Puppy Love

Aw.

Nothing like puppy love. :)

The Poopin Pig

My niece Sheldon has two pet guinea pigs.

The kids love to play with them.  And by "play", I mean terrorize me by chasing me around with them threatening to put them on me.

And it freaks me the hell out.

Cause I don't care what you call them (guinea piggies, pigs, whatever), they are still rats.  But bigger than regular rats.

/shudder

But, they love them.

The only problem is that when they go to Sheldon and Mary Mayken's house, they ignore Mary Mayken to play with the pigs.

But Mary Mayken was having NONE of that.

She stormed into the kitchen, with big crocodile tears in her, and stated in the loudest most indignant voice that a five year old could muster, in true Scarlet O'Hara dramatic fashion:

"They're not playing with me Aunt Kem!  They're playing with those POOPIN PIGS!"

OMG.  I about died laughing.

Which, of course, made her even madder.

But how could you not laugh at that.

The poopin pigs.  LOL!

Flowers of Montana and Wyoming

I love to photograph flowers.  Especially ones when we travel because they usually don't grow where we live.  So when we went to Montana and Wyoming, I was looking forward to snapping some pictures of different flowers.

Flowers are the perfect subject. Colorful and they don't move.  LOL

Enjoy!

Location: Red Lodge, Montana:

Location: near the Rock Creek Vista in Montana on our way to Wyoming.

Location Cody, WY:

 

 

Jenny Lake, Grand Tetons, WY

Jackson Hole, WY:

And last, but not least, Yellowstone:

I hope that you enjoyed looking at the pictures and much as I enjoyed taking them.  :)

Owen's Flag Football Season 2011

Click here to view this photo book larger

I created this book for Owen's coaches end of the season party.  Most of the pictures of mine along with several that my friend also took.

Enjoy! =)

A Failure To Communicate

Shane has a robotics competition on Saturday. Being the smarter parent, I am sending Ken with Shane since it's an all day thing.

But I'm not completely heartless. I sent the teacher an email and asked if Ken had to stay all day or if Shane could be dropped off.

He never responded to that email.

But he did send out another email to the parents who had volunteered to drive kids to and from the competition, which included me, and thanked us.

/rolleyes

Apparently what we have here folks is a failure to communicate.

Not My Car

Sometimes I really wonder why my hair darkened from the snow white blond that I was when I was a young child.

Seriously.

There's no other way to lead up to what I did yesterday so I'll just say it.

I got into the wrong car.

And started bitching about how dirty it was because I had just cleaned it out.

And didn't realize that it was the wrong car until Shane and Owen told me.  Cause I was too busy complaining about how they destroyed my car.  LOL

So, I shut the door and said that I was glad that it wasn't my car because it was filthy.  Anyway, it was the drivers fault for not locking her car door.

And then I walked over to MY car very nonchalantly and got into it.

With the boys laughing at me hysterically and calling me blondy.

Come on.  Don't judge.  I know that you've gotten into the wrong car before.

The More Effective Method

Sometimes you talk and you talk and you talk to your kids to try and get them to straighten up.

Other times, you just have to spank your kids. 

Even using a wooden spoon.  ;)

While I'm not opposed to that method, I figured a better way to get Shane to straighten up would be to come and pay him a little visit at school.

Cause sometimes it's more effective to embarrass your kids in front of their friends than to beat them.  Or your own head against the wall with a preteen adolescent kid who is just not listening.

So, Shane, I expect that you will straighten up and fly right from now on.  And I truly meant it when I told you that if you don't, I will be having lunch with you every single day and I will be coming in and sitting with you in class.  Every single day.

Please don't make me have to go down that path.

You know I will.  But my preference is that you take control of yourself and your school work do what your dad and I know you are capable of doing.

Cause your dad and I love you and believe in you and know that you are capable of doing better than you have been. 

Now prove it.

So I don't have to. 

Spelling It Out

Shane was telling us about something that happened at school.

He was trying to censure himself and said, "That kid called the teacher a B-I-T-C-H".

Owen said, "Shane I CAN spell. That's bitch".

I guess we are out of the spell-it-instead-of-say-it period.

Damn those teachers for doing their job!

LOL

Halloween: It's Not Just For Kids

Ken loves to dress up for Halloween too. 

He's like a big kid. 

This year he went as a vampire.

He couldn't resist Owen's sign that said Kick Me.

A teenager came to the door and said that she liked Ken's costume.

Ken said thank you.

The kid responded that her grandpa dressed in the same exact costume. 

LOL

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011.

If anything, Owen is consistent.  It's all football.  All.  The.  Time.

And yes.  I know.  Shane's not in these pictures.  It's not because Owen is the favorite, it's because he was grounded from Trick or Treating because apparently he does not know how to turn in his homework.

So just imagine him sitting in his room looking out the window at the kids who were Trick or Treating.  That's what he went as this year.  A grounded pre-teen.

Ziplock Bags FTW!

I hate trash being in my car.

So in order to alleviate some of this, I carry a gallon sized zip lock bag and collect trash in it.  Once it's full, I throw it away.

It's works pretty well.

Owen said that he felt like he was going to throw up last  night so I gave him the bag.

And he did just what he said he was going to do.

But I don't have to clean up puke out of my brand new Kia.

Cause I'm Snoopy smart.

Ziplock bags FTW!  :up:

He Asked For It

A few days ago, actually, a week ago, I blogged about the fact that Shane is not putting in a lot of effort in his classwork.

So, as a followup to the few readers who care about this, and wondered why I've been MIA the last few days, apparently our conversations with him meant absolutely nothing.

Last Monday, I emailed with his math teacher (this is separate from the blogged about incident in case you're not following this all) and asked if he had been turning in his assignments as one of the main problems that he seems to have is turning in his homework (whether he's done it or not.)  She said no.

I blew a gasket.  Ken blew a gasket.

We took away his TV, his video games and his computer.

I made him write his teacher an apology note and made him do the rest of his work that he didn't turn in.  And told him to turn all of it in.

She emailed me on Thursday that he hadn't turned it in.

We blew another gasket.

He got home from school on Friday and told me that he hadn't turned in any of it nor did he turn in the homework that was due on Friday.

So into his room he went for the entire weekend.  He was told that he had to clean up his room and write a paper on responsibility, disappointment, organization and had to write a plan on how he was going to get his act together and his work turned in.

You'd think that would be enough to motivate him.

But no.  He didn't turn it in on Monday either.

So, he lost trick or treating on Halloween night.

That's right.  Because I'm a MEAN mom.

And I'm tired of his laziness, lack of effort and general bad attitude.

Oh.  And I will be going into the school to have lunch with him later this week.

I am completely done with this.  I told him that if he wanted my attention, he had it because the full wrath of me was coming down on him now.  I shouldn't have to spend my time treating him like a second grader, but I will.  But now I'm pissed that I have to do that.

But thank God that Owen is being good right now.  I guess that's how it goes.  A six month cycle of one being bad and the other taking full-on advantage of that and shining like the super star that they are.

Don't worry.  I'm not fooling myself.  I know Owen's time is up in about 5 months when this "bad Shane" period is over.

But for right now, ALL of my attention is being focused on Shane.

Because he asked for it.  I just don't think that he realized what he was asking for.