The Things We Do For Love

I love my children more than words can say....and I would do anything for them. Without a doubt, I proved my love for them today by taking them to their school's winter carnival.  Oh, you may laugh, or think "What's the big deal?" but let me tell you something....it takes a lot of courage to enter into an small enclosed building where you're packed in like sardines with hundreds of elementary kids hopped up on lollipops and funnel cakes!!! 

Scott is out of town on a youth winter retreat so I was dreading having to do this by myself. Thank the Lord in heaven for my mom who graciously decided to go with me. I told her "Mom, you don't understand how crazy this thing is gonna be. Like kiddie-mayhem...are you sure you're up for that?" Thankfully, she could use a little more "kiddie-mayhem" in her life and decided to go with me!

You could almost feel the sugar buzz when you walked into the building...It was crazy! It was jam packed with people and totally chaotic but I must say, the kids had a blast. We switched off taking the kids to go and play games, make sand art, play put-put...you name it, we did it. 

 

Here's Titus just coming out of the giant inflatable obstacle coarse. That was his favorite part of the carnival and he ran through it many, many....many times...

 

This is a scarf that we bought for Max. The whole first grade class made scarfs to sell at the carnival and this is the one that he personally made. He's very proud of it!

Each time they played a game, they won a prize of some sort. Besides the scarf, (which we actually bought) we ended up with a whole pile of stuff that the kids will either:

A) never use

B) be bored with by tomorrow

C) will break in the next 24 hours

In the end, fun was had by all. But honestly, I'm glad I only have to do this once a year. So, until next year, crazy winter carnival -you bane of my existence....until next year....

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R.I.P Gary

We had Gary's funeral today. To say that Gary's funeral was "far lesser" a production than Scooters would be a GIANT understatement! First of all, Max didn't even care to be present for this one. When we asked what he'd like to do he simply said, "I really don't care. But it would be cool to keep his shell!" It really doesn't get more apathetic than that does it!?!? 

The funeral began by fishing out his soft, squishy carcass with kitchen tongs.

I must inform you that his body began to break into two pieces as Scott pulled him out.

We then prepared to dispense of him in a place where all respectable snails go....the toilet! There was no fanfare, no prayer and really...no attendants. Except Titus who was standing by saying, "Cool! Look at his guts!"

 

His body actually began to break down and disintegrate as we tossed him in. And so....here lies Gary in his cold, fecal infested, watery grave....in many pieces, I might add!

We now have the joy of remembering him always, as his stinky little shell is currently drying out on top of Max's dresser. He was a good snail. (Well, as good as snails get I guess....)

One thing is for sure...Gary, like Scooter, is free at last!

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Something Is Seriously Wrong With This Picture....

Well...Gary is dead. At least there's no guessing game with this one. When the snail carcass is on one side of the tank and his shell is on the other...CLEARLY, he's dead! Max doesn't know yet...I'll be informing him when he gets home from school today. I hope he's not too upset. I'm not quite sure if we'll have all the same fanfare over his death that we had for Scooter, but I'm thinking another funeral is in our near future. So for now, this story is: To Be Continued...

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Fun With The Herzog's

Yesterday Karrie's kids, Brooke, Kendra and Brady, came over to the house after church. Both girls were dressed all "hippie-chic" cute and it totally inspired me to go and do an impromptu photo shoot with them. The VW bus was the perfect "prop" for the shoot. While I shot the girls, the boys just ran around stabbing sticks into prairie dog holes! It was like a scene out of Lord of The Flies. Hilarious! It was SOOOO much fun and I'm really happy with how they turned out. Here's some of my favorites from the shoot...Enjoy!

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The Denver Zoo

Today we asked the kids what they wanted to do and unanimously the kids yelled, "We want to go to the Zoo!" So...off we went! It was actually a nice day to go. Other than it being a little too cold for me, it was awesome. There was hardly anybody there and we all had a great time. Titus was excited for two things: The bird sanctuary and seeing real bats!

"Birdie" at Bird World 

Titus has been on a total bird kick lately. For weeks now he's been asking us to buy him a "real talking parrot" so he was really hoping to see one there. Of course the moment he saw two giant Macaw birds he said, "See mom...there they are! Let's just go get one!" (while cocking his head to the side and shrugging his shoulders as if to say "It's not that hard mom you just pick one of those giant birds up and carry it right out of the zoo"....NO PROBLEM!) I tried to explain to him that you can't just buy the animals at the zoo but he wasn't quite gettin' it. 

 

These were the birds he wanted me to buy for him.

He also loved getting to see real bats flying around. We had to reassure Max that they were, in fact, behind glass and that they wouldn't fly over to him and suck his blood. They were both fascinated by the vampire bats and we have since had many discussions on who's blood they actually suck!

Max's favorite part of the day was seeing the penguins. We actually got to see them get fed and hear all sorts of interesting facts about them from the zoo dude (or are they all called "zoo keepers" if they just feed the animals? Oh well, whatever...)

All in all, we had a great day and I was so thankful to have the time to spend together as a family!

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WOW!!!!

That truly is the only word that comes to mind when I think of these potato chips! Karrie introduced me to them today and can I just say... WOW! They are like salty-vinegary-dill pickled flavored goodness in your mouth! You can't buy them in a store but you can order them online at Bob's Produce Ranch. Trust me...they are AMAZING! Worth every penny in shipping!

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I'm Bored!!!!

....that is the cry of Titus' heart...everyday...all the time! Below is today's fabulous "pic of the day" of Titus writhing around on the floor exclaiming, "I'm BORED....I want a friend over...we never do anything fun!!!!" (of course followed by "I'm bored" again)

I'm not kidding when I tell you that this is his staple "go-to" phrase. He's even been know to wake up from a dead sleep yelling "I'm Bored!" Seriously! I can't help you in your sleep kid! That's on you!

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R.I.P. Little Scooter

Well, Scooter the snail has finally passed. His time with us was short (a whopping 18 days) but he will truly be missed. (well, really only by Max) We've actually been trying to decide if he was dead or not for the last 7 days now so who knows when he actually died? All I know is that he's "officially" dead now. 

The "official" discovery of Scooters death

Surprisingly, Max didn't shed any tears today as we performed a funeral for Scooter. I guess he got all his tears out the other day when we first discovered he "might" be dead. First, Max and Scott built him a coffin out of a toilet paper roll.

I gotta tell ya... this thing stank like rotten eggs!

 

We decided to bury him on the side of the house so Scott dug him a little grave.

Max literally threw him into the hole!

And there he lies in his cold shallow grave.

Earlier, while we were talking to Max about how he felt about Scooters death, he said to us, "It's OK dad...Scooter is dead...but now he's free at last!" So Max made a make-shift tombstone out of a rock with that quote on it. (and honestly, it was all his idea)

The boys all said a little prayer for him.

Then the boys took turns kicking the dirt back over the hole and Max placed his little rock tombstone on top.

And so...there lies Scooter. (until the next person buys this house, sees it, and decides to dig his little rotting carcass up) R.I.P. little buddy!

Though Max was visibly distraught, he did OK for having to bury his first "pet."

And Titus....well, let's just say, he really could have cared less about the whole thing! He was just happy to be there!

Believe it or not, there will not be a reception following his funeral. You will all just have to grieve his death on your own time.

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Quite The Pair

OK...so we actually did this yesterday but last night I was just too immersed in a book to put it down and get on the computer. Yesterday, we went over to my sister Katie's house and got to hang out with her, her kids and my other sister Kerrie and her kids. Pictured above is Titus with his cousin Karlie. They are quite the pair! I think Titus has a "thing" for his cousin. Every time they get together they run off to some room to play "married" and have babies. Now, don't freak out! Their idea of "having babies" consists of Karlie shoving a baby doll up her shirt and then lying down, screaming for a few minutes and Titus watching her pull it out of her shirt.  What?...that's how it happens in real life right???  : )

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Beau Is Healed!!!!

A few weeks ago our good friend Beau (pictured above) broke his ankle while playing football. We were really thankful that he didn't need surgery, but he has been in a boot for three weeks now. The doctors told him it would take at least six weeks to heal and that he couldn't work at all. He was really bummed because he was about to loose his job because of how much time he would have to be gone from work. Our whole bible study group has been praying for his ankle to be healed. At our Sunday night bible study a gentleman named Ernie, who works in the Healing Room at our church, prayed over him for his ankle to be completely healed and that the doctors would not not be able to see any injury at all. 

Beau had his first check up appointment with the doctor yesterday morning (Tuesday) and he just knew going in that he was healed. He walked in and told the doctor, "I was prayed over on Sunday and I know that Jesus healed me." The doctor doubtfully responded, "Well, we'll see about that. It's only been three weeks and you're not Superman." So they did x-rays of his ankle and when the doctor came in to look at them he said, "Well...you're completely healed. It makes no sense. There's no sign of an injury." To which Beau replied, "I told you...Jesus healed me!" The doctor was clearly irritated with Beau's response and couldn't get out of the room fast enough. 

Meanwhile Beau's mom is sitting there saying, "No way! Are you serious? He's healed? NO WAY! I can't believe it!" 

So, believe it or not people, prayer works!! God does still heal today! The doctors said 6 weeks but God said 3! PRAISE GOD!

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Little Jonah *Update*

For those who care...It seems that Jonah has survived Monday's fecal water ingestion. He was at school today with his mom hyper as ever and looking healthy. I even caught him licking the flag pole. So, I guess you could say he's back to....normal?

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Little Jonah

TWO things you need to notice about today's "Pic O The Day"

First: To the right side of the giant cement pillar is a little dude named Jonah. It's kinda hard to see but he's dressed in full Spider-Man gear....boots and all. AWESOME.

Second: Please note the drain pipe that is in the bottom center of the giant cement pillar.

Everyday, when I go to pick Titus up from kindergarten, I get to experience little Jonah. (You see Jonah's older brother is in Titus' class)  Some days it's pretty uneventful and others include him licking snow off of metal benches in sub-zero conditions and I have flashes of the scene from A Christmas Story running through my head and expect to be calling the fire department at any minute!

Today was....how should I put this....a "silently" eventful day. Oh, something happened but I was the only one that saw it.

You may now refer back to the drain pipe sticking out of the giant cement pillar. I was standing a short distance away from the pillar and Jonah's mom (and Jonah) were standing right next to the pillar. His mom was having a heated discussion with another mom. I say "heated" not in the bad, argumentative way but more in the deep, not paying attention to her son at all, way. Jonah quickly took liberty of his unsupervised situation and began picking up sticks and shoving them up inside the drain pipe. He then proceeded to pull them out and started curiously looking up inside the pipe. As I'm standing there watching him I could almost see that in his mind the scum infested water dripping out of the pipe looked as good as ice cream. And shortly thereafter, as expected, he began to lick the freak water coming out if the drain pipe!!!!

As I'm standing there contemplating "Should I say something?" and thinking, "Please, just let his mom see this!"  His mom finally turns around and says (in a nice high-pitched mommy voice) "Oh honey, don't get near that water. That's yucky water!" Then she turns to the other mom and says "Oh, I hope he didn't get any of that on him."  And I'm thinking "ON him? Oh, honey try IN him! He's been sucking fecal water! Get ready for VOMITRON CENTRAL say....6 hours from now!?!?"

I know I'm probably a horrible person for not saying something but it all happened so fast and before I knew it, the damage was done and Titus was running out to meet me. I will probably get the "worst mother of the year" award for not saying anything, but I just couldn't. I'll have to let you know if Jonah is mysteriously not there tomorrow for some....unknown reason???? 

p.s. 
Oh and for those who might be asking....I actually took the picture after the incident. I had to sneak it in (you know like I was pretending to be doing something else on my phone) so I didn't look like some creepy stalker taking pictures of other peoples kids.

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Welcome Home Kenny!

....well for a few weeks anyways! Our brother-in-law, Kenny, (pictured above with Scott's sister Cyndy and their son Hayden) is currently serving over in Iraq and he got to come home for a few weeks. He leaves to go back on the 15th and he will be greatly missed! Today we got to go down to Colorado Springs and celebrate a "late" Christmas with him and Scott's family. We had such a great time. It has become a yearly tradition between Kenny and Scott's brother, John, to exchange random crazy gifts with each other. Each year they try to "out-do" the other one with wacky gifts and this year was no exception. The best gift, by far, was a "Best Friends" scrapbook/photo album that Kenny put together for John that was filled with random photos of the two of them photoshoped in with people like Michael Jackson and Macaulay Culkin (the Home Alone kid) in totally awkward situations. It's hard to describe, but trust me, it was absolutely hilarious! I wish I had my camera with me, I would have taken photos of it for you but I forgot it...sorry. You'll just have to imagine the funniness. Among many other gifts was an amazing pink sweater vest and some wicked-cool jeans with rainbows on the butt....can you say FABULOUS? 

 

I think they work them quite nicely! ; ) As a side note: Please forgive the quality of the pics. I took them with my iPhone and the quality of the photos that thing takes is....how should I put this....MAJOR SUCKAGE!!!! 

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Mikey

I was going through some old pics and I came across this shoot I did with our friend Mikey....which I love! You see....all of our friends that come out to visit us from Florida are forced to do photo shoots with me.  I say "forced" but it's not like they don't like it. Mike is an artist and appreciates the completely random so I came up with the idea of shooting him in a car wash. I had no idea if we'd even be able do it or not but we headed over to the local car wash joint and the manager there was totally cool and let us shoot wherever we wanted. He even turned on all the cycles for us. We had a blast! Here's just a couple shots from that day:

 

 

 

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