Update to Today's Earlier Post

For Karen-
Question: If a blonde and a brunette fell off a building, who would hit the ground first?
Answer: The brunette - the blonde would have to stop for directions!

Laura-that is great that your hubby is running and I love your eye doctor.

We were at the ER last Friday when Mary broke her leg. Mary, who is 6, tells the nurse who is putting the temporary splint on her leg "and sometimes when my dad is mad he says he's gonna rip our face off". I am expecting Social Services any day now.

I heard "I'm gonna rip your face off" daily growing up and so have my kids now.

Fortunately the nurse was a young girl who was one of six kids and thought it was hysterical

Get Out of Bed Now Kids!!!!

This is how we used to get the kids out of their beds......well until Mary fell out of her bunk bed last Friday and broke her leg.

Mary's New Look

Well at least she has a cool color for the next 6 weeks

Not Quite Sure That's the Way it Works

Mary (5) "I want mommy to eat lots of chocolate so we can have a black baby this time. I really want a black baby sister"

It's Hard to be Humble

We have a family tradition where I take each child out by themselves for their birthdays. I take them out to breakfast or lunch and spend a little bit of time with them alone. Mary's 5th birthday was last month and we hadn't gotten it done yet but we finally found the time a few days ago. We went out to a burger joint and stuffed ourselves with cheeseburgers and fries. Mary and I had a great time but maybe, just maybe the special attention went to her head.

After we got home from lunch, at random times, around her older brothers and sisters, Mary would say things like "oh if you are wondering I'm not hungry" or "I'm not hungry I'm stuffed with fries and cheeseburgers". Or later in the day - "did i mention I went to lunch with dad?"

She's got the cuteness down, now to work on the humility.

It's Hard Being a Little Kid

9:30 PM - Big kids downstairs watching TV - Falling asleep on the stairs while trying to see what's going on - Don't grow up to fast Mary

Mary's B-Day

Our sweet Mary is 5 today. She is probably our child with the sweetest disposition. She is the sunshine to my grayness. Sure she could end up being an axe murderer, but for now we are just enjoying her sunny outlook.

Happy Birthday Sweetie! We Love You!!!

In the Kids do the Darndest Things Department.

Se my hotter half's post about Mary

Mary’s Plan to End the War

Could a 4 year-old be smarter than the government? (that’s a rhetorical question).

I was hanging around talking to Mary the other morning. Actually you listen to Mary you don’t talk to her. That little sweetie-pie could talk the ears off a jack rabbit.

So she’s talking about everything and nothing all at once. And then she starts talking about her plan to end the war. I didn’t even know she knew about the war.
Mary (4) has a friend her age who we will call Jay. Jay’s dad has been in Iraq since last fall and Mary says Jay misses his dad very much. I’m sure that is true.

Here is her plan:

"I think all the good soldiers (our side) should sneak home at night to see their beloveds (her word – 4 sisters will do that to ya). Then all the bad guys will say ‘hoorah we won’ and take a rest. Then the good guys can sneak back in the morning into the camp of the bad guys and kill them all (she’s a little violent – 6 brothers will do that to ya). Then ‘Jay’s’ dad could come home for good."

Sounds as good as any plan I’ve heard to end this stupid war.

So now who are you going to vote for?

Candidate A


Candidate B

Candidate C


I’d vote for candidate A personally. I’ve had it with lame candidates.
And I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils. Out of 300 million people in this country, McCain and Obama are the best your dems and reps could come up with? Is this election process as rigged as American Idol? (more rhetorical questions)


Whoa sorry for going all political on you...ok I feel better now...


Important note: this post is in no way directed at anyone serving in the Middle East. I have friends who were over there and ones still there. It's directed at politicians and politically appointed generals

Black Cinderella

"Black Cinderella, Black Cinderella. I want to watch Black Cinderella"

That was Mary running through the house the other night. It was her turn to pick out a movie. (Mary isn't very politacly correct - she get's it from her mother)



I HATE this version of Cinderella. Not cause it's musical (all though that is reason enough) and not cause it's a 'girlie' movie.

No, I hate it because of the silly political correctness.

The stepmother is White (Bernadette Peters). One of the step daughters is Black and one is White. Cinderella (Brandy) is Black. Ok that’s not to terrible but now we get to the Royal Family.

The King is White, the Queen is Black (Whoopi Goldberg) and the Prince is an Asian dude. Do they think we are stupid? Are they that desperate to seem inclusive that they go to these extreme lengths?

Even my kids think it’s silly. Why not just make one with an all Black Royal Family or an all Asian Royal Family? Heck they could even do an all Donkey Royal Family and I would be ok with that.

Stupid Homeschoolers

Or maybe I should say smart homeschoolers.

Over the weekend Mary (4) decided to practice writing her name. I guess I should be very proud of here. I mean school is out for our family, the pool is open, summer is here, there are lots of other things she could be doing other than school work. It shows real initiative to do school work during the summer.

Here is the problem: she was practicing writing using a sharp rock for a pencil and the side(s) of our van for paper and the other end of the rock for an eraser. This is the van we bought last summer. And while it was used, it was the newest used vehicle we have ever purchased.

I guess you could say she said to the van, We Will Rock You to quote Queen.

Of course being only 4 she didn’t always write/scratch her name correctly. So she had to cross-out some of the attempts and keep trying all across the back of the van and along one side. I guess I should be glad we named her Mary and not ‘Anastasia’ or ‘Bernadette’. I would have needed a bigger van for her to write on.

Sam discovered this on Saturday. Actually Mary came inside and confessed to her. She didn’t really have much choice since she wasn’t smart enough to write one of her siblings’ names. Sam and the little guys were heading to Joey’s baseball game and I was out biking. Sam told her ‘Daddy’s going to beat you’. So Mary spent most of the time at the game whimpering ‘don’t let daddy beat me’. And the other kids spent most of the time saying ‘Daddy’s gonna kill Mary’.

Sam was nice enough to call me and warn me about it so I had a few hours to digest it and cool down. It looks pretty crappy (she needs to work on her handwriting). I’m going to try and buff it out with rubbing compound this week.


Here are a couple of her attempts

Ah I messed up and this stupid eraser doesn't work

There that's much better


Mary is gonna be the girl who you don't want to break-up with.

For the record the little Monet is in one piece but won’t be having dessert for awhile. But has Queen would say, she is Under Pressure

Mary Poppins - Everyone Should Have One

We have our very own Mary Poppins (well we share her with others – begrudgingly). You know the type. Always showing up at just the right time to help out…with the kids, meals, the house etc…they are the ones who, when someone has a baby or kicks the bucket, that organize the meals and make sure the house is running smoothly. They are the ones who when someone is in financial need, takes up collections and help them out. They are the back bone of communities, quietly going about doing good deeds.

We have our own extra special Mary Poppins – only hotter than Julie Andrews. Hunter (2) and Mary (4) love Mrs. Poppins. They think she exists to play with them. MP will show up at just the right times. Usually it’s when Sam is in the middle of school lesson with the other kids and Mary and Hunter are distracting everyone and in danger of bodily harm. Poppins will take them to run errands or to McDonalds or to her house to play. But it doesn’t really matter where they go or what they are doing with her, just the fact that they are with ‘their’ Mary Poppins is enough to make their day.

Mr. Poppins is also a great help to our family (and I’m not just saying that because he reads this blog). Joey has gotten many a ride to and from baseball practices/games thanks to him. Whether he is naturally nice or just doing it because he’s afraid of his wife like all good husbands are is irrelevant. Either way we win.

I must admit I’m a little leery of Mary Poppins’ niceness. It’s always the quiet nice ones who turn out to be the axe murderers and serial killers. You watch the news and they are interviewing the next door neighbors of someone who just offed his whole family. The neighbors always say something like "he was such a nice quiet fellow".

I also love when they interview the neighbors of someone who just died in a car accident or some other tragic way. The neighbor always says something like "it’s such a shame, he was great lovable fellow". Just once I want a neighbor to say something like ‘he was a no good scoundrel. He got what he deserved’.

Um, where was I? Oh yeah...Mary Poppins.

MP thanks for all you do for our family. We love you.

Mr. Poppins you might want to hide any axes that you own…just in case.

The Papal Mass

Here are a few pictures Sam took at the Mass.

Caleb on the bus at O'Dark Thirty.

Lizzie, Barbara The Surly and Joey

Caleb (in the middle), Joey, Lizzie, and Barbara (in the front) and others from our church youth group

Joey enjoying some tasty vittles in the luxury box

The pope comes out of the bull-pen in the 9th. The Popemobile needs to be pimped out...maybe some spinners

The view from the Box of the stage and altar

Mary - worn out from helping dad take care of the baby

My reward for watching the youngins - Life is Good