Happy Birthday, Amanda!

Today is Amanda's 28th birthday. (Wow, you're getting old!) Anyway, hope it's a good one!

"STUR WURS COLN WURS"

I love when kids start sounding out and writing words on their own. Nathan is just starting to do that, and it is so funny. On the back of one of his school papers, he drew a battle scene from Star Wars. He titled it "STUR WURS COLN WURS". We took him to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars a few weeks ago, so it's his latest movie-related obsession. I have already told him that we will not start collecting every piece of Star Wars merchandise that we see. First of all, the original trilogy has been around for what, 20 or 25 years? So, there's a lot of Star Wars stuff out there. Secondly, we have too much stuff already.

His "collections" include everything related to Buzz Lightyear/Toy Story, almost all of Cars movie toys, and countless Hot Wheels (some of which he inherited from Jeff and my Dad). Not to mention, the last phase that didn't quite make the "obsession" level - Kung Fu Panda. He wanted the Happy Meal toys so badly that I bought a couple of them on eBay to complete his set. Now they are stashed away in a Rubbermaid container under his bed and haven't been played with in months.

I completely admit that I have been an enabler for his obsessions, but we are seriously cutting back. I told him that he could spend his money that he made at the yard sale on toys, but anything else would have to be put on his birthday or Christmas lists (which I am keeping very short!) Mom, however, has already started collecting Star Wars things for him at yard sales, flea markets, etc. I guess I better get some more Rubbermaid boxes!

Hogs vs. Bears

Jeff and the kids were playing football in the backyard tonight. Nate and Ashley were the Hogs and Jeff was the UCA Bears (or should I say "Bear"). Hogs won 28-14 according to Nathan's score keeping.

Ashley said she wanted to play football but was actually more interested in picking flowers.

Little Tailgaters

The whole family made the trip to Fayetteville this weekend. The kids and I didn't go to the game. I've been working a lot lately, so I didn't want to leave them with someone for the whole day on Saturday. We tailgated, though, and then went back to the Fowlkes' condo to watch the game.

I ended up having a lot of quality time - well, most of it was quality time - with the kids this weekend. On Sunday, Jeff went to Springfield, MO, to visit our friend Brooke. They were best friends in high school, and she just had her second child (Brynn) last week. She was very premature (29 weeks) and weighed just 1lb. 15oz. She is doing as well as can be expected, but it will be a trying time for all of them.

I spent the day with the kids and no car in Fayetteville. We took 2 long walks and went to the park. Even though it was only for a few hours, it was really weird to be without a vehicle.

Here's a few more pictures of my little tailgaters:

Family Fun Night

We took the kids to Cheeburger Cheeburger for "Family Fun Night" which basically means that they have a magician who makes balloon animals for a few hours on Tuesday nights. We got there a few minutes after 6pm, and the place was not crowded except for one giant table that had 6 adults and 14 children - yes, I counted - which included 3 newborns. Since that large party was ahead of us, it took over 45 minutes to get our burgers.

We were just about finished eating when the magician made his way over to our table. Please bear with me as I describe the weirdest interaction that I've had in a restaurant in a while.

First the magician (who looks perfectly normal) takes one of Nathan's carrot sticks off his plate, eats it, chokes on it, and has to go get himself a drink! He then starts his "show" and the first couple of tricks were total flops.

Meanwhile, he was talking non-stop about his recent weight loss (which started the whole carrot-eating episode)...his Calvinist grandfather who was freakishly strong...the rip tides and suprising lack of jellyfish on his recent trip to the beach...etc. It was just weird! The guy stood near our table for at least 15 minutes, and that is no exaggeration! He did make some pretty cool balloon animals and did one trick with a dollar bill that I still can't figure out.

I'm going to have to pass on Family Fun Night for a while. It wore me out!

This picture cracks me up. Ashley is using her pink poodle balloon as weapon.

Shutter Happy

I got a new camera yesterday! I got a Canon with a similar style to my old 35mm, but still not quite as fancy. I took some random pictures of the kids in the yard this evening.

Nathan posing

Nathan clowning

Ashley posing

Ashley scowling

Little Rock School Board

I don't think that anyone who reads my blog lives in LRSD Zone 5 (Terry Elementary/David O. Dodd), but just in case, I'm going to put in a plug for Jody Carreiro. He's running for school board, and the election is on Tuesday. We are not in that zone, but we have been putting out some signs for him in the area. It's the only thing on the ballot, so they are trying to get some voters to turn out for the election. For more info, check out this article.

Hurricane Season

Just to clarify, I am not the sister who moved to the Florida Gulf Coast. I know that it might be confusing since I keep reporting on hurricanes. What is the deal? We have had more a of "hurricane season" here in Little Rock than Amanda has had in Ft. Myers. Ike has passed through, and it is actually nice and sunny outside this morning. (And, we did not lose power! Yea!)

We have had a busy weekend. We went to the Benton/Catholic game on Friday night. The first waves of the storm blew through before the game, so we didn't get wet.

Then yesterday morning, (in spite of the impending tropical storm) we had a garage sale. Jeff and I were debating on when we last participated in a garage sale. He thinks it was when we did one with the Fowlkes at their house in Cammack, but I swear that we had one at the little house in Maumelle. Regardless of when it was, I said that I would never have another one. Well, I guess I'm a liar, because we did, and it went very well. We sold almost all of our things in about 3 hours and made over $200. Missy participated at the last moment and did well, too. Most importantly to me, we got rid of a lot of junk that I now don't have to haul off to charity or the dump.

One last note on the yard sale, I thought that our steep driveway would be a deterrent to customers, but it was not. People are very determined when it comes to buying other people's junk.

Nathan and Will

Here are a couple of pictures of Nathan and Will on Saturday that Jennifer sent me (see previous entry). The first one is on the carousel at the zoo. The second one is a picture of them trying to call Boss Hog over to the side line.

Camera Shopping

I can't get my digital camera to charge, so it looks like I am going to be shopping for a new one soon. I only became a digital convert about a year ago (around the time I started this blog.) I bought a $200 Sony for a starter camera. I have been pleased with it, but I'm going to upgrade. I used a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm and loved it. If anyone has a suggestion for a good camera, let me know.