Just Listen for the next 3 minutes

okay, what you just heard was the boys washing the dog, raquel, after she lost a battle with diareah. there was poop everwhere. it was so nasty. so glad i had children to do these chores for me. almost makes it worth while. i was standing outside the bathroom window so they did not know i was recording them. mwaa haaaa haaa

Is this even reallly a debate?

Okay my son has to write an opinion on whether or not he is for or against school uniforms. mind you, his is in 8th grade.

this is the picture they attached to the article.

not surprisingly he and just about ever other red blooded male is voting FOR uniforms. i am wondering what pin up mag did they pull this picture out of!! SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!!! this is unfair and bias report. why don't they just show her sucking on a lollipop to finish off the look.

President's Day scavenger hunt at Cabela's

well the scavenger hunt series continues for my friend, lanae, and i. we had 13 participants this time and two (not pictured) tag alongs.

the kids were really good. we asked that they have manners throughout the store. no pushing, shoving, running or yelling. we did not hear any complaints. it was a pretty slow day there. that helps.

TEAM 1
TEAM 2

TEAM 3

our biggest struggle is dividing the teams evenly. making sure no one is left with a bunch of little ones or that we don't have a team with all big kids.

Anna Lindh with the elephant tusk. she looks so serious, you would think the hunted the thing down herself.

Anna showing the 15lb test fishing line and Ria doing to fishing of her own. wonder if she caught anything?

raccoon urine. no scavernger hunt is complete without it.

the last thing on their list was they needed to find us!! we had a good 45 minutes to wander throughout the store.

while waiting for the other teams to finish LeJune thought it would be fun to take some cute pictures.

they were all crammed into a one man tent.

it was a good afternoon. all the kids had a blast. we shall see what the next holiday brings.........

JUST ONCE!! is that really too much to ask?

All i wanted was a nice picture of my kids in their church clothes. Papa ( Vertie Brown) got Daniel a new suit and so that inspired me to take a picture of them in their finest.

well that blew up in my face!! between ike trying to look too cool to really be related to these fools, to daniel just wishing i would hurry up and take the dang picture, to jakey being, well, jakey and the girls in-ability to stand still for more than half a second....this was as good as it was gonna get. i should just be happy it did not end in tears like so many other things around this house do.

Girls new beds!

we finally got the girls new beds in and set up. the old ones were, well, old. the girlies take turns on who gets to sleep on top. when it is maria's turn anna declares it a "sleepover" so they both sleep on the top bed. but on nights when it is anna's turn to sleep on top she declares it a "non-sleep-over" night. what a fink! i love the drawers it has. and i quickly filled them up with toys and got the toy box out of our frontroom!! i am so glad we went with the trundle style because then we just fold away the bottom bed and they have much more room to play. and if the girl on the top bed rolls off she just lands on the bottom bed.

Daniel's Birthday

We let Dan celebrate his birthday a bit early because it falls on a Sunday this year. He wanted to have a bunch of the guys over for another scary movie night. Here is a pic of the crew. they went through 4 liters of pop, three bags of chips, a bag of bbq chicken wings and two boxes of little debbie cosmic brownies.
They watched scary movie until 1:30 am then switched to CARTOONS!!! then by 4am they were playing the wii. i kept checking in throughout the night and there was always a few up. they slept in rotations. very efficient of them.

Breakfast was two boxes of cocoa puffs. Then they were shoved outside and away from the TV!!! so what do they do to enterstain themselves????

Ya, normally i would be scared to see seven guys pile out of a van filled with smoke. Especially because it is MY VAN!!!! but really they were just goofing around with the fog machine. no, really. it is just fog.

Cereal Sale!!!!

There are two words in the world that make my heart sing..."CEREAL SALE!!" my friends and i all call eachother and make sure we all know.

they only have this sale three times a yr. once right when school starts, then in february and again when summer starts. this stash will last me until the begining of summmer.

i spent $100 but saved $90 with it being on sale!! man i love that feeling!
these boxes went into the pantry.

This is George. He used to have three other goldfish in the bowl with him but he ate them. Ya, he is that tough.

Sadly his bowl is not quite so tough. It met up with Daniel's butt. I was gone at the time so i don't have the full story. But it was hard not to notice the patch job and the panicked look on George's face.

George had to take up residency in the left side of the kitchen sink for a few days until we could get to value village and get him moved into his new tank. He likes it just fine and this one is PLASTIC! so daniel's butt can not move freely about the kitchen and George no longer has to fear of getting flushed down the drain on accident.

Boot Camp blip

I willingly signed up for the "biggest loser" program at bootcamp. to my credit is was at the end of a workout and i was not thinking clearly when i signed up.

last night was first weigh-in and we had to have our "girth" measured. his word, not mine. when ryan said "girth" again to my face i wrapped my hand around his throat and pushed him back into the wall. i hate that word. it is a dirty, dirty word. i had not been on a scale in FIVE years....until last night. i had a good run of being scale free. i enjoyed it. now for the next 10 weeks every monday i have to step on one and get weighed. for every pound i put on i have to pay $1. for every missed weigh-in i have to pay $5. i see myself putting Ryan's kids through college. maybe even an ivy league school.

Raquel goes to school........again.

Raquel got to go to Ike's classroom last week. He wanted to show and tell her. Ike was so excited. So we set up a date and time with the principal and his teacher. Anna and Maria got to tag along too. Everyone was so excited. Especially Raquel.

Thursday afternoon Anna, Maria, Raquel and I walked over to the school. This is a very familiar walk for Raquel you see, because she escapes quite a bit and the first place she bolts to is the playground to play with all the kids. well, sorta play. more like the rounds them up into a tight little circle in the middle of the field. All the kids know her by name now and call a friendly hello to her as they walk past the house.

We have to check in at the front office and get our visitors pass, which raquel wears around her neck. The secratary there peers over and sees Raquel and says, "Hey, i know that dog. she is here pretty much once a week." i said, " yes, but this time she has a pass." so thpppt! as i turn to hautily leave the office with my two girls in tow Raquel breaks off her lead!!! Holy CRAP! seriously, what are the odds here people? so of course the girls squeal with delight and chase after her. I am chasing too, but not squealing. i am muttering lots of words under my breath. She tried the elevator first, no go. Then she desides the LIBRARY looks like a good idea! crap! librarians are not know for their sense of humor. she is having a class in the reading corner. first graders!! Raquel is not a small dog. You tend to notice her when she enters a room. anna is the first to yell, "IT'S OKAY. IT'S JUST RAQUEL. SHE IS HERE FOR SHOW AND TELL!"
maria liking the way the chant sounds repeats it. raquel, after giving the computers a good sniff, senses me coming closer and takes off out another door. the second grade hallway where every single dang door is OPEN! crap. raquel stops at each door to poke her head in and give it a good sniff. this is followed by Anna and Maria sticking their heads in and shouting their little chant. This is followed by me yanking them out of the classroom and trying to gain some ground on Raquel. She made it all the way to the third grade hallway then was blocked by the large glass doors leading out to the playground. i straddle her, tie the lead back on using my boyscouting experience and headed the crew up the stairs to the fifth and sixth graders. Ike was waiting at the top of the stairs wondering what took us so long.

It was all worth it though. The kids has alot of fun. and raquel took a long nap when she got home. i don't see us getting invited back though.

Finally uploaded some pics, so now i can update you on our story

This is Joe. Joe is a clam shell. Jakey went to a seafood buffet and discovered the tasty treat that is steamed clams. And the best part is, when you are done eating you can make a friend out of the shell. He made two friends that night, Bob and Joe. you will notice that Bob is not in the picture. Bob met an untimely and gruesome end. Joe and Bob went to school with Jakey. It was a Wednesday, P.E. day. Bob was in Jakey's pocket, Joe was wise enough to stay in the classroom, and they were doing the army crawl. Bob tried "to be all that he could be" but alas got smooshed. he was just a shell of a man to begin with. this did not help his complex. But he clammed up and took it like a man ( i could keep these puns going all night) anyways, jakey came home very sad as he emptied Bob from his pocket. we felt it only proper to give him a burial at sea. jakey is already looking forward to another seafood buffet.