Good Times...

This weekend started on Thursday for me since the kids didn't have school on Friday. My boys went to their dad's, Ryan and Trysten had a father-son night, and I went with a friend to listen to Waking Norman at Sullivan's. It was certainly an interesting evening...fun...and interesting!

Courtney and I =)

On Saturday, Ryan and I took our good friend, Billy, out to dinner for his birthday at Kobe's in Addison. Good times!

Ouch...

More Randomness From Me...

I apologize in advance if this bores anyone...Below are a few random thoughts I have had over the past several days...


1. It should be mandatory to pass a common sense test before becoming a parent.


2. If people pull up to a red light in the right hand lane with no cars in front of them, and they're NOT turning right, why don't they simply move over to the left hand lane so that the people behind them can turn right? This happens to me almost EVERY morning on my way to take Carter to school...drives me crazy!


3. I wish I could record my 12 year old getting so upset at a video game that he ends up crying and show it to him...really...it's a game, dude!


4. Here's a better one: I wish I could record a large group of men at a sports bar watching a football game, screaming at the team that's losing and show it to them...really...it's a game, dude!


5. I wish I could freeze Carter at the age he is for just a little longer so I can continue to enjoy the crazy, funny things that come out of his mouth....When he gets frustrated with me he says, "I'm not your mom anymore!"...When we're watching something on television, and he wants to see it again, he says, "Will you 'forward fast' it for me?"


6. I wish I were like Jane Jetson and could get up in the morning, push a button and my hair and make-up would be done, push a button and the bed would make itself, go into the kitchen, push a button and breakfast would be made for the kids and to top it off, have a robot like Rosie to clean the house among other unfavorable chores.

She had the life!

Procrastination...

Would you say I've been procrastinating on grading papers a bit? Yah...now on to the not-so-fun part of teaching...See...I am procrastinating grading these even more by posting this....

Children Are Like...

There is a saying which states: "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a few minutes, and it will change." This morning I decided that children are like the weather in Texas, and for some odd reason, mulling over that statement helped me get through the whining which lasted for 15 minutes in my bathroom. Seriously, is it necessary for a 4 year old to throw himself on the ground, use his legs to turn himself around in circles while on his side and whine about being cold and wanting his blanket, when what he is supposed to be doing is taking a bath? In order to keep from losing my mind, I just kept telling myself...Give him a few minutes, and he will get over it...just like the weather in Texas...and he did...

Just a Little Friendly Competition...

There are many things I can say without hesitation....Ryan is better at than me. For instance, he can grill a steak better than me. I'm telling you...the man can cook a mean steak...but I will have it known, as of tonight, I am still the reigning dominoes champion...7 games in a row! There's nothing like a little friendly competition to make life fun! In all seriousness, one facet I love about our marriage is how much we laugh and goof around...I love that when I'm with him, I can simply be me...

By the way, I think he needs to buy me this shirt:

President Bush

With the inauguration of President-Elect, Barack Obama, coming up on January 20th, we cannot help but look back at the legacy President Bush will be leaving behind. After reading this article on Time.com, I felt despondent and discontented with the response a vast majority of our country is promoting regarding his presidency. Instead of looking at the positive, even President Bush himself is being forced to focus on the negative. I made a mental list of every major event which occurred during his 2 terms in office, and I would love to know exactly what all of the people bashing him would have done differently...and I would like to see if the drastically different outcomes they proclaim, would really materialize. I am a Republican, I voted for Bush, and even though I may not agree with every decision he made, at least he respected his wife enough to keep his pants on while in office...

Excerpt from the article:


"In the current Administration's waning days, Americans have struggled to find a single word that would encapsulate history's judgment on the two-term presidency of George W. Bush. The left has offered disastrous, citing the damage they see inflicted on the country by Bush's foreign policy and economic stewardship. The right has countered with secure, arguing that another 9/11 was prevented by Bush's taking the fight to terrorists at home and abroad. But in what the White House says will be his final press conference on Monday, President Bush himself provided the word everyone has been looking for: disappointment."

Family Weekend Recap...

Word: exhausted

Definition: extremely tired

Synonyms: beat, bushed, debilitated, kaput, run-down

I am all of the above after this weekend. There is absolutely NEVER a dull moment when we have all the boys together, and this time was no exception to the rule!

My ever resourceful mother-in-law gave me this book called Kids' Projects for Rainy Days because she knows I am always on a quest for something fun for the kids...especially inexpensive activities! I love this book already! The boys and I looked through it and decided to make play dough. If you've never made play dough before, it's super easy, and provides hours of fun...regardless of whether or not the kids play with the substance as actually intended...hence Preston and Trysten trying to "jump" theirs on the trampoline!

Click on the picture, and you can write down the recipe!

Preston measuring out the flour...the messiest baking material on the planet...

I love the left over "basketti"...as he calls it...on T's face from lunch! He asked me to take a picture of him so that he could see it!

The play dough! The boys thought it so so cool! We made red, green and blue!

We visited Grandma over the weekend, and the 3 little ones had a blast playing in the pampas grass...It's 8-10 feet tall!

That's Preston underneath...

Sweet boys...

On Saturday we had a Family Game Night. I love doing this because, as I have said before, we're not just sitting in front of the television...which is fine every once in awhile...but playing games provides a chance to laugh, talk and develop some friendly competition! Not to mention learning a word called "strategy"...Ryan taught Preston the meaning during a game of Battle Ship!



Gotta love Candyland!



To end the recap of our weekend, I must share 2 of the moments I wrote down over the past 3 days that simply cracked me up, and further solidifies the merriment of our kids...

1. Trysten and Preston holding a flashlight up to their stuffed Incredible Hulk's eye.When asked what they were doing, Trysten said, "Trying to make him go blind."

2. Trysten, Preston and Carter seeing who could stick the largest number of "Nerds" (candy) into their belly buttons...and then proceeding to eat them.

* Come on....how do you not love that!

Costume Changes...

I previously mentioned Trysten's inclination for "dressing up"....Below we have 2 of his ingenious costume changes this morning:

This one is called "Surf and Nerf"...Making his Daddy proud!

This one is called simply..."White Rapper".

The Boys and Ninja-Light Saber Guys...

You're probably wondering about the title of this post...Me too...I went to get my nails done after work today...and this is what I came home to...So much for family game night...the kids had other plans!

Carter, Preston & Trysten...Notice the HUGE piece of gum in T's mouth! You know why I love this pic...because here are 3 little boys, playing with a very masculine toy...a pirate ship...and all of the pieces to play with it are stored in a pink, striped bag from Victoria's Secret! Does that qualify as an oxymoron?

Here we are about 10 minutes later...You have to know Trysten to really appreciate this picture. He LOVES to dress up, whether it's Ryan's shoes/clothes..or sometimes mine...old Halloween costumes, hats, masks, etc., and this year, a ninja costume was included on his Christmas list, so we found him one. Here he is in 1/2 of it...complete with a light saber! This is precisely why having kids is so much fun...because In the celebrated words of Forest Gump, "You never know what you're gonna get!"