Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah

We just couldn't bring ourselves to buy JR yet another Wii/Nintendo game for his birthday.
So we figured this year we'd try buying him a gift that you don't unwrap.
We took him ziplining.
And when I saw 'we', I mean Jason also ziplined and I stayed safely on the ground taking pictures.

Kyle and Reed even got into a little bit of the action.
They let them try out the practice zipline!


But it was the two big guys that had the serious fun.
2 hours of ziplining.
I'm pretty sure they're both "hooked"!


Monday, May 30, 2011

I Really Tried

I made it a goal to get a picture of all the kids at our house today.
And I still left two out!


The Dairy Queen red, white, and blue Starkisses were a total hit!


Red clown popsicle lip stain...totally worth it.
Happy Memorial Day!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

No Way That's Possible

There's no way it was 8 years ago today that I drove myself to the hospital.
No way that little baby I had 8 years ago, looked like this this morning.
(I know. His shirt is awful.
I was in Vegas when I found it and knew he would love it.
Of course, it's his favorite shirt.)

He's so much like me,
and so much like Jason.
So much like both of us...
Never passing up a moment to be the center of attention.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Fashion Fabulous Friday


Pirates of the Caribbean Birthday Party Edition

I was seriously excited when JR said he wanted a Pirates of the Caribbean theme for his birthday, cause I knew that meant one thing.

Costumes!

I might have had a little too much fun dressing up the party guests.

It wouldn't be Kyle if he didn't demand 'pink'.

Kyle and Reed had been walking around with skulls and crossbones on their cheeks for a few days. 
They happily let me practice on them before the "big event".

 The eye-patches got the flip-up treatment quite a bit. 
It's kinda hard to paint pottery and eat pizza with one eye.

The earrings became a huge hit later in the party. (You can see Jacob wearing one here.)
I saw earrings dangling from everywhere.
Especially their noses!
But what do you expect from a party with 11 boys and 1 girl?

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Last One

It's the last day of school
(I'm not putting a punctuation mark at the end of that sentence since I'm not sure if I'm excited for summer fun (!) or dreading the 5:15AM wake ups (.)
JR can't get up on a school day, but is awake with the sunrise on non-school days.


In non-school day tradition, JR was up about 5:45 this morning
(I swear it starts getting light about 4:30 AM here)
since:
A. It's the last day of school.
B. He's celebrating his birthday at school today (he took donuts).
and
C. He's having his birthday party this evening (what was I thinking?).


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Hang With Us At Your Own Risk

Kyle, Reed, and Koen (Cassidy's son) went to gymnastics camp yesterday.
When I picked them up, they all came out of the gym saying how hot they were.
(They were pretty sweaty.)

I told the boys to put on their shoes, and I turned to talk to another mom.
As I looked back to start the herding to the car process, here's what I saw:


 So I'm giving you fair warning.
Hang with us at your own risk. 
 Looks like our "lifestyle choices" rub off easily on others.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Polar Lands (And NOT Durango This Time)

I went to JR's school yesterday to see his Power Point presentation on the Polar Lands.
Would ya look at that?
 Just as the super-divas before him (Cher, Madonna, Prince) he's already identifying himself by one name.

I know I'm showing my age here, but I still can't get over kids using Power Point.
After my first year of teaching I took a summer school "technology class" at SFA.
They taught us how to use Power Point (and send emails).
 I was the only teacher in my school that knew how to use it.

And I'm going to have to be the bragging mom here for a second, because JR did great.
His speaking voice was nice, slow, and clear.
And he worked that computer like a master.
I've seen Jason do lots of public speaking, and he really reminded me of him.
(And, of course, having a touch of my flair for the dramatics didn't hurt either!)

I also LOVED that this was a school project.
Everything was done at school, which was very obvious.

Some of the "interesting facts" I learned yesterday:
The black bear and the gorilla are animals that live together in the forest.
AND
The food chain for the grasslands...The lion eats the elk.

Like I said, Loved it!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Gotta Wait on the S'Mores

I mentioned last week there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth if we had to call off the cub scout camp out. 

Well, being that Purgatory got 22 inches of snow from Wednesday to Thursday, and the campground is about 2 miles from there...yeah, we had to cancel.

Thankfully the wailing was short, and he didn't even have time to gnash since I followed the cancellation news with..."BUT! Daddy will take you out to eat and to see Pirates of the Caribbean!"
And from JR's positive response, that must have been the appropriate form of entertainment to counterbalance a cancelled campout.

JR picked to eat at Sushitaraian, and even got his own frequent diners card. (Cause every almost-8-year old needs a punch card at a sushi restaurant, right?)

We girls already had babysitters lined up because we thought the boys were going camping.
So glad a cancelled campout didn't affect us!
Seriously, velvet wallpaper doesn't get more fancy than that. 
(Diamond Belle Saloon "revered as one of the most famous original ragtime piano bars in the Wild West".)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Final Kicks

Kyle and Reed had their last soccer game yesterday.
Kyle played about 1 minute (he LOVES practice, but could take or leave playing in the actual game).
Reed played the entire time.
This is my favorite picture of the day.

Check out Reed.
Teeniest-tiniest one out there, but right in the middle, and pushing those big kids back.

I also love that Kid To The Far Left obviously has more important matters to be worrying about than getting to the ball.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Fashion Fabulous Friday

It Won't Quit Snowing Edition.

Is a stocking cap that makes you look like a Conehead appropriate in the middle of May?

When it's snowed for 3 days straight, Absolutely!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

You'd Think It'd Be a Good Idea

We had our Cub Scout ice cream social last night.
You'd think May 18th would be a nice time of year to celebrate with ice cream.

You'd think.

But here's what it looked like outside as we left for our ice cream party.

Of course, the boys had no problem eating ice cream while it snowed outside.
JR with his best buddy Steven.  Truly two peas in a pod.

It continued to snow last night, so here's what greeted us this morning on May 19th.
May 19th!
This is what 6 more days of school looks like in Durango.

And if JR's Cub Scout campout gets cancelled this weekend due to snow, the wailing and gnashing of teeth you'll hear will be coming from our house.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Fire and Feathers

I have to give credit to Cassidy for the title of today's post. 

We were at our friends, Liz and Steven's house around the fire pit when this picture was taken.
Now check out Liz's drink.  (She's the one in the pink that looks like Teri Hatcher.)
She's got a fun feather koozie!
(Definitely gonna have to pick up a few of those.)
It was then that Cassidy said, "You'll have to put this on your blog! You can call it Fire and Feathers!"

And I really meant to take pictures at our Fire and Feathers evening, but as usually happens when you're having lots of fun, I totally forgot.

10 kids running around, jumping on the trampoline, roasting marshmallows and the only picture I took was of Kyle petting their cat.

And a picture of Kyle when we pulled into our garage, proving that the evening was a total success.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Bear Pictures With No Bears

As I was loading pictures off the camera, the ones Jason took on their bear hunt popped up.
Since I wasn't there (and don't hunt) I'm not sure my commentary will be accurate, but surely it'll be entertaining.

Jason and a horse standing beside what I'm guessing is a compressor.  And I'm also guessing it's an Exterran compressor since he'd never take a picture with a competitor's compressor.

Jason riding the horse. 

JR looking for bears, or the next level on Super Mario Brothers.

Apparently fathers don't brush their children's hair on hunting trips.

 JR riding on top of the dog kennels.
I think this was the day they only fed my poor child 3 crackers.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a "sort-of pretty scenery" picture, or "Look! There's a bear." picture.  I've looked and looked and can't spot a bear, so I'm guessing it's the first option.

And since I don't have a picture with Jason and a bear.  How 'bout a fish?  This is one of the four fish he caught while Kyle was running around McDonald's shirtless.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Somewhat Top Chefy

We went to Taste of Durango yesterday (which I called "Taste of Texas" everytime I said it since there's a restaurant by that name down the road from us in Houston) and had some seriously yummy yummies.

It felt a little Top Chefy since they have booths set up all down Main Street and you buy tasting servings (just like on Top Chef) of whatever looks good. 

We had things like shrimp ceviche, cheesy garlic bread, crab-stuffed crepes, pork sandwiches, and even pizza.

I wanted to take a picture of the kids eating from the Jean Pierre booth for my friend, Tiffany. (Owned by her in-laws.)
But the croissant and quiche were gobbled up before I could even get my camera out, so all I have is Kyle eating something that I didn't get a bite of and have no idea what it is. 
 I'm gonna go with "something Frenchy".

And if you're wondering what's on Kyle's face, well, they also had face painters.
Kyle and Reed wanted to be dogs.

And there was a band too.
So K and R decided to show off their dance moves...much to JR's embarrassment.

Kyle's "breakdancing" in this one.

So of all the yummy food which was the kids' favorite?
Yep.
Cotton Candy. 
Sold by the Future Chefs of Durango High School.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Dogrango 2

I've mentioned before that here in Dog-rango, dogs are more important than people.
And if you're a true Durangoan then you have a dog. 
A big dog.

A yellow lab is the typical Durangoan dog, and Labradoodles are acceptable.
Although, any big dog will put you in the cool kids club.

So, though Hunter is certainly looked at with smirks and snickers, I decided if everybody else is going to bring their giant dogs to soccer practice, why should Hunter have to stay home?

I actually called Jason from the soccer field and said, "I'm officially a Durangoan. I brought Hunter to soccer."
Look at that face.  I think the other dogs might have been laughing at him.

And don't think my kids haven't noticed how this dog-loving community treats their 4-legged friends.

Both Kyle and Reed like to bring stuffed dogs with them when we go out.
(And why wouldn't they? Everybody else has real dogs with them.)

The other day I put Kyle and Reed in the car, but didn't buckle their seat belts while I was loading groceries.
(Which means they had free-range use of the car for about 2 mintues.)
When I went to buckle them up, here's what I found.

Kyle and Reed-Dograngans indeed!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Fashion Fabulous Friday


Walkin' a mile in my shoes...


Can't say I blame the Big Guy.
My $2 handmade-while-you-wait Vietnamese shoes really are hard to resist.