For the "Losties" *UPDATED*

Since today is the all important Thursday night, I thought this post would be important! :)

Do you want a Sawyer nickname? I got mine, I'm Quick Draw! Bob is Third Degree. It suits him! :)

Quick, go get yours and leave me a comment telling me what your Sawyer nickname is! :)

Goodness! I was so excited about this I forgot to post the link! Here it is! Duh!

"There's No Place Like Home!"

We made it home early Monday afternoon! The kids were cranky from lack of sleep and upset because they didn't want to leave their cousins or grandpa and grandma so our 3 and a half hour ride seemed a lot longer! They did sleep about half way but they are getting older and I'm finding it harder to occupy their time in the car - even if it is such a short time!

We left Omaha on Friday to go to Bob's dad's for the weekend. I got to my Goodwill by the pound store and was pretty disappointed this time. I could have done without the few things I found there and it was MUCH dirtier than I remembered it...we found old, dirty, underthings as we sifted through the bins! Yuck! And a couple of them we skipped altogether for the smell of vomit emanating from them! :P I'm pretty sure we will skip that store next time!

Other than that we had a good time shopping! We went to one store where Lisa found a wallet she liked and was explaining to the cashier that she was looking for just the thing because she had switched to a bigger purse and couldn't find anything in it. She was pretty excited as the cashier stood there rolling her eyes wearing a t-shirt that said, "Suc*ka Free!" As Lisa walked away calling for the girls (we had Jozie and Sara with us) the cashier rolled her eyes once more and said in a mocking voice, "That was the highlight of my day!" Luckily Lisa didn't hear but she was livid when I told her in the car! It was so funny! She was ready to turn the car around in downtown Omaha on a one way street to go give that cashier what for! We laughed about it all day and of course everything after that was "the highlight of my day"! LOL

It was nice to spend the weekend relaxing at Bob's dad's after the busy week in Omaha! "Thanks Dad and Marge!" (I know you are reading this even though you don't ever comment!:)

I found a long lost friend yesterday via Ya*hoo IM! I don't usually use it (A. Darlene is the only one who I've talked to on it and that was once several months ago!) but he popped up yesterday while I was checking my email and asked if it was me. It was Jeremy R! He was one of my best buds in college, a wonderful guy, that I took a few classes with and hung out at his house with practially everyday. His friends were my friends (I met my Matron of Honor through him) and my friends were his friends. Becca even happened to be in one of our classes and we did several projects together! We went to church together. Remember our hiking trip in the Pork*ies? Him and Bob got to be pretty good friends too through working in Royal Rangers together. It was great talking to you Jer! Have fun reading about what we've been up to the past couple of years as you read my blog! :)

Hi All!

We are having a great time here in NE! Nice and relaxing. The kids have been spending their days playing with their cousins on the computers, outside, and with the dog!

I have spent a couple of days shopping. I found some clothes for Bob, which he really needed and I got some yarn for a couple of projects that I have been wanting to do. One being a felted purse that I finished knitting yesterday but need to felt still. I will post beffore and after pictures when I get home. Today is another day of shopping! We are taking the girls to the Goodwill Outlet where everything is sold by the pound - even if we don't find anything it's a ton of fun to look through everything. A lot of tings still have tags on them!

So I'm off for a couple more days of fun! Have a great rest of the week!

I Know...

I'm being optemistic about the weather in Omaha but...we are leaving tomorrow and will be home on the Monday after Resurrection Sunday! Have a great week!

Badges and Cookies (UPDATED)

Our Missionettes and Royal Rangers

Last night was the quarterly Royal Ranger Council of Achievement at our church. Luke earned a few badges and we are very proud of him. He worked hard and was after me constantly to work on them. He was the only one who earned more than the one badge that they did together as a group. I think that's probably because he has a book and we know what all the badges and requirements are. And the fact that his daddy was a RR commander helps his motivation as well. He has kind of slowed down on his progress because we don't have many more to earn and he is going to be working on the God and Country medal for his age group which is more involved than the badges. He will be working on the God and Me medal.

You can hear his little friend in the background saying that Luke is a homeschooler - a Home Ranger! At the end you can see all his little buddies congratulating him. Sorry for the poor video - Bob left our video camera at home so I opted for the video on my digital camera. I didn't get any stills so this is as good as it gets....one of these days we will get all of our media equipment organized and remember to bring both!

Jozie has been selling Girl Scout cookies over the past couple of weeks. She had a goal of 95 boxes. I wasn't really sure how many was a reasonable goal because I've never done it before and we weren't sure how many we could reasonable sell. She chose 95 because I stopped her there as she was writing 950! I couldn't see that happening unless we walked all over town and I didn't think I could do that! LOL She was going to do 950 boxes because she could earn $100 for her troop in Dakota bucks that they could spend on badges and such in the store there. So last night we finished up her sales and she sold 96 boxes! I'm sure if we were a little more aggressive and went to a couple more house we could have sold more but I thought it was great for her first time selling Girl Scout Cookies!

* Update: I just brought in Jozie's cookie order and she officially sold 98 boxes - the neighbor bought 2 more boxes as we were going out the door to turn in her order form!
I couldn't believe how much these babies cost! They are up to $4 per box and these girls only get $0.75 of that for their troop! I did a little research on it and in 2006 they were only $3.50 per box and the girls earned $0.85 cents per box. And that was only 2 years ago! To me - though most people think there are no other cookies in the world like them - you'd think that the GSA would come up with a fundraiser that they get a better percentage from - closer to 50% would be make more sense to me. These girls work hard - going door to door, selling at the mall or other public place, calling long distance relatives, etc. and all they get to show for it is about 20% profit. It's a shame! (I believe that Keebl*er is actually the maker of Girl Scout cookies so they are really the ones who profit from these little girls selling their cookies!)

Gee, Thanks!

I took Luke on a date tonight and we went to Target to spend some of his hard earned cash - he's been saving it for years and he has REALLY wanted to spend it lately. Here's what happened...

Me: Oh, this is a cute dress! I could wear this in the summer, what do you think, Duke?

Luke: Come on Mom! We are looking for roller blades!

Me: Just a second! I want to look at these.

Luke: Hey Mom! (Holding out a little striped tank top) Do you think you could squeeze into this?!

I guess that's what happens when you take a 7-year-old boy shopping with you and ask for his opinion. Next time we will stick to the roller blades!

Signatures

I have been wanting to add a signature to the end of my posts - you know, like a closing in a little box - to sorta complete my new look. Does anybody know how to do it? I have the picture of my sig. I want to add but I don't know how to do it and I'm afraid to do it wrong and mess up all the hard work that Nan did for me! :)

Any suggestions? I know it can't be too hard, I see them all over the place! :)

Playing Games

This morning Luke wanted to play a game with me before we started school...it's not what we do normally but I said OK because Jozie was still in bed - a RARE morning indeed, she must have been pretty tired out from playing outside for about 6 hours yesterday!

So we got out the Mancala and played a quick game. Jozie was down by then and I played one with her too. I won both games. I felt kinda bad. Jozie is in a cranky mood today and wasn't happy to lose, though that's not like her.

My question is, is should you let your kids win when you play games with them or not? Not that I TRY to beat them every time, and I don't, but I don't try and lose on purpose either.

Cabin Fever

I haven't had much to post about lately. I have had a bit of cabin fever. The weather is starting to perk up every so slowly and I think I'm going mad with boardom. It's still way too cold to get out of the house to do something fun - and when it's not too cold it's so muddy it's hard to go out the door without getting your feet wet! I can't wait for April.... :)

Jozie fell down the steps the other night. She was already in bed for the night but was impatient for me to come up and tuck her in. She rolled all the way down. She was pretty shook up but just fine. I don't think she even got any bruises! I was quite surprised with all the screaming she did! Luke needed to know what happened and I told him - he was concerned that she was OK and I told him she was just fine. The next morning he told her that if he was up when she fell he would have gotten her some hot cocoa, a band aid (even though there was no blood or scratches, I guess just the band aid itself is supposed to make her feel better! LOL), and some extra "blankies". He is quite fond of his "blankies" still...LOL You would have never guessed that moments later he meant what he said as he was telling her that he wished she would have died when she fell down the stairs because he was mad at her for some reason! LOL

Luke lost ANOTHER tooth this week. This time he was just eating an apple and it came out in the fruit. He had blood all over his mouth, face, fingers, and of course, his apple. He was quite proud of himself but didn't want to take the tooth fairy money because he already "knows" about it. So he doesn't need it anymore. Ok, sure, I will remember that the next time he looses a tooth! LOL

So that is my exciting week. Bundles of fun and joy!

From Jozie to Her Cousin

Jozie and I often read Jamie's blog together, she likes to hear how her Mississippi cousins are doing, especially Princess. When she heard about Princess' liking a boy she wanted to share this song with her. We change the songs on her MP3 player often but this one stays as #1. Enjoy H! :) Oh, and she really liked this Hanna*h Mon*tana version of the video that we found on Yo*u Tu*be so at her request, here is the song for her cousin! :)



Bowling Ball by Superchic[k]

Maybe he'll change
Maybe things'll get better
Maybe it would be nice
If he wouldn't always put you down
Maybe things'll work out
But maybe they'll never..
And I think you've given him
The benefit of the doubt

You need that boy like a bowling ball
Dropped on your head
Which means not at all
You have too much to give, to live
To waste your time on him (twice)

Maybe he'll change
If you could be better
But maybe it's not your fault
He's checkin' out the waitress now...
But someday you'll change
One day you're stronger
And you will have changed enough
And it's time to get out.

You need that boy like a bowling ball
Dropped on your head
Which means not at all
You have too much to give, to live
To waste your time on him (twice)

You have too much to give, to live,
To waste your time on him.

You need that boy like a bowling ball
Dropped on your head
Which means not at all
You have too much to give, to live
To waste your time on him (twice)

You have to much to give, to live,
To waste your time on him.