My Write In Ballot for President...

My dad sent me an email the other day saying there is a new word just added to the English dictionary. Here it is:



Electile Dysfunction : the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election year.



Amen, Dad. Amen. So, here is who I would be excited about electing as president:

I could really get behind this one because the dude is GREAT! He is always happy, he takes his job very seriously, he is totally honest (crap, the kid felt guilty for stealing a balloon on "Free Balloon Day), his problems always just seem to work themselves out because he is just innocent. He has quite the laugh (we've had a few presidents with trademark laughs), he is very loyal as a friend and employee. The kids would love him. And Congress would be a piece of cake for him to deal with after working for Mr. Krabs. I could list so many reasons why Spongebob would make a great president. Seriously, I would love to live in a country with such a sweet, innocent, good-to-the-core leader.

Go, Spongebob! You have my vote!!! And maybe as Vice President:

Papa Smurf with his never ending wisdom! What do you think? I think we have a winner team!

My Little Bruiser

A few minutes ago I heard Kate screaming, so I ran over and this is what I found:

I know, not the best picture, but I had to take it quick so I could hug her. But she had claw marks from her fabulous big brother on her neck. And not that I think she deserved it, but maybe she provoked it. You see...

Lately, this little darling dolly has been picking on her brother. He hasn't felt well for the last week or so and has liked to just hang out with his pillow and favorite blanket on the floor in the family room. Kate also loves his favorite blanket, so she goes after it. She sneaks up on him, grabs a corner of the blanket, and starts rolling. She wraps herself up in it and Hayden doesn't have time to react and by the time he realizes what happened he can't pull her out of his blankie either because she is wrapped so tight in it. And it doesn't end there...

She will go up to him and grab his binkie right out of his mouth and haul off crawling with a big grin on her face as fast as she can. When he catches up to her she just tucks her hand under her tummy and plays keep-away with his binkie. Man, it frustrates the crap out of Hayden! And me, being the bad mom that I am, just laugh at the whole thing.

My daughter is quite the little bruiser. She will rip your face off when you hold her and loves to wrestle. And we were worried about Hayden not having a brother. I think she is as rough as any brother would be!:)

So, in the end, Kate stopped crying, thanks to a big hug from her Big sister!

Hayden wasn't about to hug her because I think he was just getting back at her for all the times she has tortured him. I know, I am trying to teach my kids better than that, but sometimes you just gotta laugh at the whole thing, right?

Turnabouts

So I have a question that no one seems to have an answer to:

You know those turnabout things in the road that are like intersections, but there is no stop sign? There are just yield signs on all four sides. You know the things I am talking about right? So my question is: What are the rules for navigating these things? I don't remember learning this in driver's ed. And it seems that no one else was taught this concept either. So if they are putting these things in all over the place, shouldn't we be taught how to navigate the darn things?

Bill and I have decided that the object is to just get through without hitting anyone or getting hit by someone else. I think we should all hold hands and do ring-around-the-rosies and everyone just gets out of the circle when they are at the street exiting the circle that they need to be on.

I know these little turnabouts are supposed to help keep traffic moving, but really everyone either A: completely stops because they are frozen and have no idea who is supposed to go first or if they are supposed to completely stop (as they look around shrugging their shoulders at all the other drivers because no one has any idea what is going on), or B: flies through it without even glancing around.

So, really, what are the rules? Do cars going from east to west, or north to south have the right-of-way? Is it like a 4-way stop where it is in order of who was there first? Or is it that you just close your eyes and fly through the thing and hope you are the biggest car around?

If anyone can enlighten me, please do so. I would greatly appreciate it, as would many others I have discussed this with. I'm really glad they have these little turnabouts with pretty flowers in the middle, but those flowers are going to soon be potpourri if we don't get this figured out quick.

Houston Friends

Yesterday was so much fun! When we lived in Houston we made some of the best friends (I think that is why we loved Houston so much - we met the neatest people in all of Houston) and we were able to hang out with some of them yesterday.

Jenn and Ryan flew in from Houston with their two sweet kids, Jeffery and Alyssa this weekend on their way to a family reunion. Of course we had to have a barbecue with them! So we invited some of our other friends that we also know from Houston who have since moved out here to Utah and had a fun afternoon! We wish the other couple of families we met in Houston that are now in Utah could have made it as well, but either way we had a blast!





After we ate, the kids had fun running through the sprinklers and having water fights with water guns. They loved it! Jeffery looks like he just sprayed the girls and now he realizes he is seriously outnumbered and he better run for his life!:)

Oh, no! The girls are after the adults with the squirt guns! They thought it was pretty funny to squirt those of us NOT in swimming suits! Stinkers!



The adults all hanging out in some shade. (Thank goodness for the shade from the neighbor's house! It was HOT!) Standing in the back is Ryan Hatch, sitting from left to right: Beth Howard, Bill holding Kate, Jenn Hatch, and Nate Howard, who enjoyed sun bathing when he wasn't participating in all the "water fun!" :)




This was the best news of the evening: Hayden fell asleep! Holy crap, the kid was a bear! I was so excited when he finally stopped whining at me and fell asleep. Then I was able to go enjoy the evening!




Jenn holding Kate outside while I was dealing with Hayden. Kate LOVED Jenn! And apparently Kate has already learned to stick her tongue out at the camera!




Beth, Jenn, Kate and I all enjoying some "girl talk" out in the shade. (Kate learned a thing or two:)) What a nice night!




Jenn and Ryan with Kate. Kate got real comfy on Ryan's lap and it was so sweet. Ryan is darling with babies and Kate was so content with him for quite a while. This means free hands for me! Always a good thing! Don't these two look cute with Kate? More kids, Jenn? :)

Beth and Nate and their little boy. We were all getting cozy in front of the T.V. for a movie after the afternoon in the hot sun. Before I took this picture, Beth was sitting about as far away from Nate as she could, but decided to "pretend" that she likes her husband for the picture!:) They are so much fun!


Okay, all of us came in the house but these three girls. They LOVED playing together outside. From left to right: Zoe (Nate and Beth's daughter), Lana, and Alyssa (Jenn and Ryan's daughter.) Look at those happy little faces!

And Ryan is STILL holding Kate. She kept slumping down into that position. She would not sit up straight for anything. My kids loved Jenn and Ryan so much that I think we should have sent them all to Idaho for their family reunion for the week. Come on, Jenn, you know you want to take six kids to Idaho for your family reunion! You could say, "Surprise! We adopted four kids. This is our new family news!" That would be great, don't you think?

I put this picture on here because I just think it is a great shot of Jenn and Ryan. I love Jenn's smile - it is SO HER! She is amazing and is always so happy and positive and I wish I were more like her. I am so lucky she is my friend and I love her to pieces! I really wish she lived closer! And I love the way Ryan is looking at his sweet wife. Thank you, Ryan, for being so fun with my kids and for taking time to come and visit. We loved having you all here and can't wait to see you again!

Cleavage

The title got you interested didn't it!!!???

Nope, you are not going to see any pictures here. I have been thinking, though. Lately Bill and I have been laughing at Kate because when she bends over and has her arms out in front of her, she totally has baby boobs (with indented nipples, I might add.) She is so funny.

So as I bathed her last night, I was thinking...I figured it out. I have no cleavage because she has sucked it all out of me and is keeping it all for herself. Smart girl. Maybe she won't be flat-chested like me her whole life.

Like I said, I would like to post pictures, but for fear of wack-o's out there, I won't. And everyone has seen a cute, chubby baby before. Just picture that.

Mystery solved. Now on to the mystery of the disappearing pacifiers. All of Hayden's pacifiers keep disappearing, and we can't find them anywhere! But I think I am on Hayden's trail. And the end of the trail seems to be the trash. Hmmmm......is he trying to tell me something? No more binkies? Yeah right!

The New Toy!!!

So, Saturday morning, I woke up and got a fantastic idea...Hey, Honey, let's buy a swing set today! Bright idea, eh! So after researching swing sets online for about an hour that morning, we found the one we wanted, and then Bill had to drive a while to go to a store that had one. He is such a good sport. And then comes the putting together...

So many parts, and he REALLY doesn't want to read the instructions! Looks like fun, Honey!

Lana and her BFF thought it was fun...Bubble wrap will entertain them until the swing set is all put together!

Kate even got in on the action. Nope, none of us got dressed up much that day - right down to Kate. I don't think I even showered at all (YUCK!) that day. We all just wanted to watch the action. Okay, I would have liked to read a book, but someone has to sit there and watch the kids and be the know-it-all and tell Bill how to put the swing set together!

And here, Bill is trying to put two poles together....Or he is holding to the iron rod with all he's got! He better. Someone in the family has to!:) Oh, there are just too many wisecracks I could make right here!

The girls and their BFF's with the little rubber packaging things that go on the bars on their arms. They were having "sword fights" and having fun hitting Bill while he was trying to put the swing set together. He was a good sport, and I obviously was tons of help with my camera!

Look at the progress. The kids couldn't wait until it was done to try out a swing or two. So cute!

And now we are addicted to the swing set. Lana and her little BFF this morning. Lana HAD to have her come play first thing this morning. Look how sweet they are. They look so happy, and if it gives my kids something to do this summer I LOVE IT! Less whining that they are "SOOOOO BORED" is always a good thing.

So, in the end, mommy is happy because kids are happy and entertained. Thanks, Honey, for all your hard work! We love you and appreciate you!

Who Are These Kids?

***Who is this kid, and where is her mother?

Oh, oops, that would be my kid. And I admittedly had not been watching her. I was cutting Bill's hair and she got bored sitting in her seat, so Hayden helped her out and gave her a cupcake. She is obviously entertained now! How could I get mad at this? She is tasting her first cupcake, so all I could do was take a picture!

***But who is this, and where is his mother? Does he think he is Tarzan, or maybe Spiderman? (Or just a two year old boy?)

Oh, it's my "Walmart - ad - reading - leg - hanging -off - the - counter - Hayden!" And his mother is taking a picture! He now likes to look at ads this way. He usually has his legs completely hanging off the counter while he just chills out looking at ads. Silly boy!

***So, then who is this kid?

Oh, again, that would be one of mine. That is my pirate, Rylee. Her class at school did an opera (they work on it all year and write the whole thing from scratch) and she was a pirate. So cute! She thought she was big stuff with the big gold hoop earrings. Now she thinks I am a big, mean, pirate mama for stealing them from her because she can't have "dangly" earrings until she is a bit older. I think I might have a daughter who runs off with the pirates just so she can wear big earrings.

***Then we have the kid who I know, but can hardly believe she is getting so big...

We went to her end of year pre-school program this morning, and I can't believe how big she is! My little Lana was singing the songs and being so big in the program. Thank goodness she has one more year before she goes into Kindergarten, but I know the time will fly!

I know that these two darling girls aren't both mine, but it is crazy to me to think that when those girls first "met" they were just babies (6 and 9 months old) and now they are best buddies and have gone through a year of pre-school already. Before I can blink, we will probably have the same shot - only they will be in caps and gowns at their high school graduation. I hope they always stay best buddies!

And...A BIG THANK YOU to her wonderful pre-school teacher for making her first school experience such a fantastic one! Lana LOVES to go to school because of this wonderful teacher. I don't know what we would do without her. She is so kind and patient and sweet and loving to all of the kids in her class, and we are so excited that Lana gets to spend another year with her. What a great way to prepare for Kindergarten! Thank you again for an awesome year! Lana LOVES you, and for that so do Bill and I! You are amazing!