My Daily 5 ~ #11

Whoops! Forgot to even write out yesterday's five! I got just a little caught up in the season finale of Elementary we were watching on DVD late last night.

However, I did still want to make note of the one blessing I remember from yesterday:

394. getting not one, but both kid's school pictures for free (Every year I coordinate the kids and get them from classrooms to the picture area, organize them and assist in getting them situated, it's my job. But hey, if they want to give me free pictures for that, I don't mind a bit!) 

And now for today's:

395. having Yohn be gracious and forgiving when I embarrassed him in front of a friend today (let's just say it had something to do with hand slapping and scolding and leave it at that, K?)

396. having a hard laugh with Yohn when he mentioned said embarrassment later on

(for the record I did apologize, but that did not stop us from re-hashing it and laughing all the harder at my rather juvenile behavior)

397. sitting with Yohn watching both kids at basketball practice

 

398. that it has been confirmed that Bethany will definitely have a team

399. time at Panera bread with the school families

400. spending time sitting and talking with "my boys"

(Elisha & Tavahri) 

Happening Now at Sam's Club

Yohn just sent this to me:

Seriously? They crack me up!

I Owed You a Story

Okay, so back to our trip to the lake, where I believe I owed you a story.

(both pairs of glasses found at the bottom of the lake)

My daughter, oh my daughter. Yep, it's about her again. She makes me laugh and smile and want to pull my hair out all on the same day sometimes, but by golly, I love her so much.

Anyway on this particular day we decided to rent a paddle boat. But since their rules were there could be no more than three to a boat and our little family totals four, we had to rent two paddle boats.

I didn't want to risk ruining my camera by accidentally dropping it in the water or have some other mishap so I left it in the car. So you are stuck with these other pictures instead.

Back to the story... As we paddled away from the shore we worked up a good sweat because that's exercise and you all know that exercise and heat equals sweaty bodies. When we were a ways off Yohn declares he's going to jump in, to which I responded just don't tip the boat over when you climb back in.

Apparently all Bethany heard was "tip the boat over" and started freaking out (she was riding with him). She somehow thought that when he jumped in the action would cause her boat to tip over with her in it, and even though she had a life jacket on, she did not want to take the risk.

Have you ever been to a lake where you can hear the conversations around you even though people are quite a ways away? Ya know, because the water carries the sound across the lake? Yep, Bethany was causing heads to turn on the shore because her protests about her dad jumping in were not quiet.

To say the least at one point she was shrieking, "Daddy! Don't do it! I don't want to tip over! I don't want to drown! You're going to kill me!"

Drama you say? Oh, just a tad.

Unfortunately Elisha and I were laughing so that didn't help matters much. I finally convinced her to climb in our boat while he jumped in, which took about ten minutes of convincing her that yes, her dad and I had to hold the two boats together so she wouldn't fall, and that, yes, we had to do it that way or else she would fall. And no, we couldn't do it her way because she really would fall and PLEASE JUST GET IN THE BOAT!

Finally, after she sat in the back of the boat Elisha and I occupied, her dad went for his much earned swim.... only to find out that he couldn't get back in! This boat really wasn't equipped with a rail or an indent or whatever for a swimmer to climb back on board. Soooo... The only choice we had to was to tow the dumb thing to shore so he could climb back in that way. And since Elisha and I were "driving" it Bethany had to hold the rope to tow it with. 

She thought it was hilariously funny that Daddy could not get back in and told everyone on shore with her loud voice that Daddy could not get back in. She told him it wasn't a good idea, and on and on and on. Once on the shore he got back in and Bethany switched back to the other paddle boat where she made him promise to stay in the boat and never do that again!

In the end, we were all very tired from our little excursion. Can ya tell?

(Oh and since I love Elisha's Wallowa Lake shirt I just have to share. It says "Go ahead and run, Bears love fast food!")

  Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

A Fishy Story

Awww... He has my heart.

And she doesn't even work out!

Okay, so I promised you a silly story. Are you sure you can handle it? ;0)

Despite these pictures of smiling faces holding a fish, my children did not catch it. 

Nope, it was given to them.

And not by a fisherman. You see, there were these snorkelers, with real snorkels and not dollar store ones. They even had the flippers. Apparently it's really fun to swim at the surface and look at things under the water. I really don't like my face in the water much, so I wouldn't know. But my kiddos, they would ask them questions and such as they passed us by. And they passed us by at least three times. 

On one such pass by, they found this lovely dead fish and tossed it on shore for my children to look at. I'm sure they had no clue that they just gave my kiddos a wonderful new toy. 

Especially Bethany. That kid cracks me up.

I'm not kidding when I say she played with it for at least an hour. Maybe longer.

Doesn't it look like so much fun? Don't you wish your kids had a dead fish to play with too?

Then on a whim she threw it at her brother, who had been her audience for quite a bit while she entertained us with her fish antics. It stuck on his shorts when he stood up. See it there? Which brought about many giggles from all of us. Hmmm... giggles maybe be an understatement. Bethany was in hysterics!

I don't remember what she was doing in these photos but her facial expressions just crack me up!

Yes, now she's actually poking at its eyes. She wanted to poke them out but decided she liked him to still be able to "see".

I hope they remember this day and fun they had and the silly ways they played.

Fisheye

We found a new setting on the camera....

.... and had just a bit too much fun with it! :)

And these were only a few of them too! My favorites are the ones where Bethany looks like some creepy little alien, but the incredible growing heads are pretty funny too!

The Day Supergirl Learned She Couldn't Fly

This post is alternately titled, "I Can Relate to Humpty Dumpty."

Why? you say. Well even though I don't resemble an egg and I don't break into a million pieces when I fall, it still hurts, as I am sure it hurt poor Humpty.

Anyways, on with the story. It was Halloween day and it was also costume day at the school. I was wearing this, hence the Supergirl reference.

The preschoolers were getting ready to do their costume parade and realized I had forgotten the extra batteries for my camera. When I went to get them I was distracted by something I had to tell one of the teachers. After telling them their oh so important message I headed back to the preschool. Upon reaching the gate I realized a second time I still hadn't gotten the batteries. So needing to hurry I jet out of the gate in front of the preschool and snag my shoelace on the gate.

Now since I am a "double knot girl" my shoelace did not give.... meaning it held steadfast just the way it was supposed to. Remember I said I was going to "jet out of the gate"? Yeah, that really didn't work for me with my shoe snagged on the gate and all. So as I sailed through the air I hear one of the kindergarteners say, "Ms. Ruth is trying to fly like Supergirl!" Uh yeah, right into the pavement. I was told later though, that I was very Supergirl-like just before I hit the ground. Nice. At least I had the form down.

It gets worse though. As I hit the ground I know that I just did this wonderful flying act not only in front of the kindergarteners AND my son AND his classmates who were also at recess, but also his teacher and a parent who was outside waiting for the preschoolers to do their costume parade.

Yeah, nice huh? A week later and one knee is still bruised. The other is healed and thankfully my hands really didn't get much of a beating.

Even in all that pain and embarrassment I rolled over on the concrete and laughed, because what else was there to do? I learned two things that day.... Supergirl really can't fly so well and Humpty Dumpty must've really been stupid to be on that wall.

And I still tie my shoes in double knots.

Veterinarian's Day

Here's another funny story out of the mouths of my children that happened just yesterday. I thought I'd add it in too:

Elisha and his friend have been trying to plan a sleepover all week. "Mom, A just has to ask his mom again today to see if it's alright if I stay the night."

"Elisha, it's already Friday. I doubt they are going to say 'yes' now." I answer.

"No, I mean he's planning for Veterinarian's Day, you know, when we have no school."

Yohn and I both laughed. "It's not Veterinarian's Day, E, Veteran's Day. The day we honor those who have gone to war to defend our freedom."

"Oh yeah, that day!"

Bethany was laughing and giggling that her brother had messed up so much. Yohn tells her, "What are you laughing about? You probably don't even know what a veterinarian is."

"Yes I do! A veterinarian is someone who only eats plants and not meat!"

Oy! Guess we need to work on some vocab words or something! :)

Randomness

While driving home after dark the other day we saw a raccoon go into the sewer (ya know the rain drainage thingy) at the side of the road. We all thought his big ole body wasn't going to fit but he squeezed right in.

During our evening prayer Elisha prayed we would remember to mail our Christmas cards to our sponsored children (through Compassion International). Bethany thought he said car and made a point of telling us afterwards. Then, because she had just been talking about it turned around and prayed we could send a car to those little kids. We all snickered while trying to remain serious. :)

I was reading the other day some things I had written down to put on my blog later and never got around to it. Some of these are a few years old and made me smile:

Bethany helped daddy cook Cornish game hens in the rotisserie. When one was finished he asked her if she wanted to give out samples to me and Elisha. She thought that was great and said, “I’m just like one of the ladies at Sam’s Club!”

* * * * * * * * *

When we were at Baskin Robbins a song came on Yohn and I were not fond of. Elisha heard it and commented that it was not a nice song. We agreed and were thankful we were leaving anyway. Then I heard Elisha go “Blah blah blah.” He smiled and said, "Mommy I went blah blah blah to that song."

* * * * * * * * *

Bethany decided to join in while I was practicing measurements with Elisha. When I asked how many inches are in a yard she jumped and yelled, “Oh I’ll go check,” and she grabbed a tape measure. Not understanding what she was doing I asked her, “Bethany where are you going? It’s dark outside.” She looked and me and said, “To check the yard.” It took me a moment to figure out that she was going outside to see just how many inches were in our yard.

* * * * * * * * *

Bethany: "Mommy, you are so beautiful. You look just like a pumpkin, a beautiful pumpkin."

Cuz’ you know, apparently Bethany thinks pumpkins are beautiful.

* * * * * * * * *

9/2/09 Elisha walked up to me with his arms open wide and said Mamma I haven’t hugged you all day and I need one.

* * * * * * * * *

9/28/09 Elisha was reading his homework and the story was about Adam and Eve. It said As Adam slept God took a rib from Adam’s side and with it made Adam a wife.” Elisha paused looked at me and then exclaimed with the most confused look on his face, “He made Adam a wife?!” It took a second to understand that he thought God had used that rib to turn Adam into a wife.

* * * * * * * * *

"Mama, Elisha wants me to be paralyzed because he wants to squish me on his birthday!"

* * * * * * * * *

We were watching a Akeelah and the Bee with the kids. It was the first time the kids had seen it but not Yohn and I. Yohn was quoting the part where Akeelah says not she should not be afraid of herself. Bethany asked, “hey, how did she hear you?”

* * * * * * * * *

We were at the store and Bethany tells the girl bagging our groceries that we bought Orioles. Yohn laughed and corrected her that we bought Oreos and that Orioles were the name of her team and they are a bird. She then told the girl bagging our groceries that birds fly but bears don’t fly and we played the cubs a few weeks ago and they couldn’t fly so they lost.

* * * * * * * * *

Bethany was listening to her MP3 player and was singing (at the top of her lungs) better is one day on your horse, better is one day in your house, better is one day on your horse than thousands elsewhere. Which translates to better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your house, better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.

* * * * * * * * *

How to make applesauce Bethany-style: Peel your apples and take out the core. Then put it in the microwave until it melts. Then stick it in the fridge to cool it down and eat it!

* * * * * * * * *

Bethany, referring to her recent tooth removal, said, “You can’t have grain without pain!”

* * * * * * * * *

I saw that True Story Tuesday had made a comeback, and since I was gonna post this today anyways, I thought I'd just link up. I know it's more that one story, but some of them are giggle-worthy!

Six Word Saturday

My six words for this week are:

I haven't posted in a week!

It's been one of those busy sort of weeks too. The ones that make you wonder how you can get everything done. Saturday the kids had games, then a birthday party immediately following. I mean immediately, as in, we were a half an hour late because of the games. Oh well, they still had fun, but we were exhausted already. Then Sunday we had a special speaker at church and my normal buddy who helps me in The Source (the bookstore) was sick with pnuemonia so I was flying solo for most of it. We had one volunteer, but she had to go early. Ah well, I know what I'm doing even when it's chaos.

Elisha also had another birthday party to go to on Sunday afternoon for one of his teammates. The coach was hoping it would give the boys a good chance to get to know each other. But it was at Chuck E Cheese and they basically all went in their own directions. So much for that idea!

We had conferences at church on Sunday and Monday (hence the special speaker I spoke of above). Thankfully the kids did not have a practice on Monday night, yay! But they did have a practice scheduled every other day - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Crazy, but true.

Elisha pulled something in his neck Wednesday morning while reaching to push down the footrest on the couch. He started crying and ended up holding his neck in an odd position all day so every time I saw him I was grimacing. We called one of our pastors, who happens to be a chiropractor and he told us to ice it for the first 48 hours. He was doing much better by Thursday afternoon but we still skipped his practice to avoid aggravating it more.

It rained Friday, so no practice for Bethany, so we got two nights freed up! It was nice. We spent family time and I caught up on my blog reading. Oh how I love blog reading.

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Yohn was playing on his blog and couldn't find the follow button for one of his friends. He was getting frustrated and talking out loud. He said, "Man! I want to follow Tyler! How do I follow him?"

To which Elisha admonished him saying, "Daddy! Follow Jesus, not Tyler!"

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This girl cracks me up!

Gotta love birthday party novelties!

When she was playing this game you could hear her shouting (well not too far away since we were at a bowling alley) "Ha! I beat those suckers! They can't pass me!" Suckers? Where did that come from?!

Wow! It Finally Happened...

This was recently e-mailed to me and I cracked up at it so I thought I'd share it:

And you thought it would never happen! That's what happens when God is in control!
Luke 1:37