The Minor League for the Minor Leagues

Lexington now has a new minor-minor basketball league team--The Bluegrass Stallions. Coached by Kyle Macy (a former UK starter on awesome UK championship team in the 70's). Many of the players on the Stallions team are former UK players and one former EKU player--my alma mater! Craig, the little ones and I went to the game last night (Al was with his dad). As we were heading to the ticket window, some random stranger walking near us gave us his 4 extra tix! Thank you random stranger! Some funny rules--they have 4 and 5 point shots.








They had one of the big bouncers for kids.

Conversation:
Mom: You look cute in that turtleneck!
Gman: I don't have a turtle neck!!!







The intermission time-filler was the game where 2 random people were chosen to shoot and make a lay-up, a free-throw, a 3-pointer, and a 1/2 court shot in a minute or less. They gave the girl (who appeared to be about 10yo) a break, she didn't have to do the 1/2 court shot. The prize: "Chick-fil-A for a year." The guy couldn't get the 1/2 court shot. But the crowd went WILD when the 10yo girl completed her round!!!! Afterward, the announcer interviewed her. She plays organized basketball but had never made a 3-pt shot before that one!



How many Chick-fil-A cows does it take to make a herd?

School Pictures 2009

The 8th grader! Doesn't seem right that he's almost done with middle school already!!!








The kindergartner/first grader. Picked her hair style for picture day--isn't it a little early for her to wanting to over-ride mom's picture day plans?






















The pre-schooler. If only I could put that dimple in my pocket!!

In need of your daily affirmation?

My friend Melissa

I've known her for about 11-12 years. She was a Home Economics teacher in her previous life. She's started a new website with TONS of tips and ideas on how to save TONS of money when shopping for just about anything. And updates on special sales from just about any store or website. Because of her savvy coupon & sales ads knowledge, she has actually left the grocery store with more money than what she went in with and bags of groceries too. SERIOUSLY! I've seen it.

You can check out her site here.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

We went to the Ky. Horse Park this weekend for the Southern Lights display and the miniature train display, crafts sale, and petting zoo. We were shocked that Princess, the kid that is generally scared of dogs that are taller than her knee, BEGGED to go on a camel ride! Al on the other hand, had to be bribed to go with her. The entire time we were in line, the camels were delightfully compliant. And then once our children were on one, it decided he was done, was quite resistant to doing anything the animal handler wanted and actually tried to bite the handler. I stood there in speechless horror thinking the 11 o'clock news was going to feature an angry mom attacking a camel.

For the very first time, we have a picture of the kids with Santa where the kids are all smiling, unafraid, and actually WITH Santa (as opposed to Santa being 25 feet BEHIND the children).

Monster-free Cabinetry: Priceless

Princess enters room: "Gman made smoke."
Craig as he exits room: He what?!?!

Gman sprayed the dry-chemical fire extinguisher in the kitchen cabinet that contains every small kitchen appliance we own. Fortunately, the nozzle was facing the back of the cabinet. But it still made A REALLY BIG FOGGY MESS.

3 hours later, Craig has washed "Every small appliance known to man-kind." (Doesn't he totally rock for washing all those?! His comment "I'm not even sure what some of these do.") I've scrubbed out the cabinet and thrown away items that weren't worth cleaning/keeping. Gman left his bedroom-turned-prison-cell where he was banished to until all clean-up was complete and came to give his apologies and explanation.

"Scooby Doo used one of those to scare away the monsters"

All Al

I have an enormous backlog of blog fodder. Here's a few pertaining to Al.



Wearing a tie to school--VOLUNTARILY! (Okay, there was extra credit offered, but still!!!) Handsome dude, isn't he?



From the brochure showing the rewards for selling the over-priced "merchandise" for the school fundraiser: "Shreed it"? Awesome example for the students of why they shouldn't under-estimate the importance of proofreading.



We were walking from the parking lot to the beach at the lake when we passed these....Al's comment was something to the effect of "How many people are trying to take their boat into the woods?"

Love ya, Tiger!

Wayne's World

Party on, Garth! Excellent!

That smells great!

Conversation while wiping off Princess's hands with a new antibacterial wipe that smelled really nice.

Me: Gee, this smells really good!
Princess: Let me smell.
Me, not wanting her to rub used wipe on her face, put her freshly wiped hand up to her nose and said: Just smell your hand.
Princess (with attitude): It just smells like hand!

Halloween 2009

Hannah, Spidey and the Invisible Teen
(Al opted out of trick-or-treating this year.)

Guest Blogger: Concert-Goin' Princess

My very first concert! I love Miley Cyrus. I love her songs. I went to the concert. It was fun. I sat with my friends RH and CM, and their moms, and mom! The best song was Party in the USA. My favorite part was when she rode the motorcycle in the air over the people at the bottom. I danced with my mom.

Princess, CM, and RH before it started.


Mom didn't bring the good camera. Miley on the motorcycle in the air.


One very happy little girl.

Its Politically Incorrect, Charlie Brown!

Gman was watching one of the old Charlie Brown specials in the van while on a trip with Craig a few days ago.

Gman: Those girls called Charlie Brown "stupid"!!!
Craig: That was not very nice, was it?
Gman: That's why he said "They're goin' down!"

hmmmm.....I guess I don't remember that line. Maybe I should go introduce him to the principal now. Let them get acquainted before she has to deal that.

Teen Words (#1)

Mom: "Al, what did they serve for lunch at school?"
Al: World War I surplus

Psychedelic Frog Prince

Princess had her tonsils out on Thursday....her recovery that day was amazing to us all. She mostly slept til about 1. At 3pm, she was watching cartoons when she suddenly sat up and said very matter-of-factly, "Mom! I didn't get my breakfast. I want my breakfast." That evening, less than 12 hours after her surgery she started crying when we wouldn't let her sweep the kitchen! That evening, she wanted me to color in her coloring book with her. I picked the picture and she picked all the colors. That Tylonol with Codeine must be some GROOVY stuff!!!

Most-likely-not cancer & other nuisances

I really hadn't intended on getting back into blogging. But I found myself in a situation where I HAD to make myself focus again on looking for all the funny things in life to report---the exact reason why I had started blogging in the first place--or else I'd go crazy with what I didn't want to be the sole focus of every minute of the day. You see, August 22 was a horrible day for more than 1 reason. It's a day that my former blog regulars will recognize for a couple reasons. The less important reason for it being a horrible day is it's the day some chose to magnify their petty pranks and jabs against me instead of using the entire day for celebrating and "showering" the pending arrival of Jenn's precious baby boys. The more significant reason for it being a horrible day is that it coincidentally was also the day that a very worrisome symptom that OUR baby boy has was also magnified.

Fast forward to a month later. Hearing a doctor say it's most likely not cancer, even though common knowledge tells you "this screams cancer," doesn't help. We've been put in sort of a demented holding pattern. Cautious optimism is a hard row to hoe when you have your child's damnable most-likely-not cancer symptom staring at you in the face almost every day. Holding patterns suck almost as much as most-likely-not cancer symptoms. But the method of determining the reason is horrifying to most 40 yr. olds, so why do it to a 4 y.o. if the odds are "likely" in your favor? And so, we wait-n-see. It's a continuous game...Most-likely-not cancer symptom wasn't here yesterday, Does that mean...!? Oh, damn, there it is today. And the petty jabs continue, too. It even seems to be more wide-spread for whatever reason. Sure, its a nuisance. But thankfully, there's 35 pounds of cuteness running around yielding his racetrack-turned-sword, and practicing his weather forecast for raining jellybeans, and blissfully unaware of how worried we are for him.

It's about priorities. Craig and I place great importance on our children, as any parent would. As part of remaining strong for them in a very emotional time, we also need to see happiness in life. And that's what I initially joined this blogging group for....to see more of the funny-ness in the rest of world, and boy, could I use some extra funny-ness right about now. I'm very thankful to those bloggers who chose to remain neutral in an argument they recognized as not being theirs. But to those who didn't, I'm asking you to stop. Stop the jabs on your own blogs, stop using the comment sections of the neutral people as your forum for continuing to brow-beat me on very old news. I'm not asking for your pity (although prayers won't be turned down). We need the love and thoughtfulness of family and friends, and for those who chose to not be in those categories to just at least let go of the pettiness and allow us to look for the brighter side of life in peace.

How many fingers?

Yesterday, Gman got whacked in the head by a doorknob resulting in a pretty good sized goose-egg. After huge doses of snuggling, "boo-boo stick" and kisses:

Craig (holding up two fingers): "How many fingers?"
Gman: Ten.
Craig (still holding up two fingers): How many fingers?
Gman (screams): TEN!
Craig (growing quite concerned): But how many am I holding up?
Gman (sheepish): two

Boot Camp

Princess frequently falls asleep on the bus. As she's getting off the bus, I can see she's stumbling around, swooning left & right. The bus monitor practically had to hold her up to get her down the steps. I honestly think nothing of it, I just assume they had to wake her up.

Rewind to yesterday......

Princess's school is taking food donations for the local food pantry...the PTA letter specifically mentioned 5 lb bags of rice. She normally rides the bus in the morning, I thought 5 lbs might be a little too hefty for her to manage. However, today was "National Walk Your Child To School Day" so I thought "Aha! The perfect day for her to take it since Craig could carry it to the door...She'd only have to carry it down the hall." Genius! I told her a couple times to give it to her teacher.

As she's stumbling off the bus this afternoon:

Me: What's the matter girlie-girl?
Bus Monitor: I think the rice in her backpack is too heavy.
Me: What?! Why didn't you give it to your teacher?
Princess: I didn't know I was supposed to.
Me (not succeeding at containing laughter): I told you to last night.....why'd you think it was in there? Do we normally make you carry around giant bags of rice?
Monitor (trying to contain laughter)

Later convo with Craig, I tell him what she did.
Craig's comment, "It's our family's version of the Marine Corp for 5 year olds".

Helpful husbands

Craig: I'm going to the grocery store real quick, you need anything?
Paula: Look at the list on the fridge.
Craig (returns with the list): Chicken stock?
Paula: It's in a can. Basically, chicken juice.
Craig: Do they give that willingly?

Hey, Jenn Ann!

I promised you months ago that I'd have "it" to you in time for your 10/10 shower, and I'm keepin' my word!
Finished it.
Wrapped it.
Boxed it.
Takin' it to the post office today!

My wish for your boys? The world, of course!


(ps....that's a hint.)
(pps....no peeking!)

St. Judes helped keep me out of the kitchen

We did our part for the "Pepper of Hope".....We had dinner at Chili's this evening to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.



Al has asked me why we don't have any good pictures of him.
I present Exhibit A:


Craig's mom is visiting us for a couple days, so whats a better way to further convince that I don't cook?

We bleed Blue

I have always loved watching football. In high school, my friends would want to just walk around socializing and I'd beg them to sit and watch, or at least stand still so I could watch. I've been a 49ers fan for as long as I can remember, although I've not watched pro-ball in years other than the Super Bowl. But I love watching college football! We are University of Kentucky fans, I've made no secret of that, but I wear maroon and white to the UK v. EKU game because EKU is Craig's and my alma mater. We have unintentionally brainwashed the little kids...They used to instinctively say "blue and white" when asked what their favorite color was. They've been going to UK games LITERALLY their whole lives, even en utero. I suspect my OB planned Gman's c-section for that Friday to keep me from going to the season opener only 4 days after finally getting off modified-bed-rest. Gman was only a couple weeks old at his first.

At this year's Fan Appreciation back in August: Free hot dogs!



Gman didn't want his picture taken with QB Hartline, but insisted he get to take my picture with him using my phone's camera. Hartline's comment "I'm impressed...I probably couldn't figure out how to take picture with a phone like that and he's ALOT younger than me!"


The kids have made friends with the other season tix people around us. This year G has befriended Denise who commented that she feels like she's watching our kids grow up.


Princess befriended Jeanne and Kenin years ago and talks about them all year long. Every time we pass by Commonwealth Stadium, she yells "There's Jeanne and Kenin's house!"



The one person we've not been able to indoctrinate is Al. Hard to believe that he's half my gene pool....that's him reading Harry Potter at the game yesterday.

Genetic Puzzles

Gman, Princess and Craig were working on a puzzle today. Didn't take long before Princess and Gman bailed and left Daddy to finish it. Lo and behold...
Craig: Hey, there's a piece missing!
Gman (comes running back over): I've got it!! I've got it!!

Little dude was holding it so he could put the last piece in!

What is it with males and hiding puzzle pieces?!?! My brother did it when we were kids. Craig says he used to do it when he was a kid. And now my 4 year old son is doing it.

There has. got. to. be. a gene found ONLY on the Y-chromosome that drives them to do that!

Memory Lane Monday (#18)

I stopped by my friend Carrie's house this morning. She was doing some "attic cleaning" and found a box from her childhood. She asks me, "Did you ever do any L'il Missy Beaded Dolls when you were a kid?" I had no idea what she was talking about until she showed me. Yes, I did!!! I didn't have near as many as she did, but I did have a couple. One of them was this one: Wintertime Wendy

Pizza Pizza

Princess informed me today that the pizza at school "is not that good" and it reminded me of a question that she asked not that long ago:

Do they make pizza shaped like Hannah Montana or cars?

A Social Study

We had a yard sale this past weekend...a very successful one! There was a neighborhood sale going on 2 streets up, so I put up signs to mooch the traffic my way (Good thing since my newspaper ad didn't get much attention.) It's amazing what sold vs. what didn't...the exact opposite of what I expected in most cases.
Social Study A:
Me: "It needs replacement parts. You'd have to special order them. From Germany."
Buyer: "OK. I'll buy it."

Social Study B:
Truly fascinating to watch. We had 2 of the old spin-dial scales set out. I really wish I had counted how many people would get on one, wince at seeing the number, then get on the other one to compare! One lady was HILARIOUS. She got on the first and just stood there STARING in total disbelief. She probably stood there a full 2 minutes. Just staring. Willing the number to change. She commented to her friend something about how there was no way she'd put on that much weight. Her friend replied, "Wellllllllllllll.........you are holding a two year old. Let me hold him while you try again."

Say Huh?

"Why does my lemonade taste like lemonade?"
---Princess

Say Huh?

Conversation when Princess arrived home from school today:
Princess: "We got to watch the Principal of the United States on TV!"
Mom: "Really? What did he say?"
Princess: "That we should stay at school."

Conversation when Daddy arrived home from work today:
Daddy: "What did you do at school today?"
Princess: "We saw President Rocko Bama on TV."

Happy Birthday, Gman

Today, my Sweet Baby Boy turns 4! We celebrated his birthday this past weekend with a party at Chuck E. Cheese!


Every big boy needs a big boy bike!!!

The initial disagreement was between Laura and me. No one else. I did not ask anybody to choose sides or get involved because I am a grown-up. I said my peace and walked away weeks ago. And suddenly I find several people taking cyber pot-shots at me via Facebook and blogs as if we are in a bad teenager mean-girl movie........people I have never said an unkind word to, and to whom I think I've been rather nice in the 1.5 yrs I've been blogging.

I've taken the time to remove myself from everyone's FB friends lists. For those of you haven't been involved, I'm sorry, but I'm smart enough to know that when it all boils down, loyalties would lie with whom you've known the longest and closest.

Just remember that there are two sides to every story. I wish you all the best as I am moving on with my life.

Saying My Goodbyes

HCBC,
For the better part of a week, I've just been pushing through trying to pretend that all is good and well. But pretending is just becoming too emotionally draining. The joy of blogging has been completely. sucked. out. And so, I think I'll just stop. Maybe just for awhile, maybe permanently, I don't know. I hope you don't mind if I pop in to read your blogs from time-to-time.

I leave you with this one piece of advice. Before you hit "Publish Post," ask yourself, "Would this person feel our relationship affords them a wider boundary of what isn't blog-material, and is this inside or outside that boundary?" Don't just consider whether or not that person would feel embarrassed. Embarrassment is temporary, no one ever really dies from it. But relationships die when one member suddenly feels betrayed and the other one can't or won't see why. I made a tragic misjudgment in thinking a boundary was wide, another thought it thin, and the gray area exploded. When all the dust cleared, I learned that I had made another tragic misjudgment. As an apparently unneeded "like-a-sister," I was expendable. Who knew?

Memory Lane Monday (#17)

My dad was in the army for the first 18 years of my life. We moved every few years, resulting in a lot of friends over the course of my life! I've lost track of so many of them over the years. This picture is from my 13th birthday sleep-over in Stuttgart, Germany. We had plans that we were all going to work together when we grew up. For years, I wanted to be a pediatric nurse in a hospital nursery. Kristie wanted to be an OB/GYN, our friend Sarah was going to be a pediatrician....etc, etc, etc. We all had it all worked out!

Top: Andrea, Kathy, Michelle, Amy L.
Bottom: Me, Kristie, Jenny and Amy W.
I lost track of all these friends within a year of moving since most of us moved that same summer. About 11 years ago, I started searching for them and found Andrea after I started calling every one in Pennsylvania with the last name "Bertz"--I eventually found a woman who said "I think I have a cousin that was in the Army that had kids. Could be him." I found Kathy and Kristie a few months later. We had a reunion in Chicago. I think this pic is from 2000. We had so much fun!!! Didn't feel like 20 years had passed!


I found Jenny and Amy W. later that year and we had another reunion a year or 2 later. But Amy missed her plane and didn't make it. Ironically, none of us work in a hospital or the medical field...except Kathy who is an EMT.

Gumball Trees

Princess: Oh no!!! When I took a sip of my drink, it made me swallow my gum!
Dad: Hmmmm, Mom, should we rush her to the emergency room?
Mom: Eh, let's wait to see if the gumball tree starts growing first.
Dad: What flavor of gum was it so we know what to look for?
Princess: Blueberry.

Later, at bedtime Dad kisses her cheek good-night.
Dad: Mmmmm, you taste a little like blueberry.
Princess (with nervous disbelief): Oh, Daddy!

Half hour after being put to bed:
Princess: I need a drink of water.
Dad: That'll make the gum get hard.
Mom: You know how water makes plants grow faster.

Where, oh where...

have I been? Haven't blogged in an eternity. We have been B.U.S.Y. I tell, ya!! July has just been a whirlwind. We've actually done several Take Off Tuesdays and other adventures that I haven't posted. I am having major camera issues.

July 4th weekend--Family Reunion in Tennessee. Had a fabulous time! Great to see everyone again!

July 7th--Take Off Tuesday was to the Cincinnati Zoo (one last trip before annual pass expired) to see the exhibits we missed on Mother's Day and revisit the favorite exhibits. Then on to vacation: Great Wolf Lodge.What a needlessly expensive odyssey that turned out to be. But the kids did have a great time on the water slides--they didn't want to stay as long as we figured, and they didn't like the special wolf-den/bunkbed room! Also, snuck in a visit to the Aquarium before that pass expired and did a fun Duck Boat ride on the Ohio River.

July 14th--Take Off Tuesday was to the Old Kentucky Chocolates factory here in town. I won't bore you with more pics since Andrea posted her's from when she came to visit us.

July 16th-- Alexander became a teen-ager. He asked, in lieu of a party, to take him and 3 friends to Six Flags (thanks to my Mom for coming and keeping my sanity in check!) I figured it would be a nightmare, but the day went EXCEPTIONALLY well! THe boys had a great time and were overall, very well behaved; turned the neighbor's son into a roller coaster junkie.

July 21st--Take Off Tuesday was to the Valley View Ferry again, but 4x better since 4/5ths of the Funaholics went too!

Had an amazing visit with the Funaholics on July 22 Part A and Part B, as well as July 23rd!

July 24th--Left on a jet plane for Vegas, Baby!!! Had lunch with 2 of my great-aunts. Craig & I met up with Laura & Ash for a joint celebration: Our 7th anniversary and Ash's birthday. Blue Man Group was my favorite activity, but I am DIEING for my Ferrari delivery!!! The gear shift fits PERFECTLY in my hand!

July 27th--Al, Craig and I got to see the International Space Station fly by at 9:50pm!

Havin' Fun!

Guess who's at my house? And they're livin' up to their nicknames! And if I was smart, I would've taken a camera with me to the ferry yesterday.

My new Teen-Ager!

Happy Birthday to Al!!!!! I can't believe he's already 13!


His newborn footprint measures a hair over 3 inches. Now he wears a men's size 8 shoe!

Close Attention To Details

Obviously a phrase that no longer describes me.
Picture taken at the eye doctor's office and
I never noticed until someone pointed it out to me.

Weather Girl

From a couple weeks ago: I was watching the Weather Channel waiting for Local on the 8's when this came on the screen and Princess said, "Oh good, it's only going to rain twice today!"

Happy Anniversary!

It's our 7th anniversary today-- 7/7!!! Love you, Sweetie! It's been 7 awesome, funny, busy, great years! And very much looking forward to our weekend getaway!!!
Just 57 more years to go!











There's Craig's niece Lindsay, Al (a week shy of turning 6), Craig and I, Craig's brother-in-law Doug, my brother Jesse, Laura (with CEM baby bump), Mark, Marissa, Staci.

Good Taste

Gman: Daddy, what that sign say?
Craig: Sweet Tea for sale for one dollar.
Gman: Mmmmmmmmmmm. I. Love. Dollars.

This little piggy.....

This evening:

Princess: Do you know why we have 5 toes?
Me: Nope, why?
P: The big one is the daddy toe, next is the mommy toe, then the Al toe, then me, then the little baby brother toe.

Memory Lane Monday (#16)

Memory Lane takes us way back. Remember when my house looked like this......a week ago?
When it was being swallowed hole by those monster bushy/tree things. And if we hadn't kept trimming them, they'd be twice that size!!!












And today, it looks like this!!!











I discovered a nest the day before the landscaper was to come. It was up too high to see in it, so I held my camera up above to take a peak inside for eggs. The landscaper had started work before I could discuss options.

R.I.P. little red robin :-(











PS---Now when the Funaholics come to our house, they'll know which one is ours!

Take Off Tuesday--KY Edition #3

OK, OK, since we had to postpone Take-Off Tuesday due to sickness this week, we'll call this one "Fieldtrip Friday". I have NEVER seen one of the kids that sick---that didn't require hospitalization anyways. But Gman is pretty much back to normal. He couldn't speak above a whisper for over 3 days, & his voice is still a little squeeky.

Tonight, we went to Kids Night at Long John's/A&W. Al didn't don a pirate hat---cramped his style. Princess hooked her arm and said "AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" What a difference 7.8 years makes, eh? (FYI--I worked for LJS/A&W when they first started combining them into one restaurant. I was the Construction Coordinator. The one in the International mall in San Diego? Yeah, that was my project! Did a bunch in TX, too.)











After dinner, we went to the Free Friday Flicks at the park, the show was Madagascar 2. They had a moon bounce for the kids (I love when I catch them holding hands!) And facepainting...Gman's is supposed to be Wal-E, like on his shirt. We got home at 11pm, both fell asleep in the car....we'll see just how permanent that ink is on pillowcases tomorrow.






















Al did not want his picture taken, so I had to be slick. Kind of like I had to be this morning........when I caught him watching TV................wearing a spandex book-cover on his head. But as he said, "I look tiiiiiiiight! Don't you think I look tight?"











Yes, Al, I do.