Bless the Hobbits

Many of you know that my brother was serving in Afganistan. Well, my kids prayed for Uncle Joe Joe every night he was gone. Joe Joe sent pictures of where he was, but the ones that my kids really remembered were the children and how small and dirty they were. I thought we had explained where Joe Joe was and what he was doing, but something got lost in transalation. Joe Joe has since returned, and one night recently Nicholas was saying the night prayer and this is what he said "Thank you that Joe Joe could go across the world and help the hobbits." How do you keep a straight face at that?! Apparently Nicholas has seen Lord of the Rings one too many times and associated the pictures of the children and people with the hobbits...not sure how! My brother got a good laugh though! We're glad he's home with us and we love all the people who serve our country...They are braver than I!

What you do for love update!

Well, we found "this"! Earlier on Sat he pulled all his pants out of his drawer and I told him to put them away...well being 3 he just stuffed them all in. Sunday he pulled them all out again, (yet another Austin story!) and lo and behold there was his "this"! He was soooo excited! He started yelling "I found him!" Now we have a rule that "this" doesn't even leave the house!! I might just start cutting small pieces off for him to carry and when those get lost it's not such an ordeal. I just can't bring myself to cut it up!

Hey to Carrie!

Watching you comment while I'm trying to change things on my blog!! SOOO Weird!

The things we do for love!

If anyone had told me 2 years ago I would be outside walking around the house with a huge flashlight looking for a blanket, I would have laughed in their face. BUT tonight I was doing just that! It's bedtime and Austin can't find his "this". I have never had a child so attached to anything. He wants to take it everywhere...luckily I told him from the time he was little that it didn't go into stores etc, so we've managed to hold onto it. But tonight it is nowhere to be found. We can pinpoint when we saw it last, so we're pretty sure it's in or around the house, though we haven't been able to locate it! We'll see how he sleeps tonight without it. He wanted to say a prayer to find it, but it hasn't turned up yet! If you see a blue, ratty "this" in your neck of the woods, Austin will love you forever!!! Note a younger, larger, cleaner, less ratty..."this" below!

Catch Up!

So, I am not as consistent as I want to be with blogging...does thinking about it count?! This is why I have no journal to speak of...just boxes of memories! Lately I have been working extra hours (don't know if it is worth the money sometimes!) to help out the accountant I work for. The office was crazy Monday and Tues. He sent me home with 2 full size garbage bags of receipts someone brought in to sort and put into an excel spreadsheet. I always thought that was just in the movies or commercials, but people really do that! Here's the picture for proof! Wasn't the funnest way to spend my time, but at least I got paid for it. When I did Shane's receipts it was for free!!!

We went to the San Antonio Zoo last Friday. It was a perfect day weather wise, but I forgot that school groups show up this time of year. So for the first hour or so we were fighting groups of kids, but it died down and we were able to see everything we wanted. It's a great zoo, just big enough to make it worth the trip, but not so big you feel overwhelmed. We stopped in the butterfly exhibit (Yes Carrie I did get asked if I had any butterfly questions!!!) It was pretty cool though to see all the butterflies. Some would land on you if you were still enough. One really liked Nicholas' toes!

I got a picture with all the kids holding a butterfly except Austin...He was having none of it! He was ok as long as the butterflies didn't come near him! It was funny to watch him!

This is Gemma's friend Allie who went to the zoo with us.

Like Nate, Austin has the art of eye rolling down...it must be genetic! The other day Shane told him to do something and he rolled his eyes. Shane called him on it and he said he didn't roll his eyes. I explained to him that when you look up (showing him at the same time) like that it is called rolling your eyes and it is not nice...He looked at us and innocently said, "I was looking at the roof, not rolling my eyes!" Amazing!

So I need an opinion on something. I have the chance to go to a book signing for Stephanie Meyer in Houston. It would be overnight in May and I can't decide if I should go. Besides the cost of her new book, it would be hotel and food, but the hotel would be split. I only know one of the girls going, but it sounds like it might be a pretty big group. What do you think...Should I go?
Sounds crazy that I am even asking...I should just go huh?! BTW Anyone who wants to go can come down and we'll head over together! I just have to let the girl know by the end of April so she can get the books.

Gemma is playing volleyball and Shane was trying to help her with her serve...of course we know nothing! (when did that happen? Everyone else is more of an expert than her parents. I don't like that.. I used to know everything!) Luckily there is a lady in our ward who played in college, so I send Gemma to her when she needs help!

Wedding pictures will be coming soon...I realized I took like 3 with my camera because I kept forgetting it! but my sister was the photographer, so she'll be getting me a cd soon so I'll post those soon as well as our bluebonnet pictures...which was an adventure in itself! Tell you about that when I post them!

Crazy Weekend

So, the whole fam damily was home for my baby brother's wedding this past weekend. It was absolutely crazy! 14 grandkids, plus parents, and aunts and uncles will do that! My brother Joseph got home from Afghanistan in time to surprise everyone. I had to keep the secret for about a month from Shane...that was hard! I took him to see U2-3D (crazy cool IMAX show!) and Joe Joe and his wife Kathy were there. Shane was soooo surprised! It was fun to see him...I can never surprise him!
On Friday we all hung out and had BBQ at my mom's. Austin went exploring behind the shed and stepped on a nail. We cleaned it up, but by Sat afternoon it was swollen, so instead of enjoying a wedding reception, Shane got a plate of food and spent the next 2 hours at the ER. They had to xray to make sure there was no metal left in the foot and sent them home with a $100 bandaid! It was worth it to know that his foot was clear and just healing...ER doc said he was glad we came in too. Apparently this is a certified ER visit. Who Knew! We're learning a lot from Austin!
It's late and I'm still trying to catch up on sleep! and the accountant work I do, so I will update more later...hopefully with pictures!

Tagged by Carrie

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was teaching 4th grade Language Arts which included grading 60+ essays each week, playing with 18 month old Gemma (has it been that long?!) and deciding whether to stay home with Gemma or not.

5 things on my list today:

1. workout
2. work
3. fold towels
4. lunch with a friend from high school
5. get kids to pick up toys (nephews come tomorrow and I don't to start out messy!)

6 snacks I enjoy:

1. peanut m&m's
2. crispy apples
3. celery sticks (not that I eat 2&3 much!)
4. 100 calorie snack packs
5. Turtle Chex Mix (YUMM-O)
6. popcorn

3 bad habits:

1. picking my cuticles around my fingernails
2. keeping up with too much celebrity gossip
3. letting myself get distracted from doing what I need to (case in point...doing this instead of # 3 on to do list!)

If I were suddenly a billionaire:

I would pay off all debt, build a house on the lake, invest and who know...that's too big a number to even wrap my mind around!

5 places I've lived:

1. Austin, TX
2. San Antonio, TX
3. Lubbock, TX
4. Enid, OK
5. Salt Lake City, UT

5 Jobs I've had:

1. Lifeguard
2. Teacher
3. Mom (currently!)
4. Library Aide
5. Data entry for accountant (current)

5 Things people don't know about me:

1. I'm a closet George Strait fan.
2. I wearing dresses.
3. I too am a feminist.
4. I placed 2nd in the all-state choir in High School.
5. I'm related to Davy Crockett