from the vlog archives

in july of 2008 joe took me on a surprise birthday trip. i had no idea where we were going or what we would be doing. he planned every little detail AND managed to keep it a secret! i don't think i could have done that.

when i was searching for a video of zachary to put on his belated birthday post i came across some vlogs (video logs) of our trip. i spent about 45 minutes watching them again and again. at one point i was laughing so hard joe came into our room from the living room and told me to quiet down--warning me that i was going to wake the kids up. ha!

pretty soon he was by my side laughing with me. and in case you are wondering, neither one of us woke the kids up.

i'm not sure you will enjoy these the same way we do, but i'm confident they are good for at least a little laugh.

joe's favorite:


my favorite:


bonus video:


so let's take a little vote. did i make it or not?

she wrote what?!

last week i was writing some math vocabulary on the board when i realized i made a spelling error. i quickly erased it.

this is when i sigh with relief that not too many first graders are reading or paying much attention to me at this point in the year.

but i start giggling. and i can't stop.

i look over my shoulder and see 23 wide-eyed 6 year olds staring at me. "did you see what i wrote?" i asked.

nothing.

then i see the 24th student in my class with a big smile on his face. "yeah... addition fart" he says.

there's an uproar of laughter for about three minutes, before we i finally regain composure and continue with the lesson.

not my best first grade story, but definitely in the top 3.

if you leave me funny comments today, maybe i'll tell you my top 2 stories.

five

this little token of happiness comes in the form of an iphone app.

two weeks ago (?) an app called "silent film director" was advertised for free. my techie husband put it on his iphone and had fiddled with it a bit, but it wasn't until last weekend that i experienced the joy and sheer hilarity this app can bring.

let's be honest. my children are a bit on the spazzy side. i don't mind that, most of the time. well, this app highlights their whacky ways and makes them actually look cool. it's kinda like those funny face pictures, i know watching these videos when i'm in a funk will cheer me up.

so go ahead and check them out. i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.


i didn't know who to keep my eyes on!


the girl likes to bounce!

did they make you laugh? did you see taylor shove zach's head down? did you catch the little kick at the end of ben's dance? maybe you counted how many times he ran around the pool? there were so many things to look at. we watched the videos over and over and always found something new to laugh at. goofy kids.

what was your favorite part of the videos?

ps: tomorrow i will be posting our annual summer to do list. i think this is our best list yet!

afraid of the dark

confession time. i'm afraid of the dark.

did you ever watch this show? i couldn't watch it. when my friends watched scary things on tv, i hung out in the kitchen with the grown ups. 

two nights ago i went to bed and could not fall asleep. after almost 2 hours of tossing and turning i heard a thud.

at first i thought maybe one of the kids fell out of bed. then i thought maybe one of them kicked the wall.

my mind started spinning when i heard another thud. and then another.

it's probably no surprise to you that i am not one to get up and go investigate bumps in the night.  it may surprise you that i still run and jump into bed--afraid that something might reach out from under the bed and grab my foot if i get too close.

what to do? joe is already asleep. plus he just got over the flu, so i hated to wake him. but i was freaking out.

i finally decide to get up and check it out. after all, it was probably just my neighbor who likes to work in his garage until 3 am.

when i opened my bedroom door i knew right away it wasn't the neighbor. there is usually a glow coming from the direction of his home and our hallway was pitch black. perfect.

i press on; checking every door and making sure the alarm is set.

when i get to the last door, the slider leading out back, i reach behind the blinds and place my hand on the lock. only, there is something on the lock. it's wet and slimy and...

it's a slug!!

i'm going to go ahead and blame it on nerves, but i screamed. loudly.

not really the creepy thing i expected to find, but i was grateful it wasn't something worse.

and as a bonus apparently hearing bumps in the night and touching slugs in the dark is emotionally exhausting, because i immediately fell asleep after that little incident. thank goodness.

are you afraid of anything?

my home life has suffered

UPDATE!!

i figured the whole "my home life has suffered" situation.

i said that! me. yours truly. i said it here.

thanks for humoring me. :)
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so i was looking at my blog stats and there is a section where you can see what people were searching for when they came across your blog. as we all probably know, search engines aren't always helpful. at least that is what i am telling myself after reading what brought someone to my blog. :)

someone typed "my home life has suffered" and my blog showed up as a search result!

really?! really?!!!!

by the way, i don't recommend googling "my home life has suffered. i'm just sayin'.


if you are the reader who came to my blog because your home life has suffered, i sure hope things are looking up! i mean that seriously. and i hope you keep coming back. i like to keep it real and post the good and bad sides of our home life.

let's turn this into a warm and fuzzy post and share something positive. 

zach spent the night at his nana's house last night. he called to say goodnight. when he was talking to taylor, we heard "i love you" before he hung up the phone. it melts this mama's heart to hear her chickies expressing love for each other. and it wasn't even prompted! awww.

now it's your turn. tell me something good that's happened in your home this week.

the voice

have you seen this show? i love it. i especially enjoyed watching the blind auditions. my favorite moment was when adam levine turns his chair around to see who has this amazing voice and you see his eyes bug out of his head. the first words out of his mouth are "i thought you were a chick!" the singer auditioning was not a chick. so funny! probably not so much to the guy who was singing.

if you aren't familiar with the voice, maybe this clip from ellen will help understand how the show works.

when i was a kid i used to dream of being discovered for my voice. if you've ever heard me sing, you know what a joke that is. when i was home alone, i would belt out "wind beneath my wings" like i was really bette midler. haha.

i also thought i would make a great actress, gymnast, dancer, and ice skater.

did anyone else secretly hope they would be discovered for some hidden talent and end up famous? please tell me i'm not the only one!

from the zachary archives

don't remember exactly when this was taken. zach must be 3 or 4? i crack up every time i watch this. maybe it has something to do with the fact that he calls me a silly deuce. for those of you needing translation, that's silly goose.



hard to believe that little boy is going into 2nd grade. he missed his last week of 1st grade because he was sick--he was so bummed about that. all week he asked, "if i'm still sick on the last day can i pleeease go to school?"

i was sad for him that he wasn't able to go. on the last day of school i picked up his things from his classroom. curious, i looked through his writing books. one was a communication journal where he wrote back and forth with his teachers. he wrote about his favorite things to do and places to go. he asked his teachers questions about their families. it was sweet and the kind of stuff that makes a mama proud. the other was free choice writing where he wrote about fighting with his brothers. seriously. page after page he described fight after fight. he wrote about how mean his brothers are and how annoyed he gets with them. he also wrote about how they solved their problems and became friends again after the fight. awww, love that. although very different, i enjoyed reading both books. zachary is growing up. i wish i could freeze him at this age. he is so sweet and caring and kind-hearted. and that boy sure knows how to make his mama smile. even when he calls me a silly deuce.

funny faces

the other day joe took some pictures of our family.













i know exactly what you're thinking... cute family, right?!

ha! we were laughing until we had tears streaming down our faces.

the first pictures were taken just to see if our faces were symmetrical, but then someone moved and someone else looked off to the side and someone stuck a tongue out. it quickly became a game of who could make the funniest face. i know you are wondering, how can i get my own funny face picture?

joe took these on his iphone using a free app called "ugly face."

these are saved in a folder on our desktop. the next time i'm feeling stressed out, down, or angry, i think i'll try opening them to see what happens. i already know what happens when you look at them during a middle of the night baby feeding. :)

here's one last picture. uh oh, ben's getting mad...



which photo do you think is funniest?