Alice in Wonderland

Jeff's youngest sister, "O" (we've called her that since before she could walk), starred as Alice in her school's production of Alice in Wonderland. She's a natural and talented singer, and breezed through her songs beautifully. I sneaked backstage before the show for a few photos.
Doesn't she look perfect?
Closing song- she's standing in the center with "Tall Alice" and "Small Alice" on either side. They of course had to use different sized girls for when Alice shrinks and grows. You'd think Alice would have learned to stop taking candy or potions or mushrooms from strangers. Clearly Alice's school hadn't implemented the "DARE" program.
Alice and the Mad Hatter. Cool pants he has there.
Left to right: Halley and Carol (soon to be married), Nate, Jeff holding Gabey, Stephen and Ashley, and the short ones of course are my little men with Aunt O.

Congratulations O! It was so much fun to watch you, we love you!

Brothers

Nathan, Jeff, Stephen. Bad photo, handsome guys. And if Philip were home from his mission, he'd complete the set.

But seriously though, aren't they cute?

My Little Cavemen.

One day the boys decided to be cavemen. They took off their pants (cause cavemen don't wear pants, as everyone knows) and pulled one arm through the neck hole of their shirts (because everyone knows cavemen have only one sleeve, not two) and grunted all through dinner. Did you know cavemen love pizza and salad?

Bearbear and Jojy show me their best cavemen faces. Bear wins with his naturally prominent and expressive uni-brow.

Nanos took his outfit a step farther by using a brown Jedi robe as his prehistoric duds.

Even Gabey, in true Neanderthal fashion, stole Nano's food for survival. He just grabbed the plate before Nanos could stop him. Of course, we just laughed and took pictures.

Long time, no post. Welcome back.

It's been a while since I added a post. Where have I been? I don't know, it was wrong of me. I'm sorry. :-)

Here we have Jojy wearing a my pajama pants. He loves my soft girl stuff. Scarves, dresses, my hair- he likes to rub them on his face and cuddle them. This day he insisted on wearing these. He's so weird. But it was hysterical watching him try to walk in them, the extra length in the leg just trailed behind him.

And in case you were wondering, that is Rainbow Bright printed in pink. I bought these at Walmart for like $9 on sale. So worth a childish flashback.

Happy Valentines Day!

So, I blog-stalk this friend of a friend. I don't know him, but his posts have often made me laugh to tears. Awesome. I love when that happens. (he is listed on my blog as "funny guy I don't know"). I thought this post of his was appropriate for today. A little pesimistic, but funny nonetheless. Enjoy...and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!


All You Need Is...
I’d like to kick this month off right by dedicating my first post to a subject very close to my heart. So close, in fact, that it’s right inside my heart, and I’m not talking about blood… or cholesterol. I’m talking about love. Love, the topic of countless stories, movies, books, poems, and songs, is at the epicenter of fundamental humanity; so important in fact that I dare say The Beatles hit the proverbial nail on the head when they said, “All you need is love.” I mean, think about it. If all we really had were love we’d be just fine. Our days would be filled with purpose, meaning, and happiness. Peace would envelop the world in a warm cocoon of loving squishiness, and we’d never take up arms against our fellow man again. I’ve decided to make that my life’s mantra. All you need is love.Well, unless you’re homeless. Then all you need is love, and someplace to sleep where you won’t freeze to death. Other than that, I guess, all you need is love.

Now that I think about it, what about hitchhikers? Forget love. I’ll bet they’d just settle for a ride. Also, I would say amputees’ need more than love. They probably need some kind of major surgery, physical therapy, and then some prosthesis. And as long as I’m brain storming here, what about diabetics? Are you trying to tell me that when their blood sugar plummets that a shot of love is going to save their butts? H no! Best case scenario; their feet get the axe, then they need prosthesis too. Worst case; a fat shot of insulin fast or their time's up in an hour.

And what about drowning victims? Do you think any of them are under water struggling for love? OXYGEN, PEOPLE! That’s all they need! And don’t get me started on Asian child sweatshop laborers. Do you think any of them are thinking, “Now that all my needs are being met, I could use some love.”? Answer; NO, THEY'RE NOT! They’re going to need a butt-load more than love to make it to adulthood. As their collective legal representative I demand that they receive, 1) Regular workplace safety inspections, 2) A minimum wage equal to that in the U.S., 3) Clothes appropriate for the weather and working conditions, 4) Regular meals where all the four food groups are represented, 5) Dessert, sometimes. 6) Bi-weekly employee socials and mixers where they can meet and mingle and possibly spark a romantic relationship. When these needs are met, the Asian Child Sweatshop Laborers Civil Liberties Union will drop it’s case.

You know what, now that I think about it, The Beatles were naïve, mindless nincompoops. The world needs a lot more than love. My new mantra is as follows; All you need is a warm bed, a ride, prosthesis, oxygen, minimum wage, and insulin. Love is for the birds.

A Favor

I know a few people lately who've had some uncomfortable things happen because their public family blogs have had weirdos paying too much attention to them. I don't want to have to go private, but I may eventually. I've tried to protect my family's personal information by not using the kid's names, our last name, or the city or state we live in (not like it would be impossible to figure out, but I try...). I would like it if you could help me out by being careful not to use the kids names when posting comments (but please comment!). Also, if you have us listed on your blog, will you make sure that you aren't using our last name?

I might sound crazy and over protective, but an aquaintence I had in high school just had a stranger figure out who they are, look up their phone number, and started calling them to talk about their blog and say obscene things! Scary. No thank you.

So, our blog is for all to see for now, but I want to stay safe in this rather unpredictable world.

Thank you!!!

Where a kid can be a kid

Some of my mom-friends and I have a playgroup that we do every week. In an attempt to shake things up (rather than sitting and chatting while we try to ignore the children) we thought we'd go to Chuck E Cheese's. It turned out pretty well. We used a coupon and got a good deal on a pizza and 100 tokens which we burned through with no problem. Since I don't use my own kids names on my blog, I won't used my friend's kids names either. These kids are SO CUTE.

1-Kristie and Janet. SO SO excited to be at Chuck E Cheese.
2-T giving air hockey a shot.
3- Bear and Jojy.
4- Don't judge me- I didn't dress the baby. I couldn't make myself care today. He's warm and clean and he doesn't know it looks odd to wear jungle print footed jammies in public.
5- M four wheelin'. The kid's a dare devil.
6- Bear, being weird in a picture- imagine that.
7- Jojy- cup cake in his mouth, cup cake on his knee.
8- Jes and L. Pretty girls.
9- Aleece and A. More pretty girls.
10- The kids all piled in to the same ride- and no one even hit each other!
11- The boys and I.
12- Kristie and K.
13- B and K. Not siblings, just remarkely blonde.
14- M and Gabey. Two guys out cruising.
15- I wish my mother had taught me to play skee ball this way.
16- This toddler sized rollercoaster simulator is pretty exciting.

As I entered Chuck E Cheese for the first time in probably 6 years, I was pleased to see that it was fairly updated and clean (Unlike Jungle Jim's who's wall to wall stained carpet remarkably retains the smell of feet-- the sight and scent overwhelms). The one thing that remains the same are the animatronic characters that are akwardly attempting to sing along with the prerecorded music. It's really pathetic the way the gears groan when their arms move and their eyes and mouths click as they open and close. Seriously folks. That's all you got? Despite this, I think I might be sad to see them no longer on that neglected stage.

This guy, however, I could do without. That one eye was stuck that way. I was really kinda freaked out by it. Creepy giant cowboy dog.