A Royal Week!

Did anyone get up and watch the Royal wedding?  I recorded it and intend to watch it this weekend.  I did catch the Royal couple on the balcony after their ceremony though.  I'm glad I caught some of it.  I really did think I'd get up and watch it, but I didn't.  Thank goodness for DVR!

We just got home from Steven's school.  It was the school carnival and the boys had a great time.  We never win anything from the raffle drawing and every year the boys are very disappointed.  Ha!  They did have a great time playing games and eating pizza though.  They also got to visit with their friends. 

Steven had track practice this week.  Earlier in the week, we were concerned he wouldn't be able to participate.  I checked his grades online and he had a "D" in social studies.  This seemed strange to me since he has turned in every assignment.  It caused a bit of panic in Steven and I.  We found out the next day that he has an "A" and his teacher hadn't finished grading all his papers.  Whew!  

Tommy had to write a Poetry book for English class this week too.  He had to write 16 different poems such as a Limerick, Parody, Haiku, Diamante, and a Cinquain just to name a few.  See previous blog post with the poems.

Steven is competing in the Music Festival tomorrow.  He is a bit nervous because he's been sick all week and hasn't practiced very much.  I think he will be fine though. 

I don't have any pictures to post for the week.  Hopefully, I will get a few and post them tomorrow. 
Enjoy your weekend!

Tommy's poems

Here are Tommy's poems again.  I couldn't get the last blog post to fit right.  I decided to try and repost just the poems.  I may add more later.  He doesn't seem to mind that I am sharing them. 

One is a Parody and the others are Diamante:

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.

Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.

Up came the sun, and dried up all the rain,

And the itsy bitsy spider drank a cold beer on the beach

Life

Alive, energetic

Enjoying, living, being

People, humans--Corpses, bodies

Killing, dying, hurting

Lifeless, inanimate

Death

Happy

Fun, great

Playing, running, smiling

Good, nice--Bad, mean

Bullying, breaking, scowling

Horrible, hate

Angry

Easter 2011

I'm going to add a few Easter pictures so my Gramma can see them.  If you are on Facebook...sorry, you'll be seeing them again. 

We woke up to snow this  morning...

The boys before church.

I finally get a little Coca-Cola on Easter. 

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!!


Wow!  It's hard to believe I've been away from Facebook and soda for more than six weeks.  It's Easter and Tommy and I made it through Lent.   I went grocery shopping  and bought soda and lots of chocolate (cookies, candy, donuts, etc.)  Hehehehe...

The Easter bunny barely went to bed and the boys were up ready for their egg hunt at 2:00 a.m.  Yes, you read that right.  They get really excited.  They've gone through their baskets and had their egg hunt.  Now, they are watching the movie, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" while playing a new Lego game that the Easter bunny left them.   They colored eggs last night too.  Steven is also celebrating.  It is the first year he has ever found the most eggs AND the golden egg too.  His brother always beats him every year.  Hehehe...little brother is growing up.

Well, Tommy has had his first cup of hot chocolate for the night and I'm logged onto Facebook as well. 
 It's been about a week since my last blog post.  We've been super busy this week so I will share some family news and photos for the week.

Family news:

We went out and bought Tommy some new pants for Easter.  Poor kid.  He's been wearing 14 slim pants and they've been looking a little snug.  Well, ends up he's actually wearing 18 slims.  Geez...the kids growing so fast.

The boys had a Boy Scout Court of Honor and they received quite a few Merit Badges.  Steven received his patch/badge for Patrol Leader which I will have to sew on his shirt.   I think I may have a picture for that.   

Steven also had an awards assembly at his school.  I managed to take off work and see him receive awards in Art and Music.  Sorry, I don't have a picture to share.  I did take some pictures but Steven is so far away and there are so many other children...you'd never be able to find him in the photo.  LOL

Here they are coloring eggs...

...and here they are at 2 am. 

I asked them to take a quick photo with their chocolate bunnies.  I interrupted their Creationary game and movie.  :)

Happy Easter everyone!  I'm going to see if I can get some sleep.  The boys will have to take a nap later or we will be going to the last service in the morning.  haha!

Since Tommy gave up chocolate for Lent, we will feast on chocolate donuts for breakfast.   I will refrain from soda until I get back from church.  I think I will have a real Coca-Cola with lunch. 

A Wonderful Life...as long as I don't gain weight

Good day!

I've determined that my mood changes based on my weight.  If I gain a pound, I'm a grump...if I lose a pound, I'm quite content.  How shallow, right?  Ugh.  The truth is I feel better when I am at an appropriate weight.  It's much tougher as I get older to keep the pounds off.  The good news is I really don't starve myself to maintain my weight.  I simply try to get out more and exercise.  I've also determined that soda has no bearing on my weight.  I gave up soda for Lent and I haven't lost a pound.  Therefore, next week I will resume consuming soda guilt free! LOL 

More family news: 

We've had a very quiet weekend.  I did get out this morning for a walk in the 50-60 mph winds.  My husband has been updating his computer all weekend.  (I asked permission to blog that.)  Tommy has been writing a book report this weekend.  (I asked permission to blog that too.)  He read the book Blink which is about using your subconscious mind to make decisions.   He's actually presenting his book report in PowerPoint form.  He also brought home an awesome gym bag that he made in Home Ec class.  It's very cool and looks store bought.  He did a great job.  I need to take a picture and add it to this post.  Steven has been reading and playing most of the weekend.  Both the boys are attending an Eagle Court of Honor this afternoon for a fellow Scout. 

Here's a picture of Tommy's gym bag that he made in Home Ec class.  I'm glad I showed him how to sew last year when he made his reusable grocery bag for Earth Day in 6th grade.  Anyway, he was familiar with the sewing machine but now he knows all the sewing terms/vocabulary to go with his knowledge as well as all the parts of a sewing machine.  One day, he came home and asked if my sewing machine had an automatic bobbin winder.  I just thought that was funny.  Not something your typical 7th grade boy asks his Mom every day.  LOL  It does, by the way.

Steven keeps asking if anyone has tried answering his questions.  If anyone has the time, please attempt at some of them.  He will get a kick out of it.  :)  Please see the previous post.

Have a wonderful week!

Questions?

Here are some questions from everyday life that Steven came home from school with.  Don't look them up first.  Try to answer them on your own.

How many sides does a stop sign have?
Which hand does the Statue of Liberty hold the torch?
How many matches are in a matchbox?
How many sides on a pencil?
What rotation does a carousel turn?
On the Northern Hemisphere which way does water drain?
How many States are there (don't laugh some people don't know)?
What is the lowest whole number on your FM radio?
What side of the page are the even numbers on?
How many curves to a paperclip?
Which way does the slash on a NO SMOKING sign go?
On a tone phone, what two numbers do not have letters?

Good luck!  Please comment with any answers you may know or want to guess at.  Steven really wants to know if he can stump anyone...and if it makes you feel any better, I didn't answer them all correctly.  :)

Random stuff:  Did you notice the changes to my blog?  Yeah, I like pink.  :)  One more week until Easter.  I'm going to wake up and have a Diet Coke for breakfast.  LOL  Just kidding.  I will log on to Facebook though.

Boy Scouts-Patrol Leader

Steven was elected Patrol Leader tonight!  His patrol took a vote and he made Patrol Leader.  Yay!  He's very excited. 

Lost, Washed or Empty

Yesterday was a great day!  The work day went by fast...and then I got a text from Tommy. 

It said..."lost headphones. in pants?"  

This, of course, immediately caused a state of panic in me because I knew I had just washed a load of his pants the night before and hung them out to dry.  

I came home and checked his pants and sure enough...I found his headphones in a pocket.  So, I washed his Nike headphones that he got for Christmas.   When Tom came home, we plugged them into his phone to see if by some miracle they worked.  THEY DID!!  Now, I want to post a review on Amazon.com or anywhere that sells them and give them a 5 star rating.  These headphones can still work even atfter being submerged in water.  Although, we will try to avoid doing that again.  :)

Tommy had already started his homework when I came home.  (Nice!)   He tried to print up a report but couldn't because we were out of black ink.  Ugh.  He also informed me that he had lost his last favorite pencil for school.  I guess they just fall out of his pants pocket when he sits down.  His little brother told him to stop putting his pencils in his pocket.  (Good idea!)

Well, he had to print that report so they made a trip to Office Depot.  Tom bought a new ink cartridge and Tommy got some new pencils.  Crisis avoided...whew!

While they were gone, I made a pot of coffee.  Darn it!   I was out of creamer.  Tom went out again for me and bought some creamer.   My morning was saved and another crisis averted. Hehehehe...


Random Stuff: 

The boys had dentist appointments this morning.  They had their teeth cleaned.  No cavities!!   Yay!

Tonight, they have a Boy Scout meeting.  It's been a wet day all day.  Snow flurries, rain and hail.  Great day!

Censored

I've been censored!!  I'm not allowed to write what I want.  Bummer!!  I thought I was exercising discretion but apparently I must make a point to ask my subjects before blogging about them.  It sort of defeats the purpose of an online "family" scrapbook though.  I don't want to write only about myself because that is really boring. Oh well.  I guess there's Sachi...


Random stuff:   I took my blood pressure tonight.  It was 110/72. It must be due to a relaxing spring break because most of the time I am totally stressed.  Go figure. 

Mourning the end of Spring Break

Good evening,

Today was a lazy day.  We just cleaned up around the house, washed clothes and went grocery shopping to get ready for the week.  Tonight, Steven cried because spring break was over.  We only have 8 weeks left of school though.  It will go by fast.

The boys are in their rooms reading.  It's back to the homework routine too.  (Now, that makes me want to cry.)

I went for a walk today and got caught in the snow.  It actually hailed a little but fortunately it was small hail.  I ended up running the rest of the way home.  I felt good after my walk/dash though. 

Here's a picture since blogs are boring without pictures.  Steven got a haircut.

Rock Band!!

Good morning!


We are sad Papa has to go home already.  The week flew by much too quick and spring break is almost over.  Ugh.

Here's a few pictures and a video clip of the boys and Papa playing a little Rock Band.  Please excuse the fact Tommy is still in his pj's.  He's the only one that still needs to take a shower.

Steven is instructing Papa on guitar technique...

Playing...

Here's a small video clip...

Random stuff:  I'm so glad the government avoided a shutdown.  It would be awful for so many innocent citizens to suffer financially (no paychecks) because our Congressmen couldn't  pass the annual budget.  Something they should have done back in September when the House and Senate were controlled by the Democrats.  However, they all chose to take time to campaign instead of doing their jobs.  I'm annoyed with all of them.  As my husband said last night...vote 'em all out.  Grrrrr....

Geocaching and Flea Markets

Geocaching

Tom, Papa and the boys have been out trying to find caches.  Geocaching is a treasure or scavenger hunt using a Global Positioning System (GPS).  Check out http://www.geocaching.com/ for more information. 

The first couple of days they went out looking for caches and couldn't find anything.  They went out one afternoon with Papa and found two caches.  These were small finds that included only a log sheet to document the find.  The boys had great fun and it really didn't matter that it was just a log sheet.  Papa bought geo coins that have a serial number for tracking.  They didn't find any of those types of caches, but I'm sure they will be on the lookout for them now.  I guess you can track these geo coins through the website and find out where they are.

Here are a few pics:


Searching...

Oh, a train....gotta stop for a picture.

A cache!

The log sheet...

A great picture with Papa...

Fort Collins' Flea Markets

Today is Papa's last day visiting.  He leaves tomorrow to go home.  We went to Fort Collins, CO for the day.  They have Flea Market/Antique row which includes about 4 or 5 stores all within walking distance of each other.  It was a lot of fun shopping around.  We didn't find anything to buy but we really enjoyed looking.  We ended up eating Taco Bell for lunch and then went to Best Buy for a bit.  Tommy can't pass up the chance to enter a Best Buy. 

Last night, we had dinner at Old Chicago.  Here's a pic to document the moment:

Random stuff:  Tom found a screw in one of my brand new tires.  Ugh.  He was able to pull it out.  Thank goodness it wasn't too deep.  All this construction around the neighborhood and near my work....it's no wonder.  

Chinese Mothers

Good morning!  Here's an article on motherhood that I thought was very interesting.  I may even check out ebay and see if I can find her book.  The following is an essay from the same author.  I admire this writers' ability to be completely honest.  She doesn't apologize for anything but admits parenting is a journey.  We learn as we go...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?mod=ITP_review_0

(More in another post...)

Government Shutdown

We've been following the news regarding the Federal budget and the potential shutdown of the government.  It's been a concern that the shutdown was going to cause my husbands' paychecks to stop.  However, he reminded me last night that he's not paid with taxpayer money.  Yay!   It will still stink to have any sort of government shutdown though.

I thought the following articles were interesting.  We don't realize how far-reaching a government shutdown would actually be.

We've visited this National Monument outside of Charleston, SC.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/07/fort-sumter-reenactment-face-shutdown-budget-deal/

Here's another article on the shutdown:

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/06/administration-paints-picture-possible-government-shutdown

Here's another...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/06/borger.high.school/index.html?hpt=T2

Weather!!

We're waking up to snow again.  The last two days it's been very windy and the boys haven't really been out too far in search of caches.  I guess if they want to find anything, they're going to have to overcome the weather and just venture out in full winter gear.  LOL  Tom has taken the last few days off from work.  Today is his last day off.  They should probably make the most of it.

I've actually been making dinner every night.  Go figure.  I'm not a very good cook at all, but I can do some simple recipes.  We had pizza the first night Papa arrived, one night we had spaghetti,  pork chops and potatoes the next and then last night baked ziti with caesar salad.   The desserts have been good too.  One night cupcakes, another rainbow sherbet and last night carrot cake (Tommy's favorite).  Tommy loves Italian food and anything pasta.  He's requested stuffed shells tonight.  We'll see... Steven loves chocolate cake but since Tommy's given up chocolate for Lent, we try to avoid it.  However, Steven loved the cupcakes and sherbet.

Robotics, Euchre and Geocaching

Here are a few pictures to let you know what we've been up to the last couple of days.  

Papa came with an early birthday present for the boys.

As you can see, it was a hit and these boys haven't stopped building and programming this robot for two days.

A little break for jelly beans from Aunt Renee...

One of the finished robots...

Outside it was snowing...

A game of Euchre after dinner.

A little Geocaching research was done...

I will explain more about Geocaching in another post.  They've been out searching but haven't had any luck.  Hopefully, they'll have better luck tomorrow. 

Random Stuff:   Tommy's voice keeps cracking.  One morning I expect he will wake up and his voice will be really deep.  In the meantime, he reminds me of Peter Brady (Brady Bunch).  All I can think of is Peter's voice cracking in the episode when they are in a recording studio.  Steven rocks at Euchre.  He and Papa really beat us tonight. 
Here are a few of my favorite websites:  http://www.woot.com/, http://www.ebay.com/, and http://www.amazon.com/.
If you go to woot,  make sure you read their item descriptions.  It's the only reason I visit the website.  So far, I haven't bought anything from them.  Although, they have some great deals.  Anyway, their posts are hilarious.   It's great entertainment.

Look! It's Snowing!!

Woke up to rain, then flurries and now snow!!  Yesterday, it was about 75 degrees and today snow. 

Here's a video from this morning.

A little more snow...

...and a little more.

I took this next video from the door.  It was too windy for me and cold.

Papa is here visiting.  I think he enjoyed this little sprinter storm we had. 

A Change in Perspective

A great article on Lent.   The writer really hit on the reason I needed to give up "two" things for Lent this year.   I didn't feel like I was sacrificing enough to change my perspective if I only gave up Facebook.  So, I added soda as well.  


http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/03/my-take-why-i-observe-lent/?hpt=C1

A change of pace, a change of place and hopefully a change in perspective...

Tommy gave up chocolate for Lent.  The first day back to school I completely forgot and packed him a Ding Dong for lunch.  Ugh.  Now, I rarely buy Hostess Ding Dongs or cupcakes but they were on sale.  So, I picked up a couple boxes.  Poor kid.   He remembered he gave up chocolate and gave the ding dong to a friend.  You don't realize how much food actually has chocolate in it.  Another day, I (as usual) packed him a granola bar.  Guess what?   Yep, chocolate in it.  He didn't eat it and I went out the same night and bought him his next favorite snack bar...Nature Valley Oats N Honey cereal bars.  Yes, I know.  I am a lame mother, but I try.  (That's a blog post for another day.)  

He loves hot chocolate.   Guess what?  Yep, no more nightly hot chocolate with his homework.  He's started drinking a half cup of coffee with lots of creamer.  (Yep, he's my son.)  LOL

I'm sharing this because even though his mom has made many mistakes and tempted him with chocolate, he's been very persistent and determined.  I think Easter is going to be much more meaningful this year for Tommy.  He's given up something and it has not been easy.

Random stuff:  Tommy can type 50 wpm. 
One year I gave up music for Lent.  I think I was 14 or 15 years old.  My Grandma gave me two albums for Easter.  It was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Donna Summers "Bad Girls" album.  I had to look up the name of Donna Summers' album on google because all I can remember is the song "Hot Stuff" on that album.

Happy April!

I started a blog post last night on April Fool's Day and then we started a discussion on growing up (again) with Tommy and an hour later Steven came home from his friends' house and wanted to play Euchre.   Needless to say, I was completely side-tracked and my blog was never written.

I hope everyone had a great April 1st!   We are officially on spring break and off for a week.   We are so excited because my father-in-law is flying in this morning.   Yay!   Tom and the boys left already for the Denver airport.  I'm going to clean house and wash clothes while they are gone.  (And write my blog post for the day.)  I think they plan to stop in Loveland or Fort Collins on the way back from the airport and go to Best Buy.  This trip could take hours because Tommy loves anything to do with electronics.  He can walk around that store for hours.  LOL  Tommy thinks electronics and Steven is thinking about where they will stop for lunch.   It makes me laugh.

Today, the temperature is expected to reach 70 degrees.  Wow!  What a great way to begin our week of vacation.  :)  We don't have anything special planned for the week, but Papa wants to introduce the boys to Geocaching.  I will explain more about this once I know more about it.  The great news is that I found out the boys can each earn a Merit Badge in Scouting for Geocaching.  :D

I need to close my post for now.  I will post pictures later after Papa arrives. 

Random stuff:  Steven is looking forward to playing Euchre with Papa.  He wants to show him how good he is at the game.