Awe Clean Bathrooms

Everyone who knows me knows that I don't keep a perfect house. In fact, I am intimidated by those that do.Ü That's right, before I come to visit, you may want to lay down a little dirt, just to make me feel at home. The only part of my house I am a little uptight about is the bathroom. I feel like if the bathroom is clean I can live in whatever state my house is in.

Last month when I went to visit Mark I admit that I gave him a hard time about the state of his bathroom. I even remember thinking, "Boy does he need me." Well, in true Mark style he got down and really scrubbed the toilet and then sent me pictures to show me how well he is doing. Now that is a clean looking toilet! I am so proud!

Farewell to a Beautiful Person

To those of you who have seen this in the news and to those of you who haven't, John and his family were friends of ours. We are so sorry for his family and ask for prayers in their behalf, especially for his wife, Emily.

Most Recent Reaganism

Justin Graham (who I hired to mow the lawn) is standing in the kitchen. Reagan comes up the stairs and runs as fast as her legs will take her, all the while screaming for joy, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" She throws her arms around his legs and then hears us all saying, "Reagan that's not daddy." She looks up, drops her hold and runs into the other room, from there she gives Justin the evil stare. How dare he pretend to be her dad! Ü I am not the only one looking forward to seeing Mark soon.

First Mother's Day Present

First of all, I am sharing this story with TARA's permission. Anyone who knows us knows that TARA is the one who enjoys sleeping and taking naps, and I'm the one who puts up with it because TARA likes it.

Like TARA said, we slept in every day in Austin, and Sunday (Mother's Day) was no exception. I was going to let TARA sleep in as long as she wanted to, so I laid awake but resting for a while. When TARA did get up (sometime after 9:00, I think), she went to the restroom while I turned on a light and sat up in bed waiting for her to finish. When she came back, all she said to me was "My first present", as she turned off the light, climbed back into bed, and buried her head in pillows and covers. :-) I found this soooo funny that I was smiling and in a good mood the whole rest of the day.

TARA has been teaching me for 11 years to appreciate things by taking time to enjoy them. I am grateful that she taught me this lesson once more.

Austin Anniversary Trip

11 Years Married

To celebrate our 11th anniversary I traveled to Austin, TX to visit Mark, last Thursday. It was my 1st plane ride in over 6 years and I do not envy those who travel regularly, but once I was there we had the best vacation.

Austin is a wonderful city and thanks to Jordan's (Mark's roommate) tour guide abilities we enjoyed some of the best that Austin has to offer. Here is a run down on some of the things we did. We stayed first at the La Quinta close to Mark's apartment and moved to the Marriot Courtyard for the weekend. We ate at BJ's (great made-in-house cream soda), Shady Grove (fun Austin like atmosphere, great sandwiches, fish and cobbler), Taverna (pizza, had better), Rudy's ("Worst bar-b-que" is their slogan, so not true. Mmm!) and Eddie V's (probably the best seafood I've ever had. I'm hungry just thinking about it.) (Boy, no one can make a run on sentence like me.) We visited the bat colony on Congress Ave Bridge and saw the wild turtles as we kayaked down Town Lake. We watched the play "Much Ado About Nothing", in Zilker Park and visited the Botanical Gardens. We swam and watched movies until way too late. We walked around downtown and neighborhood shopped. We slept in and enjoyed waffles in the shape of Texas. WHAT A GREAT TRIP. I can't wait until we are all there and I can show the kids some of the fun things we saw. We still need to check out the music scene, but it's nice to have something to look forward to.

The Apostle Song

Happy Mother's Day!

I OWE MY MOTHER!!

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle ofnext week!'

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
' Because I said so, that's why'

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me.'

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.'

7 My mother taught me IRONY.
'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about.'

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
'Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'

10.B> My mother taught me about STAMINA.
'You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone.'

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
'This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.'

12 My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
'If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!'

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.'

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
'Stop acting like your father!'

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
'There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents ike you do.'

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
'Just wait until we get home.'

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
'You are going to get it when you get home!'

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
'If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.'

19. My mother taught me ESP.
'Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?'

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
'When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me.'

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
'If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.'

22 My mother taught me GENETICS.
'You're just like your father.'

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
'Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?'

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
'When you get to be my age, you'll understand.'

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!'

Pioneer Day

Today was Caitlyn's Pioneer Day at school. They traveled to the Rock Ledge Ranch, a beautiful site, where the kids learned about how life in Colorado was during the real pioneer days. Caitlyn looked wonderful (thanks to Leslie), in her dress and bonnet. The day was wet and cloudy in the morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon, just long enough for the kids to give their presentation. We then returned to the school where they made crafts, safe from the wet weather. We also enjoyed corn muffins with the homemade butter the kids had made, with a small jar that contained cream and a marble. What a fun day and no homework! ( The picture with Caitlyn making a funny face is her chewing her breakfast.)

Case of the Stolen Underwear

The panties have been found! They were not in the laundry. They were not under the beds or mattresses. They were not hidden in the closet. They were not under the couches. They were not with the stuffed animals or behind the drawers of her dresser. They were not under the bathroom sink. They were not in with the toy trains or the dress up clothes. They were not behind any furniture (I checked). They were not in any one Else's drawers. They were not in the hutch. They were not in the toy kitchen set. They were not in the garage. They were not in the trash. So where we they? In a hat hanging on the wall of course.

Quick look at Colin's Medieval Feast and Pinewood Derby

Colin juggled for his performance.

Now this a feast!

Colin with his teacher Mr. Schauffele and friends.

Hallie watched and waited.

Pinewood Derby

I built my car, with Mom's Help. We learned a lot and next year we'll be ready!

The happy crew, before the race.

Reaganism:

Reagan: Mommy, I wish I was married right now.

Mommy: Right now? Why?

Reagan: Yes, right now, because I love boys, sooo much.

Mommy: But if you got married you couldn’t live at home with me any more. Who would I play with, if all my little kids got married?

Reagan: Umm, I know Caitlyn! She won’t get married.

Full Time Job

Mark here, and I have some exciting news. Overwatch Systems brought me on as a full time employee this week. Hooray! My pay will stay the same, but now I get benefits (health, dental, vision, 401(k), pension) and most importantly: moving benefits. We are still waiting for a phone call back to find out exactly what sort of discounts on moving services we will get. I also negotiated a signing bonus to help cover our costs of moving. I'm not very good or aggressive at negotiations, so getting this bonus is a big accomplishment for me.

Getting hired full time is huge because we weren't going to move our family to Austin until after my job became permanent. Now that we have cleared this obstacle, we are trying to figure out exactly how and when to bring our family together. Do we wait for our home to sell? Wait for the kids to get out of school at the end of May? Do we move even if the home hasn't sold? There are still lots of questions to find answers to, but getting hired full time was the first domino that had to fall before anything else could be set in motion.

Help! Missing Panties

Panties are disappearing from our children. We either have a thief or a pantie monster. After buying new underwear for three of my five children. One child has managed to lose

13 unworn pairs. We have looked everywhere that they could reasonably be and quite a few places that aren't reasonable at all. They are gone. Now I admit that these were not the fancy princess panties that I have bought in the past. They were the jumbo Fruit or the Loom, but I though they were nice. Obviously my opinion was not shared! I think honestly they have gone the way of the trash. It was suggested that I buy her some boy underwear as a consequence. I mentioned this to her and she shouted for joy. She even said she wouldn't mind having some of her brothers that he had out grown! Is she testing me? Of course she is. I promise though this one she won't win.

The second story of missing panties comes oddly enough from McDonald's. After making a trip to drop off our Cait and Austin at Skate City for school sponsored roller skating. I took the other three to McD's. All was going well until Hallie filled her pants. (Don't worry she is still in a diaper.) I decided to take Reagan with me to the restroom for the changing. While there she needed to go potty herself. Oops too late! She had an accident. No problem I am an expert at this stuff. I always have a change of panties. I scooped up Hallie and asking Reagan to wait on the potty I went out to Colin and our seats, where I had left my purse. I grabbed the new panties, asked Colin to watch Hallie and headed to the bathroom. TOO LATE!!!!!!!!! Reagan, tired of waiting a whole 30 seconds, had exited the bathroom wearing nothing but a tee shirt! Two ladies where standing in front of her, as she in Reagan fashion glared at them and tried to side step them, moving one way and then the next. My first thought was oh my goodness my child is naked. My second thought was oh my goodness there are men here (laughing I might add). My third thought was this is a restaurant, where people eat, this can't be okay with the health code. I honestly was too shocked to be embarrassed. Or maybe I'm just a mom. I grabbed my kid thanked the ladies, muttering something like, "I told her to wait in the stall," and headed to the restroom. I changed her up, we washed our hands and then with our heads held high we entered the restaurant. I'm sure people stared, laughed, or thought I was a horrible mother, but that's okay I know the truth: We just have a missing panties problem!