Carpool Conversations

This is our 4th week of school. Grace and Will are the only kids in the carpool NOT on D track so I've been sister chauffeur for the last 3 weeks. To and from everyday. And I've loved it. Ten minutes there and 10 minutes back has really been my favorite part of the day. We practice spelling and vocab, discuss the lunch possibilities, do last spit check on faces, kisses and they are out of the car.

One of my favorite parts comes AFTER I drop them off. I am in the church parking lot right next to the school so I sit and watch for a few minutes. Grace turns and waves ONCE everyday, and then she is off and RUNNING. She has a weird thing about being late. I don't know where she gets it:). Will is the softy. When we moved to St. George 4 1/2 years ago I had to drive Will everyday for a month until our house was finished. My little shrimpy 1st grader would hop out of the car and start the treck to his classroom clear on the other side of the school. He would take 5 steps, turn, look for me, WAVE WAVE WAVE, turn around take 5 steps, WAVE WAVE WAVE WAVE...and so on and so forth until he'd give me one final wave as he turned the corner and left my line of vision. I ate it up everyday. Fast forward to 5th grade. Another new school. Mom is driving. I get my waves. Will is a bit more socially conscious of course, as any 10 year old is. He turns, looks for me and gives a little inconspicuous wave. He'll do it twice before he gets close enough for his buddies to see him, then he runs and drops his backpack to play basketball with his friends and forgets all about mom. It still melts me. It still makes my day 4 years later.

Driving home is great too. Ten minutes of my undivided attention. I bring snacks and settle in and let them go. Lunch report, recess report, you know, the news of the day. A few days ago Will started talking about finding a gold brick. A HUGE brick and every little crumb would be worth a MILLION dollars. These are just a few of the things he would buy:

A new skateboard

A mini fridge for his room

Target...the whole company

A chinese woman to feed him ding-dongs

The house being built next door for his SG buddies to live in

Stuff for Grace

A cool car

A chinese lady to be his nanny, which he quickly amended (thanks to Grace and I mocking him mercilessly) to a chinese lady that would be his bodyguard and perform kung fu on his attackers. He wants an entourage of bodyguards. Cuz he'll certainly need them with all of the fame and fortune coming his way.

The next day he told me he missed ONE question on the test we'd been studying for. When asked who the governor of his state was, he put BILL GATES. nice:)

this is the OLD remote gas powered remote control that Jeff and Will have been building jumps for. They want the new and improved model, which I'm sure will make it's way into Jeff's car some way or another before you know it. Notice Grace's BORED TO DEATH pose in the back. Love it. Below is Will posing in his new helmet. That's carmel, not snot on his shnoz. I swear.

In other news, the village idiot showed up to teach the Laurels yesterday. It was awful. The 1st counselor in the bishopric stopped in and I ATE DIRT for the rest of the lesson. HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE does not begin to describe my bumbling idiocy. nice.

I'm gonna try a new method this week. I will not open the manual till Friday. Instead I will read Breaking Dawn cover to cover. Sounds like a plan to me. Can't get any worse than the train wreck that was last week.

Luckily we had nice new friends invite us over for dinner last night. THANKYOU!!! The company was SUPER and the burgers WERE gourmet:)

have a good week ya'll.

Gotta get me some Jack

It started in 1992. It was the summer before my Sr. year in high school. A little film called NEWSIES hit the big screen and made me a life-long lover. Of the movie AND it's stars. I dragged anyone and everyone to that show. Christian Bale, anyone? Of course, in those days, he was Jack Kelly. The "newsie" with an attitude, a whip and some fancy footwork. Heaven knows I've always been a sucker for guy that could sing and dance. That may or may not have contributed to the disproportionately HIGH number of gay exes I can claim, but let's not go there. Later on, my college roommates (who obviously had tremendous taste too) and I memorized every dance step, every smirk, and every word. OBSESSED does not begin to cover it. Christian as Jack Kelly

So, the past week I've been indulging in a little reminiscence. THIS and THIS will introduce you to the NEWSIES awesomeness (just in case you've never become acquainted:). If you are hankering for a little grown-up man candy Christian, feast your eyes on THIS. Dark, brooding. And the ACCENT. Have mercy. Here is a little somethin' to tide you over...

Happy Wednesday:)

For REAL?

I've heard more than enough news reports about idiot parents leaving their children in hot cars this summer. I mean, isn't ONE child really too many? Well, this morning I heard about a product now available that will remind you with a gentle BEEP that you got knocked-up, spawned a living breathing human being (that you were brilliant enough to STRAP INTO the car), and that OOPS, you just walked away and LEFT the little tyke in the VEHICLE!!!

Seriously? Parents need ALERTS now? COME ON!!!

Here's my problem. A VAST majority of these idiots don't "forget" the kid is in the car. They just want a break and were either too STUPID, too CHEAP, or too LAZY to get a babysitter. Truly. Going to a midnight movie? Getting your hair done? Nails filled? Eating lunch with friends? Boozin' it up in a bar? These jackholes just didn't want to deal with an inconvenient child that might hamper social hour.

Are there a tiny number of cases that involve a parent that TRULY forgot the child? (change in schedule, day care problem etc.) Certainly. And those stories are TRAGIC and HEARTBREAKING. But I do believe these cases are few and far between. Besides, the people that are concerned enough about their child to buy this RIDICULOUS alert system in the first place are CERTAINLY NOT the same dope smoking moronic idiots that walk off and leave their babies.

Here's an idea,

birth control.

My bad

don't ever throw an innocent seeming "I'm bored" out there into the universe. It'll come back to bite you. Within hours. Truly. Just a few short hours after I posted my (ridiculously whiny) "bored" post we had water POURING into our basement. super! Luckily we had some (nice!!!) friends here ready to abandon dinner for a shop vac, haul everything out of the storage room and surrounding areas, and suck the troublesome water out of our basement. Our awesome builder came and fixed us up and (hopefully) we should be good to go. It was some settling problem with the sprinkler pipe coming into the basement. whatever...just don't let it happen again, beavis!

Today is the 3rd day of school and I am feeling MUCH better about it than I was Monday at this time. I felt tremendously bad for my kids. This neighborhood is strange in that the kids go to a bunch different schools. It's odd. There are other kids going to our school but they don't start till August (different track) so my two little gippers were AAALLL ALLOOOOOONE for the big first day. Not one friendly face. They were incredibly nervous but they came out after school with smiles, balloons, friends, and a report that the school had WAY better pizza than our old school. yay:)

We are slowly getting back into the school time routine. Early to bed, early to rise...blah blah blah. Grace is probably feeling it the most. She's such a sleeper. She couldn't go to sleep the night before until MIDNIGHT. Needless to say, she's TIRED now. She committed several small infractions yesterday after school and a big one after dinner. She came back downstairs while she was supposed to be in timeout and told me she was packing her bags. I said "that's too bad, but make sure you clean up your room before you go". She came back down a few minutes later with her old backpack STUFFED and HEAVY and said she was ready. She then started to argue...AGAIN!!!!!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GREEN APPLES!!!

My response was this...

"Are you REALLY arguing with me AGAIN, NOW? How can you run away if you're stuck in your room ?! Think these things through Grace!"


this girl. wow. She definitely keeps us humble as parents. We kissed and made up and she went RIGHT to bed. She can't handle not having enough sleep. wowzers.

Grace and Annie last weekend. My kids were STOKED to have their friends here:)Grace on the first day of school. Will was too nervous to stick around for pictures. He sat in the car, in the garage for TEN MINUTES before it was time to go, poor kid.

This what Libby and I have been doing:)

I'm so bored

It's true. I'm SOOOOO BOOOOOORRRREEED right now I can actually taste it. Wanna know what boredom tastes like? Styrofoam.

My kids are bored. My hair is bored. Not that there aren't things I should be doing, I'm just NOT FEELING IT TODAY. My computer is jacked up. The bloody thing won't let me download the new flashplayer so I can't watch anything, download anything, NOTHING. I'm ready to toss this hunk o junk and start from scratch in the computer department. I've wanted a laptop for eons now.

Jeff should be home anytime. He's taking Will golfing while Grace, Libby and I will sit here and be BOOOOOORRRRREEEEEED some more. I've got a pile of books on my nightstand but NOTHING is grabbing me. What is my deal? If that isn't the biggest wendy whiner introduction then slap me upside the head and call me Sally.

School starts Monday for Will and Grace, and believe you me, IT NEEDS TO. We've been out since the middle of May so we (and by "we", I mean "me" naturally) are more than READY to get this party started. They are on separate tracks. I was NOT HAPPY about that at first but now I am actually sort of excited about it. More one on one time, someone else here to entertain Libby, someone else here to entertain Libby, and someone else here to help entertain Libby. All fantastic reasons if you ask me.

People have complained to me that I don't really do enough "updating" here on anyhoodle (just meaningless fluff), so that if you aren't right up here in my face you really have no clue what's up with the D family. I suppose that's true. I'll try to remedy this problem starting NOW.


Libby is a terror child these days. I came out of my bedroom yesterday and found her standing on my desk with the upper cupboards open. She had a sharpie in one hand , a pair of scissors in the other, and a smile as big as Texas on her face. Nice.

I came out of my bathroom today and instead of finding her snuggled up with her blankie and binky watching blue's clues (as I had left her), she was sitting there on my bed naked as a jay bird and smiling sweetly. She was sitting on Jeff's side so I wasn't too concerned.

Grace has been playing playing playing. Store, mostly. She sold everything from earrings to rocks. It's true. She and her little friend hudsen now want to open up a rock store. Yep. Rocks. Out of the empty lots around my house. Treasures ripe for the picking. She's rocking out to her "music", playing guitar hero (the Aerosmith version, naturally-only the best for the D family:), practicing the piano, and giving us just enough sass to keep things interesting around here.

Will spent the last two days at scout camp. He had a BLAST. Archery, canoeing, swimming, hiking, and a snack bar. Will's idea of heaven. He's been teaching himself how to skateboard, practicing the piano, and is GOLFING up a storm. He really loves it, and is GOOD at it, according to Jeff.

Me? well, I'm currently watching my cute geriatric neighbor climb out of her above-ground pool. My day just got a whole lot more interesting :)

Quick Suggestions?

I have to teach my first lesson in YW on Sunday. I'd like to do some sort of quick fun "get to know you" thingy before the lesson. It will be just my laurels (4-6). They don't know me from Eve. Seriously. I've already nixed showing off my super impressive middle finger or calling role via belch.

Whatcha got? Anything? Some of you creative wonders out there MUST have SOME ideas? Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Leave a comment or email me at wlganyhoodle@comcast.net.

thank you kindly and good day:)

GET OUT!

Tib over on SHARK BAIT made my day! She awarded me this fantastic prestigious award and I'd just like to say one thing.

It's about bloody time.

I JEST!!! I JEST!!

THANKS BUCKET LOADS TIB!! Skedaddle on over to Tib's blog and check out her hilarity:) She's quite the primo blogger:)

There are a few strings attached with this award. They are as follows:

1. Please put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. You must nominate 7 fellow bloggers for this award.

4. Add links to the recipients.

5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

okay. 7 people. I don't really blurk around much. I was raised better than that.

KIDDING!

I just may not list people who are new to you.

Here's my list of wonderfulness in no particular order:

Holly - O'keefe family fun. Love this girl. got me blogging, really. She's the total package when it comes to this blog business. I miss her everyday.

Sharla- STOLEN GOODS. If you have not checked her out before I STRONGLY urge that you do. She may be the most intelligently witty person I know. Plus she spells good and gots super grammar:)

Hayley-My Authentic Blend of 23 Flavors . This girl will keep you entertained beyond belief. I knew could love her from the moment I realized she had a pet name for her (not-really-there) gut. Go check her and CHUCK out:)

Sherine-A Day In The Life of The Smiths. Sherine is an old friend that goes WAY back to my Singer's Unlimited days. She's beautiful, warm, talented, funny, and a mom who hands her hands full. I've loved reconnecting with her:)

Kristi-Writes Are Tough. My only complaint about Kristi is that she does not blog NEARLY enough:) Go check out her wacky sense of humor and laugh yourself silly. You'll love her like I do.

Lesley-The Sparks Family. Leslie was Will's awesome 4th grade teacher last year. She is gorgeous, takes some AWESOME pictures of her two beautiful kids, runs marathons, and has a cute cute blog.

Melissa-Christensen Chatter. She's a bestie from way back when. Many of you already "know" her, but if you don't, stop on by for a visit. I love this girlie.

thanks again TIB!!!

have a happy FRIDAY people:)

(sorry about the one big clumpy paragraph. Blogger won't pull it's head out this morning. little buggars)