Message to Rachael

You call and complain that Reid's hair is out of control. The last haircuts for each of the boys was at the same time. Unless you can produce a worse "bad hair day" photo of Reid, I am keep the $50 that I have for you.

BTW- This is totally natural. Post-nap. He's a Rock Star.

Random-Schmandom

I once read a blog post on what NOT to write in your own blog. He said to never use the word "random". Seriously, its MY blog, dimwit. He said it will be boring to your readers. Honestly, his blog bored the pants off me and I no longer read it. So here are some random bits and pieces.

I was told that ya'll needed a pic to prove how bad the ugly duckling really is....
packaging is just fine. unbelievable.
I had a craving for homemade mac n cheese tonight (the cruddy weather brings that on)so since I needed to get my glasses in town anyway, we went to walmart to get the stuff to make it. I also decided on some new art supplies and this hat...

This is the cutest thing. I have to say that I normally do not EVER buy character clothes EVER. There are no Dora or Diego shoes in my house. I barely allow mickey(thats a hand-me-down above) or princess stuff. Not my style. Nothing against it. I prefer PLAIN. However, I adore Yo Gabba Gabba! It is like watching hip modern art performing. It is colorful.It is weird. I love it. I would wear this hat if they made it big enough for my giant head. For the record, Rachael also bought this hat for Reid. Its reversible and came with matching mittens. He's a true lefty, I am so proud...
Teagen is currently obsessed with these velvet posters. This time is was a whole pack of Tinkerbell ones. They are now hung all over the place here. She is very careful when coloring and spends a time on it.

Summer's hair looks strange but she just has her hood half up with a head band on. She made a beautiful "Peace" poster. Its kinda funny because Summer is always the peacekeeper of the house. She's just trying to get he message out!
More random. Have you seen these?

Are you ready for this? They are Crocs!!!!! I about died. I so want to try a pair. I just don't get it. I need to touch them, because I do not believe they are like regular Crocs. But I guess they are. I admit that I bought a pair of the mary janes in black in September. They are pretty cute. I love them with cropped pants. Good "Mom" shoes for the every day that slip on and off but are more than flipflops and all the "skimmers" that I usually wear all summer long. And I have 2 pair of the original style that I wore when I was preggers and when they first came out, but keep them only as slippers these days. They are just too big and crazy looking. But these, these are pretty sweet.

And one more, the glasses. No diamonds. But they are lovely. I swear they give me a face lift. They are purple and they are made in Denmark. Which is fine because that's where Jason's company is originally from. And his boss. And Jake Bak. And I am pretty sure there are no sweat shops there. So that's good. I may even post a pic later this week.

I am skipping the debate tonight and watched John and Kate+eight and now there is some freakish pageant babies show on that i will not be able to help myself and watch the whole thing.

That's all I got.

Day 7 and counting...

If its any indication of how I am doing, I am on my 2nd diet pepsi of the day and its just 11am. If I wasn't so tired, I would have made coffee. About 2 days ago the kids really started to work my nerves. I did get out last night and Joan watched the kids so I could go and help with a friends baby shower. It was fun and was with all my "We Can Cook" girls. that's just a funny name for a once a month excuse to hang out and make yummy food that our husbands would call girly, and drink wine(or whatever) We did it up baby shower style and it was really fun. Our friend Amy is having a little girl. We haven't had a baby in the group since Grady. So it is of course, exciting.

So anyway, it was fun, but a stressful day, and I was not very nice(here at home) I had to clean the house, make dessert and get the group scrapbook project that Mya and I planned. Cook dinner for the kids and still get myself ready. I also had baby gift drama. I have to share this...

I found this cute little pull along ducky. The package is boasting, "EverEarth" kid safe, ecofriendly, and made from wood from renewable forest. Organic, recycled, and all that "good" stuff. I am thinking,"what a great addition to the outfit! a cute little eco-friendly duck!" Amy is a bit "granola" and I thought she would appreciate a toy like this. So as I go to wrap it, I open the box to double check that its all in one piece. Its so cute! I turn it over and my jaw drops-literally. Stamped permanently HUGE on the wing is MADE IN CHINA. What? Freakin' idiots. I am so writing to that company. There is no reason that it couldn't have been a sticker. I buy a lot of stuff from China. I don't like it, but it is more important to me to make my house payment than to buy all organic food and clothing and toys and clothes that are not made in China. (like Honduras or Indonesia are any better, lets be realistic here) But I certainly don't want to give an earth-friendly gift stamped Made in China! Yuck!

But don't worry too much about me. I will be fine today. I am relaxing, mostly. I got the call that my stinkin glasses are ready, so I am going to see if maybe they have diamonds encrusted in the frames(they were probably made in China....actually at that price, I a sure they were made in the USA!) The kids are watching TV, and I am OK with that. I just wish they wanted to watch"What Not To Wear". Summer has Spanish Class tonight, and we are eating leftovers. Maybe I'll go play with paper. I just miss Jason so much. He could be home early if he gets a deer. That would be nice. He is such a pain, I love him. The kids miss him, the dogs miss him, and I hate taking the garbage out and pumping gas.

I'm in Love

So there is no question that I love all things old and vintage. My house is over 100 years old and the idea of ever moving to a brand new, just built home does nothing for me. But a big favorite of mine is old photos. I have an ancient album full of photos of strangers and I find it so beautiful and magical. So you can imagine how many times my heart has skipped when I found this amazing site that can turn any photo to look as if its 100 years old. I think its Japanese.
This is Summer, taken on the 1st day of school out on my porch. I think its very ghostly. I adore it.

And another self portrait in my kitchen. I was inspired to do some head shots by a new challenge blog I stumbled across(I seem to do a lot of that) http://www.work-your-soul.blogspot.com/ Of course they didn't turn out how I wanted but I am happy with a few.

I would love to see what anyone else does with the photo aging application. The site is http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds I am over the moon for it. I know its not for everyone, but the right photo...and wow.

EDITED: I forgot to add that Snapfish has their 50 prints for 50 cents going on right now, the code is FALLPENNY08 and ends the 14th. What a deal!

Zoo Pals and a weekend of nothin'

Alright, so everyone raves about the giraffes, but no one ever told me that they have so much slime!!! Gross, yet still somehow cool.
I didn't take squat for photos, my dad took a lot(but mostly of the animals).

This prairie dog reminds me of the YouTube video that went around for a while. They are some funny critters. They kept posing for the cameras.

The girls looking for zebras...

Teagen was not afraid to get a drink...

Vicious giraffe! There was about 5 cars at the zoo so needless to say the animals were not as well fed as they are all summer.

All in all, not as good as I had hoped. John Ball has WAY more animals and exhibits. However, I tend to feel bad for the animals at John Ball because I think some of the conditions are not so hot. I hate to see them pace back and forth all day and the Bald Eagle just makes me really sad. The animals at Binder seem to have better living areas, but there are just not a lot to see. And that was a hellah a drive. Thank goodness my kids sleep in the car(both ways!). And Rocky was a trooper, doing great with the craziness that comes with 3 littles in public.

Sorry about the bad news...

We are going to Binder Park Zoo today. Teagen asked if we would see dinosaurs. I explained that they were extinct, that they were all dead and have been for a very long time. She was very sad. Opps.

Anyway, wish us luck, we are going with my Dad who has never been on an all day adventure with me and my 3. I am actually taking Summer out of school early, and I have the beginnings of a bad cold, so this should be interesting.

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Quite literally.

I think Jason was feeling a little bad about being gone so much and told the kids that we would go to the candy shop down the street. Can you think of much else that would get kids outragously excited? We may as well told them that we won the lottery. Walking in the door, Grady starts in with the "WOW! Whoa! Oh man!" It is so funny. Jason actually lets each kid get their own basket and get whatever they want. Which really is not as bad as you would guess. They all only pick a few things(with the exception of Grady, but we just kept pulling stuff out of his basket when he wasn't looking)

Its funny because the kids always pick out gummy and sour stuff, then want the homemade fudge and chocolates that Jason and I get. I really like the cooler wall with all the unique drinks (real diet root beer!) and sodas. There is this carbonated orange juice that is so so good.
We adore this place. The owners are really great people. So nice and generous too. Last year I won a $25 gift basket and you should have seen that thing. The kids thought they died and went to Heaven. And they don't even bat an eyelash at crazy kids. I guess that what you sign up for when opening a candy store.
So if you are in the area, stop in there. Such an awesome, fun kid friendly place. I hope more businesses like this open in Lakeside.