What Do Kids Do When There Is No Parents Around and Nothing To Do?

Well, they create things to do. Did you know that butter makes zucchini better? Well, Britin does, but I guess I forgot to tell her it works better when the zucchini is sliced and cooked. Ohhhh, that's how it works.

They also look for any items that can be moved around to create CHAOS. I skipped the parental section in the manual on why chaos is necessary for kids, so if any of you still have your manuals that came with your child please copy it and post it in my comments. This seems to be a favorite pastime for my kids. Nothing seems to be off limits for them. Clothes, food, furniture, plants even.



Have any of you ever seen the movie Sandlot? Great flick. I highly recommend it. Well, if you have, let me take you back to the part in the movie when they are trying to retrieve the ball from the Beast. After the vacuum explodes one of the boys comes out (quite dirty, I might add) and says, "We've been going about this all wrong. I blame myself." Then he concocts another plan, which isn't important at this time. Well, I can't say I blame myself because this all happened while I was at work, so I am going to blame Dalen. Just kidding, I do blame myself. I guess I have not taught my children the right things in the past 7 years. I have not taught them that butter does not help raw zuchini taste good. I have not taught them that schoolwork belongs strictly in backpacks or on desks. I have missed the lesson on food tasting better when not on the floor. Oh, and I also skipped the lesson that clothes belong in bags, dressers or hanging up, not spread all over the ground. So, ladies (and gentlemen if you are reading) take note to cover these life lessons with your kids.

In Dalen's defense, I have to say, I had to go to work and he had a stomach virus. I am just happy the kids survived, Dalen didn't puke and the house did get set to rights before I got home. Thanks, Dalen, for taking the pictures.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the zucchini, Dalen told Britin she had a choice, either take a bite of the buttered zucchini or get a spanking. She chose the bite of zucchini. Brave girl!

Where did she go?

Just another day in the kitchen... or is it?

Something seems amiss in the kitchen. Hmmm...
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Oh, it's just my bubbers!

Dancing Queen

Okay, so I know I find great humor (and joy) in watching my kids dance. Malia is such a hoot.

(By the way...the song theme for this post is "Come on get higher" by Matt Nathanson. Great song, good beat and Malia always jigs to it when I put it on.)

Julie's Thought Train

So, I was thinking about all of the advice I would give to my daughters as they are dating a guy and thinking about getting married. I talked this over with a friend and we came up with a pretty lengthy, good list of things. But, as always, my train of thought ran off the track and I ended up wondering why people sugarcoat things.

For instance, one time I was getting a shot (rho-gam) and I asked if it needed to be in my hip/butt. The nurse said it needed to be done in a "fleshy" area. Okay, why didn't she just say we need to put it in the place that has the most fat. I already know that my hip/butt has a lot of fat. Don't insult me by calling it "fleshy."

Now, for how my thought train derailed (Dalen hates it when I do this). One of the items on my list for my daughters is that they should ask the blood-type of the potential companion. This is something I wasn't aware of, but if the female has rh negative blood and the hubby has rh positive blood the mommy's body can attack the baby, causing a lot of havoc. So, to headoff any potential problems the mommy needs to have a rho-gam shot in the butt. She might even have to have another one just after the baby is born (only if the baby's blood is rh positive). I only had to have the second shot once, after Malia, so I was thinking I was pretty lucky. Unfortunately, while talking to the nurse she told me I should have hoped for the second shot with each of my girls so they wouldn't have had to have any shots. See, if the rh factor is positive in the mommy, it doesn't matter what the daddy is, she won't have to have the shot. So, this led me back to thinking that for Kylie and Britin, they need to ask the blood type so they will either be able to avoid the rho-gam shot or go into babymanufacturing knowing that they are going to have to have the shot.

Once on this train of thought I started to remember all of my experiences with getting my shots and all of the blood drawing that goes along with pregnancy. I remembered the story above about having my hip/butt called "fleshy" and I got a little annoyed.

Oh, no, the train didn't stop once off the track. That's just not how my mind works. It kept going. I remembered a commercial on the radio (I just love funny commercials) for GrapeNuts cereal. If you haven't heard any of them I highly recommend it. They make me laugh. I couldn't find any of them on youtube, sorry. Maybe I am the only fan (good possibility since I am quite weird, and unique). See how my train gets derailed, while it is already derailed? Is that possible?

Once I got on the thought of commercials I remembered a couple of weeks ago when my sister called me (like she often does- I just love it!) and we talked about our favorite commercials. So, I did my usual, I got on youtube and tried to find the ones that she was talking about. See, I don't really watch much tv anymore, so I didn't know the ones she was talking about. They were great. Check out this one... she really liked it, I laughed out loud, I have to admit.



I could keep going on, as to the journey my mind has taken, but you all are probably completely frightened already, so I will stop. Thanks for riding the "Julie thought train." Come back soon. I just love repeat customers.

Remembering...

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Malia is hilarious, in case you all needed to be reminded. She came up with this one on her own and it makes just about everyone laugh.

Malia LOVES dogs, as long as they don't knock her down. Whenever she sees a dog or someone mentions the word dog she doesn't make a dog sound, she tries to call to the dog. Check it out...



I also forgot to post last week a picture of Britin in her ballet outfit. Someone anonymously paid for Britin to take Ballet for a semester at the same studio Kylie used to go to. She had such a great time. Britin was definitely in her element.

Switch the tenny's for ballet slippers and she was perfect. She wanted to carry her slippers around, but I had to put them up so she wouldn't lose them.

A Camping We Did Go

Since I didn't have to work this past weekend we decided to get away, down to Dalen's Mom's property. It was a "fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants" trip since we weren't sure if it would happen because of the rain. See, there are a couple of really interesting hills before you get to the property, that if they get wet (at all) they turn to muddy mud. We aren't talking your normal, average, mudpie variety mud, we are talking MUD! When we hadn't heard from Dalen's mom by early afternoon we figure we were a-go for the trip. We quickly shoved everything in the car, including the kids (luckily we didn't forget any of them). Off we went on the long trip south. Uneventful. Last time the family went down, Dalen let Kylie "drive" once they got on the dirt road. This time it was Britin's turn. She did great. Natural driver.

If any law enforcement is checking out this picture, I swear this is a doctored photo! For everyone else, that's my girl with the love of my life, making the last few turns to the cabin.

We really did have a great time. Mostly just visited. The kids didn't sleep so great, but isn't that really what camping is all about? Pigging out, not sleeping, and really hating the cleanup afterwards. Then talking about when the next trip will be.

Eating dinner, Sunday night. Just visiting. Dalen's mom and brother.

Dalen with Dixie, still visiting...

Malia, with her darling face, just loving the whole ambiance of camping. She is in her element when a camera is around, with lots of people to smile and laugh with her!

Bits and her cousins playing with Cache, the dog. This is the only photo that Kylie was in (and she is only half in it). She was so busy off hunting and exploring that she wasn't around most of the time the camera was out.

Funny hat on Jacob. Need I say more?

Funny hat on Bits. That sums it all up!

The storm clouds came rolling in. Which leads to the next part of the story. The Rain. Oh, the rain. If I was clever enough I'd write an ode to the rain that caused a restless, wet night for all of us and made so much mud (remember the mud?) that we almost didn't make it off of the mountain. At least not off the mountain the right way, on all 4 tires. About 10:00am we decided to pack up the van and make a break for it. We weren't sure how it was going to play out, but we said a prayer before heading out. Dalen's brother headed out first, in a 4-wheel drive jeep. Our family in our piddly, little, front-wheel drive van, followed, with cables on the tires. I swear Nascar has nothing on the talents of my hubby. WOW! I still am in awe of how he did it, but he gunned the van, quickly spinning the wheel this way and that way. Dalen's brother slid sideways in front of us. The backend of the van was fishing back and forth. Dalen corrected each time, making it all the way down without sliding into the mountain or going over the edge. After we got down, Dalen and his brother took the cables off the tires. Daren asked me if I screamed the whole way. Surprisingly, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't think Dalen needed anymore stress. We were all sitting in the van, white knuckled. Each time we made it through a long mud patch Jacob would say, "See the prayer is working." Isn't he great? Before embarking on the highway we pulled over to say a prayer of gratitude that we were safe. Dalen asked Jacob to say the prayer. He said it all by himself. After he was done he turned to me and said, "See, I know how to say that kind of prayer myself." And he did! He said a beautiful prayer of thanks!

Just a funny side note- we made it through all of that, crazy winds on the highway, hail and everything without any damage or injury... until... 1/2 mile from our exit to get home a rock popped up and chipped our windshield. Seriously...

Just thought I'd end with a very pretty picture I took before the storm hit full force.

By the way, since I couldn't find a camping song (I thought I'd try a new idea and have a theme song with each entry- when appropriate- just like I did with Jacob's first day of school theme- be true to your school by the beach boys) I thought that I'd have a patriotic song to go along with the last photo. Just thought I'd clue you in if you got a little confused by the song choice. This one- God Bless The USA by Lee Greenwood.