Sunday, August 31, 2008

Good News, Bad News

Good News

I got 5 more traps yesterday. We had seven total set last night. Nary a one was set off this morning.

I made it through church without a bevvy. I got Aunt Visor's big-gulp-in-a-big-bag technique after I got home from church but I will definitely be using that in the future.

Gty is home.

Bad News

Last night as I was quietly sitting in our family room reading Midnight Sun on my laptop, a widdle mouse ran across the floor right in front of me. Luckily my feet were up on the ottoman at the time. Are they becoming desperate fools a the ends of their pitiful ropes? How have I NEVER seen one before and now, after aiding and abeting the murders 7 of them, does one run across my floor????? I have to admit that it was kind of cute though. I imagined it running on a little wheel in a cage full of sawdust and I wasn't as freaked out as I probably should have been. Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting all soft here. Quite the contrary. This just upped the ante. Or kicked it up a notch. Either way, Jerry must die.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Saturday Is A Speshul Day

So, I told you Gty was outta town, right? Yeah, he is. Did I happen to mention that he extended his trip in UT so he could go to the BYU football game today? Hmmm, I didn't? Well, he did. He asks me about these things several weeks in advance. I give the good wifey response of "Oh, sure, I'm sure that will be fine." But then, when Friday night rolls around (when he usually flies in) and he's in UT hanging out at his parents' house & I am STILL here with the kids and the mice.... well, then I start getting ticked.

Anyway, so I wake up this morning in a bit of a grumpy mood as the first thing I see is Gty's side of the bed all neat and tidy (I'm apparently a very still sleeper) and this reminds me of my situation. I throw on my gym clothes and go to my hip-hop class. That ups my mood considerably. How could it not? I'm hittin' and jammin' and crumpin' all over the place. It's good times. I come home with a lifted mood to bored kids and realize I'm quite bored myself.

Idle hands are the devil's playground. Or however that saying goes.

I proceed to make a very poor decision. I announce to the kids that we are all loading in the car and going to Wal-Mart. I wanted to get more mouse traps (speaking of that, go ahead and take my poll over there on the right, fancy eh?). And we were out of Honey Bunches of Oats. I gotta have me my Bunches. My morning meal of Mini-Wheats just didn't do it for me. Have any of you tried the Malt-O-Meal knock-off of HBofOats? I'm askeered to try them but if it's good I'd totally get it.

5 mintues after arriving I wonder why in the heck I thought coming to Wal-Mart on a SATURDAY was a good idea. I curse myself for allowing this to happen as I look over an TBone is squeezing all the plums, Jbird is filling one of the produce weighers with a mixture of fruit to see if he can get it to 10lbs, and BeeBee is insisting that she can just hang on the side of the cart rather than sit in the seat thingy. Fun.

But then an epiphany strikes.

I have no where else to go.
I have nothing else to do today except hang out with my kids.
No one is waiting at home for me (except the mice).
This could be fun if I'd let it.

So, we proceeded to spend a good hour and a half in WalMart and only got about 15 things. I didn't mind when Beebs spent 10 minutes deciding on either Princess Fruit Snacks or Barbie ones. I let her throw a fit in the aisle when I wouldn't let her have both (it's the principle of the matter, really). We just sat and looked at her until she was done and then she came along nicely. I let each of the boys spend a while picking out a box of cereal that they have always wanted but I have never bought them before (TBone got S'morez (?) and JBird got Frosted Flakes, btw). Then we went over to the toy section and they played with everything they could, sat on all the Dora & Spongebob chairs, played with the ginormous bouncing balls, etc. Eventually they got bored and we headed out the door.

I realized that TIME is a huge factor in my enjoyment of my kids & situations like this. If I had a million other things to get done today or somewhere that I had to be at a certain time then I would have rushed everyone, been angry at the constant lolly-gagging (we lost TBone, like, 3 times but if we waited around long enough he always turned back up) and no one would have been happy. Instead we enjoyed a day together out & about and now everyone is content to just be at home for the rest of the evening & hang out.

Now, since he doesn't fly back until 2pm tomorrow I really need to try and keep this attitude going for church tomorrow. Of course then we will have to be there at a certain time and we'll be confined to a bench area that's about 8 feet by 3 feet for 1 hour and 10 minutes . . . . exactly how "frowned upon" is diet carbonated beverages in the chapel? Especially ones in giant Rte.44 cups from Sonic?

Just wondering.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Mouse Count!

That is actually a very cute children's book by Ellen Stoll Walsh my MIL gave us a few years ago.


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Those words have all new meaning to me now.

2 more this morning. Grand total so far=6

The boys now go from the basement to the garage and just yell to me how many they got. Good boys. Good, good boys.

A falcon twist on one this morning though: One was still moving.

::doing that man screaming face thing Edward was doing when Bella was dying::


******EDIT*****************
Go to www.stepheniemeyer.com for breaking news regarding Morning Sun. Imma strangle somebody.



Thursday, August 28, 2008

Houston, We Have A Problem

This could also be entitled "Why I Love Having Boys: Reason #276."

***As you read this account, please do not let it deter you from ever coming and visiting us. As you will see by the end, we have the situation under control. Thank you.****

So, we have an unfinished basement. It is a walk-out and our house backs up to his ginormous ranch. The cows come by and visit us on a regular basis and the prairie dogs keep us entertained with their constant running around and acting busy. We all know they are just prairie dogs but they apparently don't realize this. I guarantee they think they work on Wall Street the way they run around constantly like they are late for something important and barking "SELL! SELL! SELL!" to each other. But I digress....

Anyway, I have found "signs" of mice in the basement before. A little poo here, a little poo there. I have simply vacuumed it up. Haven't worried about it. We don't eat down there. And the only food down there is our 4.5 day food storage (we're coming to YOUR house if there's a major disaster, btw). And heck, if they can get into that case of green beans I got at Costco last month then congratulations to them, I say. So I thought that maybe a little mouse would get in every once in a while, starve to death and that'd be the end of it.

Cut to coming home from our family reunion on Saturday. I dutifully emptied out a suitcase and went down to the basement to put it away. What I see was straight out of my own horror movie..... there is a huge piece of insulation on the floor which has fallen from where it was stuffed between the framing and the concrete foundation. And on and around that piece of insulation was, I swear to you, no less than 4 lbs. of Maggie's dog food.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Gty!!! Get down here!!!!!!" I screamed.

I'm immediately thinking a) we have 1,000 mice in this very room with us right now who have stockpiled all of this while we were gone or b) we have had a few mice living with us since we moved here who have been hoarding every piece of Maggie's dog food they could find for 2.5 years and c) I wonder what it must have looked like when that little mouse stuffed in the last piece of dog food or the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back and it all went crashing down. I'm imagining some scene out of Ratatouille but I'm sure it wasn't nearly that cute or comedic.

Regardless, I barfed a little. Well, I WANTED to barf a little. What actually happened was Gty and I just stared at each other for a while wondering what we should do next. Luckily we found a pair of latex gloves Gty had stolen from the cannery and he cleaned all of it up. Hims is a good hubby.

Oh, except for the fact that he then flew out of town on Monday morning.

So now what?? I'm stuck here all alone with rabid, disease-carrying mice in my HOME! My home! First order of business Monday morning was to go to Wal-Mart and survey their trap choices. I settled on this one:

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1) I didn't want the kids or Maggie to be able to get hurt if they happened across it.
2) I didn't want to have to worry about setting the thing and losing a finger. With this one you just push down that silver thingy on the top and it sets.
3) I didn't want to have to see the mouse all squished and deaderz.

Plus, it kind of looks like a cute little mouse condo.... put some peanut butter in there and what mouse could resist? I bet $4.12 that none could.

Night #1: I set the two traps. One on a shelf and one on the floor. Try to sleep. Luckily I had the giggles from Smart Remarks to take my mind off the atrocity which was occurring 2 floors down.

Morning of Night #1: I can't bring myself to check the traps. I tell the boys (thus the subtitle) that I'll pay them $1 per mouse that they empty out of the traps into the outside garbage can. Their eyes lit up and they sprinted down stairs. JBird comes running up the stairs with a trap in his hand.... I look over.... his face is beaming.... I look at the trap.....I see.... sticking out of the hole, a little mouse bum and a tail flailing back and forth as JBird shows me his prize..... it's like slow motion now....a sound comes out of me that I've never heard before...shreiking....choked back sobs... more shreiking..... I hide my face and cower against the kitchen cabinets.... JBird is shocked at my reaction and hides the loaded mouse trap behind another counter so I can't see it hoping I'll calm down.... I do.... eventually.

Ugh.

I then tried to calmly explain to him how to lift this thingy up, push down on this thingy while holding it over the garbage can thingy and, and, and..... all the while keeping a nice 10 foot cushion between me and it. Jbird explains that the one he has was the one on the shelf... the one of the floor had snapped, but there was no mouse... and the peanut butter was licked clean. Dang.

Night #2: I reset the traps. Same traps, same spots. No Smart Remarks to distract me. I imagine mice every where. I don't sleep well. Plus I have some weird dream about a girl I recently caught up with on Facebook.

Morning of Night #2: The boys bounce out of bed and bee-line it down to the basement. This time Tbone has the privilege of bringing up the bane of my existence. He knows better, however, and keeps it hidden from me as I manage a "Congratulations! Now take it outside!" Again, the report is that the trap on the floor was once again set off, no mouse, no peanut butter.

I'm now worried I have a genius mouse (think Pinky & the Brain) living in my home who is just biding his time until he figures out how to suffocate me in my sleep and take over my blog. I mean, what is he using to set it off with out getting nabbed??? I'm baffled. And nervous. And mad at my husband for abandoning me in my time of need (he does ask for a "Mouse Report" every day though so I guess that's good).

Night #3 (aka last night): I decide to out smart the smarty pants and I SWITCH the two traps. The "shelf one" is now on the floor and the "floor one" is now on the shelf.

Badabing, badaboom.... TWO deaderzed mice this AM. Take that, Mickey!!

The grossness is that there were at least FOUR mice down there. I now need to come up with some kind of number in my head where, if we reach that number, I just burn the house down and we never look back. Seriously. 7? 12?

This is intolerable.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Smart Remarks: Breaking Dawn

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BREAKING DAWN

I will be discussing the fourth book of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer in the following post. This is to go along with a book club established by ajesplin I butted my way into recently. I've left some of my comments in other people's posts (i.e. here and here) but I thought I'd expound upon those and flush it all out of my system because I'm all kindza backed up over this.

First of all, let me preface all of this by saying there is no way Stephenie Meyer was going to be able to satisfy everyone. And by everyone, I mean me. My expectations were too high. I was too emotionally involved. I had no perspective. I didn't even know what I wanted to have happen in this fourth (I refuse to say final book, more on that later) book but I could sense as soon as I had it in my hands, that I was going to be let down a bit. It's not Stephenie's fault. It's mine. It's the classic "It's not you, it's me" stuff.

So, let's debrief, shall we? Let's begin with the annoyances because that is usually more fun. Stephenie overuses a few words that drive me insane. These words are "hissed" "growled" "beautiful" and "flanks." I plan on sending her a Thesaurus or at least a link to Thesaurus.com here in the near future. I really hate the word hissed. I mean, it's one thing if someone hisses something but all these vampires do is sit around and hiss at the mention of someone's name or hiss because someone said something they don't agree with. It bugs. Am I the only one here?

Sorry, but if there were even RUMORS that a vampire and a human could procreate why didn't Carlisle give Edward "the talk" and give him a 25cent insurance policy!! Come on people!... I mean, vampires!! I thought being a brazillion years old meant you knew a thing or two about stuff.... and a DOCTOR to boot! And don't tell me they didn't know that was possible because they found that whipper-snapper down in South America pretty durn quick. I mean, all the rest of this crap is totally believable but THAT I simply cannot accept.

On that same note, I have been thoroughly impressed with Stephenie's ability to create feelings of intimacy & desire without having Edward & Bella do anything more than make out on occassion. Well, good bye innocence! Freakin A!!!! As I mentioned in the comments before, I cannot believe the amount of gettin-it-on that there is in this book! I pray the teenage girls who don't know any better won't know where to let their mind go to (i.e. the exact moment/reason Edward had to bite that pillow) but I sure did. I wonder if she has gotten any flack for that. Hmmmm....

So this leads me to loverly Renesme. Sorry, did I say loverly? I meant creepy & weird. The last thing I would want is for BeeBee to put her hand on my cheek and for me to see her pooing on the potty for me to understand what she needed. And the fact that she preferred that way of communication to speaking was rather odd. If they ever make a movie for Breaking Dawn I think a prefect casting choice would be that kid who played Chuckie. And don't even get me started on the NAME Renesme. I couldn't pronounce it. Every time it came up I would say it differently. I wish Bella would have just let everyone call her Nessie... or even Nessa is cute. Uh, Nessa, oh Nessa I've got something to confessa reason why, well, why I asked you here toniiiiight..... oops.... that's me singing Wicked. Nevermind.

Next, I do not understand why Stephenie introduced us to, what, 20+ characters here at the supposed END to the series. That makes no sense whatsoever. The only way this series will end is when the Cullens somehow destroy the Volturi. There are too many loose ends here for this to be the last. That said, if this is her last book for realz, I will never forgive her and she is going to have to live with that for the rest of her life.

Now moving on to the things I enjoyed.... really, you'd think by reading so far that it was torture for me to read this book. The reality is that I had it read in about 3 days. I stayed up late even when I could not afford to do so because I was so enraptured in this book.

I loved the chapters from Jacob. I heart Jacob. Edward's "coldness" just doesn't do it for me. If I wanted to hug a statue I'd go out and hug the life-sized David I have out in the garden. But I don't, cuz I don't like it. Jacob's heat is appealing to me, as is his goofiness and immaturity. Sense of humor is huge in my book and I'm going to go on the record as saying Edward has none. My favorite chapter headers from Jacob were "Why Didn't I Just Walk Away? Oh, Right, Because I'm An Idiot" and "You Know Things Are Bad When You Feel Guilty For Being Rude to Vampires." I loved getting inside his head and seeing that he is more than just a emotional crankbutt. He's flawed. I like that. Perfection isn't my bag, baby.

I also loved seeing Bella stronger and smarter. She has done nothing but annoy me since the first book. I now kind of like her & her ability to cast a net (or whatever that was) around those she loves. In the end she saved them all, so that's good. And that's how it should be, I suppose. I wish there would have been more explaining regarding why Bella was able to control herself so much as a newborn. I was hoping it was because she had drank 100 gallons of blood right before turning but apparently that wasn't the reason. It would have been good though. I really wish Stephenie would have consulted me on that.

Ok, I'll stop now. Thank you for enduring my ranting. In a sort of "Bella way" I opened up my mind so you could read it. It was therapeutic for me to get this all down in writing so that I can now get on with my life.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Slide show madness!!

Family-- can I get a woot woot?!?

So yes, we're back & we had a wonderful time catching up with long lost relatives, eating vegetarian meals (it's a Seventh Day Adventist camp), horseback riding, beach dwelling, My Father's Place eating, swimming, Pinewood Derby racing, vegetarian diet gas having, marshmallow roasting, hayride well, riding, auction bidding, rock wall climbing (not me, of course), zip lining (again, not me, si claro), boating, etc, etc, etc. I loved it and I was so glad that we made the decision to take the boys out of school for a week and drag them along. They loved spending time with their cousins-- first cousins, second cousins... who cares!! If they like to dig in the sand and jump off docks then they were instant friends. Sorry I have no pics of the beach activites. I was too lazy to go back to my room and get my camera on the only day it was warm enough to swim. If one of you 3 people who read this blog were there & took any pics of my kids playing on the beach could you send them my way? If you want more pics & a more feel-good version of the reunion, click here.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

My Whereabouts

I just thought I'd let you all know where I am this week because I'm sure everyone is worried sick that I haven't updated for a while! Rest assured, I am fine. We hopped on an airplane on Sunday evening and headed to Idaho where the 327th Annual Jeppson Family Reunion is taking place. Every two years the Jeppson family congregates in McCall, ID for some wholesome down-home fun.

The official reunion starts tomorrow but my parents have a place up here so we came up yesterday. BeeBee threw up in the car on the way up so that was awesome. She rode the rest of the way in her undies with a towel on her lap. That road is a killah.

No worries, Harrington (my dad) has already taken the grandkids out on the boat. It was his first order of business, really. Today has been filled with sleeping in, lounging by the pool, golfing (not me, but others), reading (I'm reading The Kite Runner-- a bit disturbing & heartbreaking, but good) and chatting. My oldest bro & his family are here as well.

Tonight & tomorrow the other Jeppson family members should start trickling in and then the party shall officially begin!

So, to recap: Don't worry about me. I'll be back. Try to not miss me too much.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Cuz Memzy's Wish is Always My Command

Unfortunately it hasn't kept ALL the solicitors away. I think I'm going to have my SIL redo it in white. The black blends in too much.

Vegas' huge sign would for sure have more of an impact. Would that be in place of a wreath? Would that clank against the door every time you opened and closed it? She needs to think these things through before she starts going door-to-door.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Alias

Last night we had an Enrichment on Blogging. I know, I know, we are such a hip and with it ward! Jenny did a fantabulous job of explaining what blogging is, how to set it up (complete with a powerpoint presentation and everything!), and getting everyone excited about blogging. I learned some fun things and I also started thinking about some things as well.

First, I gotta come clean and say that I have been blogging for about ooooohhhh, 3.5 years now but it was what I referred to as my dirty little secret. From here on out we shall call that blog "the dark side." I did cutesy little posts and everything like I do now but it was started with my sister & her rowdy friends and I liked to keep it that way. On the dark side I used fake names for everyone in my family. Since I didn't know any of my sister's friends personally it felt safer that way.

Then I decided to hop on over to blogger and invite everyone I knew to my new & improved blog. I figured it was a safe place to use real names & I thought it would be a refreshing change of pace to not have to think up nicknames for everyone. So this brings me to last night... Jenny reiterated how important it is to keep a little bit of anonymity on the web and it made me realize that I probably ought to go back to my beloved nicknames.

Below are the characters in my life and the names that they shall henceforth be known. I will also provide a little history on each name if needs be. This is shaping up to be a very educational post, don't you think?

My hunky leading man:


He started out as GMoney. That morphed into G$$. Eventually that became GtyCent (after the famed rapper 50cent). My sister tried to call him GtyWheatPenny for a while but luckily that didn't stick. I'll probably go back & forth between G$$ and Gty depending on my mood.

C'est moi:






I refer to myself as Landee. This comes from my neice (who is now like, 15 years old) naming her stuffed kitties Sandia and Landeelu when she was about 3 years old. Cut to 1999 when my sister (she's always dragging me into stuff!) made me go around to chatrooms with her while I was supposed to be working. I chose Landeelu as my sign on name and it has stuck with me ever since. My full name, of course, is Landeelu Landerson which would explain why this is landersons.blogspot.com. I know. Awesome.




Next up, the resident athelete:
This here is the JBird. Other names he answers to are Jay, Jbirdo, Jdawg and, of course, his real name but we won't mention that here. I don't know where JBird came from but we call him that around the house so w/e.















Class clown:



This guy has various names as well including but not limited to: TBone, TBoz, TBoner, Bone, T, Stinker, Crazy and What the??. I'll most likely call him TBone though because some of those are dependent upon his behavior at the time.













The girl:


Beebee, Beebs, BBGirler, Pincess (there is no R on purpose), PunkinPunkinPiePies. I'll most likely stick with BeeBee or Beebs on here. Even though she is no longer a widdle tiny beebee her original nickname lives on.

I will now go back and change all the real names I've used so far to our new spy names. I guess that if I ever print off my blog for posterity I'm going to have to create some kind of key or flow chart or something? That is gonna be annoying.

PS If I ever feel the need to blog about YOU I might ask what you want to be called... or I might just make something up. We'll see... ::drumming fingers evily:: oh yes, we'll see.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Teeth: The Other White Meat

I don't even know what that title means so don't ask.

What has two thumbs and lost his first tooth yesterday?

THIS GUY!

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I don't even think it was loose when he went to school because he hadn't said a word about it when he left (and you know he is SO the type to mention stuff). And then he came home from school and it was hanging by a thread. I'm guessing he had been working on it all day in class when he was supposed to be figuring out what 3+3 equals. So I asked him if he had tried pulling it out. He said no.... then tried a couple of times and out it came.

Here's a different angle for all those out there not wanting to miss one detail of the exciting breaking news!

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Here is the kid with all of his loot he raked in last night off one measly little tooth:

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Doesn't it totally look like the Tooth Fairy just rummaged through her purse and maybe a couple of drawers in the kitchen and just gave whatever she could find? Funny, huh? I'm guessing she's not the type to carry a lot of cash on her so she was scrambling/slightly panic stricken there when she realized a tooth was going to be under the pillow that night. Srsly. I'm just guessing.

In her defense, that had to have been the most poorly brushed tooth she has ever received. It had a nice layer of plaque on the back of it. There was also a note under TBone's pillow (a mental one) to make dentist appointments for the boys here in the near future. I thought that was nice of her.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Some Things I Thought I'd Bore You With

  • I finished "Breaking Dawn" last night. Don't even get me started here. Allz I'm sayin' is it was nice to not have to see Bella as the part-retard-with-few-redeemable-qualities-and-certainly-not worthy-of-Edward type that she has been in the past.
  • My spin teacher played "Jump" by VanHalen this morning in class. Then, because I'm sick of all my CDs I turned on the radio on the way home and "Living On A Prayer" by BonJovi was kickin'. I'm now in a major 80s hair band mood. Is there anything better than when the lead singer and guitarist go back-to-back? No, there's not.
  • G$ is out of town this week. He makes watching the Olympics much more fun cuz he knows all the back stories about these people (i.e. "that guy holds the world record" or "we don't have the best backstroker here but we'll catch up on the freestyle" and crap like that). He knows even before Bob Costas says it, btw.
  • We got a new bishopric this Sunday. It was announced last Sunday that this would be happening. So, Friday night, a bunch of our friends got together and played "Fantasy Bishopric" and submitted our "picks" for who we thought it was going to be. There was a Coldstone gift card on the line. I was 0 for 3. Why didn't anyone glow when I looked at them or something?? I was waaaaay off.
  • Beebs is one week strong with no accidents. I'm thinking she's a potty pro now. I don't even take extra clothes with me anymore when we go places.
  • We have one of those "find the hidden crap" books that the kids look at during church. It shows pics of all the things they need to find and then how many of them to look for. For example, it'll have a picture of a bird and it will have a 3 next to it so they know to find three of those birds. Well, there is one where it had a pic of a kid in the water with a 7 next to it. Underneath it said "7 kids spashing"... TBone looks at it and goes "K, so I need to find 7 kids drowning." He's whack, yo.

Friday, August 8, 2008

August 2, 2008: Hers is all Growed Up Now

Don't be confused. It's not August 2nd. However, if you'd be so kind, I'd like to step back in time a few days.

Kids grow up. I know this. I've seen it with my own eyes. I mean, that kid who first changed us from a couple to a family of three is now a full-fledged 8 year old who has been baptized, is in Cub Scouts and plays organized sports on the regulah. But those things seemed to have happened gradually. Naturally. No shockers there.

This past Saturday, however, Miss BeeBee grew up a little too much and a little too fast for my taste.

I have only myself to blame.

So she woke up with a completely dry diaper. I thought to myself "Self, maybe you can put her on the potty and she would pee because she hasn't peed all night and you can 'plant the seed' of potty training here." So, because I usually listen to myself (except when I say stop drinking Diet Dr. P, si claro), I did just that. And she peed. A lot.

We all cheered and clapped and basically threw a party right there in the bathroom.

"Self, maybe you could get out those Dora underwears (is that a word?) and see if we can keep this party going."

Again, who am I to argue? Beebs was overjoyed at the prospect of Dora underwear.

I cracked open some princess stickers I had, masking taped a blank piece of paper on the wall and told her she gets a sticker every time she goes on the potty.

Long story short, the girl is now completely potty-trained. She refuses to wear a pull-up or diaper at night or for naps and it has, so far, been fine because she doesn't even wet while she sleeps.

Now I just pray posting this doesn't jinx it. ::crossing fingers and stuff::

THEN, I got some hair-brained idea (pun totally intended) to cut her hair a little bit. Her mullet was getting a skosh out of control. So I cut off some of the length in the back, blow dried it a little and look:






















She looks freaking TWELVE years old! Or, at the very least, like FOUR! Either way, me no likey.

Here she is in her new fabulous underwear.














I know, I know, it's the cutest bum you've ever seen. She gets that a lot (mostly from me).






I realize that being potty-trained is a GOOD thing. I really do. But with the boys 1) they showed exactly zero interest in it until they were at least three and then 2) it was the biggest pain to get them to understand the concept, design and execution of using the toilet. It doesn't seem too difficult to me but then (I had to keep telling myself), I've been doing it for a while now. With Brynn she got it. She embraced it. She threw me for a loop.

Now I'll brace myself for some regression at some point because I think every kid has some.

But then I'll be happy she isn't quite as big as she pretends to be.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

1st Day of School or Why is Tiffany So Happy?

::moment of silence::

YAAAAHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry about that. But school started today and I'm feeling joyful. The boys weren't driving me nutzo yet but they were getting there. Fast.

Dood #1

Name: JBird
Grade: 3rd
Current Occupation: Student
Summer Occupation: babysitter, keeper of the peace, So You Think You Can Dance watching partner (with me), baseball player, backyard football player, forever family room basketball player
Excited-About-School-Starting Scale (1-10): 10

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Dood #2

Name: TBone
Grade: 1st
Current Occupation: Student
Summer Occupation: resident fruit snack eater, cartoon watcher and DS player, neighborhood roamer, Tae Kwon Do master (well, yellow belt), big brother tormentor, Pokemon expert
Excited-About-School-Starting Scale (1-10): 5 (which is better than we anticipated, btw)

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And then the two doods together.

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BB keeps asking where they are. Then, when I tell her, she claims she would like to go to school too. I'm guessing that if she really knew what that meant she'd much rather be here with me, drinking her juice and watching Dora while admiring her princess tattoo bandaids. Just a hunch.

So anyway, if you need me I'll just be here not breaking up fights or yelling at someone to turn the hose off.

Bliss.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Sunday Happenings, etc.

Funny TBone story below.... must read sidebar/history first.

So I got called into YWs yesterday. I'll be the Laurel advisor. I was in YWs for the first 10 years of our marriage and then we moved here and I was in Primary as a teacher or in the presidency for over a year and then most recently I was a teacher in the RS and on the Activities Committee.

I liked Primary. Nothing like showing up and entertaining a million kids for two hours every Sunday. Well, at least it made the time go by sooperdooper fast. At least. But it definitely gets old fast. Dare I say faster than I was in there. ::ahem::

And, let's be honest here, I am very much not the Relief Society type. I know, shocker, right?

Gty's summation of the situation?

"So, you don't like teaching people who are smarter than you or dumber than you."

Hegotthatright.

This brings me to Young Womens. We see eye to eye. We have about the same amount of scriptures memorized. We like the same music. We think the same things are funny. See where I'm going with this?

I'm back where I belong.

Now for the TBone story.

So I went to YWs for the first time on Sunday and after church was over TBone came strolling into the YWs room as if he had found me there every Sunday for a year. I said "How did you know I was in here?"

T: I was walking by and I recognized the flowers on your dress....

Me: Ah, good thinkin'.

T: ...and that thing on your face ::pointing at an unfortunate zit I have on my cheek at the moment::

I mean, why not just recognize my ACTUAL face, right?

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Summer Fun @ Camp Riverside

So I need to play a little catch-up here.

Over the 4th of July we spent about 2 weeks out in Utah living it up. It was the 2nd Annual "Camp Riverside" in Logan with some jaunts down to SM2003's for our Utah County fix. The following are some fun pics for your viewing pleasure (and my chance to show how cute my kids are, si claro).

Mitzi (my MIL) is constantly worried when we visit because of the river that runs through their backyard....but of course, her nightmare is my kids' dream! They love spending time down on the shore, throwing rocks, playing in the sand, cooking hot dogs in the firepit, climbing the trees, etc.



The first line of defense is Butch in his lifeguard chair. He's most likely contemplating the next activity he will be doing with the kids... sleeping out in the tent, putting up a rope swing, going for a hike, or whatever else JBird dreams up. I have yet to hear Grandpa say no to anything!



Here are Mitzi & G$$ in "backup lifeguard" position manning the river festivites.



JBird's favorite thing is climbing out on this tree and diving in.



That water is bitterly cold (like, legs-start-aching-after-a-couple-minutes-of-wading-in-it cold) but don't tell JBird that.



TBone liked rearranging all of Butch's river rocks or throwing them in the river. I heart his widdle bum crack which is CONSTANTLY showing due to his having 1% body fat.



Then it's into the hot tub to warm up! (BTW, Butch has to change the water in the hot tub a couple of times every time we visit due to sand, leaves, boogers, and other things the kids bring in there with them....like..... pee).







Proof that even princesses have to TCB (take care of business) from time to time:



OK, I think that's enough for tonight. Next installment will be when we ventured out of Logan and headed up north to Idaho and down south to Provo for some more family fun. Hint: Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are two completely different people/acts! Who knew??? Double hint: One act is potentially awesome and has all the hit songs and one is quite lame and sings nothing I've ever heard.

Stay tuned.