Tuesday, March 31, 2009

MUSTANG SALLY...er I mean MUSTANG Charisma!



Yesterday ROb and I made an appointment to see a Dodge caravan minivan...we looked at this particular car and a mustang on Sunday..decided to take the minivan for a test drive on Monday. Well I decided too...Rob thought the mustang was a better deal...car whatever..although he says he wouldn't drive the mustang since it has a V-6..what does that mean? That it doesn't have as much power...excuse me ...it is supposed to be a commuter car...I thought the minivan was a better type deal because we could always use it as a back up if the suburban breaks down..Rob has a thing about driving a minivan..who cares??? it suits our needs and has good gas mileage.
But I digress.
The people that own the minivan never showed up...but the guy selling the mustang did..after we called (within 10 minutes). So we bought it--it needs some work..we got a good deal ROb says??? It has really low mileage for a 1998...that is what Rob thinks anyway. SO I can't drive it as of now because it needs some new lights and such..Rob will be working on it within the next few days. It also needs new tires and wheels...the ones on it are a little yucky..so it will be ok during summer--but we will get new ones later on.
So Jeri is happy because in some weird dillusional way she thinks she will get to drive it in a couple years when she turns 16..I am thinking INSURANCE...um I think not.
I am still going to try to get a hold of the people with the minivan..because I am still interested in looking at that car. So we will see what happens.

**** UPDATE******

SO I went to transfer the title today.....
I think my husband was right! We paid so little for this car that now I have to prove why we paid less than half of it's market value price. I just thought we were getting a good deal because my husband is a car guy and he can fix anything for way cheaper than the average bear....Now I am wondering if we can document enough wrong with the car....we have to take it to a shop for a written estimate...Rob was right..he scored us a deal .....I will never doubt again. I wonder if they consider wheels and tires part of that?? It really has UGLY wheels on the thing!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Kid's Bathroom

Most mornings I come downstairs to the smell of "MAN"....it is funny to think that my boys are old enough to care about such things. Axe is their best Friend but I quit buying it so much because it is 5$ a can and they sometimes waste it and I don't have that kind of money laying around.
SO they get cheap deodorant and they get spry on cologne. I usually find it in gift packs and I get them on-sale after holidays so it is quite a bit cheaper. But this is how it is--they can't share..they each have to have their own..usually they need to have their own scent so nobody fights..hopefully they are different colors..because there is bound to be a fight over who has been using whom's body spray.


But I think it is never to late to make them smell good..their future wives will thank me! So here is a picture of what these look like! To bad I can't get a picture of the cloud floating in our basement every morning of Body spray!


JEri is getting a collection of flat irons, curling irons and make-up --we are getting to this stage of chaos in the morning with so many people sharinga bathroom and all of the hair products. We need hair gel by the gallon.

Monday, March 9, 2009

At our house

At our house recently...things have been crazy with all the sickness and activities and my school work...but I thought how nice it is to remember amoungst all the chaos there is things I never want to forget and that is these things....





Clarissa's artwork...
Lately she is drawing lots of pictures and writing to mom and Dad..I love you. because she is just learning how to spell things out and read sentences..I felt so guilty about this because I worked with all of the kids before kindergarten and they could all read and write before school...and Clarissa couldn't she could recognize all of the letters and numbers but not write them or read. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be the youngest..but in all Clarissa fashion--she has pretty much caught up.






I framed a peice of her artwork to hang by my desk...I also have one for Carl..those two and Cole are my artsy kind of kids...This picture is "Clarissa and Mommy at our house". Named by herself ...Clarissa Hope.




These are pictures of the boys...any free time they have ..and earned the right to play..they spend playing video games..I really try to limit this..I know how addictive they can be.....and Cole and Preston doing homework...My kids are usually really good at helping eachother when they can...not always but ever since I started school they really try not to bother me when I am working...There is a bit of guilt in this..but I think on some levels it is good because they need to be able to rely on eachother sometimes.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dog Walks.....






We all get itchy for this time of year--when spring is coming and the sunshine is out...the dogs included.
Usually in the spring, summer ,and fall we take the dogs out to the lakes near our house. I like to go to Soap Lake ..Rob hates Soap lake ..so much so he doesn't even want his dog swimming in that water..but it is such a big area and only a 5 minute drive.
So we thought we would go out today and hopefully the lake would be thawed enough for BRodie to get in...he is such a water dog..you can't barely keep him out of it..even if we pass by there he will whine because he wants to go in.
SO today was Gracie's first time going into the water..she is BRodie's little shadow much to his dismay. SHe wants to do everything that he does...but she could not keep up with him and a few times she fell in after losing her footing. The last time her whole body fell in and her head went under water--she decided she was done for the day.
SO we were also incorporating a little lesson with out fun haveing Jeri teach her to walk and obey simple commands.
I am itching to get out and experience some nice weather and sunshine and spend quality time with the family in the evening walking and talking.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Sickies around here lately.....

Poor Clarissa has the flu today...I woke up this morning to..
" Mommy, my tummy hurts."
I said " OK just go lay down...no school today"
Then explosives started happening in the bathroom..Toilet was down she didn't get there fast enough...then I hear Cole.....
" MOM.....CLARISSA MISSED THE TOILET!"
UGH! Great so I got up to get her clean and the bathroom....and started gagging myself...I think it has been years since I have had to clean up puke....my kids have been good about getting to the open toilet...
Bryce had the sickness earlier this week..so I am sure it is going to be ravaging through everyone else pretty soon...and Rob called on his lunch stating he didn't feel very well...and it is Finals....Isn't that perfect?
Everytime I have finals something has to happen..so it is just par for the course...A mom's job is never done.
I worked out today....it has been awhile since I have been in a routine..I am usually pretty good about doing stuff in spring and summer--but then once fall and winter come around I just hang out in the house and don't want to be exercising.
I need to change that.
SO I hope everyone is healthy and this weekend brings much happiness!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Diets..Doctors ..and Back Troubles!

Well Rob went to the doctor today because his back has been bothering him.HE found out he needs to lose weight, he has 2 bulged discs that are pinching 2 nerves and so on to physical therapy for a month to satisfy the insurance company and then he needs and MRI and probably surgery.
He is stressed because harvest season will be here soon and he can't be laid up during the season and he has only had this job a year so he doesn't have alot of sick time saved up so he is going to prolong the surgery as long as possible...I don't think he should do that..so we will see what happens in therapy and what his post-op consult with bring.

But in the meantime about his weight......I get a little badgigety about some things in this house..we live in the boonies and some things are hard to come by and that is these little beauties!



I have been able to maintain good eating habits for a few months now all thanks to these! I don't think people in my house realize the love I have for them and someone ( Rob ) has been steeling some....I have to go to two different stores every month to get these and sometimes I have to drive 30 minutes one way to come across them and I get a little self-ish....we have this love-love affair!


While he has been eating Chunky Monkey I have been eating this version of Chunky Monkey and it is not fair that he should even try taking my skinny Cows!


While he has been eating real pizza--I get this lighter low fat version--which I might add tastes pretty good--but still none the less...I don't get very many options!





So this is my current dilemma---now he will be having to eat the same way I am and I will have to share in my yummy delights!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

ME and My Girls





Well on Friday night we made am impromptu trip to Spokane just for the evening with my friends. Melissa was supposed to meet up with some guy she is dating and I made a deal with Landon that if I took the boys all the way to Spokane..he would bring them all the way back on Sunday.
Since I was going to be there I thought we may go out with the girls for a little much needed fun!
We started at The Olive Garden for dinner and then headed out to GOODTYMES! I love that place it is so much fun and there were 10 of us girls just celebrating our friendship and time together....we danced until the club closed and then went out for breakfast at an old hang out. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of Friends.
I have known most of these girls since high school...or they came in years ago and we can all trust eachother, we all genuinely love each other and I know anytime I needed someone I could call anyone of them and they would be there for me in a heart beat! Even when we don't see eachother for long periods of time ..we get together and it is as if we have never been apart. There of course are some of them that I talk to on a daily basis, some I talk to every couple of days....that is just how things work. But, I can honestly say if it weren't for my friends I would not be where I am in my life..they help keep me sane, they support me in my life and they listen when I need them. I love you all!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Murder Mystery Night


This is the crime scene that we had to compare all evidence against.




It is so annoying--I went to post this on Sunday and for some reason I lost it when I went to post it--you would think I would learn to save things sometimes--you have no idea how many times I type something for homework and then lose it....I guess it takes awhile to learn ...when I am special:)!
SO here we go again!

On Thursday night we went to Bryce and Carl's school ( for all my friends and family ..here in Ephrata grade school is k-4th ( and there are 2 grade schools in town) , then Parkway is for 5th-6th grade..then middle school is 7th-8th and then of course high school...so once the kids are in 5th grade they go to school with all of the kids in town that are in their grade.)

So anyway, We went to school for murder mystery night...they had a crime scene and set the stage for a story of events that took place and listed the names of the victim and all his friends that are listed as suspects.

After they introduced the plot they gave each child a packet of paper (in the case of my family I must say sorry to the family of the tree we had to use!)then sent us on our way to 10 different rooms throughout the school to analyze the evidence. Most of the older kids went their own separate ways ..so Rob and I stayed with Preston and Clarissa.

Each room had different things it was AWESOME! Ph balance of soda, clothing that you had to inspect for different materials, DNA analysis, alot of chemistry type things...it is funny because some of these things I am doing in my college level classes..so I think it is great that my kids are getting this stuff early...that way they won't have to learn everything at my old age!

Science changes so much and they will be learning it all as they go. I took a sabbatical. hehe.

We had many theories in this house of who actually commited the crime....I think Carl is the one who got it right.










After the mystery we decided to go out for ice cream..as we were sitting there we were talking about Bryce and his distate for this one girl in his class..who at one point had a crush on him..SO Rob asked him why he disliked her so much
he said : "Because she farts and burps like a guy"
I said "But you do that?"
Bryce: " YEah, but I am guy, Girls don't do that!"
Cole pipes up to say "yeah, Girls don't do that!"
What a double standard..these boys are so mean!

Bryce is disinterested in girsl if they can't keep up in sports..but he doesn't want them to act like him either..I think everyday he becomes more and more like someone I used to know......