Invasion of the Youngers

We've had a relaxing (hmm, not really the exact word I'm looking for - what means fun but loud? mellow but loud? ) visit so far - the kids are having great fun. They have gone to the pet store twice with Aunt Amanda and mam-moo. Luckily they came home with no animals!! Today they are at Magic Mountain. Hopefully they come home with no icky sick kid germs!

Here are a few pictures from Amanda's cell phone...I've been slacking and not taking pictures. I have used my spare time while the kids are otherwise occupied to drink wine and try to finish last month's book group book.

Ella - Mason - Trent

Yesterday was also Easy Bake Oven day - Ella and mam-moo spent a majority of the day making about 4 or 5 bite sized "cakes". I missed out on them because I was at book group.

Here's little Miss Emeril - BAM!

This was cookie eating time - it's hard to tell, but Si of course is a chocolate cookie mess!

This is what it looks like when all the sugar kicks in!

Burn Baby Burn - AKA - I'm Too Nasty for Your Head

I could have named this post about 1000 different things (Can't Touch This or Justin has SOME standards or So Long Old Pal...you get the drift)

My husband has worn the same Indians hat since about the year 2000 - We were a family of 3 then - 4 if you count the hat that never left Justin's head.

Here is one of the first pictures taken with his (then new) hat

This is now - does this really skeeve you? (especially the ladies)



- this hat has seen many a home improvement project...2 sheds, a finished basement or two, decks, landscaping, painting...LOTS of painting, as well as golf, cookouts, camping, bars, beer, so much beer...bowling, childbirth, childrearing, even a few baseball games. It has gotten so fragile (and SO gross & disgusting) that Justin is hesitant to put it on his head any more - thus having some standards . I don't know if hat years are like dog years (I suspect they are) but this ol'boy no longer gets around like he used to - takes a lot longer for him to recover from any projects - especially ones that involve Justin's sweaty head. So I have done what ANY loving, caring, hygiene monitoring wife would do - purchased a new, exact replica of the hat from Amazon.com with the sincere hope that he will SET THE OLD ONE ON FIRE!!




I have to admit though - part of me wants to buy one of those glass enclosed, antibacterial lined shadow boxes and hang it.

So - should we have a burning ceremony OR display it??

The Youngers are Coming...The Youngers are Coming!

Mark A. Hicks, illustrator

We are about to be invaded (in a good way) by the AZ & NY Youngers!! Amanda will be arriving tonight, and Mom (aka: Mam-moo or Lynn) and Trent will be flying in tomorrow morning. It's been almost 2 years since our last visit with the AZ clan - we are very excited!!

This is a picture from the last visit - Silas, Mason, Ella, Trent and Lil' Will

Then on July 4th, Dad J. (aka: Jim or EL PAPERINO) and possibly Brian will be arriving from NY as well.

From our May NYC trip: Justin, Shawn, Dad J., Brian,
Amanda, Emily

This will be the first year in a LONNNGGGG time that we've gotten to see all our cousins in the same year since they are scattered in Arizona, Ohio, Rhode Island, Nevada and New York!!

I should have some good blogging pictures from the visit!

A little R & aRff!

This is my B-I-L, Tim - with the boys, Chopper and Vinnie. Someone thought the boys needed a chair like their dad. You can tell that Vinnie is just way too full of himself having his own recliner and all. Is that a remote I see in his hand/paw??

Gorgeous weather...and NOT so gorgeous weather...

We have had a week of really nice, play outside weather. Not scorching hot. The kids have been outside a lot - and we've done yard work and been watching the garden grow.

Ella and Si doing sidewalk art

Mason showing his stuff on the Ripstick

Garden is getting big - we've got 8 tomato plants (various varieties), a tomatillo, and radishes in this area.

This area has the cucumbers and snap peas

Miss Ella with the first pickings of radishes

Last night we were rudely awaken by massive thunder and lightening. Then by the tornado sirens going off. We have a skylight in our master bathroom and it felt like we were on the set of Flashdance. At around midnight we grabbed the kids and headed to the basement. Ella and Si never woke up. We stayed down in the basement for about 40 minutes watching the radar show the storm sitting directly over us.
I really like storms - but not in the middle of the night when the dog freaks out and the kids have to be rounded up...I like when I can sit in the garage, drink a beer and watch them...

A picture from the storm (but not one that I took) - there was SOO much lightening with this storm...eek!

One more...

#8 - Could Mason be a (grouchy) Leif Garrett look alike?

Celebrity shots

Vote for your favorite celebrity look alike:

#1 - Since getting braces (they give me big lips) and shagging my hair, I remind myself of Steven Tyler every time I see me. Dude looks like a lady.



# 2 - Ella and Minnie Pearl



#3 - If Si had a tan, he'd be a dead ringer of Mariano




#4 - "This is my house, I have to defend it." Good old McCauley...




#5 - Brad and Jen couldn't have made a cuter kid :)



#6 - Donna always says Justin looks like Bobby Flay - and he's a grill master too



#7 - David and I have a love child

They are gonna kill me...

but I have to post these pictures of my sisters...paybacks for all the times they held me down and tickled me until I peed my pants!

Margie

Tara

Lisa

Family photo 1976
(I look like I've been kidnapped by a family of Mexicans :)

Miracles never cease!

The kids were home today with me because poor Kelly has a bug (hope you are feeling better now!).

Typically Silas pitches a HUGE fit when I make him nap at home. Today, we ran a few errands, and he said in the car "eat lunch and nap?" I took this as a good sign.

We came home, ate lunch and during lunch he said "I sleep in your bed". I asked him why and he reminded me: "my bed have no sheets" (he wet through this morning and I had to wash his sheets and blankets). So after lunch I took him into our room and about 10 minutes later, he was out!

Here are a couple pictures of Justin on Father's Day -
he got a new saw (circular I believe)

And one of the Dad with his kids
(that's a pooper scooper that Ella is holding...unused thankfully!)

Hopscotch and bedtime reading

Ella has been very into hopscotch lately. With Mason's help, she did hopscotch squares all down the driveway. Here is a quick video of Si and Ella hopping



My kids are such hams. I try to sneak up on them with the video camera but I always get busted. Here they were reading together after a bath.

Testing a slideshow

I've been trying to figure out the easiest way to upload a slide show to the blog - we'll see if this works:

Happy Father's Day to my honey

I have been so tremendously blessed to have found (okay, stalked) my husband 15 years ago. Those that have known us since the "beginning" are amazed at 1. how good and strong our marriage is, 2. that we have not killed each other and 3. that my egg and his sperm create such beautiful children :)

He is a fantastic father - he takes the time to teach them the things that they will need to know when they grow up and are independent - he teaches them the things that I tend to do myself because its "easier". He's stern, he's gruff, he invokes the right amount of fear that a dad should have. He reads bedtime stories, he gives baths, he kisses boo-boos, he gives dinosaur rides. He does pig tails, underdogs and "funky monkey" dancing.

We've hit rough times along the way - infertility, death of friends & family, dirt poor, uncertainty in our relationship. Each rough spot has made us stronger, has improved our relationship (the only thing that hasn't improved in 15 years is my aim...lucky for him!) and has made us both stronger individuals.

He's the man that I would not want to live without and that my children should be so proud to call Dad.

Won't You Take me To...Funky Town

Actually it's Safety Town, but each time I say it the Funky Town song (which I've added to my Playlist below) runs through my head.

Here was the Funky Town week review:

Monday was an introduction to animals and animal safety




Tuesday was Fire Department Day - here's Ella that night in her fire hat






















Wednesday was Police Department day - Ethan and Ella posed by the police car. They also got to see the police helicopter and police dog. They loved it!





Thursday they practiced calling 911 (which Ella has known how to do, at least accidentally, since she was about 8 months old...) and took a Safety walk around the town.





And Friday was water safety day and graduation practice. Here is Daddy and Ella.















And tonight was graduation! They got up on stage and sang their songs.
Here is Ella's Lucky Limes group singing Red Light, Red Light - she 's 8th from the left - not moving a muscle



And here is her graduation walk

And an update on my REARend
all was fine - no issues - just a couple areas of diverticula and I need to increase my fiber intake (who knew, wine isn't high in fiber?!) By the way, the procedure itself is a breeze...cute doc walks in, starts the happy meds, makes chit chat and 20 minutes later you are waking up with a slight hangover, wondering what the hell just happened.
The worst part for me was not eating for over 24 hours (and the 15,000 trips to the crapper).

What's in Your wineglass tonight?

When 5 o'clock hits and it's time to cook dinner, I love to have a glass of wine. Tonight, 5pm hit and instead this is in my wineglass:

NuLYTELY^® with Flavor Packs is indicated for bowel cleansing prior to colonoscopy. NuLYTELY provides effective and fast cleansing of the gastrointestinal tract and is specially formulated for better taste.

YUM! but the 4 flavors are NOT Riesling, Merlot, Chardonnay or Pinot Noir :(

I will be having a colonoscopy tomorrow (yes, I know it's scheduled for Friday the 13th and I almost changed it about 5 times). Having a parent, sibling or child that is diagnosed with colon cancer before the age of 60 puts you at higher risk so my GP scheduled me for one.

Info from the Colon Cancer Alliance:

The most common symptom of colorectal cancer is no symptom at all. Nonetheless, individuals should pay attention to the symptoms of colorectal cancer. When experiencing these symptoms, understand that you are diagnosing a condition and no longer screening. Insist on getting a colonoscopy.

The following symptoms might indicate colorectal cancer:

• a change in bowel habits
• diarrhea or constipation
• narrower than normal stools
• unexplained weight loss
• constant tiredness
• blood in the stool
• feeling that the bowel does not empty completely
• abdominal discomfort: gas, bloating, fullness, cramps
• unexplained anemia
• vomiting

If you experience any of these symptoms for more than a few days, talk to your doctor about them to determine the cause.

As I've spent time on some of the websites and listservs, I've read stories of MANY 25-45 year olds that had some of these symptoms but the doctors told them repeatedly that they were too young to worry about it being cancer - that it was just hemorrhoids or something (and of course it was a later stage cancer by the time they got someone to listen). So insist on being taken seriously if you have these symptoms or think something is wrong.

Here's Dave Barry's take on the procedure:
http://www.miamiherald.com/dave_barry/story/427603.html


Okey-dokey...I think the medicine is about to kick in so I'll be signing off for now!

I'm SOO jealous!!

Sarah and Brian brought their pictures over from their Costa Rica eco-resort honeymoon - they got back very late Friday (or rather, very early Saturday a.m.)

Here are a few pictures

The beautiful view

Zip lining through the jungle!

Their private beach :)

Uh, the AIRPORT! No lie...

The newlyweds in 94% humidity

Glad they didn't get eaten by any of the crocodiles - like this guy!

And a collage of the flowers they took pictures of

Welcome home!!