One-Upping

Normally I would not do this on my blog, but this is just too important to ignore. In response to Mel's blog, if you want the whole story about after the Keith Urban concert, call ME! Who knows, if I get enough requests, I may just post it here.

Reality Bites

I was looking over my last posts and decided I really should have waited a to start this blog until this week. The last two weeks are not really indicative of my life. It seems like I am busy and always have something exciting happening. That illusion is rapidly fading.

This week was more of my real life. There is laundry all over my room, the dishes are not done, and we had pancakes for dinner three nights this week. (in my defense they were three different kinds of pancakes.) School is getting done, never as much as I would like, but done. And just the endless hustle and bustle of life, that always busy never doing anything kind of thing.

I have been spending more time reminding the boys that they are not comic strip characters. They have been reading Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield a lot over the last few months. Let's just say that lasagna is a hot menu item in our house. if you don't read Calvin and Hobbes Henry's behavior is appalling. If you read Calvin and Hobbes it is just disturbing.

We have finally set a date for Henry's baptism. October 4. He is excited. I can't believe Hank is eight. He will always be my baby.

Stuart was called to work in the young men's presidency today. He will be the second counselor. He is already looking at camping supplies and looking forward to camp outs with the young men. I think maybe he has forgotten what 12 and 13 year old boys are like or I am worse to camp with that I thought. Probably the latter.

I do not have anything to exciting on the horizon. I am thinking of starting the Great Taco Experiment. I want to see how many days in a row I could have tacos for dinner, in some for or another, until I get sick of them. I think it would take several months. The kids are begging me no. We'll see.

Virginia is for Lovers

I love living in Virginia! Last week were at beautiful Mount Vernon, and this week we went to the beach.

Stuart took Thursday and Friday off and we went away for the weekend. The kids were excited about this trip because we were staying in hotels. No tent this time. Thursday we went down to Williamsburg and Yorktown. Stuart and I love Williamsburg. We are trying to figure out how we can spend our golden years working there. I think Stuart has his eye on the silver smithing, and I don't care what I do as long as I can dress up and tell people about the importance of the Revolution. It's a work in progress. We left Willamsburg and headed down to Yorktown Victory Center. It was kind of bust. We thought it was the battlefield. It wasn't. It was kind of a cheesy tourist trap. Oh well, it gives us an excuse to go back and visit the actual battlefield. Like I need an excuse.

On Friday we headed down to the Virginia Beach Area. Before we left Williamsburg I wanted to stop by this place I had heard about. The Williamsburg Pottery Outlet. I thought I could find a deal on some of the beautiful stoneware Williamsburg is famous for. Early Christmas shopping. Let me just say that sometimes I forget that Virginia is a southern state. "Over 200 acres of outlet shopping." Imagine 200 acres of warehouses filled with Junk, and two rows of pottery seconds. All guarded by rent-a-cops. Weird. You might be a redneck if ...

We then met up with Jeff, Katie, and David in Norfolk. It is always so fun to see them. Three year olds give the best greetings. Every time you see them its like they have missed you sooo much. We toured the Battleship Wisconsin. That is one big ship. I can't even believe it will float. Mind boggling. Next, off to the air show at NAS Oceana. I don't know what it means either. Stuart has to keep telling me. And I quote,"Maybe you should spell out Naval Air Station." Whatever, some navy base. (he is watching me type) We had planned on going two days, but the wind was crazy, so we spent Saturday hanging out with the Cannon's and walking the beach. We (Stuart and Jeff) tormented a ghost crab trying to get a picture of it. I think the poor crab's heart just finally stopped. After Stuart chased it with the camera and Jeff sticking David's helicopter propeller in its claw trying to get him to pinch it, (success) the little thing just sat in the sand. Stuart says to ensure any members of PETA that read this, the crab was fine when they left. It ran off. I hate to admit to this, but I think the highlight of the trip was discovering a pizza place that had a 24 inch pizza. Have you ever seen a 24 inch pizza. It is huge! I think it was bigger than David. It was great! We are actually making plans to go back just so we can get another one. We also found a place at Damn Neck Naval Station to stay right on the beach for less that $50 a night. When are you coming to visit?

After the last couple of weeks, next week is gonna be a let down. Nothing happening but life. Of course with my family that can be pretty entertaining.

A Little Slow on the Upload

I always seem to be a little slow in learning new things. For a long while now I have been enjoying the blogs written by Penny, Jake and other friends. I read them and think I should do that. What a fun way to keep up with family and friends ( and work on my typing skills, as Stuart pointed out watching me henpeck). So now that we have morning church and a lot of time to kill on Sunday afternoon, I figured I could use that time to catch up with technology and let our family know what we have been up to for the past week. So here goes my first attempt at this thing called blogging. Be patient with me.

This week started with a Big Event. Henry's 8th Birthday. His birthday snuck up on us this year. It really shouldn't have, he had been planning for his birthday since September 9, 2007. I have spent the last year telling him we were not talking about his birthday until the month before. I about fell out of my chair when he came to me and said,"Mom only 12 days 'til my birthday." I had to get up, get the calendar and show him that "No, there are not 12 days until your birthday, there are 11." AAHHHH! Everything turned out fine. He had a great day. He actually got to spread it out over two days. He went to work with is Dad on Friday. He came home with all kinds of loot from the people Stuart works with. Everything had Go Army stamped on it somewhere, but he felt like the king. On Monday we stayed home and had Swedish pancakes for dinner. His primary teacher Sister Parks and Aunt Kitty came for dinner. For his cake he picked strawberry with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. He had such a good day that he has not mentioned what he wants to do when he turns nine yet. Yeah.

The rest of the week brought school and lessons for us. The kids are back to a full schedule of swimming, gymnastics and piano so I am back to full time taxi driver. We have been reading books about the start of the American Revolution and enjoying that. Friday night Stuart, Molly and I helped out at a stake service project. It was a clothing exchange. Molly was incredible. She worked her little tail off unloading cars and bringing donations into the church building. She is such an incredible young lady. I loved watching her work so hard, and have so much fun doing it.

Saturday we went to Mount Vernon. I love Mount Vernon. They had a 18th century market place set up. We (I) loved walking around and seeing all the things for sale. We watched them make chocolate like they would have in George Washington's time. We learned that chocolate was considered a stimulant and that children were not allowed to have it. Children would have been given beer before they were given chocolate. Different times. Our kids enjoyed watching and helping peel cocoa beans. We also took a ride on the Potomac Cruiser. The Potomac River is stinky, but offers a beautiful view of the Mansion at Mount Vernon. We saw a lot of other craftsmen that are always fun and educational to watch such as a potter and silver smith. Can I say again, I love Mount Vernon.

So that is our week in a nutshell. I am going to see if I can figure out how to add some pictures. That may be too much for me in one week though.