This Adventure Called Life

Happy New Year 2012!!

2012-01-01T22:29:00.001-06:00

Happy new year, y'all! I've been enjoying the first day of 2012. We spent the night with friends last night and now we're watching The Cosby Show with the kids.

As I seem to do every year, I've been reflecting on the last year and planning my goals for the next year.

Some of my 2011 goals were to take a photo a day and to read through the Bible for the first time ever (I've gotten a lot of it read before, but haven't ever made it all the way through). So, the picture of the day... It was a FAIL! I made it through part of August. But as of today, I finished the entire Bible! I'm really excited!

I also had a goal to take better care of my health in 2011. I intended to take vitamins daily, but I didn't do so well with that. I did, however, start working out regularly. And that's good. :)

In 2010, we made it through 7 days of nightly devotions with the kids before that fell by the wayside. So I felt like we made a marked improvement in 2011 because we made it over 2 weeks! Ha.

For 2012, here are some of my goals:
Regular devotions with the kids
Memorize Psalms 139
Drink 8 glasses of water a day
Do 20 "real" pushups in a row
Run a 5k without walking
Weigh a certain amount (nunya bizness!)
Take a picture a day (again...)

I like the word "goal" better than "resolution," because it seems to focus more on the effort rather a resolute notion. And that feels more doable to me.

So what about you? Do you make resolutions? Goals?

Before and After, part 3?

2011-12-16T14:11:00.000-06:00

I feel like I am always posting Before and Afters. If you haven't figured this out about me yet, I like to change things up. A lot. And so do my kids with THEIR hair. So, here we go again. :)

In case you forgot, here's my before... (the first one is this morning, and it's kind of blurry... still getting used to my new camera).

I've been letting it grow out for about 2 years now. And I really like it when I FIX it, but that doesn't happen regularly. :) I most often do what I did in the top picture... straighten my bangs and let the rest dry naturally (and frizzy).

So, I decided to chop it off. Literally. I am still researching where to donate my hair to, but my braid was 10" long.

See?

So, here's the "after." I think it's kinda "big" today. I call it hairstylist hair... where it's a little bigger than I would normally wear it. But I LOVE IT!

And there go you... the BEFORE AND AFTER... again.

Being an Individual

2011-12-06T13:16:00.001-06:00

So, the more Don and I got to know each other as we were dating and newly married, we realized that we had something in common... we like(d) to be an individual... stand out in a crowd. (I just realized how funny that is... that we like to be an individual just like each other. ha)

While both kids inherited that trait from us in some ways (let's remember the numerous mohawks that Bub has sported... the slicked back mullet that he wore out for his birthday), that trait has really been passed on to Sis.

She doesn't care about name brands on clothes, she doesn't care about name brands on shoes... she just likes what SHE likes.

So, for the last year or so, I've been letting her put semi-permanent color in her hair. We've tried this look several times, but this latest 'do has "taken" the most. The whole underneath of her hair has been dyed black. And as long as it is, and because of her layers, it shows up the bottom third of her hair or so.

And she loved it so much that she actually did a little photo posing for me. Which, these days, is a big deal! Here's Sis...

I love her smile here, but you can't see as much of her "underneath" hair. Note her "Geek" necklace, and her Pokemon hoodie.

You can see the color better in this one.

My gorgeous, individual girl

One last look...

Despicable Deliciousness

2011-11-23T22:03:00.001-06:00

So, I've gotten sucked into the Pinterest craze... meaning I'm CRAZY for it! For those of you not familiar with it, it's like an online bulletin board where you can "pin" things you're interested in on your bulletin boards.

I believe I've made it clear on here before that I am NOT crafty... I've instituted a Christmas-time baking cookie "tradition" (if doing it twice makes it a tradition), but I am always SO crabby by the end of that "fun." It's the decorating part of the baking that stresses me out so much, I think. Because it's crafty.

Anyhoo, I found this photo on Pinterest:

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Darla on Pinterest

And Bub was ALL OVER IT. He wanted us to make them RIGHT NOW. Which was like a Tuesday. And we had no ingredients. Nor was I in the mood. So I convinced him to wait until Thanksgiving break.

Which was today. Which he reminded me of as soon as the week started.

These little guys on the cupcakes are Minions. From the movie Despicable Me. Which my kids LOVED.

So, today was the day. For craftiness. *yay*

So, we decided to try it. Introducing: our cast of characters. LOTS AND LOTS OF SUGARY GOODNESS.

Sis wasn't interested in helping us with the cupcakes, but she separated the Smarties for us... we needed the white ones separated from the other colors.

We had to wait for our cupcakes to cool before we could begin.

Bub googled Minions to make sure we remembered what they looked like.

We iced a cupcake, then put a Twinkie half on the top.

We put a line of black icing around the front and added either one or two Smarties.

We traced the Smartie to finish off the goggles, added the dot in the eye and finished off their smiles. We tried to use the red licorice for their hair, but we couldn't make that work (it should have been black anyway, but the store was out of black tear-apart licorice)... so we skipped the hair.

Here's the whole group of them... just don't look at them too close or you might find...

A rabid Minion. Doesn't he look like he just ate someone's blood?

Or the unibrow Minion. No wonder he doesn't smile.

And that poor guy in the back. We just feel bad for that poor guy.

But you know what? Overall, I like our cute little Minions.

Bub and I have already decided that these guys will probably look pretty pitiful by the time they make it to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I think the black icing is already absorbing into the Twinkies, the eyes are drooping WELL below where they should be. But you know what? I did the whole project with Bub, and didn't get crabby at ALL. I call that a crafty WIN.

Thankful

2011-11-23T12:15:00.001-06:00

I've been taking part in the Thankful in November posts daily on Facebook. Not to be corny, but to remember why I'm so blessed.

I am thankful for everything I put on there, but here's a synopsis of what I'm thankful for (both lofty and small):

I'm thankful that I'm a child of God. That He sent his Son to die for me so I could be His.

I'm thankful for my extended family... from my parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, siblings, in-laws, nieces/nephews, etc. There is seriously NO ONE I'd rather be with than family.

I'm thankful for those friends who I consider family. You know the ones... the ones I can have over even when my house is trashed, the ones I'd let come clean my house when I'm sick and can only watch them, the ones I can spill all my angst to... yeah, those are the ones.

I'm thankful for all my other friends... the ones that entertain me, challenge me, make me laugh, make me cry (in a good way)
I'm thankful for Don... for lots of reasons. He's a great daddy, he's ambitious (but not to the detriment of our family), he's funny, he's SO cute, he's disciplined, he has a heart for God's will in his/our life, he's a leader, and he loves me.

I'm thankful for Sis... she's so silly, HILARIOUS, sarcastic (in a good way... see HILARIOUS), she's part-child/part-woman, she's beautiful (inside & out), she's smart, she keeps me on my toes.

I'm thankful for Bub... he is never still, he's so smart, he never gives up, he's a great cuddler, he's so funny/silly, he has a heart of gold, he's smart

I'm thankful for coffee... 'nuff said
I'm thankful that Bub sings every time he's in the shower... it makes me smile every single day
I'm thankful that Sis has such a gift for art... she shines in that area!

I'm thankful that my kids inherited Don's genes for memorizing lyrics... they crack me up with a concert on a regular basis!

I'm thankful that I am able to spend more time with my family now.
I'm thankful that I'm able to cook more often now
I'm thankful for the internet/Netflix/Facebook/Twitter

I'm thankful for my health
I'm thankful for this time of year when I get to see my family more often
I'm thankful for my car... I love my "mom car!"

I'm thankful for our cute apartment. I seriously think we have the cutest apartment in our whole town!

I'm thankful for traditions... tomorrow Don, the kids & I are volunteering to help put meals together for people who aren't able to get out... Friday, I'm going shopping in the insane crowds with my sister... all because of traditions.

I'm thankful for our church and our church family... what an integral part of our lives!
I'm thankful that I am able to sing on our Praise Team at church... I'm glad to be able to use my voice.

I'm thankful for our military men and women, both past and present... from the bottom of my heart. <3

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families/friends/loved ones. Remember your blessings.

*The pictures are just pictures I like... a portion of what I'm thankful for!

Reliving the Summer

2011-11-21T21:21:00.001-06:00

I've been working on a photo book all evening from our summer trip to Colorado. We chose Colorado because Don was going to do a 50-mile mountain bike race in Leadville, CO there, anyway... so we decided to make it our vacation! So, of course, being us, we bought a pop-up camper and made it part of our adventure. *ahem*

I thought I'd throw up some of the photos from the trip to relive it with you.

We loaded the car UP, and the camper, and the Thule cargo box on top...

Don registering for the race. We just got in the night before, Bub had thrown up all night (altitude sickness, most likely), and we were ALL a little tired. What a way to start a race! Didn't seem to bother Don, though!

Don crossing the finish line... he did AWESOME!

Right after Don finished his race. The kids and I were so proud of him!

The kids and I doing what we do... self-portraits

My best friend from college, J, now lives in Denver, so she and her family met us in Leadville for lunch. :)

J chasing her two youngest, twins...

We found the cutest, most quaint theater in Breckenridge to go watch the final Harry Potter movie

Leadville has the most gorgeous views from every single angle!

Bub rock-climbing at the Y resort we stayed at in Colorado

Roller Derby Princess

Heading up the mountain for some alpine slide action!

Flipping

Gorgeous sunsets!!!! (I made Don stop at the side of a highway, so I could take some pictures of the sky!)

Archery

We were only a LITTLE competitive! ha.

Ziplining Bub

Ziplining Sis

This was the biggest deal of all to me. I'm PETRIFIED of water, so I had to confront some major fears to get out on the water. ALL DAY. In Class 4 and 5 rapids!!!! We had such a great time, though... I'm so glad I didn't let my fear stop me!

It was a wonderful vacation. Thanks for letting me re-live it with you!

Hotlanta

2011-11-18T14:37:00.001-06:00

Part of the joy in no longer working full-time is to (hopefully) be able to travel even more. Two weeks ago, Don had to go to Atlanta for training, so we pulled the kids out of school (yay for straight A's!) and jumped in the car with him!

During the days (and some of the evenings), Don was of course busy with training and networking, but the kids and I had a great time.

One of the days, we spent the day at The World of Coca Cola. Even being a Pepsi family, we had a great time! ha.

Even the lobby was filled with Coca Cola stuff!

There was so much to see!

My gorgeous children

They got to hold actual Olympic Torches from the Olympics held in Atlanta

We saw a 4-D movie (thus the lovely glasses), which the kids LOVED!

I don't remember this "girl" from any Coke ads, but she was in the movie and was walking around afterwards. She (understandably) freaked the kids out, so I had to get a picture with her so she'd leave the kids alone!

Then that night, we went to dinner with Don and his business cohorts. It was vendor night (not sure they called it that... that's just what it was... vendors EVERYWHERE), and Bub became quite the hit! He had vendors chasing him down to give him stuff from their booths. The boy came back to the room LOADED down with stuff (Sis and I gave up WAY before he and Don did and had already headed back to the room). We had fun beforehand, though, with a silly photo shoot outside our hotel room.

Finally, we visited the Georgia Aquarium another day. While that wasn't as fun as the World of Coca Cola (AND it was more expensive!), it was also enjoyable.

This is the weirdest looking fish I've ever seen! Doesn't it look like a Pixar fish?

SHARK! (maybe, I'm not sure...)

My posers

It's like a screen saver

Bub

It's not a real trip to a museum until you throw up a few gang signs!

Most of all, our trip was fun because we all got to be together. Don and I worked out in the hotel gym together, we got to all be silly together, the kids and I got to have adventures together, but most of all, we got to be together. :)

Celebrate Good Times

2011-10-31T10:43:00.002-05:00

So, I don't know if you're aware, but our little hometown team JUST WON THE WORLD SERIES! I think that as fun as being FROM St. Louis, and having our team win, it's been even MORE fun to have a son who appreciates being from St. Louis and having HIS hometown team win.

Yesterday, there was a celebration parade and ceremony in downtown. So Bub, Bub's best friend & mom, and Don went down to celebrate with 1,000,000 of their closest friends (Sis had no desire to go, and I was running a low-grade fever, so we stayed home).

What great memories for Bub and E (his best friend)! They were in baseball heaven.

"Pitching"

Bub and E

Don and Bub

Touching the actual dirt that the actual Cardinals play on!

2011 World Series Champions!

I see David Freese!

Confetti everywhere!

Goofy Bub and Don

Nosy

2011-10-26T10:23:00.001-05:00

As requested, here is a picture of my "new" nose. This isn't a very clear shot, and I promise that the piercing doesn't glow like this normally... it's actually small enough that it doesn't show up in most photos.

(and look at me... posting two days in a row!)

Changes

2011-10-25T12:50:00.000-05:00

So... it's been a year and 5 days (not really) since I've posted on here. Quickly, here are some changes that have happened in my life:

I have a middle schooler now who turned 12
We sold our house
We moved into an apartment for a year (at least)
I turned 40 (gulp)
I got my nose pierced (my mid-life crisis?)
I QUIT MY JOB
I started working out
I got a new camera
Don turned 40

I'll start updating more frequently now (really? we'll see!), and will occasionally go through my photo album to catch us up (since the whole point of my blogging is to not forget what we've done).

Good to see you! Be back soon!
D

More summer fun

2011-06-14T22:24:00.000-05:00

So, last night had the potential to NOT be fun... it was raining and COLD at Bub's baseball game. Here was my view through part of the game:

Yup, that's a windshield you see. I stayed dry inside my car...

Then the rain slowed down, and I got out to visit with some friends. Then I found some other friends who had their hatch up on the back of their Suburban... So Sis and I huddled up in there with them. I'm not really sure what happened in the game, though.

Afterwards, Don met up with us and we all went to DQ in an area town. They were holding a fundraiser for the ALS walk that my family is doing in a few weeks. And my uncle (who plays the banjo) was playing out on the patio with his bluegrass buddies. That was fun to listen to (even though it was a little chilly).

Today, our fun was a little more "everyday" and basic. I took Sis to her martial arts class and her long-lost friend, E, was there. E has promoted up to the next level so isn't in Sis's class normally anymore. So it was great fun for Sis to see her great friend.

Bub had a great night as well. First of all, he found a 5-gallon bucket to put upside down to jump off of to work on his dunking skills at the basketball net. Then the family down the lane had their homeschool group over to play baseball and they invited him to play with them. That's a 10-year-old boy's dream... to play baseball every night of the summer!

Don had his own fun, too. He played with our new toy that he went and picked up yesterday. This picture is when he decided it was time to put the toy away for the night (he actually spent the night cleaning it... not playing... but cleaning doesn't sound "fun," does it?).

Looking forward to see what kinds of fun we come up with for the rest of the week!

The Summer of Fun

2011-06-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

So, I don't know about you, but sometimes things just don't go like I planned. At all.

At that point, I can either:
1. Cry
2. Whine
3. Pull up my big girl panties, and have joy anyway. (I don't know where that saying comes from, but it fits. ha ha. It fits... get it?)

So, I've decided to go with #3.

Thus, I've declared this The Summer of Fun (capital letters included). So far, though, our fun seems to revolve mostly around food. I'm going to have to change that a little before we all gain a ton of weight!

Day 1:

We had an ice cream party...

Day 2:

We bought a pop up camper!!!! For those of you who know me well, this ~~may~~ will come as a big surprise! I'm not really the outdoorsy type, but I agreed with Don that this would create great memories for us as a family. When we were at the dealer to buy it, I had on a red drapey top, white dress pants, and VERY high red heels. The guy laughed when I told him I wasn't very outdoorsy, and said he'd already figured that out! Then we stopped at "Crackle Barrel" on our way home for a yummy dinner (see? Food again!).

Day 3:

Already at Day 3, I was running out of ideas for fun. Terrible, isn't it? I was actually cooking dinner (*gasp!*) when some missionary friends who are getting ready to go back on the field called to see if we wanted to go to Red Robin with them. Well, YES! So, I put the salmon & veggies in the fridge and left. (Day 3... food!). The rest of them got frozen custard afterwards, while Miss "I'm allergic to Dairy" (me) got a soy vanilla latte from the 'Bucks.

I'm gonna guess that I can't sustain a HIGH level of fun each day (work/baseball games/tae kwon do), but I am going to do my best to have at least 15 minutes of concentrated fun for all of us each day.

Any fun ideas? I'm looking for low-cost, creative thoughts. (ie. board games, Rock Band competition, etc).

Figurative Language, by Sis

2011-05-09T17:30:00.005-05:00

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Oh, Baby!

2011-02-08T18:24:00.000-06:00

I am proud to announce that I have a brand new nephew. And he's such a cutie! He was born last night (this morning) at 2:21 a.m., and my other sister (the one not giving birth right then) kept me up-to-date with text messages from the hospital. While it definitely wasn't as good as being there, I loved the minute-by-minute (more like hour-by-hour really) updates.

This afternoon, the kids and I went to go meet Baby L, and we are SMITTEN!

I was so mad at myself that I forgot my real camera, but I was able to get some cute shots with my phone.

Meet Baby L!

Romance

2011-02-04T17:31:00.002-06:00

On our honeymoon, we went on a Caribbean cruise. Aaah, romantic.

On our first anniversary, we were in two different countries. But just a few days later, we rendezvoused in Belgium for several weeks. Aaah, Europe. So romantic.

On our 3rd anniversary, we were expecting Sis, and shortly moved back "home" from Kentucky. Aaaah, nice. Not necessarily romantic, but nice for sure.

On our 5th anniversary (actually the December before), we went away for a long weekend to NYC, where I got my engagement diamond re-set in the Diamond District. DEFINITELY romantic! :) And we were expecting Bub.

Gotta be honest... 6th through 9th anniversaries were a bit of a blur (small kids and all), but I'm sure they were romantic.

On our 10th anniversary, HOLY COW! The September before, we had gone back to NYC for a wedding and Don got me another diamond band to go with my 5-year-anniversary ring. DEFINITELY romantic! THEN.... we spent our actual anniversary together doing a scavenger hunt that Don created using clues from our time together. I got to visit family, my old college, the OB unit of the hospital where the kids were born, finishing with a romantic dinner for two in the balcony of our still-unfinished church while a stringed quartet played for us in the foyer below. AAAAH, ROMANTIC!!!

Let's see... on our 11th anniversary, we left for a cruise with my entire family (kids, parents, siblings, siblings-in-law, and nieces... whew!). Maybe not romantic, but FUN!

Our 12th anniversary (can you tell I had a camera by then and I was taking more photos... so it's easier to "remember" what was going on?), we got a new nephew! Definitely, not romantic, but oh so sweet.

On our 13th anniversary, I was blogging, but I didn't blog about our anniversary in particular. It must have been THAT romantic that I didn't feel comfortable sharing. :) I did mention it in a thankful post here, though!

Here's my blog for our 14th anniversary (click here). Aaaah, I'm so romantic, aren't I?

So, guess what yesterday was? Our FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY!!!

And guess what we did?

We went to work, I went to the dentist, and we took Sis to Martial Arts. Aaaah, so romantic. :)

Actually, though, it was. Even though I knew Don's schedule was jam-packed all day, he still called me for a lunch date. And even though he could have stayed and worked late while I took Sis and Bub to their kid stuff at night, he went with me. In my book, that's romantic!

AND, I get to go on a real date with him on Saturday night.

Everyone together now... AAAWWWW!

Updated to add: tonight I was talking with a friend who reminded me of a past anniversary (probably the one in 2008) where he and his wife watched our kids while Don and I went out for sushi (our favorite). Then I got the stomach flu... AT A MALL! Now THAT'S romance!!! :)

Snowpocalypse 2011 Day 2

2011-02-02T13:43:00.000-06:00

Well, yesterday had all the makings of a great Snowpocalypse except for one thing... SNOW!!!

We had plenty of ice... it was kind of like pellets of ice. And when Don shoveled it, it had the appearance and texture (?) of sand. Very cool.

Here are some non-snow Snowpocalypse photos from yesterday:

I have come to the conclusion that if I were homebound for much of the time, I would gain significant amounts of weight! I seem to crave cooking when I'm "stuck!" Yesterday, I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and tuna salad later in the day, then "pigs in a blanket" when we got hungry even later. Yup, we're definitely off our normal eating schedule!

We did a combination of togetherness activities yesterday as well as letting everyone go off and do their alone stuff as well. In my alone time, I worked on a puzzle, checked Twitter and the Weather Channel app (waiting on the snow!), and read. It was lovely!

As a family, we played Quirkle and Scribblish, both games the kids got for Christmas! They're both a lot of fun. Don and I prefer Quirkle and the kids prefer Scribblish, so we all got our way a little!

We also figured out a good way to get the house cleaned up without overwhelming the family with the magnitude of the project (not that our house was that messy, but it definitely needed some cleaning love). We set the timer for 15 minutes and all worked really hard on the house for those 15 minutes. And when the timer went off, we were done. Then later in the day, we did it one more time. For only 30 minutes of concentrated effort, the four of us got a LOT of cleaning done! And it wasn't too boring/overwhelming/tears-inducing for any of us! :)

We introduced the kids to the "old" crew of Star Trek on a movie last night. They weren't as bored as they assumed they'd be. hehe.

We all went to bed knowing school (and work) was cancelled again today, so I thought maybe we'd wake up to loads of snow. But not to spoil the surprise or anything, there's not much to see here.

I'll update probably only one more time about today's adventures during the Snowpocalypse-without-snow. It'll contain scintillating stories about cleaning out our closets and such. Then, I'm expecting the roads will all be cleared off and we'll continue with our "normal lives" starting tomorrow.

Stay warm and safe!

Snowpocalypse 2011 Day 1

2011-02-01T13:23:00.000-06:00

So, the term Snowpocalypse cracks me up. But according to the really, really excited meteorologists, this winter storm we're experiencing is gonna be one for the history books. We shall see...

In the meantime, I'm burrowed at home with my lovely family, watching the freezing rain fall heavily down. This would be the freezing rain/sleet that shall occur before the blizzard takes place. I feel a little like Laura Ingalls right now. Minus the braids and bonnet.

Sorry, C. No, I'm not! :)

So, I'm considering yesterday to be the first day of Snowpocalypse, although it really wasn't too bad yesterday. The kids had a full day of school yesterday, so I worked until it was time to pick them up (even though my boss told all of us to go on home). That's not exactly true... I did leave early enough to stop at Walgreens to pick up a 5-in-one-box puzzle and Twizzlers... priorities, you know.

So, we headed home and I started on a new puzzle...

Not this one... I already finished this one last week. Yes, my name is Darla, and I'm addicted to puzzles this winter.

Then I made a huge pot of black bean chili and some homemade chocolate chips. Let's all have a moment to absorb the fact that I actually had the ingredients on hand to make the cookies.

Okay.

So, here was my refrigerator drink shelf the night before...

But based on the whole homemade chocolate chip cookies, there's already a lot of that milk gone. So, now we're on milk rations. Except for me, because I don't drink milk anymore. I'm on rations for the almond milk right next to it. Yay for rations!

Finally, we took advantage of Netflix on our Wii and watched a not-so-great high school football movie that Bub really liked, Don kind of liked, I tolerated, and Sis completely disliked.

What I did like was all the cuddling during the movie.

No, he didn't have a shirt on... it's difficult to wrestle all the sofa cushions when you're constricted by a shirt. Right?

Hope you stay safe and warm/cozy during the snowpocalypse. I'll update our exciting snowed-in life as I'm able (PLEASE, PLEASE stay on, power!!!).

Snow fun

2011-01-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

So, yesterday it snowed. A lot. Well, technically it snowed the night before, but yesterday we were left with a lot of snow. That was begging to be played in.

So, that's what we did.

The kids had a snow day from school, so I took a vacation day from work. And we played.

Until we got cold.

Then we came in to have some hot chocolate with extra marshmallows (except for me.... I had hot choffee - hot chocolate/coffee mix - also with extra marshmallows). And boy was it good!

Here are some shots from our adventures in the snow.

Sis and me

Bub and Sis

Eating the snow

Making the snow fly in the air

Throwing snow at me because I wouldn't stop taking her photo

Falling into a snow angel

The snow is flying... well, when we throw it.

We are Family

2011-01-20T12:06:00.000-06:00

C'mon... sing it with me!

No, just kidding. Please don't.

So, as I've mentioned PLENTY of times before, my family (my parents, my siblings and their families) take one weekend and, for the most part, keep it a sacred pajama party/eat too much/just hang out together kind of weekend. Mostly, we just act like we're out of town together, even though we're still at my parents' house.

And it mostly works that way. Although not everyone was available Friday night. And my brother had to work a lot of the weekend (missed you, B!), we were together when we could make it work. Oh, and my youngest sister is having her first baby in the next few weeks (yay!), so we also had a baby shower/brunch for her on Saturday morning. So, yeah, we had to get dressed AND wear makeup AND do a little work.

But as soon as that (fun!) was over, we all came back "home" and put on our comfy clothes and vegged the rest of the weekend.

Here are some shots from the shower and the weekend (these are from my sister's camera - which I hijacked during the shower - and my iPhone):

My aunt and me... genetics run strong, don't they? :)

Here's my mama and me.

Sis brushing my nephew's teeth... they both thought it was pretty funny. Note the label on my nephew's forehead. Bub taught the other kids how to use Papa's label maker. Gah!

We worked on a puzzle all weekend. And played lots of games. And Just Dance 2 on the Wii. Speaking of...

Hilarious! (even blurry!)

I love this one, because everyone else is in focus, except for my nephew. Who doesn't believe in standing/sitting still.

My niece and her "Brown Lamby," whom she loves so much that she insisted he get his own photo:

Brown Lamby

And finally, the kids all having a great time!

I {heart} my family.

Showstopper

2011-01-14T17:37:00.000-06:00

So, part of Bub's Christmas gift (see here) was 3 tickets to a Colts game for Don, Bub's best friend, and Bub. Ever since we went to his first NFL game last year (see here), he's been a HUGE fan of the Colts.

They went a week and a half ago, and with my VERY amateur skills, I made a video from their trip. I'm a little frustrated because it looks so amateur-ish, but it IS my first time making a video, so I guess I'll cut myself a little slack (no I won't... I just don't want to whine any more about it).

The boys' favorite singer is TobyMac, so I used a little of his music to accompany the photos.

Enjoy!

90 days... whatever

2011-01-12T21:49:00.000-06:00

So, on the morning of October 6th, 2010, I looked like this:

Then, by the afternoon/evening, I looked like this:

'Cause I went and got my "hair did." Although, I did more than get my hair fixed... I got the Brazilian Silk treatment done on my hair. It's a blah, blah, blah (that's scientific talk right there) that straightens your hair from the roots. Or something.

Regardless, this procedure was perfect for me. It gave me a change (which I am constantly in the mood for) without chopping my hair off (which is what I usually do whenever I'm ready for a change), thus helping me with my goal of letting my hair grow out. For now. :)

So, this procedure, as compared with a straightening procedure I did a few years back, kept my hair healthy and NOT dried out, and it's supposed to last for 90 days.

Whatever.

It's now been 90 days plus a week or so, and let's look at me today:

This look is au natural... no hair fixin' at all (and no face-fixin' either, for that matter). And look... still straight. Well, mostly...

If you look REALLY REALLY close, you can see where it's coming in curly right by my temple. See??

It's not that I'm sorry I did the straightening treatment to my hair. I'm not at all. It's just that I thought that 90 days was a perfect amount of time to have a change while my hair was growing out. Then I'd be ready for my "old" hair again.

But let's be real here... it's been 90 days and about 1 week... maybe I'm impatient?

Maybe I should just relax a little (like my hair. ha!), and just enjoy the straightness while I've got it.

Or maybe I should just go find "real" blogging material.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2011-01-09T17:10:00.000-06:00

I'm having quite a lazy Sunday afternoon. See?

This is my #9 photo of my Photo of the Day challenge I'm doing for 2011.

If you want to see all my photos, you can find them on Flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darlabrown/sets/72157625722702460/

Hope your Sunday is restful and rejuvenating.

Final Christmas wrap-up

2011-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Warning: This post is heavy on photos. The cuteness may be a little overwhelming, so please prepare yourself.

Once we were finished on Christmas morning at our house, we headed to my mom and dad's house. My nieces and nephew got a Wii. They weren't even sure whether or not to be excited!

Although Little Buddy was pretty sure he was excited about Mr. Potato Head!

Bub got a homemade belt from my niece... made out of wrapping paper. He was so sweet and gracious about it. He told Little Sissy that it was a little big right now, but he was sure he'd grow into it.

Sis got her gift from my sister in a Pull-Ups box, which was funny and embarrassing all at the same time.

When we headed to my aunt's and uncle's house, my grandma handed out flashing rings to everyone. Big Sissy and Little Sissy decided it would be funny to be like Rudolph.

Oh, and did I mention the Snuggies? The kids each got one. Camo and peace signs... it doesn't get much better (or warmer) than that!

I really have to work on my self-portrait skills. My nieces and me.

Where you find my mom, you usually find my niece close by. She is a NANA'S GIRL, for sure! My mom posed with all her gifts... her snuggie (last year's model, according to the box), her new necklace, her new HGTV book. And Little Sissy, of course.

Christmas can be exhausting! Just ask my brother...

My dad is telling a tall tale, I'm guessing, to Big Sissy and her mama.

Once Christmas is over, we make it our mission over the rest of Christmas break to spend as much of our gift cards as possible. Sis had a gift card to Claire's, so she bought some non-prescription glasses. As someone who had to wear glasses growing up, I don't really understand her fascination with them, but she does look cute in them!

Along with our shopping trip, we always make time for a hot chocolate/latte break as well. Yes, Bub's shirt does say: I'm pretty much one of the best people I know. He's pretty modest, isn't he? :)

I hope your holidays were swell and filled with memories, too!

What did Santa bring?

2011-01-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

I'm not gonna lie... my 11 year old (Sis) knows the truth about Santa now, and it kinda breaks my heart. But she played along beautifully for the sake of her 9 year old brother. So we had a visit from Santa, just like always. :) Then we opened our gifts from each other before we headed over to my parents' house.

Whoa!!! It's like I'm in a comic book!

Opened his three tickets to the Colts game in Indianapolis for Bub, Don and Bub's best friend. He was so excited!

We had a beautiful white Christmas!

And I got my iMac. So exciting!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-02T15:29:00.000-06:00

I forgot to finish Christmas Eve. And Christmas. And New Year's Eve. Oh, I crack myself up.

Here are some shots from Christmas Eve (because it's easier to just include pictures than write):

In this one, Don and I were trying to embarrass our children. Based on Sis's expression, I'd say we did it!

Goals

2011-01-01T16:10:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

I had this whole negative(ish) post about my goals and/or lack thereof, but I decided that the whole purpose of that blog post was just for me. So, not gonna share. Believe me, you're better off with my decision. :)

One of my definite goals this year, though, is to start taking more photos. I didn't do so well at this in 2010. So, I'm going to TRY to take a photo each day of the year (I'm going to call it... wait for it... my 365 project). It may not always be on my nice camera... it may be cell phone quality sometimes, but I want to remember the daily activities of our life in 2011.

Here's my Day 1 photo:

It's New Year's Day, and Bub is watching football. Shocking, huh?

That's all I've got for now. What about you? Do you set new year's resolutions? Goals for each year? Care to share?

New Blog

2010-12-30T15:46:00.001-06:00

**Update.... his blog is now live. You can find it here.**

So, Don has a new blog starting soon that's about a BIG fitness goal of his... you know *ahem* just like my blog is usually about.

I'll link to it as soon as it goes live (1/1/2011). 'Kay?

Our Christmas Eve so far

2010-12-24T13:39:00.002-06:00

Has consisted of:

Cooking

Games

And science experiments.

All in our jammies. Merry Christmas!

- Darla

Ode to Joy (Re-Run)

2010-12-22T17:18:00.002-06:00

*I just heard this song on the radio, and it reminded me of this blog post, originally posted in 2008. It is still true today!

Last night I was practicing with the trio for a song we're singing on Sunday. It's called JOY.

I don't know about you, but it is SO EASY to forget to be joyful this "joyful" time of year...

I've been crazy-busy at work. The economy makes my stomach hurt. We've all been sick. I haven't finished all my Christmas shopping. ALL of that can distract from our joy if we let it.

The thing is, circumstances don't HAVE to be "just so" in order to have joy. We don't have to have joy BECAUSE of our circumstances. We can have joy IN them.

I can have joy "just because." In my mind, it's a decision I can make.I CHOOSE JOY.

There are some things that give me joy no matter what is going on:

Hebrews 13:5-6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" That gives me joy... we're not alone in this!

There are other things (maybe not so spiritual) that give me joy (not a complete list... I always think of other things to add as soon as I push "Publish"):
Music... singing it, playing it, listening to it. Right now, I'm LOVING Christmas music... Mariah, Jessica Simpson, Amy Grant, Point of Grace, Avalon (whose song JOY we're singing!)Reading... it can be an escape if it's fiction, funny and/or motivating if it's non-fiction, and completely inspired by God if it's the Bible! :)
Family... there's a special kind of joy I feel when I spend time with my family. My kids and hubby are joy-provoking. And the rest of my family... well, all I can say is that I'm thrilled that I'll get to spend so much time with them in the next few weeks!Friends... joy, joy, joy!!! There are some I see all the time, some I only see every couple years, and a lot in between... and I count them ALL joy! You should have seen how "joyful" I was with Cara and Ginger last night while we were practicing... I was doing my "joyful"cheerleading jumps while they were doing their solos... (I was NOT a cheerleader, in case you were wondering! Nor do I have one ounce of coordination! But I was ~~immature~~ joyful!)
Photography... it's an old love that's been renewed in the past few years, thanks to my hubby's NEW love for it. Sometimes we tussle over the camera! There's something about documenting EVERYTHING that helps to remind me what's REALLY important in my life...

What are your thoughts? Are they joyful?

I will joy in the God of my salvation. --Hab. iii. 18.

Talented Photographer

2010-12-21T08:00:00.003-06:00

Sis borrowed my camera the other day to go outside and take some photos. I think some of them turned out amazing!

Without any (more) comment, here are Sis's photos.

Did they not realize how close to Thanksgiving it was?

2010-12-20T08:00:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, we were sitting in the great room on a Sunday afternoon when we noticed some visitors right outside our side door.

Four turkey (turkeys? no, turkey. RIGHT?) were right outside our door. And stayed, even while we called the kids in. And got my camera. And got as close as I thought I could without them hearing me talk quietly through the doors.

Look how close I was able to get. Isn't that amazing?

Then they got bored of us all staring at each other, and took off down the stairs.

They were hanging out right off the driveway, but kept looking back at us as if to say: aren't y'all coming (well, assuming they're a little southern)?

So, Sis decided to follow.

They actually let her lead them all around the yard.

Once Sis got finished with all the fun, she came back inside and Don was lying on our bed watching TV when he heard a knock on our back door. Yup, the turkeys were back and were apparently feeling neglected. No photos of them on the back, but it was a crazy, amazing day with the turkeys!

Mysterious Mysterio

2010-12-19T15:24:00.000-06:00

So, hehe. Remember a few months ago, when it was October? Do ya? And it was, um, Halloween? Yeah, I barely do, too.

But funny thing... I was just downloading photos from my camera today to get it ready for the kids' Christmas program tonight, and guess what I found?

HALLOWEEN PHOTOS!

Well, of Bub anyway. Did I mention that Sis decided she was too old to dress up this year? Oh, the sadness! (From me, not from her!) Although, when she heard me tell someone else she was finished dressing up, she informed me that she just wasn't dressing up for THIS year... and it wasn't so much that she was too old as she didn't like what I was going to have her dress up as. Ah well.

But my GOOD child (just kidding...) (REALLY!) did want to dress up. As a character I'm not familiar with. And he LOVES!

His name is Rey Mysterio, and he's a wrestler with the WWE. THIS is what he look like.

Image from Lightinthebox.com

This is EXACTLY how I hoped my son would dress for Halloween... as a masked, shirtless dude with tattoos all over him.

So, guess what he dressed up instead?

Haha! I TRICKED you! He really did dress up as Rey Mysterio.

Except his mean mom wouldn't let him go in the cold temperature with no shirt on (say, WHAT?).

So, Don, Sis and I created Bub's costume... on Halloween Day. Bub wanted to wear green pants (which I guess Mr. Mysterio sometimes wears), so the only pair I could find were in the Women's department at the Walmarts. So I bought those, and pinned them up in the waist. Then I did the fancy lettering down both legs of the pants, just as Bub requested.

We bought a long-sleeved white t-shirt that we drew "tattoos" all over to try to replicate Mr. M's tattoos. And then Bub wore his mask that he got at the State Fair a few years ago (yes, he's loved Mr. M that long!).

Here are the finished results. Please don't be frightened of his intimidating tattoos. He really IS a softy on the inside.

Happy Halloween, y'all! And a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Cookie Baking Extravaganza Weekend

2010-12-10T16:00:00.000-06:00

Cookie lovers, beware! The Brown Family is attempting a cookie baking EXTRAVAGANZA weekend! I believe I've mentioned on here that I'm not a baker... or even a cook, really... or a good housekeeper... hmmm, I don't really like where this is going. :)

But two years ago, we had our first family cookie baking time. And it was fun. At least for a while. Then last year, I'm not sure what happened (perhaps LIFE?), but we didn't have our "fun."

This year, we're stretching it out for a full weekend. Really, it's for our sanity, more than anything else. So that way, if we get snippy and/or tired and/or bored, we can take a break, and get back to it later. You know, instead of leaving some partially done cookies in the freezer for TWO YEARS. *ahem*

So, here's what's on our agenda this weekend.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (so far, I'm planning on these, but if anyone has any tried/true recipes for this, I'm all ears!).
Sugar cut-out cookies (totally gonna cheat on these... already bought the store-made dough)
Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Homemade Oreos
Cake poppers
Chocolate peppermint bark cookies

Pretty ambitious, huh? I'll document our successes ~~and failures~~ and let you know!

Wish us luck!

Thankful - Part 2

2010-12-06T18:25:00.001-06:00

In list form:

1. Seat warmers in my car. I've never had them before, but I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to live without them again.

2. HummDinger Diet Pepsis from Hit n Run. For those of you not familiar with these delights, we have a local chain of drive-thru convenience stores called Hit n Run. They have the BEST fountain Pepsis (& diet) around. The HummDinger is their 32 oz drink. It's the best $0.99 deal around.

3. Tonight is my last class for this session. I don't teach again until March. This session has been CHALLENGING and I'm glad for the small break.

4. Wrestling season has begun again. For a sport I still don't understand very well, I've come to enjoy watching Bub beat the snot outta other boys (or vice versa). Weird, eh? I also enjoy my "wrestling friends" that I only see regularly this time of year.

5. I get to go to a book club tonight. This is the perfect type of gathering to me. It meets my need for socialization and my need for soaking up books. They've already met, but I've not gotten to go yet due to my class schedule. But did I mention that tonight's the last class? And they're just taking an exam (no lecture afterwards)? Rock and roll!

6. I'm thankful for my hubby who is taking the kids to watch Monday Night Football so I can go to Book Club. And that he now uses the less than three sign to text me that he loves me. (<3 for those of you unfamiliar with this texting lingo). And that he works so hard for our family.

7. I'm thankful (I think) that my self-imposed Facebook sabbatical is almost over. I took some time off because I felt like it was consuming too much time. Then I stayed off because teaching this class on top of everything else I had going on took all my spare time. So I'll soon be back. Or maybe a moderated version of the old Facebook me. Like a me that doesn't spend QUITE so much time on there. Did you get thankful from all that?

Today, these are the things I'm thankful for. What about you?

- Darla

Drug Free Poem #1 by Bub

2010-11-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

If this doesn't convince you to stay drug-free, I don't know what will.

In case you can't read it, here's what it says:

My Drug Free Poem #1

How do you be drug free? Just be like me. All you have to do is not try it once so you don't get addicted. But if you do try it, your in for a ride of misery. That's what red ribbon week is all about right, so let's share the love and not try drugs. Your still tempted? Just follow these easy steps:
1. Try not to try one.
2. Throw away any drugs you see in your house.
3. Engurage your parents not to use drugs.

Be Drug Free Like Me!

I hope this helps you in your journey to stay drug free.

Darla

Thankful - Part 1

2010-11-20T11:29:00.000-06:00

So, we're going to pretend that I haven't practically abandoned this blog except for a few here and there from my phone, 'kay?

Instead, I'm going to begin focusing* on what I'm thankful for.

Today the focus is on Sis.

Sis is 11 now. And NOT amused when she knows I write about her. Or take her photo. Or sometimes look at her. You know, 11.

But I am oh so thankful for that girl. She's had some rough times coming into this age of puberty, but she's coming through with shining colors, in my opinion. She loves God, her friends and her family FIERCELY!

She's grown a LOT this year. She just went for a checkup and is 5 foot tall... that's only 3 inches shorter than me! Did I mentioned she's 11???

I'm going to be really sad if the day ever hits that she DOESN'T enjoy hanging out with me. She likes to shop with me (yay!) and has a fun sense of style.

She's not afraid to be herself instead of trying to be like everyone else... which, to be honest, is something I've prayed for. I love that she's always been such an individual... I'd hate for her tween/teen years to be spent trying to be someone else or like someone else. This next photo was for a mis-match party, but her style isn't too far off of this (she might not wear a tie with this outfit normally! ha). I love it!

While she's always been great at art (she's at art lessons right now, in fact), she's struggled to find a physical activity that she really enjoys. She took swimming lessons for years, but had no desire to compete on the swim team, and eventually begged to quit. She's been taking martial arts for several months now, and LOVES IT! She goes twice a week and hasn't ONCE tried to beg off going.

This past week was her first testing period for her class. She tested for her yellow belt, and while I could tell she was really nervous, SHE DID GREAT! They even commented on her "report card" how confident she seemed. She even broke a board with a heel kick!

Last night was her "belting ceremony" where she received her yellow belt. I'll post later with real (non iPhone) photos, but I did sneak one in with my phone. As we left, she told me that she feels really accomplished doing this.

In addition, I'm thankful that she has nice girls in her class this year. They all seem so inclusive and sweet. I'm thankful that I'm able to volunteer for 1/2 hour at her class each week to read with a group (and meet all her friends). I'm thankful that she has a great teacher and principal this year. I'm thankful that she's been memorizing more scriptures through her Wednesday night class. I'm thankful she's so curious about words/ideas/sights and she's willing to ask me about them. I'm thankful that she loves hanging out with her parents! I'm thankful that she gets along (mostly) with her brother (just don't tell them I've noticed, or they might change their behavior!).

I'm just thankful.

*did you know that focusing only had one "s?" That's something that red squiggly line just taught me. The end

My favorite sign of fall

2010-11-19T14:44:00.002-06:00

My favorite cowboy boots. *happy sigh*

- Darla

A Story in Pictures - Shopping for a Suit

2010-10-23T23:27:00.001-05:00

So, let's suppose there's a shop at an outlet mall in Vegas called Sarar.

Apparently, the store is pronounced sar-AR, but Tom, Jenny and Darla decide to pronounce it sahr-ahr. You know, while Don tries on lots and lots (& lots!) of suits. I

What do you guys think?

Dude, I was done shopping as soon as we got here.

ANOTHER suit??

I am frightened of all these choices!

Ok, guys, this is my last suit I'm trying on.

Woo hoo!

Rock and roll, dude!

Oh, I'm so happy to leave!

The end.
- Darla

Views from Vegas, Take 1

2010-10-23T10:58:00.001-05:00

Here's a Parisian street scene... INSIDE! Unbelievable!

There are tons of people dressed up for you to take photos with on the strip (for a few bucks, of course). Here's the back of Homer Simpson.

Gondolas going by in the canal at the Venetian, again INSIDE!!

A painting I saw at an art gallery. Had to send this mature message to my kids! :)

A shot straight up the Eiffel Tower at Paris (where we stayed the first half of the trip).

A nighttime view of Treasure Island and the pirate ship in front of it.

It's over the top, huge and overwhelming. But oh so fascinating.

- Darla

Viva Las Vegas

2010-10-20T12:54:00.001-05:00

They call it Sin City.

I'm not planning on doing any sinning. Just maybe some sunning.

The say: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Well, then how can I blog about it? Because I fully intend to blog about it.

So "they'll" have to go fly a kite and let me enjoy my trip. Prepare yourself for lots of high quality iPhone pics since I forgot to pack my camera.

Don, who's already there, texted me this photo. This was his view at breakfast.

Can't wait!

- Darla

Hair's a changin'

2010-10-07T17:30:00.001-05:00

*FYI - I did NOT shrink in size while I got my hair straightened, even though the photo shows that I did!

Happy Birthday to...

2010-10-06T18:49:00.000-05:00

A great daddy and husband...

A good-lookin' man...

My best friend.

World's Fair 2010

2010-09-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

So, I've mentioned before the World's Fair of our little town. It's not ACTUALLY the World's Fair (obviously), but it's become the carnival's unofficial name...

It's always a great time, though, to see people (ALL KINDS of people... sometimes I wonder where all these people come from... I don't run into all of them at our grocery store... or at the parent/teacher meetings at school... but I digress),

to ride rides (but only on the cheap day, Labor Day Monday... except for when a nice teenager gives Bub some tickets, THEN the kids get to ride ONE ride beforehand), and to EAT! That's why I go... to eat. But I did stay away from the fried Oreos... this year, anyway!

The kids were pumped for the rides this year!

Bub decided to ride the Storm... it's part of his year of conquering his fears (let's not talk about the scary water slide he rode earlier in the summer... GAH)!

Here he is right beforehand... I couldn't even take any pictures during the ride, because just watching him go round and round made me sick!

I was a little afraid his reaction afterward would be the same as the water slide... no such worries!!

Then on to Pharoah's Fury... WOW, they got high in the sky!

Then the Himalaya (don't think I remembered all these names by myself... I had to ask the kids)

And finally, Bub wanted to play the hammer game to see how hard he could hit the hammer and make the bell ring. What I liked about the ride is that all kids won a prize (but just so you know... Bub DID hit the bell!).

All in all, a great day. Great weather, great family time, great rides, and oh yeah, GREAT FOOD!

Last year's World's Fair: here

My lunchtime view today

2010-09-23T12:53:00.001-05:00

- Darla

Retrospective

2010-09-21T22:07:00.000-05:00

So, I rarely make New Year's resolutions. Because I figure I'm just setting up myself for failure. Is that looking at the glass half-empty? I don't really think so... I just know if I set my sights too high, I'll get frustrated before I practically even start.

I do like to evaluate and/or re-evaluate where I am in life. What I'm doing, where I've been, where I'm going... you know the drill.

So, why am I writing about this today? Because today is another day when I get all retrospective-ish.

Because it's my birthday. And not just my birthday, but the birthday prior to a BIG birthday...

And it makes me, you know, retrospective.

So, to look back at the last year... I'm not gonna lie... some of it has been downright stinky.

My grandfather passed away
I had an emergency appendectomy
Then I got really sick for quite a while afterwards.
I had one uncle who's had 3 heart attacks just in the last few months.
And another who had an accident.
And my mother-in-law has had numerous surgeries to try to fix her ankle.

Yup, stinky.

But there's been some great things in the last year, too.

I got to introduce Bub to the wonderful sport of football.
I got to go to a book-signing and meet one of my favorite "big time" bloggers.
Don stole me away for a "just us" weekend.
Enjoyed my family (immediate and extended), including our family slumber party weekend.
Took a trip to San Antonio with the family.
Took a trip to Tennessee with the family.
We went to a beautiful wedding.
Saw a few musicals at the Muny, our outdoor theater.
And more than even the big events, I had a lot of little, but magical moments with my family and friends.

And I plan on some great things in the future, too...

Traveling - we've got a few trips planned that I'll blog about
Other than that, I have faith that God's got some great surprises in store for me, too! :)

So, thanks for being part of my internal dialogue and trip down memory lane.

And, you know, for not telling anyone how old I am.

He blames it on a cookie and fruit punch

2010-09-19T22:16:00.002-05:00

So, last week, Don and I got ticket to the Cardinals game, so we took the kids with us.

On a school night.

Cause we're crazy rebels like that. :)

Bub was so excited all week, which I'm sure had NOTHING to do with the fact that his best friend also got to go to the Cards game last week, too (those boys love their sports!).

At one point, Bub got chilly and tucked his arms into his sleeves to keep warm. Then he decided he was like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

He kept saying, "I have a big head, with itty bitty arms." Which is apparently from a movie. Then he would laugh hysterically every. single. time.

Then he started dancing and playing baseball with his "big head and itty bitty arms."

While that cracked me up, this one makes me laugh even more. He was having so fun and being so silly... until he saw something on the Jumbotron. He got so serious, so quickly.

I was teasing him about being so silly, and he said it was J from school's fault...

??????

He said it was her birthday, and he had a cookies AND fruit punch... and THAT'S what made him so hyper!

Bring on more cookies!

I'm an athletic supporter

2010-09-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

That was my Twitter update a few weeks ago: I'm not an athlete; I'm an athletic supporter.

Because I'm funny like that. AND I stole that line from someone else. I'm funny like THAT, too.

So, a few weekends ago, my sister kept my kids for a few nights (woo hoo for THAT!) before school started, and Don and I had a Saturday free. So, what did we do? We woke up at the crack of dawn (literally!) so Don could go compete in his first triathlon.

The triathlon is held locally, and it's a good beginner's tri (do you think I'm more athletic when I use shortcut words like "tri" instead of "triathlon?" No? huh). It's a 450 meter swim (I think... back and forth in an olympic size pool nine times), a 12-mile bike ride, and a 4-mile run. The pool is shallow enough that if you're (ahem, I'M) not a very good swimmer, you could actually run/walk in the pool.

So, Don did it. And I watched. And hung out with friends. It was amazing how many people we knew participating and supporting there!

This is the transitional area where Don's bike/shirt/different shoes/etc. were. Each competitor started 15 seconds apart. So, a big group of our friends started about 45 minutes before Don, and we had another good friend who started 45 minutes or so AFTER him. So there were constantly people swimming while others were riding next to others who were biking.

Here's Don after his swim transitioning to his biking gear.

Don biking on the left and our friend, C, running on the right. It was pretty cool that they passed us simultaneously out of all the hundreds of competitors all out there together.

We're not athletes; we're athletic supporters!

A big group of our friends (and Don) who competed. Our friend, S, is showing off his flip flops, because he thought the race was over and he changed his shoes before he realized he hadn't gone through the finish line. So, he finished in his flip flops. :)

Don and our friend, M, who did AWESOME!

So, guess who's signed up already for next year? And will NOT be an athletic supporter next year? And who feels like throwing up even typing this? Yup, you guessed it!

Yo mama

2010-09-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight was a normal, frantic-paced school night for us. Once the kids did their homework, we ran up to the hospital to see Don's mom (who had a minor procedure done on her ankle), then had to rush back to town for Sis's martial arts lessons.

But I forgot to fit in supper. Or dinner, depending on which part of the US you're from.

So after martial arts, I ran them through the drive-thru of the golden arches. Not my favorite place. But I was starving. So I kept looking at the menu trying to find something NOT fried and without cheese (not eating dairy... Part of my new eating plan).

So I ordered for the kids, then I ordered a double cheeseburger for myself. Without the cheese.

My kids laughed. Then guffawed. Then cackled. All the way to the drive-thru window.

They said: Why did you order that?
Me: Because I can't gave dairy, remember?
Them: Mom, what you said is a Yo Mama joke!!
Me: ???
Them: Yo Mama is so stupid that she orders a double cheeseburger WITHOUT THE CHEESE!

Mom, YOU JUST DID THAT!!!

The nice, polite young man taking my money (I'm not even being sarcastic... He really was very polite and professional) piped up:

I'm really sorry, ma'am, but that really IS funny.

Hhrrmmpphh.

I guess that's what I get for letting my kids read Yo Mama jokes on my phone. And encouraging them to have senses of humor.

- Darla

Oh hey!

2010-09-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

Heh Heh. Didn't REALLY forget about my blog. Just took an unplanned, unintentional little break. That's all!

Anyhow, so to get caught up... how are you? And the kids? Uh huh... yeah, me too! :)

So, what happens every August, without fail? That's right. BACK TO SCHOOL!

I can barely believe that my kids are in 5th and 4th grades this year! They both moved to new schools this year (not the same as each other), and both are loving it as much now as they did the first day.

So, yeah, the first day... wanna see?

You know you do!

Okay, since you begged.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Then after school, we continued our annual tradition of going out for ice cream to discuss the ups & downs, ins & outs of the first day.

Then, like almost every year, our cousins met us for the ice cream to discuss the ups & downs, ins & outs of THEIR first day of school, too!

(obviously MUCH to discuss here, huh?!)

Unplugged 2010

2010-08-09T17:00:00.002-05:00

So, I started this thing in 2008 that I intended to be an annual thing. But then last year, I forgot. So maybe it's a ~~semi-~~bi-annual thing (I get those two things mixed up).

It's going unplugged. For an entire week. That means no TV, no computers, no video games, no iPod touches, etc.

Here's my updates from 2008 (here, here, and here).

For 2010, our unplugged week was last week. I picked one of the hottest weeks of the year. Nice. Which meant there was not a lot of playing outside in lieu of the plugged-in stuff.

We did have some exceptions to the unplugged rules this year. If Don and I chose it, we could watch an episode or two of Silver Spoons as a family right before bed. We did utilize this exception a few times. Also, if we chose to watch a movie as a family, we could. Don and the kids were home on Saturday afternoon and chose that option. The last exception was one I didn't plan ahead of time, but maybe should've.

Exception #3: If a little brother is stuck in a fitting room with his mom & older sister while said older sister tries on loads and loads and loads of clothes for school, said little brother can play on his mom's phone (but not get on YouTube).

Exception #3 saved me (and Bub) last Friday!

So, a quick rundown of our unplugged week.

Monday night started Bub's football practice (3 nights a week!), so Sis and I spent some time at practice with him til Don could come relieve us. Then Sis helped me cook a huge, healthy meal of sauteed mushrooms, grilled zucchini, grilled shrimp, and quinoa (a new thing for us). During the day with the babysitter, they swam, worked on a puzzle, went to the library, read, drew...

Tuesday: The library again (Sis read 3 books on Monday!), more swimming, more reading. Football practice again... it was 104 degrees at 6:00 on our way to practice! So, Bub got out of practice early, but then he & Don played catch with the football for about 45 minutes when they got home. So Sis & I stayed outside with them and enjoyed some family time.

Wednesday: Spent the day with the normal babysitter's younger sister. They went for a walk (HOT!), read some books/magazines, and SWAM! Then when I picked them up, we went to a swim party with our Young Family's group from church. They slept GREAT that night!

Thursday: Believe it or not, Sis didn't want to swim! But Bub still did. So, Sis stayed in the house and read while Bub and M swam... again! Football practice (got his practice helmet and pads! *gulp*), a little Silver Spoons and all was good.

Friday: I took a vacation day to take the kids school clothes shopping. It actually turned out to be more fun than I expected (it helps I was expecting it to be terrible! ha). It tore me up a little, though, that most of Sis's clothes were bought from "grown up" (well, at least teenager-style) stores instead of kids' stores. She was so happy, though... And I made her try EVERYTHING on to make sure nothing was too grown-up (ie. floozy-ish) for a 10-year-old (that's a whole 'nother soap box I could rant on and on about...). That evening, Don and I went to the Mayor's dinner auction for charity.

Saturday: In the morning, Don and his friend B, rode their bikes for a mere 50 miles (!!!) while I stayed home with the kids. Then as soon as he got home, I went shopping with C (B's wife). I got home just in time to leave for dinner with Don and the kids (and some friends) before we went to see Footloose at the Muny, our outdoor musical theater. Loved the 80's music, but some of the language was kinda sketchy. :-/

All in all, it really wasn't that bad... in fact, I liked it!

So, much to the kids' chagrin, it's definitely something we'll make a ~~semi-~~ ~~bi-~~ annual thing.

Twi-WHAT?

2010-08-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

So, after I picked Bub up from football camp a few weeks ago, he was wiping the sweat off his face, and messing with his hair...

Sis: Oh, mom! Hand me the phone really quickly! Bub looks just like Edward Cullen!

Me: What???

Bub: Hurry, take the picture... I want to see!

Bub: Oh, wow! I really DO, don't I?

For the record, my kids have never read Twilight or seen the movies. Pop culture osmosis at its finest, I guess!

Why?

2010-08-05T17:00:00.001-05:00

So, I've been feeling some sort of weird writer's block (which is funny, since I'm not actually a writer) when it comes to my blog. Then I get all freaked out about losing readers (which is also funny, since I just have a few readers).

So, I decided to revisit WHY I blog...

So, why do I?

It's not to gain readers (hi, mom!).
Or to hone my writing skills (although I think that is a natural by-product of blogging).

But it's to remember.

My kids aren't as little anymore, and they aren't saying funny things minute by minute...
But they still are hour by hour... or day by day.

And to remember things that were important to me and/or my family at any given time.

Sometimes it's what I'm wearing (because I LOVE me some clothes!)
Or what the kids look like
Or what big or small event is going on in our lives

And THAT'S why I'll keep blogging instead of fading into complete oblivion.

I may not blog all the time, but I'll start blogging more snippets of our lives, instead of waiting for just the right words to come to me.

Because I'm not so wordy sometimes. Isn't that ironical?

These are a few of my favorite things

2010-07-28T00:37:00.000-05:00

(image via Google Images)

I took the kids to see The Sound of Music tonight at our wonderful

big-city outdoor theater.

It was wonderful! We met my two sisters, one aunt, and one cousin and her husband.

And we sat in the FREE seats! The bottles of water, however, were $4... NOT free.

I decided to blog tonight, rather than chancing I would forget some of the things I loved about tonight...

Here are a few of my favorite things...

Listening to Sis sing The Star Spangled Banner with the crowd before the show started
When Bub saw the first scene in the Abbey, he told Aunt E "I didn't know this was a Christian musical!"
During the wedding scene, when all the nuns were lined up, Sis said: "I have never in my life seen so many of them in one place before!"
Bub sang his latest Weird Al song he's memorized to anyone and everyone... loudly. Before the show, during the intermission, and after the show
Stephanie sang another Weird Al song back to Bub
Did I mention the seats were free?
Hanging with my family
After the show, we saw a shuttle bus for a retirement home, and Sis told me to hurry or I'd miss my bus

So now the kids are asleep... hopefully dreaming about Edelweiss!

Movie Night

2010-07-27T17:16:00.000-05:00

Once a month in the summer, our church puts on a community bike ride and movie night. The bike ride is for all ages and it's only about 1.5 miles long (so even little guys can do it), then if the weather's good, we have a movie outdoors.

Last weekend, we had the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which we saw at the theater (but the kids were excited to see again!).

Once all the sound equipment, popcorn/soda, and chairs were set up, we just had to wait for it to get dark enough to see the movie.

Which is easy to do if you have snacks, drinks, and friends around!

Did I mention the popcorn?

Mmmmmmm....

And about the time one got tired of one's mom taking their photo...

It was FINALLY time for the movie!

You can go here to read my friend Bethany's account of the evening... her night required her to be a little more of a good sport!

Together, you and I

2010-07-22T17:05:00.002-05:00

Our family has been revisiting the '80's in the last few nights. We've discovered that SILVER SPOONS, the awesome TV show from the 80's, is on hulu.com.

For the last 2 nights, we've watched 2 episodes with the kids.

Last night, Mr. T was the guest star. The kids could NOT stop laughing!

Their favorite part (that's not in the clip below):

Teacher: What's your last name?

Mr. T: T

Teacher: And your first name?

Mr. T: First name, Mister

Middle name, that little period

Last name, T

They giggled and giggled.

Enjoy the blast from the past!

Just another week: Summertime week in review

2010-07-19T17:05:00.000-05:00

So, how was your weekend/week? Mine was a typical-ish summertime week. So, I thought I'd review the week, so years later, I can remember what a typical-ish week was all about.

In an effort to make my life easier and/or cuter, I decided to get my hair cut into layers. I was tired of the mom-looking growing-out triangle of hair sitting atop my head (not that there's anything wrong with being a mom... I love being a mom... I just don't always wanna LOOK like a mom!).

So, yeah, I still think it was a good idea (as compared to cutting it all off again, which was what I almost did), but my hair takes a lot more work now (to be honest, my "before" style consisted of blow-drying my bangs straight, then letting the rest air-dry unless I had an early-morning meeting, so really ANYTHING would have been more work). The one day I decided to let it go completely curly, I was less than thrilled with the final look.

I felt like it looked like a boyish-mulletlike do. I wasn't loving it at all. So, now I have to actually blow-dry it. Wahhhh... poor me! :)

So, there's that.

Then, Bub decided that playing seventeen million sports a year wasn't enough... he wanted to play football, too! So, we made him give up fall soccer and he went to a football camp this last week every evening to make sure he loved football as much as he thought he would.

The verdict is in... he LOVES it. I'll be honest in that I was hoping he'd not like it... no momma wants her boy hurt playing sports, right? The first night, they had drills to assess the kids' skill levels, and Bub did the most push-ups out of the whole camp (as he says, "that includes even 6th graders!"). So, on the last HOT night, they had mock football games, and then gave out awards. For his grade level, Bub got most push-ups AND fastest 20-yard sprint.

You give him a sport he loves AND give him a couple awards? There's no stopping him from playing now!

Friday night, Sis and Don's mom made us a lovely dinner and dessert. I just sat back and listened to my mother-in-law give instructions and actually let Sis cook! I am only likely to let the kids do small tasks while I'm cooking (because I figure I'll have to clean the mess...), so it was fun to listen to her actually get to DO the tasks. And it was delicious!

On Saturday morning, Don and I got up super early (well, for me... on a Saturday!) and went bike-riding. Ever since my adventure last weekend, I've decided that I want to get in better biking shape, because it's FUN!

Later that morning, we went to my parents' house for brunch. ALL of us... all my sisters and their families (all 2 of them), and all my brothers (well, there's just one). It seems like it had been FOREVER since all of us had spent any time ALL together.

And we stayed and stayed and stayed... for 11 hours! Talk about overstaying one's welcome!

Here are some shots of our day:

Little Buddy getting ready for work. (my nephew)

Big Sissy, ridin' 'em, Cowgirl! (my niece)

Sis riding dual with Big Sissy.

All the grandkids (except Bub), having a pillow fight with Papa.

What a fun day!

Finally, on Sunday, after church, I crashed and napped for about 2.5 hours!!!! Then I purged my closet (a little bit... I need to do it more!), then headed back to church, where my cousin, Z, stole my phone and did a self-portrait of us.

I didn't know it was gonna be an open-mouth pose... I messed THAT all up! :)

Then headed out for pizza with friends (except without pizza for me... still can't have dairy), then headed home with my family.

This week, we substitute football camp with Bub for Photoshop camp with Sis... but we're planning on another fun, typical, summertime week!

Dollars to Donuts, Someday I'll figure out how to take a self-portrait on my phone

2010-07-14T18:06:00.002-05:00

A long, long time ago (doesn't this sound like the start of a fairy-tale? Oh, if only it had such a happy ending!), Don decided to sign up for the Tour de Donut (I'll explain in a minute) bike race. I immediately told him I wanted to do the race, too.

The Tour de Donut is:

A take-off of the Tour de France... with donuts
30.7 miles long... with donuts
In a town close to ours... with donuts
Oh, and it has donuts!

There are 2 stops in the race (miles 10 and 20) that are "donut stops." At each stop, the racers have the opportunity to eat as many donuts as they choose. And for every donut eaten, 5 minutes is taken of their adjusted time.

So, let's set things up a little bit.

Don either road bikes or mountain bikes regularly. Just the weekend before, he and some friends rode WELL over 30 miles. So this race presented an opportunity to push himself into the best time possible.

I have ridden my bike three times this summer. Twice earlier in the summer with Don and the kids (probably 7-8 miles each time) and once on vacation (yeah, it was once around a campsite... not sure that should even count). Oh, and I have still not recovered fully (health-wise) from my appendectomy and all the fun stuff that followed there. And my bike? It has a bell on it.

So, there's the set up.

I decided that I was still going to do the race, and just do my best. And beg my friend, Cara, to ride it too (her hubby is one of Don's regular biking companions). She kept arguing that she hadn't trained, and I assured her she wasn't alone in that!

So, the Friday night before, we sent the kids to my parents' house, so we wouldn't have to get them up super early. Then we came home. And I threw up violently. Twice. Which is part of the fun I've been experiencing health-wise (another long, boring post for another time).

But I still got up Saturday for the race, knowing from past experience that I would probably feel fine on Saturday. So Cara got to our house bright and early, and she, Don and I headed 20 minutes away to the race.

Here's our "before" photo... note the athletic sunglasses I'm wearing... like THAT was gonna help!

We got registered, got our race numbers, picked up our "free" t-shirts, then headed back to get our bikes. Once there, Don realized HE FORGOT MY FRONT WHEEL at our house! oops.

He felt terrible, and I was all stressed, but Cara just kept laughing... because really? Did she and I think we were real race contenders anyway? And did we even think we would/could FINISH the race? So, she and I hopped in my car, raced BACK 20 minutes (maybe less...hehe), got the wheel, and raced back the 20 minutes... See all the racing we did before it even started?

Oh, and have I mentioned I'm not super familiar with the small town that the race was held in? So, Cara had her phone out using the map to navigate us back to our bikes. We were both so busy trying to find our way that we failed to notice until ALMOST too late that we were headed straight for a police car leading the beginning racers. EEK! The spectators started yelling, the cop started yelling, I started yelling... then I backed my car into a side street JUST in time... nice.

It literally took us 20 minutes to figure out how to get to our bikes because so many streets were closed for the race (which calls to question: why wasn't the street I was driving on when I met the racers closed???). We find our spot with the bikes, get parked, and OH YEAH, neither of us are completely positive we know how to put on my front wheel. Cara was pretty sure she had it, and I was almost positive I hooked up my front brake correctly. But we figured one of two things would happen: They'd either let us NOT race because we were getting such a late start (1/2 hour!!!), or there'd be someone at the start line that could make sure my wheel was on correctly.

We walked our bikes to the start line (enduring all the neighborhood people outside letting us know that we probably weren't gonna win starting so late..... hahahah people... really????). And guess what? No officials were there. Only two volunteers who told us to go ahead & start. So, Cara and I re-checked my front wheel, decided it looked good enough, and took off.

WHEW!

Once we got going, I got over my angst, and actually started enjoying myself! Some of the local people were still outside as we rode by, and they all cheered for us (and I rang my bike bell back at them!). It was a gorgeous day, I was with my good friend, I was getting some exercise... what was there to NOT enjoy???

See all the other racers? Oh wait... that's Cara. It was just she and I for a LONG time! :)

We actually made it to the first donut stop feeling pretty good. Neither of us had had to stop and walk our bikes up any hills, we didn't feel too tired, and we were pretty excited! Until I looked at the donuts. Ugh... THAT'S when my stomach remembered how it felt the night before. So no donuts for me. :(

From there, we had to decide whether to move forward as long as we could... or to turn around and go back the 10 miles (for a total of 20). I'm amazed at how competitive I felt (even though I knew without a shadow of a doubt I couldn't make it the entire 30 miles), and Cara said she'd do whatever I decided. I actually started moving forward (after a volunteer told us we weren't THAT far behind the big pack of racers), but then common sense prevailed, and we traveled back the same way we came.

I still can't believe how well we did for not training at all. We made it back 20 miles with really very little trouble at all. And the racers who DIDN'T cheat came out to the same road for the last few miles of the race, so we got to ride in with other racers... and have people cheer for us... and ring my bell at them! :)

When we got back, we felt GREAT! It was exciting to know we could do it (and kinda felt like we might have been able to make the whole 30 miles), and it motivated me to train, so NEXT YEAR, I can! (oh, and Don KILLED it... he exceeded his finish time goal by 25 minutes!)

While we were cooling off at the park, I attempted to take Cara and my picture again... the after photo. The fact that I had so much difficulty might have been a clue as to how tired I REALLY was (even though I was riding high at that point):

Huh... how'd I get it sideways? Let's try again..

Oh, I cut off the tops of our heads... Let's try again.

Ugh. This time I cut off our heads even worse. One. More. Time.

Well, this is good enough.

So, even though I had to end up taking a muscle relaxer that night because my knees hurt so bad (and Cara had ice packs on hers all evening, I found out later)... it's motivated me to DO MORE!

BRING ON THE DONUTS!

A Wicked Good Time

2010-07-13T17:00:00.002-05:00

So, Facebook has some definite upsides, you know?

(Although it has some time-sucking definite downsides, too!)

One of these upsides for me has been reconnecting with people I've been close to in other times of my life, then subsequently lost track of (because, when I was a kid and someone moved to the next town over, that could have been across the country in my mind... no kid had cell phones at that point to stay in touch... well, no adult did either!)

So, one of my reconnections (real word? Blogger says "no") was my Kindergarten friend Chad. I went to school with Chad for kindergarten and first grade before he moved far far away (about 10 miles away, I would venture to guess), and we lost touch.

Then there's Ginger... we were great friends starting in first grade through elementary school until she started going to a private school in fifth grade. Then I moved in sixth grade. My first day of high school, I walked into chorus and LO AND BEHOLD, there was Ginger! She and I now go to church together (her hubby is one of the pastors... that's still funny to me that she's married to a pastor!), and I consider her a real friend.

So, through the magic of Facebook, she and I have both reconnected with Chad (Ginger and Chad also went to the private school together for several years). Chad lives about 5 hours away, but made the time a few weekends ago to come visit us, and boy did we have a WICKED good time! :)

On Saturday morning, through Ginger's mad investigative skillz, we found out where our first grade teacher was (in a local nursing home), and we went to visit her. That was such a lovely time... I used to live 2 doors down from Mrs. F, so I remembered her 3 daughters, too. And 2 of them were there during our visit! Mrs. F is as sharp as ever, and seemed really pleased to see us. I'm so glad we saw her!

Then that night, Ginger and I got all gussied up & rode our local transit system train to downtown Big City...

... to meet Chad for dinner before we went to see WICKED!!!

Ginger and I had both seen the musical once before and LOVED it! But this was Chad's... 16th TIME to see it!!! (did I mention that he's a managing editor of a magazine, and also its entertainment editor??? He sees a LOT of shows!)

I enjoyed the show as much the 2nd time, and got tickled at Chad/Ginger as THEY got tickled during the show and couldn't stop laughing. As we were driving back to the train station, we got tickled again, then noticed a rather large man riding a scooter that was about 1/2 the size of him. I wish I had gotten a better picture, but I was laughing and moving at the same time...

Is that first grade humor, or what???

Finally, Chad walked us to our train station (his hotel was right there), and waited for the train with us. It's amazing that even though it's been 25-30 years since we've seen him, we had such a great time reconnecting!

Vacation Rocks (seriously, this is almost all about rocks)

2010-07-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

As our vacation continued, Bub got more and more interested in skipping rocks, finding cool rocks, and climbing up rocks and other terrain (just like vacation last year!).

One day in the National Park, we went hiking again... because I love to! :)

(Do you think the kids were tired of posing the directions yet?)

We found a river a little bit up the path where Bub skipped rocks to his heart's content. And we all took turns taking photos of each other.

(My sweet girl is almost as tall as me!!! *sob*)

Then Sis asked to shoot some pictures. She pointed the camera at Don and me, and we kissed the entire time she was shooting. I love that this already embarrasses her (no one besides our family was even around). There's PLENTY more photos where this one came from! :)

At another hiking path later in the day, Bub got to work on his climbing skills (in
Crocs, no less! We knew we were headed to the Falls, and he wanted to play in the water there).

Finally, we made it to the top to where the gorgeous waterfall was... Don and Hudson had a great time in the REALLY cold water, while Madison sat and people-watched and I took lots of gorgeous shots.

Alas, vacation has been over for a few weeks, but I loved appreciating time with my family. And I loved spending time together in God's beautiful creation.

Tennessee, Tennessee

2010-06-25T00:49:00.000-05:00

I'm on vacation right now... Have you missed me? We're in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We spend the first half of the vacation doing tourist-y things, and we're spending the last few days enjoying God's beautiful nature. Here are the highlights so far:

Friday:
Picked the kids up from the church, as they had been at church camp all week. We have done this deliberately the last 2 years... they are very talkative the first hour or so, telling us EVERYTHING about camp. Then they spent the next few hours chilling, because they were SO exhausted! Spent the night in Lexington, KY.

Saturday:
Woke up late... ate at Crackle Barrel (what Sis calls it), then drove, drove, drove some more. Got into our area and were SHOCKED by the crowds of people! Stopped @ grocery store & headed to our cabin we're staying at. (Are you thrilled beyond words yet at how exciting our trip was up to this point?) Cooked dinner (say WHAT???) and enjoyed each other.

Sunday:
Woke up even later... and were super lazy for most of the day. We let the kids catch up on their lack of sleep from camp. Then we got all cleaned up and headed into town. We went to the outlet mall (yay!), then to Corky's BBQ, which is Don's 2nd favorite place for ribs (he can give you the top 3 places if you ask him). It was DELISH!

Monday:
Went to the Dollywood water park (that's not really what it's called, but it's attached to Dollywood, and I'm too lazy to go find out what it was really called) ALL day long. I could have taken pictures, I guess, but if Momma's in charge of the camera (and I am), there is NO ONE who will be taking my photo in a swimsuit! So, you'll just have to imagine the fun. And it WAS fun!

Tuesday:

As I put on Twitter, we embraced our inner redneck on Tuesday. We spent the day at the Nascar Speedpark. That was so fun watching the kids race. And it was fun that the outlet mall was right next door. :)

Wednesday:
We headed to the National Park, and drove into North Carolina to go hiking as a family. The kids aren't completely into hiking, but they know how much I enjoy it, so they go along willingly.

Then, WE WENT WHITEWATER RAFTING! This deserves all caps, because I am a BIG chicken when it comes to water. I go on float trips armed with long sleeves & a big hat (to keep from getting sunburned) and a life jacket. Even if the water is shallow. So, for me to go whitewater rafting in CLASS 4 RAPIDS (again with the all caps) is a big hairy deal! But I did it. And it was SOOO fun! It helped that we had life jackets and helmets on, AND we had a guide with us. We ALL loved it... Madison has begged to go every day since. I wish I could have gotten one of the pictures of us, so you could see how scared I looked, but they charged a ridiculous amount of $$ for a whole disk of photos. Just trust me that I had a fake smile on and the kids had huge, genuine smiles going (and Don was just a hardcore rafter). Then headed into town to a steakhouse, then went to the late show of Toy Story 3. Days like this make me LOVE vacation and living on our own schedules!

Today (Thursday):
We drove 2 hours into the National Park (I keep wanting to call it a forest for some reason). What beautiful views! Then we stopped at a recreational area (Tsali), where Don mountain biked while the kids and I hiked. We stopped for a hillbilly bath (that's what Bub called it),

then headed to a quaint, small-town pizzeria. We came home happy and exhausted!

We've only got a few days left, but I love that we're making so many family memories!

And we're off!!!

2010-06-18T22:41:00.001-05:00

Headed to the Smoky Mountains...

Updates soon!

Date Camp Week Update

2010-06-17T17:00:00.003-05:00

So, ~~Date Week~~ (oops!) Camp Week seems to be going well.

Luckily, I know the kids' counselors well, so I feel comfortable

AND I know they're cell phone numbers, so I can stalk them with texts.

This is the text photo I got 2 nights ago that said

"It's Quiet Time"

Hmmm...

At least her gag is purple

GO TEAM PURPLE!

Then last night, I got a text from her counselor asking if she could confiscate Sis's book

Because it was making her anti-social.

I think it's funny to take away books, but I wholeheartedly agreed.

She sent proof.

Do you like the way I've been blurring the other kids' faces?

It makes me feel like I should work for 20/20 or something.

The kids come home tomorrow.

I've had a great time focusing on my marriage this week.

But now I'm ready to have some concentrated family time.

We leave for vacation as soon as the kids get back in town.

Like, we put their dirty clothes in the trunk and leave.

Woo hoo!

Camp 2010

2010-06-15T17:00:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again... church camp time

For the kids, that is.

Not Don and me.

We're not the "hang out with hundreds and hundreds of children" type

We are more the "hang out with our two kids" type

The kids left on Monday morning. *sniffle sniffle*

They'll be home Friday afternoon.

That's a long time to be gone, isn't it?

But they'll have a great time.

Right?

The kids have certain colored teams they are on.

Bub is on Team Red.

So guess what we did before he left?

It's a little tough to get the full effect here

because it's still wet from his "dye job."

GO TEAM RED

And then there's Sis.

She's on Team Purple.

She and I decided to try her color on our own

(rather than have it professionally done).

I feel like this might be my calling...

I even begged Don to let me dye his hair.

He said no.

Isn't it cute?

We did one streak,

and then all the tips.

GO TEAM PURPLE!

The nice thing about the kids being gone so long

is that the counselors are nice enough to text me

to keep me up-to-date on how the kids are.

Last night I got these two pics that said,

"Hi, Mom!"

A shake and pizza.

All seems right with the world.

Check out my post from last year (here)

I can't believe how much older the kids look this year!

I miss mah baybies!

Summer Look v. 2

2010-06-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

Tank Top, Denim Shorts

Funky knee socks

Summer Look v. 1

2010-06-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

Skinny Jeans with a wide cuff

Fun Wedge Heeled Sandals in a fun color!

Matching Profiles

2010-06-09T17:00:00.001-05:00

Love is in the air!

2010-06-02T17:00:00.002-05:00

No, not them! They're just friends! And too young! :)

It was this beautiful couple, E & W. E has babysat Sis & Bub, especially in the summers, for years now. And we love her! Wanna know how much?? Any time a bride/groom has asked Bub to be in their wedding in the last few years, he's stood there politely while they asked, then politely said, "No thank you." Seriously. He's had NO desire to be in a wedding.

But when E asked??? There WAS no question, really. Of COURSE he would be in E's wedding!!! And Sis when she was asked to hand out the programs and bubbles? Well, she's NEVER turned down an opportunity to get dolled up!

Once the ceremony was over, I took the opportunity (opportunities?) to take photos of all of us, since it's not very often that we're all dressed up at the same time. If you are someone who gets a Christmas card from me regularly, you may just have one or two of these on your card this year...

A Recorder Recorded

2010-05-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

On one of the last days of school, right before I was set to leave to take the kids to school, Sis told me that she and the rest of the 4th graders were having a recorder concert at 8:30, and did I want to come???

Ugh.

Really????

A RECORDER concert?

I mean, I haven't even been letting Sis practice her recorder in my hearing... I make her go to another floor on the opposite end of the house when she needs to practice. It's musically PAINFUL to listen to a recorder, in my opinion. So, I ~~totally used work as an excuse~~ politely declined to attend.

So, on the way home, both kids were ladened with all their year-end paraphernalia (dried-out markers, pencils with the erasers gone, etc.), and Sis also had her recorder with her. She nonchalantly asked me if I wanted her to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. Feeling slightly guilty for missing her "concert," I agreed. Then I turned and looked at her, and laughed the rest of the way home.

Once Don got home from work, I had her "re-create" her mini-concert for him. And I had the presence of mind to record it from Don's phone:

The one look of Bub

2010-05-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday I showed you all the MANY MANY looks of Sis. She's very artistic, and has a desire to create herself different looks constantly. And then there's Bub. While he's the athletic one in the family, he inherited his artistic talents (or lack thereof!) from his parents (we're STILL not sure where Sis got her talent... not from us!).

Here is Bub's end-of-the-school-year self-portrait:

Looks just like him doesn't it? :)

Along with his self-portrait, he filled out a "Spotlight on Me!" paper...

Here's the close-up version....

I love this format of keeping these memories for them, so they'll have them when they get older (funny drawings and misspellings and all!).

The many looks of Sis

2010-05-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, as the end of the school year approached, I started going through the kids' paperwork that they brought home. Sis's paperwork consisted LESS of actual schoolwork and MORE of her artwork. I especially loved the 2 pages I found where she drew her (I'm assuming it's her) many looks. Here are her looks...

I highlighted a few of them: Here's her "normal look." Note her pose... she "normally" does that all the time. :)

And her Twilight looks... (which is especially funny to me, as I've not allowed her to read the books or watch the movies yet... yet she knows who the "players" are!) If I had to guess on Sis's real leanings, I'm guessing she's more in the Team Jacob camp. The Team Edward Sis looks mean and haughty, doesn't she? And the Team Jacob Sis looks approachable, friendly, and almost "normal."

This is the look that she likes to wear most often (in real life). In fact, she has those exact same knee socks! I'm guessing she feels SASSY when she wears them! And I've got to admit, she's also got the fingerless gloves.

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a REAL LOVE for making up words... apparently so does Sis! I love Casuality (not to be confused with Casualty... that look would be COMPLETELY different!).

The next two looks are looks that Sis would LOVE to have... if only she didn't have such a mean mom! I mean, can you believe that a 10-year-old's mom won't let her dye her hair black??? Although based on the "models'" expressions, I'm guessing that Punkified is more of a desired look than the Emo... just look at how sad the Emo looks (maybe her mean mom won't let her dye her hair blonde... maybe her secret desire is to be a bubbly cheerleader, and her mom just won't let her!).

This next look makes me fear for the future... it's a night out (or "nite out") and look who is flirting flirting flirting! She's finger waving AND winking! AND the sassy fedora seals the deal, doesn't it???

And for night time fashion, there's the PJ play version. Although she has cute PJ's and a cuddly stuffed animal, look how sad she looks. I have a couple of theories of why PJ Play Sis is so sad... One, she just doesn't feel tired! She's not READY for bed! Or two (the real reason, I'm surmising) is that Nite Out Sis is right next to her winking and finger-waving and making PJ Play Sis feel inferior and maybe a bit frumpy. That would just make any girl feel a little down, dontcha think?

The power of marketing

2010-05-19T17:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready & blow-drying my hair, Sis walked into the bathroom.

"Wow, Mom. Your hair is really messy today."

"Yup. That's the way it normally looks, because it's curly. Unless I spend time to straighten it."

"Huh."

"You don't like it?"

"Hmmmm... well..."

Last night, then, as she & I were sitting at Bub's baseball game, she looked at my hair again.

"I really like your hair messy like that, Mom."

"You do? I didn't think you liked it messy."

"Well, I was reading in one of your magazines today about a hair stylist whose salon is in HOLLYWOOD. And she says when she fixes her hair, the bigger and messier, the better."

So, thank you, mystery magazine, for making me okay-looking in Sis's eyes! :)

Storms

2010-05-12T18:30:00.001-05:00

My kids are afraid of storms. Well, and I am, too, a little. But it's mostly been Sis. As she'll tell you, we were stuck in a really scary storm in 2006 in our car. The kids literally screamed most of the way until we got to church. Once we got there, I told the kids to stay in the car until I (or someone else) opened the doors. But Sis panicked, and opened her door. She lost control of it, and it swung (swang? swinged?) around and hit my front door. Our pastor's son finally came out and got each kid one at a time. I was too afraid then to park the car in a regular spot, so I parked it (I drove a Suburban at the time) right next to the church, then ran in. It took my mom and three other ladies to get the church door opened for me. So, yeah, it was scary. And Sis can't get it out of her head every single time she sees a cloud.

And this year, Bub has become afraid of storms as well. It could be because his guided reading group just read a book about tornadoes. (duh!) But anyway, I actually took them to see a counselor about their fears this year. And the counselor, in terms I think they "got," explained to them how worry does NOTHING to stop the events they are worried about. He had us all try to "worry" a pen from falling to the ground after it started rolling down hill.

Believe it or not, our worries didn't stop the pen from falling!

So, as we're in the season of stormy weather (and facing our fears of storms), I have been thinking about other storms in our lives. And boy, does it ever feel like I and the people around me are facing some MAJOR storms these days!

Just in the last 6 weeks, I had my ruptured appendix. Yup, I dealt with that. Then we got a contract on our house (it's been on the market for some time now)... and the people wanted to close in two weeks! And did I mention I was barely post-op? So, OTHER PEOPLE (not me) started packing our house up. Then (long story short), the people backed out. So we had to UNPACK. In our own house. Then I contracted a bacterial infection that made me contagious (from being on antibiotics for so long). And I couldn't touch my family for 2 weeks (this was while we were unpacking, so OTHER PEOPLE did that, too). That's been my storm...

And others' storms:

There are marital storms going on around me

There are MAJOR health-related storms going on with those I love

And financial storms

And spiritual storms

Relationship storms

Family storms

BOOM! CRACK! The thunder & lightning of these storms are all around.

It can be so discouraging.

Except...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

and

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

and

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms 73:26

As discouraged as I've been lately (and I HAVE been discouraged), I'm comforted to remember that God's in control. And He's not surprised AT ALL about any of these storms. And not only that... He's got my back!

By that, I mean that I FIRMLY believe that God sees the Big Picture that I'm not able to see right now. Even looking back over the last few months, I can still see His light shining through some of these storms. While there are marital storms going on, I've seen marriages restored. While there are health storms going on, I've seen (and experienced) God's peace. When I have felt alone and afraid, God's sent some people along who really, really have comforted me.

So, while the storms are still there... I'm still choosing to NOT worry, and instead, praise my Creator, who can carry me through this and any storm.

Weekend Snippets

2010-05-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

How was your weekend? Mine was great! I was finally out among the living (not sick anymore! THAT'S another post for another time!), so I had lots and lots of fun social time.

Friday night, Don and I went out to dinner with our friends T&J for T's birthday. I wore a new necklace AND I curled my hair! :) I'd say I was excited to get out!

Saturday was spent cleaning house, folding laundry, planting flowers, graduation parties, and THEN Don and I (see a theme? Two nights in a row, I had a semi-date with my hubby!) went to some MMA fights with some friends. Yup, the ultimate fighting. Gruesome and violent sport that it is... it's AWESOME! :) It was too dark at the fights for pictures, so I made Don take a self-portrait on my phone of us when we got home.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I had the privilege to not only be with my children, but to see both my grandmothers, and hang out with my mom (& the rest of my family), my grandma, and my mother-in-law all afternoon. I loved the day... lots of laughing and eating. Oh, and game playing. My niece, Little Sissy, decided that we should ALL play Duck, Duck, Goose... so we did... even my Grandma. I don't believe I've laughed that hard in a long time! :) I also downloaded a new app on my phone (Hipstamatic), so I played with it for some of these pictures...

My Sister, Elissa, and Sis...

Bub

My grandma, my mom, and the sisters

My dad and Little Sissy, my niece

My grandma and Little Buddy, sporting his new robe

My Bub

Another group shot...

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm inspired

2010-04-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

So, I'm not very crafty. Or artistic. I don't scrapbook. I don't stamp. I don't draw. I don't sew (although sometimes I DO knit!). But I have a very talented, artistic cousin (maybe THAT'S where Sis gets it... because it's not from Don or me!). She's recently started a blog that you can find here, that focuses on her latest artistic endeavors.

One of her blogs that I really enjoyed (here) was about reusing old fabrics and being inspired to make wrist cuffs. Today we had lunch, and she gave me one!

It doesn't match my outfit at all today, but I'm wearing it anyway, because it's so cute! (and yes, I know I need a manicure! hehe).

Hair today, gone tomorrow

2010-04-25T21:49:00.002-05:00

Here's Bub while we were on vacation in San Antonio (see all the Pottery Barn boxes in the background? It was an outlet... Awesome!). Anyway, Bub was ready to talk (but only talk) about cutting his hair shorter for the summer. But he was waffling...

So Don and I told him he could get ANY crazy haircut he wanted for his birthday weekend, but he'd have to cut it all off at the end of the weekend. We said he could even choose a MULLET if he wanted!!!

But he chose...

Yup, a spiky Mohawk. And yes, he carried his WWE belt with him practically the whole time his hair was like this.

Then came Sunday...

How cute is he???? Don't get me wrong... I like it long, too, but it's so cute now!

- Darla

On a related note

2010-04-12T16:56:00.000-05:00

From the minute I even saw Sis's ultrasound picture, I could tell she resembled Don's side of the family. It was the nose! She already had the same nose as his mom, sister AND niece! Once Sis was born and we saw her coloring, we realized how MUCH she resembled Don's mom!

Ten years later, there's still no doubt they're related!

- Darla

The fun never stops!

2010-03-26T04:05:00.001-05:00

So we spent the last night of our vacation driving the majority of the way home, but stopping in Kansas City (2 hours out of our way, but...) to take the kids to an indoor water park. Everything worked out perfectly. The park was open from 4-9 pm, which gave us the bulk of the day to drive, but still gave the kids plenty of play time as well. Everyone had a great time!

Don and I decided to make the 4 hour drive home afterwards instead of staying in a hotel one more night. And it's a good thing we did... We got home at 1:30 and by 4:30, I was sick and continued to be sick for the next 15 hours. I knew for sure that I had food poisoning! It was awful!

By Wednesday, I was no longer throwing up (trying to be not too gross here!), but my stomach pains were not going away. Don finally went to The Walmarts at 11:30 that night to get me Gas-X because that's what I decided I needed. After I took it, though, I felt even worse! Don and the kids were already asleep by this point, and I finally prayed that if it was just some freaky-bad gas, for God to take it away, but if it was something else, that I would know.

I went to my "medical expert," Google, and looked up appendicitis symptoms when my "gas" didn't go away, and OH MY GOODNESS! While all my symptoms met the food poisoning symptoms, they also met the appendicitis symptoms! By this time, my pain was even more severe, so I woke poor Don up, and he rushed me to the ER, where they diagnosed me with appendicitis and a quick 10 hours later (ha!), they removed my appendix. Definitely not the ending of a vacation that I had in mind, but at least we caught it in time (it was barely ruptured) and they were able to do the surgery laparoscopically instead of the full deal.

So, yup, I'm now lyin in my hospital bed listening to my hubby breathe deeply on the couch (that sounds so much nicer than saying he's snoring, don't you think?), and I'm soo grateful that I'm surrounded by medical professionals who ate takin such good care of me.

So, teacher, that's what I did on MY vacation! :-)

P.S. I'm on quite a bit of meds, so hopefully this all makes sense!

- Darla

Texas Grub

2010-03-20T23:19:00.001-05:00

Before we leave Texas, we decided we wanted to have some "real" Texas barbecue. So after asking around, we ended up at Rudy's B-B-Q. And boy was it good! It was quite an experience, too!

We started off in a long line, with a trough of bottled drinks on ice to choose from. Then a lot of people were yelling to take all the orders. Then we walked inside with all our grub to an old-fashioned feeling place.

They had their own barbecue "sause."

All of our food was put on these little crate-like trays. That paper wrapping the meat was our "plates.". (and "yes," I "get" that I'm using a "lot" of "quotes!")

We had the old fashioned checkered tablecloths, glass bottled root beers, and plenty of barbecue (brisket, baby back ribs & chicken!).

And the walls were all painted with people. This was the lady painted next to our table. Can you see her on curler in her hair?

And how 'bout this farmer guy with his big ol' belly?

So, the food itself was a bust with the kids (they didn't like the spices on the chicken), but we all enjoyed the fun Texas time!

- Darla

San Antone

2010-03-20T12:41:00.000-05:00

So, I had to go to San Antonio for a work meeting, so Don & I decided that it would be fun to make it a family vacation. We drove the looooong drive Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. Thursday I had a meeting all day. Then, when I got finished, I had 2 hours for fun before dinner with my work group. Don went for a bike ride, & the kids and I went to a Children's museum that had free admission for children just for that evening.

See the line in front of us? The line was just as long behind us! I guess we weren't the only ones who heard about the special...

The kids enjoyed all the hands-on activities. Here Bub is "driving" some sort of tractor thing-y. A Holt, maybe?

After dinner, we took a beautiful nighttime boat tour down the San Antonio River. Very fun!

Yesterday I had only a half day of meetings so we squeezed a lot in afterwards! We visited the riverwalk, the Alamo, the Guiness World Book of Records Museum, dinner/lunch, then Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3-D.

Oh, and we moved hotels from my very nice work hotel (without a pool) to one with an indoor pool. The kids have currently been swimming for over 2 hours!

After we get cleaned up, we're headed to the art museum at Sis's request. But truly, I'm with my family, away from obligations, so no matter what we do, it's all good!

- Darla

A story in pictures: Game Night

2010-03-02T22:50:00.000-06:00

So, I had a game night last Friday night with my mom and my grandma (my mom's mom). All I can do is chuckle when I think back to knowing FOR SURE where I get my game-playing competitiveness! I may not be able to play sports, but I'll go down fighting in a good game of Rummikub!

I, of course, didn't bring my camera (I seem to forget I own one these days!), but I was going through my photos and I found photos from another game night that Don and I had at home with the kids. And even there, where my camera LIVES, I was apparently too lazy to go get my camera... I chose instead to stay on my bum and take blurry photos with my phone.

So, kids... let's play Jenga! You want to? No, it's boring!!! I'm tired of that game!!!

Well, why don't we just build a skyscraper with the blocks instead? OK!

Yo, Mom! Check out our building so far... and my gang sign!

Oooooo... it's getting taller!!!

I bet I can get my forehead thisclose to it without knocking it down!

And hey, does anyone want to play football around a skyscraper barely standing?

Whoa, dad! I don't know if we can get it any taller!

See our creation? We're taking a bow! (subtitle: let's see if we can swing our heads around without knocking it down!)

I don't know Bub... you might actually knock it down! Be careful!

OH NO!!!

Oh well... it was fun while it lasted.

THE END

What's black and white and red all over?

2010-02-24T17:27:00.002-06:00

A newspaper? A skunk on the side of the road?

So, what's black and white and PINK all over?

ME!!!!

*How 'bout them freaky big hands?*

Blessed

2010-02-19T19:49:00.003-06:00

*My grandparents and 9 of the 18 silly grandchildren*

Last Friday, my sweet, sweet grandfather passed away. It wasn't unexpected, but it was hard, nonetheless.

But, you know what?

I am blessed.

I am blessed that I have SUCH a great heritage... I've had the 2 best grandfathers in the world (my other grandfather passed away 10 years ago next month... I've got no doubt that he was in Heaven to greet my grandfather last week), and I have the 2 best grandmas in the world, too!

I am blessed that I know I am loved... no one in my family should ever doubt they are loved... my grandpa was the best example of making sure we all knew.

I am blessed that I know I'll see my grandpa(s) again in Heaven someday... the hope of eternal life is SUCH a blessing, isn't it?

I am blessed with a LARGE extended family... 50 or so of us (mostly immediate family) rode a bus to "down home" for a 2nd funeral service for my grandpa this week. There was another 100 or so family members to meet us and help us celebrate grandpa's life some more.

I am blessed with lots and lots of people who love me and my family... 1200 people at a funeral visitation for an 86-yr-old man... WOW!

I am blessed with a big, boisterous family that I love. But I'm also blessed with a not-as-big, not-as-quite-boisterous family on my mom's side that I also love. And I'm blessed with a not-very-big-at-all, not-too-loud-at-all family on Don's side that I love.

I am blessed with lots of great memories of my grandfather.

I am blessed with a Christian heritage that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Here's one of the songs that my aunt and I sang at the funerals. We sang this song over and over around my grandpa's bed:

I am blessed
I am blessed
Everyday that I live I am blessed
When I wake up in the morning
Or I lay my head to rest
I am blessed
I am blessed

I. Am. Blessed.

******************

Last night, when Sis was saying her good-night prayer, she asked God to tell Grandpa "hi." *sniff*

******************

I don't really know how to end this... there are so many more things to say, but I think I'm done writing them. For now. Just know... I am blessed.

My back is fine

2010-02-11T17:15:00.000-06:00

So, today I had a really important meeting with some people I work with and someone from "the outside." They were all gathered in my office, and I left my desk to walk over to my little conference table to join them.

OG (Outside guest): So, do you have back problems?

Me (wondering if I took too long to stand up???): Um...

OG: Or is that a fashion statement of some kind?

Me: (realizing that he is not talking about how I'm walking, but about the fact I have a wide belt on) It's a fashion statement? (and yes, I did phrase it as a question... because apparently he didn't think it was!)

So, after we spent some time discussing the fact that he doesn't understand fashion (he said that... not me!) and had our meeting, I went and re-examined my outfit.

So, thoughts?

Is my belt akin to a neck brace for someone with whiplash?

Does anyone else think this is as funny as I do?

These are the questions that could very well keep me up tonight (especially the last one!).

Packaging Fail

2010-02-04T16:16:00.003-06:00

So, um, Bub is a little like me in that he's REALLY REALLY excited to buy Christmas gifts for all his family members, but once Christmas hits, he kind of forgets that he actually bought anything (perhaps in the mad rush to open all of HIS GIFTS?). So, Don, Sis & I were blessed with some forgotten gifts from him earlier this week.

I got a lovely necklace (along with another "sapphire" necklace & earrings that he DID remember to give me on Christmas morning)...
But notice anything weird? The necklace says #1 Mom (I know the picture is blurry... just trust me)
But look at the packaging. #1 Sister???

Does this mean that Sis and I have to share the gift?