For the record:
I picked Jim knowing full well the family that came with him! I must say; I couldn't have picked a better collection of roots for my boys!!!
I'm proud to be a part of this God-fearing, crazy, dedicated, loving, forgiving, caring, fun, eccentric, eclectic family. . . I wouldn't give it up for anything!
P.S. I also picked out a faboulous pair of suade and leather boots last year. . .so I guess I'm 2 for 2. . .not a bad record ah!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Red Neck Roots
You can pick your clothes, or pick your nose. You can pick your date or pick your mate. You can pick your boots but your roots are picked for you. I picked some funny pics.
We had a blast at the Cummings Family Reunion. It was a fun packed time for everyone. It looked like trailer town in the Dodd's back yard. It was shocking to see how much the kids had grown. Scott needs to get a cannon to keep the boys away from his door.
Thank you Brad and Sandra for putting up with 30 people invading your house. I know it was a lot of work for you. You are a gracious host and we love you for it.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Reunion pics
Thought I would share with you all..... We had a blast. Courtney keeps asking when we are going to "Coston" to see those boys and that girl. I don't have time to rearrange them all to make sense...Ms. Piggy is hungry again (ALWAYS!!)
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
What's this Waldo up to?
Well.......... I got up this morning at 5:56am and my dogs let me know they were more than ready to get up and get outside!!! Then I turned on the coffee, took my shower and started the process of getting ready to go to work (which took about an hour and a half). Left for work at 7:47am (yeah....that sounds like an airplane) and arrived at 7:58am. I got the Jr Sr Banquet room confirmed for the 20th and turned in the menu for the banquet. Went in for our prayer session at 8:30am(we always have prayer with office staff every Wednesday morning). Got out of prayer session around 9:30am. I started working on the announcements for Wednesday night classes and getting the elders agenda ready for their meeting after church tonight. Lunch from 11:00am-12:00noon (I brought fresh fruit for lunch, however was tempted to go to Sonic) Temptation won ..........I LOVE SONIC CHERRY LIME. Jana called while I was at lunch so I talked to her during half my lunch time (love it when my kids call)
I'll just tell you what the rest of the day usually goes like........I'll update the announcemnts as information comes into the office through the day, help answer phones, etc......I get off work at 4:00pm then I'll go to Planet Fitness ...work out for about 30 minutes, walk on the tread mill for about 30 minutes, get home around 5:20pm, rest for just a minute, fix something to eat before getting ready to go to church. I have to be in the office at 6:40pm, 20 minutes before class time and then again 20 minutes after so I'll leave church at 8:20pm . When I get home I'll put in a load of laundry. I'll work for a while on the dinosour blanket I'm making for Joel (my youngest granson). I usually get to bed around 10:30pm or 11:00pm on Wednesday nights (never know what time Jack will be home on Wednesdays).
I'll just tell you what the rest of the day usually goes like........I'll update the announcemnts as information comes into the office through the day, help answer phones, etc......I get off work at 4:00pm then I'll go to Planet Fitness ...work out for about 30 minutes, walk on the tread mill for about 30 minutes, get home around 5:20pm, rest for just a minute, fix something to eat before getting ready to go to church. I have to be in the office at 6:40pm, 20 minutes before class time and then again 20 minutes after so I'll leave church at 8:20pm . When I get home I'll put in a load of laundry. I'll work for a while on the dinosour blanket I'm making for Joel (my youngest granson). I usually get to bed around 10:30pm or 11:00pm on Wednesday nights (never know what time Jack will be home on Wednesdays).
Saturday, March 31, 2007
What's this Waldo up to?
I want to thank my good friend and cousin for getting the ball rolling on this one. I know that I cannot compete with Gina for exciting, but I sure will give it an honest try.
My typical Monday through Saturday begins at 7:00am. Let's pause here for Gina's jealous groan.
*still paused*
I wake to the smiling faces of my dear children who seem to think I am responsible for every food item they ingest. I don't like to mock their flawed thinking so early in the morning so I trudge to the kitchen and prepare breakfast. Sometimes I make cinnamon rolls the night before and bake them in the morning. Aunt Sandra made them for me one fine morning several years ago and she inspired me to try it myself.
After breakfast the kids get dressed and I get my coffee, or rather, my cream and sugar with a splash of coffee. Eric is generally gone to his office by then, but if he has no appointments scheduled he is at home in bed. This means that I set my coffee mug down and go tell him to get up. He asks his Mom for five more minutes (she lives in Wisconsin. I don't know why he asks her and I wonder why he thinks she can hear him). Fifteen minutes or so later I return to wake him and he rushes to get ready, plays with the kids for a good bit and heads out the door.
With Eric gone, I take a quick shower, start the first of 3-5 loads of laundry, feed the dog, unclog the toilet (or sink, or tub, or whatever the kids have clogged up that day), wash the dishes, vacuum, sometimes shampoo the carpet (like a good Kirby wife and dog owner), make the beds, and straighten the kitchen up.
Then it is lunch time. I desperately search the kitchen , get struck by culinary genius, and prepare something that I had no idea I could out of my kitchen. After lunch is cleared away the kids go to their room for quiet time and Mommy stares at a wall for an hour. Then the kids come out of their rooms and it is game back on.
About 3-4 times a week I pull out my kickin' sweet stroller and the kids and I walk to the store, because that's how I roll. We also walk to the park, to the book store and to a really neat thrift shop near by.
Several times a week I have good girlfriends who stop by to look at me. I am pretty old school (read: cheap) in a lot of ways and I think this makes me kind of like a historic museum exhibit. "See, children. This is how Mommies used to make loaves of bread in the old days."
Of course, all of this excitement is peppered heavily with simply hanging out with the kids, reading books, listening to the songs they write and watching the shows they enjoy.
I cap my day off with a meal they refuse to eat and a bath they refuse to keep from spilling onto the floor. We end our evening with a twist on an old favorite. I read them a chapter of a book (currently reading Pippi Longstocking) and then I go to their individual rooms where they tell me a story. Mackenzie's stories usually involve fairies and Ian's stories usually involve race cars, or trains, or trash trucks, or basically anything that he would love to drive someday.
I put them to bed at eight precisely, not because I am structured, but because I am that ready to have the precious angels out of my hair.
After they are in bed, I have a few hours to finish up my housework and splash on some make-up before Eric gets home. And when Eric gets home, we put on hoe down music and dance a jig. Unless it is Tuesday.
My typical Monday through Saturday begins at 7:00am. Let's pause here for Gina's jealous groan.
*still paused*
I wake to the smiling faces of my dear children who seem to think I am responsible for every food item they ingest. I don't like to mock their flawed thinking so early in the morning so I trudge to the kitchen and prepare breakfast. Sometimes I make cinnamon rolls the night before and bake them in the morning. Aunt Sandra made them for me one fine morning several years ago and she inspired me to try it myself.
After breakfast the kids get dressed and I get my coffee, or rather, my cream and sugar with a splash of coffee. Eric is generally gone to his office by then, but if he has no appointments scheduled he is at home in bed. This means that I set my coffee mug down and go tell him to get up. He asks his Mom for five more minutes (she lives in Wisconsin. I don't know why he asks her and I wonder why he thinks she can hear him). Fifteen minutes or so later I return to wake him and he rushes to get ready, plays with the kids for a good bit and heads out the door.
With Eric gone, I take a quick shower, start the first of 3-5 loads of laundry, feed the dog, unclog the toilet (or sink, or tub, or whatever the kids have clogged up that day), wash the dishes, vacuum, sometimes shampoo the carpet (like a good Kirby wife and dog owner), make the beds, and straighten the kitchen up.
Then it is lunch time. I desperately search the kitchen , get struck by culinary genius, and prepare something that I had no idea I could out of my kitchen. After lunch is cleared away the kids go to their room for quiet time and Mommy stares at a wall for an hour. Then the kids come out of their rooms and it is game back on.
About 3-4 times a week I pull out my kickin' sweet stroller and the kids and I walk to the store, because that's how I roll. We also walk to the park, to the book store and to a really neat thrift shop near by.
Several times a week I have good girlfriends who stop by to look at me. I am pretty old school (read: cheap) in a lot of ways and I think this makes me kind of like a historic museum exhibit. "See, children. This is how Mommies used to make loaves of bread in the old days."
Of course, all of this excitement is peppered heavily with simply hanging out with the kids, reading books, listening to the songs they write and watching the shows they enjoy.
I cap my day off with a meal they refuse to eat and a bath they refuse to keep from spilling onto the floor. We end our evening with a twist on an old favorite. I read them a chapter of a book (currently reading Pippi Longstocking) and then I go to their individual rooms where they tell me a story. Mackenzie's stories usually involve fairies and Ian's stories usually involve race cars, or trains, or trash trucks, or basically anything that he would love to drive someday.
I put them to bed at eight precisely, not because I am structured, but because I am that ready to have the precious angels out of my hair.
After they are in bed, I have a few hours to finish up my housework and splash on some make-up before Eric gets home. And when Eric gets home, we put on hoe down music and dance a jig. Unless it is Tuesday.
Roll Call
Okay, so we have done a "where's waldo" type roll call. Amy and I discussed it, and I think she hasn't gotten to making this post because she wants me to do it, but this week's roll call is......
"What is Waldo up to?" Pretty much, what is a typical day like in your family?
I'll start....
At the awful hour of 5:00 a.m. my alarm starts reminding me that I must get up. Kind as it may be, I still give it a good whack and roll over hoping to catch at least 8 more minutes of sleep. This continues until about 5:30. I get up get my self ready for the day and then proceed to wake grumpy-pants up. Contrary to your thinking that is not Damon. It's Courtney. She is not a morning person. She likes to wake up...not be told to wake up. We do our morning routine of me begging her to go potty so she can get dressed and go to school. I tempt her with what she wants for breakfast, seeing her teachers, and then I just plop her rear on the toilet seat kicking and screaming (her, not me). 30 minutes or so later we are headed out the door and somehow we managed to get breakfast to fit into the whole mess.
I teach all day and Courtney goes to daycare a.k.a school. I am blessed that the school where I teach also has a daycare attached (gotta love the private schools!) so she is very close by. After 8 long hours of teaching I usually drag myself over to her classroom pick her up and we head back home. Unless of course it is a Tuesday or Wednesday. On Tuesdays Courtney has a gymnastics class, so we usually run around until that starts (once I am home, I don't want to leave!) On Wednesdays we have been known to do the same for church....but since it starts so much later, I sometimes come home. We have so many other activities scattered here and there, but not on a regular basis. The larger my belly gets, the more I want to just get home and chill.
We try our best to eat at home, but cooking for 1 1/2 is really hard, so my child is a lover of most fast foods! She is especially fond of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut (at least she is loyal to the company....maybe it's because I drank so much Pepsi while I was pregnant with her). If we drive by a TB she will say, "Oh mama, look it's a bell....I need a soft taco without any lettuce and a sprite." Sure you do kiddo. Maybe when daddy comes back home we will eat at home more often.
We have a pretty strict bedtime of 8:00...oh wait that was a complete lie. The ideal bedtime in our house is 8:00. Lately it's been more like 9:00, but who's counting. If we weren't on daylight savings time it would be 8:00. We call daddy before we go to bed most nights, if he's available. That usually turns into her talking for 5 minutes and I talk for an hour, so unlimited long-distance (which ironically covers Guam) is our life line. Then we are off to bed so that we can start another day in the Blankinship Bungalow!
So now that I have wasted Courtney's nap time and my floors aren't mopped anymore than they were when I started this....what's life like in your house???
"What is Waldo up to?" Pretty much, what is a typical day like in your family?
I'll start....
At the awful hour of 5:00 a.m. my alarm starts reminding me that I must get up. Kind as it may be, I still give it a good whack and roll over hoping to catch at least 8 more minutes of sleep. This continues until about 5:30. I get up get my self ready for the day and then proceed to wake grumpy-pants up. Contrary to your thinking that is not Damon. It's Courtney. She is not a morning person. She likes to wake up...not be told to wake up. We do our morning routine of me begging her to go potty so she can get dressed and go to school. I tempt her with what she wants for breakfast, seeing her teachers, and then I just plop her rear on the toilet seat kicking and screaming (her, not me). 30 minutes or so later we are headed out the door and somehow we managed to get breakfast to fit into the whole mess.
I teach all day and Courtney goes to daycare a.k.a school. I am blessed that the school where I teach also has a daycare attached (gotta love the private schools!) so she is very close by. After 8 long hours of teaching I usually drag myself over to her classroom pick her up and we head back home. Unless of course it is a Tuesday or Wednesday. On Tuesdays Courtney has a gymnastics class, so we usually run around until that starts (once I am home, I don't want to leave!) On Wednesdays we have been known to do the same for church....but since it starts so much later, I sometimes come home. We have so many other activities scattered here and there, but not on a regular basis. The larger my belly gets, the more I want to just get home and chill.
We try our best to eat at home, but cooking for 1 1/2 is really hard, so my child is a lover of most fast foods! She is especially fond of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut (at least she is loyal to the company....maybe it's because I drank so much Pepsi while I was pregnant with her). If we drive by a TB she will say, "Oh mama, look it's a bell....I need a soft taco without any lettuce and a sprite." Sure you do kiddo. Maybe when daddy comes back home we will eat at home more often.
We have a pretty strict bedtime of 8:00...oh wait that was a complete lie. The ideal bedtime in our house is 8:00. Lately it's been more like 9:00, but who's counting. If we weren't on daylight savings time it would be 8:00. We call daddy before we go to bed most nights, if he's available. That usually turns into her talking for 5 minutes and I talk for an hour, so unlimited long-distance (which ironically covers Guam) is our life line. Then we are off to bed so that we can start another day in the Blankinship Bungalow!
So now that I have wasted Courtney's nap time and my floors aren't mopped anymore than they were when I started this....what's life like in your house???
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