End of the world?

This is Kansas. 

This is what it's supposed to look like....during the wintertime.

You know, when it snows.

And as much as I love walking my kids home in the sunshine, I can't help but wonder what the heck is going on around here. I won't lie.....it's freaking me out a little bit. If we go the entire winter without snow, I may start putting my affairs in order.

Calling all Blanchards

While out looking for "little treasures" at our local Goodwill today, I spied something that made my heart go pitter patter and I took a little stroll down memory lane.

Brothers and Sisters!

I give you:

I know... right?

I was powerless to stop myself, and for the 25 cents apiece, I am now the proud owner of our plates from the past.

You may eat off one if you come and visit.

And say "please".

Where gratitude is due

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the bigwigs at Walmart for making all those little toys so accessible to my tired, shopped-out little kids. I really think that is so thoughtful of you to set up a little miniature day-care for my little pups while I load my groceries and what-nots onto the belt.

It's customer service at its finest.

And to show their gratitude, they always make sure to give all the toys a quick "spit-shine" before we tidy up and go on our merry way.

It's the least we can do.

Four things I love about my husband

1. He spent the ENTIRE DAY in the cold garage changing the break pads and rotors on both cars.  This is a very awesome thing to do, but even awesomer is the fact that I will no longer announce my arrival at any given event by the SKREEEEK of my brakes. That's 3 years of skreeeking I would like to forget.  Now all I have to do I make all new friends and it will all be in the past.

2. He has very nice muscles and sometimes he wears these glasses that remind me of when we were dating. Back in the 20th century.

3. He never gives up. Even when the bolts are rusted on. Even when the caliper is ruined and needs to be replaced. Even when he has to drive to AutoZone for the fifth time and then has to go one more time to the store all the way up by Legends. Even when the kid at Autozone forgets to give him half of his break pads and he gets to go back.....again. 

4. He likes it better when I am there to keep him company.  And he doesn't mind if I just read and keep warm by the space heater.  

A shift

Something weird happened last night.

We were all laying on the floor of the boys bedroom around 8:30 pm and taking turns reading chapters from "The World According to Humphrey". I say "chapters" because we forgot to read for 3 nights in a row and therefore we had 4 chapters to read in order to get caught up. Sunnyside Elementary has blessed us with ONE MORE THING that I am now barely remembering to do: reading a book all together, as a family, as a school, at the exact same rate.

Seriously! Seriously?

So there we were...Mathew had read his chapter (with voices and expression). Megan read to 2 pages and I read as fast as humanly possible and polished off that chapter. Then Ethan started reading his and.....

I fell asleep.

Drooling on the carpet.

Then....

They sent me to bed and finished the rest themselves. I did not argue.

Because I'm absolutely beat by 8:45.

They gave me a quick rundown of what I missed as we drove to school this morning. And I realized that before I know it, they are going to be shielding me from "sexy" things on television and trying to decide if I'm still capable of driving.

Busted.

I walked into the bedroom tonight...innocently putting away a stack of laundry.

Then I realized that Mark had discovered my secret stash.

Horror struck my heart and a chill ran up my spine.

The Nutella has been compromised.

We partied like it was 2011

I do believe it is 2012!

We went to my favorite kind of party:

Hanging out in our socks:

Perusing the food table. Going back for more....and more....and more.

Little groups and conversations going on everywhere....all you have to do to join in is pull up a chair.

Kids are downstairs playing Wii.

Little girls are asleep in their future babysitter's pink fluffy bed:

This is the night that being born into a loud family of 7 really pays off. Even when the clock struck midnight and the noisemakers were blaring, she didn't make a peep.

I get a kick out of all these Mormons and their sparkling grape juice...

It looks like it's going to be a fantastic year.

Happy New Year!

Twinners

On a scale of 1 to 10......

How embarrassed is Mathew going to be when his friends notice He is wearing the same shoes as his mother?

On the other hand, I can't resist Converse in grey. It's not my fault they're located in the pre-teen boys section. 

Medication

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you might head straight for the refrigerator and take a swig of the baby's whole milk just to take the edge off?

I'm having one of those days.


And I'm going in for seconds.

We love to see the temple

We love to make temple building a competitive sport.

Although in all fairness...the Provo is much easier to make with the big boys that the Kansas City is to make with the little girls.

Oh...and sugar cubes are fun to use in smoothies.

We have alot of them.

Geocaching

We have a new favorite thing to do.

Have you heard of Geocaching?

The general idea is that you are given GPS coordinates in order to find a little container that someone else has previously hidden. It is usually about the size of a film canister, but can also be a big tupperware full of stickers! We now keep stickers or other little things in the car in case we find a big one. The rule is you only take something if you leave something.

You just download a geocaching app onto your phone and it will locate any geocaches that are near you.  These things are everywhere!

Once you find one, you write down your name on the paper that is inside the canister and you post on the app that you found it. You can upload a picture of yourself with the geocache, but you have to make sure that you don't give away any hints to future geocachers about where it is hidden.

This isn't a problem for us because we have a way of taking up the whole photo.

They range in difficulty of terrain and how long it takes to locate them, but a lot of them only take about 15 minutes to find and it is the perfect way to kill a little time when you are waiting for somebody to get out of a practice or a rehearsal. It's way cheaper than a run to the store and it's better for us to be outside rather than idling somewhere in the van. People tend to get "accidentally" punched when we do that.

It's a never ending treasure hunt....and you don't have to write or hide the clues!

Next time we go on a road trip, we are going to try to find a bunch along the way.

Then we will be able to make a 18 hour trip last at least 22 hours.

That's the real treasure.

On the prowl

She may look soft and pink,

but do not underestimate the sheer volume of chaos she can produce.

She's not taking a "stroll" at the library.

She's looking to empty a shelf in record time.

She'll make sure she's in the clear, then she moves in.

If I've stacked it, she will not rest until it has found a new home on the floor. 

Have mercy!

Ladybug stars

Never underestimate the power that a pink lady bug that glows blue stars and has buttons to push can do for a baby who finds herself cut off from her nightly milk supply.

I

It makes the entire situation infinitely less tragic.

The Daily Strange

Do you ever find yourself sitting down to have a nice lunch on the bench by the bathrooms at Walmart consisting of popcorn chicken from the deli, free popcorn from the bank branch located just to the left of the bathrooms and a cup of yogurt dished up with a fork?

And instead of feeling ashamed, what you really feel is relieved that you don't have to make anybody lunch when you get home. 

And you know there is a leftover enchilada in the fridge just waiting for you. 

These are grand rewards, ladies.

Ingenuity

There comes a time in every baby's life when you realize that sooner or later you are going to have to take matters into your own hands.