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!

Rescued

We found this little guy running down the middle of the street the other day... in 107 degree heat!

Can you imagine how bad his feet were probably burning? He ran under a car and we plucked him out, well, eventually we plucked him out. It took Elisha as the lookout, telling me which way he was going, Bethany as the "scare" person who waved her arms under the car to keep him moving in my direction, and me to hide behind the tires to finally grab him by the legs.

I can only imagine what we looked like. Turns out there was a nest in the middle of our city, and there were still two more up in the tree. Now I'm all for keeping babies with their mamas, but she was no where in sight and I was not gonna climb some 20 feet up the tree to put him back. Not only that but did I mention it was hot! And where he and his siblings were located was not safe once they got down and started running about. He could have been killed easily by a car.

So we took him to our local wildlife museum that takes injured animals and nurses them back to health for re-release or in their little museum for education purposes. I thought it was a win-win. We can call to check on him tomorrow and see what their plans are for him. We also have 1/2 museum admission for our family!

He's a baby green heron we're told.

Oh and totally unrelated but Happy Birthday to Me today!

Had Me Crackin' Up

This is cute!

Hope you enjoyed it 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!

Ants

Because of the rain we currently have ants bombarding our house like crazy. I guess they like it to be dry where they pillage. Mostly they are just annoying, traveling in little lines across the stove and counter tops to who knows where.

Bethany commented this morning on all the ants. Yohn jokingly told her we should dip them in chocolate and eat them and maybe that would get rid of them. She told him we'd just throw them in the trash because that would be gross.

As she walked away she said, "Did you know that ant blood is sour?"

"Uh, how do you know that?"

"I tasted them before."

Alrighty then.

Friday Funnies ~ The English Language

Lets face it
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,Why didn't the preacher praught.

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What on earth does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways
How can the weather be as hot as hell on one day
And as cold as hell on another

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all)

That is why When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this poem
It ends.

A Whole Lotta Craziness!

It was crazy hair day at school today and so we had a lotta fun pulling off this year's looks!

See for yourself:

I love how, on days like this, I can get them to pose together for a picture with no problems. Make it a special day like Easter and they can't seem to smile or stand within an inch of each other without a problem.

First up, Bethany and her wild do...

Remember last year's spider? Well this year we decided to try a snake.

Here's a closer look. While I don't think it looked quite as good as last year, she did pull off a win with her little red tongued friend on her head.

And here's Elisha with his "Wild Thing" hair.

Crazy boy on one side....

...normal boy on the other!

Although looking at him later I really think it turned out to be more of a Two Face (an enemy of Batman) kinda look without the messed up face.

Friday Funnies - Kitchen Help

A wife was busy frying eggs, when her husband came home. He walked into the kitchen and immediately started yelling.

"CAREFUL!!! CAREFUL! MORE OIL! TURN THEM! TURN THEM NOW! WE NEED MORE OIL! THEY ARE GOING TO STICK! CAREFUL! CAREFUL! TURN THEM! TURN THEM!!! HURRY UP! ARE YOU CRAZY! THE OIL IS GOING TO SPILL! USE MORE SALT! THE SALT!!"

The wife was very upset, "What is wrong with you? Why are you yelling like this? Do you think I don't know how to fry an egg?"

The husband calmly replied, "I just wanted you to know what it's like for me when I am driving the car and you're sitting next to me."

Need a laugh? Check out more Friday Funnies at Homesteader's Heart.

Friday Funnies - An Old Woman

If you haven't seen this before, prepare to laugh. If you have, watch it again, you know it's funny!

Pop on over to Homesteader's Heart for more Friday Funnies.