12 X 12 - October 2012

Friday morning I awoke at 9:30 a.m. (glorious!). Sleeping in is high on the list of things I love about the kids having a day off.

I found Tucker tuckered out and laying on the floor:

I had breakfast, and then put everyone to work! However, as is often the case, I soon found them playing instead:



Tucker helped me load the dishwasher. I did make him get down, but not before snapping this picture:



Jackson and Sadie soon joined me in the kitchen where they proceeded to take bubbles out of the sink and then blow them and clap them all over the floor (Eric taught them this):



I soon sent them back to finish cleaning. Since Sadie was already done with her room, I discovered she was helping Jackson. Or I should say cleaning Jacksons room for him. Apparently Sadie was pretending to be his butler, which meant that Jacksons job was to tell Sadie what to do and Sadies job was to do it. Surprisingly they were both very happy with this arrangement:



After cleaning they headed outside to play.

Trampoline = Best Purchase Ever:



I headed out to run some errands. Driving in the car, listening to loud music, singing along, and dancing does more to elevate my mood than anything else.

 It rejuvenates me!

Like having the tendency to become obsessed with food (i.e. Donut Gems) I also have the tendency to become obsessed with certain songs. Currently that song is "Springsteen" by Eric Church. I just may have listened to it on repeat while running errands yesterday:



I arrived home to discover Eric had also arrived home! Since he was home early and the kids were home from school, we went to do a little bowling:



After which we had Chipotle for dinner. We decided to eat outside, which ended up being a little chilly for 4 members of our family. Eric thought it felt nice which proves that he has not become a true Las Vegan like the rest of us:



After eating, we went home, picked up Tucker, and did a little geocaching. Successfully finding three in 45 minutes:



It is so nice being able to finally spend time outside! The weather has been so ridiculously hot this October:



Soon after arriving back home Eric had to get ready for his Friday night soccer game and Megan had to get ready for a babysitting job:



How crazy is it that Megan now babysits for other people and gets paid?! When did she grow up?

Five For Friday - Sadie Said Edition

The fact that I get to hang out with Sadie, EVERYDAY, makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world. Seriously. She is constant entertainment, good natured, helpful, sarcastic, and hilarious.

 I completely adore her.

I have an uber-amount of stuff to record about Sade, and have decided to start with a few things she has said lately.

 

 

The kids were playing a game of would you rather in the car. Here is what Sadie asked us:

"Would you rather touch a worm, or have someone shoot you?"

 

 We all chose touch a worm.

 

 

A conversation:

Me: "Are you going to go to college."

Sadie: "No."

Me: "No?!!!" Of course you are!"

Sadie: "Only if your payin'."

 

 

 

While driving around one day, a guy in a truck flipped us off (for an entire block!) and yelled and swore at us out of his window (for an entire block!). As I was discussing his behavior with the kids,

Sadie remarked matter of factly, "Well. He must not follow Jesus."

 

 

While driving in the car I was explaining to the kids what rabies was. This conversation with Sadie followed:

Sadie: "A girl in my pre-school class has rabies."

Me: "I don't think so."

Sadie: "Yes she does."

Me: "What do you think rabies is?"

Sadie: "Well, um....It's when you need sugar for something."

Me: "Oh you mean diabetes?"

Sadie: "Yes!"

 

 

Sadie: "I really like that show called, "Small People In The Big Town." (Little People Big World)

 

 

And one bonus item:

 

Sadie was asking me to do something for her, and I told her no. She then said: "Mom, if you don't do it, I won't visit you when your old."

 

Perfection.

The Apple Test

I had a theory.

 

It being that my children, particularly Sadie, based their choice of apple off of its color and not its taste.

I couldn't believe that it was just a coincidence that Sadie's favorite color was green AND her favorite apple happened to be green.  

 

After all, how different could a green apple and a red apple taste? :)

(Here is where I admit that I have never really eaten more than a small bite of an apple.)

 

The adherence to a certain color proved frustrating to me when buying apples. I had to remember which color each particular child liked, AND I could never buy the large bags of apples (which would have saved me money) because they all liked different colors.

 

Enter: The Apple Test!

 

Blindfolded, I subjected them to 7 different kinds of apples (and one cucumber, hee, hee), and had them give each one a simple ranking.

 

Love It, Like It, Don't Like It.

 

 

The apple choices were, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Gala, Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Fuji, and Honey Crisp.

All blindfolded up:



The test begins!





This one (The Gala) proved to be universally disliked. Check out their faces:



The rogue cucumber!



The results were in.

And.....It turns out I was completely wrong!

They were actually basing their choices off of taste and not appearance.

I'm proud of them.

Sadie's Favorite: Golden Delicious (The one she has always insisted was her favorite.)
Sadie's Least Favorite: Gala/Braeburn

Jackson's Favorite: Red Delicious (The one he has always insisted was his favorite.)
Jackson's Least Favorite: Gala/Granny Smith/Honey Crisp

Megan's Favorite: The Cucumber (she isn't much of an apple lover), and the Granny Smith
Megan's Least Favorite: Gala/Braeburn

Eric and I decided to take a turn too:



It was a bit torturous for me. I had to actually spit the first one out, as I was fearful I would throw up right at the table if I had to swallow it.



It turns out that my favorite, AND Eric's favorite was the Gala. Which you may remember was universally disliked by all of the children!

My least favorite were the Golden Delicious (vomit inducing) the Fuji and the Granny Smith.
Eric's least favorite was the Honey Crisp.

It seems I have a future full of buying different kinds (and colors) of apples ahead of me.

Truck Races

Announcement:

Congratulation Cheryl for being the only person to correctly identify John "Cougar" Mellencamp's song, "Cherry Bomb" in my birthday post. Expect your prize soon!

Now onto today's post:

While I was risking my life at our last Adventure Angels activity, Eric took the kids to the World Truck Series at the Speedway. We have been to the bullring at the Speedway before, but this was everyones first time visiting the big track.

To make the race a bit more exciting they each chose a car at the start of the race to root for. According to Eric, the chosen car ended up being a revolving door of sorts, based on who was in the lead, what truck broke down, etc. I believe Megan's car ended up winning in the end, but I also believe it was the second or possibly third truck she ended up choosing.

It was loud!!! And subsequently this is how the kids watched the majority of the race:




Jackson checking out the competition:



 I do believe they all had an enjoyable night at the races:




Although I also had an enjoyable night, I must admit that as I was hanging off a ledge 900 feet above the ground at the Stratosphere I was wishing pretty hard I was instead watching trucks race around a circle. And that's really saying something, since I don't find racing to be the most exciting of activities.