Sometimes you just need a crappy pizza.....

When Doctor and I were newlyweds we were deciding what to have for dinner one night. We decided on pizza and he suggested Dominoes. I told him that if I wanted cardboard with pizza sauce on it we could just pour some on a cereal box. He looked at me and with all seriousness replied, "Sometimes I just need a crappy pizza!" So we had Dominoes. Well tonight we had somewhat of a repeat. Growing up we never had McDonalds. We were always told it was a gross disgusting place and the food would make you sick. We've taken the kids a few times and they have never eaten the food, they just wanted the toys in the Happy Meals. Doctor put his foot down and told the kids we wouldn't go anymore. Until Friday night. He suggested going to McDonalds for dinner. What? Dude was thrilled. Why? Because my boys knew that there were Star Wars toys at McDonalds. And....sometimes you just need a crappy hamburger.

We have a grader!

When Dude was in Kindergarten he called the kids in 1st and 2nd grades, "the graders." Well, today he is an official grader! I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around him being in the first grade. He is growing up way too fast. I am super excited about his teacher, though. We got to meet her yesterday and she seems so fabulous. Dude woke up at 6:00 am today and was panicked about being late. Poor guy sat around all morning asking when we were going to leave. I'm thrilled that he was so excited.

Happy Anniversary, Baby....

...got you on my mah hind! (Just a little ditty from Little River Band) So yesterday was our 8 year anniversary! Time has flown by. My sweet husband bought me roses and the most precious ring. I've been secretly wanting a mother's ring for awhile. He apparently can read my mind, I'll hold him to it later! This isn't the best picture (taking a picture of your own hand isn't easy!), but it has the birthstones for each of our kids.
I'm so blessed to be married to such a thoughtful, caring, and dedicated man. Here's to the next 8!

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Dude just asked me if we could go see the new Batman movie. I told him no because it's not appropriate for 6 year olds. He then asked why. I told him it was too violent and probably scary. He then told me, very confidently, that seeing the Batman movie would be good for his image. What?!?!? I am in big trouble. :)

Heaven

As I've mentioned before Doctor has been out of town during the week and coming home on the weekends. On Wednesday night the kids and I called him for our family scripture study. Dude took his turn reading and I took mine, and when it was time for Doctor to read I heard the screen door open. I looked up and I heard Doctor ask if he could join us in person. I have extremely slow reactions so I just stared at him for awhile. Then I started screaming. His schedule had changed a little bit and he was only going to have 2 classes on Thursday morning so he decided to skip those and come home. I couldn't have asked for a better surprise.

On Thursday we took the kids to a health and safety fair and watched the firemen cut apart a car using the jaws of life. Pretty cool. Also two of our children won spinning tooth brushes in a drawing. (That is a whole other post for a whole other day.) We had a great time.

On Friday we got up and everyone, without complaining, cleaned the house. The kids scrubbed walls and baseboards and completely overhauled their rooms. And I kid you not, there was no complaining. Later that afternoon we had to buy a spinning toothbrush for the non winning child and then we went out to dinner. All the kids were polite and minded their manners. Then we were off to the city pool to go swimming. Princess and Honey Bunch's best friends were there, too, and their mom offered to watch Megaman for us so that we could all get in together. We had a blast!! We came home and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics together. After that the kids went to bed peaceably and without argument. Doctor and I played our favorite card game while our children slept soundly. I climbed into bed, realized that it was only Friday, and I understood the meaning of Heaven on Earth.

Who ya gonna call?

I was feeding Megaman when I heard shrieks coming from Dude's bedroom. Princess was screaming and Dude shouted that there was a spider in his room. I couldn't help them since I was feeding Megaman so I told Dude to get some toilet paper and get the spider. I heard quite a bit of commotion and a little while later they ran in to tell me that they got the spider. This is what I saw.

I love that my kids are so creative and that they work really well together when they want to. Who ya gonna call? The Spiderbusters!

Happy Birthday, Miss Five!

My cousin, Miss Five has a birthday this week. I'm not sure if I will be able to post on her actual birthday, so I'm doing it a little early. Miss Five, you are one of the people in my life that I truly admire and wish I could be more like. Because of you I've loved Hewey Lewis, Ace of Base, theatre, singing, and blogging. You're hilarious, thoughtful, and talented. Thanks for being you! I hope Chicago treats you well on Thursday!

Dude Concert Series

He wasn't in the shower this time, but I did try to catch him without him knowing. He realized I was filming him and his performance cracks me up even more than his singing. This is definite blackmail for when he's older. ;) Poor Honey Bunch was still sick when I filmed this, so she has a few whines in there as well.

Also, here's a cute picture of Megaman. He's getting chubby, finally.

If I Had $100....

Every time I think about this post I hear the Barenaked Ladies song "If I Had A Million Dollars" in my mind. Go ahead and hum it while you read, I won't tell anyone. :)

Out here our school district actually pays kids to go to school for a month in the summer. It's really more like a day camp, but they pay you to go. If you don't miss any days you get paid $100. Last year it really wasn't a very good experience for Dude and I wasn't very enthused about him going again this year. He kept begging to go because there was a drawing for a Nintendo Wii at the end of the summer school session. I finally relented, but with the warning that if he didn't get up and get ready when it was time I wasn't going to fight him to go. Every morning he got up enthusiastically and ready to go. I have to hand it to him, it's hard to get up at 7:00 every morning during the summer. Doctor and I knew that chances of him winning the Wii were slim so we made an agreement with Dude that if he earned the $100, we would match it so he could get either an X-Box 360 or a Playstation 3. He was very excited about that. After it was over he had to wait a month to get his $100 gift card. That is a lot of time to decide what you want to do with the money. After thinking for a couple of weeks that he wanted to get a Nintendo DS instead he ended up not getting a video game system at all. I asked him if he wanted to pay tithing on the money. He told me no, but after getting the card he told me that he would pay tithing on it. I was very proud of him, it was entirely his decision, and I'm proud of myself for not pressuring him to pay it. Then he asked if he could buy a light saber like the one his Dad has. A little background, Doctor found some very expensive light sabers at Radio Shack. They are pretty fancy and you can change all the parts and even the color of the light saber blade. He got them on sale for a good deal and we were planning on giving one to Dude for Christmas. After he asked to get one we decided to sell him the one we had for him. We told him about the deal and he was very excited. Doctor went to get it from our hiding space and brought to Dude. Dude said, "Wow! Dad, you went to Radio Shack super fast!" It was hilarious. They have been having a great time having saber wars in our living room. He also bought some lego sets and some star wars figures. It's all spent now, but he keeps saying things like, "Can I buy that with my $100 gift card?" and we have to remind him that it is all gone. It definitely burned a hole in his pocket.

Jell-o?

This is for my Aunt Trixie who has suggested a book of Honey Bunch sayings. Yesterday morning HB asked me if she could put jell-o in her hair. I told her that jell-o is for eating. She was really distraught and brought me a bottle of hair gel. Then I had to explain that it is NOT for eating. :) Anyways..........I put gel in her hair and it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.