Alas, Fred is Dead

Remember this little guy, the yellow one on the right?

Well, today Fred lost the battle and went tails up while Sparky was at school and now sadness has overshadowed his young life (at least for an afternoon). In order to send Fred off properly, Sparky made this coffin out of Legos, and a burial took place in the backyard.

Good bye Fred.

It's just so wrong

Last night our ward hosted a "Messiah" sing-along. It was absolutely fantastic. Seriously. The talent pool we have acquired is downright impressive. As we were getting dressed to go I looked over at Doug and he had put on this treasure of a t-shirt that he got for his birthday. Our friends who gave it to him were amongst the singers and he felt that this would be the perfect opportunity to wear it. It was actually quite perfect and I couldn't stop giggling everytime I looked at him. Fortunately he didn't wear it for long, but the impression was long lasting.

Classy my love. No wonder we are still happy after so long.

Kid parties are way more fun without the kids

For Doug's big birthday, we got together with a few other couples and had ourselves a rocking good time. Anyone can decorate with all black and plaster "Over The Hill" banners everywhere, but does that really make the birthday boy feel good? I believe the answer to that is a big "NO" so I decided to go in a completely opposite direction.

We had the party at a friend's house and as a mom with 4 kids, she knew exactly how to decorate and which games to play. We started off with a fabulous meal.


Next came a rousing game of musical chairs (seriously so fun).

Then came Pin the Chick on the Barn.




And finally, what's a party without a pinata?

We then paused for the "present" opening. Thanks so much guys. Those um, "presents" are really, um something. Here's just a small sampling of the goods:

Classy

"What Do You Do With The Mad That You Feel" by Mister Rogers

Ummm. . .

To finish things off, we brought the house down with a little Beatles Rock Band. Seriously sooooo much fun, especially when you have people who can actually sing. In the end I think that it was a very successful birthday. In fact, so much fun should not be allowed in one night.

Hmmmmm

Me: Tiger, don't pick your boo-boo.
Tiger: I not Mom. I feel it. It's cute. Awwwww (while tilting head in an adorable manner as if admiring a puppy).

So what are you trying to say?

I think the fact that Tiger was up all night coughing and sneezing and the fact that he fell asleep on his floor during quiet time today may perhaps mean that he doesn't feel good. But I'm just guessing.

If I Had a Million Dollars. . .I would buy you some art.

This post is dedicated to my love who is celebrating a big birthday today. I must say that for a man who does not like birthdays, he is handling this day quite nicely. Of course it helps that he is at work and not surrounded by our constant birthday references. But don't worry, the day is not yet over and so there is still plenty of time for us to smother him with birthday love. So here's to you my love (picture me raising my lunchtime glass of Diet Dr. Pepper) and to all of the years we have had and to all of the years that are yet to come. You rock!

(this "lovely" photo courtesy of my KK princess)

Busted

Seven years ago we moved into this house and signed up for basic cable. At the time of the cable installation, the cable guy forgot to bring the block that would give us our basic cable versus the standard cable. He said that he would be back with the block, but apparently he forgot and so for the past 7 years we have been enjoying all the perks of standard cable at basic cable rates. I must say that it has been heavenly. Well you may remember that this summer Doug lovingly surprised me with a DVR box for our cable which has brought us joys previously unknown. Unfortunately it turns out that there is a down side to our beloved DVR. Apparently the DVR box speaks directly to the cable company and so yesterday the mistake that the cable guy made seven years ago was rectified. Sad, sad, sad. Sad, sad, sad. So, what to do now? The thought of paying for television is rather sickening, but at the same time what am I going to do without my Foodnetwork and Bravo TV? How will I watch my Project Runway? We can't return the DVR box because then they will know that we can still get the standard cable if we bypass the box and then they will come and fix that little glitch. We can't keep paying for the DVR box and not pay for it. So, do we suck it up and start paying the full amount? Do we go the Dish route? So many questions my friends, so many questions.

More Thoughts and Happenings

1. Apparently the only way to keep up with the laundry is to wash and fold the laundry EVERY day. Sheesh. I managed to do this for one week and then it about put me over the edge. I am now back to my laundry mountain and I think it is mocking me.

2. Once again my house is swallowing me alive. Help. So. Much. Stuff. Everywhere! I believe that a cleaning binge is once again necessary. To all members of this house. If you haven't touched it in three months it is out of here. Hide your treasures now because if you blink they may be gone. Nothing is safe. Except for all of those really annoying "important" papers from school. Oh how I wish that I could just trash all of that stuff. Oh how I wish that the school would stop sending stuff home.

3. Tiger is on a coloring kick. It would be really cute if the surfaces that he were coloring on weren't his belly, his face, his hands, the carpet, the walls, the doors, my purse. You get my drift. The little pill. Anyone know how to get marker off of the carpet? Because heaven forbid we actually have our carpets cleaned like we really need to. Instead I just want a really clean spot where the marker used to be.

4. I am amazed at how Tiger's preschool is really helping him. The other day I was getting him in the car to take him to school when he said, "No. I don't want to go." Doug and I just looked at each other in amazement. We have never heard him voice an opinion using words and thought like this and in a full sentence. It was awesome. We congratulated him on his excellent use of words and then I told him "Sorry, you have to go. Now get in the car." He is also really starting to figure out who he is in relation to everyone else. Meaning that he is trying so hard to understand that he is 3 years old and that he is a boy and not a girl and also how to tell the difference between boys and girls. Also, emotions. Last night Sparky was crying and Tiger kept asking if Sparky was sad. Amazing. He has never understood before that crying means someone is sad and that a smile means you are happy. It's these little things that you take for granted that you think kids just automatically get that he has just never understood. It is exciting to see him finally starting to figure these things out. It just makes me excited for my little guy.

5. I am finding that I am getting really excited for Christmas. That joyous feeling started to creep into my inner being so subtly that I hardly noticed it until I found myself wanting to listen to Christmas music and to buy presents for the kids. I am even planning to send out Christmas cards this year. I know. Shocking, isn't it? I can't even remember the last time that I sent out a Christmas card. I am sure that it won't say much, but who cares? It's just fun to get Christmas cards in the mail.

That's all for now. I must go and clean and fold laundry. But really I will probably just take a shower and then goof around on the computer until all of my free time is gone and then kids are home from school.