My blog has been infiltrated!!!!

THose pictures of my sweetpeas were NOT posted by me. When I came home and saw my blog I exclaimed quite loudly, "SOMEONE HAS POSTED ON MY BLOG!!!"

Insert large amounts of laughter. Hmm.. who is that laughing?

Rachel?

Well, at least she can laugh at herself, since the top picture she made of William and he retaliated by making the bottom picture, and she posted both of them.

On a side note, we go back to school tomorrow. UGH! That means being in the car by 6:10 every morning for seminary.
BUT... William turns 16 next month. We are hoping that his Eagle Project gets approved this week. There is still time for him to get it done and heve his drivers liscense on his birhtday. Oh how I wouold love to get to be home that extra time in the morning. I am so rushed when I get back from taking him. I usually get back between 6:30 and then 6:35. During that time I pack lunches and make sure the little girls eat breakfast. I usually eat breakfast. Try to do hair, etc. It is really rushed. We tyr to be back in the car to go back and pick William up and drop at the three schools my children go to by 7:00.

We Americans lead busy lives. I have moments when I think that pioneer living might have been easier. Just a moment though. Then I snap back to reality! Hello, indoor plumbing and dishwasher!!

Pictures my children uh, improved

Do you like the picture that Rachel uh, improved of her brother William? Now look at the picture that William improved of Rachel.




Aren't my children lovely?

Going up?

We had a new electrical line run down to the barn last month. I looked out the window and every truck owned by our small electrical co-op was on our road. I felt very important.

I could tell what the other guys were doing, they were next to poles. But what the heck is this guy doing?
Umm, sir? There are no poles there in the middle of the road. Are you planning on harvesting some solar power or something?
Yeah, up up and away. You seem to be climbing the stairway to heaven.
Oh. Who knew that crazy contraption also moves left to right, not just up and down. Chalk this one up to my utter lack of knowledge about machines. And physics. And heights. And men in hard hats.
Yeah, you go big dawg! Oh, please add this to the list of jobs that not even Bill Gates or Warren Buffet have enough money to pay me to do. NEVAH. EVAH. Are we clear on this?

I am repenting, tomorrow

I am a thief. I totally stole from my sister in law. And now I am going to share her secrets with the world.
This new polka dot header... So cute and so easy. and totally stolen.

Just go to your start menu and then find your paint program. you know the one that the kids make pictures on. or the one Rachel is using right now to, um, improve a picture of her brother and then save as the wallpaper on the kids computer.

Go and make polka dot headers. they are fun and fabulous.

It is a good thing

Southern kids meet ice

******Edit: There is some confusion, mainly since I forgot to mention this. I have been ice skating, many times. I know what I am missing. I have a scar on my knee from a skate being stuck in it. I suspect that I owned my own skates, but I don't really remember. In high school we used to skate all the time at the rink at the mall. In Hong Kong. Some of you don't know I spent some years as an expat in HK. Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled story:


The day after Christmas we went to the Carolina Ice Palace. It is the official practice ice of Tara Lipinski. Tara Lipinski lives across the street from my parents. We rarely see her at her house. We did not see her the day we went skating. Good thing. She would have been mortified to know the lack of skating skill that her neighbors grand kids have.

That's okay, though. We had a blast. I use the term we very loosely. No, I did not don skates. I am very sure that if I fell I would be like the old lady in the old TV commercials,

"I have fallen and I can't get up!"

No thank you. I do not enjoy any activity that may involve pain. Or movement. That irritates my husband a little. But he knew what he was getting before we got married. I never once, while we were dating, had the idea to play basketball. Or go rappelling. Or white water rafting. Or biking, etc. You get the idea.

So my 6 children and my husband all donned their first pair of ice skates and went skating. They had fun. I think the girls had more fun than the boys. The boys quit early to give their feet a rest and exercise their new Ipods. They really know how to sacrifice.

See my sweetheart here? He has on some sensible rental skates. Now, rental skates have little brakes in the front and long backs so you don't fall backwards. These are appropriate for 36 year old man who has had his ACL replaced twice. Who now is self employed so our insurance is a $10,000 deductible HSA policy. Who has never ice skated in his life. These are pretty safe skates. No serious injuries. We hope. Do you see where I am going with this? Those standard rental skates didn't fit right. So he went and traded them for these:

Hockey Skates!!! Umm, can I help you there, partner? Those are a little harder. They are really for more advanced skaters... Oh, what's that? Mind you own stinkin' business? Okay,buddy I warned you.

Actually, he did great. He didn't fall once. Everyone did really well.

This was the least blurry picture of Harrison. I never got any of William.

Ella spent a lot of the time holding on to the side and "walking" around the rink. Once we convinced her to skate, she did great and had fun. Of course the girls made friends with the two girls that showed up dressed in skating outfits. They tried to teach them some cool tricks, but rental skates aren't very sharp. Rachel did learn to jump up in the air!

Molly started with the walker, but gave it up after about half an hour. She had never even been roller skating before, so this was really a new experience for her.

I spent a lot of time tying skates tighter and trying to convince everyone that tight was the way to go. I now wish I had a picture of the, umm... homeboy? that came out onto the ice for about five minutes. He had his skates tied the way young urban men like their sneakers tied. and their pants. Very loose. It didn't work out for him!It was dark, even when I tried the flash. It was just too big a place.Here is Rachel after she had really gotten the hang of it. She skated towards me and said some kind of smart alec thing about ice skating not being hard at all...blah, blah, blah...

She past by me with this I am so cool look about her and then...












































Splat!!!!!

That is what you get for being a show off, Little Miss Smarty Pants!

How sweet is this picture?

I bought you a ticket to Dip Nirvana

Come take a trip with me. A trip to Dip Nirvana. It is a wonderful place. Hurry, pack a bag and meet me HERE.

Molly made festive goodies

What is she making?
A few more sprinkles
I'm getting hungry
Is that a pretzel man?
It is! Molly's pretzel man for Santa.

What did you do on Christmas Eve?

I don't stink!

Bandit, our dog, came in from outside and proceeded to sneeze several times. He does this all day long.

Molly (age6) looked at him and made the same joke we make all the time, " Bandit, you must be allergic to me!"

Ella (age 9) said to Molly, "No, he is allergic to your body odor!"

A very disturbed Molly shot back, "I don't even wear body odor!!!"

And then we all laughed at her.