NATURE IS SO COOL!

One day last week, I noticed several cars stopping at the end of our driveway. My first thought was, "Oh no. What have the kids done to our yard?" The two older ones were at summer school, so I figured it must not have been them. After a while I stepped out there to take some trash out, and I noticed a HUGE red tailed hawk. That thing was a monster. It had killed a rabbit (the same rabbit that has been destroying our new garden - we weren't too heartbroken). Our treetops were filled with other birds, chirping and screeching trying to scare it off. You'll notice in the video clip several of those birds were dive bombing the hawk, trying to get it out of the yard. It was very stoic and calm as it munched on its meal. It let me get pretty close. Drew and I watched it for about 10 minutes (along with many passerby that stopped to watch). Drew finally had to run and scare it off. What little boy could resist? It was quite awesome to watch it pick up the shredded meat and fly across our large lot to the trees at the back of our property. I felt like I was in the middle of a National Geographic program. Very cool!

Should I Join Bloggers Annonymous?

65%  

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

I took a survey like this about a year ago, and I was only 34% addicted to blogging. Oops!

Parading Around

This weekend was our community's annual celebration/carnival/festival. Let me tell you, it is a BIG EVENT in "this here neck of the woods." There are carnival rides, concerts, and a parade. Because of the, um how shall I say it, icky people that come out of the woodwork for this celebration, we told the kids we would only be attending the parade. We explained that since we are taking not one, but two big vacations this summer, we would forgo the amusement rides and save our money for our vacations (that and because of all of the dandy's that flock to our city).

The parade was LONG!!! We met my parents there, along with my Aunt Cathy, Uncle Steve, and cousins Katie, Jason, and their darling little Ellie. We always choose the shady spot at the beginning of the parade route. We do this for two reasons: 1. The wonderful shade from the June sun and 2. The parade participants load the kids up with their full bags of candy. It's a win-win!
These are a couple of the sights in the parade. Note the red utility truck below. It's contribution as far as decorations go is a lone yellow balloon duct taped to it's side. Way to go all out, fellas!

Batman & Robin

Best buddies/cousins/super heroes crusading to save the planet from evil!

"It's a small world, afterall..."

This is what I did last night after everyone had gone to bed:

Teenage Stephanie (It's actually pretty accurate, except I wasn't quite as freckly, and I didn't have such bags under my eyes *sigh*.)


Asian Stephanie


Black Stephanie









Asian Edward (Still very handsome!)

Black Edward (not so handsome, but scary!)

Old Edward (remind me to make him use sunscreen.)

Black Ross (hahahahah!)

Asian Ross

Grandpa Ross

Young Man Ross (looks like somebody needs some eye brow waxing!)

Black Elizabeth (cute!)

Grandma Elizabeth

Young lady

Asian Elizabeth (cute!)

Black Drew (with blond hair and blond eyebrows)

Asian Drew (looks like somebody needs some FOREHEAD waxing! Yikes!)

Teenage Drew (I hope he loses those baby teeth before then!)

Black baby Mallory

Asian Baby Mallory

Grandma Mallory

*I found this site at http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/transformer

Laughter is the best medicine!

Want a good dose? Go to www.manbabies.com .

My new crafting obsession

I used to craft a lot - before I had four children! I still enjoy seeing other peoples' creations, I just don't have the time for it. I can sew, but my attempts are quite mediocre. I've been quite inspired by other peoples' crafting blogs lately (my friend, Emily's -www.creativechicksatplay.blogspot.com and another lady's I've happened upon - www.theskyispink.blogspot.com). While I'm no where near their caliber, I've decided I want to get going on some projects of my own. I also recently went into a children's boutique and determined I could make some of the darling outfits I saw and get by without paying the $50 to $100 price tags. I'm driven by bargains!

I make hair bows for my girls and for gifts for others. That's the extent of my crafting these days. I have come upon quite possibly the cutest hair clips ever! They are technically called "ribbon sculptures." Take a peek:

http://punkynmunky.blogspot.com/2008/05/for-your-summer-vacation.html

and

http://punkynmunky.blogspot.com/2008/02/look-at-my-ribbon-sculptures.html

How amazing are these!!!! My goal is to get these made before our trip to Orlando in three weeks. While technically we won't be going to Disney World ( I found a t00-good-to-pass-up-deal through Universal Studios - we'll be going there!) we have several parties/dinners to go to, and I hope to have them done so the girls can wear them there. I bought the ribbons today, so stay tuned for pictures of my attempts!

"Great" clips

My brother-in-law, Nick, inspired this post. Thanks, Nick!

Last weekend, when the Great Felker Migration took place for Mary Caroline's wedding, Nick showed us his new haircut. He revealed it to me inside the temple, right before the ceremony. Because we want to be reverent inside the temple, I had to muster every ounce of self-control I had not to yell/laugh hysterically. When I get tickled about something, it is very hard for me to laugh quietly.

This is what he showed me:

BWAHAAHAA!!!

It was all I could do to keep from bustin' a gut and rolling on the floor! I asked him not to sit in front of me during the wedding ceremony because I wouldn't have been able to control myself.

Apparently, he had asked my sister-in-law, Colton, to give him a haircut. She forgot to put the guard on, and this is what ensued.

Nick was SUCH a good sport about all the laughter at his expense. In fact, he waited to show his hair to us before going to have it taken care of professionally. Between the wedding and the reception, he got a haircut and the problem was solved.

Oh, thanks for the laughter, Nick!!!! It brought back an infamous memory in our family.

I have always been Edward's personal barber. Since we've been married, he has never been to the barber shop. In fact, he brought along his clippers to our honeymoon, and asked me to cut his hair. I was SCARED TO DEATH. I had never done it before. He certainly put a lot of faith in his new bride! All went well...that time.

Fast forward about a year-and-a-half later. It was Christmas time, and we were visiting at my parents' house. I was just barely pregnant with Ross and feeling quite green. Edward asked me for a haircut, and I told him I would right after I took a nap. He had everything all set up for me when I awoke a while later. I stumbled into the kitchen, apparently still half-asleep. I turned on the clippers and took a swipe right up the middle. I suddenly turned off the clippers, my eyes wide. I gasped loudly and covered my mouth. Edward very calmly said, "You forgot to put the guard on, didn't you." I immediately began crying (and I'm not a crier) because I felt so horrible. It was pretty bad. My dad had been sitting watching the whole chaotic scene unfold. He had to run out of the room so he didn't burst into laughter.

The next thing I know family members are assembling to assess the damage as my skunk-headed husband is trying to comfort me. Man, he's an amazing guy! The rest of the family were gawking in stunned silence, trying not to make the situation worse.

Edward just kept saying, "It's only hair. It will grow back." How many of us could say that?! Not many. We finally were able to laugh about it. In all my life, I've never seen my dad laugh so hard, and that is not an exaggeration. For the rest of our visit, which was several days longer, my dad couldn't look at Edward without laughing.

For about a week or two, I colored Edward's bald strip in each day with my eye-liner. In fact, the day that it happened we were headed over to my Great Grandma's for Christmas Eve. We joked that he had to remember not to put his head back on her couch, or she would have a brown strip.

When we left to go visit his family a few days later, he had me write "Merry Christmas" in red and green marker in his bald strip. Mary Caroline was about 10 years old at the time. When she saw it, she said with a straight face, "Mom's gonna kill you."

And now, without further ado:

This photo has not been doctored at all!

*After a couple of my recent posts, either you will see what a kind soul Edward is, or you will think I'm one cruel lady for the things I laugh at my husband about!

Barf-O-Rama

*WARNING* PERSONS WITH WEAK CONSTITUTIONS PROBABLY DO NOT WANT TO READ THIS!!!!

Consider yourselves warned!

Why do kids put gross things in their mouths? At Ross' baseball game Friday night, I think three little girls came up to me at three different times to tell me Drew was eating dirt. For Pete's Sake, why?! I'm sure dirt doesn't taste good! The crazy little guy had a thin blackish/brown ring around his mouth for the rest of the evening.

Later, just before it was time to leave, Drew was playing underneath the bleachers. I noticed he was stooped down and still. We parents know to check on our children when it is too quiet. Upon further inspection, he was eating ABC sunflower seeds. For those of you not in the know ABC stands for ALREADY BEEN CHEWED!!!!!! UGH! He was eating other peoples' spat-out sunflower seeds. What's even worse, when I calmly (okay, okay - hysterically) told him to get those out of his mouth and explained what they were, he just giggled and CONTINUED eating them. YUCK!!!!

Later when we discussed this, the big kids wanted to know what the grossest things were they've had in their mouths as babies. For a one year-old Ross, it was a cigarette butt I fished from his mouth while we were swimming at a public pool. For Mallory, it was the time I found her chewing on Drew's booger that he fed her when she was about 6 months old.
Elizabeth's was by far the worst. I still get a little throw-up in my mouth when I think of it. While shopping in a thrift store when she was one, I pulled out of her mouth a used band-aid. OHHHH!!!!

Why, oh, why people!?!

Mary & Tyson's Wedding

We had a wonderful weekend of fun & family for Mary Caroline's wedding. We started off with a week of excitement when the Sanders from Florida made a pit stop at our place on their way to Columbia/Jefferson City to help with the festivities. We got to have Sterling with us from Wednesday morning until Saturday morning when we met up for the wedding.
Then Friday night, the Realls from Chicago got to see Ross' baseball game and spent the night with us. We all met up at the St. Louis temple where Mary and Tyson got married. It was a beautiful, sweet, simple ceremony. The nieces and nephews were so excited to see "Princess Mary" and to see each other. After a big, noisy lunch at the Spaghetti Factory we caravaned to Columbia for the fun reception. It was a night of lots of dancing, visiting, and laughter at the great party.
Sunday morning, the majority of us converged on an unsuspecting church. Imagine the surprise of about 30 new faces in the congregation! Luckily for them, we didn't stay and send our children to their Primary (children's church service)!
After church, Andrew and Sarah were gracious to host a lunch at their cute house.
We left Sunday evening, with the Sanders following us for another pit stop before heading back home to Florida Monday morning.
We love our time with our family! Because we are all so spread out and our visits are so few and far between, we have such joyous reunions! This must be what heaven will be like!

P.S. There are LOTS of pictures here! You can speed it up or slow it down in the lower left hand corner. Also, if you hold the cursor over the photo, you can stop the photo and read a little caption.

Charlie bit me

I have to pass this video along after discovering it on Jennifer's blog. My family and I have watched this over and over and over. I laugh until I cry EVERY time!!!! This is hysterical!!!!! Bwahaaahaaa!!!!

A Day at the Zoo

We spent a perfect day at the St. Louis Zoo on Saturday. It was about 68 degrees while we were there. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

Amazing Flowers

We stopped by our temple Saturday after a morning at the zoo. I had to get up close to take some pictures of their amazing flowers! Gorgeous!
I don't know what these are called, but they were so thick and luscious! I just wanted to get up there and lay on them, kind of like I do clouds when I'm in an airplane.

Aren't Big Brothers' Great?

When Edward changed Mallory's clothes last week, he noticed mysterious scribbles on Mallory's back and, sadly, rear end. Obviously this wasn't a feat that our little genius could master herself. Big brother Drew was happy to take credit for this one. He was pretty proud of his masterpiece.

Small World

I got a kick out of a story my sister-in-law Jessica told me this weekend. She said she had been talking to a friend from Sikeston that told her she was needing to replace some springs on her kids' trampoline. She was browsing the Internet looking for a deal. When she googled "trampoline springs" guess what popped up? My entry about Edward's trampoline incident! That is hilarious!

My Turn

After contemplating a shorter, angled haircut for some time I finally decided to take the plunge. I've admired this style for a long time, but I've felt that my face wasn't thin enough to pull it off. I've now come to accept the fact that my hair isn't what will make my face look thin. It's having a thin face that will make my face look thin, and that whole process isn't so fun. Anyway, I love how it turned out. I may even go a tiny bit shorter the next time.

Words of Wisdom

I have a new admiration for plumbers. I don't think they make nearly enough money. In fact I think they should make more than SHAQ, A Rod, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. combined. What has led me to this new respect, you ask? Three words: RAW SEWAGE BACKUP. Yes, that is how we spent a fun-filled Saturday. Good times, good times.

The girls and I were out shopping when I received a frantic call from Edward telling me to come right home. I had visions of Ross breading his leg on the trampoline or Drew needing stitches from a fall. Edward then informed me we had sewer water coming up from the drains in our basement. "Oh joy of joys."

I came into a stinky house to find Edward in the basement moving things around as fast as he could. He would occasionally get splashed in the face as the item he had just thrown caused back splash. I tried my hardest not to laugh (see earlier "Trampoline Trauma" post). Is it terrible that one of my first thoughts was, "Oh man. I've gotta get the camera so I can post about this on my blog"? Anyway, the grody sludge had gotten to my pile of things for another yard sale. Oh well. I wasn't too upset about that. It was also around all my stored kids clothes. Thankfully, they were stored in plastic bins and were fine. After everything was removed for the danger zone, I donned my plastic gloves and got to work with the Wet Vac, sucking up all the nastiness.

A plumber was called and the problem was discovered. And here's the story: All last week we were hard at work landscaping - planting flowers and shrubs, pulling weeds, chopping roots, mulching, the works. One day while Edward was still at work, I pulled up an old shrub and exposed this pipe:
It had a half-cracked cap that Elizabeth accidentally stepped on and completely broke. So,what's a kid to do when finding an open pipe? Why drop rocks and sticks down it of course! Drew and Elizabeth took turns dropping rocks to clear out the spider webs. It made for some cool sounds as they "thunked" at the bottom. Okay, okay. I took a couple of turns too. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. What? It was pretty fun! Little did I know the trouble we were causing.

It turns out, that pipe has something to do with the plumbing at our house. Hmm. How about that? So, apparently, those rocks and sticks were all getting lodged in our system, clogging it up, thus causing the sewage problem in the basement. I guess I'll know next time.

So my advice for the day is don't let your kids (alright, alright - or yourself) drop rocks and sticks into a pipe they don't know where it leads or you could end up shelling out 100 bucks to a plumber and have to deal with the gross clean-up yourself.

P.S. The plumber tried pulling out what he could, but there are pieces that were too big to get out. He told us until we can get those out, it will probably happen again. I guess it serves me right!

The "Real" Circus

On Friday, Drew and I accompanied Ross' class to the Moolah Shrine Circus that came to the St. Louis area. We couldn't pass up the opportunity. We've been to this circus two other times, and it is very good for the price (I only had to pay $12 for both Drew and me). We had a great time.

As I was watching, I couldn't help but wonder about getting a job in a traveling circus. How does one hear about a job opening in a circus? Clown school? Gymnastics lessons? The Tiger Training Association? And what qualifications must one possess to apply for a job? "Applicant must be willing to walk the Ring of Destiny blindfolded, and must also be willing to toss Hula Hoop Girl her rings." Who knows.

Here are a couple of pictures. My camera is pretty cheap, so it didn't perform well under the Big Top.

Ross was absolutely appalled and embarrassed for this man because of the the purple and silver la may unitard he had to wear.
Elephant rides

Elephant performance

It's hard to tell but these were the tigers. The second and third graders' favorite part of this act when one of the tigers went to the bathroom in the middle of the performance. They laughed and giggled for what seemed like two minutes.

The acrobats are always impressive. Dylan, this picture doesn't really show it, but I'm pretty sure this was the same acrobat you saw at a circus a few years ago :) I tried to go back on your blog and link it here, but I'm not that good.

*UPDATE*

Thanks, Dylan, for the link. Loyal readers, see for yourselves. I believe it was the same acrobat:

http://higgfarm.blogspot.com/2007/02/best-or-worst-18-bucks-ever-spent-you.html

The (Preschool) Circus Has Come To Town

Drew's preschool performed a circus for the parents last Thursday. Drew has been telling me for a few weeks he wanted to be a bear. I kept putting off coming up with a simple costume, thinking I had plenty of time. Well, of course I forgot about it until he reminded me Wednesday night. Darn it! So after much convincing, we talked him into being a ferocious lion (an old Halloween costume).
Surprisingly, he was the loudest "snack seller" of all the kids there. They sold treats for "one money". We racked in the treats!

These are all the "animals" in their cage.

This is Drew's best buddy, the Strong Man.

Listen to that ferocious ROAR!

Whew! He made it through the Ring of Fire!

Elizabeth's New 'Do

Elizabeth got her hair cut last week in a darling new bob. We love it! She had the goal of growing it out for Locks of Love, but the tangles just got to be too much for the both of us. In fact, the hair dresser pulled out a ruler and said to her, "You've worked so hard to grow it out. You only have about 4 more inches before you can donate it. Are you sure you want to do this? You won't be able to put it in a ponytail." I was screaming in my head, "DON'T TRY TO TALK HER OUT OF THIS!!! THIS WILL MAKE LIFE SO MUCH EASIER IN THE MORNINGS BEFORE SCHOOL! AAAAAGGGGHHH!" Luckily Elizabeth didn't change her mind.

She was tired of me being too rough each day, and I was tired of it looking so raggedy. I was a bit surprised when she agreed to the cut, and I was worried she was going to dislike it (this is my child that really struggles with change). Thankfully, she loves it. I love it too, and I especially love how easy it is to take care of. In fact, it has inspired me to cut mine shorter. Stay tuned as I have a hair appointment tomorrow!

Jean Shopping

I used to love going shopping for new clothes. I still get excited to go, but that excitement quickly fades upon entering the dressing room. Ugh!

Jean shopping is the worst for me! It seems the new style in jeans is the "skinny jean". Let me tell you, you have to actually be skinny to get them to work I guess. *Sigh*