I fell off the bloggy wagon again, I know. I got through 2 whole posts before I blew it this time, so maybe I can make it through 3 before I quit the next time.
Anyway, I just thought I should share the best part of my day today, and I am going to do it in my favorite format for kid tattling:
(Ahem)
Once upon a time, there was a 30-something mommy sitting in a bench at church. This particular bench happened to be close to the front of the chapel, but it was better than sitting in the chairs towards the back (because you lose the kid-corralling effect, duh). In front of the mommy sat the bishop's wife and the missionaries. Next to her in the same bench sat the EQ President and his family. Sitting on the stand a mere 3 rows away were the Bishop, the Stake President, and the Area Authority Seventy (pretty much all the leadership for our area for those who aren't LDS).
The mommy was trying to convince all 3 kids to chill the freak out while Boone was in the foyer phoning in a prescription for a patient who was swelling up like a balloon, and thought she had finally calmed them down enough to have a few quiets minutes of reflection while the sacrament (like communion, kind of) was being passed.
Prince Keaton had other plans.
He leaned over, quietly at first, to inform the mommy that he had no intention of eating the bread. He was in a rather foul mood all morning, and the mommy was smart enough not to battle over this one and replied simply, "Well, that's your choice."
Just as the mommy was congratulating herself on not being ruffled by Prince Keaton, a small finger made it's way into her field of vision.
That small finger had the largest, grossest booger of all time stuck to the end of it. It looked like a small slug, to be honest.
The mommy frantically reached down into The Church Bag (believe me, it deserves to be capitalized) to find a tissue to confiscate the slug booger, decided a dried out wipe crammed into a pocket was good enough, and grabbed Prince Keaton's offending finger to clean it up.
To which he responded, in the loudest voice possible (during the quietest part of the meeting),
"NO! STOP! LET ME CHOOSE THE WRONG! I WANT TO CHOOSE THE WRONG! LEAVE MY BOOGER ALONE!"
In front of the mommy -- laughing. Behind the mommy, laughing. To the right of the mommy -- HYSTERICAL laughing. Actual mommy -- not laughing.
Prince Keaton should have known better not to mess with the mommy, because the mommy is way bigger than him and was able to retrieve Booger Slug soon thereafter and foil his plan.
Until the part where he got mad about being robbed of his nostril treasure and started screaming,
"FINE! I AM TAKING OFF ALL OF MY CLOTHES!!! I WANT TO BE NAKED! I'M GETTING NAKED AT CHURCH!"
At which point the mommy nearly knocked over the people in the aisles rushing to get Evil Prince Keaton out of the building.
The mommy found the daddy in the foyer, chucked Prince Keaton towards him, and waited a few minutes to cool off before going back into the chapel to a room full of people with the biggest smiles you have ever seen.
So glad we could provide the entertainment. You're welcome, Grandview Ward.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The End of the School Year (As We Know It)... And Some Random Stuff Too
Okay, so before we put the fence all the way back up our kids loved to wander back into the wooded area behind our property line and "have adventures". There was a little creek back there and they spent hours building log bridges, walking along the trails Boone cleared with a machete, organizing rocks into circle shapes to pee into...you know, typical kid stuff.
Well one day Rylan came running up the hill into the house asking for a jar because she found "a lobster" in the creek and she wanted to catch it. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I handed her a canning jar and went back to whatever productive thing I'm sure I was doing.
10 minutes later she comes back up grinning from ear to ear, grabs a bigger bucket, and proceeds to make a habitat (totally normal) for this:
She freaking caught a crawfish in our little creek! How hickish is that? She was so proud of herself and her brothers thought it was about the coolest thing they had ever seen, especially when they bumped the bucket and the thing swam backwards at breakneck speed.
She decided that "Shrimpy" simply had to make a visit to the classroom the next day at school or nobody would believe her. We gave her the go-ahead, but sadly, Shrimpy kicked the bucket about 2 hours later. I threw his little crawfish corpse back into the canning jar and filled it with clean water so Rylan could decide what to do in the morning. She cried when she saw that he'd crossed over and felt really guilty about it, but decided a dead crawfish was still cool enough to take to school.
When she came home that day, she reported that Dead Show and Tell was a smashing success, but determined that it was time to give Shrimpy a proper burial. So she dug a little grave, buried the crustacean, and made a popsicle stick headstone that read "RIP Shrimpy". I swear I took pictures of the creek and of the cemetery, but I can't find them anywhere, so you'll just have to imagine it for yourselves.
Continuing on with our weird animal post...
At the end of the year the whole kindergarten class loaded up on buses for a field trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C. Boone was already on terminal leave and had the rare chance to do something during the school day, so both of us volunteered to chaperon the trip. We drug Branik along too, because what else were we going to do with him? Plus, we kind of like him.
Anyhow, when we got there we were told that so many parents had volunteered that we were in charge of 2 whole kids: Keaton and Hudson. And Branik. So our little group headed to the gate to start our day and Hudson told us he needed to gear up before heading in. You know, for safety's sake:
I cracked up when I saw him dig these bad boys out of his pocket and sport them for the next several hours. Apparently Chrysta had no idea he'd stashed them in his jacket, but it made for a great picture that I'm certain will make an appearance in a wedding video 20 years from now;)
It continued to be a cool zoo trip. We walked to the first exhibit to witness the bears literally fighting with each other instead of just laying there like they usually do. Awesome. Also watched/listened to the monkeys freak out for awhile, and as we approached the tortoise we saw this:
What tortoise does that? Seriously, it was acting like some weird dog and stayed there, neck extended, begging to be touched by kids, for like 15 minutes. All 3 boys took turns scratching it and we made it out just before the zookeepers headed over to stop the madness. Good thing Hudson had his goggles on.
A few days after that the older kids had their Field Day, and I have to admit that Cedar Ridge really did throw a good party for those kids. I remember Field Day as being 3 legged races and egg carrying on a spoon and 100 meter dashes.
Not the case in Georgia.
Awww yeah. That's the fire truck back there, spraying the kids down next to the inflatable water slide, while other kids rotate through the tug of war/other field games. I took this picture of Rylan from about 100 feet away with my little point and shoot camera, but you get the idea:
And here you can see how Keaton hated Field Day.
Branik had a water day at his preschool too, but I didn't get any pictures of it, so his little graduation will have to do. We had all 3 kids at Trinity Baptist Preschool for a year and they all loved it. It's also the place Keaton seems to have picked up his occasional twang, but we forgive them for that.
Here is Branik with Cannon on graduation day, wearing the traditional foam visor instead of some stupid cap and gown:
And here he is with his teachers -- Ms. Ellen...
...and Ms. Ann...
He liked them both, but I think he had a special attachment to Ms. Ann. Look at how he's eyeballing her? I love his face off in this picture.
Which brings us to the last week of elementary school (I am remembering now why I am so, SO behind -- because I was EXHAUSTED from running around to all of these events in between loads of fill dirt and paint trays!)
Here's a terrible photograph of Keaton during his kindergarten program:
And here he is afterward with Miss Hall, looking guilty about something:
And here are my two big kids on their last day of school in Georgia:
That day I had to go to the kindergarten BBQ in the morning and the 2nd grade dance party in the afternoon. It down-poured at the picnic which meant that I got to go home and re-dry my hair before dashing back to the school. If you know anything about me you know that I HAAATTE doing my hair. HATE. IT. So this was an especially rotten day for me. But I got these pictures which almost made it worth the hassle...
That's Keaton with his friend Rachael. I want to explode from the cuteness.
Also cute? Rylan doing the macarena:
Last but not least, here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson. That lady could shake it on the dance floor! I'm pretty sure she organized the party for her own sake.
And that, as they say, is that.
Goodbye Georgia schools! I can't say that I'll miss you, but at least nobody died.
Well one day Rylan came running up the hill into the house asking for a jar because she found "a lobster" in the creek and she wanted to catch it. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I handed her a canning jar and went back to whatever productive thing I'm sure I was doing.
10 minutes later she comes back up grinning from ear to ear, grabs a bigger bucket, and proceeds to make a habitat (totally normal) for this:
She freaking caught a crawfish in our little creek! How hickish is that? She was so proud of herself and her brothers thought it was about the coolest thing they had ever seen, especially when they bumped the bucket and the thing swam backwards at breakneck speed.
She decided that "Shrimpy" simply had to make a visit to the classroom the next day at school or nobody would believe her. We gave her the go-ahead, but sadly, Shrimpy kicked the bucket about 2 hours later. I threw his little crawfish corpse back into the canning jar and filled it with clean water so Rylan could decide what to do in the morning. She cried when she saw that he'd crossed over and felt really guilty about it, but decided a dead crawfish was still cool enough to take to school.
When she came home that day, she reported that Dead Show and Tell was a smashing success, but determined that it was time to give Shrimpy a proper burial. So she dug a little grave, buried the crustacean, and made a popsicle stick headstone that read "RIP Shrimpy". I swear I took pictures of the creek and of the cemetery, but I can't find them anywhere, so you'll just have to imagine it for yourselves.
Continuing on with our weird animal post...
At the end of the year the whole kindergarten class loaded up on buses for a field trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C. Boone was already on terminal leave and had the rare chance to do something during the school day, so both of us volunteered to chaperon the trip. We drug Branik along too, because what else were we going to do with him? Plus, we kind of like him.
Anyhow, when we got there we were told that so many parents had volunteered that we were in charge of 2 whole kids: Keaton and Hudson. And Branik. So our little group headed to the gate to start our day and Hudson told us he needed to gear up before heading in. You know, for safety's sake:
I cracked up when I saw him dig these bad boys out of his pocket and sport them for the next several hours. Apparently Chrysta had no idea he'd stashed them in his jacket, but it made for a great picture that I'm certain will make an appearance in a wedding video 20 years from now;)
It continued to be a cool zoo trip. We walked to the first exhibit to witness the bears literally fighting with each other instead of just laying there like they usually do. Awesome. Also watched/listened to the monkeys freak out for awhile, and as we approached the tortoise we saw this:
What tortoise does that? Seriously, it was acting like some weird dog and stayed there, neck extended, begging to be touched by kids, for like 15 minutes. All 3 boys took turns scratching it and we made it out just before the zookeepers headed over to stop the madness. Good thing Hudson had his goggles on.
A few days after that the older kids had their Field Day, and I have to admit that Cedar Ridge really did throw a good party for those kids. I remember Field Day as being 3 legged races and egg carrying on a spoon and 100 meter dashes.
Not the case in Georgia.
Awww yeah. That's the fire truck back there, spraying the kids down next to the inflatable water slide, while other kids rotate through the tug of war/other field games. I took this picture of Rylan from about 100 feet away with my little point and shoot camera, but you get the idea:
And here you can see how Keaton hated Field Day.Branik had a water day at his preschool too, but I didn't get any pictures of it, so his little graduation will have to do. We had all 3 kids at Trinity Baptist Preschool for a year and they all loved it. It's also the place Keaton seems to have picked up his occasional twang, but we forgive them for that.
Here is Branik with Cannon on graduation day, wearing the traditional foam visor instead of some stupid cap and gown:
And here he is with his teachers -- Ms. Ellen...
...and Ms. Ann...
He liked them both, but I think he had a special attachment to Ms. Ann. Look at how he's eyeballing her? I love his face off in this picture.
Which brings us to the last week of elementary school (I am remembering now why I am so, SO behind -- because I was EXHAUSTED from running around to all of these events in between loads of fill dirt and paint trays!)
Here's a terrible photograph of Keaton during his kindergarten program:
And here he is afterward with Miss Hall, looking guilty about something:
And here are my two big kids on their last day of school in Georgia:
That day I had to go to the kindergarten BBQ in the morning and the 2nd grade dance party in the afternoon. It down-poured at the picnic which meant that I got to go home and re-dry my hair before dashing back to the school. If you know anything about me you know that I HAAATTE doing my hair. HATE. IT. So this was an especially rotten day for me. But I got these pictures which almost made it worth the hassle...
That's Keaton with his friend Rachael. I want to explode from the cuteness.
Also cute? Rylan doing the macarena:
Last but not least, here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson. That lady could shake it on the dance floor! I'm pretty sure she organized the party for her own sake.
And that, as they say, is that.
Goodbye Georgia schools! I can't say that I'll miss you, but at least nobody died.
Let's Go Wayyy Back
Okay, so before I can talk about Colorado, or getting to Colorado, or my sister's wedding, or the family reunion, or the sisters reunion, or the actual move, or the birthdays that have transpired, I am going to go back to preparing to leave Georgia.
Which involved mountains of soil, buckets of paint, and loads of caffeine.
Remember that one time in 2009 when I mentioned our back yard expansion? And how we started it? And then remember the part where my leg broke and then I had surgery and then it was too hot so we quit working on it?
Yeah, so it turns out we had to finish what we had started, but after nearly a year of neglect we had to rent another Bobcat to re-clear/grade the new area. Just the type of major project you want to do when facing several stressful months, but whatever.
I should have snapped some better "before" pics, but I didn't. Here it was after the first sections of fence came down (in 2009):
And there was our first load of fill dirt, also 2009:
And here is Perry driving like a psycho in what was about to become the new section of yard:
...and then continuing his psychoness (not a word) with a machete:
To be fair, Boone had plenty of psycho moments (hours) between the two rentals and most of the month of May, I just don't have photographic proof. But here he is manning it up in the bobcat:
Seriously, the testosterone level in that back yard was through the roof. Those two were so pleased with themselves at the end of Day 1 that they could hardly stand it. So they sat (hahaha):
Just to give you an idea, you can see where the fence ends on the right side of the picture, so you can sort of gauge how much area we cleared to expand the yard.
Fast forward to 2010 when our backs were against the wall and we had to finish it, and here it was re-graded and cleared with the fence up. I'd like to add that I hand nailed about 40 linear feet of fence all by my little self. Nail guns are for pansies. Also, smart people.
And then we laid sod. And we saw the sod, that it was good. Enough. Amen.
Anyway, that's the yard. Moving on to the buckets of paint part...
So by the time we left the house, I had literally painted every single room in the house, some more than once. Painting the kitchen, the office, and the laundry room was a big pain, but painting the kids' rooms was really hard emotionally. Maybe because I had put so much time and effort into doing them the first time, and maybe because I felt like I was erasing the last 4 years and realizing how much they changed while we were in GA.
In any case, it was not fun to go from this:
...to this:
Or this...
..to this:
And really not fun to go from this:
...to this:
Alas, it had to be done to make our home "rent-able", and I think it's a nice neutral (but not totally boring) color. Yes? Yes.
Anyway, it just made me kind of sad to close this chapter in our lives, because I felt like I was closing down the "family with LITTLE kids" phase. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of that phase that suck royally, and I don't miss diapers and pregnancy and spit up and highchairs. But for whatever reason I was bummed to realize I was in a new category and I already wish I had done some things differently when my kids were all at home all day. But I suppose most parents feel that way when they look back, so I've tried not to beat myself up over it.
Especially when I look back at the totally wicked rooms they had;)
There were a few other repairs/maintenance issues that had to be dealt with before we left town, but these were the biggies and we were SO happy to be done with that house. It also made us really glad that we are renting the first 2 years here so that we don't have to think about yard expansions and paint and new toilet seats and garage door opener issues.
Wow. All that typing and I have you caught up to May. Almost. Still have end of school year stuff, which is not at all interesting to any of you, but I want to document it, sooooo...sorry. Feel free to skip the next post.
Peace out.
Which involved mountains of soil, buckets of paint, and loads of caffeine.
Remember that one time in 2009 when I mentioned our back yard expansion? And how we started it? And then remember the part where my leg broke and then I had surgery and then it was too hot so we quit working on it?
Yeah, so it turns out we had to finish what we had started, but after nearly a year of neglect we had to rent another Bobcat to re-clear/grade the new area. Just the type of major project you want to do when facing several stressful months, but whatever.
I should have snapped some better "before" pics, but I didn't. Here it was after the first sections of fence came down (in 2009):
And there was our first load of fill dirt, also 2009:
And here is Perry driving like a psycho in what was about to become the new section of yard:
...and then continuing his psychoness (not a word) with a machete:
To be fair, Boone had plenty of psycho moments (hours) between the two rentals and most of the month of May, I just don't have photographic proof. But here he is manning it up in the bobcat:
Seriously, the testosterone level in that back yard was through the roof. Those two were so pleased with themselves at the end of Day 1 that they could hardly stand it. So they sat (hahaha):
Just to give you an idea, you can see where the fence ends on the right side of the picture, so you can sort of gauge how much area we cleared to expand the yard.
Fast forward to 2010 when our backs were against the wall and we had to finish it, and here it was re-graded and cleared with the fence up. I'd like to add that I hand nailed about 40 linear feet of fence all by my little self. Nail guns are for pansies. Also, smart people.
And then we laid sod. And we saw the sod, that it was good. Enough. Amen.
Anyway, that's the yard. Moving on to the buckets of paint part...
So by the time we left the house, I had literally painted every single room in the house, some more than once. Painting the kitchen, the office, and the laundry room was a big pain, but painting the kids' rooms was really hard emotionally. Maybe because I had put so much time and effort into doing them the first time, and maybe because I felt like I was erasing the last 4 years and realizing how much they changed while we were in GA.
In any case, it was not fun to go from this:
...to this:
Or this...
..to this:
And really not fun to go from this:
...to this:
Alas, it had to be done to make our home "rent-able", and I think it's a nice neutral (but not totally boring) color. Yes? Yes.
Anyway, it just made me kind of sad to close this chapter in our lives, because I felt like I was closing down the "family with LITTLE kids" phase. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of that phase that suck royally, and I don't miss diapers and pregnancy and spit up and highchairs. But for whatever reason I was bummed to realize I was in a new category and I already wish I had done some things differently when my kids were all at home all day. But I suppose most parents feel that way when they look back, so I've tried not to beat myself up over it.
Especially when I look back at the totally wicked rooms they had;)
There were a few other repairs/maintenance issues that had to be dealt with before we left town, but these were the biggies and we were SO happy to be done with that house. It also made us really glad that we are renting the first 2 years here so that we don't have to think about yard expansions and paint and new toilet seats and garage door opener issues.
Wow. All that typing and I have you caught up to May. Almost. Still have end of school year stuff, which is not at all interesting to any of you, but I want to document it, sooooo...sorry. Feel free to skip the next post.
Peace out.
Brace Yourselves...
...because I am going to upload eleventy billion photos from this summer and blog my head off later tonight while Boone plays basketball.
Things in Colorado are fantastic and we are so, SO happy to be here. The area is wonderful, the schools are fantastic, we love our ward out here, the practice is going well -- honestly, I keep waiting for something to fall on our house because things feel so good right now. It confuses me, quite frankly.
Anyway, I'll try to recap the last 4 months later tonight. Wish me luck.
Things in Colorado are fantastic and we are so, SO happy to be here. The area is wonderful, the schools are fantastic, we love our ward out here, the practice is going well -- honestly, I keep waiting for something to fall on our house because things feel so good right now. It confuses me, quite frankly.
Anyway, I'll try to recap the last 4 months later tonight. Wish me luck.
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