Towels to Towers

This is what happens when you ask your seven year old to help put the groceries away.

Zach was asked to put the paper towels in the cupboard but of course he had to build his tower first. I would love to see the thought process of my boys. Who new that a few rolls of paper towels could make such a wonderful tower.

Take the Challenge

My friend was telling me of a Guinness World Record contest that she saw on TV. The record was set for eating mini powdered donuts. Three donuts in one minute, I know it doesn't sound like much. On the show that she saw there was a new record set at five donuts. Some of the rules are, no licking lips and no drinks. We thought we would give it a try.

I should forewarn you if you don't know about my eye. I have this crazy wink jaw thing. When I eat, chew gum, yawn, basically anything that causes my jaw to stretch open, well then my eyelid also stretches open. Sounds bizarre I know but I was born with it and the next thing you want to know is if it bothers me. No it doesn't. Actually it use to make me money. My dad would pay me if I would show his friends. The pay was minimal but it was a living for a five year old. Someday I will give a full demonstration.

As I prepare this blog and the videos I was remembering all the things my friend Amy jokes about, so maybe this was all a big joke. Nevertheless we had fun eating powdered donuts.

"The Rules"

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Now because I fell off my chair, licked my lips and basically hosed the contest we had to do it again. So, here is take two.

"Take Two"

Part One

Part Two

Our Anniversary Week

This song "I can hear the Bells" is from the movie Hairspray. The words of this song is about how Blaine and I came to be.

Have you ever been set up on a blind date? I was once...I will never do that again...Well actually that's because I ended up marrying that blind date. Here is our story.

I had a friend named Melissa, she worked for Blaine. One day she called me and asked if I would go out with her boss, Blaine. Well, it had been a bit since I had been on a date so honestly my first thoughts were "great free dinner". So, Blaine didn't want to seem desperate so he waited a couple weeks to call. I am glad I didn't starve in those two weeks. He finally called and we set up a dinner date then a movie. He had about four first dates set up over those couple weeks so he was going to impress the ladies. Blaine had gone out and purchased a shiny white 1996 Convertible Mustang GT, and yes it had to be a GT. It was a sweet ride and he knew it.

We headed to Olive Garden for dinner, I had soup, salad, bread sticks. To this day that is my favorite meal at the Olive Garden. We chatted and had great conversation. Then the moment happened .........he asked me "what things do you enjoy"? My first response would change the rest of our lives. I answered "I really enjoy baseball". The man's eyes lit up with great interest, he continued. "Do you have a favorite team?" I responded, "I really like New York." If you know Blaine you can imagine the thrill that was racing thru his body. He had one more question to ask. "Which NY team?" I thought for a moment, and then with some hesitation, because I could tell there was a right and a wrong answer here, I answered slowly "the Mets". WRONG ANSWER. This man is a true Yankee fan through and through. I was easily converted. It took all Blaine's strength to keep from proposing right there on the spot.

After dinner, we headed to the movie theater. We were in my neck of the woods so he was relying on me to get us around town. I must have been nervous because I was giving poor directions. I think I might have even got us on the Belt Route headed the wrong way or something. Maybe I just wanted to take that GT for a spin. We finally made it to the theater and chose to see Multiplicity. I love that show and we still make reference to some of the things #4 says in the show. Don't know what I'm talking about? Rent the movie, it is funny.

After the movie he took me home. We chatted for a bit in the car and there was NO yada-yada-yada. He walked me to the door, shook my hand and said good night.

We knew just a few weeks into our dating that we would be getting married, however it wasn't for six more months that we actually tied the knot.

Then

Now

A request from Grandma

Grandma and Grandpa haven't seen the kids in several months and probably wouldn't recognize "J" if he walked pass them on the street. Actually he isn't walking yet so that would be quite a surprise. So here are a few pictures of the boys including our fast growing Jackson Bruce. Zach and his friend from school Jack

Jackson

Jackson

a picture of me in our junk car in Vegas

Casey and Dylan

Dylan, Zach, Austin, and Jackson

Jackson sporting the toothy look

Jackson showing off his new Old Navy swim clothes

This is Jackson "talking" or you could call it singing

I Have The Most Thoughtful Husband

I went shopping on Saturday. I don't enjoy shopping unless I am going for a distinct purpose. I have to know what I am getting and have a really good idea of where I will get it.

We are taking a trip next month and I wanted my boys to have an extra swimsuit I also wanted to get them the UV rash guard swim shirts. Old Navy has matching shirt, shorts and flip flops. No they are not called thongs anymore.

We were a little crunched on time so I took the younger boys shopping while Blaine would take Austin shopping after his music lesson. Zach and Dylan chose their suits and I picked out two adorable outfits for J-Bear.

Blaine later took Austin so that he could pick out his own suit. They came home and Blaine says to me "Hun" (he calls me this sometimes), "why don't you look in the bag to see what Austin pick out". I opened the bag and pulled out this plaid pink and white sun dress. Now, I quickly realize that this is a very kind gesture by my husband. I knew that Austin would not ever pick something like this out for himself. Blaine was trying to purchase something for me that I can use at the beach on our trip. Blaine sometimes has these spontanious acts of kindness. Usually he does a really good job.

Here is where the problem lies. Blaine picked out a size 10 for me. Yes everyone, I am a perfect 10. However, the 10 must be picked out from the womens department. Yes, my thoughtful husband picked out for me a girls size 10. I could see right away that there was no way I could ever fit into this dress. I was worried about hurting his feelings so I smiled and started to pull it over my head. That is as far as the dress went. Plain and simple I have not been a girls size 10 for 25 years. I thanked him for his efforts but I will be returning the dress.

Here is the dress. It's cute... for a 10 year old.

These boys aren't quite sure what to do with a pink dress in their hands.

Taking time for Me

As many of you know, I enjoy a girls weekend a couple times a year. I was planning on attending Womens Conference (WC) in Provo in late April but when I was calendaring with Blaine, He realized he needed to be in Minneapolis the same days. I had been looking forward to WC for over a year so you can imagine the disappointment I must have had. My adoring husband quickly asked "Is there anything else you would like to do". This can be a loaded question.

My friend and I quickly checked online for any near "Time Out for Women" Events. Well we found one in Las Vegas. Now, if you are not geographically challenged you know that Las Vegas isn't really near Philly. Never the less, we booked the flight, bought tickets for a show (Mamma Mia), and yesterday we boarded that flight. I like to statagize when booking flights. For instance, when traveling with a party of two I like to book seat A and seat C keeping the middle seat open in hopes that it would remain vacant, cuz you know anybody in their right mind will switch for either window or isle seat. This flight was packed tight.

This cute girl, probably in her early 20's approches us, we ask her if she would mind sitting in the isle, she is thrilled. We begin to settle into our seats when all of a sudden this big largely unattractive man plops into the seat beside me. Giving that girl the isle seat gave her great leverage to trade places with this other dude so she could sit by her loved one, what ever.

Would you like to know what our new neighbor packed for this trip. First of all, his walkman. Yes Casey, people still use walkman CD players. Second thing Mr. Plop brought was his air guitar, this man even had room to pack his air drums. About 60% of our flight we were forced to jam out. He would rock back and forth to the music in his head forcing our entire row to literally rock back and forth. I could go into greater depth about how this man jiggled and wiggled and leaned and rubbed and scratched, yes he scratched. I was entirely grossed out on this flight but enough is enough. I love that word, enough, which by the way could be another post "favorite words".

So here we are in Las Vegas. Did I mention that the "Time Out for Women" event that we flew out here for was cancelled. Yes, due to the death of our beloved prophet the event was rescheduled for September. So we are here in Vegas for three days and our only scheduled activity is Sat. night, Mamma Mia. I hope we will be able to find something to do. We'll see.