Oh for Pete's sake...

I knew I should have chosen to read a book instead of get on the computer! It's 11:30pm, and I have to get up at 5:40am to do papers before starting a new job at 8am and what am I doing?

Guilt over not updating the blog frequently enough has driven me to ignore normal sleeping rules, (Rule #1, get a good night's sleep before getting up at the crack of dawn on the first day of a new job!!!) to post some recent pics!

Last year I decided that instead of buying both spring and fall school pics I would wait and buy only the spring ones. This was a brilliant plan for two reasons: first, you are allowed to see the spring pics BEFORE purchasing them whereas in the fall you have to make your purchase prior to the pictures even being taken. And second, this would eliminate all the excess pics. Plus the spring ones are usually cuter with a fun background. Well, the plan was working well until I saw this years' spring pics. Ugh...Can I just say; if you're going to use a green screen, make sure your portraits are in focus and that they stay that way when you add your background?!

Needless to say, I am now without pictures for the wall for this school year. So, being a photographer, I decided it was rather silly to be whining over this little dilemma when I was perfectly capable of going out and taking my own!!! Yesterday was a beautiful day (I even have the sunburn to prove it!) and since I now have weekends off (Yay!!) we went out and spent about two hours roaming around taking pics. I think I finally have some that are good enough for the wall! The following are some of the sillier scenes.

This one of Erich is just further proof of how I'm living in a boy house. Geoffrey had managed to gracefully hop onto this large rock in the middle of the stream (which was running FAST and COLD from the spring runoff). Well, Erich was having a harder time getting over there and finally he just jumped for it! (Check out the tongue hanging out of his mouth in concentration!)

My sweet Geoffrey perched on the rock.

Erich hamming it up. He was doing "Vogue" like poses as I was snapping.

This was one of my favorites of Geoffrey. (It may make it on to the wall!!)

This was J.C.'s "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" pose! They're definitely monkey's!

Well, now that it's midnight, this post is going to have to satisfy my guilty conscience! More to come!

I write on my blog as well as I write in my journal!

It's weird how someone who LOVES to write can be so lax about writing on a blog or in a journal. Wait, I just thought of something: Does writing weekly blogs for the store blogspot count?! Hmmm...some things to ponder.

Actually, I do have an excuse. It's called "I had a life but my job ate it"! I have loved my job at Sierra's. I love what I'm doing in beading and I really enjoy my work as a manager. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm one of those weirdos that actually enjoys retail. However, I have discovered that I haven't made the transition to being a working mom as gracefully as I'd hoped and numerous things have fallen by the wayside. Ah well...

As some of you know, I'm changing jobs. It was a hard decision and alot of factors went in to making it, but a coworker (and friend) made a comment that I couldn't shake. She said, "At the end of the day, it's just a job and you have to do what's best for your family." That's what made the decision for me. Doing what's best for my family. This new job will give me the consistency of schedule that my boys need: no weekends or evenings, Mondays off and the chance to be home with them after school. I may even have the time to pick up some piano students which is something that I really miss.

I guess what I'm saying is that, hopefully soon I will get the blog all caught up! I have pictures from February on that I took with the specific intention of posting them, so soon you can all know what we've been up to! But for now, time for sleep because in a few hours I have to start it ALL over again!

Haircuts for Hodgkins

As many of you know, Corey's sister Kimberly is undergoing treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma. Kimberly has a pretty bright personality and handles everything in her life with humor, including this trial. (i.e. Naming her cancer "Stewert"!) She has continued to have a great attitude, always facing what she has to, even when it's been extremely difficult.

The other night we decided that it was time to show our love and support for her, so we threw her a party. What started with pizza and pop quickly turned into a hair flying, shaving cream covered circus.

First off, all of Kimberly's brothers decided that they were going to shave their heads. I mean "we-need-to- buy-Turtle-Wax" shave! So we let Kimberly do the honors~she shaved all of her brother's heads. I think she had some fun with it, she shaved different patterns into each one of their hair before shaving it off.

You know how sometimes the best things in life aren't planned? Well, after Kimberly shaved the boys, they still had some stubble. So they each took a turn shaving one of their brothers. Justin shaved Corey, Corey-Nate, Nate-Pat and Pat-Justin. It filled my heart to see these big, "tough" boys laying their brothers back into the wash bowl (not necessarily keeping them dry, mind you!), lathering their heads and then attempting to carefully shave them smooth. Well, as smooth as a $.97 razor can get! Let's just say there were more than a few nicks!

As for the other entertainment, I had provided the stuff for balloon shaving. Picture it: 9 children between the ages of 12 and 18 months with balloons covered in shaving cream and razors in their hands. I'll just let that sink in for a minute...

All in all we had 6 adults and 4 kids get in on the action. That's right, even the children wanted to show their Aunt Kimmy how much they love her. So Geoffrey (8), Erich (6) and Gavan (4) buzzed their heads and Shelby (3) got hers cut short. Lisa and I also got short haircuts. In fact, we let Kimberly do the honors there, too. We let her cut off my ponytail!!!!! In truth, I couldn't watch. Actually, I couldn't even face myself in the mirror for over and hour afterwards. Oh, well. That's what this was all about, right? Gaining empathy for Kimberly by experiencing a VERY SMALL measure of her discomfort?

As our hairdresser put it: "It was a zoo, but in a good way!" I hope that it made something that was very difficult for Kimberly a little bit easier. I don't know if it did, but I do think she saw how much her family loves her and to what lengths they are willing to go to support her. Even if it means being bald!!! We love you, Kimberly

*P.S. The following pictures are out of order which (if you know me), drives me crazy! But I'm still trying to get the hang of this blog program...so I guess I'll have to deal with it! You just enjoy.



This is the "After"

The Buzz boys

Kimberly "Doing the Honors"; Me not being able to watch!

The "Bald Brothers"

Quality balloons+Cheap razors=balloons that won't pop!

This was "Before"

One of Kimberly's patterns

Well, I was trying to figure out how to put pix on here. I figured it out! Yeah! This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning.

Do you live in a boy house?

I have a friend who is the mother of all girls and she frequently insists her girls do boyish enough things that she doesn't need boys.

Well this prompted me to create a little quiz: Do you live in a boy house?
There is no set number of "right" answers. Let's just say that when you're done, you'll know for sure if you live in a boy house!

1. Have you ever had a lamp broken by your children? (If you answered 'yes', go to question 1A)

1A. Did said lamp get broken when a large stuffed pig was thrown because a brother was being mean?

2. Have you ever had to say: "Aw yuck! Why did you have to make that smell? I have visiting teachers coming over?!" (If you answered yes, go to question 2A)

2A. Was the resulting answer: "Why didn't you tell me people were coming over?" (If yes, go to question 2B)

2B. Did you answer back (in a shrill, flabergasted sort of voice): "I shouldn't have to tell you not to fart the minute we walk in the door!!!"

3. Have you ever said "Yes, you can ride your bike, just don't get in the mud." and 10 seconds later found muddy school shoes on the porch? (Deduct points if you have boys who actually leave them on the porch!)

4. Have you ever found puddles (droplets DON'T count!) of pee around the toilet for one of the following reasons:
a. A sleepy, half awake, WOBBLY, child got up to pee in the night? Or,
b. A child stood at the side of the toilet instead of at the front? Or,
c. A child overshot the toilet because he was racing his brother (or father!) to see who could pee the fastest?
And finally,

5. Have you ever been standing in front of the sink/mirror getting ready for the day and had your child need to use the toilet? Have you gotten your feet splashed when said child used the toilet?!!!

Well, here we go!

Lately I'm finding myself caving into peer pressure: first it was Facebook, now it's blogging! So, here we go!

I decided to get this set up now because tonight we are having a very special party and I intend to share it with all of you...so keep watching!

By-the-way: Did you notice the contrast between my blog title and my blog color? Hey, a girl's gotta assert herself anyway she can!