Spanish at all so there's no way in hell I'm touching it. I can't even say the name of the street we live on.
So we waited until this morning to take care of it. Sadly, this is what is left.
Of course the kids are traumatized. Owen and I jump on the trampoline every day. Most of the time Skylar jumps with us. And on the weekends we are all on it doing flips and playing. We are all crushed, but I have already called the insurance people and they are going to give us some money for it. There's a deductible of course, but getting something is better than nothing.
And you know, it would be bad enough if that was all, but then today was a beautiful clear blue sky kind of day but there were wind gusts. I'm not sure of the speed, but I think is was like 1000 mph or something and of course our trash can blew away again. I saw it in front of the neighbor's house and went to get my shoes and by the time I came back I couldn't even see it anymore. So I went running up the street and there's all kind of crap blowing around that was left over from the storm and about 5 houses up the street I found it (it's a good think Scott spray painted our house number on it otherwise we'd have to buy another one, our 5th) and I grabbed it and turned around and was almost decapitated by a KIDDIE POOL. And I wish I was joking, but I'm not. A plastic kiddie pool came flying up behind me out of nowhere while I was running down the street and when I turned around it almost knocked my freakin head off.
I called Scott and told him I was attacked by a kiddie pool. He laughed at first and then he said "You know, maybe you are a good candidate for medication."
09 April 2008
Spring Pictures
The girls got their spring pictures back today. They were taken about 3 months ago or something, and I think the reason it takes so long for them to come in is so you forget how unreasonably expensive they were and you are so thrilled to finally have 1 5x7, 2 4x6s and 4 wallets that you don't get upset about the fact that you paid $427 for them.
Here is Ashlyn. And the proof was black and white so there was no way for me to know that she spent her free time before getting her picture made in the dirt on the playground.
Ashlyn's class. What a rough looking bunch of kids. Yikes. It's hard when they get to this age, because then they go from being cute little kids to gangly, unattractive in-betweens.
This is the shot of Haley we got. She was a little disappointed I didn't chose the pose of her flashing gang signs that she learned from another little girl in her class. But let's not get me started on how all that went down...
Here is Haley's class. They all still look pretty adorable. It won't last.
Here is Ashlyn. And the proof was black and white so there was no way for me to know that she spent her free time before getting her picture made in the dirt on the playground.
Ashlyn's class. What a rough looking bunch of kids. Yikes. It's hard when they get to this age, because then they go from being cute little kids to gangly, unattractive in-betweens.
This is the shot of Haley we got. She was a little disappointed I didn't chose the pose of her flashing gang signs that she learned from another little girl in her class. But let's not get me started on how all that went down...
Here is Haley's class. They all still look pretty adorable. It won't last.
08 April 2008
My favorite weekend picture
You can't tell, but they are absolutely hauling!
It's too bad this picture doesn't have sound, because if it did you could hear Owen's laughter, Skylar's most excited squeal ever, and me hollering "OH MY GOD SCOTT HE'S GONNA DUMP HER OFF!"
It's too bad this picture doesn't have sound, because if it did you could hear Owen's laughter, Skylar's most excited squeal ever, and me hollering "OH MY GOD SCOTT HE'S GONNA DUMP HER OFF!"
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