Family Date Night

On Wednesday night we had a family date night. We had planned to visit the North TX State Fair and watch the rodeo, then added up how much admission for six people, parking and even a couple of rides per child would total and decided to find something cheaper. (We are trying very hard to budget better.) The kids have been asking for quite a while to go to Cabella's, so we started the evening by heading there.

For those of you who do not live in TX, Cabella's is a sporting goods store . . . on steroids. The store is HUGE and has a small aquarium and multiple exhibits of animals from around the world that have been stuffed. The kids loved the fish, although Kylie was a bit concerned about the sunken boat in one of the tanks for the fish to swim around and under. She was afraid that the fish would eat anyone who tried to ride in the boat. We tried to explain to her that no one would ride in the boat because it had sunk, but she remained nervous about it. The kids liked the catfish best - I think because of the whisker thingies. Rob liked the gar (or gars???) best. I liked the koi.

The next stop was the African animal exhibit. The elephant was a huge hit, as was the rhino. Jack loved the lions and the girls loved the baboons (which they called monkeys). On to the next exhibit, which I think was North American animals. It was a three story high mountain in the middle of the store covered with animals ranging from chipmunks to sheep to bears - including black bears, brown bears, a grizzly bear and a huge polar bear. I had not realized how large polar bears are. The girls learned the difference between male and female moose (meaning the antlers) and had Rob repeat his grizzled tales of living near woods that contained many of the animals. Each of the kids got to pick out a postcard as a souvenir (they were on sale for about 10 cents) and we went upstairs and bought some cinnamon roasted almonds and cashews. Megan and Kylie requested a picture with the stuffed moose. Jack complied, but Beth was not interested in participating.



We visited another animal exhibit that had a lot of deer and TX animals like armadillo and rattlesnakes and wild pigs things whose name I forget. This room had a talking figure of a hunter/woodsman that initially startled the girls (to the amusement of several men in the room who were admiring the antlers or something), but that they enjoyed after getting over their surprise.

Rob's favorite part was the guns, of course. They have a gun museum room thingy that had him drooling. The girls were more interested in the stuffed ducks. They learned that male ducks are usually more colorful than females, which Megan and Kylie thought was a bit backwards.

After Cabella's we headed off to Chick-fil-a as the girls had gotten certificates from the dentist last week for free kids meals. I have no idea what was going on that night there, but the drive thru line went all the way around the building and the dining room looked packed, so we opted to go to the BK next to it instead. The kids were thrilled with their BK crowns :) Meg, Kylie and Jack had a blast on the slide thingy. Beth preferred to stay with Rob and I and lick all the ketchup out of the little paper cups. We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to our next family date night!





On a completely different topic, Rob and I reorganized and cleaned our library today. I LOVE that our kids cannot resist books on the floor. When I was sorting through them, all four gravitated to the library and read and read. Simon climbed up on the couch next to Megan and Meg read a Henry and Mudge book to him. He fell asleep :)

Another thing about our kids that I love is that cut veggies never make it to the table in our house. As soon as the kids figure out that I am cutting up fresh veggies for dinner, they come running and end up eating almost all of them before I even get them on a plate. Tonight we had grilled hot dogs and sausages, homemade french fries (baked), and a veggie plate with cucumbers, carrots and celery. I think three slices of cucumber (out of two fairly large cucumbers) made it to the table :)

The 2nd Day

Kylie and Meg's first day at school for the year went well. They both love their teachers and Megan has a lot of friends from previous years in her class. Kylie made four friends yesterday, two boys and two girls, however "their names are secret" (according to her), which I think means she forgot them :) We took Simon with us to pick them up from school and decided that in the future we will leave him at home - at least until it cools off to the 60's and everyone drives to pick up their children because it's "too cold". Simon behaved well, and started off happily, but by the time we got to school his tail was between his legs and as soon as we stopped he hid under the stroller. Too much noise I guess between all the cars, the buses and the bazillion parents that walked their kids home yesterday. He pulled so hard at the leash on the way home that I was afraid he would strangle himself and once we got inside he hid under the desk for quite a while. I have to admit that he's a bit of a wimp.

Our second school day got off to a challenging start when we slept through the alarm and woke up 20 mins before Rob and the girls had to leave. The girls had picked out their clothes the night before though and they jumped up and got ready really fast, so they weren't even late to school! They even had time to eat breakfast :)

Beth decided to sleep in Jack's room last night (he has a double bed in there as well as his crib - yes, I know he's two, but he hasn't climbed out of the crib yet and having him still sleep in his crib makes life so much easier!), so she and Jack slept through the morning rush. They woke up around 8:30 and talked and played for a while before deciding they wanted to come out. I loved listening to them through the baby monitor! After breakfast they headed off to the playroom and I thought "wow! It is going to be so much easier to get things done!" I stopped thinking that about 10 minutes later when Jack and Beth decided they were tired of entertaining themselves and there were no older sisters to help entertain them.

So homework was put on hold and paint sets came out . . .







They both loved painting. Beth neatly painted her pictures and when she was done, there were no stray drops of water in the paints, no paint on her hands or clothes. Jack, on the other hand, had managed to get paint and water all over his side of the table, all over his hands and even all over his face. They both had fun though!

Then we decided to play with blocks . . .

Beth built several "little castles"


Jack opted for towers




Then Beth built a big house and the smaller blocks turned into people who lived in the house. I love listening to the conversations she has when she is playing!


Jack got bored building towers and did kung fu with the blocks instead




No homework done today, but that's ok :) I spent time with two of my kids :)

On Monday all the kids and I made a tree for the front window. We usually have some art project on display there, but haven't for a while. We decided since school was starting and it will be fall soon that we would make a fall tree. I bet ours is the only tree where the leaves turn purple and pink though! We have one blue leaf, which Megan carefully made, then announced that it was "the blue leaf from the old oak tree" - she then said "I love that phrase!" I don't quite know exactly where that phrase came from, but she reminds me of myself at her age :) I remember giving things names too. There was a little clearing in the woods near my house growing up that I named "the white way of delight", which I'm sure was inspired by Anne of Green Gables.

In Response to Becca . . .

Becca, finally having gotten around to reading the posts on this blog from the past month, wrote the following on my facebook "wall" ~

"Being a ham (starting young, but he is related to his Aunt Becca, so he comes by it naturally)"

Cute Laney...CUTE :)

To which I responded with ~

I knew you'd love it :)

Becca's response to this was ~

its SLANDER! :) you have no proof!

As I would hate to have anyone think I had committed slander, I offer the following as proof of my claim that my children inherited their "hamminess" from Becca . . .












Although I suppose it could have come from Rob too . . .

Kylie's first day of Kindergarten

The house is very quiet. I guess that's what happens when half your children head off to school for the day. My little Kyliekins started kindergarten this morning. It was not nearly as hard as sending Megan off was and I think it was made easier by freaking out over trying to find Kylie's vaccination record so they would let her in to her class. I strongly recommend it for parents who are nervous about sending their children to school!

Last night the kids all took baths and I gave everyone a hair cut. Kylie decided she wanted her hair cut short so she could be "hair twins" with Megan and Beth. I double-checked a dozen times to make sure that's what she really wanted, then chopped off half her hair. She looks adorable, but I will miss having a daughter who has hair long enough to french braid. After the hair cuts, we picked out outfits to wear. Kylie had hers picked out a month or two ago when I brought home her new school clothes. Among them was a cute little daisy dress that Kylie loves. She has new school shoes, but they are pink and don't really match the dress, so she got to wear her church sandals to school today. Megan's taste is a bit more eclectic. She originally said she wanted to wear a floor length skirt with a white blouse, but I suggested we pick something else and she picked a cute little outfit that matched her new High School Musical sketchers. The socks were her choice :)





Kiki came over to see Kylie off and stay with Beth and Jack so I could go too without having to get them both up. We left slightly late as we couldn't find Kylie's vaccination records, but made it to school on time. Kylie did great! She put her lunch in the pile of lunch boxes and her backpack in her locker and headed off into her classroom without a tear. Megan did great too :) Her BFF (best friend forever) from kindergarten is in her class this year and she is very excited about it! It felt different this year. We knew enough to bring all their stuff to school on "meet the teacher" night, so they just had their lunches to carry. We knew quite a few parents and teachers and knew our way around school.

You know, sometimes it seems so odd to me that I'm the mother of school-aged children. When exactly did this happen???

Kiki and Beth had lots of fun waiting for us at home. Kiki has an iPhone and has downloaded lots of games for the kids onto it. Beth spent the whole time sitting on the couch and playing on the iPhone.


Jack slept through the whole process. When we got home, Rob left for work, then I searched the house for the vaccination records. Of course, it only took ME 10 mins to find them (Rob was the one looking for them earlier as I was making lunches and feeding the girls and doing hair). I called the school to see if I could bring them by after Jack woke and discovered that no, they had to be their NOW. So, Beth and I rushed upstairs and got her dressed, woke up Jack and headed back off to school. 30 mins later we were back and suddenly things were quiet and calm and sort of eerie. I am not used to just having Beth and Jack. I am going to head off to do homework and housework now. Beth and Jack are playing nicely with each other in the playroom. Simon is contentedly destroying a plastic juice container. I feel odd - like there is something else that should be going on.

The following picture was taken this morning (after we got back from everything). Jack and I were in the backyard with Simon and we spotted a beautiful yellow butterfly. It was flitting back and forth between the flowers in our yard. The contrast between the purple flowers and the yellow butterfly was so beautiful ~

Dinner at the Knowltons

Rob and I both read - a lot - and both of us have discovered things in the books we have read that we want to pass on to our kids. One of the books we've both read and loved is called Cheaper by the Dozen (there's a sequel too). The parents in that book use every opportunity to teach their kids and meal times are often used to drill the children on various subjects. We have not gone quite as far as those parents did - we have not yet painted the morse code on the ceiling (although I admit that I'm tempted), but I guess we're getting there.

At dinner on Thursday Rob and I were working with Kylie on fractions. Kylie has always shown a propensity for math. She could count to 100 when she was three. (Meg, on the other hand, shines at reading and was reading at age three and is now reading at a 9th grade level - she just turned 7 and is going into 2nd grade.) Anyway, so Rob's explaining the concept of fractions to Kylie and does so by taking all the biscuits off the plate and dividing them into piles to illustrate the math problem he's asking. It made us laugh when we noticed what we were doing :) Anyway, after he had illustrated several problems, he had her answer several without using the biscuits. (i.e. what is half of four?) We asked her "what is half of two?" and from the other side of the table, my little three year old pipes up without hesitation "One!" What a smartie! Rob told them they each earned a square (per our reward chart) for being smart - lol :) He also reduced the number of bites Kylie had to eat to get another biscuit every time she answered a question correctly.

Happy Anniversary Laney

12 years ago my life changed in the most unexpected way. I never thought I would walk into an apt. in Rexburg, ID and meet a girl, who I thought could only exist in my dreams, but there you were. I had no idea what I had been missing my whole life until I realized, at that moment, that I had never been complete. Once I knew I had been missing my other half, I could not rest until you were with me forever. I had never meet anyone like you. Breathtaking beautiful, so smart, very sweet and funny to boot, the perfect combination of everything.

I was tough-tied, how could I approach this beautiful, sophisticated woman? I knew I was way out of my league, but I didn't care. Every time I felt like quitting, because I could just not get through to you, I kept coming back. I could not help it, there was something about you that I could not get out of my system. Somehow I managed to impress you enough to marry me. (Once that happened, I didn't think I would ever be able to ask for anything else in life) Our marriage has been full of the greatest highs and the hardest lows.Through it all, your presence and love has kept me going. It has been more of a learning experience that I ever could have imagined. It has been so worth it to be with my best friend. I look at what we have gone through, the moving from ID to New England to TX, the 4 great kids we have and everything else that has taken place in between those things.

Laney, I am so glad for the time we have spent together and I so look forward to the years to come. Life is better because of you. 143x100

Rob

12 Years Ago Tomorrow . . .

Rob and I were married in the Portland Oregon Temple.


Marriage has been harder than I thought it would be. All the fairy tales end with "happily ever after . . . " I think it would be more appropriate to put something like "mostly happily, but occasionally frustratingly, angrily, exhaustedly, and overwhelmedly ever after." That being said, I wouldn't have missed this for the world! Rob is my best friend and I am so glad I get to spend the rest of eternity with him!

We've had our moments - twelve years ago, Rob had just driven with me to pick up my parents at the airport for our wedding (this was the first time he had met them by the way). He came down with the flu that afternoon and stopped and bought Nyquil on our way to the hotel. He then crashed for the night in MY hotel room, so I ended up sleeping on a portable bed in my parents' room. We called and asked his parents to bring his stuff to the temple the next morning, but as he didn't have it all together, we ended up with no shirt for him. Fortunately the temple had them available for rent, but we had to return it before we left, so in all the photos after the ceremony, Rob has on a grey t-shirt (turned around backwards as it had a design on the front). He was sick as a dog that whole weekend, so I got to watch a lot of tv and spend a lot of time staring at the ocean from our wonderful beach-front balcony on the Oregon coast. He felt much better the morning we checked out, although we discovered the lights on the car had been left on and the battery was dead. Yes, some people have dream honeymoons, but ours makes a much better story I think :)

The story of how we met is my favorite though :) Rob had gotten home from his mission about six months earlier and was living at home with his parents in OR. I was at Ricks (now BYU-ID, I know, but it will always be Ricks to us), planning to work for one summer term than move down to Provo as I was transferring down to BYU so I could stay with one of my roommates, Rachel, who had graduated from Ricks that spring. Rob woke up one morning with a strong feeling that he should go to Ricks, so he packed up his stuff and left the next day. He had not applied (or been accepted obviously), had no job and no place to stay. He did know a family in the area that he was able to stay with for a day or two while he found an apartment. He happened to move in with several friends of mine. I, not knowing he had moved in that day, called that evening to invite his roommates over. Rob answered. I thought he was someone else - someone I knew - so we had a lovely conversation for several minutes until I figured out I was talking to a complete stranger. I was very embarrassed. His roommates had been planning on going to visit another girl (one of his roommates had a crush on her), but since Rob was the new guy, they let him pick. He said he wanted to meet me, so they headed over. From the moment he walked in the door, he didn't say two words to anyone. I tried to talk to him, but it didn't work very well. HE claims that he was tongue-tied because he says I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen :) I like that excuse :) Rob says he knew from the moment he saw me that I was his future wife, it just took him 48 hours to get up the guts to ask me. We finally ended up talking towards the end of Saturday evening. He came over after church the next day and finagled his way into going on a walk with me alone. Talking with him was like nothing I have ever experienced before. It sounds corny, I know, but we already knew each other. It was like suddenly I discovered the best friend that had been missing my whole life. He gave me my first kiss that night (I had just turned 19 three days earlier). He was waiting for me the next day when I got off work. That night he asked me to marry him. I couldn't imagine living without him, so thirteen weeks later we got married. Yes, it was fast, but Rob likes to quote one of the last lines from "When Harry Met Sally" - "when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

Rob - I love you! I'm so glad I have you to spend the rest of my life and eternity with!

Homework's done but Beth's awake

so here I am again :) Beth took a late nap (she, Meg and Jack are all getting over colds so I didn't want to wake her up) and that means she will not go to bed until at least midnight. I finished my homework for this week, including the rough draft of my huge major project, have answered all recent emails (I think), and am bored with facebook. I got another one of those questionnaire thingys, so you lucky readers get to find out more random things about me! Yay for you! :)


1. What time did you get up this morning? First when Rob got up, then when Megan did, then for good when Jack did.

2. How do you like your steak? medium rare

3. What was the last Movie you saw? In theater - Star Trek (Rob wanted to see it - it was very interesting to see how they changed it so they could explain any discrepancies between the movie and the series - granted that since I don't think I've ever actually watched a whole Star Trek episode, I would never have noticed). Don't remember what movie at home.

4. What is your favorite TV show? L&O, L&O SVU, Scrubs, Intervention, Corner Gas, Arrested Development, Good Eats

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Maine coast

6. What did you have for breakfast? Double stuf oreos left over from making Jack's cake yesterday (sometimes you just have to have oreos for breakfast) and honey nut cheerios with milk

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian, Brazilian, seafood

8. What foods do you dislike? cooked green peppers - except on pizza

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Mimi's, Olive Garden

10. Favorite dressing? Blue cheese

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Honda Odyssey

12. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans and a nice shirt with nice shoes

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Sicily

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full - why waste time looking at it half empty?

15. Where would you want to retire? Condo where our kids are living and summer house on the Maine coast

16. Favorite time of day? evening

17. Where were you born? upstate NY

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Ballroom dancing, Red Sox

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? N/A

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? N/A

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Anyone who chooses to do it

22. Bird watcher? Not really, although I try to notice more interesting birds to point out to the kids.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night

24. Do you have any pets? 3 cats - Harlequin, Max and Cricket, and 1 dog - Simon

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? No

26. What did you want to be when you were little? Singer

27. What is your best childhood memory? Don't really have just one

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Cat

29. Are you married? Yes

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes

31. Been in a car accident? Yes

32. Any pet peeves? People who judge other people - I used to have many more, like silverware placement on the table, but after having four kids, as long as silverware is used I consider myself lucky :)

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Supreme

34. Favorite Flower? Lilacs and red roses

35. Favorite ice cream? At the moment Breyers chocolate

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chick-fil-a - they have awesome lemonade and nuggets :)

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None

38. From whom did you get your last email? FastWeb Scholarships

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I don't want any of my credit cards maxed out

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? I do lots of spontaneous things such as grab for children as they fall off things, but nothing horribly interesting lately

41. Like your job? Yes

42. Broccoli? Cauliflower? Both!

43. What was your favorite vacation? There was a trip to FL when I was a kid that was particularly fun, but I couldn't tell you which trip to FL it was, and the trip Rob, my family and I took touring the National Parks in UT, AZ, CO, and NM in 97. Most vacations have been fun though :)

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? Beca

45. What are you listening to right now? Beth talking about the scrapbook as she looks through it, Simon's tag clinking as he runs around, Josh Groban

46. What is your favorite color? Blue and purple

47. How many tattoos do you have? None

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? N/A

49. What time did you finish this quiz? Midnight exactly :)

50. Coffee Drinker? Never tried it

In honor of Jack's birthday

Two years ago yesterday Jack was born :)

Susie had been visiting with us for about a week. She was scheduled to fly back to MA on August 11th so she could go to girls camp, but at my doctor's appt that week, the doctor told me he though Jack would be making an appearance sooner rather than later. My parents were vacationing in Alaska and couldn't be reached by cell phone, so we took a chance and changed Susie's ticket without asking them (they didn't mind) as Sus decided she would rather be here for Jack's birth than go to girls camp.

Monday morning I had a doctor's appt at 8:30am. Sus stayed with the girls and Rob took me to the appt. The doctor thought I was in labor, so he sent me over to the hospital for monitoring. By about 11am it was obvious that Jack would be arriving that day (they thought my due date was Sept 10th, but the pediatrician decided after his birth that they must have been off by a week or so as he was fine). Susie got the girls ready and Christy left work to go get them all.

Christy and Sus took the girls to eat lunch at McD's and play in the play area for a while. Following lunch, they spent several hours entertaining them in the hospital halls while we waited for Jack. By about 5pm Christy took the girls home for dinner as it looked like Jack was taking his time. Sus stayed at the hospital with Rob and I. Jack decided that was the perfect time to show up (he was born less than 20 mins after Christy and the girls left). Sus was in the room with us. It was wonderful to get to share such a special event with her!

Christy and the girls came back after dinner to meet Jack. I remember Beth wasn't horribly interested in him except for his feet. She was enthralled by them and kept unwrapping his blanket to look at them, then taking off her shoes and comparing her feet to his. It was instant love for the rest of us :)

Some of my favorite pictures of Jack from the last two years ~

Rob holding Jack for the first time ~


Susie getting to hold him ~


Baby Jack ~




Megan and Kylie with their baby brother ~


Napping with Dad (I love this picture!) ~


Being a ham (starting young, but he is related to his Aunt Becca, so he comes by it naturally) ~


With Beth ~


Cuddling and content with Sus ~


Meeting Molly ~


Me and Mini-Me ~


With his great-grandpa Knowlton - they loved each other! ~


Various Jack grins ~

Jack's cake

(and other picture that happen to have been on the camera and hadn't been downloaded yet)

Another picture of Jack and Simon from the other day :)


Kylie and Megan - Megan is dressed as an old woman and Kylie is dressed as a "shopper girl" (according to Megan - when I originally asked Kylie what they were dressed as, she said Megan was a man and she was a girl - Rob, what have you been wearing when I'm not home???) ~


A gecko we found in the kitchen the other night. I love geckos! This one was one of the biggest I've seen in our house - he was about 4 inches long ~


Licking the cake batter this morning after I put the cakes in the oven ~


Megan helping Jack ride Kylie's bike around the kitchen. Holy freak, he looks old! When did my baby get so big???


I made Jack a train cake for his birthday. I looked up a bunch online, then made my own :) The engine is covered with chocolate frosting and decorated with reeses pieces, the middle car has strawberry frosting and is filled with yogurt covered blueberries, and the caboose has butter cream frosting and is decorated with skittles :)


From the front ~

What I do when everyone else goes to bed by 8pm . . .

(copied from facebook)
RULES - Copy, paste, and fill out
******************************************************
Can you fill this out without lying? Probably

What was the last thing you put in your mouth? Crushed ice.

Have you ever kissed anyone named Matthew? Possibly as a child??? Only guy I've ever kissed is Rob though.

Where was your profile picture (on facebook) taken? Under my desk (it's the picture of Jack hugging Simon)

Can you play guitar hero? Never tried, although bought Rob the tiny one, so may end up trying at some point. Rob loves it, but we don't have a wii.

Name someone that made you laugh today? Jack

How late did you stay up last night and why? 2 am - sorting clothes to donate and watching tv

If you could move somewhere else, would you? Hard question. Maybe. It would depend on the situation.

Ever been kissed under fireworks? Don't think so???

Which of your friends lives closest to you? Crysta - five houses away is hard to beat.

Do you believe ex's can be friends? Don't really have ex's.

Calling or texting? Calling.

When was the last time you cried really hard? Not a clue.

Where are you right now? At my desk in the dining room.

What bed did you sleep in last night? Mine.

What was the last thing someone bought for you? Rob bought me chocolate yesterday :)

Who was the last person you took a picture of? Megan and Kylie

Was yesterday better than today? I got more done yesterday, so probably.

Are you mad about anything? No.

Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Absolutely.

Are you a bad influence? Not usually :)

Night out or night in? Night out, but not too late - dinner and a movie is about as wild as I get :)

What items could you not go without during the day? Rob, kids, computer, internet, cell phone.

What did the last text message you got say? I think it was from Brittney asking what we were doing to see if she could come hang out with me and the kids???

How do you feel about your life right now? Tired, but content.

Do you hate anyone? the Yankees :)

Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Yes

Has anyone ever called you perfect before? Yes - lol :)

What song is stuck in your head? Nothing at the moment. Listening to the theme from Gettysburg.

Someone knocks on your window at 2am, who do you want it to be? As my bedroom is on the second floor, I would think it would only be a fireman or someone like that. I'd prefer for it not to happen :)

Wanna have grandkids before you’re 50? If it happens. I had Meg at 24, so if I'm not a g'ma by 50, then she waited longer than I did, but either way is ok :) I do NOT want to be a g'ma before 45 though!

Name something you have to do tomorrow? Make Jack's b-day cake. I'm making a train :)

Do you think too much or too little? Way too much.

Do you smile a lot? Yes.

Who was your last missed call on your Mobile phone? Have no idea and my cell isn't next to me.

What was the last book you read? Haven't read much lately. Just finished a book of short stories by Maeve Binchy and Mists of Avalon, which I decided was a very depressing book. Currently trying to read Atlas Shrugged, but don't have much time. Do text books count?

Is there something you always wear? Almost always wear a scrunchie in my hair.

What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Walking the dog.

Did you have an exciting last weekend? Not particularly - just really busy.

Have you ever crawled through a window? Yes

Have you ever dyed your hair? Once I let Molly practice putting highlights in my hair. I think they were red.

Are you wearing a necklace/chain? No

Are you an emotional person? Yes

What's something that can always make you feel better? Rob or the kids - and chocolate and a good book :)

Will this weekend be a good one? I hope so :) It's our 12th anniversary :)

What do you want right now? For my paper to be done, although I guess if I were working on it now instead of doing this, it would get done faster.

Have you ever worn the opposite sex's clothing? I wore a tie once for a church musical program, but I had to have a male friend tie it on me. Those things are hard to tie! I wear Rob's shirts sometimes.

Have you ever worked in a food place? Yes - worked in the drive-thru at McD's in high school.

Whats on your schedule for tomorrow? Make Jack's cake, finish and post my paper, possibly make it to the gym if the kids are feeling better.

Does anyone know your facebook password? I bet Rob could guess it, but I doubt he knows it offhand.

A few pictures . . .

The roses Rob got for me "just because he loved me" ~


Megan and Kylie's webkins (Kylie's is the pink one, I know, you're all shocked) ~


Jack chillin' ~


All four kids before church yesterday. Brittney, the kids and I went shopping this week to get Jack new church clothes. He calls this outfit his "daddy" outfit and loves it! ~


Jack and his dog. Megan may take care of it, but honestly I think it should have been Jack's birthday present. The dog was sleeping under my desk and Jack crept under to give him hugs and cuddle up with him ~