Big Boy Haircut

Just thought I would share Zach's first "scissors haircut". We recently stopped buzzing his hair and we really knew it was past time for a haircut when Grandpa Guikema asked us at Sunday coffee if Zach's barber had died. Good one Dad! (Insert courtesy laugh here.) Enjoy your new and improved grandson.

"Say cheese" is always a crap shoot at this age!

Who you calling tacky?

Last night I was invited to an Academy Award party where the required dress code was either tacky formal wear or accessorized pajamas. First step to tacky, calling my mom. :) My mom is a beautiful and fashionable woman but she also loves a splash of color and very large jewelry. (Check out the white grape earrings that I borrowed from her.) So, after trying on five dresses she wore to all of our weddings (one that was so small in the waist I couldn't even button it) I headed home with two beauties. The one I really wanted to wear used to be grey (I think) and had turned a lovely shade of lilac but it had a large stain on the hemline. After getting the o.k. from my mom to try and get it out, I armed myself with Spray-N-Wash and gently rubbed at the stain. After just a few strokes, I had a hole in the dress and the stain wasn't budging. (Sorry Mom if you are reading this and hearing this for the first time.) So now I'm in a pickle; no dress and no respectable p.j.'s to wear out in public. Until I remembered a dress that I bought at Goodwill and wore to a murder mystery party several years ago. Hello 1970's - welcome back. Thanks Mom for being such a good sport and letting me try on all your dresses. The best quote from the day, "Mom's waist is smaller than mine but my boobs are bigger." Enough said ... or too much said? :)

Brace Yourself

There are good shows on television that actually show teenagers choosing not to have sex. I just watched 'Friday Night Lights' on http://www.nbc.com The fifteen year old daughter of the football coach tells her boyfriend she thinks it's time to have sex and then the rest of the episode features "the talk" with her mom, the mom and dad talking about it, and the teenagers deciding it was not right the time. Refreshing, heart-warming, and real. While they may not have the same Christian perspective on pre-marital sex as I do, it was moral, responsible, and definitely worth the watch. Friday Night Lights just made me a new fan.

Recently I was talking with a friend (who has kids the same ages as mine) and we were talking about when & how to have the "sex talk". What are you planning on saying to your kids?

So Sad

Alright, I admit I occassionally check People.com. How do you go from the Mickey Mouse Club to a bald, single-mother, rehab bound, former pop singer? Is it just me, or do any of you moms feel badly for her & her kids? I think she should move to Grand Rapids and out of L.A.!

Which One?

Looking for opinions on these two antique rings. Which one do you like better? And would you buy a ring online?

Big Uh-Oh

While traveling to IKEA (aka: the promised land) with my good friend Stephanie, we had quite a few adventures. The first involved her husband's truck which did one slight hiccup while we were driving and chatting & to which Steph calmly responded to by saying, "Oh, we are running out of gas." We proceeded to do what any girl in this situation would do: start giggling like mad. As we coasted through the exit and blasted through a stop sign we managed to somehow steer the car that was no longer running next to the gas pumps to fill up. Crisis number one avoided.

Back on the road, we went to grab some lunch before heading to IKEA (previously mentioned promised land.) We were sitting there eating our Jimmy John's sub and I was telling a story of how my bathroom sink seems to "eat" a lot of my jewelry & while I tell this story, I look down and see my diamond wedding ring minus the diamond. There on my finger sits a gold ring with six prongs sticking up, completely and totally naked. I proceeded to do what any girl in this situation would do: start giggling like mad. I don't know if it was the shock, strange appearance of my ring, or my anticipation of shopping at IKEA that made me laugh but I must admit I did LOL. Crisis number two: yet to be resolved.

Crisis number three: Once finally getting inside the store, I had to use the bathroom. My exact quote, "I'm at the promised land and now I have to go poopy." I'm happy to say this crisis was resolved rather quickly.

The rest of the story ...

New photo courtesy of my kindergarten daughter Zoey.

(Thanks Zoey, I like this one better.)

Turns out the valentine package was from their grandpa. Looks like Jeff is off the hook ... for today anyway. As soon as I typed that he walked in the door and handed me these beautiful yellow roses - my favorite colored rose. (I feel like this is a play-by-play report!)

What a Tease

This post is dedicated to all women everywhere who have great husbands who are no longer romantic. (Yeah, that should cover just about everyone!) As I watched a florist's van approach my house, I was intrigued, surprised, and excited. This lovely ensemble came from Kennedy's and was supposed to be delivered next door but since they weren't home, I was the lucky recepient ... until she comes home. Maybe I should just pretend it's for me if only for this afternoon since my husband said this to me yesterday, "I think I am going to keep Valentine's Day simple this year." As opposed to all the other years he has lavished me with romantic gifts? :) He honestly couldn't say that with a straight face! I am looking forward to a remodeled kitchen since his love language is "acts of service" & definitely not "gift giving". Love you babe. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love It & Hate It

Love spaghetti dinner ... hate spaghetti dinner. Love Build-A-Bear ... hate all those darn outfits.

Love the sunshine coming in today ... hate that it shows just how dirty my house really is.

Love my jeans after about 3-4 wears ... hate them straight out of the laundry. (Excuse me as I pop the top button a minute.)

Love my husband ... hate it when he kisses all the kids on his way out the door and forgets to kiss me. Today I actually yelled, "hey, kiss the one that carried them all." Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Love school days ... hate snow days! :)

Love my kids ... hate the mess they leave behind in every single room they enter. (Enough procrastinating - I am off to clean. Have a great weekend everybody!)

Books We Are Reading

Paige got this book from her school library. A LOL book for kids and adults. Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin.

Best entry in the diary: June 15 - "My older sister thinks she's so pretty. I told her that no matter how much time she spends looking in the mirror, her face will always look just like her rear end".

I just picked these three books up from the library. I am giddy with anticipation.

Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Forever in Blue - The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (I was just browsing the express books bookcase and scored this one. Brand new and the first three were a fun read that made me feel like I was back in high school.)

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's SUPERMOMMY!

Since I so often share my embarrassing mommy stories, I thought I would share a real-life super-mommy moment I had yesterday. My husband had to work from 8-5 and so, the kids and I had to ride out the Blizzard of '07 on our own (lame name given by the G.R. Press, not me.) We made homemade Valentine cards for their teachers and I made homemade barbeque beef sandwiches using two different recipes and whatever ingredients I could find in the house. (Turned out pretty yummy.) After I popped it in the oven to cook for a couple of hours, I went out and shoveled the entire driveway. He came home to hot meal (a rarity) and a clean driveway. Supermommmmmmy!

Answering Why?

We asked ourselves many times while dog sitting, why is Puck so skittish? In order to answer that question, you have to go back to his early days as a puppy. The story goes something like this ... One day while he was outside he was picked up by an owl, carried over the Thornapple River, and about an hour later someone called the owners to say that they just saw their dog fall from a tree. I guess I would be skittish too.

Why won't I be going back to Chuck E. Cheese's anytime soon? My purse got stolen on Monday night. I cancelled all the credit cards that night and panicked about what personal information I had left in there (ie. my social security card - if yours in in your purse or wallet - take it out immediately. By the way, great tip I just heard. Lay all the cards in your wallet face down on a photo copier and scan the contents. That way you will know what is hiding in your wallet. If you do both sides, you will also have the 1-800 numbers to call and cancel then too.) Wednesday afternoon I got a call from a woman who said that her daughter-in-law found my purse and since she doesn't speak any English she volunteered to call me. I was so grateful and exclaimed, "where did she find it?" The answer, "hmmm ... I don't know." Interesting, very interesting. (Somehow my purse made it from the mall area to Division Ave. with all it's contents intact, including my new razor cell phone. I lost a grand total of $4 bucks.) Thank you Lord.