I know its been forever...

Since I updated. But its been nuts around here. First, I had the trip from well, you know, to Corpus Christi, TX in April. Seriously, everything that could have gone wrong did. Its funny, now that I look back on it, but it was NOT funny then.

The kids are wrapping up the school year..actually punkin's last day of preschool was Friday. She's looking forward to summer "play" days as shes calling it.

I signed up to teach VBS at church this summer, that should be fun. I'm going to teach 1st and 2nd grade, so I'll get to be with princess.

But today, was one of those days. I decided to clean the drier vent, and broke it. Went to the store to get another...broke it. Also broke the water dispenser on the fridge. I've decided that I shouldn't touch anymore household appliances. Sounds pretty good to me!

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Afternoon Fun

Back yard camping, swinging and football. Much better than yardwork, any day!
Punkin' caught an inchworm, and Princess two lady bugs, so they are currently living in our bug house.

Soccer 2009

A few pictures from Princess's game today. She scored one goal, and saved three when she was playing goalie. Pretty good!
We have a tourny next weekend...3 games in one day. Should be interesting!!

The zoo + picnic + park + planting flowers = 1 tired family

Since the kids had spring break this week, Darlin and I took off work today to spend the day with them. We had promised we'd take them to the zoo this week to see the penguins....Happy Feet is a hit in this house. While reading the paper this morning I noticed Home Depot had annuals on sale 3 for a dollar...and since I was already off work...jumped up and ran up there, because I knew they'd get picked over FAST! Picked up $10 worth & discovered they had two plants per pot. So 60 plants for $10...what a deal! During this excursion, I found more evidence that the Honda Odysesy was designed by women. Or at least in the focus group. The cargo area in the back is exactly one flat of flowers wide (add this to the fact that there are a zillion cubby holes & pockets, and literally 15 drink holders...women were involved!).


Loaded up the fam with a picnic and went to the zoo. It was covered up! I was so glad to see it. You hear a lot of bad things about the zoo..."its in a bad area", "its crappy". Sure, its not in the best area of town, but zoos never are (hello, St Louis zoo?? - which is awesome by the way), and its come a LONG way. The penguin exhibit was small, only 3 penguins, but we go to see them feed and the girls LOVED it. Of course, having two biologist/nerd parents doesn't hurt either.


Punkin checking how which penguin she is:

Princess checking out her penguin-ness

And even daddy...



Princesses favorites were the penguins. Punkin said her favorite was the penguin, the elephant, the monkey and the chimpanzee . We also so the white peacock show off his feathers.

Then we had our picnic, and went to the park to play. After all of that...we got home and cleaned out the flower bed, added some new top soil, planted our 60 plants and mulched. So we are all TIRED! But it was a blast!!

New Wheels for the fam'

Well, it was time to trade the ole Impala, rest her soul. She's been having tranny problems...so it was either shell out the bucks to fix her, or move on to something else. Kids are getting bigger, filling up the car...so we decided to move on to something else, something else bigger.

So, purchased a Honda Odyssey...it rocks! My favorite features so far are the remote doors and the back up camera. Though I admit I haven't played with all the buttons yet. I love it! The kids love it. Now we can go on road trips again w/o having to borrow or rent a ride. Nice. Can't wait until we can take a trip in it. :-) Need to take a picture.

Super fast trip to Alabama

I had to leave home on Sunday to go to 'bama. My aunt slipped into a coma and passed away on Sunday afternoon. I brought my mom up to be with her family, and to go to the funeral. And in my haste, I didn't pack enough clothes. grrr. So I had to go shopping.

I went to Florence to try to find some clothing, and since I was out, and had time, I went by UNA to visit. So it will be 10 years this December since I graduated. Remember that.

I pulled in to visitor parking, and asked the girl who looked like she was about 12 in the booth if I was in the right place. She said "yes ma'am" MA'AM??? Ok, totally uncool. In that ma'am she said I had aged enough to not be considered a co-ed anymore. Grrr! :-0

Went and visited my old haunt, the science building, saw some professors of mine. My advisor was in class, so I went to see another one. He told me in front of a girl working in the micro lab, (who by the way, must be like doogie houser, because she was totally only 11-12 and in college...are you seeing a trend?) that there hadn't been a class like mine in years. I told him, yeah nearly 10! We caught up a bit on gossip...where some old friends were, how his family was doing etc. Walked back up to see if my advisor was back yet..and ran into him. He was headed to another class, so I hung around for 50 mins or so till he got back. Totally worth it! This man was a father figure to me, and a huge important part of my life. It was good to catch up with him. I spent way more time than I intended, but had a great time. A small bright spot in the trip. The professors looked older...er, more distinguised, and the students looked waaaay too young to be in college. :-) And of course, I look the same...right? I know better, but let me believe it.

Had to do the funeral home thing tonight, and saw people and family that I hadn't seen in years. Remembered some of them, and not others. Forgot just how big my family is...