Aaaand he volleys it right back to me...

Last weekend, Aron and Luke were chillin together watching PBR. One of the riders was kicked off in about 2 seconds (apparently, you have to stay on 8 seconds to be considered successful). The rider was pretty mad about it and was saying a few choice words. Luke looked at Aron and said "I think he just said 'shit'. " Aron said "Oh yeah?" Luke said "Hey, look! He said shit again."

*sigh*

She's baaaaaaack!

Very near 6 months to the day, my Mom has been released from her rehab hospital and made the long journey back to her house.

How long do you think it will take for my Dad to drive her crazy? (Smart money is on a short time period. Even smarter money is betting on her already being crazy)

You're gonna wish you...never had met me...

(does anyone else really love that counter melody line from Adele's Rolling In the Deep or is it just me?) As always, feel free to click the links if you would like

A couple weeks ago, I went grocery shopping on a Saturday. I felt like being by myself so the kids stayed home. It had been a while since I had gone (don't tell anyone that the kids were living off a box of raisins and a bag of dried navy beans for like three weeks, ok?) so when I came home there was a lot of stuff to carry in. I saw the kids playing in the yard and asked them to help carry in my purchases. Luke was a bit resistent to my pleas for help even after I asked him for the second time. The third request was framed with reasons why I would like his help and that I would not longer be asking in a polite way. Luke responded with:

"I said I don't want to help so just you don't worry about it. Mmm'k?"

Worry about it I shall, Luke. Worry about it I shall.

At that point, I explained to look that he had two choices 1.) He could stand in time out for a really long time--we have hardwood floors and anything over 30 seconds is torture--and think about how what he said to me was inappropriate. Or 2.) He could listen to little story and then we would talk about how it related to the situation on hand.

He chose Option #2.

I told the story about Henny Penny and how she found the wheat seed, planted the wheat, tended it, cut it, made it to flour, then into bread. She asked her friends to help her all along the way but no one would help her until it was time for the fun part--eating. I droned on and on about how Henny Penny was similar to me in that I searched the cupboards for what was needed (virtually everything), wrote a list of needed supplies (on an old homework sheet of Ella's), drove to the store (uphill both ways with no shoes on), bought the items (at Walmart but don't tell Aron), brought the groceries home (to our palace), and needed help unloading groceries (from my wonderful children). I pointed out multiple times along the way that it wasn't fair for him to only get to participate in the fun part of eating the groceries.

At this point he waved his little hand to stop me, carried a couple bags of groceries in, and stood in the corner on his own because he just wanted to get away from Henny and his Mommy.

Circle gets the square, Luke. Circle gets the square.

You're beautiful....it's true...

Ella's world beautification/world dominance project has started up again. This week's beautified thing was blueberries. Each divot in each blueberry got a tiny little star planted in there. We then chomped on them for dessert.
*sigh*
Is she really mine?

(as always click on the picture to enlarge)

Overheard At Our Dinner Table...

I made Swedish meatballs with egg noodles last night (the kids looooove them, btw. Like super duper love them.). Even thought they enjoy them, there is typically an exchange of food between the kids once I give the ok (once I make sure Ella eats some protein and Luke eats some carbs). Ella took her fork and started reaching into Luke's noodles. He was in no mood to share last night. He blocked her fork with his and said "Hey! Back up! Me and my noodles need some alone time."

Swedish Meatball recipe (how's this for inexact)

1# ground beef

1 palmful of wheat germ

around a tablespoon of Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle (link)

1 egg

1/2 a box of beef broth

1/2 small container of sour cream

Couple big pinches of parmesan cheese

spoonful of garlic paste

couple spoonfuls of cornstarch

Make meatballs by mixing the ground beef, wheat germ, cheese sprinkle, and egg together. Form into a bunch of meatballs (if you're looking for consistency, I like to use a cookie dough scoop to keep them the same size). Heat a big saute pan with a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom over medium heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides. Once browned, pour the beef broth over the meatballs and cover with a lid for 5 minutes. While the meatballs are steaming, mix the sour cream, parm cheese, garlic, and cornstarch together. After the 5 minutes of cooking, mix the sour cream mixture into the beef broth in the pan. Let thicken a minute or two. Serve over hot egg noodles.

We don't need no ed-u-ca-tion

He finally did it. Luke started kindergarten a few weeks ago. He's started reading a little bit and picking up on some bad habits of the other kids from school. Things like (in no particular order):

Whining

Crying around

Talking like a baby

Being a smart mouth

Not listening the first time

I will re-break and mold him back into the cute little sweetie pie we all know and love soon (I will win). In the meantime, enjoy the pics.

Yup. I'm ready to go.

Ta da!
Poised on the edge of the school (it's not too late to turn back, sweetie!)

Waiting to get into Mrs. P's room

Waiting in line to check in with his teacher (P.S. That's one of his new besties at school in front of him)

Which cubby is mine?

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Ella circa late 2007/early 2008. Everything in that picture has been "beautified" by her in some way. The lamp has a ribbon and a Christmas ornament on it, the pig truck has a couple ribbons on it (she even made me put a ribbon seat belt on the pig because she was horrified by his blatant lack of safety and she has a hair band (multiple ones if you could see the back of her hair).

So for many moons now I've complained about Ella and her dang girliness. Long time blog readers may remember complaints in posts such as this one. I've also expressed my displeasure with her desire for world beautification/world dominance in posts such as this one (I complained about it in the previous link, too) or these. I've complained to multiple people about how I don't understand where this crappola came from and my wish for it to go away.


However, I recently made a discovery.

I was in the lobby of my work place visiting with the lovely Natalie. You may know her from blogs such as this one. For those of you who don't know, Natalie uses a walker. So when she was in the lobby the other day, she was demonstrating how awesome she is with it. She tried to run me over a few times because, quite frankly, I'm just too slow and my reflexes have dulled in my advanced age. Anyhoos, I digress. I looked at her walker and made the observation to her Mom that it was a little plain looking. I may have even said that it needed to be tricked out a bit. You know, like Pimp My Ride or something. I made suggestions of bedazzling it, using ribbons and various bits of awesomeness that could be done to enhance the standard metal walker.

After I got back to my desk I realized what I had done. Either Ella is rubbing off on me or there may be some nugget of girly qualities buried deep down in me that I didn't realize I had.

Crappola.

Fair-tastic!

We went to a fair this past week with a couple of neighbor friends. We found tons of fun stuff to do...

They milked a cartoon cow...
Posed as farmers with their cows...

Played on some tractors and combines...

Sat in some gigantic wheels...

Posed in some gigantic wheels...

Played some dart games...

Rode some rides...

Slid on some slides...

And rode on some big kid rides (Ella is on the far right, her friend is to the left of her, and Luke's friend is to the left of her--he's short enough that you can only see the top tuft of his head)

Yup. That's what they were riding on and they loved it!

Camping Experience 2011

There were some good times...

Aron making meals...
Myles resting from swimming in the pool (it was technically at the campground so it was still considered "camping" in my book)...

More swimming...

Leaving the campsite to get some lunch in the neighboring town...

Super tasty lunch (fish sammy with pickle and mustard along with fries--yummers)

There were some bad/questionable times...

Myles decided to play with a hatchet so I took his picture (seems like some sort of responsible adult-type should've stopped him. Too bad there were none around)
One of the kids dropped a gooey marshmallow on the ground and Aunt Robbie stepped in it (thus the mass of leaves stuck to her shoe)

Luke almost ripped his toenail off (he opened the bathroom door at the campground and his toe was almost able to go under the door. Almost only counts in horseshoes, Luke.)

Chase got 30 mosquito bites on his head and neck. Click on the pic to enlarge

Myles fell multiple times on his bike with one abrasion to the head, one on the ankle, and one on the derriere.

We're thinking about giving this place a shot next year (click the link for Letchworth State Park)...if anyone has any insight, let me know! I'm really pushing for a cabin next year, though, if we go (surprise!).

Aunt A/Uncle K: We're ready for you to say it's your turn to camp with us...