A Wii? For Me?

I have loved the 30's thus far. I finally feel like I have put my young careless ways behind me and matured into a responsible adult. Then again, maybe not.

Apparently, the antics that earned me the nickname KRASHann are still popping up here and there.

After a long streak of driving without incident, I backed into a garbage can for the second time in my life racing off to meet Brent for a very last minute (Can you meet me in 10 minutes?) birthday lunch rendezvous. The garbage men had just dumped our tote and then put it directly behind my car. Not my fault!

I inspected the damage and saw nothing amiss and swore Caroline to secrecy. But of course, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Hey, Dad, Mom crashed our car." So he strolled back and noticed what I had missed. My back tail light had a hole in it.

Sorry, Honey, but you're the one that insisted I hurry.

My date didn't yell or swear and still treated me to a pizza buffet. He mentioned that he'll go to his favorite junkyard and find me another light. It's worked every time for the Buick. Maybe we will get lucky again.

Camille and Savannah stayed up late the night before decorating and planning a breakfast buffet including a handwritten menu of course.

Savannah gave me some jewelry that she had paid top dollar for at Target. I put the earrings on right away. Kennon made the bracelet I have on in the photo and then performed a piano solo and sang a original score she wrote just for me.

Brent bought me a new watch. Recently the $7 Walmart one that has been amazing for 3 years, disappeared. This new one has a lot to live up to.

Savannah made a cake all by herself while Brent and I were home teaching on Sunday. Then she got bored and didn't feel like frosting it. I refused to frost my own cake this year, so Brent and Camille finished it off about 7 p.m. when it was time to sing and he realized that we had no cake.

Brent was anxious from the time he got home to get on with the party. He was frustrated that we had to worry about dinner, cake and dishes. He kept saying everything was taking so long. Finally when all that stuff was over he asked us to come upstairs and see a video he had made for me. Really? I was pretty excited about that.

Turns out there was no homemade video at all but a Wii installed on the TV. Every recent holiday he says to me, "Maybe we should get an XBox or a Wii. . for the kids ". Unfortunately for him I am not and have never been a video game girl. Talk about a waste of time. So I always talk him out of it.

So finally he figured out the only way he could get some video games. . . for the kids.

On Kashann's birthday she doesn't get the chance to weigh in.

So Mama got a Wii. There was lots of screaming going on in our bedroom for about two hours. Marcus had just been put to bed in the closet and it woke him up. We left him there screaming till he gave up after 20 minutes. He really wanted to find out what was going on behind his bedroom wall.

Too bad Brent's birthday comes first. I have really been wanting to give our bedroom a whole new look. New curtains, bedspread, paint, a big headboard. Brent says "Yeah, right, " every time it comes up.

Maybe fathers day I will spring for a little romantic surprise. I am thinking purple. . . no maybe pink.

Actually I was totally cool about my gift. I am going to give the Wii a try and do my best to kick back a waste some time with the family. Plus I am also thinking:

IF we HAVE to have a Wii it better be mine, so I can decide who, when and how much time is wasted on it. They are going to have to grovel when they want to play it.

And IF they have been perfect, I MAY just let them.

Making you all jealous

Kennon and Savannah love a surprise and a party. They set one up for us while we were out on our date. Savannah decorated my spot with several things she had either secretly bought when she was at the dollar store with me (the glass rose), candy she saved from her school valentine's party, and a $2 bottle of lotion she bought from Kennon. I guess she has a store like her momma. She got her goods from her birthday party last week.

Kennon made up a spot for her Dad and he got a dollar. And the house was clean. These babysitters are the best!

Kashann got . . . .ROSES! and Chocolate. They were in the Buick. Doesn't take much to make me happy. I love surprises too. Even if they are from Aldi.
Last night we had a little family Valentine's party with chocolate fondue at our house. Pretty good for recycled chocolate. They were throwing out the leftovers from the chocolat fountain after the dance and Brent stopped them just in time. It bothered me that we were eating chocolate that had been dipped in by the ward. But not enough to stop eating it.

Hot date in the cultural hall

I love to dance so I was a little upset when I saw bright lights, and tables piled high with board games for the Valentines DANCE. But thanks to couples more adventurous than us, there was soon a crowd out on the floor. I danced for the first 15 minutes on my own. After several people pointed out that I was dancing alone, Brent noticed and joined me. Mr. BYU Ballroom, Thayne and his partner, Natalie.
My date and I and a little of Adrian. Chelsea, Brent thought of you when he picked out his shirt.
Camille's favorite orange man, Dave with his lovely wife, Steph.
Richard and his little lady Ella. His other sweetheart was sick and Ella was happy to oblige.
For many it was a family affair. Trey loves the slow songs just like his momma.
Natalie laughing after Br. Dayton steals a kiss.
Lady in red, Rachel with her main squeeze, Ryan.
After the dance, in the buick with my hot date. This is the car where it all began. We have so many buick stories but the memory we hold the dearest- 13 years ago we had our first kiss in this spot right here.

Flight 3407

This morning our alarm clock radio woke us up with the news of Flight 3407 crashing near the Buffalo airport, in the Town of Clarence, last night at 10:20. All 49 people on board were killed, along with one man living in the home that was directly impacted when it crashed. A mother and daughter were able to escape from the house uninjured. So amazing that it just hit the one house. It is still burning now 10 hours later.

It is a sad day for western New York. My heart breaks for the grieving families and friends of flight 3407 that are devastated today.


When tragedy strikes close to home, it really hits you that our time here on earth is so short. I am resolved to live better, love more, and be more grateful for the many blessings I enjoy daily.

In defense of the Funny Book

When I started this blog a year and a half ago I said it was going to be our funny book. So I write the things we say and do that I think we might laugh at some day. And just because my way of showing affection for my husband is publicly disparaging him for our funny book doesn't mean you all can't show your affection in different ways on your blog. We are recording our history when we blog. Go ahead and tell it like it is in your family. I would hate for anyone to not write something because Kashann made them feel stupid for saying that their husband is awesome for doing something. And for the record Brent does lots of sweet things for me (maybe not specifically on Valentines).

Like he has written and sung at least 3 original songs for me. I will let you know if and when he does something like that again. I can hope that the only reason he is practicing away on his guitar all this last month is he is getting ready to serenade me on Saturday.

I just like remembering things he says and holding them against him. He is such good blogging material. The kids are also pretty good but they're kids and you got to go easy on'em. If Brent complains that I am making him look bad, I just say, "Well you said it."

Maybe I need to just be a better wife. . .

Naaaah, I don't think so, because when I read back in the archives we both love the memories. One of the things that we really love/appreciate about each other is that we both don't take life too seriously.

Sometimes I am a little sensitive. Like the time Brent told me as I was preparing for a solo at church that I have more of a choir voice. . .

Ooops, I did it again. I guess because he makes these type of comments I know that he's with me because he loves me. It has very little to do with my talents, my looks, or even my cooking. He doesn't have a trophy wife and he is fine with that.

Anyways, blog away. . .

Though I still might skip the valentine blogs until I can be a better example and keep the tenth commandment.

That's the one about coveting your neighbor's valentines day, right?

Kashann's exploiting us!

If any of you haven't noticed, my wife has an excellent memory.....as long as it serves her best interest or makes her blog a better read. If I could only remember 10% of the funny things she says I could easily top anything she has on all of us put together. I mentioned this after a couple of my kids complained of being embarrassed by some recent posts. Kennon quickly brought up an example of Kashann opening her mouth before thinking. We were over at some friends and Kashann saw this huge stuffed animal. She asked where they got it and the husband said, "Her mother bought it." Kashann said, "Don't you just hate it when your mother-in law buys junk like that, cluttering up your house." He then said, "No, it was our kid's mother". (and of course she was sitting in the same room with us)

I seriously need to start keeping notes because she says something weekly that I tell myself not to forget but by the next day I can't remember it. When our oldest kids were too young to spell, Kashann asked for some m&m's and I scolded her for not asking the request in code to keep our kids from begging for them too. She said, "Oops. Sorry. Could you please give me some F'n Fs. I laughed for about five minutes before she finally figured out what she said.

For any of you who have ever been offended by something Kashann has said, get over it. Trust me when I say there was no malice intended but that's just Kashann. My new goal is to stop, find a paper and pen, and write down every funny thing my wife says from now on. If history repeats itself I should have plenty of material for a book before we leave Buffalo.

I am going start with text rather than photos. It seems like since I got my fancy computer and started uploading my own photos all the time - blogging is a chore that I don't look forward to. So today I am going to just write like the good old days on my old computer and not constrict myself to photo captions. So get ready for rambling.

Marcus walking is old hat around here so he's had to learn something new to get our attention. He can now "Mooo" like a cow and "Quack" like a duck. Savannah asked me yesterday if he is really early to do this. They all think their brother is the smartest ever. His favorite word is "Yeah" so we all get a kick out of asking him crazy questions and having him smile and give us another "Yeah". "Do you want a cracker?" "YEAH" "Do you want a drink?" "YEAH" "Do you want a . . . spank?" "YEAH"

Camille is also quite a smarty lately and loving her new first grade writing skills. She's always leaving me notes, especially when she is sad. Twice lately she was sent to her room for a temper that she has a terrible time controlling without a time out. After a few minutes of quiet she pokes her head out of her room and throws a letter down the stairs for mom. One letter said, "Im sory. I nid love." - I'm sorry, I need love.
Then a couple days later she was sent up to her room and threw down "giv me love mom"

It seems like a great way to vent her anger and calm down enough to come out of her room. I think she has middle child syndrome and really does need more love. I am working harder to "giv" her some.

Caroline was selected to play the elephant bird in her sister's school musical. She is supposed to sit quietly in an egg for an entire song before popping out for the big finale! She is VERY excited, so much so that I am sure that they better make an egg with a latch and keep it locked till the BIG moment.

Of course Camille had a huge fit when she found out she was the only sister not in the play. They won't let first graders try out but her four year old sister got a part. What? Luckily their music teacher caught wind of the family tension she had created and decided that Camille will be the only first grader to perform on stage. She is now a part of the circus and will wear a big popcorn vendor box. For some reason the idea of her walking around wearing a box keeps reminding me of Scout playing the ham in the first grade show in To Killing a Mocking Bird.

Not a glamorous roll but Camille so far is just glad to be included. We really get the special treatment at that school. I think it's all due to Brent and the fact that he is the only school father they haven't seen show up at the school wearing a wife beater tank top.

Seussical the Musical is April 1 and 2. Let us know if you want to see Kennon and Savannah duking it out on stage, Camille wearing a box, and Caroline in an egg crashing the show.

And we had another Birthday last week. Brent always says when it comes to birthdays I over do it. How many times have I heard the story about how one birthday his mother just gave him a pair of pants? So I got him a pair this year and wrapped'em up for his birthday Saturday. As I presented him with the gift I said, "Now let us know if this is all you need this year and you we can just forget about that pile of presents over there."

He didn't get it. But he did like the pants. Maybe his mom was right and that's all it takes and I have really ruined my own kids by spoiling them.

Besides the addition of a great pair of pants, it might be said that Brent didn't have the best birthday ever. I mean first of all who wants to turn 39 in dental school? Add in the fact that he got two tickets his birthday week. Oh, and Savannah fell asleep in our bed Friday night watching a movie with me so he turned 39 sleeping on the couch. The first thing I heard on Saturday, the morning of his birthday, was the front door slamming?? After a bad night on the couch he awoke with a start remembering he had never moved his car off the street.

What kind of a cop writes a guy a ticket on his birthday? The same cop that has signed all 5 of our parking tickets on this street. Officer #87. How much would Brent love to get #87 in his dental chair?

His other ticket this week was for failing to do a YEARLY inspection on the Buick. So, short story, my birthday boy was way too upset for the birthday present I surprised him with. I had scheduled his FIRST EVER massage, an hour long appointment with Shana. Truthfully, it killed me to make the appointment. Even with the student discount and the fact that it was a birthday splurge, I thought it was a waste of our precious money. But my stressed out Brent is always talking about how nice it would be to have a true massage and I thought, "Every 40 years is probably not too often".

Turns out we are both "Cheapos" (right, Kennon?) and he said, "Thanks but no thanks, honey. I just can't do it." I called Shana with the bad news and then gave him my best Swedish Massage and he didn't even need the student discount. After the massage I think he loosened up a bit and even allowed me to take him out for his free Red Robin Burger.

I can't believe he is going on 40! I am suddenly very concerned about stuff like heart disease and diabetes. I 'm thinking about tough love and considering putting an end to constantly restocking his bag of peanut M & M's that are a permanent fixture in his underwear drawer.

It's so sad that even on his birthday I can't help harassing him. Maybe on Valentines day I will sweeten up.

Then again, I am thinking of skipping the valentine's posts altogether. I can't handle hearing all the lovey, dovey thoughtfulness of all the perfect husbands out there. Brent and I are good. . . And I don't need to be reminded of all the stuff your husband is doing to blow you away for Valentines, because then I may start feeling sorry for myself for no reason. The way I see it the more we brag about our husbands the more we mess up each other's marriages. So I feel it is my blogging obligation to to make my husband look a little bad once in a while and then you can all feel so great about yours. I had to get a picture of Brent and his guitar. Like everything else we left his real one in Washington. This is the $7 Target one he stole from my store.

We do have a family tradition for Valentine's day. I make lots of red and pink stuff, like strawberry's on waffles and smoothies and have a special family breakfast. The kids may or may not get a little gift or goodie bag to go along with it. Don't want them to start expecting it so I try to have a famine every other year to keep them grateful and not surprised. This year may be the going without year. Savannah asked me the other day if she could HAVE A NEW DRESS FOR HER VALENTINES PRESENT.

Valentines PRESENT? I don't know what you are talking about, I told her. I think she is just having a hard time coping with the season ever since her teacher canceled Valentines. I guess she got mad one day last week and said, "That's it! I am canceling Valentines! I don't want to see a single Valentine come into my classroom." Savannah is furious. She had already spent over an hour creating her special valentines out of doilies and magazine cutouts of animals.

If only I would've had the foresight to save the tub of stuff I brought home from Angela's Shop & Swap ladies night out a couple weeks ago, I would have plenty of Valentine presents. Like an idiot I handed them all out the next morning completely forgetting about free christmas, birthday, and err.. . Valentines presents. Then that night we were over at Stephanie's for some Rock Band. She had missed the swap and wanted to know if it was any good. I told her I came home with just few things. Then, I looked down and mentioned I was wearing Erica's shirt. . . Oh, and Brent over there is wearing John's. Then I examined our other kids and for the first time noticed that all of us but Caroline were wearing swap items. Thanks, ladies.

I've been calling Brent, "John" all week since every morning he comes down in another swap shirt. And Brent's the one who told me not to go and if I did please don't bring anything home.

As for me, I am busy playing the piano for hours and hours. After a hundred times playing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, I still can't keep up with the sunbeams. But I have made it through two weeks of primary. I cried all night the night before my big debut. I was doing great till a certain someone heard me practicing about 10 p.m Saturday night and remarked, "You're telling me you have to play that song tomorrow?"

After that my confidence was shattered and I couldn't hit a note all night. The next day I murdered every song but miraculously always got the last note, and that's what counts right?

As I left the primary room the first week, I told the primary presidency to talk it over and let me know. I guess no one was even paying attention to my weak efforts because they just looked confused. . . and I have still have the job.

I really love church callings. They give me so many opportunites I never would have had. And I seriously just love thinking of myself as a pianist.

Kennnon is 11

Is she really only 11? Sometimes she seems so much older. Heck, she's been babysitting for years, wearing high heels around the house and anywhere else she can sneak off in them since 8, begging for earrings since she was 6 (and not getting them so making her own out of random items) doing her own hair since she was 4, accompanying for the primary for the last year. We are trying hard to not let her grow up but she is so intent on it.

Kennon was frusterated this year as her birthday approached, because we had just made a new family rule. No Sleepovers! ( Believe me, I have my reasons)
She thought her 11th birthday was going to be the worst.
To make it up to her I let her invite ALL the girls in her class over for a girls night out the night before her birthday. Pizza, games, and lots of Karaoke and they were all out the door by 10 p.m. Awesome!
The one on the front left is 13 and wasn't invited. About an hour before the party her mother called and asked if her older daughter (who Kennon has never met) could come too. Not knowing what to say and figuring that she had to work or something I said, "Do you need her to?" Then with some major attitude, "I don't NEED her too." Then she just waits for me to say something. "Well", I said, "Kennon won't even let her own sisters come to the party. . . she wants them to all stay upstairs." She says nothing. Finally because I hate saying no to people. "Well, I guess someone else's sisters are better than her own."
So she brings them both. This girl ate tons of food, belched loudly all night, and as she was leaving asked me for a bowl of ice cream for the road. I really need to learn to say No.
I told Kennon I would order pizza. I was really going to do it. But as usual we ended up with homemade. Being a farm girl, I always dreamed of living in town and ordering pizza. But I guess you can't take the farm out of the girl. I've tried many times to pick up the phone and call for a pizza. . .but I just can't do it.
Savannah bought this dress for Kennon from my store upstairs. Kennon has been begging for it ever since it showed up in the store, but hasn't been able to earn her five beans yet to buy it. Camille bought her a pair of pink tights to go with it -2 beans.

The next day on her birthday Brent in school then at the church till 10 p.m He took Kennon and Savannah with him and they had a church activity skating downtown. The rest of us were home waiting for cake. Caroline and Camille fell asleep on the couch. Because we know what happens when we do ANYTHING without them we woke them up to sing and have mud pie with us. Caroline tried but she was too tired and cold for ice cream cake.
Camille made it through the song and all her cake before being carried up to bed.

We love birthdays this time of year. One month from now we over half of us will be a year older. Way too much cake!

Savannah is always complaining that she is freezing. This stool right by the fire and is her permanent hang out. When she isn't here she can be found in one of the following two places.
Here. (After hours and hours practicing this last month she can hang out upside down for over a minute, as long as she has a wall nearby.)
Or here in her snuggie, (her Christmas present that Caroline referred to as a snuggie. Now we all do.)
Speaking of Caroline, here's what she's been up to. Soaking her big toe. Last weekend I trimmed her toe nails and as a result gave her an ingrown toe nail. Dr. Casper scolded Mom, squeezed out the puss, and then had me wait on her while she sat around like a princess for a couple days till it was all better.


She also found a little boy who needed some love last Sunday. Meet Henry. . a.k.a Hanky Panky. Kennon caught them smooching just before we had dinner with his parents. Caroline said that she did it, "because he was so cute".Thanks to Savannah and Camille you can expect place cards if you show up at our house for dinner. This is what she does when I tell her to set the table. I come in and find the table is missing forks or knives, but there's always a unique surprise with our names on it. Last Sunday she created these. I stole this picture off of Caroline's boyfriend's blog.