Buck-nuts

We had a family date day yesterday. So we did a little shopping, little hanging out, and a little Buckeye basketball action. For the first half, we didn't have 4 seats together, so we had to sit 2 and 2...
The ladies sat together...
And the gentlemen sat together... Then Luke found a new friend to sit with...(Aaron Craft)...

After the first half, we conned Aaron Craft's Dad into letting us use his seats (super nice guy, btw) so we were able to sit together right behind the bench... (the guy pointing behind Luke is some relative of Aaron's--I'm guessing an uncle because he looked very similar to his Dad, the girl in pink is his sister, and the blond woman beside his sister is his Mom)

Yup, this is how close we were (so fun)...

Cuties...

I have to admit, we don't really follow OSU Women's basketball very much. However, I'm such an OSU nerd that I knew exact who she was without knowing her name. I recongized her face because she looks just like her father (click me to see him). I was pretty little when he played at OSU but I still remember watching him and Troy Taylor hoop it up.

I guess she's an XBox...and I'm more Atari...

I don't always play the Mommy role well (aka I'm not setting the world on fire with my parenting skills) but on a rare occasion, I manage to get something right. This time, I knocked one out of the park.

This little girl turned 8 over the weekend. To celebrate, I took her to Sweet and Sassy to get her girly on. She got her hair done and ears pierced by a lovely girl named Maggie....

Mid hair do-ing
Consultation with Maggie about her options (options being glitter color and hair spray scents)

Prepping her face for glittery stars on the side of her face

Hair done. On to piercing.

Getting ready for the main event complete with Birthday Girl sash and everything.

Marking her ears.

Double checking and then checking again.

Maggie and her piercing buddy came at her with both guns blazing.

Success!

She did so well with the ear piercing. She's wanted to get it done for a while now but I told her she would have to wait until she was 8. Because she's older, I think piercing her ears means more to her, and she can take care of them herself. Ella's very proud of herself because she didn't cry or even flinch a tiny bit. She just sat down and did what she had to do. Reminded me quite a bit of this event (click on the link for an entertaining back story on my little cutie).

Stumbled across this on Facebook...

This is the composite of Aron's 1st grade class. Can you pick him out? I'll give you a hint...look for the one that looks like Luke. Picture's a little small so you can click on it to enlarge.

Party Rockers in the House Tonight...

I just realized I never posted pictures of the awesome pumpkins that Robin (and I guess I did a couple, too) carved for our party.

I did this one...it's meant to be the pumpkin version of The Scream by Munch

What can I say...I tried.
Rob did this one (a spider)

I did this one--it's supposed to be an artistic-looking "boo" Can you see it?

Rob did this trio of ghosts

Rob free handed this haunted house (show off)

I did this one along with one for Ella but I forgot to get a pic of Ella's. Note to self: Carve pumpkins with your nephew's names on them next year to avoid extended rounds of tears from said nephews.

Rob did this one.

One of the candles blew out on the right but otherwise this is what my front steps looked like Halloween night.

As always, click on the pic to enlarge.

Next year, I think I may have to bring some adult beverages to our carving party.

I like to move it, move it

Caught this kid in the kitchen today, smacking his butt and dancing around in circles singing "I got the moves like jenga, got the moves like jenga, I got the moooooooooves like jenga."

Poor Mick Jagger. I guess you just don't rank with my son like jenga does.

How do I love thee...let me count the ways...

Aron and I have been together a long time...about 18 or so years total for those of you keeping track. We even just celebrated a wedding anniversary recently. As awesome as I keep telling him that I am, some days I don't think he buys it. I say I'm "quirky/fun." He says........................otherwise. I say he just doesn't recognize my perks since he's been around me too long.

• You know, perks like this blog.




• Or like the fact that I produce beautiful children.




• Or that I remind him to stop working around the house in his $80 a pair Banana Republic jeans (not that I've ever nagged, of course). That's just being helpful.




• Only sometimes do I fold the laundry inside out because I'm too lazy to turn it the correct way




• And yeah, I hang things on the hangers inside out, too, but not like frequently (frequently as defined as less than 2/3 but more than 1/3 of the time) or anything.




• Yes, there is the Sock Basket but he agreed to that a long, long time ago. It's not my fault that he didn't keep up his end of the deal as agreed on January 1, 2006.




• There is that one-sided love affair between The Oak Ridge Boys and me but I blame that on my aunt who bought the Elvira record for me in 1981 (the B side was Ozark Mountain Jubilee for those of you who are curious). That's endearing and certainly not "weird" or outside the range of normal.




• And while we're at it, I like The Gambler, too. Don't judge me--only God judges me and I choose to believe he likes a little Kenny from time to time, too.




• But back to topic.




• What was I talking about again?




• Oh yeah, I like to cook. This makes him happy.




• Yeah, he did think I was trying to kill him that one time with that really bad chicken dish but it wasn't on purpose. Even Michael Symon has a bad day every once in a while, right?




• Now that you mention it, I do make Hamburger Helper every once in a while but I'm sure it's because the kids like it not because it makes him want to scrape his taste buds off his tongue with a knife. Certainly not because he's made me mad in some way and I'm just getting back at him. Not everything's about you, you freakin narcissist.




• I do nice things like hide food in his car so that he's not such a crabby a-hole when he gets home in the evening. Think about it, finding a previously unknown candy bar in your glove box is kinda like finding a $20 in your jeans when you do laundry. I don't want to say it's like winning the lottery but it's pretty great, right?




• Back to the perks: I appreciate the little things in life. Like the fact that all the money I find in the laundry goes into my pocket and no one else's. I assume it's a tip for all the great work I do (see also folding the laundry inside out, hanging them inside out, and not matching the socks for nearly 6 years) You don't get that kind of service at Swan Cleaners, thankyouverymuch).




• I'm funny




• Some days I'm funnier than others but most days I can categorize myself as funny. Like how I've labeled my in-basket at work "Amazing Anna." When my supervisor asked what the deal with the label was, I was truthful; it's a daily affirmation that I'm good enough...I'm smart enough...and doggone it...people like me. " Sure, my supervisor wasn't sure if I was serious or joking but I told him I would like it incorporated into my next eval. I left the details of how to best accomplish this up to him.

I think these are highlights of the fun that is me. I'm sure there are others but we'll stop here for tonight.

Alternate music-based titles for this post that I considered:

Your love is like bad medicine
Gives you hell
I said what about Breakfast at Tiffany's?
Man Eater
She Hates Me (lalalala)
Not Gonna Write You a Love Song (cause you asked for it)
Going off the rail on this crazy train

Luke-isms 4.0

This face will strike fear into the heart of the masses some day. Yup, this guy all freshly bathed in his hoodie towel.


He thinks in ways that others do not.

#1: We saw his kindergarten teacher at Subway the other night. She came up to me and said "Do you know what your son said to me today?" (Instant fear comes into my heart. With Luke, it could be any number of things~My Mom walks around the house naked~My Dad drinks milk straight from the container~I wear my sister's Cinderella underwear on my head when I want to make her mad............ANYTHING...)
She said that he had received a sticker for doing something nice for a little girl in his class (I think he had gotten a chair for her to sit in) and she told him that was very nice of him. His response was something along the lines of "Yeah, I know. I put the "kind" in kindergarten." I don't wanna say that he already knows how to work his teacher but let's just say she might be a little wrapped around his finger.

#2: While looking intently at a pair of scissors and opening/closing them repeatedly (yes, I know, I won't win mother of the year for this one but did you ever really think that I would? Don't bother saying the answer out loud, please.), he said to me "Did you ever think that scissors are kind of like 2 big knives with a hinge in the middle?"

And tonight's gonna be a good, good night...(I gotta feelin')**

The kids had a great time at Halloween again this year. The theme for Halloween 2011 was Phineas and Ferb. Not as many people knew who we were this year but the kids had a blast turning into their fave characters.

Agent P (as always, click on the link if you don't know what this is)
L to R: Phineas/Luke,
Candace/Ella
Agent P/Myles
Ferb/Chase
AKA the gang from Phineas and Ferb

After the trick or treating ended, we invited some friends over (in costume) to hang out and play in the big leaf pile in the backyard. We had Batman and Robin, a Clone Wars trooper guy, a 50's chick, zombie baseball player, a Transformer and Darth Vader amongst others. They were too cute. Click the photo to enlarge.

Leaf piles are awesome.

Aunt Robin even had some tricks up her sleeve for games. The object of this game was to try to eat the donut from the string without using your hands. Let's just say it's not easy!

**lyrics attributed to that Black Eyed Peas song, of course.