Happy 17th Birthday, Kaitlyn!!!

17 years ago today we arrived at the hospital bright and early for a special delivery. Kaitlyn arrived right on schedule to a very excited Mom, Dad and 2 big sisters!

Happy Birthday! We love you!

Mom

Dad

and all the group!

Colors...

Friends and Family! I have a project for you. I need each and every one of you over the age of 10 to respond to this post with your favorite color by name AND a accurate picture of that color. If you have more than one favorite please send or post it in order of importance, if possible. E-mail it to me and I'll post it here for everyone to see.

I'd love to be able to post the responses in the next week or two.

Here's an example: Suzanne's favorite color is: Very Dark Purple.















Kristina says: "My Favorite colors are Purple and white. I can not simply show one picture to express my love for a individual color, as I love all shades of purple. Here is my picture.
As for white, I also can not show my love for it in a simple picture. White is supposed to be well blended with another color. This is what makes it beautiful."

Jessica wrote:
"Hey Mom, My favorite colors loop in with my obsession with the sky. I can't help it. I love the sky. Clouds, rain, sunsets, sunrises. The uniqueness I see everyday is so mesmerizing to me. It's one thing I try not to take for granted, as it's always different. Most people don't notice the beauty in something that never stops changing, evolving. So anyway, my #1 is a color most people don't pick, an odd one. My #1) I love Orange. Not just any shade of orange though, I love the oranges in sunsets. Trees in the fall. The color of the sky when smoke passes by the sun. The burnt oranges, red-oranges, yellowed-oranges, purplish/pinkish-oranges. My #2) Is a shade off of periwinkle blue. It has more grey in it. Not so flourescent. Both of the images
attached are prints I own, and have hanging in my apartment. Both of these colors are just beatiful to me, and if I catch it on the right day, I get to see both amidst the clouds. =) Hope this is what you were looking for. Love to all!"

Becky says, "Love the color discussion on your blog. Thought I might chime in. My favorite color is cobalt blue. No big surprise there. I have always liked a range of blues. It is such a calming color. My bedroom when I was a little girl was always decorated in blue. When I grew up I always leaned toward blues in clothes, decorating, you name it. Blue flowers are hard to find sometimes, but these I found are just gorgeous and really show a beautiful progression of blues ending in those luscious dark blues. Becky"


Grammie said, "Blue Bonnet Blue, Yellow Rose of Texas. White, Blue and Yellow are very happy colors to me. Add white as a background to either color and it adds warmth."

Suzanne: This is my favorite shade of blue and is shared by the Dallas Cowboys. Dad

David wrote:
"My favorite is a deep red. The attached picture is a great example: A triplefin fish is nearly indistinguishable from the bright red sponge on which it rests. This shot was taken on the pristine reefs around the Tukangbesi Islands, protected by an Indonesian national marine park."

Kaitlyn said:

"I have three favorite colors but the most important one is that blue of the ocean in the carribean when the sunlight hits it just right... It reminds me of those 8 days I spent running wild in the Bahamas with Gen and how happy I was there.
The second is light yellow because its always the color that wakes me up and lets me know that even if I'm having a bad day there is always another day that follows.
And lastly I like pink because its just a pretty color when its not overused of course!

Bonnie writes: "If anyone knows me well enough I have lots of favorite colors.... I love white, one BIG reason why I love living in the cold North.... snow! I love the way it makes everything look so clean and crisp. Colors stand

out against the snow, and the cold just makes for great air. Another set of colors is of course yellow and purple. These were my main colors of my wedding I had yellow roses as well as Dylan on his uniform and everyone else had a purple rose bud, and they also happen to be the colors of my favorite football team... Minnesota Vikings.

From Dylan: I like blue, because it's pretty.

Devonia said: "Love the colors of teal and salmon. They are happy colors."

These are Steve's colors -

Red, Black, Blue and Purple

My favorite colors are very rich dark blue, bright red, and dark jet black. Love you! Love, Chase

Jen writes:
I love indigo

I took a lot of painting classes in high school and found that the mixing of colors is amazing. Indigo has always been a favorite of mine; it is so serene. I also really like the light blues and violets of hydrangeas. Unfortunately, we don't get these colors with hydrangeas here in Colorado, so I marvel at the beauty when we visit family in Chicago!

Monday!

Choko resting on his throne enjoying the day. This is where Choko surveys his world from and makes sure everything and everybody is where they are supposed to be.
Our old house. Jessica, Bonnie and Kaitlyn lived in this house. The memories...

When I arrived at Mom and Dad's, Mom had plans for us today. Errands that needed to be done and places to go! So we headed over to "The Market" for lunch. Similar to "Whole Foods" we were able to fix ourselves a wonderful salad AND a great bowl of soup. I had the Chicken Tortia which definitely had a bit of spice to it. Just wonderful!!! The salad was great also. Just to many items to choose from.

From there we headed over to the shops and wandered around for a bit. Afterwards it was time to get the errands done. Cleaners, Great Clips (as seen here) and corn relish had to be found.

Upon our arrival back at the house it was obvious that Angie was terribly upset by our departure and just had to take a nap to get over the upset of being left behind...

For dinner we were able to meet up with Rick, Candy and Miss Taylor. Its always so good to see

them when we come into town and tonight was no different. We all met up at a favorite Mexican Restaurant and had a lively conversation about all our teen years. I won't go further with those descriptions but know that we all left still a family and friends, just little more informed.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Sing it with me!
"Well my bags are packed, I'm ready to go; I'm standing here outside the door..." Sorry about that. Just couldn't resist even though it totally dates me.
Beautiful view from the airport at home...


Arrived in Dallas at about 7 p.m. Friday evening and Devonia and I raced over to Luby's Cafeteria and had a wonderful helping of Blackened Tilapia. Yep! Still licking the lips.
Saturday a.m. found Devonia dropping me off at my parents and I getting to visit with Jen and Russ Jenson. I haven't seen them for probably 30 years, at least. We had a wonderful visit and it was great to hear all about their kids Chris and Tina. Chris lives in Wisconsin and Tina is living in Hawaii.
Jen and Russ are on their way to Arizona for a few months and leaving the cold, windy weather of Wisconsin behind.

Sunday has Devonia and I relaxing at her house and just doing little jobs around here. We did make it to the store and picked up some extras for snacking. Can't wait to make the Artichoke/Spinach dip......ummmmm




My girls surprised me with this picture last night. Don't they all look sweet!

Thursday.... was cold!

Found this picture of one of BMW's versions of a scooter. Though interesting and it obviously has some nice features for the scooter rider but there are some items that I find scary about this. I won't go into all of them but look where your passenger is.

My question would be why not just buy a tiny car? It would offer all the same amenities and your passenger would be inside with you...

AH! Riding motorcycles in cold weather. This is not a picture of David and I. Though I would imagine that if we'd been smart today we would have looked extremely similar. Leaving for Texas on Friday I just had to get out and ride as I won't be able to while in Texas and we haven't been able to ride for almost 2 weeks. 45* and beautiful sunny skies when we left. Dropping temps and shorts hops made up our ride. Burrr! Oh well. We had a nice short ride and it was enough to pacify me.

I'm off to Texas tomorrow for some R & R.

Remember...

About a year ago Devonia went to a Craft Show and bought these frames for me. I got so used to seeing them on the shelf that basically I started overlooking them. Cleaning a few weeks ago, yes... I know how that sounds, brought back the realization that I needed to get pictures for the frames. So today David and I picked out the pictures that we wanted to display. What do you think?

How fun...

Jake and his true nature...

Jolie finally got Emmy over for a sleep over. What a happy little twosome. Olivia spent the night out at Christin's so these two had lots of room to play in and lots to do without a big sister getting in the way and being bossy!

Looks sort of like Jabba the Hut, doesn't he, but with a smile.

All the kids got together and made this squat snowman on Saturday morning. I think he's cute.

There's a joke here, I just know it.

How many...

;-)

A Turbo snail, an anemone that has attached itself to the snail and two clown fish who live in the anemone. Moving around the tank at the snail's discretion. Interesting thought, fraught with possibilities.

Thankfully the snail just wants to go up and down not all around!

Changing Names...

Well you may or may not have noticed that I've changed the name of this blog. I think it better suits me, don't you? This blog is not just about my children, but also how they enrich my life and make it more interesting. Also this blog covers what I do outside of being, "MOM!" Probably more so. I have made a promise to myself to incorporate more of the daily happenings, how ever boring they may be, into this blog. What I consider everyday, someone else may find interesting, hilarious or like I said earlier, boring. But here it will ALL be for your delectation.

This picture is about a year a half old now. We haven't taken a family picture since this one. (Thank you Jan for this one)

*Note to self - get new picture done*

Though now my main characters are growing up and personal idiosyncrasies are changing, I know that given enough time they all will develope other and more interesting, shall we say, habits.

The descriptions below are of past and present ....... wonders!

Olivia's ability to set off the alarm system with her scream of displeasure AND make her nose bleed at the same time was always a show stopper. That was always a fun one to explain. At 9 years of age this, thankfully, doesn't occur anymore.

Hunter's ability, at 5 years of age, to run through the house and legitimately sound like a 175 lb. man and to completely body slump when you tell him "No" about anything, is truely fascinating. We experience both of these attributes at least once a day.

Parker is 6 now and quite literal. Last night we had Gumbo and Dirty Rice for dinner. Parker refused the Dirty Rice because he thought we were trying to make him eat something, literally, dirty. Of course once we figured out why and we explained the terminology, this child who would live on rice if we let him, had a huge helping of Dirty Rice. Yummy!

Jolie, well... she is just the sweetest thing around. Until! something sets her off. The rest of us, of course, have no idea what that "thing" could be, it changes with the month. She will whine and whimper for hours if you let her. Tears! Tears the size of quarters! Just breaks your heart. At 8 years of age she definitely has it down pat. Normally I have to threaten her with death or at the very least, "Go to your room!", to get her to stop. Thankfully these episodes don't occur often.

Kristina and Kaitlyn are your typical teenagers. What more can I say... well lots actually but I'll save that for another time.

3.25

Gripe Sheets...

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. Reassurance for those of us who fly.
After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.
By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.

S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.

S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit

S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.

S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.

S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.

S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.

S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.

S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.

S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.

S: Aircraft warned to: straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.

S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.

S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last...................
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget.

Friday the 13th! My favorite day...

Here's an early Happy Valentine for you all!

We've had a busy week and last weekend was equally so. Kaitlyn spent the night out and we had 3 spend the night in with the family. This weekend is shaping up to be just about the same. Snow is still in the forecast for the weekend and today we had enough to delay school for 2 hours.

Kristina's Culinary competition went well, as you know, and upon her arrival at school last Friday she was greeted with 3 beautiful flower arrangements and a cute stuffed pup that is still in the bag for this picture.

Tuesday found me being one of the escorts and principle picture taker for Parker's Kindergarten class, to walk to Dr. Bailey's Orthodontics office, for observance of February's Dental Hygiene Month. Dr. Bailey took over James Burgess' practice and is now our orthodontist. So we're very familiar with the staff and office.

First the kids had an opportunity to ask Dr. Bailey questions and then he described what to expect when you come in for a consultation.

Next the kids were all introduced to how to make the molding "stuff" that is used. Everyone got a souvenir of the hardened plaster.

Everyone got to listen to a story about dental health AND recieved a water bottle and bag of goldfish crackers.

Afterwards we all met back in the office waiting area and experienced a presentation of what our teeth will look like if we don't brush and floss. (I won't post those pics.) To say I think everyone got the point would be an understatement. I know my boys came home ready to brush and floss right then!

Well I guess that about covers our "news". I hope everyone has a beautiful Valentine's Day with their Valentine!