Friday, January 28, 2011

Mary Mayken Sings Barry Manilow

Remember the disco era?

If you do, you'll remember this song. 

It's Mary Mayken's favorite.  She plays it over and over and over again.  And she knows every word.

And every musical note where she sings the music too.  (God I love that kid!  She must be *my* niece!)

Enjoy!


If you don't laugh at this, you're not human man!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

How A Child REALLY Dresses Themselves

A few days ago, my friend was lamenting the fact that her almost two year old son is not developing as quickly as her other friends kids of the same age.  Apparently one of her friends was bragging that her two year old dressed themselves and her son...does not.

We all tried to comfort our friend that her son was okay and she was not a failure as a parent and he would, in fact, dress himself one day and would graduate from high school and probably college and go onto be a successful adult.

And we also told her that her friend wasn't completely honest in her description of how her child dressed himself.

So, Jen....this blog post is dedicated to you.  This is how real little kids dress themselves.

First, it appears that Mary Mayken  did a great job putting on her clothes.


But, upon further inspection, one will notice that she put her pants on backwards.

Pockets in the front.


Zipper in the back...


Oh wait.  But that's not all.  She also put her shirt on backwards.

 

And the only reason that her Twinkle Toe Shoes are on correct is because Ken put them on her and tied her shoes.

If he had not helped her, those would have been on backwards as well.  She has been known to wear her shoes backwards.


So, Jen, don't worry about your little man.  He's fine.  Your friend is crazy.  This is how a four year old really dresses herself.  You can only imagine how well she did when she was only 2!

And yes, I did take her to lunch with my friends dressed like that.  Because by the time I realized that she had everything on backwards, her shoes and coat were on and we were late.

If she were the first child, she would have been changed.  But she's not so she wasn't.  :p

Yeah.  Aunt Kem rocks like that!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Just A Little Bit...or Not!

Uncle Kem to Mary Mayken:  I have a little bit of gray hair.  See?

Mary Mayken to Uncle Kem:  No Uncle Kem.  ALL of you hair is gray.

Uncle Kem:  Meh.  :-|

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

School Fundraising

If you have kids or grandkids, inevitably you're going to be presented with an opportunity to support your child's school.  IE - you're going to be hit with a school fundraiser.  And sometimes when you're lucky, you are presented with something that you actually would *like* to buy.

And other times, all you have to do is put in a little effort and the school can make money from things that you would normally throw away.

And such is the case with Campbell's Soup labels.  It's easy.  All I have to do is turn in the labels off the soup can to Owen's school and they make money off of it.


Collecting soup labels fundraising has been around for quite a while.  I distinctly remember going through my mom's cabinet around the fourth grade and pulling off the labels from the soup cans and turning them into the PTA. 

And leaving the cans there without a label. And probably with no identifier as to what was in the can or the expiration date.

For my mom: :-|

So yeah.  Fundraising.  Everyone's doing it.  

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Extra 20 Minutes

What should one do with an extra 20 minutes that one has available in the day.  And by "extra" I mean 20 minutes to fold the clothes and get dinner started.

Let's see. 

Should one drive ones son back to school for his after school activity that he forgot to stay for (after he scared the crap out of me for being home.)

Yeah.  I guess so.

I guess that's what one should do with an extra 20 minutes that one has in a day.

Meh.

It's a good thing that he's cute.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Boys. Sheesh.

Getting into the van last night, Ken says "Owen opened up a new can of your tennis balls because he liked to hear the way it sounded when the air came out of the can." 

Me:  Really?  Seriously?  Would you please tell them not to mess with my balls?  BOYS!  DO NOT MESS WITH MY BALLS AGAIN.  :mad:

Then Owen, Shane AND Ken all start giggling.  :rolleyes:  

And the giggling and subsequent remarks continued on for at least another 10 minutes.  :-|

Gah.

Boys.  Sheesh.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Standoff

My mom and dad have a new addition to the family.  Her name is Sophie and she is a spoiled princess.  Well.  I really don't know if that is true but I'd imagine it's not far from the truth.

And I'm totally jealous of the attention that the new baby is getting from her parents.  Susan and I are plotting revenge against her.

But we really don't have to do anything.  My parents older children, (you know, the ones between Susan and I and this spoiled princess) Sam and Sadie (the cats, of course!), are doing our dirty work for us.

Apparently Sophie (the puppy if you haven't figured out yet) has figured out that Sam (the mean cat) is a force not to be messed with.


But she figured out quickly (according to my mom) that she needed to be allies with Sadie, the fat cat, who couldn't care less what anyone does.  Because if Sophie is a princess then Sadie is THE queen.


So if you're wondering who won the battle of the hall standoff, mom said it was no contest.

Sam.  The mean cat.  LOL.

I guess mean beats princess every time.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Picture of the Day

I haven't had a picture of the day in a while.  Enjoy!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Welcome New Blogger!

Shane has started a blog.  The main focus of his blog is to review books that he's read for kids his age. 

Check out The Readers Heaven.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Ladies First

Ken's mom Joan retired at the end of last year and they held a retirement party last night in DC for her.  The boys came up for it.  And yes.  They had to wear monkey suits.  :p

According to Ken's business partner and his wife, they were "sidled up to the bar" with Owen waiting to order a drink when Don told Owen "age before beauty" and stuck out his hand for Owen to go first in ordering his soda.

Without skipping a beat, Owen stuck out his hand to Don and responded "Oh no.  Ladies first.  I insist."

He was talking to Don.  Not Don's wife.  

LOL :D

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Bed Night!

There is nothing better than clean sheet night.

Well, except for brand new bed night. 


Woohoo.  New bed night!


Aw.  Owen's like a big boy now.  No more toddler bed.  :)

Monday, January 10, 2011

A New Sport? LAX

Owen is trying a new sport. 

Lacrosse.


In action!  Follow the red helmet.


Go Owen!


When I first signed him up, his first response was "Mooommmm.  You know you put me in something that has boys and sticks, right?  You know what THAT means"!

Gah.  How right he was.

He was playing backfield (or whatever it's called) and wasn't seeing much action.   Well.  Except for this pesky little kid who was assigned to stay on Owen.

That kid took his job seriously.  He was about a foot shorter than Owen and was all over Owen.  Following him everywhere.  Sticking his stick in Owen's face.  Generally being a pesky little kid.


So Owen did what any boy would do.  He took his stick and hit the kids' stick really hard and told him to go away.  Really I don't blame him.  *I* wanted to go out there and do the same thing.  That kid was super annoying.  SUPER.

And, in Owen's defense, I did see him warn that kid about five times to get off of him.

Owen  then switched sides and was guarded by some other kid.  But this kid was a little bigger than Owen.  He walked up to Owen and took his stick and hit Owen's stick really hard and walked off.

And Owen was having none of that.  Owen chased the kid down and took his stick, said something to the kid, and then wacked that kids stick about as hard as he could.

Such a proud mom moment. 


His mouth guard kept coming out, falling onto the field and he kept having to take his gloves off to put it back in.  (Um.  Gross.)  He finally got fed up with it and shoved it into his glove and put his glove back onto his hand.  Being the awesome parents that we are, Ken and I both gave him a thumbs up. 


But my best not-too-proud moment was when I texted my friend Donna and asked he to come dress Owen for his game before we left.  Because I had no idea how to get the gear on him.


Donna's son is in high school and plays lacrosse.  Her advice?  "Tell Owen to aim for the area "between" the pads."  :eek:

I guess Owen was right about boys and sticks.  


 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing shakes out.  I know that it's a fast paced game once the kids know what they're doing.  I'm just not sure that Owen can hold his attention long enough to get to that point.  :p

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Ken, your 2010 Brookstone Fantasy Football Champion!  First out of the league to win twice.


The Man.  The Myth.  The Legend.

Yes sir.  That is a marked man right there.  They're all gunning for you, hon!  It's personal now.  They're all out to take you down now. 

Woot!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

A Present for Me?!?!

A friend of mine told me that she had a present for me.  She said that she saw it and thought it was perfect for me.  She said that she got it before Christmas but didn't give it to me then because it wasn't a Christmas present.  It was just a random present.  Because she saw it and thought it was perfect for me.

Can I just say that a) I have been known to buy presents right before Christmas because I see it and hold it until after for the same reason and b) I love to buy random things that I see when I'm out just because "it reminds me of you". 

So anyway, I guess you're wondering what "it" was.

"It" is the most perfect present ever.  She so totally pegged me.

First, it's a super cute charm necklace.  I love cute!  I love charms!  They're just so personal.  And so fun!


Second, check out the charms.  They are so totally perfect for me!

One is a tennis racquet.  One is a princess crown and the third is a happy smiley face holding a star septor and it has a flower as a hairbow.


I LOVE MY FRIEND!  She is so awesome and such a good egg. 

Friday, January 7, 2011

The Inner Planets by Shane

Anyone want to learn a little bit about the planets?  Here's a video presentation that Shane put together for his science teacher on the planets.  Be sure to watch the ending credits.  =)



Happy Friday!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

An inventor? A Dreamer? A Bit of Both?

Shane is obsessed with time travel and time space continum.  He watches all kinds of shows about space, planetary weather and when he can catch shows about Steven Hawkings, he's all over it.  He spends his time doing mathematical calculations trying to figure it out.

The science channel is, as you probably guessed it, his favorite channel.

In conjunction with the time space continum, he is also obsessed with inventing stuff.  His inventions aren't always related to time-space continum.  They do, however, always have a mathematical component that include specific detailed drawings about how the invention will work.

I love it when I come across his drawings.


I'm pretty sure that I was never this inquisitive and I know that I'm still not this smart. So is he an inventor?  A dreamer or a bit of both?  I can't wait to see where he ends up.  I'm betting engineering of some sort.  What do you think?

Monday, January 3, 2011

What's Important to You?

Everyone has something that is important to them.

As we all know, Owen would die without football.  Well.  Maybe not die but his life would be so much more boring.

And apparently today is a big day in football.  It's the day when the playoff brackets are finalized.  (Or something like that.  ;)).

As soon as Owen woke up, he headed straight for the TV remote and turned on ESPN to Sports Center, got a piece of paper and a pencil and got to work.

This is what I found after he left for school.


I guess we know what's important to Owen.  The NFL playoffs.

I :heart: that kid.  :)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Time Capsule

I'm a packrat.  I admit it.  I have my blanket and teddy bear from when I was little, old newspapers from my high school and junior high and records from when I was young. 

And cassette tapes. Yes.  Cassette tapes.  I guess I just dated myself.


Even back then, I was apparently obsessed with the label machine.  And I wanted everyone to know that they better back off of my tape.


Because that was my special, favorite tape.  Don't be making fun of my Air Supply tape.  You know you had one too so stop judging.  lol  


Pretty sure Susan wore this tape out. 


That was back in the day where the record labels put the lyrics to the songs inside the tape cover. 


And you actually got a warranty on your tape.  Check out the price of the tape.  And I'm pretty sure that I had to save up to buy it.


And if you grew up in my era, you probably had several of these little babies below so you could record songs off of the radio.  I would listen to my "boom box" when I went to bed and I would hang my hand over the side and hit the "play and record" buttons (together of course!) every time a song came on that I liked.


I love it when I find these little time capsules in the storage.  I forgot completely that I had the tapes.  It was fun looking through them.  It made me smile.  :)