Army of Women

My friend sent me this website this morning.

I went to the website, read about it and signed right up.

To be apart of the search for the cure for breast cancer? You bet! What an amazing opportunity.

I love the proactive approach and can't wait to hear more about it!

Go to their website and read about it. Then sign up.

Go on, go now.

Kristen

Saturday Fun

Recently found this movie theater in the area that has free kid movies every Saturday at 10 and 11 a.m.! They are older movies but since our dollar theater went away we have been seriously missing the movie theater experience, and you really can't beat free! So Paula and I took the kids (minus Kylee because she is in Michigan with friends this weekend) to see the Pirates who Don't Do Anything and then we took them to Philips park to run off their popcorn.

I wanted to snap some pictures of the kids while they played. Not very good with action yet. Seth was thinking he was a squirrel and was on a mission to find as many nuts as he could. He left them as an offering at a hole that he was sure was a squirrel hole.

It wasn't too hard to get a good picture of Joshi and Sam. They were pretty willing subjects.

What great friends!







Adorable! Luke was good for a pose or two. Why is he so cute?









All three boys moving across the playground. Too cute!







Yes, Seth is a ham. I liked this picture because of the green in the background and his shirt, he was almost camouflaged!











Jackson was being elusive, so all my pictures I had to sneak. He was probably running from me in this picture. Shh don't tell him I took it, he will be really mad at me!








And our only girl who kept everyone in bounds. She is our helper and I don't know what we would do without her most days! What cracks me up is that she had the most skin exposed and got no bug bites while I came home sporting three giant swelling masses (one on my face). What's up with that?

Kristen

Mama Mia!

A friend of ours snapped this picture before we left for Mama Mia! the other night. Mike of course had to be silly and was doing his Doug Heffernin look. There was a slightly more serious picture. But I chose to post this one.

The play was hysterical. Loved it. I wonder if the movie could possibly be as good as the play.

The seats were awesome, never been that close to the stage before. The whole experience, where it was fun, was also kind of surreal, due to personal reasons.

It was awesome going to a play where I already knew half the music. The crowd had a totally different energy than any other play I had ever been to. They got a little rowdy.

And don't let Mike lie to you he was totally singing along to the ABBA songs!

Kristen

Caddy and Pill

This is Caddy.

Faith found him this morning out on the patio.

She gave him, well, didn't really give him because she doesn't touch bugs, insects, or larvae of any kind, but showed him to her sister Kylee, who entrapped, I mean made a home for him in her butterfly habitat.

They had to know what kind of caterpillar he was. So thanks to the world wide web we were able to identify him as a black swallowtail caterpillar.

They love to eat dill which was very good information for Seth who desperately wanted his own caterpillar to imprison, I mean care for.

So armed with an empty yogurt container and the knowledge that they love dill he set off to find himself a new little friend as well.

He did succeed and now is the proud papa of a itty bitty black swallowtail caterpillar. His name is Pill.

Maybe if he lives through his forced incarceration, I mean luxury yogurt hotel, then we will photograph him as well.

Kristen

Tagged- 6 Random Things

My brother-in-law tagged me.

1. Post these rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of you post (I’m making this optional to relieve any guilt, including my own for continuing this).
4. If you get tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.
5. If you don’t do it, I will be crushed emotionally and will probably never recover from the rejection. Okay, maybe I will.

So here it goes. Six random things about myself.


1) I like mayonnaise on my french fries not ketchup.

2) I love to read but have no patience for unimportant details in a book and will skip pages to avoid them.

3) If I am going to wear open toed shoes my toe nails must be painted. No chips or cracks!

4) I love the smell of my little boys when they have been playing outside.

5) I joined the tennis team in high school not because I was good at it (because I really, really wasn't) but because I really liked the little tennis skirts.

6) Since taking typing in high school, I type constantly. Like when I am watching a movie, I will type lines over and over again on my leg. OCD? Maybe.

And one more just because I like the number seven more than 6. (That fact kind of makes it eight though doesn't it?)

7) I love to throw things away. It actually gives me pleasure. Sometimes I get in trouble for accidentally throwing away important stuff, like car titles. OOPS!!!

Let's see I need to try and tag people that I have not seen this on their blogs, okay how about, Mike, Mandy D., Mandy C., Leeanne, Jen b, and I would love to tag Renee but she did it only a bit ago so I won't make her do it again.

Kristen

Wow! What a Gorgeous Day!

79 degrees. The kids are all playing. Girls down the street, boys in back yard. It's really quiet. I am trying to motivate myself to go and do some MUCH needed yard work. But just haven't cared much lately.

This week was super busy. Mike was away at Innovate '08 so the kids and I were on our own Wednesday afternoon-Friday evening. I never like it when Mike leaves. But this time seemed especially hard. Lots of reasons.

The kids and I got to go and take care of Paula, her mom and the boys on Thursday night. We made a ton of breakfast food for dinner and devoured it all. I am talking- a whole pan of sausage gravy, close to 20 home made biscuits, 28 pancakes, 10 eggs scrambled, one tray of lemon bars.

We definitely made a dent in it! There is nothing like comfort food and good friends.

Then Friday we finished up our school week, weekly cleaning of the house, went to the library, and music and then to a friends house to help with some moving stuff. Got home just in time to greet Mike at the door at 7:30.

Popped pop corn, cracked open some movie candy, and watched Bee movie as a family.

Slept great for the first time in a few nights last night!

Tonight, Mike and I have been blessed with some tickets to Mama Mia. Long story about the tickets, but lots of mixed feelings. Definitely excited about spending the evening with Mike.

To the person who gave us the tickets, you know we love you, and are going to have a good time in your honor.

Kristen

Just a Few More Credits

So I talked to someone at the registrar's office yesterday at NAU because there was some confusion as to whether or not I needed to send my transcripts from the community college I attended prior to NAU. since they had them at one time, I wasn't sure if they needed them again.

Any ways, the women said yes, and she pulled up my transcripts while she was talking to me and then she gasped.

Never a good sign.

She said,"You almost graduated."

I said, "I know, I was close but then had to move because I got married and when I transferred my stuff to ASU they didn't accept my major work, so I had to start all over again. I have three more semesters of work at ASU on top of what I did at NAU."

She said," You mean to tell me you have three more semesters of work? You may only have a class or two before you have your degree!"

Now, I realize she isn't a counselor but I knew I was close to graduating when I left NAU it just felt good to hear someone else acknowledge it.

That is when I decided that if a counselor takes a look at my stuff and says that I only have a couple of classes to get my BA in Humanities I think I should just go for that. That scares me to death. I am not sure I can jump right into all that again.

I wonder if I could double major and go for the Early Childhood education stuff also?

This is getting exciting!

Kristen

Nones?

Joshi: Mom did you know that men that were pastors ( pronounced past-ores) in the middle ages were called monks?

Mom: Oh, very interesting.

Joshi: And the women were called nothing.

Mom: What?

Joshi: Yeah, they were called nothings.

Mom: Oh, do you mean nuns?

Joshi: Yeah that's it!


Kristen

Quiet Please!

One of the books that the kids had to read today, for life in the middle ages, talked about monks and how sometimes groups of them would take on the job of praying for everyone else. They believed that if they didn't speak they would gain wisdom through silence.

The book challenged the kids to stay silent for as long as they could. To use a pencil and write down what they needed to say.

So it was a somewhat quiet morning. The girls actually did better than the boys. But by lunch everyone except Faith had given up on their vow of silence. Although, Faith was writing so much that I made the point that she wasn't really being silent. Just because she wasn't using words she was still non-stop talking on paper!

Exasperated, she gave up and declared that she just had too much to say.

So much for wisdom through silence.

Kristen

Floods

Wow, so the kids down the street called this morning because they wanted to play.

Their school was canceled because of flooding.

I don't know where the flooding occurred that canceled their school. The school is just down the street from my house and nothing in my area looks flooded.

My kid's school was definitely not canceled because of flooding.

I think they were a little sad about that.

Now, yesterday, the second service at the Orchard was canceled because the streets all around it were being closed because of flooding. It is right next to the Fox River, so that I understand.

Fortunately, I got to spend the day with Paula and the boys on Saturday and we all went to church together Saturday night so we didn't miss out!! It was a great service!

Kristen