Six For Seven.

We had pretty busy weekend. It started out Friday with the celebration of Rusty's birthday...

He's SEVEN! I took cupcakes to the school and we had lunch together...it's so funny because all the kids think it is so neat when a parent comes and eats with them...I wish I could bottle it and open it back up in a few years when just the thought of being seen with me will embarrass my children. After school, we went home and I cooked and baked. We had small group so I made some baked mac & cheese for the first time and some cream cheese frosted brownies...needless to say Monday morning found me hitting the treadmill heavy and counting carbs!

Lisa had a cake for Rusty's birthday so we celebrated a second time. On Saturday, I took Ruthie up to Clearwater to watch a level four gymnastics meet...we are expecting her to move up in the new year so I thought it would be nice for her to see the girls in action. I sat alone and watched the meet while she traipsed around with her friends...I'm fairly certain she did not see a single routine but I learned a lot.

Saturday night Adam and I watched our team blow a close one to LSU...NO COMMENT!

On Sunday, I woke the kids at 5:15am...drove the 3 younger ones to my moms and set out for Sand Key to cheer Adam on in his first ever sprint triathlon...he took 2nd place to a 20 year old and finished with a time of 1.06.54...His swim was the 2nd fastest in the entire field and he placed 41st overall in a field of close to 600 athletes...pretty cool! Ruthie and I (along with the wives and children of some of our friends who were also racing) ran from one place to another watching the transitions and trying to get a glimpse of Adam...we made signs and held them up for Adam...It took me back to days of sitting in the stands at his meets...it was really fun and I am looking forward to this new stage in his life...he competes again in about a month at a triathlon a little closer to home...Ft. Desoto...You can see all the results at:

http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2008results/sandkeytriathlon092108.html

After the triathlon, we ran home for quick showers and then got to the bowling alley to celebrate Rusty's birthday for the 3rd time with all of his friends...he sent out only 8 invitations but ended up with 17 kids there! Rusty racked up all the transformers & PS3 games a boy could want and the first thing he wanted to do when he got home was play one of his new games...Adam had to head to church for a meeting which made Rusty a little sad so I sat with him and we opened and transformed all his new little guys...with my limited transforming experience, this took us all the way to bed time...enter Adam, exit Lori...I had to be at church at 8pm for a different meeting...It was a lot of fun but we were really tired by the end of it all. It is hard to say what I am feeling each time one of my children celebrates a birthday...I will just leave it at just so incredibly thankful.

I forgot to mention that we squeezed Rusty's first flag football practice and Flip's first t-ball practice into it all as well...good times!

So it is Thursday and although I am still dragging a little bit, I have finally blogged all about it...here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...enjoy!

Rusty handing out cupcakes to his classmates.

Adam finishing the swim leg of the triathlon.

FINISHED! (sorry, no good bike pic but there is one on the website)

Nice award but we will not be hanging it in the house.

Cakes by Alice...she is awesome!

No, not my 3 sons, my daughter and two sons.

Rusty and his Nana share their birthday.

Six For Seven...Happy Birthday, Rusty!

Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?

I found this on another blog...too funny:0)

Check her out at: http://www.mygiftsmychallenges.blogspot.com/

I added the last one!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
Why did the chicken cross the road?

BARACK OBAMA : The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change ! The chicken wanted change !

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON : When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH : We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY : Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL : Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON : I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY : Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON : Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR.. PHIL : The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE : That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty ! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN : To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART : No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS : Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY : To die in the rain, alone.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS : Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE : It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES : I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN : Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS : Did I miss one?

LORI JERGER: Why is everybody up in that chicken's business?

Posted by Kids Special Needs at 10:15AM
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Rocky-A-Sauraus

Wednesday's homework...to the tune of "I love Rock & Roll." Funny because as were driving to pick Ellie up the song came on the radio and he started singing and I thought...oh, he will be singing that today during homework! And he did! Not as funny as "Aunt Pearl" but he did sneak in an "I love Rocky-a-saurus..." Don't forget to mute!

Aunt Pearl

Make sure you scroll down and mute the music...here is Flip doing his "homework." In case you can't tell, he is singing "if I could be sweet, sweet, I know that I'd be aunt Pearl, aunt pearl." After you watch his version, unmute and listen to the real version...enjoy!

Ellie Pretty?

Not too much out of the ordinary happening around here. We stayed busy this past week with life. On Saturday, we watched football and on Sunday, we went to church...Adam and I had our week with the twos. It is always a joy...I usually go in thinking, "man, I have nursery today...I always leave feeling blessed...there are some really sweet kids in there...including our Ellie. After church we, meaning, I decided we wanted to get Ellie's ears pierced. She was really excited! She just didn't know what she was so excited about!

Cautiously optimistic.

This is not what I signed on for.

A lolly-pop can cure anything!

Ok, so, she didn't love it! She hated it...for about 3 minutes she thought we were torturing her. Then she got a lolly-pop and all her worries seemed for naught. It was funny because when we got Ruthie's ears pierced, she was 6 months old and we were first time parents. I wanted to hold her because I didn't want her to see me when the pain hit...this time Adam wanted to hold Ellie so that she would have to look at me while the pain was brutally inflicted upon her ear lobes...I'm pretty sure you can see whose arms she is in...but she got her lolly-pop and Daddy whisked her up into his arms and she looked at him and asked, "Daddy? Ellie pretty?" Oh yes, little girl, you are beautiful!

The Good Stuff

Rusty is in first grade and this week, homework started. We had our first day at the table this afternoon...working on math, going over sight words, working on handwriting. None of this is anything we haven't done together before but it was the first time we did it as "homework." And, I really liked it! Good stuff...

You might be a redneck if...

Ruthie has been faced with some challenges over the past few weeks...nothing academic, or athletic but personal challenges. She was excluded recently at a party and was bullied out of some food at lunch...she didn't like it too much. We had a little talk about not giving people the "power" to hurt us....recognizing a bully or someone who thrives on hurting others and looking them in the eye or staying away...the next day, she had a workout at the gym and I had the chance to talk with one of her coaches about her progress and low and behold, the only thing her coach wanted her to work on was her communication with her teammates. It seems that she was occasionally and without malice taking on the roll of coach in critiquing the other girls rather than taking the role of encourager. So, we had another little talk about "not being that person." You know, the corrector, the know it all or the girl who excludes others from the fold. We talked about the impossible task of getting rid of a bad reputation and although sometimes our motives are not to hurt, we can easily do so with words. Sometimes, we can keep our thoughts to ourselves. Over the past week, I have seen her take the high road many times with her brothers...I know that having been put into those positions herself so recently, it made her see how her own words and actions may have been seen as "mean." Growing pains...good stuff...

Brace yourself...

Flip is obsessed with all things "poop." Pooter, poop face, poop bottom, pooter face, diarrhea head...you get the picture. Now, having had a daughter first and a somewhat quiet second child, I was completely unprepared for what Flip would bring to our world. But this past weekend we had a road trip up to Adam's parents place and the car ride left a little to be desired in terms of conversation. The child is never quiet unless he is unconscious and frankly, if sound effects are not coming from his mouth, "potty-talk" is. I just want to know...when will he be finished with it? I ask that completely understanding that the answer is of course, never...since he is male and all things bodily are hilarious to this version of the human race...good stuff.

Ellie had a very busy weekend...she learned how to watch TV...no, I am not kidding...the child has never sat down long enough to pay attention to an entire show but alas, in the car, there is no where else to go...so, with head phones on, she was forced to sit and watch a movie on the way. She also got to see the horses and meet her cousins, Karen and Greg for the first time...and see the nine 2 day old puppies...check out Karen's blog to see pics (Keepin' up with the Kasjaniuk's). She's started to seek out her own entertainments over the past few days and she is talking so well. But my favorite...she is tattling! The best is when she tattles on Daddy...Good stuff...

Adam had a birthday yesterday...32...we always celebrate it with the opening of college football season. He looks forward to this weekend from the last second of the national championship game...when the polls start coming out toward the end of summer, he starts talking about who is saying what about the Tigers...where we are ranked and in which polls, which games are on TV, "Should we get tickets to a game?" "If we beat them and they beat them, yada, yada, yada..." So, it is that time again...WAR EAGLE!!!Good stuff.

My life is filled with the good stuff...