I think I might have road rage

Hayden kept calling things retarded. I told her to stop because she doesn't even know what that means. She said that she did. "It means moron." I ask her how does a moron act. She says. "Crazy." So I ask her what a moron does. She said they get in your lane and don't move. So I say, "Retarded means you don't know how to drive?" She says, "pretty much."
I am such a great example! Maybe I should persue a career in teaching parenting classes. Anyone want to sign up?

Freeze Frame

Here is a moment in my life at 2:00pm. These pictures are in response to Lynne's post: Hayden is watching Spongebob in her underwear and eating oranges.

Taylor made her be this morning without being reminded.

Oh so yummy! These cookies are on the counter in the kitchen calling my name.

Here is the picture from the wall over my bed that came off while the girls were "playing" last night. I still haven't gotten the whole story.

We still have Valentine's extravaganza going on at our house. Does it ever end?

And speaking of never ending. It is raining, AGAIN. I know you Utah folks like to call it moisture. But it is just straight up rain.

So that's it.

Another little funny...

Hayden as usually had us laughing tonight. Bryan was sharing some Dove chocolate hearts with her and "reading" her the messages from the inside of the foil. When she asked what they said, he would tell her it said to give daddy all of her chocolate or give daddy lots of kisses. She didn't believe him so she insisted that he tell her what it really said. So he opens another one and tells her it says "Go where your heart takes you" or something like that. She opens another one and "reads" it herself. She said "My heart takes me to Toys R Us everyday, and Chuck E Cheese."

She also gave me a little lesson on the phases of the moon the other day. Taylor asked me if I had seen the day time moon the other day. I told her that Hayden had told me they had seen it while playing outside. Hayden chimes in with "It was a half moon, not a crescent moon." I said, "What do you know about crescent moons?" She said they are shaped like this, and draws a "C" in the air. Then she tells me the front is little and the back is big. I asked her where she learned that. She told me "a book." I asked her what book she had read and she told me "a train book." So, I asked her if she learned about the moon in the train book. Her answer was, "Nooooo, I learned about trains and how they can carry animals." OK

On the way home from church today Hayden out of the blue says "I don't get it." Of course, I ask her what she doesn't get. And she proceeds to tell me that her and Josiah (her friend from church) are they same size, but he is 5 and she doesn't get it. Then she told me it was just like that Ashli is taller than Stacey, but Stacey is still the mom. Do I explain genetics to her now, or wait a few years?

And by the way, when Hayden is a teenager she gets all of Ashli's things. Why you ask? Because, Ashli will be a grown-up and won't need them anymore. What things exactly? Everything, her clothes, her jewelry, all the stuff in her room, everything. Shouldn't she ask Ashli? No, because she won't need it anymore. And how do I know all of this? Because Hayden told me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bryan gave the girls their presents this morning. The wooden plaques are something he made for them at work. He cut and painted them then used rub-ons to add a little phrase to each of them. The girls loved them. They also got a heart shaped basket with a couple treats in it. They were really excited about the valentine debit cards they got. They are redeemable for a pizza picnic, sleepover, movie night, and all about me day. I found those at Wal-mart and couldn't pass them up.
Bryan and the girls went out last night to get my present. They came back with flowers and card that they gave me last night. Then this morning they gave me my FAVORITE chocolates and the stuff to make cupcakes (that they are going to make for me.) I told Bryan not to spend too much because tomorrow is when I get my real present. Don't you want to know what it is?

Drumroll please.........

I am getting new tires for the van. Isn't that romantic? Actually we are going out tomorrow night and Aiti is going to watch the girls and let them spend the night.

The girls and I spent last night making these little valentines for their classmates. They are not for a Valentine's "party" though. They don't have those at ER Dickson. They only have a Valentine's "snack." But they are exchanging valentines with their classmates. So I came up with this little idea. It was easy and cheap. The girls signed their names, wrote their classmates' names, and put the heart stickers on. I did the rest after they went to bed. I didn't mind thought because it was fun to see how excited they were after waking up and finding them all done.

I'll have to post more pictures later when our valentines festivities continue. Hopefully it will involve getting a package in the mail!

Isn't he the cutest?

This a layout I did using some random pictures that I had of Gavin from our summer trip. The girls and I all agreed that he is the cutest baby ever.

A couple more layouts

Here are a couple more scrapbook pages I have done. I obviously have no idea how to photograph them well. So this will have to do.

Pics from Extreme Makeover house

Here are the pictures from the Extreme Makeover house. The family was supposed to be coming home today. Notice in the last picture the camera at the end of the black crane thing. They were filming while we were there. I couldn't get very many pictures, because you can only take them when you are standing in the spectator area and there was a lanscaping van there blocking our view.

It's finally over

Mardi Gras has come and gone for another year. We did make the trek downtown on Fat TUesday. The girls and I left the house around 7:40, stopped by Wal-mart for ice and a few snacks, then made our way downtown. AFter driving around down there for a few minutes, I found the perfect parking spot just one block away from Bienville Square. We hauled all of our junk over there and were set up by 8:30. We had the perfect spot right on the parade route. So while we were waiting for the partying to start, I took a few pictures of the sights of Mardi Gras.

This is just a small part of the long line of tow trucks that drove through the streets, a couple of hours before the parades started, towing any cars parked on the route.

This is "guy selling overpriced beads"

This oughta ruin someone's day

Passing the time. Yes, they are having a duck race. They had already run, skipped, jumped, hopped on one foot, etc. They had room to race because this is before it started to get really busy.

This was the mounted patrol that was stationed in the park for crowd control. The were from St. Paul, Minn. They said the horses have to undergo ongoing sensory training to be able to stay calm and in control in these types of situations.
This was right after we got there and had finished setting up. They were still clean and happy.

Still waiting for the first parade.
See how pretty our canopy is all decorated with the beads?
This is "woman selling overpriced hats and junk."

Now we get to start counting down until Easter. Payton came home from school yesterday and asked "Mom, do we celebrate lint." I am sure she meant Lent. She told me Ms. Baker was giving up fast food and raising her voice for Lent and that she can't eat meat on Fridays. I told Payton to tell Ms. Baker that Catholics can celebrate Lent all they want, but us Mormons want to "Rock and Roll all n-i-i-ight. And party every day." I told her to make sure she sings it. I don't think she knew I was kidding though. Because on the way to school this morning, she asked me if I still wanted her to say that to Ms. Baker.

Taylor 's always thinking

Taylor has really been interested in earning some money lately. Her first idea was to go around the neighborhood mowing lawns for people. I guess that fact that she has never actually mowed a lawn didn't matter. But she has recently come up with a new idea.

We rented Mr. Bean's holiday from Netflix. After seeing the above clip, she came up with a genius idea. She wants to spend Wednesday making up a dance. Then she can go stand outside the entrance to Wal-mart and do her dance. Hopefully people will give her some money. I guess I need to go find a hankerchief.

Bryan's hidden talent

Who knew he was so talented. And notice Payton's interpretive dance in the mirror. She's got skills.

Who wouldn't want to do this?

After a hard day of playing My Little Pony, going to the parade, and playing at Lavretta Park for a couple of hours, Hayden was pooped. So she decided to veg out in front of the TV in my room. I went in my room to check on her and found this:

I am guessing she stripped off her clothes, ate a few Reece's Peanut Butter cups, and snuggled in for a nap. Now that is my kind of party. Of course, she had to have something soft to snuggle to complete the experience.

We "heart" Eli

We broke down and had a Super Bowl party. I was kind of not wanting to, since we are all alone down here watching the game. But, Bryan deserves it, so I shopped Friday and Saturday to get all the grub. (By the way, Saturday night between 9 and 10pm is the best time to shop at my Wal-mart.) We had spinach dip, rotel, french onion dip and chips, Munchies, sausage dip, fruit salad, BBQ weenies, pigs in a blanket, crackers with salami and cheese, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Honey bun cake was also on the menu, but it never happened. I even splurged and got the kids Sprite and Barq's (with caffeine.) Man, I am nice.


Anyway, Bryan decided, at the last minute, to invite the Kirbys over. The kids were excited because they love Grant and think Bradie is their own personal pet, or something. Shawna was nice enough to bring a few things to add to the spread. The kids had fun pigging out, then playing. And the big boys had fun rooting for the Giants. Having Jerry over was like having two of Bryan watching the game. They both loved every minute of it. We had a good time. But, I TOTALLY missed not sharing this little shindig with the family. There is always next year.

Taylor and Payton are wearing matching shirts that Aiti got them from the Mary-Kate and Ashley collection at Wal-mart. They have decided they want to change their names and become models, now. They spent the better part of the day calling each other Mary-Kate and Ashley.

The Giants won and Bryan is a little hoarse today. You would have thought it was an Alabama game or something.

Mardi Gras Madness

We are about paraded out. But we are still heading out tomorrow for Fat Tuesday. I had pretty much decided not to go, but the kids wanted to. so we are meeting our friends, the Courtneys, down at Beinville Square. It will be full day of parades, moonpies, people-watching, with a dash of whining thrown in for good measure. We plan to head out around 7:30 tomorrow morning so Bryan can follow me downtown and help me get all set up on his way to work. The first parade doesn't roll until 10:30 but people are probably already camped out down there.

But, when I say we are paraded out, I mean it. We went to the Spanish Fort parade a couple of weeks ago, another parade last Monday night, the LeShe's on Tuesday night, a double order of Stripers and Crewe of Columbus on Friday night, a triple dose of floral parade, Knights of Mobile parade, and something else on Saturday afternoon, and the floral parade today, again.

Here are a few pictures of our good times.

Hayden always has a better view from Bryan's shoulders. This was Saturday afternoon. We went to this parade with The Kimball's (Wendi, Chris, and Casey.) We were on the outside of a turn, which we immediately found out, was not a good place to stand.

Before the start of some of the parades, several police cars filled with cadets stop in several places around the parade route. They are lead by the car pulling that little Ken's car tunes boom box. They all get out and dance and anyone that wants to can join in. The standard dances are the Cha-Cha slide, the Cuban shuffle, and Soulja Boy. After the first night, Taylor and Payton got the guts to jump the barricades and shake what their mama gave them. I just love that the little boom box is part of the parade. I remember back when it was playing "Can't Touch This" and "Ice, Ice Baby."

It never matters how much junk we caught at previous parades, there is always a need for more, according to the girls. I am always hoping for that elusive chocolate moonpie. But the girls love to catch stuffed animals. On this night, Hayden caught a beanie baby platypus and didn't want to put it down. I was fine with that because then she wasn't trying to hold the dirty, little, looks like its been barfed on, stuffed mouse that one of the kids caught. Hayden won't let anything get away from her. She would get down on the ground and reach her leg as far under the barricade so she could to get a piece of double bubble or a necklace. There were a couple of times that I was worried I might get ticketed. (If you get caught jumping barricades during the parade they can fine you $152.) I think she would chase the floats if I let her.

Here are few misc. pictures to show what Mardi Gras parades are all about. Floats, high school bands, and motorcycle cops. The bands were all pretty tame this year. There was only one band out of all the parades that had me diverting the girls attention. Let's just say they were shaking it a little too hard.

Thanks to the Kirby's we found out that the corner of Dauphin and Conception is a pretty good spot to stand. We parked for free a few blocks away on Joachim and walked to the parade route. Most nights this includes a stop by the peanut shop for hot roasted peanuts and a diet coke for Bryan and a gigantic bag of popcorn for the girls.

I am sure that I will be sad when Mardi Gras season is over. But for now I am just ready get tomorrow over with. Besides, I still have to figure out what I am giving up for lent. (Ha, Ha!) Any suggestions?