Well THAT makes sense...

After I explained that the children's book character "Arthur" is an aardvark:

Puckey:  What does an aardvark do?

Me:  You know, I'm not really sure.

Puckey:  I think they aardvark stuff.

Me:  Um....okay?!

Now that she's cleared THAT up, I feel so much better.  HA!

My little artist

This is a picture Puckey drew of Jib crying after Jib broke her new sunglasses. It was so funny I had to share. You'll notice the sunglasses at the center of the picture, right below the belly button. HA!

One of the funniest moments EVER

happened on the last day of Ande's brother and his family's visit for Christmas. We all met at a restaurant for breakfast. It was quite a crew: Ande's parents, me, Ande, and our 5 kids, and Ben and Tracy and their 3 kids.

So the youngest kids were running around (we were in the back of the restaurant, so they weren't bothering anyone) and the waitress came back and was talking to Puckey, Jib, and their cousins. She asked them if Santa had visited them, and my oldest niece looked directly at her and said, "NO." The waitress didn't even know what to say. Then my niece explained that Santa wasn't real...SO SO funny to hear a 4 year old tell a grown up that Santa doesn't exist.

Wordless Wednesday

Blast from the Past Friday

It's already Friday again? Holy cow, this week has just FLOWN by!! I've been busy working in the yard and trying to keep up with the housework. CRAZY times around here, let me tell you! Because I LOVE reminiscing about things, here's the Blast from the Past for this week...

This is me and my Grandma Martin. She was a wild one, known for dancing on the table at family reunions in days gone by, having a great sense of humor, and always having a fridge stocked with every flavor of Faygo imaginable. I know we're not supposed to pick favorites when it comes to relatives, but out of all of my grandparents, she certainly was my favorite!

I was 15 when this picture was taken, Christmas 1989. Look how stinkin' skinny I was!! I LOVED my hair back then...probably one of my fave hairdos I've had, VERY late 80's/early 90's to be sure! I remember I used to spend HOURS spiral curling my already permed hair to get it just right. These days rarely blow dry my hair, much less spend hours styling it. Oh how my priorities have changed...

Grandma is gone now, and I miss her. I'm glad I have lots of fun memories of her though.

I can REALLY see Puckey's resemblance to me in this picture. We have the same cheekbones. Well, when I'm skinny enough to HAVE cheekbones...LOL I'm working on that, and slowly but surely I WILL get there!

So there you have it, a Blast from MY Past...Have a great weekend!

The power of Puckey

Last night as we were getting home from an evening out, Puckey said, "I want it to snow tonight so I can play in the snow tomorrow."

I was thinking, "Um, yeah right! It hasn't snowed here in weeks. Besides, Spring Break officially starts tomorrow."

So this morning, we get up, the first morning of Spring Break. It's April 6, 2009! Let's get ready to go outside and play in the.....

SNOW?!?!?!?

See these pictures with LESS snow on the ground? These were taken when we got our first snow...back in NOVEMBER 2008!

I mean, seriously! IT'S APRIL!! Not only that, but SPRING BREAK!! It's NOT supposed to be snowing!

The moral of this story? Never underestimate the power of a 3 year old's wishes.

How 3 Year Olds Stay in Shape

Car conversations

On Friday, Bug, Puckey, Jib and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. After we left the store, Puckey asked me if she could have a watch. (She's 3). I told her that when she was bigger we could get her a watch. Puckey kept talking about it, so then Bug said, "Puckey, I tell you what: when you can tell time, I'll get you a watch."


Oh, was Puckey ever excited! She told me, "Mom! Sissy is going to get me a pink kitty watch!" Puckey continued to giggle and squeal and tell us about the new watch she was going to get for several minutes. Then she says, "Mom, can I tell him?"


"Tell WHO?" I asked.


Her response? "TIME."


Try explaining to a 3 year old what "telling time" means sometime. HA!

Puckey says:

Puckey: "Mommy, I need to take a bath."

Mommy: "Why?"

Puckey: "Because my nose hurts."

Ummmm....OKAY?

October = Fun

I have been pretty lax on my blogging lately. So now I'm going to hit you with a great big post full of lots of pictures. Because I know you can NEVER get enough of my cute family.

There's also a short history lesson at the end. I promise, it's short, and pretty interesting too!

Puckey can go from sweet and smiley

To Grouchy

To downright scary in 2.3 seconds!

(I left the red-eye in because it just makes the picture that much more "scary")

My weak attempt at outdoor fall decorating

But God ALWAYS out-does me!

Puckey, it's a Pumpkin Patch, not a PUPPY Patch!

Nans and Jib picking out a pumpkin

Jibby in love...

Daddy and Jib with her cool white pumpkin

Sometimes they're HAPPY...

Sometimes they're sad...

Bubber is always known for his keen fashion sense...

(note the knee high socks & shorts combo)

Bug, Me, and Nans after completing our Mini-Caramel Apple project

The finished product

Puckey looking longingly at the apples...

The coffee mug my sweet friend Susan gave me for my birthday

(It says "A friend loves at all times... Proverbs 17:17)

Hangin out with Daddy on the couch

This is how we found Puckey and The Jib sleeping last night before we went to bed

(What you can't see is the total havoc they wreaked in the rest of their room)

And last, but certainly not least, it's "That 70's Dinner"...

Boy do I ever L-O-V-E my 70's Pyrex.

Oh, and because I have a million and ten things to do tomorrow (of which I'm hoping to get at least two accomplished), I wanted to write quickly about this because I found it interesting and thought you might too.

This morning, while waiting on the guy from the phone company to hook up our "new and improved" phone and internet service, I was listening to R.C. Sproul (he does a radio program called "Renewing your mind") and heard this little tidbit of information about the "birth" of Halloween.

It is common knowledge (at least I think it is) that Halloween (Or "All Hallow's Eve") falls the day before "All Saints Day". What I didn't know is that All Hallow's Eve has origins in the Roman Catholic church! Apparently, from what R.C. Sproul said today, in the middle ages the members of the Roman Catholic church believed that the surest way of keeping Satan away was to make fun of him. They believed that if they hit him where it hurt the most (his pride), that he would do just as the Bible says (Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7, NIV) and leave them alone. The people would dress up in ridiculous costumes mocking the devil, not because that's how they thought he looked, but because he is described as this in 2 Corinthians 11:14 "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light".

I thought that was rather interesting to know. Another thing that I found interesting is that on October 31 ,1517, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of a Wittenburg, Germany church. This list is said to have been the start of the Protestant Reformation, which changed Christianity forever.

See, my blog is fun AND informative, all at the same time! Aren't you glad?!?

Betcha thought I forgot, didn't cha?

(That title sounds best when done with your best "Fargo, ND" accent)

It's that time again, for the Tuesday Tip O' the Day!

"De-salt that oversalted soup by merely slicing a raw potato into it and boiling for a short time. Then remove potato, which will have absorbed most of the salt."

Yes, I decided to give you a tip that was actually practical and not terribly funny...

For the funny part, I decided to do a short "not me" post (if any of you read McMama's blog, you'll know what that is...)

I did NOT let Puckey and the Jib eat chocolate cake for breakfast this morning. This is NOT a picture of Jib after she DIDN'T eat said chocolate cake.

And while I was NOT serving up the cake, I was NOT singing, "Mom is GREAT! She gives us chocolate cake!" because I surely DON'T think that Bill Cosby "Himself" is one of the funniest comedy routines of all time.

via videosift.com

Wordless Wednesday

Pickin' and grinnin'

Trying daddy's guitar on for size...

We're Number One....

Puckey, with a giant foam finger...

We didn't actually end up as "Number One", but it sounds better than, "We got our pants beaten off by the other team at our own homecoming".

Ande's cousin, Leah-beth was in town and came to the game with us. Jib cozied right up to her.

Did you know that singing can be DANGEROUS?

At least according to Puckey. I was just being silly and singing, "Jib fought the sauce and the sauce won" to the tune of "I fought the law..." and Puckey told me, "Don't sing that, it's DANGEROUS."

Dangerous for whom??? My guess is for the people who have to listen to me sing (which is mainly Puckey and The Jib...)

Ah, the brutal honesty of children.

"The sun is up!"

"Get up! And you can make me some toast."

-Puckey, 7:30am

I just love the sweet things that my little Puckey greets me with. Fortunately, she's just about the cutest little girl on the planet, which makes it that much easier to smile even when she's ordering me about.

You know that's why I had kids, right? So I could be their maidservant. HA HA HA HA

So...................................

Anyone have any good suggestions for getting poop out of light beige berber carpet??

I don't even think I need to explain that. And I'll spare you the picture.

You can thank me later.

So many posts, so little time...

Since you've all missed me SOOOO much over the last few weeks, I've decided to just overload you with posts! ha ha ha

The girls seem like they are growing by leaps and bounds! I can't believe all of the new words The Jib says now. She's SO funny - especially since all of her words that end in an "s" sound she uses a "t" sound, and when she says "yes", she bobs her head up and down and just says "S-s-s-s-s-s-" (I guess it would be better if I had it on film, but my mother in law has the video camera. I should get that back from her)

Puckey is doing well with the potty training. Last night she actually pooped on the potty, and then told me, "I pooped big just like Daddy!" Ande got a laugh out of that one.

Bubber has his second football game on Thursday. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to go. I may have to ask my mother in law if she can babysit the girls, so I don't have to wrangle them on the bleachers (not to mention the fact that I'd probably get charged to bring them in...)

Bug is looking forward to starting band. She will be playing clarinet this year. I hope she enjoys it - music is such a fun thing to learn. I actually had a dream that she was in marching band, and I was helping teach the kids how to march. (I was in marching band in high school) It was a little weird.

Nans started at her new school yesterday, and she said she liked it pretty well. I think she'll do fine once she makes a couple of new friends. We still haven't worked out how we are going to make the pick-up on our weekends. I used to pick her up from school on our weekends, but that's not really going to work out anymore.

I'm finally getting baptized on Saturday. I don't know what's taken me so long (I gave my life to Christ over 6 years ago), but I'm excited about it, and am thrilled that Bubber and Bug will get to be there too. It's going to be fun, too, since it's at our Pastor's house, and we're having a picnic/pool party afterwards. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us.

My brother in law interviewed for a job here in MI yesterday, but he's not sure if he's going to take it. It would be a pretty big pay cut for him, so I think he's thinking it over. As much as I'd love for them to move here, I'd hate for him to take the job and then have a hard time financially. (It's not that the pay is really that bad, but they're used to living on a lot more)

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'll probably post at least once or twice more today (aren't you lucky?).

For now, it's back to the grind...LOL

Just a bunch of stuff

In order to get my mind off of needlessly worrying about finances, I have been trying to pay more attention to the good stuff going on in our house....

Who's been sleeping in my bed?

Yes, that's a sock monkey (made by my mom) that Puckey tucked into our bed the other day.

Daddy is The Jib's new cupholder

This means that The Jib is finally "bottle free"! No more baba's. Whoo-HOO!!

Videos we've been watching:

Yeah, the big kids are LOVING this one (read with MUCH sarcasm). So far, Puckey has watched it 5 times, but doesn't have any interest in going potty. Apparently she's just watching it for the entertainment value?

School House Rock is pretty much the best I know of...and this set includes ALL of them, including your favorites like "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill." (You can thank me later for getting those songs stuck in your head) We told Ande's mom we'd like her to buy this one for Puckey for her birthday.

Ande and I have spent more time talking to each other lately. I mean, we have always talked, but it's usually about the kids or whatever. Recently, our conversations have held more depth (and sometimes laughter) than usual. It's pretty awesome.

The Jib is learning more and more new words every day. We've added:

• "Becko" (You're welcome) It's so cute, because she knows how to use it properly.
• Book
• Down
• Home
• Potty
• Puckey
• Ride
• Bike
• Outside
• Cold
• Pool
• "Muck" (Milk) - she can also do the sign language sign for it

Just yesterday, The Jib walked into our room, and she looked out our french doors into the backyard. You can see our pool from there, and she pointed and said, "Cold pool!" I love it!

Puckey and The Jib got a "new" ride a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of a local yard sale.

We went for a family bike ride yesterday. I got to try out my "new" bike. My mother in law gave me her bike, which is sorta like riding a lazy boy chair! (Pretty comfy).

However, even with all the comfort of the bike, I was left wondering just when I got so old and out of shape. My backside and thighs were feeling pretty rough by the time we got back home! I guess I'm going to have to start riding a little more often.

Bubber is now participating in "two-a-days" for football, which is just wearing him right out. He seems to like it, though, so I'm happy!! (Although he's eating us out of house and home!!)

Bug is excited about starting Middle School in a few weeks...although I think I'm going to have to start making her get up early pretty soon to get used to it. Right now it's after 10:00am and she's still asleep. (Meanwhile I've been up since about 6:45am)

Nans should be coming for a week at the end of this week or the beginning of next - it seems like FOREVER since we've seen her! We'll get to go school shopping with Grammy (my mother in law) while Nans is home, too. Always have fun doing that!

The bible study I've been doing is going well - it's still just the two of us, but I feel like I've learned some new stuff (and some stuff about myself) that I wouldn't have learned otherwise.

Thanks for all of the prayers you guys have sent my way - it's been effective! I feel more at ease than I did before, and things are looking better all the time. (Maybe part of my problem was hormones - you all know how that goes!)