LLoyds of Fun

My sister and her family came down South this weekend. They had some maintenance to perform on the horses at TK's house, an awards banquet to attend and then they stopped by here today. They brought their new puppy, Lloyd. He is even cuter in person, has a great personality and was a lot of fun to have around for a few hours. He is welcome to come stay with us anytime.

How can you not love that little face?

"Come on, I dare to grab my toy, come on, let's go!"

It was incredibly windy today and while we were outside he would sit down an listen. Those big ears of his were moving every which way.

When he puts his ears back he is much more aerodynamic.

Love it when he lays like this.

Getting some lovin' from his momma.

We wore the poor guy out and wanted to know what the heck I was doing interrupting his nap.

Slept like this for quite a while.

Frosty Was Feeling Artsy

Who knew that a BBQ lid could be so interesting? It's what made me grab the camera in my pre-coffee stupor and head outside for a couple of minutes.

I love how Frosty outlined this leaf.

This bush reminded me of when you bake and then dust the end product with powdered sugar.

Interesting pattern on our table.

Random

Adjective: random randum

1. Lacking any definite purpose; governed by or depending on chance

In case any of you still don't know, I hate doing laundry. If I were a super hero you could thwart my do-gooder escapades by blocking my path to comic book like triumph with laundry. Sad but true. So in keeping with my laundry loathing lifestyle here is a blog post that I just randomly pieced together INSTEAD of cleaning clothes.

I love my sister and am very proud of her...she knows why.

If you think it's funny to torture dogs by making them wear clothes you should check out this cute post at Janet's blog.

I have this song stuck in my head or you can listen here too. It's called "Human" by The Killers and I bet you find yourself humming it later if you go check it out.

This is Oliver, he's copying Pluto. He is my perpetual entertainer.
Thanks Grandma Lavelle for the new shirt!

This is our cat, Smudge. He likes to get on the table, which he is not supposed to do, and pull a bunch of napkins out of the little basket. He then shreds and fluffs until they are just right for napping.

This big, bright, orb of a thing has been hanging around our skies for the past couple of days. I'm enjoying it's company but not getting too attached.

Okay, off to do some laundry...or not.

Sometimes

I get a picture that I love and for some reason this is one of them. I messed around with a bit...you might have to click on the picture to read the quote.

What Goes Around Comes Around

I must confess. I have this little thing that I do to Joel that I do just to irritate him a bit. It's really not that big of a deal but it's gotten a reaction (albeit a small one) from him a couple of times so I keep doing it. I will say something witty or throw out a stellar pun and then immediately follow it with, "get it? do ya get it?" then explain why the pun/joke is supposed to be funny. He got it, he didn't need me to explain it and may have even laughed a bit but I always push it to the, "get it? do ya get it?" stage. Trust me, I find it much funnier to get "the look" from him and even an occasional eye roll! Or at least I think so.

Then karma stepped in...

Tonight before bed, Noah was reading a SpongeBob Joke book. Before too long he was reading/telling the jokes to us. Can you guess what he did after every joke?

Sandy: Why did Patrick punch the library?
SpongeBob: His teacher told him to hit the books!

"Do you get it mom? Do you know why SpongeBob said that? Because hit the books means to study and that's what the teacher meant for Patrick to do but instead Patrick really hit the books!" Noah says laughing and giggling.

Sandy: Where's the best place on a baseball field to take a test?
SpongeBob: Right field!

"RIGHT field, as in the right answers, for the test, get it? Mom, do you get it? Right field is a position in baseball but you want to get all the right answers for the test. Get it?"

Yeah, I'd say I'm getting what I deserve but to be totally honest, I was quite proud. What better compliment can a parent get than when their kid wants to be like them? And if you need any other SpongeBob jokes, I'd be glad to help you out, I heard quite a few tonight and we have a date tomorrow night to hear the rest. Got it?

Resolution Victor

Sorry about the stellar video you're about to watch but you can't yell, "Take 2!", when picking the winner. Congratulations and I will email you soon to get your choice of soap scent(s).

Reminder

This is a quick reminder to go to this post and leave a comment with your new years resolution. A batch of all natural homemade soap could be in your future.
Winner will be drawn tomorrow night.

They Say It's Your Birthday!!

I asked Noah and Oliver, using the below method to describe Grandma Heidi. Thought it was a fun and cute way to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA HEIDI!

G - Gracious
R - Really good at Uno
A - Always helpful
N - Nice
D - Dog dogs!
M - Married to GrandPop Bruce
A - A, Aaah, Apple

H - Happy
E - Eats pizza with us
I - Is not here
D - Doesn't yell at us
I - Is fun to visit

Can you guess which three Oliver did?

Still Learning

I try to learn something about my camera or how to take better pictures as often as possible. The moon last night wasn't exactly spectacular but it was interesting with the clouds moving quickly past. I had read a little something about taking pictures of the moon. One part of the article talked about treating the moon as a sunlit object instead of a night time long exposure. Makes sense if you really think about it so I gave it a try. I opened the aperture as wide as I could and set my shutter speed at 1/4. These were my favorite shots of the night...not too bad for my little, no frills, camera. Now I just have to get my hands on my sisters camera and her new lens!

"PUP"date

Oliver and I stopped by Steph's today and got to see and play with the puppies. They are growing so fast and are so dang cute! Of course I probably think they are super cute because I'm not having to tend to, feed, clean-up, etc. after six little lab sausages. If you don't like to look at cute puppy pictures then turn away now, otherwise, enjoy the show.

Oliver looking in on the clan - the boy and the puppies look innocent but don't let them fool you, they can turn on you in a heartbeat!

Just try not to rub that belly.

The one on top is Woodrow, they are keeping him. I played with him a lot today and I think they made the right choice. He is a sweetheart.

All six recharging for their great escape. We ran to the grocery store and when we got back they had knocked out a wall of their confines and were running free.

I love their cute little, wrinkly, puppy faces.

Here is Woodrow again getting himself into a little bit of trouble.
Don't worry though...

he tired out quickly and fell asleep before damage could be done.

Apparently this little trouble maker wanted to make sure I knew he was there. A quick tug or two on my laces and then he was off again.

FORE!

It's difficult for Oliver to play a lot of the Wii games that we have. He really tries but he doesn't quite get all the moves. Hold down this button to aim, this other button to lock on, swing, release the button at right moment, etc. pretty soon he just gets frustrated. We do have some games that he can play well like Playground or a few of the games on Carnival Games but one of his favorites lately is Wii Golf. It's just the simple golf game that came with Wii Sports but it's perfect for him. Here are a few shots of him hitting the links early in the day for quick 9 holes of fun.

He's not Tiger Woods but his form is better than mine!

Here he is setting up for his next shot.

Teeing off at another.

I know a lot of guys that would be upset at a bogey but not this guy. He is very proud that he just tapped in his putt for 1 over par!

Sorry Boy

Guess who had to go to school on time this morning...just look at that happy, milk mustache, face. He was a bit disappointed that he didn't, at least, get a late start to school but did chuckle a little when he saw that Summer had lost her head. Oh, and while we are at it, I am going to apologize now for the messy shaggy hair that is to come in future pictures. Noah has asked if he can grow his hair out. I explained to him that with his thick coarse hair, funky cowlicks, etc. it may not be pretty but that I didn't care. He's going to give it a shot and see what happens. Right now it almost looks like he's sporting a Mohawk.

Odd Odd Weather

I went to the grocery store tonight to get just a couple of things, school starts again tomorrow and Noah prefers sack lunches. I got a text, while shopping, from a friend telling me that the blizzard he was now experiencing at his house was my fault (that's another story). Sure enough, by the time Oliver and I got out of Fred Meyers there was a nice layer of snow covering the ground. Luckily, if the weatherman is right, it's not supposed to last. It SHOULD warm up, turn to rain and start to melt as the night goes on. Turns out that this is the really fun kind of snow...not too dry, not too soggy. The boys and I headed outside for what was supposed to be just a couple of minutes and we ended up being out there for about an hour. Noah is hoping that school will be called off tomorrow and winter break extended. I'm hoping for a late start.

Accumulating nicely out front.

Oliver decided he needed an umbrella, I'm not sure if it did him much good but he felt better with it.

Night time snow pictures using the flash makes the snow look fake.

They didn't want cold hands so they made up a new game of kicking snow at each other.

This is Summer, she and her apple red lipstick are from Melbourne, Australia. The weather there is currently a fair 82 degrees. We let her borrow a few sprigs from the, no longer needed, Christmas tree and a scarf.

Remember the Bunny Hop?

You know, the cute little dance you did (or may still do if you are willing to do that kind of thing as an adult)when you were in kindergarten or grade school. The kids that were really into it would hold their hands up like cute little bunny paws and wiggle their pretend bunny noses. Do you remember? Yeah, well my little daredevil has bypassed THAT bunny hop and moved right into the bunny hop on the scooter or skateboard. Noah got a skateboard skills book for Christmas and Oliver will sit down with the book and study the pictures. He turns his little skateboard over in his hands or on the floor to mimic the photos/tricks then gets on to practice. He's not doing any major tricks YET but I am guessing that it won't be too long - definitely not long enough for me. The kid is crazy! These are a couple of tame videos of him practicing, yes he is in the house it's flooding, snowing, freezing, muddy, slushy and just plain icky outside. One video shows him zooming back and forth and the other shows him practicing his version of the bunny hop. Listen close, you can hear me cracking up. Actually, I think that is my body/brains way of dealing with the little ball of fire, cracking up is better than a constant state of worry and panic...

And The Winner Is...

I just want to thank all of you for playing along and many of you put in some great guesses here. I went back last night after my last post of 2008 and found these guesses 229, 252, 232, 241, 255, 237, 260, 250, 258, 239, 247, 243 and 248. I managed a whopping 254 post for 2009 that means the winning guess was 255, off by just one! Tori was a VERY close second with a guess of 252 so maybe I will do something special for her too but the winner is....

SHANA!!

I will put your package of homemade stuff together and get that to you soon. And now for the new exciting announcement to start off 2009!! I have a question for you...

What is your top New Year Resolution?

Next Sunday, the 11th, I will gather up all of the New Year Resolutions that were posted and put them into a drawing. Noah or Oliver will pick the winning resolution and that person will get 12 bars of soap! But here's the exciting part, the winner will get to pick, from our current supplies, what scent they want. Something simple, something exotic, the winner chooses! Good luck to all of you and Happy New Year!