look i'm a big boy!

aidan got up and poured his very own bowl of cereal. what a good boy. lucky we have locks on the fridge now, or else he would have poured an equal amount of milk too.

Traveling Flicks

hello loyal "kelli in the mirror flickers!"

my turn to torture everyone!!

here goes:

1. Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K

2. [Sobbing] Please! I have a wife and kids.

-Oh really, well, you're lucky. You be sweet to them, especially your wife.
My husband wasn't sweet to me. Look how I turned out.

3. Don't eat the car! Not the car! Oh, what am I yelling at you for? You're a dog!

4. Remember the prom? You got so thin by then.

-Oh, I know. I was so lucky getting mono. That was like the best diet ever.

5. You don't like raisins?

-Not really.

Why?

-They used to be fat and juicy and now they're twisted. They had their lives
stolen. Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes. I
can't say I am a big supporter of the raisin council.

Did you see those, those raisins on TV? The ones that sing and dance and stuff?

-They scare me.

Yeah me too

-It's sick. The commercial people they make them sing and dance so people will
eat them.

It's a shame about raisins.

-Cannibals.

6. I want a car, chicks dig the car.

-This is why Superman works alone

7. You require a chaperone. His intentions are obvious.

-I'm alone with you, do I need a chaperone?

We are not courting, Kate. If we were, as a man of honour, I would have informed
you of my intentions in writing

8. We don't need computer weapon to kill moose and squirrel. We've been trying to
kill moose and squirrel for 35 years.

-And we've never even come close.

Exactly

9. What the hell are we doing here, Harry? We gotta get out of this town!

-Oh yeah, and go where? Where are we gonna go?

I'll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine.
Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm
talking about a little place called Aspen.

-Oh, I don't know, Lloyd. The French are assholes.

10. Now take the Schultzes here. Little Fritzy - that's me, Pige - makes this his
Monday home.

-Monday home?

[German accent] Ach, ja! Mondays is Mama Schultz cooking der Wienner Schnitzel.
Mmm-mmm. Delicious.
[Irish accent] Now, O'Brien's here is where little Mike - sure, that's me again,
Pige - Comes ev'ry Tuesday.

-Ev'ry Tuesday?

Begorra, and that's when they're having their darlin' corned beef. You see,
Pige, when you're foot loose and collar-free, well, you take nothing but the
best.


hope you enjoyed it - come by and say hi sometime....i'll post results tomorrow, and let kelli do the points.

have a great weekend - go astros!!

Astros are a half a game back!!!

wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles!

roy o is the man!!

i know they can do it!! rocket's on the mound tonight!!

go stros! (and go brewers!!)

Cas the Astros do it again!!??

Went to the Astros game on Friday night with my mom, her "friend" john, and my friend bianca. it was a great game - complete with walk-off game winning hit, lead changes and everything. but little did i know we'd end up sweeping the four game series!! i went friday thinking that i'd have fun at the game, and it would be nice to see them win, but with no illusions that they might actually be in contention. after last night's win, they are 3.5 games out - could they pull it off?

i am a true astros fan, and i know that i can't really get my hopes up too much, to save my heart from being broken again. but i'm still excited!!

saying prayers for intervention from st. jude, the patron saint of lost causes!

jerry says i'm silly, that it's not important enough to pray about, but hey, i can't help it.

weekend away

We had a fun weekend in galveston at my mom's condo. alec wasn't able to come, b/c he'd been sick the week before, and had too much makeup work to do for school. so jerry and i and noah and the babies left friday night, and arrived around 10 pm. woke up saturday morning and made breakfast in the little kitchenette, then got to the beach around noon. aidan had the best time, i swear that boy is a fish. he was running in the waves, getting knocked down, and squealing with laughter the whole time. never cried or whined about the salt water or anything. i had to chase him down twice when he was going in too deep. sadie enjoyed the water too, and looked extremely cute in her little mono-kini bathing suit and hat. she even got a little tan while we were there. dad and noah did some boogie boarding, caught a hermit crab, and built a sand castle.



we got back to the condo, cleaned up a little, ate sandwiches, then headed for the pool for more swimming. the pool was great - it's like a beach also, like a wave pool without the waves. so sadie and i hung out at the shalllow end, and jerry, noah and aidan ran around in the water. aidan is really getting good at swimming - not much on form, but he kicks and paddles pretty well. he can swim about 5 feet. although, once he learned that he could touch the bottom, he just held his breath and walked on the pool floor. clever.


went to the rainforest cafe for dinner - it was packed, and it took forever to get fed, but the awesome food was worth it. they had boardwalk games in front of the restaurant, and we sat outside and enjoyed the sea air (or sweated our tails off, however i choose to remember it...)


sunday it was rainy, which worked out well, b/c we went to moody gardens, which is mostly indoors. there is an awesome aqurium there, where we saw penguins, seals, all manner of fish and sharks, and all other things fishy. jerry and noah saw a spongebob movie in imax 4-d. not only do you get the 3-d glasses, but there are other effects that happen during the movie, like spraying water or things rustling around your ankles that make it more realistic. they loved it.

oh, and i forgot to mention that we lost aidan for what seemed like an eternity in the parking lot of the condo! it was probably more like 45 seconds or a minute, but we were packing up the car, and he was gone!! the three of us ran around like mad calling for him (as if he always comes running when you call him - usually he runs the other way!!) i thought for sure he had been hit by a car already, or snatched into one of the many that were leaving the parking lot. anyway, i finally found him by the elevators, where a family was getting on, and they called to me, asking if this was aidan, and that he had tried to get on the elevator with them. by that time, he was just calmly playing with the rocks next to the sidewalk, and looked up at me as if nothing in the world was wrong. oh, that boy. i've got to get a leash.

anyway, the rest of sunday was pleasant, and we had to get home in time for noah's first baseball game of the fall. (we needn't have rushed, because it was rained out.) but all the better, so we had some time to put the house back togther to start all over on monday.

good weekend, and a good way to close out the summer...

baby shots

the poor little one had her 2nd round of shots wednesday. aidan went with me to the doctor, and when the nurse came in with the shots, he freaked out. i had to reassure him that he wasn't getting stuck this time, only sadie. so i ended up holding him on my hip with one arm, and holding her down on the table with the other, both of them screaming. no fun. but it was over relatively quickly. poor sadie, though. she has little knots in her thighs under the daffy duck band aids.

september 11

five years ago today, while i was on my way to work, driving up i-45, i was listening to dean and rog on 93.7, and they broke in to say that the world trade center towers had been hit by a plane. they left off the broadcast, and turned the station over to the news station. i listened to the confused and scattered reports coming in, at first just mildly curious as to what "accident" had occurred in new york. then they started talking about intentional terrorist activity, and that's when it got scary. shortl after i started listening, the second tower had been hit, and the idean that it was an attack in progress was chilling. as i drove in, i passed the tall buildings of downtown houston, and felt myself looking up in the sky wondering of they were on the way here, too. i sped to work. by the time i got there a little after 8 am, everyone there had radios or tv's on in their offices, and we all were glued. i called jerry to see if he was watching. as we watched and wondered what the hell was going on, i remember just feeling sick. after the towers fell, i went to my office and cried. we stayed at work that day - (our gracious county administration told us that we could go home if we had vacation or comp time to use for it, and if we had proper approval from our administrators) and all day the phones were ringing off the hook. at that time i was working in the placement division - this is where juvenile who have been to court have been removed from their homes for a period of time and placed in a facility for counseling/rehab/behavioral modification. all these parents here in houston texas wanted their kids released from placement and brought home due to the happenings in new york city. so i spent the day explaining to parents why their adjudicated kids would not be released to them. a hard thing to do, especially when none of us were sure that there weren't planes on the way to houston to do the same thing! i guess back then i wasn't a mother, so it seemed more silly to me. but now i understand that no matter what, if there is evil about, and you can't be there to protect your kids from it, you'll freak the hell out.

anyway, i remember watching the coverage all day and night. when i went to bed, i had a dream that my brother and sisters and all their families and i were at my mom's house all hiding out, and terrorists had surrounded the neighborhood and were going into each house and killing everyone inside. we were all behind couches and in the attic and hiding wherever we could, and trying to figure out how we were going to defend ourselves. and i remember getting up for work the next morning and the world just felt different. i knew that life had to go on and things weren't going to change much for me here in houston, but the fact that we had been attacked, that it could have been any one, any city, any time, made it different. like so many, i felt a surge of love for my country, and anger and bewilderment for those who hated and wanted to hurt us.

in the years after, the event, in my opinion, has become so politicized, and so many fingers have been pointed for so many issues surrounding 9/11, that it's hard to remembers sometimes the important facts. 3,000 americans died at the hands of islamofacists who hate america. those islamofacists have continued to exist and elude punishment from the world for their actions. the blame does not lie on the president, the fbi, the cia, any other government agency. the blame lies with the terorists. if i hear one more news story about "what could have been done" i will throw up.

here's another thing that makes me mad about this whole situation - the people who died left families without fathers and mothers. this is sad. however, i don't think that those who lost family members need to be compensated hundreds of thousands of dollars because their loved one died in that attack. the deaths are unfortunate, tragic, and horrific because of the context of them. but those lives aren't worth more that those of other mothers and fathers who die in other circumstances every day. the govenment (or in other words, me and my tax-paying family) need not be compelled to subsidize the lives of the victims' families simply because of the circumstances of the victims' death.

sorry to be negative about this issue, but all in all, the day has mixed emotions for me. sadness and sorrow for the people who died in such a scary way. sympathy for their families. anger for the perpetrators. annoyance at the politicians who use the tragedy as a vehicle to bash others and forward thier own agendas and careers. i wish we could feel as united as a country as we did in the weeks following the attack. i wish we all still ended our prayers with "God bless america" and all still supported our armed forces. i will continue to pray that our leaders have God's guidance in their decisions, and i ask that you all do the same.

September is here already?

Where does the time go? it' already into september. we have been kept busy with all the beginnings of the year - school, baseball, scouts, cross country, cce classes, and our marriage prep ministry. we are gradually settling down into a routine i think, but these days, nothing is routine! sometimes i just feel like i'm barely holding it all togehter for this family with all the comings and goings, but i guess somehow, it all works out.

i have so been looking forward to unitas starting - this is the marriage preparation program that jerry and i participate in at church. we along with 9 other couples sponsor a group of engaged couples, and present information and discussion regarding different aspects of the marriage sacrament. it is such an interesting program, and we get so much out of it even as presenters. while helping others discern their readiness for marriage, we get the added benefit of stregnthening our own as well, by keeping God at the center of our marriage. it sounds hokey sometimes, but it really is true.

our session that we will present on is in two weeks - it's about "family of origin." this is where we talk about what characteristics, traits, traditions, shortcomings, and strengths each person brings to the relationship from his/her own family, and how they will or have influenced their relationship. it's always a fun topic to discuss with the married and engaged couples, as everyone has stories about inlaws, cultural differences, and personality quirks associated with family. for example.... growing up, i was always barefoot. i mean, of course i had shoes to wear, but we just always kicked off our shoes at the house, and there was no reason to put them on again unless you were going out somewhere. and especially during the summer time, i rarely had shoes on. as kids we would play all day outside in the yard or in the street, barefoot. i loved those days. anyway, in jerry's family, it was different - they always had shoes on. jerry's parents didn't want anyone to think that they couldn't afford shoes for their kids, so the kids always had shoes. so now jerry berates me when i let aidan run around outside barefoot with just a diaper on, like a little redneck kid. and coincidentally, my sister's husband/inlaws are the same way - her mother in law calls lucy an "okie" whose parents don't buy her shoes. silly. anyway, this is pretty innoccuos, but big problems can occur in a marriage if you don't take a look at where you and your spouse came from before you start your own little family........

comments? stories to add?