Vacation 2009

Yes, I am a blog slacker. I find it difficult to blog when the kids are needing me 24/7. Any whoo.. to vacation.

We started off Saturday.. we only had to go back into the house 4 times.. I think that was a record LOW! With all four kids, two dogs and loads and loads of stuff.. we were off to Grand Lake, Oklahoma.
It was bad karma from the get go...we had to stop and add water to the van twice, once Lonnie didn't even notice that the van was about to EXPLODE! I noticed the "dinging" alarm! humm, need your hearing checked? I was praying the entire time that the new dog would NOT vomit in the van.. (she was good) It must be short choppy trips or my driving that makes her sick...

A 3 hr trip took us 5. We stayed the first night at the in law's house. Lonnie had a plan to repaint and touch up the roof on the house. With the help of his nephew and niece the paint job went really fast! oh, and by the way the paint swatch we picked out was tannish and the paint came out sort of burned orange.. OH MY!

While painting the house, his nephew found a tree frog on the side of the house. It captivated Ashton's attention for hours and hours. Then when the poor little frog had no more energy Ashton let one of the dogs (not one of ours) sniff the frog and she gobbled that little frog right up! SAD! Note to self: "Don't let the Lab sniff frogs or they will disappear!"
We had a little drama about it, but what could we do?

Then after a fun day and dinner, it was time for bed and a new day...I pushed the reset button but apparently it wasn't working....

Lonnie had some business to tend to on Sunday. He would not return until about 1 pm. I awoke to the smell of bacon and coffee! Ahhh... so nice.. After enjoying a few cups.. I called my mom and decided to take our dogs to her house since she had two fenced-in yards. I alert the children that we would be making a drive to see Mema and return in time to check in to our cabin. But first I need to add water to my van. So I pull back into the shade to add the water.. all is good.. then I pull up a little closer to the porch in order to put my bags in the van...
I hear **clump, ka boom, cleek** (yea that is hard to describe) Well I had 'run' over something.. what was it??? By the look on Ashton's face I knew it wasn't good! It was a RAKE!! and no ordinary rake.. it was a tiller looking spider rake! ( so I looked for a photo but couldn't find one, and I was to damn pissed off to take a picture of it)
Anyway.. I ran over it and punctured a hole in my front tire. So know imagine my R A G E !! I had the biggest tantrum and adult could have... I was soo mad that I wasn't going to be able to do what I wanted to do that day..
In the brink of a nervous breakdown, I hear Ashton say " Great! Now were going to die.... in the country!" I started laughing so hard I could help my self..then I say "okay, I get it" (me talking to God) It isn't a big deal." I tell Ashton that everything is alright and that mommy was just having a huge tantrum, but it was over..

I notice that the tire isn't deflated or anything.. I'm thinking it didn't make a hole... I load up all the kids and dogs and head to the gas station. I put gas in my van and I needed to put air in one of the tires anyway... I pull up to the air compressor and to my not so amazement.. the front tire is flat! I guess it did make a hole. I air it up and head back to the in laws house.

As soon as we pull in to the drive way... can you guess what happens??







Gabby vomits in the van.. and misses any form of protection.. she hits the one spot on the floor that is NOT protected...gross...figures..

It's about noon and I know that Lonnie will be returning soon. I decide that I will jack up the van and get the tire off and ready for him to take somewhere to get repaired!

I get all my stuff out ready to go. The tool to the jack is smashed and you can't get the handle out... I find a way to get it pulled out of itself ( of course nothing can me smooth moves for me) I get the van all jacked up. Of course it is sooo difficult to get the lug nuts off of the tire. I have to stand on the "tool" to get them loose. I get to the third one and I slip off of the 'tool' and the freakin things swings back and hits me right in the lower shin!

OKAY.. I'M DONE!! Lonnie pulls in like 5 min's later...if only I had waited.. but I was trying to be helpful!
Every place is closed.. being Sunday and all! Lonnie buys a kit and repairs it himself... we are all good and ready to get to the cabin.

We head off. The resort is beautiful! They gave us a cabin close to the pool... I'm thinking this is great! The cabin is a queen studio. Across the street I notice two bedroom, full kitchen, washer and dryer mobile home cabins..... get this... for the SAME PRICE! I was a little upset by this.. so lady.. when I called two months in advance and said what do you have that would accommodate a family of SIX... this is what you gave me?? Her excuse... "I didn't think you wanted your kids running across the street to get to the pool" HELLO! what kind of dynamics do you think I've got going here??? You think I just let my kids run around like wild coyotes? Something I had to quickly get over.
That night we rode wave runners with Lonnie's childhood friend. We were exhausted ! Off to a good night's sleep.
Monday was our first day with the boat. We had to drive 1 hour on rural curvy roads that made me sick every single time... OH.. And we got lost!
Lonnie's and Raegan's goal was to get Raegan up on skiis... they worked on it for about an hour on Monday.. She got really close..
Tuesday: My mom and Sister with my nephew and Niece meet up with us for a fun day on the boat. All the kids went tubing, with the exception of Sydney.. she got it in her head that something was going to get her from in the water ( I have NO idea where she gets this from, because I Love being in the lake :) )
It was the most hilarious thing to see her ski with out skiis and without being pulled by the boat. When she fell off of the tube and was "in" the water... just imagine.

Soaking up the sun on the boat deck was just her cup of tea!

Wednesday was our last day with the boat and we enjoyed every minute of it and did not want it to end. Raegan got up on the skiis twice that day. I attempted to ski, but after near drowning twice, I gave up. Plus I didn't know what was about to surface from the bottom.. gives me the creeps just thinking about it..

Thursday, we meet up with my childhood bff, Tonya and her kiddos. We all decided to take a tour of the Pensacola Dam. Something that none of us had done. We all grew up in this town and never took the opportunity to learn about the history of the dam. It was very interesting. We had a great tour guide! Afterwards we drove across the dam to "Pistol Pats" for a famous dip cone. This was our lunch. Very tasty I must say.. Lonnie has great memories of trips across the dam to visit his grandparents. On the way home his mother would stop at Pistol Pats and get a dip cone for the both of them. Lonnie would eat his right up and look at his mother and her 1/4 eaten dip cone and would give her the "puppy dog eyes" and she would hand it right over. (what a great mother, I would never do that) He tells these memorable stories to the kids at night before bed. I think it brought back some great memories for Lonnie that day. Sad, but good times remembered.

On our day out, we met my dad, brother, his girlfriend and their son for brunch. Then it was "on the road again"! I think we only had to stop one time! It was nice to be home and be in my own bed!
**Yes I will be adding pictures to this post!

Where to begin......

O' MY it has been a month or more.. so many activities happening: soccer make-ups, soccer end of the year celebrations, Girl Scouts, end of school year activities... you name it.

It is summer break... I would say we are full swing.. but with all the RAIN how could we be?

What's been happening!:

*Mother's Day

*Ashton's Preschool Graduation

*A trip to the Farm

*Me and my Hubby's 13 yr anniversary

Mother's day was as usual. We made plans to go eat an expensive brunch at Granite City! So delicious and worth it.

The kids also got me two small pallets of flowers to plant in our new flower beds! Yes I had to do the planting.

Lonnie tried over and over to get a good photo of me and the kids... but someone had an issue in every picture! This one was the best out of the five!

***

In mid May the girls had the opportunity to get all dressed up and take their dad to Father Daughter Dance. OH what fun they had... they theme was Hollywood Glam. As you can see they are so excited to go.

***
Then, later in May I had the chance to take the boys to Deanna's Farm. (yes the girls were soo jealous) We had a great time. It was the most beautiful day. The boys fed the baby goats milk from bottles, rode ride on tractors, fed the ducks, "pretend" milked a cow, touched a cow. See how beautiful it was...

To my surprise, Nathan was NOT afraid of the goats. Even as a baby in the stroller he would totally freak out if he even looked at them! I knew he was growing up when I witnessed him feed one with a bottle.


See! Ashton was a natural... he loved loved loved doing this...Future farmer?? or Vet??

And the most fun of the day goes to............

tractor crashing!

And now... introducing.. my new little "soon to be" Kindergartner

I think I will end with that! Til' next time and another jar of pickles...



Gretch!

It's been the RAIN~

It has been so long.. I always have great blog ideas but never execute them... As any other mom would know.. April and May tend to be very busy months. Here are a few things that we have been up to.

1. This will be our 5th summer living in our house: We finally built up a flower garden around the front of the house. It is so beautiful! I love it.. with all of this RAIN we have been having I have postponed the actual planting of the flowers.. so as of now it is a mulch garden! I promise to post photos as soon as all the flowers are full in bloom!

2. Gabby has been a good adjustment to our family. I thought the potty training would be difficult, but she as proved us wrong. She is a very smart dog.. she picked it up quickly! She already knows the word "outside"!
However, she has done some serious damage around the house...I left my kitchen drawer open and she chewed off part of the corner!
She chewed off our numchuck to our Wii ($20)
She chewed up the hands and feet of Sydney's American Girl Doll Ivy...Ivy had to take a little trip to the doll hospital up by Chicago. (about $40)
and very numerous Starwars toys are missing limbs!
She has also learned out to jump onto the dining table... she jumps on a chair or bench and then to the table.. she just cant help herself.. the smell of food just drives her crazy! This behavior has been hopefully nipped in the bud thanks to a newspaper!
Even with all this... she is a very lovable dog & has a great personality.

3.. We are in full swing soccer mode... Three of our 4 kids are playing with Lonnie coaching one of the teams. It has been a little crazy with all of the RAIN! We have had too many games cancelled and rescheduled and cancelled again! I am just hoping we do not have the entire season in ONE day! ( for all teams)
We teach our children to always put out your best effort. I feel that two of my children mostly do that. But..... Sydney has always said she wanted to play soccer and she has played on a team since prek. I have had trouble believing that she was putting out her best effort. She really struggles with believing in herself and no matter what I say, she has to be the one who believes in herself in order for there to be change. She always complained that she didn't want to be there, she wasn't as good as the rest, she wasn't as fast! I always reassure her that if she really did her best she would get better and better and better.
Brings me to my "brag". On Saturday, she had two games back to back.. in the first game she was her usual self and coach let her play about 2 minutes the entire game.. Then after the game I had a great talk with her as I listen to her complain about how great the other girls were... but then we got to the second game and I assured her again that she was good enough and that you don't have to be the "fastest" player. .. she goes in and the ball keep coming to her over and over.. she can hear me yelling at her "Sydney! You can do it, keep it going!" (seriously i turned around and another mom from the other team had her fingers in her ears!! WHATEVER!! I should have handed her the TAD award!! so annoying!) so anyway back to my story... so coach sees that Syd is really doing well and "trying"(not just looking at her manicure) and she stays in and keeps going and going... she had control of the ball several times.. but then..... she got the ball at half field and keep going.. going... going....BIG KICK and .........












No score.... missed it by about an inch!!! I was soo sad BUT sooooo swelled with PRIDE for my daughter..... she really did well! I was in tears... I just could not get over it.. when you witness a child "get it" and their own pride just shining sooo bright... it is overwhelmingly emotional! I am soo proud of her... I am hoping now that she keeps what she "got" and keeps putting her best effort out!
KUDOS to SYDNEY!!

4. I also have to brag about my new dishwasher.. It is totally awesome!! Love it love it.. my other one was a cheap piece of junk and has never worked appropriately! So we, I mean I had a big enough fit to get a new one... It is a Maytag fully integrated stainless...just totally awesome.
Now, if it would just load and unload itself!

The new Member of our Family

"GABBY"

(Sorry, she would not stay still for a photo)

Gabby is about 3 mos old. My friend is a foster parent for dogs at the shelter. We have been looking for a small dog for the kids, but wanted a puppy. Puppies are had to come by from the shelters. We got "first" dibs on her because of my friend. We immediately fell in love with her. The girls named her Gabby Green eyes. They think she is a Chihuahua mix.. we will see...

She has already been a big SPAZ and all of the kids have cried over her being too "rough"!

So far she has peed in the house 5 times just today... fortunately we got her outside to take care of her other "business" ! yay!

Our Mini Schnauzer is not the happiest about her being her, but she is playing with her outside. She gets really territorial when she is on the main floor of the house!

The kids are so far cleaning up after her. HMM I wonder how long this will last??

I am also thinking " everyone is potty trained, why did I do this?" At least my carpet is already trashed!

I will keep you posted on our new little Energy Ball!

REPEAT OFFENDER

Ashton is officially a repeat offender! By the law! Both of my phones were up on my bed. That is where I tend to carry them. While I was cleaning or attempting to (haven't been back to it since) the kitchen. Ashton picked up one of the phones on my bed and thought.. I will call 911. Apparently it is the ONLY number my 5 year old son knows! He called and hung up. Also, dispatch called back. Ashton answered the phone and said "Don't come!".

I didn't not find any of this out until about 4 minutes later!

Doorbell rings, Sydney looks out the window to see who it is! MOM! its the POLICE!

ME: totally freaking out, wondering what the hell did I do!!

I answer the door, He says to me "ma am, can I talk to you?" Me: "what about?"

then he proceeds to open my door all the way and walk into my house. I am like really scared at this point, thinking I have been wrongly accused of something!

OFFICER: "a child called 911 and hung up and dispatch called back and he answered the phone and hung up again"

Me: "humm, okay! ASHTON!! where are you?"

Ashton standing in the living room literally scared to death!

ME: "Ashton, did you call 911?

Ashton: "NO!"

me: "well Ashton the policeman is here and he knows who called, so you might want to tell me!

Ashton "NO, mom, it wasn't me!"

As he begins to cry uncontrollably and hides behind me. At this point I think he thinks he is going to jail! He was SO upset, but still never admitted to it in front of the officer!

Me and the policeman tried to calm Ashton down, to tell him how important it is to only call 911 when there is an emergency like a fire or someone is hurt really bad, NOT just because your parent would NOT let you have your way!

We thanked the policeman and apologized over and over for WAISTING his time and the city's money!

Needless to say, My son will be punished....for LYING most of all! When you are confronted with it just admit to it. Take responsibility!

and... by the way... Ashton is a repeat offender! He called 911 when he was 16 mos old....two police showed up and didn't even ask to come in!

NEVER A DULL MOMENT AT THE RUDD'S HOUSE!

Updates!

So now that I have a computer again and I do not have to go into the basement knee deep in toy vomit, I can blog!

Here are a few updates.

SYDNEY: Has finally lost a tooth! Just one! It is not the tooth that we thought would come out first. she had another one that was very loose and then the "adult" tooth pushed up and strangely tightened up the loose tooth. I was very nervous about her loosing a tooth because in involves a little blood! Sydney will almost faint at the thought of blood. All went well.

Not to take the spotlight away.....But ASHTON just celebrated his big 5th birthday! We had gift cards to Dave and Busters and decided it was just as good or better than CEC's! It was. It was quite a treat. For any of you who know me, know I do NOT let my children drink soda and I gag, hate ROOT BEER gag gag!! Only on occasion will I let them have soda. They wanted Root Beer! GAG! I really do gag at the smell! I do not like the smell of RB flavored candy! GAG!

anyway... focus..... We headed out on a Saturday afternoon, ate lunch and played games.
Gag! See how excited Raegan was about the Root beer? Gag!

Ashton being the lucky little fellow he is...plays this

do you see the little 1000? you hit the stop button and where ever the light stops that is the number of tickets you win! Guess what? That's right! He wins 1000!

Here is his initial reaction. I think he was trying to count to 1000 on his fingers.!

Wow! Look at all those tickets! (they are worth 2, I guess to save the trees) Over all it was great family time!

I am having a hard time believing that Ashton is 5! It was just yesterday that we moved into the house we are in and he was only 10 mos old! TIME FLIES! He will start Kindergarten this fall! I will not believe it until he is actually there.

Ashton is an extremely bright kid. He also has a lot of energy. It's not like boy "Tigger" energy. it's hard to explain. Basically when he wants something he will do and try anything to get it. Even as a newborn he wanted out of his car seat and would "try" to pull himself out! He looked like one of those toys that when you pull the string it moves the arms and legs up and down. One time I caught him on top of the dining table at like 13 mos old getting ready to pull down the chandelier! (all of my other children didn't walk until 13 mos old) Ashton started walking around the end of 9 mos old. I used to think that was impossible until I had Ashton.

Another time he moved a chair and stacked a bunch of stuff on it to get on top of the counter, then continued to stack stuff on the counter all to get something on top of the refrigerator! All in a matter of seconds! Kids like him move fast!

Just the other day we were at the park and all of a sudden I could not find Ashton anywhere!! I was screaming and screaming for him. I was almost to the point of ...nothing could come out because I was so upset! I even had all the other parents looking a screaming for him. Finally, I here him say "what?" He went to the van to play his Nintendo! I said to him " we could not find you, I was scared that someone had taken you" He says to me: "but mom, no one did, I was just in the van" . He was so matter of fact!

I could go on and on with likable stories of my chronicles of Ashton.

I see as he gets older that he is growing out of this and is able to "think" a little before he does something. HE is a beautiful child, smart, funny, friendly, sensitive, STRONG, determined, a good brother, amazes me everyday (good and bad). I love my little buddy!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I totally promise to back to blogging soon.... now that I have a new laptop! Whaooooooo!!!
Lonnie gives the most practical gifts now that we have been married for almost 13 yrs!
I am a happpy girl!
Hope everyone had a very romantic day!

It's been so long!

I'm quite sorry that it has been so long!  I have been recovering from Christmas and EVERYONE has been sick a time or two!  I think that everyone is hopefully on the mend.

I am very excited for the new year and all the new possibilities.  For me, it is a huge year!  I will turn 35 in a day.  Now, at first I was very upset about it.  I look at my life and thought that certain areas are not where they should be.  There are many things that I wanted to accomplish by age 35.  But then I look at all my sweet beautiful children and know that that it self is a HUGE accomplishment.  One that 15 yrs ago didn't see as a possibility.  

My so sweet young neighbor said to me "Gretchen, you are soo accomplished, I aspire to be like you one day!"  WOW!  That really opened my eyes!  It shaved off a little more depression!  Thanks, Sara Jean!  Then I realized it is the Year of the OX for Chinese New Year!  I am an OX!  YES! another couple of inches shaved off!!

So you see Dears, I have a new outlook on turning 35!  YAY! for me!  I realized I can turn my life in a new direction, well not entirely.  What I'm saying is... there are a lot of things that I want to do, some of them things I used to do and stopped because I viewed my children as a restriction or burden!  (My view was distorted! it's no longer that way).

I am soo blessed!  I have 4 very unique individuals that I cannot wait to see what they do in life and impact this World!

My husband is so very sweet!  HE is such a soldier!  He is the best father to our children and a wonderful provider!  And damn cute!!

So, I look forward to the year to follow!  Exciting things will happen!  Some historical!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

HOLIDAY SEASON

Well Christmas has come and gone! I must say I am already missing the Christmas music on the radio! It is my favorite and I could sing every song! Yes my children do get sick of hearing me sing, especially after a month of it! Ashton says it gives him a headache!

Our travels started on Friday before Christmas. We traveled all night to end at my in laws home. There we had a small Christmas. We don't exchange gifts anymore. His parents basically hand out $100 bills to the 5 teens and my children got a trampoline this year. His mother still wanted to have them open something so she got them each a new Webkinz. Water animals so they could have a water room! We had a non traditional dinner, but for us it has been tradition to have Mexican food for dinner. It was yummy! Then early the next morning (Sunday) we headed to see my family! At my mother's where my brother and his new baby, my Dad, Sister and a few other extras were there! We had a great time opening presents and eating a prime rib dinner! I had Lonnie take a few pictures of my sibs and my mom and dad. FYI my parents are no longer married but are still really great friends and consider each other family! It is amazing how well they get along!

-----

Here is me, my bro and sis. I am the oldest then my bro, CHAD and my sis KERI. Go figure they got the short names! I got the long one! Even though, I still love my unique name!

Here is my bro, his new son Jackson and his wife Sarah. My brother is soo bad at pics. he blinked like 5 times! I gave up! this is to show you Jackson!(he is 9 wks old)

Then around 7 pm it was time to head back to KC. Then on the way Lonnie informed me that he was coming down with something! As of today he is still sick and has lost 18 lbs since that night. It was the last full solid meal he had! I do believe he is on his way to recovery...he did break down and get a really strong antibiotic! I can now only pray that it will help heal is body and get rid of this infection!

Come Christmas eve. I realized that my kids had not been to see Santa yet. Nathan has never got to go tell Santa what he wants. So we took off in the early afternoon to see him at Basspro shop! Which was awesome! If you want to see the picture go to www.basspro.com/santaphotos and the pass code is batch#B636 Photo#55 386. Later that day I took the kids to 4pm church service. There they told the story of Jesus' birth. To my surprise Ashton sat thru the entire thing! I was impressed. Nathan was a little wiggly, as it was the wiggle service! That evening we had a lovely dinner and the kids got to open their Christmas PJS!!

By Christmas morning I was exhausted. Since Lonnie had been sick I had to do EVERYTHING by my self! Please no pity! So I told the kids I would not get out of bed until the coffee was made. I don't know who ended up making it, but it was done when I came down!

I wanted a White Christmas and I got it! It had snowed just a bit the day before! So really to me that was a gift!

I didn't get much pictures of the boys because...well you know they can't stay still for one photo!

This would be Ashton posing with his Lincoln Logs! Way too excited!

At least here you can see who he is!

Yes, I had my shopvac ready to go!

Nathan was a little better, but then I realized my lens needed cleaned!

The Girls showing off there new "bags" ! Every girl loves a new bag! Right? I know I do, so that is what I got a new Vera Bradley bag and wallet! It was between that or a new pair of Keen boots! I guess the boots will have to wait until my birthday coming up in January! yay!

As well that ends well! Now that the Christmas season is over it becomes birthday marathon for our family! It is Raegan and Lonnie's on Dec 31, Ashton's is January 30 and mine in January also! WHOA!! Now I am gearing up for a slumber party for eight 8-9 year old girls! Please pray for me! LOL!

I am looking forward to a new year! I am wishing all of you Good Karma, Good Health, Good friendships, Joy, Happiness, Peace and Love!

Until next time,

G

Snow Day...well kind of...

Today we had a snow day, well...kind of. Funny story. I was in bed this morning with a migraine...Lonnie was getting the girls up for school as usual. It looks like this outside. He assumes there is no school. One of the news stations reported that "Shawnee" didn't have school... well we are a totally different district with a weird number to it. So I am thinking all day, and remember I am doped up on meds with a migraine...that school is cancelled....until the school nurse calls to see "why" my girls are not in school!! I asked her if "she was serious" She probably thought I was little nutty, which I was. I AM. So her is what it looks like out my front window... Does that look like two little inches of snow? Heck no, you can't even tell where the street is...so whatever!

So being the totally awesome mom that I am....I let the kids do Gingerbread "graham cracker" houses!! What a blast! I even whipped up some royal icing to put them together!! Lonnie picked up all the candy for us and brought it over. Got stuck in the snow one time, but made it safely to and from!

Below is Nathan's house... He did not waste anytime decorating it.. Next we have Raegan's! She made some wonderful snowman Santa's for hers!

This one is Sydney's... she likes the more is better approach!

Now we have Ashton's...He went for the less is more minimalist approach. Which is unusual for him because he is such in indecisive thinker!

I was sooo proud of them all. It is a great tradition that I have started with my kids. Something that I hope they will carry with them forever and continue with their children! And now they are all displayed on our new "Vintage or Antique Player Piano" I have bought several Christmas Songs to play on it. Since NO ONE in our house can play yet! It is so wonderful to hear. It reminds me of the days my Granny would play for us at Christmas! One day I hope to carry on that tradition.

(This is a picture of it still in the garage of the people we bought it from)

And now for the Most Grand item in our house... We got a REAL Christmas Tree this year!! Here is a view from my balcony from upstairs! We did red, white and blue lights and the kids made all sorts of ornaments, which you can't see from this view. It is amazing and smells great. Until Next time.... Have a Merry Christmas and may all your families be blessed in so many ways!

Gretchen

Random Weirdness, Updates and A Question

I thought a few random funnies would be worth it today....

1. When I open my coffee maker to pour water in it...I think I'm looking at Darth Vader! What do you think? Do you see it??

2. The kids got a Trampoline as an early Christmas Gift from Lonnie's parents. We got around the middle of October. They love it. Yes, we have had some injuries, which would be the reason it has been pondered for so long. I took this picture from Ashton's bedroom window, which is just above the kitchen and the patio outside. ( see why I don't lock him in his room when he is having a tantrum... he would go out the window)

But, if you look closely in the gutter on the left... you will see a shoe. A shoe I have been looking for! One of Sydney's shoes. Lonnie said he threw shoes out of the trampoline, but then could find the other one and just could not figure out where it had gone. Well, NOW WE KNOW!!

3. The other day the kids were making craft "people". Their idea was to have a person made for each person that would be coming for Thanksgiving. Ashton showed us one and said that it was his cousin Bailey. Here's what it looks like.
Now, are you wondering what is that red thing in the middle? Us too! So we ask

"Ashton, What is this?"

His reply "It is Bailey's laser" then made laser shooting sounds! Okay, cool!!

but here's the profile: I almost peed my pants!

So, now that you have stopped laughing and cleaned up yourself......

here are some updates...

Sydney has her first loose tooth. We are soo excited for her. She is almost 6 1/2, so it is about time. All of her friends will be getting teeth for Christmas!

Raegan is playing 5 on 5 full court basketball! She really loves it! I think it will be her forte!

Ashton must be going through a growth spurt, he is eating constantly and is cranky. Isn't that what happens...esp the crankiness??

Nathan is three! nuf said!

QUESTION: There is a little girl the same age as Sydney. She is in the same grade but not in the same class. She lives about three houses down from us. She comes over at least 3-4 times a week after school (as if I don't already have enough children). She had her birthday and party on Saturday and did not invite Sydney!

Do you think that is totally rude??

Here is my thought...if my kid was over at some other kids house almost every freakin day I would almost feel obligated to invite that kid!

Yes, I get that maybe she was limited on how many she could invite, but wouldn't you think that Sydney would have priority?

A Blast From the Past

When I met Tori, I told her about this "mullet" 80's picture I had of myself.....So here it is....

My mom let me wear a little bit of make up. I would never let Raegan wear make up in one year! NO WAY!

Total 80's shirt & my moms earrings!

And now here is a photo of me when I was about..three years old. Now I get all the time that my boys look just like Lonnie... you be the judge!

Me almost 4 yrs old

Ashton last year at almost 4!

So take that!!

MY Blog IDOL!!

Yes.................it is TORI !


As you know she came into town to see the NKOTB! I sent Tara, her sister a message and she said that some other bloggers were coming to meet her! Tori didn't know she was a HUGE Celebrity around here! I joked that Tara was her agent!! LOL





I almost felt "star struck" when I meet her! I immediately gave her a hug! (I hope that was cool?) I'm a hugger! ( I secretly pulled out some of her hair to add to my Tori Shrine!)





If you have not meet Tori in person, she is super cute and just as funny in person. I only wished I had more time to spend with her today!





(Tori, you will have to come and hang with us cool people in KC this summer!)

SuPeR hErOeS !

HALLOWEEN 2008

Clark Kent-Dad, Spiderman-Nathan, Incredible Hulk-Ashton, Bat woman-Raegan, Super Girl-Sydney....

AS you can see we were Super Heroes! O my Gosh it was hilarious! When Lonnie first saw me all dressed up he laughed so hard he cried!!

Of course Lonnie being the super conservative!, his costume is too!

Wonder Woman- of course ME!!

Checking out the loot!

Seriously! Ashton looks like he already had too much!

I must say that this year we had AWESOME weather! I wore my costume without freezing! My kids were actually getting HOT! We were so grateful!

Next year we are already thinking of doing the Peanuts Gang!