20 + years

20 years....and that's just from high school graduation. these girls have known me a LOT longer than that.

our high school reunion was last weekend and i'm not sure what is more amazing:

1. we're still friends
2. we all like each other's husbands
3. the husbands all like each other
4. we ate mexican food for every meal
5. i didn't bring my camera
6. none of us wore pink to the reunion

the truth is, i pray my kids have friends like these. the kind of friends that after 20 years...lisa is still on time to dinner, kerry is nothing if not prepared, the only one with a camera and me, well, i was late to dinner and i downloaded this picture from kerry's blog.

some things never change. and that's not a bad thing.

"better than Disney..."

No, I'm not kidding. at least that's what our kids said.

this year we decided it was time to try camp. we figured since none of our kids have ever experienced camp we would go for family week. there are several families from our church who go to Pine Cove and seeing that the camp is in Texas we knew it HAD to be good.

we had no idea...

it was camp...lots of camp type stuff like crafts (my favorite!), swimming, zip lines, canoes, horses and songs. BUT THE COUNSELORS ... they are worth every minute/hour in the car down and back.

i could type for days on how the camp really worked for each of us...the speaker we had as parents, the counselors and how they poured into our kids all week, but the only way to sum it up, the only way to help you understand how good it really was...

kids: "but we don't want to go to Disney next year...we want to come back to Pine Cove"

us: "seriously? we want to go to Disney"

kids: "this is waaaay better than Disney"

check it out. www.pinecove.com

and yes, they have "theme nights" for dinner...and yes, you dress up. and yes, rob is wearing coconuts.

pump it up

you know that feeling you had when you were little and got that ice cream cone...two scoops. remember how excited you were...and how all that excitement drained from you immediately once the ice cream hit the cement.

i'm there.

ben learned to pump himself on the swings. just this weekend....i was very excited. i've been pushing kids in swings for over 11 years now...

plop.

now that he CAN pump....i find myself wanting to push him. (or hold onto him....)

back to the blog

you would think that with all my spare time blogging would be easy.....can't.....stop....laughing....

I am blogging my own iphone commercial. here are pictures that i have due to my new phone. i can no longer carry my phone and the bazillion other things i need and my large camera. i just can't....just like i can't keep up with laundry, get enough work done while the sun is up and lose 10 lbs.

i have a camera bag application that enhances my photos. of course it helps that my kids are incredibly cute. (just sayin)

please keep all hands in car while riding...

I have been held hostage by my new iphone....i think i'm in love. now if i can just fix the 'sender invalid address' i can work my e-mail too!

rob recorded this with his iphone ... ben on the roller coaster at Six Flags.

seriously the cutest thing ever. be sure your volume is on.

:)

happy birthday!!!

we can't BE there to eat cake and drive 'em crazy....but we can wish LAUREN A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (of course it took a few tries)

belated....

rob turned 40 a few weeks ago...and of course i did exactly what he wanted. nothing.

his birthday fell on Easter this year and of course that is one of the busiest times at church so a surprise party was just NOT an option. i've tried before...it wasn't a good thing with his schedule.

SO....i did do ONE thing. i bought the worship & arts staff shirts with rob's FAVORITE saying, "I can't think of anything worse." he says it in response to most questions...of course, I added the number 40 to rob's shirt.

monday, after this birthday, rob walked into his staff meeting only to be greeted by a roomful of black I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING WORSE t-shirts.

now he can wear his new shirt while watching his real birthday present.....a new tv. that works...!

a LOT of work...

it's 80° and raining but it's Christmas at the Howard house...Christmas MUSICAL time that is...

CAMEL LOT.

i've decided we're nerds...we listen to the kids' music on itunes, watch their shows and movies...and we enjoy it all. guess that's why rob enjoys putting kids' musicals together. both caleb and sarah worked in the studio this time and a week later i had them working in the yard...yep, they both like the A/C studio more. big surprise!

anyone want to come over and help pull weeds?

(if you want to hear caleb or sarah on the recording you have to go to rob's blog...he's all fancy and posted the audio. he's smart like that)

saturday

i know some parents roll their eyes when the game schedules are posted...i, on the other hand, love it. (maybe because i know i can't be at the ball field and in the laundry room at the same time)

here are some pictures from our saturday...and sure enough, no baseball pictures. maybe it's because i was so distracted by SOMEONE asking about snacks every 3 minutes through the double-header. (and honestly, ben had plenty of snacks...and breakfast before we even got there!)

we started off with caleb's double header (no pictures)...then sarah's soccer game (ben was finally a little tired so he sat)...straight to the kids' fun run (5k) and carnival with the Predators hockey mascot, lots of fast food, cotton candy, things that inflate and dunk booths...i'm so ready for summer!!!

my mission...if i choose to accept it

ben obviously wanted something he couldn't reach...he worked his way up a chair and two beanbags to his desired destination. he was so excited to claim victory ... until he realized he needed to tell me something.

"MOM!"

(again) "you need to dust up here..."

thanks ben...now tell me something i don't know.

(can you tell we live in tennessee? wow. nice accent.)

seriously....?

i think all i said was, "just a minute...let me grab my drink before we play legos."

one of those weeks...

you know that feeling you get when you call the doctor about your sick child, the nurse says "go ahead and drive to the emergency room..." and your heart races. well, today was kind of like that....except it wasn't my child, it was the hard drive on computer and it wasn't midnight...it was first thing in the morning and it wasn't the hospital, it was Mac Authority.

after what seems like an expensive medical bill my "baby" has been upgraded, uploaded and unpacked, plugged in and is running just fine. whew.

if you are wondering how much of my work was on that hard drive....check out the picture from my late night work schedule and just take a wild guess.

(for the record...i am not complaining about work....or working, getting work or needing to work just in case someone i may work for or with or WANT to work for is reading this - is that politically correct enough to stop my rambling now)

computers...can't live with 'em...can't pick them up and throw them through the wall without unplugging them first.

no one believes me...

i know i've been busy...spring is just crazy with kids, work and school...so things suffer...laundry, dusting, grocery store runs....and now the blog. i think i'll start by updating the blog first although doing laundry just sounds so fun.

i did get an e-mail from the "blog police" inquiring about updates...nice to know someone misses our dysfunction and chaos.

i told practically everyone our Christmas tree stayed up for a looooong time. too long. no one believes me. here's proof. we decorated it for valentine's day.

sad to say we finally took the tree down. not that we couldn't find more decorations for the coming months (do you know they actually sell eggs that you can hang...weird).

dance dance...realization

the new dance craze is, of course, a video game. one you have to buy...

the school board in our county owns a DDR (dance dance revolution...for you rookies out there) and passes it around to the different schools for gym class. not a bad idea actually. the kids LOOOOOVE it.

the parents were 'invited' to join the kids and play. honestly, caleb won fair and square. granted i AM a little competitive but there was something inside me that thought...being a boy and losing to your mom infront of the whole 5th grade.....yeh, not a good thing. sarah also beat me...although she wouldn't give me a high five afterwards, she was all business.

i did laugh at the difference between sarah and caleb in gym...2nd grade girl....5th grade boy.

i promised both of them i wouldn't do anything that resembled real dancing...i wouldn't shake anything or clap my hands. they obviously got together and discussed my being "allowed" to go to their class...they agreed on a list of do's and don'ts. nice to know they can get along when they need to.

lately...

i usually post cute pictures of my kids...but lately this has been my child - my computer. i've been limping through the last few weeks dragging my computer behind me. every click brought me closer and closer to panic until TODAY....

ta-daah! it's fixed. whew. rob did something fantastic...he asked someone else how to fix it. it's almost as good as stopping for directions.

so i'm back. back working at full speed (once i get my daily diet coke) and back trying to figure out what to post on my blog.

i hope you missed me.

time

my computer is just not feeling ok lately. i think it's the hiccups but i'm worried it may be something more terminal so i spent last backing up everything. EVERYTHING. everything.

i ran across a few million pictures on my iphoto and unlike some people i will not mention by name (only because i'm married to him) i backed up the photos 'correctly' onto an external hardrive and pulled a few to share. i would post more but i'm sure the blogging world has a limit. i just thought these were pretty eye opening when compared to us 'today.'

sarah's first recital...she didn't even play, she sang the "how to hold your violin" song. she just graduated from Suzuki Book 1 this week. WOO-HOO!!!

ben...he was soooo little. this picture was taken the winter he was so sick that he just didn't grow and they ran test after test. this week he just ran and tested me over and over.

caleb...today we went to see a movie and caleb helped watch the younger kids. caleb hasn't changed much in the way he looks in this picture but he sure has grown up.

wow. time flies. well, except when your computer isn't working...then it's like time stands still.

Christmas 'miracle'

why post these pictures from Christmas....!? because it's almost one month later and these toys are STILL being played with daily. seriously.

sarah asked Santa for twin babies, "you know, the real ones from American Girl with curly hair"... Caleb asked "Santa" (he winked when he said it) for video games, "I dunno, all of them" and Ben asked for "Cars cars...the WHOLE set."

Seeing that the Christmas tree is STILL completely decorated and up...go ahead, laugh but I don't see you offering to watch the kids or come and help clean up...I realized the toys are still out and being played with which, to me, is a little bit amazing.

mini-vacation

i love blogs....i tend to "waste" time in the computer world....here are some favorites. trying to live in the design world requires a little research and updating daily so i visit several places to connect with others (ya know, something or someone other than lego, american girl of video games....call me crazy).

here are some favorites:

decor8
scrapbooks
stacy
design aglow
making it lovely

of course there are some sites that are more 'businessy' but that's no fun. enjoy.....the procrastination. :)

shutterbug

this is what happens when caleb gets hold of my camera.

happy new year...finally

the Christmas tree is still standing....fully decorated – so wishing you a Happy New Year seems right on time if you ask me.

worth a try

so with ALL that i have on my "mental" to-do list i am adding another project. well, maybe.

365 give away

this scrapbook kit is quite a thrill for those of you who scrapbook. stop laughing....i know i don't "officially" scrapbook but i do use this stuff for art projects and the only way to win this 365 kit is to blog about it on my page so i will be entered in the drawing.

i know. i never win these things either.

oh well, i did buy a lottery ticket over the weekend. i'm bound to win something.