Happy Birthday to me

So I just had my most dreaded birthday; the big three-O. I figure I am now officially old.

Joey decorated my birthday cake this year. I thought he did a great job: He had a great time, and it tasted really good, too. Jared and I went to out to dinner and a movie to celebrate (X-Men and Olive Garden), and conveniently Jared's mom and dad were in town to allow us the freedom with no kids. They took the kids to Monster's vs. Aliens in 3D, which Joey said was the coolest thing he'd ever seen, and Tyler and Jason said they did not like it (although they watched the entire thing with no complaints). They loved the glasses, and wore them for days after.

Why My Mom Is The Best

She told me she loved me every day. There was never a shortage of hugs and kisses. When she went on band trips she would store up hugs in my favorite stuffed animal so I could still have her hugs while she was gone. She got me Cabbage Patch kids, Care Bears and My Little Ponies because she knew it would make me happy. She drove me hundreds of miles to find the right dress for graduation, and let me go to Ricks because that's what I wanted. She's an amazing Grandma and my kids adore her. She loves them almost as much as I do, and I think they love her a little bit more than they love me. :) My goal in life is to be as patient and loving as she is. I just want to be as a good a mom to my kids as she was to me.

I LOVE YOU MOM!!

Fishing

Last night both Jason and Tyler caught fish. Jason's jumped of the hook and flopped around on the ground before Jared got it back in the water.




Admiring the catch (while I tried not to look at it - yuck!)

They like fishing, but they have no patience, so if they don't catch a fish within 5 minutes they get bored and want to go play at the park. I told them after we caught one more fish they could go play. So that was part of their excitement, and as soon as they looked at the fish they were off to the park.
Oh, and we got a new camera, so now we have videos with sound! And nicer pictures, too.

Joey's Fishing Class

I really hate fishing. I pretty much hate everything about it; the smell, the nasty bait, everything dirty and germy, the slimy fish etc., but Jared likes to fish and Joey is really interested in it, and so we signed him up for a fishing class, and he is really enjoying it. He's learned how to tie the hook on, and gets a lot of practice casting and putting the worm on the hook and stuff. Last night he got lots of bites, a few stolen worms, but no fish. He said it was tons of fun anyway.

Out with the crappy, in with the . . . slightly less crappy

We got this old Honda about 5 years ago, and it has been a great car for us. Very reliable. But it finally broke down last week (it has about 210,000 miles on it, so it really was about time). It was going to be $700 to fix it, and really it wasn't worth it, so we decided the time had come to bid it a fond farewell and move on. So we found this honda that is 6 years newer, with only 86,000 miles on it. So it really isn't anything that great, but it is "less crappy" and if it lasts us another 5 years we'll be thrilled.

On our way home from picking it up we stopped at Cabella's, which is a sporting goods store that has an aquarium full of huge trout and bass. Tyler didn't know what an aquarium was, so I told him it was a really big fish tank. The kids loved it, and even got to see them feed the fish, which was really entertaining; these poor little goldfish swimming for their lives, getting gobbled up by these massive, monstrous fish. But as we were standing in front of it, Tyler said "where's the tank?" I said, pointing to it, "This is it." He looked around, seemed confused, but didn't say anything else. So we looked around the store, fed some fish in a pond, and left. As we were walking to the car Tyler stopped and said, "Wait! We didn't see the tank!" And it dawned on me that he thought we were going to see an army tank. Poor kid, he was so disappointed when I explained it to him.

First Annual Easter Egg Hunt

The city had a huge easter egg hunt at a nearby high school on Saturday. Since My kids have never done one I thought it would be really fun to take them. They were really excited, especially Jason, who is a candy addict. He even had a strategy: he made sure he wore his fastest soccer shoes. Unfortunately it was really cloudy and cold that morning, and before the hunt started Tyler was asking "Can we go home now?" It started raining as soon as they were allowed on the field.
There was mostly salt water taffy, which got soggy in the rain.

Joey got a lot of eggs, some of which had prizes. He got three cerificates for a free week of karate.

We were on a hill and Tyler was rather irritated because he couldn't stand up.

When we got back in the car they all agreed it was worth it.

Overheard

Jason, swinging his light saber: "I'm Darf Mater" Jason: You're frog swimmed to the top.

Joey: It's not "swimmed," Jason, it's "swammed."