POLL: You Don't Wanna Miss Weighing In

So I come downstairs yesterday morning and my dad had already fixed all the kids some cereal and was cleaning everything up. He was snickering to himself and then said "Hey, Landee, you are soooo busted."

"Pourquoi?" I asked, (in French so I'd sound more innocent/smart).

"Well," DadDadDaddio continued,"after I had fixed everyone some breakfast I said 'Ok, now, who wants to say the blessing?' and all your kids looked at me like 'Wha?' Beebs even said 'We don't say da prayer for cereal! That's just for dinner!' So yeah, you are busted!" He was laughing and not at all "scolding" me in any way, but he did find it extremely humorous. Extremely.

I was befuddled.

Ok, so here is the poll question... do you bless breakfast? Or even lunch? Should we be doing that? I've never even thought about it. And obviously I wasn't raised this way ::eyeing the jolly man who was laughing at me:: cuz it wasn't even on my radar.

Kthanksinadvanceforyourinputbye.

Taking Full Advantage of The Company

Here is my dad installing a garage door opener in our third bay. No
more worrying about our kids dying by the door slamming down on
them!! Hooray!

Lest you feel bad for him, he's happiest when busy. Srsly, ask anyone.

Teeth: The Bling Bling of the Face

I'm always amazed at how someone's teeth can affect their entire face.

When Gty was 12 some idiot kid pushed him from behind and Gty face planted right into a water slide. This knocked out one of his front teeth and chipped the other. He had the chip fixed and the tooth replaced. Recently the little corner of his tooth where the chip had been fixed came off. It changed his entire look! Just a little chip and I started thinking he was going to start sporting a southern accent or something (no offense southerners! Just a humorous stereotype).

Howdy y'all! ::said with chipped/missing teeth, obviously::

Well TBone's face has undergone a dramatic change this past week. He had a bit of a loose tooth going and then wrecked his bike into a pole which then sealed the fate of that there tooth. He came in crying and explained how he had wrecked and had even "blacked out for a minute." Don't worry, his pupils were two totally different sizes so I knew he was fine.

Just kidding, geez, you gize!

So this cute face...

... has now become this:

Right? How can he be taken seriously now? He looks like a cartoon character. The best was when it first happened he talked like thith. And he theriouthly could not make it thtop no matter how hard he tried. I made him say "Thally thells thea thells down by the theashore" just so I could giggle. He has now figured out how to thpeak, I mean, speak, but I still love his new face. Is it wrong that I never want the new tooth to grow in? It just seems to fit him so well.

I wonder if my parents ever laughed at my gappy smile or make me thay thtuff just for kicks. They were probably too busy laughing at my thin ribbon necktie and pony tails that were two different lengths.

I guess I could just ask them as they are here visiting for the next couple of weeks. Gty & the boys head out to California tomorrow for a few days with Gty's dad and then next week is the big family reunion at my house with all my siblings! The boys start school next Wednesday. I feel like summer just started. This last paragraph is so random, just thought I'd fill you in on actual life events taking place.

But yeah. Teeth.

Worst 15 mins. Of My Life

Except for when I had to push Beebs out with no epidural, I guess.

But still.... a dreadful 15 minutes to be sure.

I lost my iPhone in WalMart, people.

::pausing for effect::

YES. iPHONE. LOST. WALMART.

It's bad enough I was even IN Walmart. But then BeeBee had to use the little girls room. Ugh. {My biggest pet peeve ever is her desire to try out every public restroom, btw}. And then, while in there, I decided that I may as well use the facilities as well. Double ugh.

As many of you know I keep my phone in my back pocket for easy access/butt flattering purposes. I decided that I didn't want to take any chances of my phone falling out of my pocket and into the Walmart toilet bowl (I've had a couple of close calls at home) so I took it out of my pocket and set it on top of the toilet paper dispenser "just for a second."

YES. I'M. AN. IDIOT.

I then proceed to shop around The WalMart for about 15 minutes or so and then I reach for my phone.... nothing. I give myself a pat down like I just arrested myself & empty the contents of my purse like I have good reason to believe I'm a terrorist at the airport.

"What's wrong Mama? What's the matter? Mama? What happened?"

Apparently my face is not cooperating with my "Stay Calm, Everything Will Be Fine" mantra I'm whispering to myself in between deep breaths.

I race back to the bathroom and find nothing. I immediately picture myself telling Gty that I lost my iPhone in the bathroom of Walmart. This only makes things worse. He's fond of saying "Well, it was fun while it lasted!" to the kids when they break/lose stuff. I can imagine he'd reeeeeeally enjoy saying that to me with that friggin smirk on his face. I then come up with a plan on how to buy myself a new phone without him knowing.... pain killers and the street were involved. I won't say any more.

By this point in my schemes I am approaching the customer service desk where a nice lady in the back of the store told me the Lost & Found was located. I'm fourth in line. I wait my turn coming up with other more legal plans on how to earn some money "off the books" and soon enough the lady in front of me finished returning her two throw pillows that apparently didn't fit her decor and it's my turn.

I approach the early 20s nerdball boy working the desk....

"Hi, did anyone turn in an iPhone, by chance?"

::straightening up his posture and narrowing his eyes at me::

"What is your name?"

"Landeelu Landerson."

"Uhhmmmm.... hang on...." ::turns around to the desk behind him and grabs my phone {trumpets sound in my head} and turns back around::

"Yes! That's IT! Thank you so much!"

"I called the number on the back and talked to your husband."

"Oh great...." ::cursing that sticker I put on the back with my name and home phone on it::


I was so hoping to NOT have to explain anything to Gty but "Mark at Walmart" made sure I wasn't going to get off that easy.

Oh well, I didn't care. I was so elated to have my baby, er, I mean phone, back in my hand that nothing was going to bring me down. I was practically defying gravity. The hero of the day is the person who found my phone and turned it in. I am forever indebted her.

::cue 24's beep. beep. beep. beep. sound::

15:00

Flemsta.09

Flemmy came to visit me, you gize.

And she brought her 4 adorable kids along with her. She drove all day on Tuesday to get here after having work meetings all day on Monday in Napa. She then drove home on Saturday only to get on a plane for Grand Rapids Sunday morning for some other work related junk. She is truly amazing in her capacity to be so busy, travel to visit so many and raise such fun and nice kids along the way.

I did yell "YOUR JOB IS KILLING US!" a few times though.

This would mainly be when a middle-of-the-day conference call would interrupt some super important plans of going to a museum or sitting and chatting.

We did eventually make it to a museum, conference calls or not. Oh wait, Flem was on a conference call AT the museum. Thaaaat's right... I had forgotten how we worked that out. Standsmom had met us there though, so I wasn't completely left alone with SEVEN kids. Instead, Stands and I were left alone with TEN kids. Good times. Enjoyable even.

In all fairness Flem did hang up on her conference call after a while and we all then proceeded to enjoy the experience together.

It is called the Wildlife Experience and, true to its name, they had a hedgehog there. Wildlife indeed. It was the creepiest thing ever and now Flem is considering getting one for a pet. It would jump a little everytime someone touched it (see the two pics of Flem above) as a scare tactic. It totally worked. Freaked me out.

We now interrupt this recap with my favorite pics of widdle Meggie.

Oh my gosh....that baby....those cheeks....the cuddling. I couldn't stop kissing her or squeezing her thighs. She wuved me too. Like, big time wuv.

Her favorite activity to do when no one was watching was to empty the silverware out of the dishwasher. She did this at least once a day, usually twice.




Now, back to the events.

We had a bit of a sad thing happen where we packed up all the kids, double buckled them into the minivan (cuz we didn't want to have to take two cars) and drove them out to this really nice outdoor mall for them to run through these fun squirting fountains. We even had gotten their swimming suits on which is more than I can say for the last time we went there. Once we got there, however, we discovered that the fountains were off and they were having some lame outdoor concert there. How did they not send me an email or something to tell me this? Jerks.

So by this point, the kids are hot & getting cranky. Flem & I had to think fast. We stopped by a Target (after a failed attempt in a WalShizz) and bought an inflatable pool. Yup. We white-trashed it up. It was awesome. Put it in the front yard and everything.




It was actually quite deep and enjoyable. The kids kept busy with it for a couple of hours and really, that was well worth $30. Oh, and Flem finished up The Girl Who Could Fly, this month's SRBC selection.

Contrary to what that pic of Bridget indicates up there, she did have a fun time in the WT pool. It does look like she is saying "I am so sick of all these boys" though. She was the one I was most worried about. I figured the boys would hang with Casey (and boy did they), Beebs and Gilly would be BFFs and, of course, Meggerz would be mine so that left Bridget. I had picked up a little jewelry making kit and she made all kinds of fun things for everyone. I hope it helped her enjoy herself a little.



I'm guessing that if Flem and I had been sitting in the dorms circa 1993, and someone would have walked in and shown us these pictures of Gillian and Beebs and said "This is your future" we would have a) been totally freaked out and then b) bawled our eyes out for at least 20 minutes. I mean, right? So friggin cute. Almost painfully cute. Do you think we would have had a hard time figuring out whose daughter was whose? Me either. I'm glad someone didn't do that though. Cuz then I would have stopped saying my joke that I was so fond of that year about how I wasn't gonna let my kids play with the "Casey kids" when we grew up. You know, cuz Flem is basically a hippie.



And then this one... the girlies all tucked in my bed watching a little High School Musical. It truly doesn't get any better than that.




Dear Flem,

Thank you so much for taking the time to come and visit Denver suburbia this summer. I know you hate suburbia so I know it was a huge sacrifice. I loved how well our kids got along together and that Beebs cried when you were leaving. She keeps asking if you are coming back "tomorrow." ::sigh:: If only...dang your job all to heck!
My favorite times were our semi-late night chats (I only say semi cuz you would zonk out at midnight everynight), catching up on all the So You Think You Can Dance episodes and puttering around the kitchen together. I adore your kids and could have had you here another couple of weeks without blinking an eye. This visit was much too short. Let's remember that for next time, mmkay?

Me love you long time,

Landee

It's Still July...

...so I don't feel bad about posting 4th of July pics this late. Here are the kids doing their patriotic/obnoxious Americans faces.



But before that we were up at Phil & Milly's cabin in Bear Lake for the week. All the grandkids were there and, lemme tell you, it was a party! I took exactly 0.0 pics. I had to steal this one off my SIL's website (yes, yes, I know, her pic is exponentially superior to any of mine...she's a PROFESSIONAL, you gize! Don't judge me. More on that later). Why didn't I take any pics? Oh well, cuz the night we arrived I spent a good 12 hours in the bathroom with an insane case of the flu... or something. Awful. Then spent most of the remaining time up there recovering from said flu. I was lucky to shower, let alone take pics.



The kids were in hog heaven with the beach and jet skis and golfing and general cabin merriement. The flu has since gone through just about everyone that was there now. They will be sending me thank you notes, I'm sure.

Then it was back to Phil & Milly's house for some backyard fun. Phil rigged up this swing so the kids could swing into the river. That water was icy but no kid seemed to care.




We then headed up to Preston, ID for some fun at Riverdale Resort. Have you gize ever heard of this place? A little gem in the middle of nowhere. Hot springs, wicked waterslide, huge swimming pool, etc. Not to mention the delish dinner my cute SIL, Stackey, cooked up for us afterward. I'm still thinking about it. Obviously.



So yeah, I forget from year to year how fast this slide is. And so did Gty apparently. Here are he and Beebs comin' in hot.....



Uh, Gty? Gty?



GTY!!!!



Oh good ::phew:: there he is.



Recovery time.



Beebee seemed not to have noticed anything had gone awry.

JBird at least figured out he needed to plug his nose.



TBone.... I guess weighing nothing makes a difference. He was cool as a cucumber.



DOTTY! Love her.



Another activity was taking the kids up to the university for some QUICKSAND fun. Doesn't sound fun? Well, it is. Nobody strikes poses like these when they are bored.



The waders were the best part. As you can see they are one size "fits" all.



Here I am down in the quicksand pit. I was at Phil's mercy. The sand was compact and I could stand on it. Then he did something. I sank down. Then he did something else. I was stuck. He could have left me there, you gize. Srsly. Luckily all the kids wanted a turn so he had to let me out. Crisis averted. I do have pics of everyone in there but, srsly, I'm way lazy. Use your imagination.



And the whole crew.



So that was our two weeks in UT condensed down to a few pics.

Did I mention my SIL is an awesome photog? Well she is, and she took some some family pics of us whilst we were there.

Here is a teaser....



You can see a few more on her website HERE. I can't wait to get the rest and get them printed and frame them and hang them and and...and.... look at them everyday! She is moving to Lancaster, CA if you're in the market for some fun family pics!