Spongebob Dinner II

A couple of years ago we had a Spongebob dinner...There were new episodes of Spongebob being shown on Nick (Cable TV) and old episodes were shown all day leading up to the big event. So, to celebrate, we had a Spongebob themed dinner.

Out of the blue, Malorie asked for a Spongebob dinner yesterday. She asked right before it was time to go to the bus, so to avoid upsetting her to the point of not getting on the bus, I agreed to her request. It really isn't a big deal...the hardest part is trying to figure out clever names for ordinary foods! :) So here's what the Lee's had for dinner last night...followed by The Spongebob Movie.

Yes, those are just plain old fries...but somehow having them called tentacles makes them more appealing to some.



A bowl of watermelon...that is more fun now b/c it's not just pink, it's "Patrick Pink".



This one was my hardest...corn was on the menu, but what to call it? Luckily, Sandy Cheeks is from Texas...yellow rose, yellow corn...it worked! And we all hummed "The Yellow Rose of Texas" most of the evening.



This one was easy!



This one was pretty easy too...



Now, THIS ONE is my pride and joy! Believe it or not, I came up with this ALL BY MYSELF!! It's just green jello - but I added slices of gumdrops to make his eyes and eyebrow and broke a toothpick to be his antenna and Ta-dah, it's PLANKTON in a cup!



Yes, we're still all cramming around our itty-bitty table. We knew this would happen...we'd move in to the new house and finishing touches would become less important...like a table! :)



I think Meredi is going to be the table factor that gets it moving. For now she joins us by being in the bouncy seat on the floor by us...but it won't be long until she's ready for her own chair...and until we have a bigger table, it ain't happenin'! (But isn't she cute...)

Christopher & Mindy

So many people have called us to find out 1) How they are doing 2) If they need anything 3) If there are any updates...etc. We really aren't a wealth of information. Here's what we know!
(Link to Boise News here.)

They really are doing ok. Of course it stinks to have your home burn to the ground...duh...but they are safe, surrounded by great friends, and are moving forward.


(Their home to your left.)

They really don't need anything. They're good for clothes and food and a place to stay...but they do appreciate the kind kind gestures people are making in their behalf and they don't want to seem unappreciative when they tell people that there really is nothing more that can be done to help them at this point.



"Christopher Lee and his 18-month-old son Adam walk through the gate to where their house used to be on Sweetwater Drive Tuesday morning. Monday night the fire totally destroyed their home and nine of their neighbor's homes."



"Fourteen-year-old Spencer Lee inspects the family's Ford Expedition on Tuesday morning with his parents, Christopher and Mindy Lee and his youngest brother, 18-month-old Adam. The Lee's were in good spirits even joking with the neighbors that their yard was going to bring down their property value."



"The mailboxes were still standing Tuesday mornings at the destroyed homes of the Robinsons and the Lees."

(Pictures and descriptions are all from the Idaho Statesman website.)



They are being well taken care of by ward members, friends, employers, etc. (And of course their nosey sister in law calling constantly to check on them is a HUGE help, I'm sure!!!)

Everyone's safe and they're going to be ok - I think I've said that abt 100 times...but in case there is still anyone out there who hasn't heard, I want to get it out there one more time!

We are so so grateful that everyone is ok...

Back to School

Today is the big day! Everyone headed off to school this morning!

Here's the group of "School Kids"!!



Jason starts High School - 9th Grade (Man, did I really just say that?)



Maddie is back to the Middle School this year - 7th Grade



Jacob moved to the Middle School this year - 6th Grade



Megan is at Elementary II - 4th Grade



Jared is also at Elementary II - 3rd Grade



Are you sitting down?

Seriously -

Are you sitting down?

Malorie is at Elementary I - Kindergarten



Here's the "Stay Home" team...



And here's the whole brood - wow, they're all growing up so darn fast!



And just for fun - we started the day with a moose in our back yard...I wasn't fast enough to get a decent picture of it (of course) and when I uploaded this one to the computer it reminded me of the "bigfoot sighting" picture...see what I mean?





Uncanny resemblance, huh?

It's Fair time again!

We took the kids to our local community Fair last night. We live in such a small town that it really is hard to spend more than 30 minutes at the Fair without feeling like you saw everything, twice! But we love going. We know several of the kids who are in FFA so we are able to visit with them and their families. We also know several people who enter things in the Fair and it's fun to spot their entries and see how they did.

This year Megan and mom were the only ones in the family who entered things. Megan had sewn a wonderful pair of pajamas with the help of our dear friend, Shirley. As you can see, Megan did a great job! We are just thrilled for her! She won a blue ribbon, "Best of Show", and a "special Award" of $25!



She also sewed a monster with Grandma Janet's help. I believe it was the May issue of Family Fun magazine that had the pattern - well, the idea - Megan made the patter herself and it turned out adorable. She won a blue ribbon on this one too!



I entered a couple of pictures...one of Meredith that probably isn't the best picture to have judged as I realized she isn't "centered" in the photo (and in my print from Wal*Mart, her head is a bit cut off at the top, not much I could do abt that) - but she's just so darn cute I really just wanted her adorable face out there for everyone to see! ;)



Anyone remember this picture? These are the baby birds that lived in Uncle Christopher and Aunt Mindy's BBQ. Jason quickly opened the BBQ and I snapped the picture without giving it much thought - just wanted to hurry and get the lid closed again...this picture did better than Meredi's and I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was to get her picture...(dress just right, back drop just right, smile just right...lol).



We had a blast...

Rabbits



Horses



More Rabbits



Goats



Pigs

15 Years, Wow

Here it is - the big ONE-FIVE. The "Crystal" year. We're not really "crystal" people, sure we have some but doubt we'll gift it just for the sake of tradition. We are heading down the "new camera" road - we hit an eBay glitch, so we aren't celebrating with new pictures today. But hopefully one day soon...of course you'll be the first to know when we get it.

I'm assuming since these pictures were so readily available on my hard drive, I must have already shared them here - sorry.



I considered doing a 15 years in review type thing, but that would take forever, and I'd most likely forget something anyway.



Our years together have been wonderful. Nine perfect children. A gorgeous home. We live near family. We're surrounded by loved ones. We're healthy. We're happy. We're blessed.

Midnight swim...

Ok, not quite midnight, but by mom's watch, it was close enough.

Brandon had to spend a day in Olympia this week. He hates those days.
Get up early, drive, fly, drive, sit, drive, fly, drive and then get home late.

We were all still up when he got home (he wasn't as late as he sometimes
is when he has to go to Olympia). We fed him a little dinner, and the
next thing I knew, everyone was streaking through the house in their
swimming suits, heading outside with dad!



Of course I have images of chlorinated kids coming in, dripping wet and
trying to get them to bed when they are done swimming...but none of them
worried abt that. They all enjoyed a fun, uncharacteristic late-night-swim
with dad!

Thank you, Dr. Shapiro

There aren't a lot of people who have the opportunity to "test drive" the entire Neonatologist Team of a hospital - and that's a good thing. We, however, have had the chance to meet them all - and minus the fact that the meets were because we had prematurely born babies in the hospital - we can honestly say that we have come to like 'em all!

Through keeping in touch with my NICU nurse-friend B, I've learned that Dr. Shapiro is retiring and today is his send off. I seriously considered taking our preemies in to say thanks - turns out we'll be out of town this evening.

But I wanted to express our family's gratitude for Dr. Shapiro. We first met him when we had Malorie in '03. He is an older gentleman....a grandpa sorta guy. He wasn't really outspoken like some of the other doctors. He didn't have a killer sense of humor like some of the other doctors. He spoke with a thick accent which made it necessary to keep full eye contact with him when he spoke to us...and sometimes we had to ask him to repeat what he said - something that is hard to do for someone like me who prefers to appear that she knows everything!

We crossed paths with Dr. Shapiro in '04 when Melanie was born. This time around we were familiar with all of the doctors. And more importantly, we remembered that we really liked Dr. Shapiro. He was a constant. Always to-the-point with us...never gave us false hope, but never left us hopeless either. Since we were sure we wouldn't have to do NICU after Malorie b/c surely she was just a fluke, being there with Melanie was hard...Dr. Shapiro's presence was comforting.

In '06 we met up with Dr. Shapiro again, he was the doctor on call when Joseph was born. We were very relieved to see that we was the doctor waiting for us in the delivery room. As I mentioned, we liked all of the NICU docs, but we knew we could trust Dr. Shapiro - not b/c we couldn't trust the other doctors - but because he really made us feel safe, like we would if our own fathers were there. (Yes, that's mushy and not where I wanted to take this entry, but I don't know how else to express the comfort he gave us, the parents, as our baby's doctor...there were just times we felt like he cared for our babies as if they were his own grandchildren.)

Not to be left out, Meredith got a chance to meet Dr. Shapiro in '08. Ironically enough, it was Dr. Shapiro who made the call to keep Meredith "a couple more days" when we were thinking she'd be able to come home. I remember being glad that that crushing news came from him though. After the blow, he wrapped Meredi back up in her little bed, then turned and put his hand on my shoulder and apologized. I went back in the blog and found my entry for that day - this is what I wrote: I had kept my “Oprah Ugly Cry” in my pocket from Tuesday, so I was able to whip that out and use it again! However, the doctor today is Dr. S – and we really like him. Not many parents get the chance to become as familiar with NICU doctors and nurses the way we have – which is a good thing I guess. Dr. S is very soft spoken and gentle with the babies – and with emotionally drained mothers!

So even though we won't be partying with Dr. Shapiro tonight, I wanted to express our family's gratitude - for his wisdom, his gentle care and his kindness. We were lucky to have had him care for our preemies...

It's cute now...

It's taken me a dozen years to catch on - but I get it now...a baby sucking it's thumb is cute, there's no denying - but I know there is a catch in the end!! You can't just take a thumb away when it's time to stop sucking it!

Believe me! We've tried it! Holy Family Smack-Down's Batman!

So today I'm enjoying the cuteness that is my daughter - and in the back of my mind I know that one day I will hate that I let her do this!! *sigh*



Luckily, we truly adore our dentist - somehow that makes it easier to pay for our mistakes!!

Court of Honor

So I have discovered the downside to being the Committee Chairman for my sons' Scout Troop - we don't get any "proud mommy" pictures! Brandon was stuck juggling the camera, the baby, the two year old - and a few other tasks last night while I was doing the scout things I had to do. I'm very glad he was able to get these - I think I'm going to impliment a "pause and pose" portion of the Court of Honor so parents can get a good shot of their kiddos...(really it's just so I can get a good picture...if others benefit too, that's great)

Jason received his Camp Grizzly merit badges (Sculpture, Canoeing, Camping & Rowing) and more exciting even than that, he received his Life rank. As soon as he completes a few more required merit badges, he will be ready to begin his Eagle project! We're all excited for him!!



Last night was Jacob's very first Boy Scout Court of Honor. He received his Scout rank badge and is just one requirement from earning his Tenderfoot rank. This is Jacob pinning the Parent's Pin on my shirt.

Your Order Is Complete!

Be still my heart!

September 9th - Brian Regan's next DVD is scheduled for release!



Pre-order your copy now!

Jason's Birthday

Jason had a great birthday! We went in to the mall so he could use his Barnes & Noble gift card from grandma and grandpa. He picked up a trilogy abt some dark elf or something...he's glued to it today, so it must be good!



He opened a few presents at home...some jeans, a hat, a watch...maybe it's not as fun to get older - the presents aren't as fun as they used to be! :) (Although he did manage to spend some birthday money on a Nintendo game...so maybe he's not too old, yet!)



He also got a couple of t-shirts which he's modeling in the video below...listen to him closely - my kids are catching on to the curse in their lives which is our blog!

A week at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

While Jason and Brandon were at Scout Camp and Maddie was away at Girl's Camp, the rest of us headed north to grandma and grandpa's house!

We enjoyed making jam and rice krispy treats - eating out and a trip to the movie with grandpa to see WALL-E. Grandpa took the boys out with his metal detector and his 1800 Winchester. Grandma took the girls on a fun trip to Wal-Mart and the $1 Store.

We made a couple of fun trips to the city park. We went one evening just to play - another day we went in the afternoon with the kids' great grandma.

That big open spot on the merry-go-round is where Joseph is SUPPOSED to be sitting and posing for the picture. He wanted nothing to do with anything except pushing the thing!



Here he is enjoying the little kid side of the park...



Lunch with Great Grandma Margaret.



More pushing the merry-go-round...



Malorie trying to give her mother a heart attack!



Jacob still trying to perfect that balancing act...



Melanie having her own fun pushing...