Hello? Our phone etiquette night

Back in the old days my little sis Sally used to answer the phone with the loudest hello you ever did hear. Then she would ignore the caller and start licking the phone.

Things aren't too different in the Sims' household. Here is a more typical scenario. Ainsley answers. "hello?" Then without another word she drops the phone on the counter or looks for me while the caller is wondering if anyone is still there. She says she is too shy to say "just a minute please." And if Brandon answers (And that is a big IF as he will let the phone ring for hours) he yells, "huh? What? Huh?" Over and over.

So for our family home evening on Monday we decided to have a lesson on phone ettiquette. We went over proper things to say and I brought the 2 cell phones in to use as practice.

This is about how it went.
Ainsley: Hello?
Dad: Hi, can I speak with Brandon please?
Ainsley: I'm sorry, he can't come to the phone, he is taking a dump.

Try again in the midst of laughing and rolling on the floor.

Brandon: Hello?
Mom: Hi can I please speak to your dad?
Brandon: No, he's stuck on the toilet.

hee hee giggle giggle.
With 10 minutes of practice phone calls, at least 95% consisted of bathroom business. Alexa even got in on it.



So here is my question for you today? What makes PooP so funny?

Just another one of those DON"T JUDGE ME Days

So, what SHOULD I be doing? Probably packing. But I didn't. I wasted time today making a really cool Land of Nod style bean bag. But don't judge me, k?

So while I was doing that, my little one got into the shampoo. But don't judge me, k? And in case you are wondering, YES she is wearing a halloween shirt. It was one of those days.

Then, I bathed her (with LOTS of water!) and about 20 minutes later I found her like this.

Yep, that's shaving cream in my kitchen. So Don't judge me, k? We used it for mommy school this morning to help Brandon with his writing skills. And I didn't clean it up well enough. Maybe I should pay a little more attention to the little one. hmmm. Or maybe she should have taken a nap. Blah, just another one of those days.

New Dinner Recipes - Ryan's Guest Post

So lately, we've been trying to find new recipes that our kids will eat...something beyond Top Ramen and Pizza...the sole items we would eat if they had their choice. We're desperately trying to find at least 30 meals that they will eat. Today's attempt was a Chicken Crock Pot Curry recipe that we found on the internet. It was made with chicken, and apples, and sliced bananas, and curry powder, and coconut milk. How could you go wrong with that combination?

Here's how it went. As soon as Ainsley sat down at the table, she looked at the curry creation and said:

"WHAT is THAT?!?!?!"

"It's chicken curry." I said with a smile.

"Well, it looks like bird crap! I'm not eating it."

I politely told her that she was going to eat it...and everyone was going to eat it or else no one was going to be allowed down from the table. Just about this time, Brandon was almost at the table. Once he heard that everyone would be held hostage at the table, he darted off to his room, screaming:

"I wasn't ever AT the table...so it doesn't count for me!"

We trudged on. During the prayer, even 2-year old Alexa got in on the act. Right in the middle of blessing the food, Alexa screamed out "Dad, No THAT! No THAT!" pointing to her food.

Ainsley eventually tried the food, with her nose pinched closed the whole time. She was teaching her cousin Jake her technique.

"Jake, you have to plug your nose the whole time, then once you swallow, you have to drink some water. Once you've swallowed the water, it'll be safe to unplug your nose again. Try it!"

Jake kept commenting about the food being "Crud" and "barf" and "toxic."

"Yeah," Ainsley piled on, "It's so toxic it's glowing yellowish green."

Eventually we did get through the blessed Sunday meal. Immediately after, the kids all darted off to get bowls of cereal. I guess that recipe isn't making the cut.

Help us out...send us your best kid friendly recipes...my children will be forever grateful.

Practice paid off!

Ainsley practiced SO hard this week! She was absolutely thrilled to get a 7th place ribbon. The top 8 get placed, the others just get a participation award. There were about 20 in her age group. And boy, did that girl practice! Ainsley and Rebecca with their ribbons

Front Dive

Front Flip

Back Dive

Back dive with half twist (Or something like that. I can't remember what it's called)

Ainsley's first diving meet

Ainsley had her first diving meet this morning. At 6:00 am. Totally serious. I about died.
She was pretty disappointed in herself, but I thought she did pretty well considering she hasn't ever done it. Dived, dove, whatever you say in proper English. She was pretty ticked that she only got a participation award and wanted to rip it up, but I reminded her that we can get better every meet and there is nowhere to go but up from here!




Here is her last dive. She gave everyone a heart attack, thinking she hit her head on the board. Of course I stopped the camera because I wanted to check, but the judges ran up to the side of the pool to make sure she was good. And the crowd was filled with loud "UHHHHH's", gasps and lots of adrenaline.

Her score? I think 3.5, 3 and 3. Like I said, she'll progress!

That jack o' lantern smile I love!

I just love it when kids lose their front upper teeth! It is my favorite smile in the world!

We were at the Harkins Movie (Charlottes Web) on Thursday when Brandon's tooth fell out. He was drinking root beer. And he couldn't find that tooth ANYWHERE. After the movie was over he was so sad. We looked and looked, but couldn't find it anywhere. Of course, it was still pretty dark. We finally asked them to turn the lights on.

Have you ever noticed how similar a tooth is to a small peice of popcorn?

We finally found the tooth! Yay!

The last project I am going to show you (for a while...)

I recovered my outdoor cushions!

I took a picture of the old cushions. Faded and ripped and yucky. But true to form, Ainsley deleted all videos and pics from my memory card. :)

Here's the thing. I couldn't imagine paying so much for new ones! I had this old fabric lying around.

I looked up a bunch of tutorials on recovering cushions, but HELLO! I can't sew that well! Seriously! They were so confusing! I don't even know what a zipper foot is, let alone how to put it on!

So, I decided to utilize my knowledge. What CAN I do? I can sew straight lines, and pillows. That's about it. I figured cushions are just big pillows! I made big pillow covers with envelope closings, then squared off the edges. It worked perfectly! I didn't even pin. Haha.

I did by a little extra sunbrella fabric for the throw pillows. It cost me about $20. What do you think?

Refinishing the gate

Looky what I did! Can you guess which side of the fence I refinished? Yesterday I went to Home Depot and had them cut all the pieces, took it home in the sweltering heat and painted them all. Megan and I worked for hours painting/protecting the wood. Then we removed the old wood, painted the gate, and screwed in the new pieces.

I totally impressed the hubby with this one! Yay me!