Don't You Wish You Had One of These?

Watch Out for the Demon Cats

I thought they were still watching the forty zillionth episode of iCarly or I would have nixed this in bud, but Daniel and Lea Anna watched some paranormal cable show the other night featuring Demon Cats and Hounds of Hell. I'll bet you can guess the outcome of this incident. Lea Anna is convinced that demon cats are real and I have not had a decent night sleep in two days. Anyway, I just found out that She's also afraid to go in her bedroom in the daytime so she hasn't changed her clothes in two days except for her T-Shirt and I am fighting with her to change her underwear. Seriously, Demon cats?!! Who makes this #$%^ up? And why the paranoia of possessed cats and not possessed dogs?

Misc Kid Photos

Better than Cartoon Network

Lea Anna and Daniel wait patiently (sort of) for the cookies to be done:

More Dress Up

Once again my little darlings have both impressed me with their sense of humor and provided everyone in the family with future blackmail photos. Regardless of their lack of fashion sense they're still awfully cute.

Here We Go Again....

I survived four rounds of Barney, numerous Ben 10 and Scooby Doo marathons, several hundred back to back episodes of Shrek (which was an awesome movie only the first couple of times), Jazzmin's Spice Girls period, and the Teletubbies. Now all of the sudden Lea Anna is obsessed with the Disney channel. While I can console myself in the fact that at least she's outgrown Barney (Yak!) and the Teletubbies (Double Yak!), I am wrestling the TV away from her cute little hands cause I can not take another episode of iCarly or Zack and Cody. I have now re-earned the title of the "Mean One" but who cares - I GOT THE REMOTE!

We Were Terribly Misinformed

Remember when we were kids and grown-ups used to tell us that if we dug deep enough we'd get to China? Well, they were a little off.

Go to Antipodr.com and see where we'd have been...or where you'd be if you started digging now, were able to blast through rock, weren't instantly vaporized as you got near the core of the earth, and the whole project held your attention long enough to finish (if you didn't die of old age, anyway).

Lea Anna's Birthday Pics

We celebrated Lea Anna's 6th Birthday yesterday and we all had a blast inspite of it being too muddy outside for the pinata and setting the oven on fire just as I was about to put the food in the oven (note to self - must clean oven more often). The kids didn't complain about either events. Gary made a last minute trip to Domino's and they all were too involved in a two hour boys Vs. girls match with Daniel's Nerf guns to play any organized games anyway.

Zero Tolerance Run Amok

I've a zinger thrown at me yesterday evening that still has me scratching my head. Not a bad one, but it really makes me wonder about the mental capacity of both our educators and the whiny parents that think that the principal needs to be notified of such matters. Daniel's principle called yesterday (yes, on a Sunday) to speak to me about an "incident" involving "inappropriate comments" and the zero tolerance policy that took place last week. As it turns out the "incident" didn't even involve Daniel other than the fact that he was sitting next to another nine year old at lunch who (Gasp!) pointed his fingers at some of his fellow students saying "Bang! Bang!". Inappropriate comments? Oh lord, a little boy was playing Cowboys and Indians and now it's morphed into "inappropriate comments". It's amazing that they didn't put the school on lock down and call in the swat team!

On a lighter note, Lea Anna lost her first tooth yesterday. In reality we all know she does not believe in the tooth fairy, but she was going on and on about how the tooth fairy was going to leave a quarter under her pillow. Since she was so darn cute and her tooth was nice and shiny white I left her two quarters thinking she would be happy since it was twice what she was expecting. It did not provide the desired effect. She informed me this morning that "You know Mom, some kids get a dollar from the tooth fairy". Well, Yeah. And some kids don't use the last of Mommy's pomegranate body wash for their "frog farts" experiment either.

Dog Biscuits 101

I finally got off my butt last night to bake the long awaited homemade dog biscuits. They went over so well that I had to stash them to keep Daniel and Lea Anna from feeding Sheba prodigious amounts. After all, what goes in does come out. I thought I'd post the recipe for Michelle so she can get rid of Teresa's wheat germ stash without having to actually eat it. You're welcome Sis!

3 Cups Whole Wheat Flower
2 Cups Quick Cooking Oatmeal (not instant)
1/4 Cup Wheat Germ
1/4 Cup Powdered Milk
1/2 tsp Chicken Seasoning or garlic powder
1 1/4 Cups Water
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Egg

Preheat oven to 275 F and lightly grease two cookie sheets.
Mix together flour, oats, wheat germ, powdered milk, and chicken seasoning in a large bowl.
Beat together water, peanut butter and egg, then stir into flour mixture until it forms a stiff dough.
Roll out onto a floured surface to about 1/2 inch then cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets and bake for 1 1/2 to two hours or until hard and crunchy.

Makes anywhere from two to three dozen depending on how large you cut them.

Now I just need to figure out what I am going to do with the rest of the wheat germ that's taking up valuable space in my refrigerator.

can't believe no one has posted this yet...

baby alex has arrived!!!

Hector's Autobiography ©2000

More Halloween Fun

Daniel as usual wanted to be something creepy so I handed him a make up kit and a roughed up shirt and he was ready to go. Lea Anna was better at suckering me into some actual work - at the last minute she handed me her poncho and told begged me to let her be a cheetah. I had just enough material left to make her a tail and some ears. She was so excited about it (crooked tail and all) that it more than made up for the last minute rush.



These were taken Saturday at a party we took the kids to. Inspite of everything going on and all the food, the kids spent most of the time on the trampoline.



Lea Anna doing her version of the Cha Cha Shuffle:



Daniel on the hayride:

I think I've Died and Went to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Otherwise known as Walmart during Tennessee's tax free Weekend. It's hot, muggy, crowded and the parking lot is filled with psychos. Much like the Kroger parking lot under a snow advisory, just much warmer. They are even more demented in the school supply aisle. I am usually smarter than this but the end of summer vacation just kind of creeped up on me and all of the sudden it's like "Oh my God, they are starting school next week and Lea Anna needs boosters and they've grown out of all their clothes". But it's DONE! And the kids will appreciate not having to go to school naked. I will appreciate not having the front door left open every 10 minutes (as a matter of fact I am cooling the whole darn neighborhood) and having to chase flies out of the house. Now that this last hurrah is over, the kids celebrated by running through the sprinklers and suckering me into baking cookies. I will sleep good tonight. Especially after a nice warm chocolate butterscotch cookie. My youngest little ham insisted I video tape her and put it on YouTube. She may be a touch immodest but She's young and cute enough to get away with it.

Twenty Nine and Holding....

And if you wear really, really dark sunglasses or are legally blind you can believe that. But who cares - I got chocolate cake!

This is Daniel's friend Chase hamming it up with Lea Anna for the camera



And Daniel with his other friend Blake. No shortage of hams in this house!

The Call of the Wild

These were shot at the little ravine behind our house. We drug Jazzmin through thornbushes to get there, and followed Daniel through more thornbushes to get back up the hill.

Some pretty but nameless creek that runs behind our house



Lea Anna & Daniel by the horse trail



Jazzmin Abusing Her Little Brother



Is she falling? Surfing? Or is it the LA version of the Chicken Dance?

The Great Volcano Experiment

Daniel made a volcano in the backyard out of dirt and rocks about a week ago and it finally stopped raining long enough for the muddy ground to dry out when I was off work during daylight hours. I found a recipe on the internet a while back to make his volcano "erupt", so with great anticipation the kids and I trudged down stairs with the ingredients and my loaded camera. I mixed the ingredients (baking soda, dish soap and food coloring) according to directions an empty film canister and stuck it in the volcano cone then had Daniel pour the vinegar in with my camera ready. We waited. "Mom - it's not doing anything." "Just wait Daniel, it takes a minute." Again we waited. "is that it?" Then it started frothing like a rabid dog, and then - THAT WAS IT! A weeks worth of anticipation for a teaspoon of orangy froth. Not the ooze of magnificent proportions that we had all envisioned. {Sigh} Back to the drawing board.

Message from Ruben

[ my e-mail to Ruben ]

Hi Ruben!

How are things going? I can't believe you're living in Mexico. Will you write me back and tell me about it? I'd like to hear what you do and how you like it. I bet the food is very good : )

Mom asked me to send a link to the family blog, so here it is:

http://rosche.blogspot.com

Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Auntie Teresa

[ reply from Ruben ]

can you tell this to the blog what i say to you?:

is the food food you ask ...of course it is .. the only problem is guess what i eat at my house here the old mexican favorite rice and beans every day, it is actually very healthy with the vegetable side dishes it is what i say authentic. i am doing real good here i run alot and am even in a picture with some runners in a paper... i am going to school here in mexico even though i dont understand what the teachers are saying..i have some private spanish teacher thanks to the good people who are helping me here. I cant wait to come over to the USA and meet the family... there is always a possibility i wont come to the states soon i have to say that since right now things are happening. i wont be able to go on much so dont expect to be answered for at least a week but ill always call home... you will be surprised by all the things that are happening here that i am also getting in touch with my family on my fathers side. i am different than what i was before i can say that...

p.s. 2+2 is what?....a math problem

sincerely ruben

Shopping for Siblings

Lea Anna asked me to go to the store and buy her some Brothers and Sisters so She could have lots of kids to play with. I tried to explain to her in 3 yr old terms where babies come from and why you can not just go to the store and buy a baby, but She still has this idea stuck in her head that I can just pick one up at the store. I think this all stems from a conversation during a tantrum she had months ago when she screamed that She's not my girl anymore and my reply was something to the effect of if you don't want me anymore I'll just have to go to Big Lots and buy another little girl - I hear they have a sale on them in aisle 5. I am going to have to find a play group or something for her soon. This is not a closed subject with Her.

Introducing Lava Boy and Ice Girl

Daniel has been on restriction this whole weekend because he had a bad week in school. He's about driving me crazy alternating between the "I'm bored" and running wild around the house with Lea Anna. They did make up a "super powers" game. It's really cute but I'm trying to sit tight and ignore the extra noise while they loudly try to freeze and melt each other into oblivion. He only has one more day - I think I'll be just as glad as he is to let him go outside again! Sooner or later I'll have my dream home with a nice yard so that Lava Boy and Ice Girl can shoot their power beams outside where they don't echo through my brain. Daniel has also been playing with Lea Anna's doll house a lot. The pink trim don't seem to offend him anymore now that he's found out that it makes a nifty three story parking garage for his hot wheels. And of course they both think it's hilarious to pretend the dolls are pooping on the toilet. Excellent sound effects included, free of charge. Boys will be boys .........