Daddy/Daughter Dance 2011

This year I decided to buy tickets for K. and her Daddy to go the Valentine's Daddy/Daughter dance. After talking it over with Hubs, we decided that for this first year we would let it be just K. Next year and the following years he will take both girls.

K. was very excited to go on a real "date" with her Daddy. Especially once she got the dress and shoes with heels. A lot of her friends from school were going to be there so the excitement on Friday morning was very high.

I got home from work and got her fed. Then we had to get her ready for the dance. She got her dress and tights and shoes on and asked me to come do her hair and makeup. Not that I really could do much with her hair but we did at least brush it out. Then we put a very little bit of makeup on to make her feel extra girlie and pretty. She did look pretty cute if I say so myself. And I do, and I can because I'm her mommy and it's my blog.

Hubs had to break out the tie and get all dressed up.


We got a few pictures of them together and then they headed off to the country club to dance the night away without brothers or sisters or mom in the way.

Hubs said they danced so much he was tired. Although he mentioned that K. didn't really do so much dancing as hopping around. But it doesn't really matter since they had fun. They snacked on the food they served, I know M&M's was something that was mentioned. And then they got to pick out a balloon when the dance was over. At this point, K. did remember her little sister and grabbed her a purple balloon. She then told A. all about it and how next year they would get to go together.

I know it's a silly thing, this Daddy/Daughter dance. But I couldn't help but want to give her a chance to enjoy her Dad a bit more. After all, if they are lucky someday they will have a real sweetheart who is as wonderful a man as their Daddy. And Hubs loved it also, getting to spend more time with his girls is always fun for all of them.

Plus it gets me a chance to get a great picture like this. This alone is worth it.

I'm not eating that...

Last night was church night for the kids. They go to Religious Ed (CCD) every Wednesday at 5:15. So that makes getting home from work in time to get them to church on time a challenge. Usually Hubs has them ready and I pull up to the house load the kids and drive off. But I got home a few minutes early yesterday and actually went inside. As I am getting the kids together to get them out the door. I'm asked the infamous questions of "What do you want for dinner?" Hubs said he would take care of it but wanted something easy. I was super hungry and said just make some spaghetti then and ran out the door.

When I got back later with the kids, I was beyond hungry and ready to eat. I walked into the house and could smell the pasta had been cooked and the sauce was simmering. Hubs and Z. had taken the flat screen down to replace some parts on it that were making it slow to turn on (darn no new TV coming from Santa this year)while I was gone. So I went into the kitchen and looked at the pasta. It looked like it needed to be drained again. So Hubs said he would drain it and started to fix the kids plates for everyone.

Before I sat down the kids were already complaining that they didn't like it. So naturally I told them that they needed to just be thankful that they had something to eat and be quiet and eat. Then I fixed my starving, famished self a plate and sat down to eat. I looked at the noodles that I saw Hubs draining and they looked very very wet. But I was hungry and didn't care so I ate. I took a bite chewed it, swallowed it and looked back down to my plate. Yes, it looked and smelled like spaghetti. So I tried another bite. I finished it set my fork down and just watched everyone trying to eat as they were all trying to figure out why it tasted so BAD.

Z. said it was because it was angel hair pasta and not real spaghetti. Hubs said it was because it was a different brand of whole wheat pasta than I normally buy. K. said daddy put to much water in the sauce so that's why it was so watery. Finally I asked who made this? Z. replied I did. Darn! I can't criticize my 12 year old son for a dinner he made us. Then Z. says, dad told me how to do it and then I helped him get the TV down from the wall and we fixed the TV.

So I asked him, did you start cooking before the TV came off the wall or after you put it back up on the wall. Z. answers before they took it down. Okay I said how long did it take you to fix the TV I asked. Hubs and Z. both replied not very long 20-30 minutes at most. A-ha, that explains it. You mean to tell me that you boiled the noodles for anywhere from 20-30 minutes? No wonder what we are trying to eat is nothing but a watery mush covered in sauce.

It truly was bad, bad enough for me who was so hungry, who had just told her kids to stop complaining and just eat what your given, to not eat it. Apparently Hubs and Z. forgot all about the pasta and it absorbed the entire pot of water. The little kids had eaten all that they were going to eat of it and so had I. Out came the boxes of ceral for dinner. Really, who can mess up spagahetti?? That would be my Hubs and Z. Guess next time we cook spaghetti, I need to get Z. in there for a real lesson in how to cook pasta.

St. Louis Boys Trip

Baseball is a huge part of our family life. It wasn't always that way though. It started about the time Z. started playing t-ball. From there he learned the game and we learned the game and we all loved it. Z. and Hubs are of course much bigger fans than me and out of those two it is of course Z. who has the passion. His dreams are to grow up and be a professional baseball player. When asked what happens after that he says I'll be a paid select boys baseball coach. Yeah, we'll need to revisit that one as he gets older. But out of all the teams out there, Z.'s favorite is the St. Louis Cardinals although he does love the Texas Rangers also. And his personal MVP is Albert Pujols. For as long as I can remember he can tell you more than I ever want to hear about Pujols stats. He has always begged to go to Bush Stadium someday to watch Albert Pujols play in his home stadium as a Cardinal. He was very specific about this.

Anyway, with all the travel that Hubs has done overseas we had lots of air miles about to expire. Not enough for all six of us to go to Hawaii like I wanted but enough for five of us to go. So instead I told Hubs what he need to do was take his boys to St. Louis to Bush stadium and see Albert Pujols. After a bit of planning the boys trip was on. The girls and I would stay home and do "girl stuff". So they packed themselves off over Labor Day weekend and hopped on the plane.

They stayed a half mile from the stadium and the arch. So since I gave Z. the camera to take pictures with I wasn't sure what I would end up with on the small camera. He didn't do to bad, well except that it looks like dad never made it into any of the shots and I have more landscapes and landmarks than people.


They woke up early on Saturday and hit the arch first thing. They had no line and got to ride all the way to the top. By the time they got down the line was super long so Hubs and his earliness OCDness worked for the greater good this time.
From there they could get a birds eye view of all that they really cared to see (i.e. Bush Stadium)


Then they went around the area and did some sight seeing. Since I wasn't there I couldn't tell you what one thing is from another.


Finally they headed to the game and got there early. The special promotion was for them to go on the field that day but I think it was very crowded so they didn't enjoy it as much as they thought. The boys were very excited and anxiously waited for the game to start. Did you notice Z. wearing his Pujols jersey...and it's tucked into his shorts. Seriously, I can't get the boy to tuck anything into his jeans and he tucks his jersey into his shorts.


Z.'s favorite player ever on the big screen.

Sadly, they lost the game that day. But honestly they all had so much fun that I don't think they were really upset about it.

Then it was back to the hotel and an early flight home the next day. With souvenir Cardinals shirts for everyone.

Is it to early for military school?

It has been a bit crazy in our house lately. The kids are running free and doing pretty much what they want. And because of that the behaviour of my kids has gotten pretty rotten. It's to the point that I wonder how soon I could ship them off to military school. At the very least I am anxious for school to start so that the routine will start back up. And I will be honest, I'm ready for them to be in school when they are running around the way they have been today. Structure does wonders for them and I've been sorely lacking in that department. My own fault I know. I have to own up to my part in their bad behaviour. But in the meantime, I have been given the suggestion by Hubs to make my own military school.

Yes, that's right I can be my own drill sargent. I can make these kids get up early, make their beds, do their chores and send them off to run sprints. All before 8 AM. Then I need to take my children out in public and hope they misbehave so I can fix the problem immediately and make an example.

Have to love my Hubs sense of humor. I was all over everything he said, right until he mentioned the part about being up before 8 in the summer. Once he said that, I just checked out and started checking the prices at New Mexico Military Institute. It's really not so bad, I could sell everything we own and then we'd be set.

One more day

Normally there is nothing I like more than having it rain. Especially when I don't have to be out in it unless I choose to. The past few weeks here have seen a lot of rain. In fact we are now officially out of our drought again. Well until July and August, then I'm sure we will be back in our drought since that seems to be permanent thing. But anyway, back to this rain.

The rain has been a bit of a pain to me personally lately. Between all the cancelled and rescheduled baseball and softball games, I should be crazy enough. But it's never really that simple is it. You see about three weeks ago, Hubs and his good friend decided that the time was right to finally extend our patio. So since I've been begging for one since we moved in I was certainly not going to stop them once they got going.

So they started to dig. And then it rained. Then it dried up so they started to lay all the brick sand during which time it started to rain. I then had a 10x20 ankle deep muddy swimming pool off my patio. Then it dried up enough to add more sand. Then just for good measure, it rained again. Finally it dried up enough for the guys to lay and weld the re bar. That was on a Thursday and the cement truck was supposed to come that Saturday. Only Hubs came down with some really bad kind of chest infection so was out of commission for a few days. So we missed our window of dry sand,good weather and available volunteers. The next weekend was Mothers Day weekend which was harder to get volunteers for (rightfully so) and lots of makeup baseball games. Which now leaves us with this weekend. We have rescheduled the cement and volunteers again for this Saturday. I have run out and coverd the sand pit anytime the rain started this week just to keep it from flooding completely. But as I watched the weather last night and saw the 70% chance of rain for Saturday, well I just had to shake my head.

I'm not sure when we are going to finish this patio, but hopefully it will be before it gets to hot to actually enjoy it. Meanwhile, I just keep sweeping up the mess on the floors that having an open sandpit five feet from the door always leaves inside. So for Pete's sake save the rain for one more day, that's all we need, just one more day.

Birthdays are in the air

We are starting our next round of family birthdays. Today is Hubs birthday. He is now 41. It's really not that upsetting to him so that's a good thing. So what does Hubs want for his birthday? Who knows. He doesn't have anything that he really wants and doesn't really need anything. So we are just going to go out and let the kids pick him something that they think he would like. It's always fun to see what they come up with. One year he got a bag of marbles, Z. really felt that he needed those. And of course he felt he had to play with Hubs in the process. I've already been requested to make his favorite birthday cake. So of course I will do that, what flavor you may wonder. It's almost embarrassing to say it but he really likes pink strawberry cakes. So that's what he gets, even though the girls have told daddy that it's a girl cake. He doesn't care though and still wants a pink cake. I guess he never believed that whole boys don't like pink theory.

So Happy Birthday Hubs, we love you very much. Enough to eat pink cake and play marbles with you. May your upcoming year be filled with as much love and joy as you give all of us on a daily basis.

On my own again

I'm on my own again this week. Hubs had to leave for work for a week. Could have been much worse, he somehow managed to change it from 2 weeks to 1 week. So for one short week, I am the sole chauffer. But at least it will be busy and go fast. We did a quick and quiet brunch (since we only had A. with us) before he left to fly out. It was very enjoyable. Sometimes we forget about how simple it is to eat out with only one child. In fact most of my food was hot while I was eating it. That hasn't happened in a long time. So this week will be an easy week for cooking since the kids are so easy to please. But still, Friday night can't get here soon enough.

Where or where are my pictures?

Some of you may have noticed my lack of pictures lately. It's not because I'm not taking them. I am, lots of them. It's because Hubs garage computer (yes he has one in the garage) has gotten so old that it won't run the programs or equipment he needs anymore. So he has taken my Desktop out of the office and put it in the garage. (By the way if your spouse requires a computer in the garage please tell me so I won't feel so alone in this)

So until I can find the software for my camera and photoshop, I can't download my pictures. At least not until I get the Desktop back in the office. Hubs solution is easy, lets buy another computer and he can keep the Desktop in the garage. I don't want to buy another computer. I want to be normal and not have to have a computer in the garage. But I'm not normal and I'm still not able to download pictures or music just yet. I guess I better find that software quick and put it on the laptop. Then I will feel normal again.

Fall planting time

It's that time again. Time to pull out those summer flowers that still look good. It's time to get the beds ready for your bulbs and winter flowers. It's time to redo your pots with some beautiful fall mums. So since it's that time, I have started doing it. I've got my summer flowers ripped up, weeded those same beds and am now ready to plant. I started yesterday by redoing some of my pots.

I found a huge and I do mean ginormous (yes I know it's not really a word) yellow mum yesterday. So I planted it in my largest pot I owned and placed it out in front of the garage area. Right where I would see it anytime I'm out front. So naturally I ask Hubs if he noticed it when he got home. Hubs responded in a daring sort of way yesterday. He replied "No, I didn't notice anything but that big yellow beacon calling me home". Smarty pants! He's lucky he's still standing. The thing is, I need his back to help me redo the mulch so he got away with it.

So this morning, the girls and I will plant the rest of the flowers in the bed. I will have way to much help I'm sure. But it will get done. Then we just have to wait for the mulch man (ie Hubs) to spread out the heavy stuff. After that, we will be set to go for a while longer. Well at least until I get back to the nursery again. I may just have to buy some really big shrubs so Hubs has to dig some really big holes. Paybacks buddy!

It Happened

I knew this day would come. But it didn't make it any easier for either Hubs or me. I still don't think the day would have come yesterday except for the fact that one of Z.'s friends came over after school. The boys were running in and out from the back yard with Hoss following behind them. On one of these scrambles up the stairs I hear my sweet five year old Hoss say "Hey wait for me. I want to hear where babies come from to".

At this point it was an all out scream by mom. Boys, come here now! My boys come down wondering what they did to get into trouble. And Z.'s friend has the sheepish look that says he already knows why they are in trouble. Z. says Mom he's just going to tell us about where babies come from. I say no he's not. We will talk to you about it tonight. And that was enough talk about it for the time being. They all agreed and went off to play video games where I could hear every word being said. And you better believe I was listening.

So later that night Hubs takes Z. aside and has the talk. He even tells Z. son this is known as "the talk". You are not to ever have "the talk" with anyone of your friends or your little brother. And proceeds to tell him what he wanted to know. After a few minutes they both come out and Z. runs off to finish his reading. Hubs however was not nearly as nonchalant about it. It went well he said. He understands, he asked questions and his curiosity seems to have been satisfied.

He now compares all females to chickens who lay eggs. Only we can't see the eggs after fertilization when they pass out of our system. He seems a little (okay a lot) disappointed by this fact. Now I must say that even though I was laughing I am a bit concerned. What exactly did Hubs tell Z. and how did all women become chickens. I don't think this is exactly what I was hoping for when they went in together to talk. But Hubs assures me that he explained everything and that he really does understand where babies come from.

Significance

Why is it that my dear sweet Hubs doesn't understand the significance of our very busy two year old when she is utterly quiet.

Shall I just say that now he does understand the significance of her quietness. It usually means that she is up to something. Something like pulling the sink stopper up and turning on the water in the boys bathroom and then leaving it on. It usually means that when mom gets back from her walk he is frantically trying to clean up the floor with towels before the water pools anymore and starts to leak through the ceiling.

Meanwhile mom is just glad it wasn't her this happened to.

Daddy's Got A Lawn Mower or Two

Since we moved into our new house, Hubs has been faced with an enormous yard he has to mow. We spent the first part of the summer just using the regular push mower we have had for a few years. But I felt really bad for Hubs, it would take him up to four hours to mow and edge and then clean up with the blower. By the time he was done, he would be absolutely wiped. Then the next week he would have to do it again.

So when Hubs started watching Craig's List for a riding mower I was all for it. And it didn't take long for him to find one at a reasonable price. Sure it wasn't a brand new one, but it seems to be doing a great job so far. But Hubs is a planner. And as such, he is already planning on the day when he may need replacement parts for his green mower which I have dubbed "Lawn Boy" (by the way don't ever Google that phrase or else your going to a bunch of X rated sites...not a good thing... so all you pervs that got here from Google this isn't that kind of site). I call it that since it has that name across the manual we got to go with it. But anyways, back to my point. Hubs is planning for the day when Lawn Boy will need replacement parts. So he has been back to Craig's List to watch and see if another Lawn Boy will appear. Well it hasn't.

What has appeared is another riding mower. A John Deere mower in need of a little work to tune up the engine. And a little bit of a paint job. But Hubs decided that for thirty five dollars, he had to have it for parts alone. So he brought it home and I'll be darned if the new mower didn't start up right away and work. Not a bad investment for thirty five dollars. So now Hubs has a new plan for this mower. And I'm a bit embarrassed to say it has nothing to do with mowing. It has a big engine on it and he and the boys are now going to start working on it. So that they can make it race. Yes I did say RACE! They want to join in the fun of Lawnmower Racing. I think my family has dropped deeper into the pits of being a redneck than I ever imagined. But both boys and Hubs have watched tons of You Tube videos on this stuff and want to give it a try.

So now Hubs is back to surfing Craig's List again in order to find parts for his Lawn Boy and his Speed Racer. I am afraid I don't see an end to this anytime soon. But at least now it only takes him an hour and a half to get the lawn mowed to his standard.

Final Score

We have a small bird problem right now. I guess it's really not so much a problem as really an annoyance. We have two little birds that have decided to build their nest over the arch in our front doorway. Now any other place around the house and I wouldn't care. In fact I would probably even like to see them flying and zipping in and out around the place. But on our front porch, I really don't like them so much. I am constantly trying to clean up the bird poop they keep leaving on my welcome mat. I mean really who wants to have a bird poop covered welcome when they go to someones house. Not me! And then what happens if for some reason they decide to poop just at the moment that someone is ringing the bell. Now that would be a great welcome wouldn't it.

The first time I realized what these birds were doing, I was mean and sprayed their nest down with the water hose. It didn't deter them, they just came back and rebuilt again and again. Hubs decided to get in on the action. He then tried to scare them away by hanging up some different types of "stuff" to scare them away. He tried hanging Walmart bags all around where they were nesting. I was quite impressed by his ingenious idea because it seemed to be working. I was however quite embarrassed about having Walmart bags hanging and blowing in the breeze all around our front porch. But these little birds are persistent, they just waited until the bag closest to their nest blew down and back they came. Hubs then decided that he would just cover the entire front porch window with a big black lawn bag. Again the little birds just stayed away long enough for the bag to be blown down. Like I said, persistent little birds.

Not to be outdone, Hubs sat there one evening trying to figure out a way to get rid of the birds without actually hurting them, at least not badly. He then had another idea ( I won't say this one is really as brilliant as the walmart bag one though). He decided that he would take the laser tag gun my oldest son has and have himself a birdie stakeout. So for the past two nights, Hubs has gotten the little Nerf darts and the dart tag gun and gone huntin'. (Hubs has only gone quail hunting once before and had such a hard time seeing the little birds he couldn't do it again...hmmff..and he calls himself a Texan). Right, back to the story. Hubs has been out huntin' the last two nights and he has shot lots of Nerf darts. All I can say about that is that his accuracy leaves room for lots of improvement. And those darn little persistent birds, well I could hear their chirping laughter as they swooped all around him. Then they must have gotten tired and decided to rest for the night. And of course that would mean that they went to sleep in their nest, over our front porch with all the Walmart bags blowing in the breeze and amidst flying orange Nerf bullets.

Final Score

Birds- 3
Humans-0

Look Who's Forty

Hubs turned 40 on Sunday. And there is no way that I could let it pass quietly by. Even though we are still unpacking, I decided to call a few friends and have them come celebrated Hubs getting older. So I thought I'd share a few pictures of our good times.

Even though he's old, I still held him responsible for the grill. But he had lots of chaperone's to make sure he didn't forget to take them off the grill.

And since he had some great friends, he had lots of teasing about his age. No matter what his argument was, he was still older than 99% of the guests there. And we reminded him at every opportunity.


After our geriatric grill master finished our dinner. We had to sit around and visit for a long while. At least as long as the kids would let us. They were begging for cake. So we decided to light his candles. But not to worry, we kept a fire extinguisher close by just in case it was needed. Hubs took it all in good fun.



He has promised to pay me back when I turn forty. But since I know his memory is slipping I doubt he will remember it when the time comes.


The only two guys not picking on Hubs to bad were our good friends Greg (he turns forty in two weeks) and Mike (black hair in the picture below) who has already reached that milestone.




It was a fun night with the three F's, friends, family and forty year old Hubs. It ended a bit earlier than the parties in our heyday, but since it was a school night and we really are all old now, nobody complained.

My Soul Mate

I just love my Hubs. He's normally such a quiet sort who will only cut up around those that know him best. But don't be fooled, he does have a fun side that you will see in him every now and then. Take for example the day Hoss came home from preschool with some googly eyed glasses a few months back. I had already been playing around with them with the kids but Hubs decided to join in the fun. And I was quick enough to get a few photos.

Here you see my hottie of a man all googley eyed over Me...



Then I put the googley eyes on and found some redneck teeth to go along with them. Then I struck my best love struck over you pose and Hubs snapped a picture.



So now you can see why Hubs was so googley eyed over Me... I'm quite the looker in this picture. In fact Hubs thought it was so great he took another picture of me on his camera phone. Just to have with him at all times. But for whatever reason, when he showed my beautiful picture to his friends at work, they all cringed.

Some guys don't know a good thing when they see it...that's all I can say. But thankfully Hubs does. Nothing like googley eyes and redneck teeth to make you fall in love all over again.