Birthday Rock

Family makes everything more fun. Last Friday I celebrated with my parents. Then out with an awesome friend. Then, on Saturday, Fred and I went to my sisters for a Rock Celebration. And on Sunday we celebrated just as a family. I'll have to take pictures of the amazingly sweet cards that the kids made for me. Awwww
See the super-buff rocker couple? I think I'll just start calling them P90X bods. I'm on the drums and Vu is rockin' the guitar...take a close look...his feet are actually both off the floor. In that last pic, Fred is trying out the drums.

Fred and Vu

Yeah, I tried to hide behind the camera.
Doesn't always work when others bring their cameras along, too.
Thanks, Jules. ;-)

Sisters. Yeah, we look alike. I know. :-)

She only looks sweet and pregnant.
Watch out, 'cause she'll knock you off your Lips throne.
Sorry, Fred.

Eagle Watch one day, state park the next

The shower! Baby Ha is on the way!

Julie and I hosted Amy's baby shower on Sunday.

Julie was in charge of decorating the tables. They looked amazing. She truly is multi-talented. Ask her to do anything, and she's your girl!
(Wish I'd gotten more photos with all the food.
The petit-fours, wraps, croissants, chocolate dipped strawberries, blush champagne...oh, my...)

The beautiful Artist joined me at the shower.
She was a real trooper, helping us set up for hours,
unloading all of the nests, birds, eggs, tea sets, flowers...

My beautiful preggers little sister

Full house! We couldn't fit anyone else in!
My family
Awwww
See that cutie Vietnamese girlie in the middle? That is our sista'.
She was my parents' foreign exchange student about 10 years ago,
and still comes back, from out of state, for weddings and baby showers.
We call her Tiki. She is soooo sweet and cute!
Right now she's going for her Ph.D in biology.
Soon she'll be Dr. Tiki!

I won't even tell you what we were laughing about in this picture,
because it might really embarrass *someone* Hahahaaaa

Most people adore their kids. I'm no exception. My kids are fantastic.
But how many people are also blessed with the greatest sisters, parents, grandparents?
Truly, I'm so glad I live close to my family, and I'm so very thankful that my husband also adores spending time with my sisters and their husbands.

What a blessing!

(Barefoot and sleeveless... ;-) Heh heh heh)

The snake field trip

Oh yes. SNAKES.

This presentation/ field trip was amazing. Miss Sam kept the kids' interest the whole time. And mine. She showed us skins, told us how to identify poisonous snakes, explained how a snake moves, where they live, showed us eggs and bones....
...and then she showed us much more. Sam pulled two dead snakes out of her cooler (yes, the same cooler that was holding her picnic lunch!) Then she dissected the snakes right in front of us. It was fascinating. Apparently scissors work best for splitting open snakes. Who knew? I'm all set. Did you know snakes only have one lung? Have you ever actually seen a snake's stomach?

After the dissecting, she showed us how to prepare the skin with salt. (and yes, she is actually touching a snake that has just been cut apart. Ewwwww!! Sam, I hope you washed your hands well before you ate your picnic lunch!! ;-) 2 by 2 they go :-)
My kids on their hike. I left Little Lad with Noni. It was nap-time anyway.

The Swingers ...hee heeee

See these fabulous "Super Homeschool Students"? Thanks again, Mimi and Papaw, for the shirts. It made the boys easy to spot in a crowd full of kids!




Just to clarify: Miss Sam had dead snakes that were killed out of absolute necessity. She does not condone killing snakes unless you truly must. I'll have to follow up with all of her info on how to determine a poisonous snake from a harmless one. The Artist and I wrote down the facts, but I can't sneak around in the dark right now to find the notebook. ;-)

Because I'm a genuis and all...

Oh, yes. I am awesome. Every once in awhile I come up with an "A-Ha" moment. (Yes, I realize this is usually my sister, A Ha's, territory.)

Okay, so this may not be so thrilling to any of you guys, but I'm VERY thrilled.

First, moment of brilliance: An exercise bar. Okay, I've mentioned before that we like to be outside. We need sunshine, exercise, fresh air. And, because I really can't do anything about controlling the weather, I decided to at least control an atmosphere more conducive to exercise.

This way the little boys can hang, do pull-ups, dangle by their legs. All inside the house. More energy exerted at the bar means less energy exerted on the couches. RIGHT? (Yes, I am actually encouraging my children to climb the walls!!)

Plus, I mounted higher brackets near the top of the door frame, so the bar can be easily moved and I will also benefit from the exercise. YAY!

As you may have guessed, I did clothesline myself and fell flat on my back yesterday. Ouch. I'm lucky not to have a shiner.

Next, meet our magnetic remote. Oh, yeah, baby. No more lost remote. Does that ever happen in your home? Really, I could care less about the remote. However, I do not like Fred and the kids tearing up the living room looking for it. And we have slipcovers, so it was often getting down into the cover. What happens when someone searches a slipcover for a remote? A messy couch! So, being the brilliant person that I am, I glued four strong magnets to the back of Fred's universal remote. I used wood glue, because my Gorilla Glue is...ahem...unopenable.

It works great! And, to be fair, I got this idea from my sister, who bought a magnetic remote. I didn't even know such things existed! I still think that DVD players should have "search" buttons for the remote, like phones have. You know, it would beep until you find it. Still, that would drive me nuts, too. Maybe we could program it to play a song? Shhh... I'll invent it and sell it and make millions! :-)

Last, but not least, I promised Easter pictures!!

Searching my parents' house was fun. Little Lad got a kick out of finding eggs hidden with pool balls. And the older kids found eggs in curtains, on the computer desks, and in plants. I'm sure Noni will be finding more eggs for weeks!

Game Night

Game Night on Saturday Rocked! We played Rock Band (my first time), Apples to Apples, and Lips, a karaoke game (hilarious!) I had no idea Fred would do such a great job singing an Alicia Keys song! HAA
Julie scored 100% "flawless" singing the Beastie Boys in Rock Band. Oh, yeah. You GO, girl. And I got 97% accuracy when I played guitar. Not bad for my first time. We laughed until we cried! I love my family.

Adam was our cheerleader.

Amy has just four more weeks!!

Goofball guys!
More pictures of Game Night on Julie's blog.
Easter pics coming soon!