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Friday, December 19, 2008
Candy Cane Anyone?
Every Monday night, the children and I make our weekly trip to our local library. For the past several weeks there was a jar full of those little candy canes for kids to submit their guess about how many were in the container. Of course both boys jumped all over the chance since they are obsessed with numbers and they even put in an extra guess for Alena. So I get a call at work from Alex this week....Alex: "Mom guess what?"
Me: "What?"
Alex: "I won the candy cane guessing contest at the library. I guessed 179 and there were 183."
Me: That's great hon, what did you win?"
Alex: " All the candy canes and the jar!"
I don't know what on earth we are going to do with 183 candy canes, but I guess we will figure something out. Luckily, my wrapping paper this year has a candy cane theme, so I may tape a candy cane to the top of each package. That should take care of about 40 of them. Plus I had the boys take 30 each to school today to give to their classmates for the Christmas parties, but even then there are still 83 more canes! So if anyone needs some let me know.
So far in the past couple months Alex has won us a Wii and 183 candy canes, Brian told him that he is going to be picking the lottery numbers from now on.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Halloween 2008
Every year since the boys were born and continuing through the birth of Alena, all my children have had coordinating Halloween costumes. That is until this year... No one could agree on any coordinating costumes and they are all trying to assert their independence, so I surrendered control and let all of them pick out their own costumes. We ended up with the Cinderella, the Scream Ghost, and an Evil Jester, I'm hoping this is just a phase and they will all come back around by next year. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Patch 2008
We didn't have time to go out to Eckert's pumpkin patch this year, so we ended up going to Rombach's which isn't nearly as cool, but it is still a good place for photo ops, here's a few...
Grant's Farm 2008
The first weekend in October was absolutely beautiful so we decided to take the kids to Grant's Farm. The boys hadn't been since they were little and Alena had never been. Since it had been so long I had forgotten what a wonderful place it is, especially since it's free! We fed goats, saw the animals, watched the show, rode the train, and drank beer, all for just the $10 parking fee. I hope when InBev takes over Anheuser-Busch, they don't close Grant's Farm because it is a true St Louis gem!Welcome to Las Vegas!
To make my 30th birthday a little bit easier to deal with, I decided to celebrate this milestone in Las Vegas. We left at 7 am Friday morning and with the time difference we were are our hotel by 9:30 am Vegas time. Neither Brian nor I had ever been so our main objective was sightseeing not gambling. We went with economical accommodations by staying at Circus Circus, which was fine, especially the indoor amusement park which I was highly impressed with. We walked the strip, went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and took a gondola ride at the Venetian (which was my favorite hotel of them all). We ate lunch in Margaritaville, shopped at the four story M&M store, saw the Cirque du Soleil show, Zumanity and took in as much of the city as possible in three days. My only complaint was the weather, it barely reached 70 degrees the whole time we were there and had 40+mph winds most of the time. In contrast, St Louis that weekend was 80 degrees and beautiful. I can't believe we went to the desert in October and it was colder than at home, oh well we still had a great time, we just had to wear our jackets and stay out of the pools. Although she enjoyed staying with Nana and Bill for the long weekend, Alena was very happy to see us when we got home on Monday and we were all happy to be back at home together again.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Definitely thought provoking...
This is another political post I received via email, I don't know how much of this is race related and how much is just a double standard between the parties, but it is thought provoking none the less and worth reposting...
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama were a member of the 'Keating 5'?
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "f____' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their f____' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot sh__" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto is "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college and the fact that she lives close to Russia--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.
White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an average guy (George W. Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you "uppity," and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.
White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.) and that's OK, and you're cut out to be president, but if you're black and you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make good decisions in office.
White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she's disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called "terrorist fist bumps."
White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you "dangerously naive and immature."
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the "lesser adversities" faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention speech.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.White privilege is, in short, the problem.
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama were a member of the 'Keating 5'?
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "f____' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their f____' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot sh__" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto is "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college and the fact that she lives close to Russia--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.
White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an average guy (George W. Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you "uppity," and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.
White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.) and that's OK, and you're cut out to be president, but if you're black and you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make good decisions in office.
White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she's disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called "terrorist fist bumps."
White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you "dangerously naive and immature."
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the "lesser adversities" faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention speech.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.White privilege is, in short, the problem.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
First Political Blog of the Season
This was sent to me via email, I thought it was so good that I needed to share it with everyone and I thought it was time to throw something political into the mix.
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight:
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different." If you grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, that's a quintessential American story.
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
If you graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable. But if you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating then you're well-grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a constitutional law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator, representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, are elected to 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people and sponsor or co-sponsor 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 daughters, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your first wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system and then your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a high-paying job in a good law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. If your husband [nickname "First Dude"], sports at least one DWI conviction and didn't register to vote until he was 25, but did belong to a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight:
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different." If you grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, that's a quintessential American story.
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
If you graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable. But if you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating then you're well-grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a constitutional law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator, representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, are elected to 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people and sponsor or co-sponsor 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 daughters, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your first wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system and then your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a high-paying job in a good law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. If your husband [nickname "First Dude"], sports at least one DWI conviction and didn't register to vote until he was 25, but did belong to a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.
Monday, September 08, 2008
We won a Wii
It's been a long summer and we all have been very busy, hence the lack of blogs of late. But something happened yesterday that has brought me out of my blogging funk-- We won a Wii!!! It all started when Brian signed the boys up for the second annual Wentzville Soapbox Derby. The city provided the cars and we paid $5 per child for the boys to race down the "hill of thrills" in front of Progress Park. There was food, door prizes, a corny announcer and it was a beautiful day, so all in all it seemed like it was going to be a great afternoon. Every child that raced got a T-shirt and a bag of goodies (stickers, coupons, etc). Additionally, each kid was entered into a raffle- they raffled off gift cards, a 19 inch flat screen TV, and a Nintendo Wii. And as my intro revealed we won the Wii-yippii. Alex's name was picked just as he finished his race (which he lost by a hair). Brady won his race but by then we were all so excited about our new Wii it really didn't matter who won or lost (not that it would've anyway). It was a very nice set that came with several games and controllers (approx. value $400). My arm hurts from playing too much tennis and bowling and we've all had a great time with it so far. Needless to say that we will definitely be signing up for the soapbox derby again next year!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Boys' Baseball Schedule-Summer 2008
The boys have started playing baseball again through the YMCA and I thought I would post their schedule in case anyone wants to come see them play some time this summer. They had their first practice yesterday and did really well. Their are 17 kids on their team, so I don't know if they will get to play as much as they did last year, but I'm sure they will still have a good time. Next year they will play on a more competitive league with a longer season and they are already really excited about it. Hope to see you this summer!
Saturday, June 28 @ 10:30 am - Founders Park Field #1
Saturday, July 12 @ 3:30 pm- Westhoff Park Field #5
Saturday, July 19 @ 1:00 pm- Westhoff Park Field # 5
Saturday, July 26 @ 1:15 pm- Founders Park Field #1
Saturday, August 2 @ 11:45 am- Founders Park Field #1
Saturday, August 9 @ 1:15 pm- Founders Park Field #1
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Family Camping Expo 2008
Two weekends ago we took all the kids camping. The County hosted a Family Camping Expo at Klondike Park and since I'm a county employee I got a discount. It was only for one night, was close to home, and was geared toward families with kids, so Brian and I decided it would be a good introduction to camping for the children. It started on Saturday at 10am, we arrived at the park, set up our tent, and met all the park rangers who would be our guides for the weekend. One ranger gave us a lesson in dutch oven/campfire cooking, complete with taste tests. I honestly had no idea so many things could be cooked on a campfire. We even prepared our own dinner packets and cooked them on the fire and everything turned out really tasty. The rangers also gave us a lesson on knot tying and took us on a guided nature walk through some of the wooded trails that run throughout the park. There was even a fishing derby at the lake and all of us caught at least one fish! After dark, the astronomy club set up high powered telescopes and we got to see Saturn, Mars, and the space shuttle which happened to be flying over that evening! When we were finished star gazing we headed back to camp and roasted some marshmallows on the fire and headed off to bed. I was a little rough getting everyone to settle down and go to sleep in the tent, but once they did it didn't take long to fall asleep since we had such an eventful day. The next morning (Sunday), we got up, ate breakfast, hiked up to the top of the bluffs that overlook the river and then headed home. It was a great experience and everyone learned a lot. I hope the county does it again next year and we will definitely go again!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Butterfly House
A few weekends ago I took the kids to the Butterfly House in Chesterfield. We all really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful butterflies and I got a lot of great pictures too. We also took a ride on the old carousel in Faust Park. After we got home, Alena was playing outside in the yard when she came inside and announced:"Momma I want to be a butterfly, I need my wings." To which she immediately ran into her room and retrieved her fairy wings. I helped her put them on and off she went back outside.
About 15 minutes later...
Alena: "Momma my wings are broken."
Me: "They look okay to me."
Alena: "But I can't fly!"
Me: "Well honey, you just have to pretend."
Alena with a heartbroken look on her face: "I don't want my wings on anymore."
And she took them off.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Really???
I have been driving for 12 years or so and NEVER in that time have I ever seen anyone pump gas like this. This sign was on top of the pump while I was getting gas at my local Costco. They wouldn't have this sign above every pump unless someone did it, but have you ever seen anyone do this before?Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
A Day at the Zoo
A couple weekends ago Amy, Alivia, Brayden, Mindy, Lilly, the kids and I all took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent a Sunday at the zoo. This was Alena's first trip to the zoo and she was in awe. She absolutely LOVED it! She wanted to spend 10 minutes at every exhibit whether there was actually an animal in there or not. She really likes the elephants, zebras, and the penguin house. She even liked the reptile house! I think she felt at home at the monkey house, since she is our own little Alenatang. It was a wonderful day and everyone had a great time visiting all the animals.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Alena's Birthday Playdate
Alena's birthday playdate, although a little chilly, was also a lot of fun. She was very excited about her birthday this year and couldn't wait for her party with all her friends. We had a bounce house for the kids to jump around in (thanks Dougie) and Alena got a lot of fun new things to play with. She even had a chocolate birthday cake with her picture on it in icing. She did a really good job blowing out her candles and already can't wait until her next birthday!Easter 2008
I finally downloaded all my pics and can get caught up on blog posts, so I guess I will start with Easter 2008. Since it snowed on Easter this year we really didn't do an egg hunt, but everyone still had a great time getting dressed up and spending some quality time with our families. We all had a lot of fun decorating Easter eggs the Friday before, which we turned into deviled eggs for Sunday. And even though Alena was still officially two years old, this was her FOURTH Easter, which I thought was rather strange. Here are a few of the pics...
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