Thank you!

Dear Becky, Nathan and Marley Parley Pants,

Thank you for the stylish birthday hat, the DVD of my favorite Disney Movie, for the Lip Tint (don't my lips look HOT?!) and for the yummy white treats. We like to lick them and put them on my face. It's fun but then I forget they are there and go about my business with food on my face. They sure are tasty.

Yes, my birthday isn't until Monday but I had to bust those gifts open as soon as I saw them. Thanks and I love you all.

Dear Reader: If you think I'm crazy and you don't

know why this picture is funny, go here and here.

Conversations with Sam

In the car on the way to school -

Sam: Mom, I thought of someone who could kill Link.

Me: Who?

Sam: Guess.




Me: Uuummmmm, the PowerPuff Girls.

Sam: TSS! NO!




Me: Uuummmmm, King Koopa

Sam: Who's that?

Me: The bad guy on Mario Brothers.

Sam: No way. If Mario can kill him just by jumping on him a few times then Link could totally kill him. Link has a sword, boomerang and a bow and arrows.

Me: Oh. Then who, tell me.

Sam: BEN TEN! (said in a DUHHH voice.)

Me: What? No way. If Link can kill that big boss who looks like a dinosaur by hitting him in the belly with a bomb and then while he lays down to recover Link aims a bomb in his mouth to blow him up from the inside, then Ben Ten could never kill Link.

Sam: YES! If Ben Ten used his Omnitrex to become Grey Matter or Diamond Head he could kill Link because......


Luckily the drive to school only takes about three minutes, other wise he would have gone on all day. OK, maybe I did egg him on a little, but he doesn't have any siblings. If I don't do it, who will?

Cooking for one.... Sooo funny!

I found this video last night and Matt and I laughed and laughed... If you get the option to watch the out takes after you watch this then do it.... Hilarious? SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!

Boise, Idaho

We went on a quick weekend trip to celebrate March Madness with Matt's brother and sister and their families. It was fun. Get ready for a load of pictures. First we'll play Where's Sammy (Where's Waldo style). You may need to click the photo and enlarge it to find him.



Did you see him? How about now? Matt's brother's house it right in front of an empty field. There are some dirt hills in the field and a few discarded building supplies. Sam and his cousin's had a blast out there. He called me over to see the fort he built.

This is Sam climbing into his fort.

Still working on getting in there....

"Ahh, this is the life. I have a wonderful view of the sky... I just hope that a bird doesn't fly by..."

"Such a nice a spacious piece of property."

"Uh oh, gotta go bathroom!"

Aunt Jill took us down to see their creek which I thought was more like a river. This is Sam and his cousin Chase. Chase was worried about "Creekodiles" while we were down there.

This is Jill and Mitchell.

Cousin Dallin taught Sam how to skip rocks.

And Sammy skipped his first rock and I just happened to catch both splashes on "Film".

And back at the house the March Madness was intense. Look at them all leaning forward.

Oh, they are munching on their wings.... Have I ever mentioned how much I love game day food? Well the wings did not disappoint.

WHAAA?

The weather was beautiful on Friday. We went to the park and everyone else in town had the same great idea. It was pretty busy.

Sam and Dallin had a great time monkeying around.

If that's not a white monkey I don't know what is.

On Saturday the weather turned rainy. We went to the Boise Discovery Center. It was a fun and different thing to do. We learned a lot about natural forces. Matt controlled a robot hand.

Sam pulled himself up... up...up.

There was a curtained off room where you could pose. Then there was a beeping noise to alert you to stop moving and then a bright flash. Then when you stepped back it was like your shadow stayed there. I'm not sure why Matt is making such a lovely face.... It didn't show up on his shadow.

Here is veterinarian Sam at his practice. he spent more time with the X-rays than he did with the animals... We're hoping he becomes a radiologist instead since we hate animals and we're trying to instill the same feelings in Sam.

On our way home we saw a double rainbow. I"m not sure why the higher one didn't show up. So you'll just have to believe me when I tell you it was beautiful.

It was a fun trip and THANK YOU to our wonderful family for spending time with us and letting us come to your homes.

I confess....

I hid a whole box of Girl Scout Cookies (Do-si-dos) behind the microwave popcorn in the pantry, just so I could eat them all... by myself... without sharing... while Sam was at school.

Now, I'm hiding behind my computer with with a glass of milk and a whole sleeve of peanut buttery goodness. Every time the wrapper makes a noise the little girl I tend stops what she's doing and looks over here. So I stop moving my mouth and play it cool. I know she is on to me.

Wacky Wednesday

Last Wednesday, Sam's class had a Wacky Wednesday based on the book by Dr. Seuss. They have been talking a lot about him because his birthday was the week before and they got to bring their favorite Dr. Seuss books to school along with a pillow, blanket or stuffed animal (Sam took one of each) to get cozy with while they celebrated by reading the books. I had this book as a child and it was one of my favorites..... OK, they were all my favorites and I get nostalgic when hear about them or when Sam brings one home from the Library. MOM! What happened to all those wonderful books?!
Back to Sam's Wacky day. He decided that he was going to wear pants.... On the top of his body... I said, "Everyone will call you butt head." He didn't care. So I grabbed a pair of old church pants that were in the pile of stuff for
our next trip to the good old DI (which is directly across from our house but for some reason it takes me months and months to drop of my crap - I mean, gently used items). I made a cut along the crotch seam which Sam could barely get his big head through, and viola! What a Wacky boy! He was mainly concerned that it looked like he had boobs all day, especially when he put his hands in the pockets. I thought it looked like he was wearing a little jacket, and so did a friend of mine who asked me whose jacket he was wearing.
Yesterday he had the thought that he should have worn a long sleeve shirt as pants that day. Sorry dude, too late.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Last night Sam got a bee in his bonnet. He was bound and determined to catch a leprechaun. I really wasn't feeling it. But he wouldn't be dissuaded. So for our FHE activity we made a trap. As you can see we used the lid of a box that just happened to have Christmas wrap on it. We propped it up with a hanger that had a string attached to it.

On the other end of the string there was a quarter attached by tape. We all know leprechauns can't resist money that's just laying around. So we were hoping that he would pick up the quarter, which would make the string pull on the hanger, which would fall causing the lid to come down on the little guy, trapping him until morning when we could come and have a look at him. We weren't going to keep him, just have a look at him. Well, this morning Sam found the lid down. So he got on the floor with his eyes really close to the box lid and he slowly lifted the lid. He found a note and a little Lego set.

We are a little creeped out to know that a little creature/person was wandering around our house last night while we slept.
Sam doesn't feel too bad about losing his quarter considering the leprechaun left him a new toy.

Under the Weather

I've had bronchitis. It's really bad news, especially for my poor little asthmatic bronchials. But there is good news and it's name is cough syrup with CODEINE! Julie likey.

But it gives me freaky dreams.

The first night we were on the run in the nastiest metropolitan area imaginable and people kept taping tracking devices to Sam that I would pull off and bite to break it. It was intensely scary.

The second night I went to the school I worked at last year and tried to talk to people but couldn't because I had to keep blowing my nose. Finally, the janitor came over to see if he could help me with my nose. This made perfect sense to me. No luck. So I went home and started feeling around near my nose and eye. All of a sudden a small toy belonging to Sam came out of my nose. Then about 15 marbles came, one at a time. Then a WHOLE PACKAGE OF CRACKERS. I said, " Well it's no wonder I have bronchitis with all this stuff up my nose." That little bit of reality was all it took to wake me up. As soon as I woke I realized I had a tissue shoved up my nose. I remember doing it right before I fell asleep because the nasal drip was driving me crazy.

The third night I had nearly convinced Brad Pitt to father a child for me. NOOO! It wasn't that kind of dream. Sheesh! It was just the most logical step for him and for my family... He asked me how the new child and I would fit into his life and I explained to him that we ( Matt, Sam, the new julie/brad child and I) would all become part of his family, living near by - like in the pool house, and traveling with them. He was a little concerned about how Angelina would take it, but I gently reminded him that he had a different family before he had her, so what is the problem. He was about to tell me I was totally right and he felt good about it when I woke up.

Good bye cough syrup with codeine, I'll miss you!!!

Wii (Pronounced like you are on a roller coaster - WHEEEE!)

We're doing our part to stimulate the economy with our tax return. We might be better off saving the whole thing, and rest assured we've got some left. As you know we recently stimulated the home improvement and construction area when we hired a dude to lay our tile. Well now we stimulated the electronics section of the economy.

We got a Wii.

Shortly after we were married Matt purchased a used Nintendo 64. We've had fun over the years playing Tetris and Mario Cart. It was packed away for about three years and then when Sam was about five we busted it back out.

Last year, after saving for over a year, Sam bought himself a Nintendo DS. It's fun, and you may recall I had a small addiction problem. Don't worry, I got over it. But now....

I PLAYED THE Wii FOR OVER 8 HOURS YESTERDAY!!!!!

Here is our family, Wii style.

That's Mii.

Mattii.

Samii.

Of course I had to make a Marlii.
(Yes, I'm a big dork and I took pictures of the TV.)

Holy Doughnut!

Sam has an on going agreement with his Grandma Alger. She goes shopping every Saturday morning and sometimes, on her way home, she brings us some doughnuts. I’m not sure how he talked her into this for the first time but it has become somewhat of an anticipated event. He wonders aloud on Friday nights if Grandma will be coming to bring him a doughnut in the morning. I think they are best friends.

She brings a doughnut for Matt and me as well. I think it's her effort to get us out of bed before noon. (Picture a lonely Sam up before the sun, watching cartoons in his jammies, bundled up in his Spider man blanket and his Cars blanket. Every so often, in my Saturday morning stupor, I sense him standing by my bed, looking at me, but I don't open my eyes because that starts the talking.)
One Friday night Sam spent the night at Grandma's house and then accompanied her to the store. He was dropped off at home after and came in with the biggest doughnut ever!

I know you are wondering - No, he didn't eat it all. And Yes, he threw up later that night, but we think it was unrelated to the doughnut.

Goodbye, Tax Return - Hello, New Tile

Oh, you like my bathroom? Why, thank you. Yes, it does look beautiful and nice and clean. I clean it myself (once in a while). Isn't this fake tile linoleum fantastic? Why would anyone waste their tax return replacing it?
Well, look over here, by the tub. In both corners there is what seems to be a black stain, but I can't scrub it off. It's been there since we moved in. You are right! It must be mold or mildew coming up from underneath.

So we called around and got the best guy for the job.... We hope. And he and his son got to work.

This is what the mildew looked like under neath. YUMMY!!! One of the previous owners must have had a party in the tub and over flowed it. At least that's what I tell myself because I would rather believe it to be an over flowing tub that caused this mess rather than an overflowing toilet, and that for two years I have been living with rotting poo water. Plus, I'm pretty sure our toilets don't over flow. Believe me, we've tried.

This is their progress after the first day. Yes, they jabbed a hole in the wall as they tried to pull up the lino and sub flooring. Somebody glued it all down.... (Isn't that what they were supposed to do?)

He patched it up for us.

Just some lonely tile waiting for it's best friend Mr. Grout.

And here we are just one and half hours later - on the second day- all done... I love it, I think it looks beautiful. He re textured the wall and put the base boards back on. So we will need to putty the nail holes on the base boards and paint them and then caulk along the tops. And Matt doesn't know it yet, but he will be making a trip down to the crawl space to find the left over paint color. He just loves it down there!

I must have a super good camera, even though I don't have any skills using it, because I couldn't see any of those chalky smudges on the tile with my eyes. But I can sure see them in the picture. And I just realized that the first pic looks just like the last.... It was worth it, I'm sure.