tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-256026712024-03-12T22:38:31.948-05:00Carter Family HappeningsCamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.comBlogger352125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-70991619433694792672012-06-09T08:01:00.000-05:002012-06-09T08:16:20.772-05:00Bundling UpWe recently switched our satellite service to DirecTV. Why? Because <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-zG5U0v3gU&feature=youtube_gdata_player">I don't want a grandson with a dog collar.</a>
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When we switched the guy told us "In two weeks you can call AT&T and bundle your Internet service with your TV". Sounds simple enough right?
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I wait the required time frame and gave AT&T a call. The friendly automated voice guy helped me get to the department I was looking for. "Easy as pie" I thought. The department answers with a recorded message: "Our business hours are between 8 and 7 weekdays and 8 and 2 on Saturday." since I was calling at 1:30 A.M. after I had quit working for the day I thought that was reasonable.
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I called back on Saturday. This time my kids were awake to help me get through the automated voice recognition system.
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Automated System: "I see you're calling from xxx-xxx-xxxx. Is that the number you're calling about?"
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Soni (from the bathroom): "Daddy can you wipe my bum?"
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Automated System (we'll call him Pete): I'm sorry I didn't get that.
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Me: Hold on a minute I'm on the phone!
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Pete: You want more minutes on your wireless plan? Ok, you now have 2000 minutes a month, your bill will increase by $150 per month. Goodbye.
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Me: What? Pete?
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I called back after I perform my fatherly duties. This time I kicked the kids out of my room to avoid confusing Pete.
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Pete: What can I help you with? Say something like "I want to pay my bill".
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Me: I want to bundle my Internet.
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Pete: I'm sorry, I don't understand. Try saying something else.
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Me: Can I talk to a person?
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Pete: Sure, but before I transfer you I need to know what you're calling about.
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Me: I want to bundle my Tv
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Pete: You want to eat at Applebee's?
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Me: Ahh come on!
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Pete: I don't understand.
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Sadie, our obese golden retriever: Woof woof (translated to "I'm going to eat some tissues out of the garbage now.")
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Pete: Ok, you want to bundle your Directv? Let me transfer you.
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At this point I am transferred DirecTV's automated system. We'll call her Joy for one of those ironic nicknames.
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Joy: What can I help you with?
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Me: I've lost the will to live.
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Joy: I can help you with that.
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Me: I bet you can!
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Joy: Hold on, let me transfer you to a representative.
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Ok, I'm making progress here. So I thought. Joy transferred me to a nice call center lady that could not help me. She typed up a note and transfered me to some guy that sounded like he was taking my call from his parent's basement. Let's call him Abe.
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Abe: What can I help you with today?
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Me: Ok, I want to bundle my Internet plan with my DirecTv package.
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Abe: Ok, hang on.
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I waited while Abe made some clicking noises that I assumed were keyboard strokes and mouse clicks, but in hindsight I am positive he was playing Call of Duty. Not another word came from Abe. Next thinI know the phone goes silent for a few seconds. What do I hear next?
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Joy: Welcome to DirecTV
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Me: Nooooooooooooo! Abe, I will hunt you down!
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Joy: I see you've lost the will to live. I can help you with that.
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We are not bundled yet. I'm going to give it another go with Pete and Joy today. What could go wrong?Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-6877887880047952522012-05-27T23:19:00.001-05:002012-05-27T23:23:27.541-05:00Nerds!Brooks told me to post something on here. We went to her house to have our bi-monthly nerd meeting. Dungeons and Dragons were played as well as a game called "Don't sink my sub, bro!" The sub sank, bro. <br />
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A new euphemism was created. "I'm going to go kill the kraken." Thanks, Brandon!<br />
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That's all I've got. Thanks for the good eats Brooks! I think I gained like 5 pounds. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyCgXmOETvJmI5MW9cavwjXzUMhrqUzGo8Z0So3b5T3ZxG7yAZsRU5uKhU0fwNt-oV0TOKMXgx6l8ltF0NOoaSjWCp8nMMemvqXaUO56zwxsfgrGhz5YrW4WTj1oNYVjl_cRQR/s640/blogger-image-1466420678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyCgXmOETvJmI5MW9cavwjXzUMhrqUzGo8Z0So3b5T3ZxG7yAZsRU5uKhU0fwNt-oV0TOKMXgx6l8ltF0NOoaSjWCp8nMMemvqXaUO56zwxsfgrGhz5YrW4WTj1oNYVjl_cRQR/s640/blogger-image-1466420678.jpg" /></a></div>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-67778133930835922082010-08-21T09:16:00.007-05:002010-08-21T10:11:01.080-05:00Vacation Part IIt's been three weeks since we got home from our vacation, so what better time than now to bore you with all the details of that vacation. Woo hoo!<br /><br /><br />Day One: We drove from our house to Albuquerque, NM. I've always been intrigued by Albuquerque because of Weird Al's 10 minute long song called Albuquerque. I was on the lookout for someone to shave my back for a nickel. No dice. The air did not smell like warm root beer, and the towels were not oh so fluffy. Such a disappointment.<br /><br /><br />We had been telling the kids the whole day that when we got to the hotel, we'd go to the pool. We got to the hotel, went to the pool, and in the pool was a girl that shall henceforth be known as the spawn of Satan, or SOS for short. Apparently SOS was having her birthday party at the hotel pool (who does that?), and she owned 40 pieces of floaty pool toys that were all in or around the pool, that no one else could look at or touch. She also owned the water in the pool, the pool itself, and the souls of everyone who dared enter. After twenty minutes of being there, we had the choice of drowning SOS in her precious pool, selling our souls for ten more minutes of swimming time, or leaving so we wouldn't have to listen to the sound of her voice reminding us to not touch her pool toys. So, we did the logical thing and drowned her in the pool. I hope the Albuquerque police don't find out. The kid's disappointment of leaving the pool early was soon forgotten when they found out the hotel room had a sofa bed. That was the coolest thing in the world!!!<br /><br /><br />Day 2: We drove. A lot. Turns out, it's a long way from Albuquerque to Salt Lake. We passed by a lot of scenic stuff around Moab. There was a twenty mile stretch through Moab that was scenic, but the rest of the scenery was kind of lame. We stopped like 40 times so the kids could pee. Soni got mad because we stopped by the side of the road and let the boys pee, but we didn't let her pee on the side of the road too. We eventually made it to Auntie Wick's house. I considered just finding a home there in Utah and moving there, just so we wouldn't have to drive any more.<br /><br /><br />Day 3: We went through Salt Lake so we could take the kids to Temple Square. We enjoyed it. I think the kids thought it was cool. Here are pictures:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCoBQm0XPG93ejRY27lvxnry4O0Khvbu9YvR2iTuIgD51MKgX5W6kKQN3k7K-0vmWXDikIU2ThiQxKwWprYIi6TrGRzt_qYhG05bKAhgxOOd36xKK7lSR938DEYhTuqeSpn9I/s1600/DSCN0909.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507876794850417986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCoBQm0XPG93ejRY27lvxnry4O0Khvbu9YvR2iTuIgD51MKgX5W6kKQN3k7K-0vmWXDikIU2ThiQxKwWprYIi6TrGRzt_qYhG05bKAhgxOOd36xKK7lSR938DEYhTuqeSpn9I/s400/DSCN0909.JPG" /></a> The kids outside the conference center. I forgot to rotate the picture. They thought the waterfall was oh so cool.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg0pX1rOmUn_kfik_qyMI4x_0V987NC29UmynAA3XuiUtUJ3J_HOz2ifGi0wfEtlC5qAxzoKQtnyX0flyixFtGZ5D_DnkoeAGW4XA3ByY_s7Jw0tsPQ3OLsJGP-v7S0IUqR_Hu/s1600/DSCN0930.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507876792272213346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg0pX1rOmUn_kfik_qyMI4x_0V987NC29UmynAA3XuiUtUJ3J_HOz2ifGi0wfEtlC5qAxzoKQtnyX0flyixFtGZ5D_DnkoeAGW4XA3ByY_s7Jw0tsPQ3OLsJGP-v7S0IUqR_Hu/s400/DSCN0930.JPG" /></a> Here are the kids on top of the conference center looking at Temple Square below. They didn't jump off of the roof. Score one for us.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhV7ss5ViWlb3suyxHdddKM_CE0ffXx7FZH8l466srNEuti2i69ebBP75qqiuc09x4TQXBWqD_njikFxTD7T5b7RJNqoxvlJRc0BmZC2Eh3orP-HHRJnVf4O1HcuuC_IiCq1F/s1600/DSCN0959.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507876781049567906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhV7ss5ViWlb3suyxHdddKM_CE0ffXx7FZH8l466srNEuti2i69ebBP75qqiuc09x4TQXBWqD_njikFxTD7T5b7RJNqoxvlJRc0BmZC2Eh3orP-HHRJnVf4O1HcuuC_IiCq1F/s400/DSCN0959.JPG" /></a> Here they are in front of the "Jesus Statue"<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZjbwFDcHYJcusYTooBGRH1Elekgb2Zg2_wfKxPkm_Dso7dBXM3BTDWZZjBd6tAqh03B-bimu-ghQE3Oyt8rFkOjKDvyA7nutzSH5Jml35Io1lRuKD-fEiJ46RCxbtxKI2EW3/s1600/DSCN0916.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507876774378652322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZjbwFDcHYJcusYTooBGRH1Elekgb2Zg2_wfKxPkm_Dso7dBXM3BTDWZZjBd6tAqh03B-bimu-ghQE3Oyt8rFkOjKDvyA7nutzSH5Jml35Io1lRuKD-fEiJ46RCxbtxKI2EW3/s400/DSCN0916.JPG" /></a></div></div><br /><p>Here's everyone in the conference center. That thing is huge! The guy said they fit the entire state of Utah inside of it. I think he was lying.</p><br /><p><br />We left Salt Lake and made it to Star Valley Wyoming, home of THE WORLD'S LARGEST ELK HORN ARCH!!!! Be amazed, be very amazed.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhuaLpkC0egZ88YQ12wqQ6J3zOpWP7WloHCGR3DOQBw1ZdWgiR6RtA144cnkFDmvptACltapQH2E1uLRyAGB9fHKxeUwt2KXajHfRv_cqr_Kr3lSK5Vpi2wRoSfycXSLsolB3L/s1600/ElkHornArch.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 301px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507878965048072866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhuaLpkC0egZ88YQ12wqQ6J3zOpWP7WloHCGR3DOQBw1ZdWgiR6RtA144cnkFDmvptACltapQH2E1uLRyAGB9fHKxeUwt2KXajHfRv_cqr_Kr3lSK5Vpi2wRoSfycXSLsolB3L/s400/ElkHornArch.jpg" /></a>When we got here, I considered finding a house and moving here, so we wouldn't have to drive any more. Then I remembered that it gets to like 120 below in the winter, and decided against it. </p><p>I'll post Vacation Part II sometime within the next two months. Try to contain your excitement.</p>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-44896433484152783232010-08-08T23:14:00.005-05:002010-08-08T23:25:19.092-05:00Summer VacationFor vacation this summer, we went to Star Valley to visit family, and to see the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/twiga_swala/4352856275/">World's Largest Elkhorn Arch</a>. It was super fun.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEEvCHQjeekWkl7755tvGxn9F0404tHWBxrocDNHN9L54RokIitEm0PPy5f5e8yZ4fd1dxM0rDYu7XOOsqiwaix8OQu4YLpad70LFi5Fn1VYC-MIpGy9oCmhirEGTVHJaKWQe/s1600/DSCN0981.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503260192484538306" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEEvCHQjeekWkl7755tvGxn9F0404tHWBxrocDNHN9L54RokIitEm0PPy5f5e8yZ4fd1dxM0rDYu7XOOsqiwaix8OQu4YLpad70LFi5Fn1VYC-MIpGy9oCmhirEGTVHJaKWQe/s400/DSCN0981.JPG" /></a> </div><br /><p align="center">We played at grandma and grandpa's house</p><p><br /><br /></p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIiN0Ce9tVfs0UWbnSAxB-sHjjEvXY36MQ9ZLY4nfVRFB3pwIoU8IbCngSTrf72a9qY6MnrCtkuqMDcnfwXnlUPXGkFMq2nMp-e3RnA4egzu9qo4iN0VYKqicaY1PAdw8hd3s/s1600/DSCN1032.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503260199319458258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIiN0Ce9tVfs0UWbnSAxB-sHjjEvXY36MQ9ZLY4nfVRFB3pwIoU8IbCngSTrf72a9qY6MnrCtkuqMDcnfwXnlUPXGkFMq2nMp-e3RnA4egzu9qo4iN0VYKqicaY1PAdw8hd3s/s400/DSCN1032.JPG" /></a>We soaked up some sun at the beach.</div><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnaMK81OZYnNbTaNMVZQPnD8KTVAmL7JqB_W50ruIKRsCRzADQyDhQnh11XfSsvC9UL6s6be9jC9j5JkHodd8iqodTf_6Ml2ynAvQ4NNCfjWn_Af8pHto3DlipwRqpx-sMeU0/s1600/DSCN1079.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503260210246347890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnaMK81OZYnNbTaNMVZQPnD8KTVAmL7JqB_W50ruIKRsCRzADQyDhQnh11XfSsvC9UL6s6be9jC9j5JkHodd8iqodTf_6Ml2ynAvQ4NNCfjWn_Af8pHto3DlipwRqpx-sMeU0/s400/DSCN1079.JPG" /></a>We went to Rexburg and showed the kids were we met.<br /><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgniYpTqUjnt18wgGdCi7cUzPKWIoba5AodjUPjMUS44lOLFo4nR1JdpdbUfaQ6kGF45UI3v4RWZFLJYreGqu9tydbEAkP-qNfnxBarmEmAIFlul9PemvwRluFR5zCZx36QLvhg/s1600/DSCN1134.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503260219474857762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgniYpTqUjnt18wgGdCi7cUzPKWIoba5AodjUPjMUS44lOLFo4nR1JdpdbUfaQ6kGF45UI3v4RWZFLJYreGqu9tydbEAkP-qNfnxBarmEmAIFlul9PemvwRluFR5zCZx36QLvhg/s400/DSCN1134.JPG" /></a>We saw the Grand Canyon on the way home. </p>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-6729549792016605702010-05-15T20:32:00.004-05:002010-05-18T10:56:58.799-05:00Feelin' Groovy<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">While trying to come up with a title for this post, the old Simon and Garfunkel song came to mind. "Slow down, you move too fast. Gotta make the morning last, just kickin' down the cobblestones, lookin' for fun, and feelin' groovy!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">That about sums up this week. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I've realized that the kids just need to slow down, already! Need a few examples?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><ol><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Soni's hair is now long enough to put in a ponytail, and she will very often (usually while grocery shopping) burst into song. Her favorite at the moment happens to be "we will rock you". We'll be going down the cereal isle, when she will begin to shout "We wheel, we wheel, WOCK YOU!" She has also started this thing where she will scratch Cameron's back, or "do" his hair, and then ask..."All better, Daddy?" I swear, 2 1/2 is a lot cuter on a kid that you know is your last one!</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Peyton is very proud of the fact that he can now spell his name. Yesterday, I heard him chasing the others around going "Wemember, guys...it's P-E-Y-T-O-N!" He repeated this over and over again, each time spelling it faster than the time before. </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">While at the dentist office today (Cameron and I were taking turns, so I was in the waiting room with the kids) Dylan read me a book. He read the whole thing himself, with very little help from me. Granted, it wasn't a particularly challenging book, but if you know Dylan, you know that he takes after his mother a bit. He's a perfectionist. He doesn't want to try, if he thinks for one second that he might fail. So, up until now, he refused to read to me. Turns out, he's pretty good at it! Let's hope we can get him to keep it up through the summer.</span></li><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Andi has recently taken to reading "chapter books". While her handwriting still worries us that she may be dyslexic, her teacher assures us that it's most likely because she is left handed. I still have no idea how we managed to get a lefty. She's the only one in the house. In an effort to make her look more nerdy, she recently got glasses. Cameron sat content in the knowledget that he was getting his way, with making her less attractive to the opposite sex. Unfortunately, his plan failed. Turns out, she has the perfect face for glasses, so she still looks cute. To add insult to injury...</span></li></ol><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A few days ago, there was a knock at the door. When Cameron looked out the window, he saw that there were a couple neighborhood kids at our door. Thinking they were panhandlers, Cameron answered the door. To his surprise, the boys asked if Andi could come out to play. That's right, Andi has male admirers. I recognized one of the boys from Andi's class. His name is Christian, and has always been polite to me. We consented, and they ended up playing in our backyard. I wasn't worried, because I figure she's just like me. I always had more boy friends than I had girl friends. Cameron WAS worried for the exact same reason. "She looks just like you, and you're cute! This is the beginning of the end, I tell ya!" </span></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I may be mistaken, but I think I saw a look of "I gotta get me a shotgun" in his eye. </span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">At ease, Daddy, at ease...</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I would post a picture of Andi in her new glasses, but I can't seem to find the camera. I'll get right on that. Maybe this time next month, I'll get it on here. Golly, I'm such a slacker...</span></p>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-12410581206279887022010-04-28T13:54:00.003-05:002010-04-28T14:48:14.280-05:00Four Score and...How Long Is That?Obviously, I have been doing a stellar job of updating the blog. So well, in fact, that I'm not even going to apologize. I've been updating it in my head...so there. If you can't think back that far, I will remind you that something <a href="http://camcarter.blogspot.com/2006/04/three-kids_24.html">significant</a> happened 4 years ago. <br />Granted, if I were a good blogger, I would have posted about this a week and a half ago, but I'm not, so you get to read about it now. <br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#3333ff;"></span> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#3333ff;">PEYTON TURNED 4!!!</span></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">I think he had a pretty good day, even though most of it seemed just like any other day. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">For two days before his birthday, Peyton had been asking for waffles as a birthday dinner. However, on the morning of the 19th, Andi woke up, and began telling Peyton all about Chuck E. Cheese, and what kinds of things you get there if you go on your birthday. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">Big sisters are SO helpful! </span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">As you can imagine, Peyton's mind did a complete 180, and his tenacity kicked in. After MUCH bargaining, begging, promises to pay for his college education, etc. Peyton finally relented to eat somewhere else (Burger King) as long as we could play at Chuck E. Cheese FIRST. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">Do we have pictures from the blessed event? No. Why? Because Cameron and I were too hungry to hold a camera steady, or even remember to take the blingin' thing. Perhaps Cameron has one or two on his phone, but he's not here right now, so that does me no good. What can I say? Parents of the year, here we come!</span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">We do, however, have a few pictures from the party that followed. Heather and the Crookstons came over for cake (which we may or may not have picked up on our way home from Chuck E. Cheese, and it's possible that there was no personalization on it. What can I say, it was a busy week.) </span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4HB-iIeQmpBmdXtSM89OpNSUt-OHba3PKcjvk5VFbgaJezatnMKrjB9N4k2dG3mIUqeck_C4-yFJVKif3pEd85HoqgnxTDG-dSSQaU53sEJzNrwPDVy3V3Xd-fIULPFpO5F0Ow/s1600/DSCN0823.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465268340729989666" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4HB-iIeQmpBmdXtSM89OpNSUt-OHba3PKcjvk5VFbgaJezatnMKrjB9N4k2dG3mIUqeck_C4-yFJVKif3pEd85HoqgnxTDG-dSSQaU53sEJzNrwPDVy3V3Xd-fIULPFpO5F0Ow/s320/DSCN0823.JPG" /></a></p><p>Peyton got this awesome RC car. It's possible that this was also picked up at the same time as the impromptu cake, and could only be wrapped after a quick run over to the neighbor's house to borrow some tape. Like I said, it's possible, but I plead the 5th...<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLfvFmgYXSvmHjhaCi_B1AcTHeUlun6DkVCE7fS19a3GZVEnZvI_b-OQrHk3crEL2x6WWNzpR_DITZMIaxNMWhaKgYTeF3fMleJM6pJo5EXsM9t9ihTcwNT4e8cfsEBtdlfjAKw/s1600/DSCN0826.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465268326993533778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLfvFmgYXSvmHjhaCi_B1AcTHeUlun6DkVCE7fS19a3GZVEnZvI_b-OQrHk3crEL2x6WWNzpR_DITZMIaxNMWhaKgYTeF3fMleJM6pJo5EXsM9t9ihTcwNT4e8cfsEBtdlfjAKw/s320/DSCN0826.JPG" /></a> This was NOT an impromptu gift. We've had this baby since Christmas, and couldn't give it to him then, because Dylan spotted it, and we could no longer pull off the "it's from Santa" routine. He loves his Leapster, and with any luck, won't submerge it in water like Dylan did. <br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyHVO9Ai86JM-0735dGNS7s-2qfxUrR4V8yanbLuWOTSTbA2kR-0puwZh447EUg4ciVK7DT0BC1IaDJWLofsQi6okELEEJ-V5TjdM785m9BjIcTUYTwIn9soRhHrPidbOflj8rA/s1600/DSCN0830.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465268317602594482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyHVO9Ai86JM-0735dGNS7s-2qfxUrR4V8yanbLuWOTSTbA2kR-0puwZh447EUg4ciVK7DT0BC1IaDJWLofsQi6okELEEJ-V5TjdM785m9BjIcTUYTwIn9soRhHrPidbOflj8rA/s320/DSCN0830.JPG" /></a> The Crookstons got him a "critter carrier" and this fascinating magnifier. Of course, I'm not so sure he's actually used either one for what they're supposed to be for. We do know that the magnifier makes anyone's head look like "an orange on a toothpick" and the critter carrier can carry more than just bugs. I wish he would use it for the ladybugs he collected this weekend though, instead of my jam jars...<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8E_IN2jS4xUopiAGm6YEKwGpeXStXgFjk3RwMuhi1EcArBCC-H9EtK_XJS-M1pQdSsc5qjwWThN9rTuDqzaOVqTRyMWgZO3LXGXmDuEBxQNlougxdarUE9X5VsQc3JJa6EM53GA/s1600/DSCN0841.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465268310995034034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8E_IN2jS4xUopiAGm6YEKwGpeXStXgFjk3RwMuhi1EcArBCC-H9EtK_XJS-M1pQdSsc5qjwWThN9rTuDqzaOVqTRyMWgZO3LXGXmDuEBxQNlougxdarUE9X5VsQc3JJa6EM53GA/s320/DSCN0841.JPG" /></a><br />Peyton is demonstrating his awesome new "wace cah"! I just love his stance. Looks like he's gonna take off running. Just a note: Soni does NOT make a very good tunnel...<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfxdv5YzIfpoq7-UKo4LnQBHVdfrcqcNi56-4PO2r3OtW8bVsDQYfNe0zJYPqlquAU2FEDBsf01BSwrpxTcczb9bQ8D-esH7UfnG7RsfYS4ndQ7hxxGFxqvmCLCQlIh4C4ufaFQ/s1600/DSCN0843.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465268303261243906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfxdv5YzIfpoq7-UKo4LnQBHVdfrcqcNi56-4PO2r3OtW8bVsDQYfNe0zJYPqlquAU2FEDBsf01BSwrpxTcczb9bQ8D-esH7UfnG7RsfYS4ndQ7hxxGFxqvmCLCQlIh4C4ufaFQ/s320/DSCN0843.JPG" /></a></div></div></div><br /><p>The lame cake the disappointments he calls "mom and dad" bought him. Obviously, he minds...</p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>Happy belated birthday BUGABOO!!</strong></span></p>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-57419824171718450812010-04-14T21:19:00.004-05:002010-04-14T22:22:58.670-05:00Cam ♥'s Bon Jovi<div align="left">I love Bon Jovi! I've been listening to them since I was 12. I've always wanted to see them in concert, and last Saturday Sam and I were able to do just that. We left our kids with Heather (thanks, you're awesome) and took off for a night of awesomeness.<br /><br /></div><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5jADDiHLVYCiul2Ivcy3G0PY0xrDRj6jXZjCvY0XmOeUI16zgDrKEndh0yot_ynNED525N3yj4jsEleop43wxbt5UZDN-F4gOeXc2KBzvWXRNZ6UH1wt9NqAmMGzXjvNU7Nc/s1600/bon+jovi.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460183719992069842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5jADDiHLVYCiul2Ivcy3G0PY0xrDRj6jXZjCvY0XmOeUI16zgDrKEndh0yot_ynNED525N3yj4jsEleop43wxbt5UZDN-F4gOeXc2KBzvWXRNZ6UH1wt9NqAmMGzXjvNU7Nc/s400/bon+jovi.jpg" /></a><br />I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. We had descent seats, but every picture I took didn't turn out so well. Here are a couple of them.</p><br /><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixnJIifxmk2ab_-KgkjgaF8_chEuJXTJA-wFIzUpBVk_zJRiMhjNKzW0WldFrnUY7c-RDaXj0BiC-DGY3h29S1imThmY3qvWtLAJHwaq98VekDpXHV_ZhCm3ZCmVlRYksuxso-/s1600/bj2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 280px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460183726457431426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixnJIifxmk2ab_-KgkjgaF8_chEuJXTJA-wFIzUpBVk_zJRiMhjNKzW0WldFrnUY7c-RDaXj0BiC-DGY3h29S1imThmY3qvWtLAJHwaq98VekDpXHV_ZhCm3ZCmVlRYksuxso-/s400/bj2.jpg" /></p></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixnJIifxmk2ab_-KgkjgaF8_chEuJXTJA-wFIzUpBVk_zJRiMhjNKzW0WldFrnUY7c-RDaXj0BiC-DGY3h29S1imThmY3qvWtLAJHwaq98VekDpXHV_ZhCm3ZCmVlRYksuxso-/s1600/bj2.jpg"><p align="center"></a>Jon and Ritchie signing "I'll Be There For You". </p><br /><p align="center"></p><br /><p align="center"></p><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfGyDHJy8PKGf9-JaYhjGJgo_yp_6zBaifN7XpVqMd38smQD2d3UT0FV-H84zmS82fOd6duD5ue7Lz-lqCs8V9XivRVXcZbY_z0cU59uD3OwaPLjoAO06fD0m98qPHS51FODAy/s1600/bj1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 274px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460183722876600946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfGyDHJy8PKGf9-JaYhjGJgo_yp_6zBaifN7XpVqMd38smQD2d3UT0FV-H84zmS82fOd6duD5ue7Lz-lqCs8V9XivRVXcZbY_z0cU59uD3OwaPLjoAO06fD0m98qPHS51FODAy/s400/bj1.jpg" /></a><br />"Every little boy wants to learn to play guitar so he can pick up all the chicks and be a rock and roll star."</p><br /><p align="center"></p><br /><p align="left">The concert was unbelievably awesome. The bands sounds just as good live as they do on their cds. They did a good mix of their new stuff and their older stuff. They filmed the music video for their next single "When We Were Beautiful" at our concert, which will be cool when it comes out. I found this <a href="http://hath-circle-tour.blogspot.com/2010/04/dallas-tx-american-airlines-center.html">blog</a> that keeps set lists from all their shows, and links to You Tube videos from that show. I hope they're still touring when our kids are older so that we cana take them.</p><br /><p align="left">Speaking of kids at the concert, a family that took two of their kids to the concert sat in front of us. The kids looked like 14 and 12. The son got all dressed up for the event:<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460194262537081458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2JzWZY82j6QjEUIEokAqBaYiOEPwaHTUJNlpm6ZeVHVvy7QNe0wYI9VlwyNe1ZSeY73RAEHbYzIwRJjiJlpXYgYg5PUwq6SauuimYgT02pHqMuehGOnUPJMsoNzWd7sX9W_I/s400/bj3.jpg" /> </p><p>The picture really doesn't show all aspects of this daring outfit. Lets start at the top; his hair was spray painted silver with streaks of maroon. As you can see on his wrists he wore... what are those even called? Spikey wrist things? You can't see it, but on his right arm we wore a fake tattoo sleeve. And his pants? Zubazs pants! Where do you even find Zubaz any more? Sweet! So, when I end up taking my boys to see Bon Jovi, I will insist they dress like this kid. </p><p>Another entertaining attendee sat a few seats away from us. Bless her heart, she danced the night away, albeit crazy looking and off beat. She seriously danced like Elaine on Seinfeld. It can best be described as "a full body dry heave set to music". If you don't know what I'm talking about, start watching this at about the 25 second mark:</p><p><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5xi4O1yi6b0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5xi4O1yi6b0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></p><p>Wow, I kind of went off topic there didn't I? Anyway, Bon Jovi Rocks!!! I ♥ Jon, Ritchie, David, and Tico!</p>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-29051719773973240842010-04-05T13:45:00.004-05:002010-04-05T20:00:09.262-05:00With Tumbleweed, and Everything!<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">First of all, I know what you're thinking...Wow! That is really orange, right? Well, bear with me. I decided that we needed a little bit of a blog makeover, and what better look than that of a construction cone? And second of all, this is just sad. 1 post in the entire month of February. NONE in March?! This place has turned into a real life ghost town. Since Cameron claims to have nothing interesting to say, I am taking the reigns. That's right! I will pause for a minute while you jump up and do the dance of joy...done? Okay, good.<br />This is me, committing to write at least one family update a week, so that those of you whose lives are only worth living when you can read about our nonsense, can feel fulfilled. Normally, I will post on Sunday, but since yesterday was Easter, that idea kinda fell through. So, here you go, the first of many (hopefully) posts about our weekly chaos.<br /><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Cameron and I forgot that it was Easter this weekend, until Thursday. That's right, folks, we really are THAT oblivious. Cameron went and did some emergency "Easter Bunny" shopping Friday after work. Saturday was then so busy, that we neglected to dye our eggs. So, the Easter Bunny hid plain white eggs, and we dyed them before dinner on Easter Sunday. Don't judge, the kids didn't seem to mind...</span></li><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I had an appointment with my cardiologist on Tuesday. NEWSFLASH!!! My valve leaks! Oh, wait, that's not news. No worries, it's not the valve they just replaced. It's the OTHER one. YEAH ME!!! What does this mean for me? Well, it means I get the pleasure of seeing my Dr. every 6 months, so they can monitor size change for my aorta and heart in general. Who knew that having a big heart was a BAD thing?! Luckily, it could be years and years until any intervention is needed, so I choose to look at it as just another side effect to my oober awesomeness. She did give me the all clear to ride roller coasters, which is awesome, especially considering that we bought season passes to Six Flags this year. How bad would that have been, to spend $50 on a pass, so I could ride the kiddie rides all summer?</span></li><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Cameron and I have recently discovered "How I Met Your Mother" and have gone from never having seen a single episode, to being completely caught up with the rest of the world in 4-6 weeks. Thank you, Netflix, DVD's for purchase, and some website who I question the legality of! You are the best!</span></li><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">5 days and counting until our big date out to see Bon Jovi in concert! WOO HOO!!! That is the main thing that Cameron got me for my birthday this year, but let's face it, it is just as much a gift for him. This is the last show that we are determined to see, so who knows who we will see next. My vote would probably be for Lady Antebellum. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I GOT A NEW NEPHEW!!! Brandon and Diedre welcomed their second child to the world on April 3, and he couldn't be cuter. Don't believe me? Well...see for yourself:</span></li></ul><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_MxGoe4uH0TG15_7V-Fc9ee_oBbeooJaM_Xr9z4DOoxICPLRfg937lm6NuT0rwQixu0lNryEG-dMsr1m2R0qiJxnkPXMU68vLrcTDV7A-qivGIwj04Vvxxr8rO2VcA32QwOVBmg/s1600/Gray"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 229px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456818662291264658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_MxGoe4uH0TG15_7V-Fc9ee_oBbeooJaM_Xr9z4DOoxICPLRfg937lm6NuT0rwQixu0lNryEG-dMsr1m2R0qiJxnkPXMU68vLrcTDV7A-qivGIwj04Vvxxr8rO2VcA32QwOVBmg/s320/Gray" /></span></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">His big brother's not half bad either! His name is Barton (yeah, like my other brother) Graham, but they plan to call him "Gray". I don't know what I'll call him yet, but I do know I wanna squish him! You can read about his arrival and all his stats </span><a href="http://brandonanddiedresloan.blogspot.com/2010/04/barton-graham-sloan-aka-gray_5926.html"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">here</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. Congrats to Brandon and Diedre, I know it's because of Diedre that these kids are so dang cute! Love you guys!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">So there you have the most recent happenings around the Carter house. If we've lost our readership, I wouldn't be at all surprised, but please don't give up on us! I will do better...</span></p>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-82204303397866558782010-02-17T20:30:00.002-06:002010-02-17T20:58:24.302-06:00Trip to the Dr. Pepper Museum<div align="left">A while ago we decided to take a road trip with the kids to somewhere that was past the Wal-Mart in Rockwall. There are lots of things to do around Dallas and stuff, so we had a number of places we could have gone. We chose to go to the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco. Why? Well, Dr. Pepper is good, and well, it qualified for road trip status. It was a two hour drive there, which wasn't too bad. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQcFm1ApeMAtXk38TTyTc-VXSCgPdI3XL6TtToK7QamtJZZV0fLfgtHzWhwXQ2bOjViUE6-FQpEVm5BScmdOifp9eoJat_3reuLpTkke6x7FnwUEwNlxXtEsuTZbG5DFR9p4Es/s1600-h/DSCN0522.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439407458718872050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQcFm1ApeMAtXk38TTyTc-VXSCgPdI3XL6TtToK7QamtJZZV0fLfgtHzWhwXQ2bOjViUE6-FQpEVm5BScmdOifp9eoJat_3reuLpTkke6x7FnwUEwNlxXtEsuTZbG5DFR9p4Es/s400/DSCN0522.JPG" /></a> Here are the kids cooperating for a picture in front of the building. Good job, kids!</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OB7U_v8_yeNAYRPJbI2z2Ox2tSJEjPgc3H54ubdYLYzirgpSP3iacI2zj1d5qF2aTjiDOOHaCitTeoZWoE7P9RFqGRnYqzzGDTLzol-Gf8N5VtxHrqpqWxLJTcVgjgc0BL6l/s1600-h/DSCN0519.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439407449080337842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OB7U_v8_yeNAYRPJbI2z2Ox2tSJEjPgc3H54ubdYLYzirgpSP3iacI2zj1d5qF2aTjiDOOHaCitTeoZWoE7P9RFqGRnYqzzGDTLzol-Gf8N5VtxHrqpqWxLJTcVgjgc0BL6l/s400/DSCN0519.JPG" /></a>Here's an old Dr. Pepper delivery truck. Boo for no free Dr. Pepper handouts.</p><p align="center"><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5COlHllwDKkBMN21TjrDwS7ceBjXE79Gs1SP1w6asEEFdepOB3q4X3quWtjTe85NTa3PTeni1OAQmeLI70XaTJsrtuvvYGjlN9NrrQqEKRRaJjhixgZkZml_0K6fSHWHXuJzN/s1600-h/DSCN0487.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439407444683401922" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5COlHllwDKkBMN21TjrDwS7ceBjXE79Gs1SP1w6asEEFdepOB3q4X3quWtjTe85NTa3PTeni1OAQmeLI70XaTJsrtuvvYGjlN9NrrQqEKRRaJjhixgZkZml_0K6fSHWHXuJzN/s400/DSCN0487.JPG" /></a> One of the first things you see when you enter the museum is this animatronic guy. I forget his name. He talked about the history of the Dr. Pepper making stuff or something for a long time. It was better than riding Space Mountain. The kids loved it.<br /></p><p align="center"><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRAExx-nPR2oitpACi3xGvJqhkWKqAbdteu4Tf1DciYj_kbntp-3Fhf10QRgquY5V7JILn_VZ9c1Ug64zGglcm8T6KIzr33_t5kcPp-2C3AwKCp9Z04sqt5cDEy_xdb_YXBAr/s1600-h/DSCN0492.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439407469612885458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRAExx-nPR2oitpACi3xGvJqhkWKqAbdteu4Tf1DciYj_kbntp-3Fhf10QRgquY5V7JILn_VZ9c1Ug64zGglcm8T6KIzr33_t5kcPp-2C3AwKCp9Z04sqt5cDEy_xdb_YXBAr/s400/DSCN0492.JPG" /></a>You walk past creepy animatronic dude and one of the next rooms is this. It has a bunch of the old equipment they used to process and bottle Dr. Pepper back in the day. In this picture, Sam is reading the card to the kids. I'm sure it said something super awesome.</p><p align="center"><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUdIxVBOTXVEqznj-4zVuryevSJbsUWipQJ5InXlRDpDpl-594dsxdmVdS_MHkuYJrKjFJLIQz30TSGgpw1bBQJkgXh68vMQ9sXkoeYcf2GfMGY9VjjFgX3TT8Dt6jgXZrMdP/s1600-h/DSCN0498.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439407460883582146" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUdIxVBOTXVEqznj-4zVuryevSJbsUWipQJ5InXlRDpDpl-594dsxdmVdS_MHkuYJrKjFJLIQz30TSGgpw1bBQJkgXh68vMQ9sXkoeYcf2GfMGY9VjjFgX3TT8Dt6jgXZrMdP/s400/DSCN0498.JPG" /></a></p><p align="center">"Hey, maybe there's a secret door on this wall somewhere that will take us to the part of museum that doesn't suck." No such luck there, pal.</p><p>So yeah, the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco Texas is kind of lame. The first floor is the equipment and stuff and the second floor is the history of their marketing. Cool, you can spend 2 hours watching 60 years worth of Dr. Pepper commercials. Woo hoo! Of course, there is a gift shop, where you can buy a child's shirt for $15. Oh, and there is NO FREE DR. PEPPER ANYWHERE IN THE DR. PEPPER MUSEUM!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can buy a cup of hot Dr. Pepper in their snack area for like $5. Score!</p><p>Hey, at least we got out of the house and went somewhere we've never been before.</p>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-5167514538126520032010-01-18T09:14:00.002-06:002010-01-18T09:47:37.777-06:00The Test SubjectI have been very neglectful of this blog lately. Anyone who follows it, must think that we just don't do anything interesting. That's not true...we have a whole trip to the Dr. Pepper Museum that we have yet to post about, but I really don't have time now to argue with Blogger about where I want my pictures to go, so that adventure will have to wait. Until then, I have had this little gem of a "blogworthy" story in my aresnal for about a month now. <br />First I'll set the stage: I was "sleeping in" one morning during Christmas break. This was early in the break, because Cameron still had to go to work, but the kids were out of school. By "sleeping in" I mean it was not yet 8 am, because I am almost always awake by 8 am, if the kids haven't had breakfast yet. Anyway...here's the story.<br />I was just beginning to awake from my pleasant slumber, when I hear the sound of my bedroom door being opened, and no fewer than 3 little bodies scurry in. They did not, however, make a sound. I'm assuming this is because it was light enough in the room that they could see that their father had already left for work, but I can't be absolutely sure. I then hear 3 little bodies exit as soundlessly as they had come. I then hear the following exchange in the hallway:<br /><br />Peyton: "Where Daddy?"<br />Dylan: "He already left for work." "Go ask Mommy for breakfast."<br />Peyton: "Me? No, you."<br />A few moments pass, where I hear several feet run up the stairs. <br />Then I hear my door open once again, and this time 4 bodies enter my room. (I can only assume that they had gone to get reinforcements in the form of their older sister.) I then hear Andi say: "Shhh, she's still sleeping. Don't wake her up."<br />They exited again, and I hear a few exchanges out in the hall that may or may not have included drawing straws to see who would be the best candidate for the job. I know I also heard a few words involving "But I'm hungry now!" but the memory has become a little fuzzy. Apparently after some deliberation, I hear my door open one more time, and the sound of two little feet scurrying accross the floor. Then I hear Dylan exclaim from the hallway to his croanies: "It's going to be alright...I sent Soni in!"<br />It was then that I lost it. I couldn't pretend to be asleep any longer. Especially since a matter of seconds later, my diaper clad princess climbed up on my bed, tackled me, and said: "HEWO, MOMMY!"<br />Should I be worried that my older 3 children so easily sent thier baby sister into "the lion's den"? Should I be even more concerned that my children view me as the grumpy bear that they must not wake from hibernation? Whatever their reasoning, I am just grateful that they have been well trained to wake up their dad...even if he is not.Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-32042739614409735882010-01-03T23:02:00.004-06:002010-01-03T23:40:57.012-06:00Christmas came and went...So, it's January. Christmas and New Years came and went and now we have to get back in the Work/School routine again. That happened quick. Christmas was uneventful at our house. Since we live so far away from everyone we just stuck around here, which wasn't too bad.<br /><br />The kids enjoyed Christmas. Leading up to the big day, Dylan had his heart set on this big monstrosity of a toy called "Spike the Ultra Dinosaur". He saw a commercial for it on Nickelodeon, and was dead set on getting it. Why not? It's green and it's a dinosaur. Green is his favorite color, and he likes dinosaurs. It's perfect... except we had already planned on getting him a Leapster. He got a Leapster for his fourth birthday, but it came to a quick demise when he decided to wash it by submerging it in water. As you may know, when you submerge electronic stuff in water, it really doesn't work very well again, or at all. Anyway, we tried to steer him away from Spike, knowing full well that two days after Christmas, Spike would become less and less cool. Green can only get you so far.<br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422747433735278370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OngsYvVVV61WVbtw9wbPSLg9ioKawik3zmxVKQq1_E8mMnFx8naNwtA4WhDuh3O-aZFjB7Bb5tgrl5kFM_WtIKLL-PimSg9UcaXTUQZdjpTAo1FjIIf-9FShDTX0UDqKW6id/s400/spike.jpg" /><br />I had told Dylan I wouldn't get him Spike for Christmas, so Dylan pulled a Ralphie on me and asked Santa Claus for it twice. (If only Spike shot little bb's out of his mouth, I could have given a "You'll shoot your eye out" argument. That could have been fun.) If he had wavered even slightly for a second I would have jumped all over anything else. We decided not to ruin his hopes and dreams of Christmas, so we got the huge frickin' dinosaur for him.<br /><br />Dylan was super excited to play with Spike on Christmas morning. It was cool seeing his face light up as his Christmas wish had been granted.<br /><br />Two days later....<br /><br />Spike had become a whole lot less cooler than his older sister's Leapster. He has played that so much the last week that I've had to change the batteries in it twice. Spike? I haven't had to recharge him since the 27th. Now we have this huge frickin' green trip hazard that I am sure will one day kill me, either by becoming animated and going on a rampage, or by me tripping on it in the dark and being impaled by its huge tail.<br /><br />Thanks Fisher Price for making that thing, and thanks Nickelodeon for advertising it. :P I'm going to look up your corporate headqurters on Google Maps street view and picture throwing tomatoes at your buildings. Take that, suckas!<br /><br />Our other kids? Andi got the commandeered Leapster for Christmas, and had her Birthday party the next day. Noo more presents for 363 more days for you. Ha! She had her first sleep over for her birthday too, which she enjoyed. Can't believe she's 7 already. If I had any measureable amount of hair left, I'm sure some of it would be gray.<br /><br />Peyton asked for a toy flashlight for Christmas. Luckily, Handy Manny has a little flashlight tool named Flicker. Thanks, Disney. Between that and Dora, our kids will be learning Spanglish at a reasonable pace. He might be able to tell the Mexican kids to turn off the lights by the time he's in Kindergarten. Muy Bien!<br /><br />Soni loves anything Dora, so she got a stuffed Dora and a blanket. She was happy with it, and she's not stealing her sister's Leapster. Or Spike. In fact, no one is stealing Spike.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGJ00pLL8dy1M0OkA-kKiAaZC24mhRLvggA0tVBQHwIS7AsvoSMvJSt0CpZB9TxZusnlGXHSBIxbSIBWLUdXyBtcLTcesIGgZGw25RlItzVqAr3EI-1YyG1xlngIm5vo4wDRz/s1600-h/DSCN0429.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422746365645106402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGJ00pLL8dy1M0OkA-kKiAaZC24mhRLvggA0tVBQHwIS7AsvoSMvJSt0CpZB9TxZusnlGXHSBIxbSIBWLUdXyBtcLTcesIGgZGw25RlItzVqAr3EI-1YyG1xlngIm5vo4wDRz/s400/DSCN0429.JPG" /></a><br />Here's a picture of the gang in their new Christmas church clothes. A handsome bunch of kids if I do say so myself.<br /><br />That about does it for the Christmas recap. Yay. Hope your holidays were as enjoyable as ours.Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-88313534694252085422009-12-04T11:43:00.003-06:002009-12-04T12:07:40.128-06:00ShaftedI have a confession. One I am not proud of, but also one I am sure I'm not the only one that needs to fess up. First a little back story...<br /><br />Growing up, my little sister always whined about "middle child syndrome" and how she was constantly overlooked. I admit now, it mostly just annoyed me. Being the second child, and one that had "special needs" during a good portion of my childhood, I had ample attention, even with being one of 5 children in the home, and couldn't see how her perspective could really be THAT different from mine. While making our 2009 Christmas card, however, I realized that there just might be something to her claim. We don't have a "middle child" so I still don't really know how valid her claim of injustice is as far as that goes, but I can say with some amount of certainty that in one way or another, when you have multiple kids, inevitably someone will get left out. I'm really surprised to say that this year it was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Soni</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Soni</span> got shafted. Don't worry, she still got her fair share of love and attention, but we have little to no photographic <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">evidence</span> of it. While looking for pictures to include in the "collage" that became our Christmas card, there were exactly 3 pictures of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Soni</span> with her hair done all cute. I'm not sure how this happened, and seeing as how she is the "baby", I never would have thought it would be her to be neglected, but alas...<br /><br />I suppose we could blame it on the fact that once you have 3 kids all meet the same milestones, the 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">th</span> has some tough competition. After all, how big of an accomplishment is it really to get a tooth in comparison to your older sister who is reading, or older brother who's a math whiz. I mean, come on! Step it up, sister!!!<br /><br />So, I guess this is my public apology to my baby sister who was apparently right about our parents loving me more, who could blame them, right? This is also my public explanation to all those who receive our Christmas card in the mail and wonder why there's not a better individual picture of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Soni</span> on it. There isn't one. Plain and simple. For all those who may not get a card in the mail, here is what you are missing out on...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLA_sPqO2zWe9oYzmjlJgoxtvJqZsAJMX1m5FjzvNKb0a3iTG2xgB2PLIJVOnm7xdWPLQGIVAcvA9FuT0uCEijf5lbYZKnvOC0ph_5JFQ1QzXnn6PRR47IY6oxtxMkFrB4LXDRDQ/s1600-h/Christmas-card-2009.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411443213424955954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLA_sPqO2zWe9oYzmjlJgoxtvJqZsAJMX1m5FjzvNKb0a3iTG2xgB2PLIJVOnm7xdWPLQGIVAcvA9FuT0uCEijf5lbYZKnvOC0ph_5JFQ1QzXnn6PRR47IY6oxtxMkFrB4LXDRDQ/s320/Christmas-card-2009.jpg" border="0" /></a>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-30488666605984381012009-11-27T07:34:00.004-06:002009-11-27T08:11:08.538-06:00Black Friday<p>This morning I ventured to the Wal-Mart in Quinlan for the Black Friday sale. I usually don't do that, but this year they had something we needed, so I braved the crowds to spend our hard earned money. Yeah me. Here is some advice and observations from my trip.</p><ul><li>I thought about wearing some black spandex shorts to the store in honor of Black Friday. Unfortunately, I do not own any spandex shorts. Luckily for me and everyone else waiting for electronic items in the dairy section, a stout 50 year old woman with lots and lots of junk in the trunk wore her spandex shorts proudly.<br /></li><li>Bring your 10 year old child with you, and put them in charge of grabbing four things from one display. Be sure to load them up with Red Bull and Monster Energy Drink before hand so they have enough energy to fight off the middle aged man going for the same things.<br /></li><li>Don't be afraid of knocking someone over to grab a copy of Candy Land, even if it isn't on sale. Christmas is all about violence!<br /></li><li>Someone had a great idea that I wish I had thought of: Bring your two year old child to the store with you. Who doesn't like a cranky two year old that is awake at 3AM. The fun never stops!<br /></li><li>If your item rings up with the wrong price, the best thing to do is yell at the checker. It is their fault after all, and they did it just to tick you off. </li></ul>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-64748840959908663552009-11-26T13:43:00.003-06:002009-11-26T14:16:13.250-06:00There are no losers......except for the people that didn't win! Yes, that's right, Thanksgiving is here and the moment you've all been waiting for is FINALLY here! Admit it, y'all have been checking the blog anxiously every day, just hoping that someone didn't out guess you, right? Well, I must admit that you all did a cracker jack job of guessing, and so we came to a bit of an impass. Does it count if nobody got all the costumes right? We think it does. Here is a rundown of who everyone was, in the words of the children...<br /><br />Soni: <span style="color:#993399;">PIRATE PRINCESS</span>. And may I add, the cutest little Pirate Princess that ever was. Her costume could also be described as: "quick, we still have groceries to get, and the kids are losing patience. Which do you like better, this one or the Garden Knome?"<br /><br />Peyton: <span style="color:#3333ff;">LION</span>. Could also be described as: "What costumes do we have left in the closet from past years. Cool. This one is even his size!"<br /><br />Dylan: <span style="color:#009900;">"BUILDER".</span> Also known as: "No, you said "builder" and we have everything we need to do that. It's too late to change your mind to robot now, son."<br /><br />Andi: <span style="color:#ff99ff;">TAYLOR SWIFT</span>. She is the reason we had problems with a theme this year. Ever since last year, when her best friend was Taylor Swift for Halloween, Andi began insisting that she too, wanted to dawn the curls, and "hippy" clothes, and be her idol. What goes with Taylor Swift? NOTHING!!! At least nothing that we came up with.<br /><br />Which makes our THEME: "Dang! Halloween is in a week, and we still haven't come up with a theme. Does ANYTHING go with "Taylor Swift"? No? Okay, I guess we won't have one this year."<br /><br />Which makes our winner, technically Heather, but I think she's disqualified since she talks to me every day, and knows me well enough to know that I would make it a trick question. So, Lady, you're prize is to help me make the items for the winner(s) we've selected. CONGRATS to you!<br /><br />The real winner is actually a tie. I was AMAZED that LeAnn was able to come up with any sort of theme at all, with the Modge Podge of costumes, and then I was FLOORED by the way Allyson pulled them together, and made my husband hang his head in shame while I laughed out loud.<br />For this reason, you two shall share the prize, by each receiving a care package from me. Make sure I have your current address, and you can look for it in the mail in about a week.<br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">!!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!!</span> </div>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-33655215737636861432009-11-10T10:21:00.003-06:002009-11-10T11:07:45.740-06:00Trick or Treat!I know, I know, we are nearing the middle of November, and here we are just posting about our Halloween now. Lame, right? We'll try to do better. Now onto my account of the Halloween festivities.<br /><br />This year, we ended up not going to the Ward Trunk or Treat, for reasons that elude me now. The kids did get dressed up to go Trick or Treating on the night of the 31st though. Cameron took the kids around the neighborhood while I stayed home and passed out candy. This has been the routine the last 3 years, which may sound unfair, but I've usually had good excuses. The first year we moved here, I took the kids around with the Buckley's (our good friends and neighbors) but by the next year, I was VERY pregnant with Soni, so I opted not to aggravate my "temperamental" uterus once again. Last year, I was having too much trouble with physical exertion, so Cameron took the kids around again. This year would have been my year in the rotation, but when I found out that Jordan (Buckley) had the flu, and would not be going Trick or Treating, I emphatically volunteered to stay home once more. I'm sure Cameron appreciated the chance to take the 4 kids by himself again this year, and I assured him that no thanks were necessary. Unlike most years, coming up with a theme was more of a challenge this year. In fact, I think I am going to offer a special Thanksgiving care package to the person who can name what each of my kids were, and how they all fit together as a whole.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff9966;">CONTEST ALERT!!!</span></strong><br /><br />Leave a comment naming what each child is, and whatever theme you think they followed this year, and you will receive an entry into our giveaway, that will include, but will not be limited to, a PerfectlySPACED gift card, a candy treat of some sort (depending on the person who wins it), and at least one Holiday decoration to get your place ready for Christmas. If you can't find a theme, don't feel bad. In fact, it's so fantastic I'm sure nobody will get it, but take your best shot!<br /><br />Without further adieu:<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUveYflIhJlBOdaSjSHT0I88OKlL-mvSQj-6QxLSI1bXhx1RLpEGNAhPlVxiGeEW10oNn-PyJXwhb9aO6UnzAqnECmft1d2NdrS0BV8lM-bDa-KbvWfydtcPAwoVX27Lwewq5xUw/s1600-h/andi-halloween.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520731717940530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUveYflIhJlBOdaSjSHT0I88OKlL-mvSQj-6QxLSI1bXhx1RLpEGNAhPlVxiGeEW10oNn-PyJXwhb9aO6UnzAqnECmft1d2NdrS0BV8lM-bDa-KbvWfydtcPAwoVX27Lwewq5xUw/s320/andi-halloween.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a>Andi</p><p align="center"><br /> </p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1_fnMRaan7ySytGQsFBlkHL5gRnWz5HPOY0Wu3KITCZOoDJS52HCZDCzvUN9A0Qe5ROVlA4LYWPZQz53wwwQYXLGUFqw9ySN8MiQGkxDaHYZAR-Hv7T8wMzuY8hFrQxn16AV3Q/s1600-h/dylan-halloween.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520727068387442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1_fnMRaan7ySytGQsFBlkHL5gRnWz5HPOY0Wu3KITCZOoDJS52HCZDCzvUN9A0Qe5ROVlA4LYWPZQz53wwwQYXLGUFqw9ySN8MiQGkxDaHYZAR-Hv7T8wMzuY8hFrQxn16AV3Q/s320/dylan-halloween.jpg" border="0" /></a> Dylan<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyhmO2qD4eiQc2D5lgwjR-2k_t4_a_yVYf6vYXAa4wam7HyTzBfpMLapBtfmD8CzGC4RiHogf5JL8Y47SVn0ZVJhdCIWKO6Vt0t0sNeW3cfu1caZVusS_hysDTuTLEjBwd9IS5g/s1600-h/peyton-halloween.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520722580416882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyhmO2qD4eiQc2D5lgwjR-2k_t4_a_yVYf6vYXAa4wam7HyTzBfpMLapBtfmD8CzGC4RiHogf5JL8Y47SVn0ZVJhdCIWKO6Vt0t0sNeW3cfu1caZVusS_hysDTuTLEjBwd9IS5g/s320/peyton-halloween.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Peyton<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6W7WPLxBULyhUS8kIECJr9QerHpaTQ2RKAg3cWHHTE-5Dd6tfmA97-AFquqENoqKJuNiUxQeeo7hqvUcrmILbAG61VWwo_olOYobapfufd1d0IE8FvESbVQxwsXfG8EkgQ1bdA/s1600-h/soni-halloween.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520718627007666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6W7WPLxBULyhUS8kIECJr9QerHpaTQ2RKAg3cWHHTE-5Dd6tfmA97-AFquqENoqKJuNiUxQeeo7hqvUcrmILbAG61VWwo_olOYobapfufd1d0IE8FvESbVQxwsXfG8EkgQ1bdA/s320/soni-halloween.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Soni<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_BD813qN-agr0jUYm5i68fgBiwwe6ETlZWAVeL0g43FeQq7hR2uzbkWnGtuGCKfMl1KGcIHHX6vn4m7kRbJn0UUuy1dX3lmgMdqgvr-6RAtXz2k_YwKoeL8TUdOyO8yQ2WFRyg/s1600-h/kids-halloween.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520716531231858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_BD813qN-agr0jUYm5i68fgBiwwe6ETlZWAVeL0g43FeQq7hR2uzbkWnGtuGCKfMl1KGcIHHX6vn4m7kRbJn0UUuy1dX3lmgMdqgvr-6RAtXz2k_YwKoeL8TUdOyO8yQ2WFRyg/s320/kids-halloween.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The kids Trick or Treating at our door. </div><div>I mainly added this picture so you can see Andi's bottom half since you couldn't see it in the picture above.</div><div> </div><div>We'll announce the winner on Thanksgiving day.</div><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#ff9900;">GOOD LUCK!!!</span><br /></div><div></div></div><br /></div>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-40475663171837242132009-10-12T11:17:00.002-05:002009-10-15T10:25:20.243-05:00You can't fire me...I QUIT!!!How many people do you know that have been fired from a volunteer position? Well...now you know at least one. <br /><span style="font-size:130%;">How did this happen?</span><br />To make a long and horrific story short...I had multiple children. I should have known that would be the thorn in the PTO's side. (Or at least ONE MEMBER of the PTO's side) After all, if you have a kid in Elementary school, you should be able to spend no less than 3 whole days a week at the school if you dare to sign up for a spot (even an assistant position) on the PTO board, right? Turns out, when I signed up to be the "recycling coordinator's assistant" position, I was also signing up to be the "assistant" to no less than 4 other positions, as the recycling coordinator is Superwoman, with one child, an unemployed husband, and endless time on her hands to spend at the school. <br />Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to volunteer at the school. I look forward to every Wednesday when Aubrey and I exchange babysitting so we can each spend half a day helping out in our kids' classrooms. I am just not willing to sacrifice my job as a Mommy to serve as a free personal assistant to someone else...<br />On Sunday we decided to go our separate ways.<br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">Sorry Superwoman...guess it's time you flew solo.</span></div>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-63193768793582458852009-09-20T22:13:00.004-05:002009-09-20T22:25:11.149-05:00Brad Paisley ConcertWe were lucky enough to get to go to another concert this summer. On the 12th, we went to Brad Paisley's "American Saturday Night" concert. (It even happened to fall on a Saturday night.) It was quite awesome. We've wanted to see him for a couple of years now, so we decided to do it this year, even though we'd already seen Rascal Flatts a few months ago. I'm glad we went. It was really fun, and we loved every minute of it. Here are a few pictures.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhktqv0AXxDhUAN7dtQiOydeQcR__3IR0Q9eFRFvcg0VxrgHUdv8GuZ5IrIArosEqdGqvl0xi5H0307Ds8OXrYUbiWoAjBiFqNcvajE18zxOfVTHf6gmybYSxUjsmOkkHShL2Cl/s1600-h/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhktqv0AXxDhUAN7dtQiOydeQcR__3IR0Q9eFRFvcg0VxrgHUdv8GuZ5IrIArosEqdGqvl0xi5H0307Ds8OXrYUbiWoAjBiFqNcvajE18zxOfVTHf6gmybYSxUjsmOkkHShL2Cl/s400/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383753969084672626" border="0" /></a>Here's our view of the stage. We had pretty decent seats.<br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1Jy5CaozfS3DwvO1NmNS8qcVO3GL6LJ06Y6UrdD1JuaG5Hj8ZaMHADBsYeJ5t6Ue0c-anqnAaB-T87OaMUFNGiO7_wDpSYm32TBSs6zvZ-xg_tEQeyDe9V0E82t9BD8f7c39/s1600-h/2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1Jy5CaozfS3DwvO1NmNS8qcVO3GL6LJ06Y6UrdD1JuaG5Hj8ZaMHADBsYeJ5t6Ue0c-anqnAaB-T87OaMUFNGiO7_wDpSYm32TBSs6zvZ-xg_tEQeyDe9V0E82t9BD8f7c39/s400/2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383753956949120978" border="0" /></a>This is how he opened his set. He came out alone on stage and sang "Start a Band", and then faded that into "American Saturday Night".<br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1H9YQ8etL4bt5t5arrATIbOUGUNqju1ubCs4T6kqqZ-8GQHscWuDbaGKgmUmz-gq5X2kvq_JEirVQCsy8gkUx4Kxgy5rbb5PIjNw7_AHRpFtFNumZMCztbD_yHOtBFgZdsUaj/s1600-h/3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1H9YQ8etL4bt5t5arrATIbOUGUNqju1ubCs4T6kqqZ-8GQHscWuDbaGKgmUmz-gq5X2kvq_JEirVQCsy8gkUx4Kxgy5rbb5PIjNw7_AHRpFtFNumZMCztbD_yHOtBFgZdsUaj/s400/3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383753948549984498" border="0" /></a>The visual effects were pretty sweet. He mixed his music videos with live video feeds and other stuff he made for the concert.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Now that we've seen him, Rascal Flatts, and Kenny Chesney in concert, we're left to wonder who to see next summer. They are the three groups we definately wanted to see. Now that we've seen them, who next? I want Bon Jovi to go back on tour and come to Dallas!<br /></div></div>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-69291972781957755072009-09-19T13:43:00.002-05:002009-09-19T13:55:41.413-05:00Nap Time<div style="text-align: center;">Sam found Soni like this the other day after lunch.<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtwibm5xLbXstpAtPd6n5ezwuliZ4AB5UVQ2x5XCDlypf8xj69UY5sIYHWGAAdOEoRwDOwJfjIxzM9Ala91FErk7KSq4B_q76rzuJqSZf7FTjwNhrQS3VeVMstT1TQBgy7OM1/s1600-h/DSCN0178.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtwibm5xLbXstpAtPd6n5ezwuliZ4AB5UVQ2x5XCDlypf8xj69UY5sIYHWGAAdOEoRwDOwJfjIxzM9Ala91FErk7KSq4B_q76rzuJqSZf7FTjwNhrQS3VeVMstT1TQBgy7OM1/s400/DSCN0178.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383251953712435570" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARmvYfp6dSmheieZjipzpAn9RQ1GBqLb6aWEz_zDs-N57qKickfcu2D9KrykifeUqCpCsYfkNacRvwRfbv9_a834o5Yi8aPseI445b_9Sw_Jz2tePrjnLXRVmklcNfPtcH2So/s1600-h/DSCN0179.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARmvYfp6dSmheieZjipzpAn9RQ1GBqLb6aWEz_zDs-N57qKickfcu2D9KrykifeUqCpCsYfkNacRvwRfbv9_a834o5Yi8aPseI445b_9Sw_Jz2tePrjnLXRVmklcNfPtcH2So/s400/DSCN0179.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383251943888496226" border="0" /></a>PB&J makes a good pillow.<br /></div>Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-75824443854521749972009-08-28T11:55:00.002-05:002009-08-28T13:48:20.923-05:00We need your HELP!!!Hello there Family, Friends, random strangers who stumbled on our blog thanks to links on other people's sidebars, or Google searches! As many of you know, we launched our own vinyl shop online a little less than 2 months ago, and since then, we have had a steady trickling of customers come. Cameron, who watches the Google Analytics religiously, is not too impressed with the amount of foot traffic to our site, so we began discussing some ideas for ways to improve on our site, and attract more customers. This is, after all, one of the ways we had hoped to pay off all of my medical bills from the past year. One of the things we want to improve on is the look of our site. As you may have noticed, the pictures of our items leave much to be desired, because as a rule of thumb, we do not Photoshop our items onto generic stock photo backgrounds, as we feel this is like lying to our customers. After all, the dimensions never look right, so there's no way for the customer to be able to tell how big the item really is in comparison to a sofa. We think that real photos of our items on display in people's homes would add elegance, style, and reality to our store; not to mention give people ideas on how the items could be used that they may never have thought of before. Why am I telling you all this? Because this is where your help comes in. So far, our attempts to lure our customers into sending us "customer appreciation" photos have failed, so now we are reducing ourselves to bribing you, our beloved friends and family. What can you do? For the next week, take a gander at our site, find something you like, and then email us at our business email address. Let us know what item you want, what color you want it in, and we will send it to you FREE OF CHARGE. That's right...FREE!!! The ONLY stipulation to this, is that you have to promise to send us a photo of the item (applied in your home) within a week of receiving it in the mail, along with a short review of your experience. I don't want you to gush over our customer service if you don't actually have to use our customer service, so I want you to review us based on shipping time, if that impressed you, or ease of application...anything, just so long as it is something you feel you would praise a total stranger for as well. Better yet, if you have a blog, and you want to post a "look what I just got" review of our product on your blog, we will send you a $15 gift card to give away on your blog. <br />If you don't like anything on our site, but have an idea for a custom item, let us know, we can design something to add to our shop using your idea, and send it to you free, with the same rules as above. <br />The other catch, is that this is really only open to family and friends. I can't afford to supply vinyl products to any random person who stumbles on our blog, claiming to be a friend of a friend of a friend, or the vet to my sister's neighbor's cat. If I can't remember you, sorry to tell you, you are not included in this offer. <br />If anyone wants to help out with more than one item, the first one will be free, and any one past that point we will charge you just the cost of the supplies...no labor or shipping. After all, we don't want to go out of business just trying to promote our business, right? On that same note, the free item can only be for the smallest size of that item that we offer. If you really want a larger size of that item, we ask that you just be willing to pay the difference. <br />YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT!!! <br /><br />SO, get to it everyone! You have until next Saturday (September 5th 2009) to contact us with your requests. And remember, I'm not "Sami- who you have known since way back when" I am "Sami-Design team member for PerfectlySPACED vinyl decor and design" so my emails back to you will be all (or at least mostly) business.<br /><br />*To easily access our site, just press the big green button with a "PS" on it on the right hand side of your screen, and enjoy!Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-26361399197787165132009-08-24T09:44:00.004-05:002009-08-24T10:35:52.539-05:00Back to School, and such.Today was the day! Don't get me wrong, I do love spending time with my kids, so it's kinda sad to have half of my children gone all day, but the utter joy of having two less kids to fight with each other all day, makes me giddy! Last year, when Andi started Kindergarten, we went as a family to drop her off, causing quite the spectacle. This year, we opted for a more laid back approach. We took the mandatory "first day of school" pictures, but then Cameron left with them at the same time he will every day, and dropped them off himself. He did walk them both in, to make sure they knew where they were going, and he plans to get off work early enough that he can pick them up and reacquaint Andi with the way home, but other than that, we treated it just like any other school day. My hope is that starting the routines from the very first day, will make it easier to follow them all year long. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Soni</span> had a bit of a hard time with it this morning since she doesn't seem to remember Andi going to school, but she was better before they even pulled out of the garage...so even that was manageable. I'm sure this will all be a different story when we drop <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Soni</span> off at Kindergarten in 4 years, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!<br /><br />Here's how the kids looked this morning:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv7hjdrr_NL2F3uYiue7YrFN45wDTqt8-pAyLgT7BynzAROYOn-MekXaqisZV05Ub5Fo0sw5a5eqiA5K6lehKcLcgeYtpIaGdHKJCuH1N9mUHbWqUTSIjpJgIxF4pfBAYAWJXTFw/s1600-h/Dylan-FDOS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373546663820232290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv7hjdrr_NL2F3uYiue7YrFN45wDTqt8-pAyLgT7BynzAROYOn-MekXaqisZV05Ub5Fo0sw5a5eqiA5K6lehKcLcgeYtpIaGdHKJCuH1N9mUHbWqUTSIjpJgIxF4pfBAYAWJXTFw/s320/Dylan-FDOS.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a></p>Dylan looking like quite the chick magnet for his first day of Kindergarten.<br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mYIO7IXSRJRMM94pITaMX7ry2HiTk71uTJQMCQbKQnOrhWLPpVMj1tVSV7RsZBN1PMbUjuq1XhkoRMORT-nzLCOaDRGlaWyiT3WQT69uNc5tCYD7MhLia6vSfo1gMZ5FvSHSVw/s1600-h/Andi-FDOS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373546656786880898" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mYIO7IXSRJRMM94pITaMX7ry2HiTk71uTJQMCQbKQnOrhWLPpVMj1tVSV7RsZBN1PMbUjuq1XhkoRMORT-nzLCOaDRGlaWyiT3WQT69uNc5tCYD7MhLia6vSfo1gMZ5FvSHSVw/s320/Andi-FDOS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I don't think any shotgun will be big enough...</div><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBUyYZ0HrCk97E-wTL99eOifSdV5Y55ryDDDEXXUpG8cd9QvQUM4h_va7QMhAAADjNdwVsPE-DUgr0gdZTRO-4wpTwICrMl3HqZZZls8zCwxpoh0CfVwtreHvEaONGYtq1qriEg/s1600-h/BacktoSchool2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373546647945819138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBUyYZ0HrCk97E-wTL99eOifSdV5Y55ryDDDEXXUpG8cd9QvQUM4h_va7QMhAAADjNdwVsPE-DUgr0gdZTRO-4wpTwICrMl3HqZZZls8zCwxpoh0CfVwtreHvEaONGYtq1qriEg/s320/BacktoSchool2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Can we go yet?<br /><br /><br /><div align="left">On another note: Andi had to have a clipboard for school this year. After having a LOT of trouble finding a clipboard that Andi approved, I decided I could make one cuter than I could buy one. With a plain brown clipboard, and a few other odds and ends, I was able to turn a plain brown clipboard into this:</div><div align="left"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2PA2k8vNrs3NqKte-fHTutJdFHTlpBpBfkO65kVg4qYIuSiS_rF6nx2-KpVtwQrIcPJuXNXG9-3MptjEIsss9N6tHziC2nhZ1fRgojRVbkVtgQqKUhuCcSyAMBaj0bZHfZMlOw/s1600-h/clpboard-front.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373546639588079730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2PA2k8vNrs3NqKte-fHTutJdFHTlpBpBfkO65kVg4qYIuSiS_rF6nx2-KpVtwQrIcPJuXNXG9-3MptjEIsss9N6tHziC2nhZ1fRgojRVbkVtgQqKUhuCcSyAMBaj0bZHfZMlOw/s320/clpboard-front.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">The front</span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDmbiSMy45RdWKuvE1KAicZG0edTyeZZC_UGebf4Mz49jL8pD8kh9PyEYwwyCIt1d4ujgYoRBO9KBtjYIoD_ISwuaKVVdZTcvzpJRCwjy5mq2OvysRoNuEPrnaRO7PmWi31IbWew/s1600-h/clipboard-back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373546635859690290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDmbiSMy45RdWKuvE1KAicZG0edTyeZZC_UGebf4Mz49jL8pD8kh9PyEYwwyCIt1d4ujgYoRBO9KBtjYIoD_ISwuaKVVdZTcvzpJRCwjy5mq2OvysRoNuEPrnaRO7PmWi31IbWew/s320/clipboard-back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">The Back</span></div><div>(You can't really see it, but it says "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Andreia</span>" the name she has decided she wants to go by this year...)<br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><div align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">I hope her teacher doesn't regret giving me permission to spruce it up...</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span> </div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span> </div><div align="center"><span style="color:#ff0000;">HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EVERYONE!!!</span></span></div></div>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-30173584043010865702009-08-24T08:34:00.004-05:002009-08-24T09:15:14.068-05:00Happy Birthday to you......you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey...<br /><br /><br />As many of you know our "buddy" turned 5 on August 19th. With the hustle and bustle of back to school madness, we have failed terribly by not posting pictures. I guess it's not too bad, since it's only the 24th, but still...<br />Cameron came home early from work, so we could begin the festivities by going out to lunch at Dylan's favorite place...Pizza Hut. I can't remember what else we did, but here are pictures of his party:<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKxbD6JPTraGWyVsqEt5_XrY8p1v1GdidH9Nx7eclA3jtDuZK6A7qbcX-0eEUmhJsjf7oNV-CD010QnRcB3hClFZ6GGGa-6mAF5DeitmCatMtQz7un0dtnIB-7Vtj7F3CJIGA_A/s1600-h/1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373524669137004018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKxbD6JPTraGWyVsqEt5_XrY8p1v1GdidH9Nx7eclA3jtDuZK6A7qbcX-0eEUmhJsjf7oNV-CD010QnRcB3hClFZ6GGGa-6mAF5DeitmCatMtQz7un0dtnIB-7Vtj7F3CJIGA_A/s400/1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Here is Dylan with all his birthday presents. He made out like a BANDIT!<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOc2JP9DtRBGKCowhCtRHM08Og_mgfomGr8IbYJOvX2EqThrt9Q6u6GIPoikKH4LPgSaLZ82A1eOQ4DnoLQT8PP3ZCHFBja07kI2Ty-iab2kcpHiwn5jdkxuGW2W8oGZyta_yB_Q/s1600-h/2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373524676632070770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOc2JP9DtRBGKCowhCtRHM08Og_mgfomGr8IbYJOvX2EqThrt9Q6u6GIPoikKH4LPgSaLZ82A1eOQ4DnoLQT8PP3ZCHFBja07kI2Ty-iab2kcpHiwn5jdkxuGW2W8oGZyta_yB_Q/s400/2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Dylan loves puzzles! Have nooo idea where he got that from...(so hard to type sarcasm)<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22vRWmK7D9mRIECFTQYr3Dpa26nAdziDykilezMGGXx-nG19w4GuoEyjqJaxwQfwj4Ki9zqUxfBMJyJ-0qwWyn0YYoqVGu2EZ9SZ8MtpYanCPdSFFzmqHdfZ1o0pmLV1g1klwFw/s1600-h/5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373524706923936786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22vRWmK7D9mRIECFTQYr3Dpa26nAdziDykilezMGGXx-nG19w4GuoEyjqJaxwQfwj4Ki9zqUxfBMJyJ-0qwWyn0YYoqVGu2EZ9SZ8MtpYanCPdSFFzmqHdfZ1o0pmLV1g1klwFw/s400/5.jpg" border="0" /></a> Obviously, I couldn't resist getting in on the fun too!<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bkeSLa9oGQyy48XKGOSQLyTLWbmBO61IFXR6lJX1mJyRJWXJLCeQ7H4hGnL_dE2DgDEgM3dD2X1JEOZBf_Ro5MM90Ug2ARovcYyDY9zbd_uBdKoLwwRMFvqryjrJYI1ei6PAqQ/s1600-h/4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373524700351769074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bkeSLa9oGQyy48XKGOSQLyTLWbmBO61IFXR6lJX1mJyRJWXJLCeQ7H4hGnL_dE2DgDEgM3dD2X1JEOZBf_Ro5MM90Ug2ARovcYyDY9zbd_uBdKoLwwRMFvqryjrJYI1ei6PAqQ/s400/4.jpg" border="0" /></a> We also decided Dylan was old enough for Legos...<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6QS3IkKDsp5CQYcQ0FqgPc-yRalD1ZxJuQwepLNRFeTSaw75l-HVcLZxJeIpHc6dZKmJpQjzuwEXC6bwbc5bATXHWljTntNCRl9JHiwn20XXrE1xBZ0tg4z5xhsDnFk30DWYxA/s1600-h/6-edited.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373528067568439650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 314px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6QS3IkKDsp5CQYcQ0FqgPc-yRalD1ZxJuQwepLNRFeTSaw75l-HVcLZxJeIpHc6dZKmJpQjzuwEXC6bwbc5bATXHWljTntNCRl9JHiwn20XXrE1xBZ0tg4z5xhsDnFk30DWYxA/s400/6-edited.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Soni, however, is not.<br /><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkfowA2JvrcX-zVIp4Z3x44hX5y9jfV90YQBYMvi05adqcIOHEOrhV_bncdoBsiDyh3AvKrQylA7wLLSrINxbZw_4OFPkruDhM1EFnG4akUBEgcCPaiszPHxP13NzUGvLf0sIfNw/s1600-h/3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373524691047291586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkfowA2JvrcX-zVIp4Z3x44hX5y9jfV90YQBYMvi05adqcIOHEOrhV_bncdoBsiDyh3AvKrQylA7wLLSrINxbZw_4OFPkruDhM1EFnG4akUBEgcCPaiszPHxP13NzUGvLf0sIfNw/s400/3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />He got a LOT of new school clothes too! THANKS GRANDMA SLOAN!!!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9U8WmAHnHTYvyFWzPjjbclC5EMi0H5jIfp0kGWoogJuc68MEPQhhLHP9HfoFfGFnLe22llC16nwYFfxtyEyeTH1SzkeMBLo8j6bqgdVdUWwll2a-VBR2zNgREfxFigMe1GPlDcw/s1600-h/7.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373528079649909346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9U8WmAHnHTYvyFWzPjjbclC5EMi0H5jIfp0kGWoogJuc68MEPQhhLHP9HfoFfGFnLe22llC16nwYFfxtyEyeTH1SzkeMBLo8j6bqgdVdUWwll2a-VBR2zNgREfxFigMe1GPlDcw/s400/7.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Cameron loved showing Dylan how to actually build something with his Legos. This little beauty is a helicopter, that Dylan can now build all by himself.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypoFJEQYpNIWG3g1k17PaXPs1f5rqQ0WcPKdBx4k-mhGZRTIP4JXtoTm5Xv8rtTZ00J40JmDGqm1WQ5jSjOQnOZXDMcm5F8O2ZgJ61cvka68hIg0YxBSBi8wLzSbFiaSt43zWkw/s1600-h/8.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373528090698595042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypoFJEQYpNIWG3g1k17PaXPs1f5rqQ0WcPKdBx4k-mhGZRTIP4JXtoTm5Xv8rtTZ00J40JmDGqm1WQ5jSjOQnOZXDMcm5F8O2ZgJ61cvka68hIg0YxBSBi8wLzSbFiaSt43zWkw/s400/8.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />We rounded out the day with some good ol' San Francisco 49ers cake. I know, based on where we live, we should be tarred and feathered...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XaEvUG3IfcR0yhTgFapmPEtdqMAc2MN_DDFgFqpphR8ZHZm3fFmUoBJh3tYLHF867OktgMWAPxMOvoOt841e-o70xgbbZnqOLNki210AeEpsIb27LojyXX1MULTZXS3VF-6x9Q/s1600-h/9.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373528111697229394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XaEvUG3IfcR0yhTgFapmPEtdqMAc2MN_DDFgFqpphR8ZHZm3fFmUoBJh3tYLHF867OktgMWAPxMOvoOt841e-o70xgbbZnqOLNki210AeEpsIb27LojyXX1MULTZXS3VF-6x9Q/s400/9.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DYLAN!!! </div></div></div></div></div>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-31325189615563832392009-08-17T21:23:00.004-05:002009-08-17T21:32:30.882-05:00Cheer season againIt's time for football/cheerleading season again! This year Andi is cheering for the Raiders. Dylan didn't want to play football this year. At least that's what he told us until two weeks ago, when it was way too late to sign up. Oh well, there's always next year. Their uniforms are pretty cute. The first game was Saturday in 100 degree heat, but she had fun, so it was worth it.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0kMxkMZImaOM4XTcaQUt7Xkt3vo4TI7qm9yIWCdO41bgq72LEW3HiMG-0_pOcMMqYW3weI8MXs_uferxTvT9Apvd9p4wKpWVxuZTrZfslu2qNEaue1qcDhtLxZ9awD1XaIRj/s1600-h/Cheer1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0kMxkMZImaOM4XTcaQUt7Xkt3vo4TI7qm9yIWCdO41bgq72LEW3HiMG-0_pOcMMqYW3weI8MXs_uferxTvT9Apvd9p4wKpWVxuZTrZfslu2qNEaue1qcDhtLxZ9awD1XaIRj/s400/Cheer1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371124177463557474" border="0" /></a>I seriously need to buy a shotgun. And then learn how to use it.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5S6FgGBijvqGgFotdAip8pVAcFWZu5Gnjp9iusTFhTnOpqIOYn-CSwureUgnM_uNSER4hMK2Kdkc28lEi7Uary_1hBmuzswwg-Q4QG8oU403y1RzM0jIWL5-kwz4YIVTS192w/s1600-h/Cheer2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5S6FgGBijvqGgFotdAip8pVAcFWZu5Gnjp9iusTFhTnOpqIOYn-CSwureUgnM_uNSER4hMK2Kdkc28lEi7Uary_1hBmuzswwg-Q4QG8oU403y1RzM0jIWL5-kwz4YIVTS192w/s400/Cheer2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371124174443961794" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2n7AuWv8Sj5QOm3kea9Yl0haQBAEN7LOGUjaB_59lj4k0oxq8dht0yM9_-4ve2jqJcT6xyTzZBW0DbKi4wseONCXPgqEOvfsSqx7V5J0a13NxhV-22U_4bzNbvcRTi2l20dFO/s1600-h/Cheer3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2n7AuWv8Sj5QOm3kea9Yl0haQBAEN7LOGUjaB_59lj4k0oxq8dht0yM9_-4ve2jqJcT6xyTzZBW0DbKi4wseONCXPgqEOvfsSqx7V5J0a13NxhV-22U_4bzNbvcRTi2l20dFO/s400/Cheer3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371124166969382098" border="0" /></a>They have a few more cheerleaders than they did last year. Last year there were three, now there are 18. Quite the difference.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVPUi3Ho-cjnOSBVpl1bC8NTP6Nin4rSs0nSnjEBrnaVLVXxQirYGH5DH_Oqoqctlme5uMy79Ewzch_JHCjGaZHLfUdS_OZjIrXgDQxi7Ldl6pdyJ9B2gQs2wDkBjrdB-j8o4o/s1600-h/Cheer4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVPUi3Ho-cjnOSBVpl1bC8NTP6Nin4rSs0nSnjEBrnaVLVXxQirYGH5DH_Oqoqctlme5uMy79Ewzch_JHCjGaZHLfUdS_OZjIrXgDQxi7Ldl6pdyJ9B2gQs2wDkBjrdB-j8o4o/s400/Cheer4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371124159280669362" border="0" /></a>Oh yeah, we have other kids too. Here they are. From the picture it may look like it was windy that day, but we actually started combing the kid's hair like that. Flock of Seagulls is going to make a comeback sometime, right?Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-80050422125944707492009-08-17T17:07:00.003-05:002009-08-17T17:26:29.891-05:00When did that happen?Today was a very productive day. The last few weeks have been spent slowly gathering school supplies and necessities that our two elementary schoolers will need for the upcoming year. Today, we officially finished. With a handful of school supplies, and the only clothing item still needed for either kid...shoes, we gathered and paid for the items, and then headed out for the very last "Back to School" chore... getting Andi a haircut. Andi is almost 7 years old, and has NEVER had a haircut, unless you count the time she twirled it too much she had a horrific knot that required scissors. I have always loved her long hair, and was definitely hesitant to cut any length off of it at all. But, the fact that it was SO uneven due to the aforementioned twirling, it became a necessity. So, we made the trek to "Sharkey's cuts for kids" and committed to what we had been dreading. Andi didn't get to sit in the fancy Barbie Jeep to get her hair cut, but she did a fantastic job of holding still, and doing what the stylist said. To say the least, Andi was timid, and even looked mad when it was all over, but after some encouraging words from the stylist, and her parents, I think she's grown to love it. Because her hair was so uneven, the length cut off ranged from 1-8 inches, but it's all even now, and it aged her big time! I just can't get over how grown up she looks! Her hair is still long enough to put in a ponytail, and to do french braided pigtails (a requirement I gave the stylist at the beginning) plus, this length should be much easier to manage.<br /><br /><div>What do you think?</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtH4fjs0Xr-2bRGDZfdD6J4Gx1LDXH3OF2h2lkhl6SnJEoIqxh5sWcmOaa0AX6OxN8Jkl9NEiEnXFT067g3YYsh-NktfTd8DpN_py2s47b13AttBzaWH4676n6yxoif8OTW_idkQ/s1600-h/Andi-haircut.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371061849300540802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtH4fjs0Xr-2bRGDZfdD6J4Gx1LDXH3OF2h2lkhl6SnJEoIqxh5sWcmOaa0AX6OxN8Jkl9NEiEnXFT067g3YYsh-NktfTd8DpN_py2s47b13AttBzaWH4676n6yxoif8OTW_idkQ/s400/Andi-haircut.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif_kVhaLwlE6GUu2sHZ_xImBqg07eR65LfYK1BkEdPeAhyphenhyphen4NqLEKPciNwYNKytgd5W_0YLpCjFMfASkZ4eBQYHWRd0dfINs_tW8Bn_2W836Z8Rg4K980nIdgtoqiPRE_JEC18zA/s1600-h/Andi-haircut2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371061841687065810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif_kVhaLwlE6GUu2sHZ_xImBqg07eR65LfYK1BkEdPeAhyphenhyphen4NqLEKPciNwYNKytgd5W_0YLpCjFMfASkZ4eBQYHWRd0dfINs_tW8Bn_2W836Z8Rg4K980nIdgtoqiPRE_JEC18zA/s400/Andi-haircut2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CXXm-nehM-5gShVF1an9MMX7B-vev2Z537-nVW08WNuKhNrQ5WsTCZCHyif4numCib0LTXgcnarKtgqXIqf0YxYCy5R6_mdlVxnAjBIyYyA-SvIGfyGYyLnXLYOLxkNc8gjYNQ/s1600-h/Andi-haircut3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371061837499198802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CXXm-nehM-5gShVF1an9MMX7B-vev2Z537-nVW08WNuKhNrQ5WsTCZCHyif4numCib0LTXgcnarKtgqXIqf0YxYCy5R6_mdlVxnAjBIyYyA-SvIGfyGYyLnXLYOLxkNc8gjYNQ/s400/Andi-haircut3.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-51774358823781975862009-08-15T11:57:00.004-05:002009-08-15T17:34:26.740-05:00Road TripLast week we took our first road trip in years. We went to the Lubbock area to visit our old friends Matt and Becky. Sam and Becky were roommates in college, and we've ended up following them around wherever they move just because they are so cool! This was Soni's first long trip in the car, and our first one since Thanksgiving three years ago. Wow.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sTA_myxj4-GbBCyr_VDtNNEbQm4MPGqMBtilSD3NtM4f0M2u8zYhzSo1Yj8AP8WPFTClKXm0OtprrNG3sVJ2brOsklLICT4bUTU5py1WzDIP0LA3b9OMyvfbchbRYunmkUD6/s1600-h/2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sTA_myxj4-GbBCyr_VDtNNEbQm4MPGqMBtilSD3NtM4f0M2u8zYhzSo1Yj8AP8WPFTClKXm0OtprrNG3sVJ2brOsklLICT4bUTU5py1WzDIP0LA3b9OMyvfbchbRYunmkUD6/s400/2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370236110913751906" border="0" /></a>The kids did pretty ok in the car. Soni had her moments of being ticked off, but she did pretty well considering how young she is. About halfway there, Peyton started tapping me on the shoulder to ask me if we were there yet. He did it every 5 - 10 minutes. At least he was polite and tapped my shoulder instead of just shouting.<br /><br />When we moved to Texas, we noticed that in order to be considered a town, a place needs to have a Sonic. Apparently that is just East of DFW, because when you go West, Dairy Queen is the notable restaurant of choice. There were Dairy Queens in towns called Merkel, Clyde, and Baird. Every town had a gas station and a Dairy Queen. I thought it was odd, but I guess I'm just used to it being Sonic. You didn'tt need to know any of that. Sorry.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXJNLfdXgk0S6629dHhUXgyqVW5ugjv4fGbUNRTDYlkQKFir0zJV7VObaw9t3UAEfWa6zCawL-m09q-yne-nPMYECm4IsApv_FWaipM2pTCML1KhcyLQAAsv76RigVymnLhU9/s1600-h/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXJNLfdXgk0S6629dHhUXgyqVW5ugjv4fGbUNRTDYlkQKFir0zJV7VObaw9t3UAEfWa6zCawL-m09q-yne-nPMYECm4IsApv_FWaipM2pTCML1KhcyLQAAsv76RigVymnLhU9/s400/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370236119180056018" border="0" /></a>Here are our kids and the Williams kids. They had lots of fun together. Peyton has been saying that he's going to marry Sarah (the one in yellow). Hailey (in green) is two days older than Dylan. They're all pretty close together in age, so they all had someone to play with.<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx5t9w_Nh8UhKKVtFLakf4mLRGseLHZH1xByMdmmNTCJakzLD8ioMxI_QrY3DuXbq2KcSYI4wNVtt0' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></center><br />Saturday morning they formed and band and recorded their first single, "I love you Mommy!"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5Yr87KWkDsiTSqa8TF7xH4K11rotjI7hA1oJ5zNQ3gHVrrrudkyKUiwgM50S7QSPnwXwcYZxU-emGc2_7HFEUlpM_V9FapCzJGpGEMsuFOOVzitR44cvyx1bLOXJDYLF5gUU/s1600-h/3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5Yr87KWkDsiTSqa8TF7xH4K11rotjI7hA1oJ5zNQ3gHVrrrudkyKUiwgM50S7QSPnwXwcYZxU-emGc2_7HFEUlpM_V9FapCzJGpGEMsuFOOVzitR44cvyx1bLOXJDYLF5gUU/s400/3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370236101346380946" border="0" /></a>Becky took us to the Science Spectrum, which was way cool. Dylan keeps saying that he wants to go back. They had a bunch of different "experiement" stations set up. This one had a bunch of water going through it. I'm sure there was some point to learn from it. I learned that if some streange little girl purposely points a squirty thing at my baby and gets her wet, I get mad at said child. Maybe that's what you were supposed to learn.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaOvliwrwiav2QEZlqgBBNVofmiBOEXQPowpRIW5J10EvEvwZa1Zl_KnjX9Bbt1hT2hCAeGiaSEMLvgaFs9VQWj1UcJl8oN55cMVSfs8e5JKMYIJVAOec6zuHC3PDAOlnyKWJ/s1600-h/4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaOvliwrwiav2QEZlqgBBNVofmiBOEXQPowpRIW5J10EvEvwZa1Zl_KnjX9Bbt1hT2hCAeGiaSEMLvgaFs9VQWj1UcJl8oN55cMVSfs8e5JKMYIJVAOec6zuHC3PDAOlnyKWJ/s400/4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370236096908355970" border="0" /></a>They had a station set up for bubbles. Dylan was pretty good at making big bubbles like this.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjLLyixFN8vjOA5kp5HlR84p4CZJtIiymaz27C8ky61hePrtKNkoVPowzKZ-xhJjX0kIW2SNcRy_IIC3snjQm7giCo6rDEhLeEID4WJjMrptFxIDEA_Wm8ay2lDYektkKPfZip/s1600-h/5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjLLyixFN8vjOA5kp5HlR84p4CZJtIiymaz27C8ky61hePrtKNkoVPowzKZ-xhJjX0kIW2SNcRy_IIC3snjQm7giCo6rDEhLeEID4WJjMrptFxIDEA_Wm8ay2lDYektkKPfZip/s400/5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370236096547667506" border="0" /></a>We also went to a park and let the kids play for a couple of hours. Andi, Hailey, and Sarah rode on the tire swing for 15 minutes. They had a lot of fun doing that. Andi said "This is the best vacation ever!" Cool, we don't need to go to Disney World or anything, we just need to find a tire swing. That's quite the difference in price.<br /><br />We had lots of fun visiting the Williams. We'll have to visit them more often than once every two or three years.Camhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02140077379416151233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25602671.post-77069817659187944752009-08-14T11:24:00.003-05:002009-08-14T13:17:00.131-05:00Sleeping inI am the first to tell you that the following story is my own fault. During my 3 month long recovery/hiatus from real life to devote to healing, I became quite accustomed to sleeping in. My children also got used to this as a way of life, so mommy could rest. This is not such a bad idea when you have at least one more adult in the house to keep the shenanigans to a minimum, but it is a VERY BAD idea when you are the only "responsible adult" in the house. Normally, Cameron wakes up between 6:30 and 7 and gets ready for work, and feeds the kids breakfast and then leaves around 7:30. The kids will watch cartoons for about an hour, and I am up and ready for the day no later than 8:30. I guess I was a little more tired this morning. At 9:30, I got up, got ready, and exited my bedroom to find weird spots on the hallway carpet. I didn't think much of it because it looked like someone had just gotten into the vacuum cleaner canister, and spread some dirt on the carpet. That is, until I made it to the kitchen...<br /><br />Turns out, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Soni</span>, who has recently taken a liking to taking off wet diapers herself, had taken off her diaper, and proceeded to go #2 all over the kitchen. I will spare you all the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">gory</span> details, but the spots in the hallway were NOT what I had originally thought, and required immediate attention from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bissel</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">Lessons learned from this experience:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">1-Bedtimes are not just for children. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">2-Diapers only work if they are on the child's body.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">3-Modesty is a concept lost on 21 month old kids.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">4-The inventor of personal home carpet cleaners MUST have been a mother, or at least had a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">toddler</span> in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">their</span> home.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">And finally:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;color:#ff0000;">5-Cameron does not pay me enough.</span><br /><br /><br /><br />If a girl's night out wasn't already planned for tonight, I would be planning one thanks to the events of the morning.Samihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03123610311005330564noreply@blogger.com4