Happy 43rd Birthday!!!

The children love stories about R and I.  They are always asking for stories from when we were kids.  So here are 43, hopefully, stories/fun facts staring R.

1. When R was a little guy he was at the pool with his Uncle Tom and he was trying to do a back flip that resulted in a scar on his nose.  

2.Once when Rob was a teenager he was driving down the road and saw a fire in an apartment building.  He stopped the car and ran in to help the people living there.

3. Bill and Rob liked to play after school, they would wrestle and play in the woods behind his house. 

4. In High School Rob won the Top Science Student Award

5. Rob had a job at Arby's in high school.

6. Rob played the trumpet for years.  One time they were having a show and his trumpet part flopped off.  He broke formation and marched over, picked it up, and marched back.  It was a seamless.

7. When Rob was a cub scout he and the whole family were at a cake decorating contest and they came home and found they had been robbed.  This was scary and traumatic.

8.  As a boy scout Rob and Abba went camping.  One trip was really cold and they like to tell the story of freezing in the cave.

9. As a little guy he played baseball and then again as an adult played on a softball team.

10.  Rob and Hannah took karate.  They got up to purple belt before we moved to MD.

11.  He rode a century ride with his dad last year.  They had a lot of fun.

12. His favorite calling has been Ward Mission Leader.

13. His favorite dessert is Angel Food Cake.  I just learned a new recipe with pineapple and he likes it better than the original.

14. He likes to play video games.

15. He likes fruity desserts.

16. Every Tuesday night we go to Salsas for a date.

17. Rob is a great swimmer.

18. On our honeymoon he saw a sea turtle while we were snorkeling.

19. He likes to garden and  has the nicest yard, objectively speaking :)  Every  morning I walk the dogs and look at the yards.  Our neighborhood is new, only a few years old, most of the yards are still like the builder planted it.  A couple have done a lot of work and they look great.  A few have done considerable work, including Rob's and his is the nicest.

20. His favorite show is NCIS.  (or maybe that's mine)

21. He loves water sports.

22. When we were dating we had these good friends, Al and Ellen, who introduced us.  Al called Ellen "Slim".  Rob thought that was a nice cowboy nickname.  One night, after open house, the four of us were in Ellen's classroom and Rob tried out his new cowboy nickname for me "bubba".  Al was like psst, Rob, shaking head vigorously and saying no no! It was funny.

23. We went to the Opera a few times, he had some good naps. 

24. Rob likes science fiction movies and adventure movies and chick flicks.  The first movie we saw together was Titanic.

25.  He likes jazz music and lots of other music too.

26. He doesn't love camping, but has begun to acquire camping skills because he does love his kids and they need him to camp.

27.  Every night he wishes we were having dessert.

28.  Rob has coached soccer for the last 7 years, ever since Ethan was 3 years old.

29.  He is a brilliant guy and a good leader.

30.  Fishing is his new hobby.

31. His motorcycle season is over and now we are trying to sell it.

32. When Hannah was a baby my family called him the baby hog because he never wanted anyone to hold her but him.

33.  When she was learning to walk up and down the stairs he had her wear a bike helmet because he was worried she would get hurt.

34. Conversely  child #2 crashed his first car when he was the same age because Dad let him play in the truck while he (Rob) was working on a tree and he(Ethan) released the brake, smashing Rob into said tree.  He has relaxed a lot over the years.

35.  He is thrifty (read lovingly: cheap) about most things.

36. People are always surprised to learn that he is an only child.

37.  He has a good memory.

38. At 43 he already has two granddaughters, 2 (almost) sons-in-law, 5 daughters and 1 son.  He is a loving patriarch to a growing brood.

39.  He has good balance.

40.  His hair line is receding a bit.

41. He is very supportive in times of crisis and calm, cool and collected.  And he is the throw up cleaner in our house, except 2 nights ago he was gone and I had to do it :(

42. He is a good BBQer.

43. He is funny.

Happy Birthday Honey!

pre-camp clinic

 The young women in our ward had their pre camp clinic tonight at Dennis Point Marina.  Rob went along to help Lars protect the women folk.  This afternoon I thought it would be a good idea for the two little ones and I to drive over as well and spend the evening.  They are camping pretty close to home and I didn't want to just sit around watching TV.  We had a really fun time.  The girls had lots of certifying to do.  They had foil dinners and played man hunt.  Rob taught knife sharpening and fire starting.  He brought his fishing poles and Grace caught two fish.  Several of the girls also gave it a try as did Ethan and R.  Grace was the only catcher.

We left around 10.  I intended to give the children showers before bed but when we got home I took the dogs out to the yard and when I came inside they were both conked out on their beds, in their clothes.  They were tired:)  I guess I will wash sheets tomorrow instead.  Good thing I did all the laundry today.

Grace's story from school, in her spelling

Grace and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

This is my horrible, no good, very bad day.  My bad day all started with a bad dream that was not a dream.

In the morning my mom was about to make peas for breakfast and brussels sprouts for a side dish.  Ewwww. I held the peas in hostage.  My mom made my dog bite me so she could make the peas.  I did the same with the brussels sprouts.  That was just the beginning. 

I asked if Arden could play but she had soccer.  So did Keean, Abi, Mattew and Teddy.  Madison and Ethan had lacrosse.  Of course I hated not having a friend.  For a snack my mom just happened to make broccoli, pancake,  pea, bruised apple soup.  It was a bad soup.  My mom is a bad cook.  Was she trying to annoy me?

I went to the park and Arden came home with me but I fell down and broke my leg.  It really hurt.  But that meant I could not have Arden.  I hated that.

When I got home, I made a soda gyser and I splattered on me.  It was diet coke! I had to take a bath with my dog and puppy.  It is very hard to wash a puppy and a dog.  It is hard for just one of them. 

Now that was a bad day.

some fish tales

 Grace loves to fish with her dad.  Every day she asks to go.  Yesterday she lucked out and the weather was nice and the evening was free so off they went.  Lu had the only catch of the night.  After they went to subway and caught some dinner:)

Meanwhile where was I?  I was at R. S. Sister Woodward, from the Calvert ward, came to speak about relationships and she did an excellent job.  I emailed her this morning for a copy of her slides so I will put some more notes down in a day or two.  It was a profound and uplifting night.  I am glad I went, normally I don't carve the time out for the extra meetings and I really need to.

Wednesday night at Activity Days the girls had a cookie swap and made mothers day cards.  Grace brought home a cute bag with treats for me.  It was very sweet, literally and figuratively.  R was fishing:)  H and E were home, H wasn't feeling well and E had no cubs because they have an activity this weekend.

After school yesterday kind of out of the blue Hannah said her side was really hurting and she felt nauseous.  I gave her some Tylenol and tums and sent her to bed.
In the morning she said she slept well but still felt really badly and it hurt when she was up and walking around.  I let her stay home to rest and she slept most of the day.  When I got home from Kindergarten she was up watching TV and ate so I figured she was on the mend but when we all got home for the night R was concerned because she was feeling much worse.  Mainly we were worried about the pain in her side, was it a kidney infection?  After consulting "webmd" and my brother we decided to go ahead and go to the ER.  She and I were there until 1am.  She has a virus.  Once there she reported feeling just fine (shakes head with a sigh)  It is a scary thing taking a kid to the doctor, you never know what will come out of their mouths.  Just last week I took Lu to the doc for pink eye and she made us sound like lunatics.  No one ever died of embarrassment right?
"Do you wear a seat belt in the car?" asks the nurse.
"well, not always", answers a sweet little blonde girl turning to me "remember that time mom when ....."
"Do you like school?"
"No"
"Do you ever get in trouble at home"
"Yes, all the time...my parents lock me in my room"
"Do you watch TV alot?"
"Oh yes, my mom makes us watch hours and hours of it so she doesn't have to play with us"
Meanwhile I am trying to smile and look normal. Finally after the interrogation is over I am allowed to take my darling home with me with instructions to wear sunscreen and bug spray, try a cut out sugary treats and reckless behavior, limit TV and a sad shake of the nurses head.

Which reminds me of a cute kindergarten story.  Yesterday we were making mothers day cards and the children were to write two sentences about something they like to do with their mothers and to draw a picture of them and their mother doing the activity.  Jack, who is cute as a button, write:s my mom and I like to dress in chain mail and go to the arena and have battles.  Sometimes there is blood.  Sometimes she sits in the stadium and watches me fight.  Then he drew a fabulous picture complete with the chain mail linked helmet and swords. I have met his mom and I am pretty sure that she does not dress up like a medieval era warrior on a regular basis...I could be wrong and Jack was very convincing, he made the other boys jealous as  they were writing about planting flowers and baking cakes and playing at the park. Just saying.

Kindergarten is extremely entertaining.

Cole Brothers Circus

Cotton Candy, Funnel Cakes, a man shot from a canon, high wire acts, clowns, tigers and elephants, trained dogs, a big voiced ring master, light up souvenirs, crowds of kids, skimpy costumes, brave performers, seedy folks...yes, we went to the circus today!

This morning as I was dropping off the boys to catch their STEM bus we saw the big top being raised on the fair grounds.  Can we go to the circus Grace immediately chimed.  The circus is cool said Ethan.  And a seed was planted.
When I got to work I sent Rob a text "the circus is in town, should we go?"

He got off work early, we rushed home from school and braved the rain and went to the big top.  It was exciting and fun.  Grace took an elephant ride, the first of her life.  We cheered and gasped and wished that we had such exotic pets and exciting lives.

Then we came home and were covered with puppy kisses, sat around our table eating left over enchiladas, did some homework and felt grateful for our family and our home and the lives we have.

weekend recap

 Friday night Chelsea came over and helped Han babysit while we went to OG with P/K.  When we got home from dinner we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding with the girls.  "you don't eat no meat?"

Saturday R worked then he and Pete took the boat out to try and catch some fish.  They did not.  Amber and Grace went too and Lu had a good time.  It got pretty rough out there so they abandoned ship and went to the lake where Grace hooked one but didn't land it.  End of daily fishing saga.  They got home late and she was one tired little girl:)

Meanwhile E went to John's bday party.  We all did chores aplenty then picked up Alyssa and we went to the mall.  We like to wander and eat mall food.  We were on a Hannah event mission, she has graduation and the 8th grade dance coming up.  Made some progress.

Sunday really is my favorite day of the week.  Our testimony meeting was really wonderful, I love going to church and feeling the spirit and being with friends and learning the truths of the gospel.  Sunday School was good.  We have a new gospel doctrine teacher, he did a good job.  Then was RS and Kitty taught an excellent lesson.

Since it was Cinco de Mayo we invited the Martines over for dinner.  Chelsea and Eric came after church and Han and Chels made dinner. They made enchiladas, salsa, Spanish rice and apple pie enchiladas for dessert. Everything turned out delicious.  After dinner we had a pinata which the kids enjoyed:)

When everyone left we took a family doggy walk and enjoyed the warmish evening.

first fillet

 Tonight R got home earlyish to show his motorcycle.  He's had it on the market for a while and we are hoping it will sell soon.  Anyway when he was done he went fishing and brought one home.  It was slimy :)  We all gathered around the counter to watch him fillet it.  Kind of gross really.  I like faceless food.  It will be nice when we have a dinner caught by him though.

 Here Ethan is explaining some fishy fact to Hannah.

This evening Dani and Tate got on skype and helped Hannah and I shop on line for a dance dress.  We looked at a lot and finally found one to order.  Yay! Hope it fits (fingers crossed)