Are You Trying Jo Chuff Me Up?

Well, are you?

No those aren't typos. It just happens to be the saying on the coolest shirt I have ever seen.

Yesterday I went with Shane and his 19 Chinese students to the Heard Museum.

So fun.

These students are seriously such cool people. (another post on them pending)

Anywho...one of the guys was wearing a shirt that had a cartoon drawing of a panda. The panda had a thought bubble coming from his head. You know, that looked like this:

And inside the bubble it said "Scribble".

Um, okay.

But then just below the panda it said:

"Panda Panda are you trying jo chuff me up?"

I read it about 10 times before I finally asked Shane if I was missing something.

He called the student over so we could read it better, and one of the other students was reading it with us. Shane just started laughing and said:

"That is total Chingrish!"

The students all started laughing--they loved it.

But I realized it was something like this...

You can make a racist remark if you are good friends with a group of people or if you are in the group of people, but if you are on the outside and make a comment like that you'd better be careful because they just might try jo chuff you up.

Bad Hair Day

See these two? They are buddies. They are tight.

Maybe a little too tight.

While playing around today one of them got a great (read: not so great) idea (still not sure who).

Somehow this kid got involved too.

But I think this kid was the instigator.

Plus these @)(&*#$ scissors!

Plus Morgan's hair. (yeah, I didn't know you could use toe nail scissors to cut hair either).

Oh what? You didn't catch the mullet in that last picture? Take a closer look.

It's pretty sweet. I'm signing her up for a softball team tomorrow. Apparently Dane specializes in 80's cuts. Business in front, party in back!

So here's the story...Livy came running in horrified because she found Owen and Dane cutting Morgan's hair. The reason she went in was because Morgan started crying. The reason Morgan started crying was because Owen was trying to cut her hair too.

The story from Morgan goes a little something like this: "I didn't want Owen to cut my hair, only just Dane 'cause he's my friend." He must've convinced her he knew what he was doing since he watches his mom cut hair all the time.

Lucky for us his mom cuts hair all the time. She knew just what to do. So she worked her magic.

Tatum asked if she makes everyone pay for haircuts. Lana said, "Yep. Dane's paying for this one." :)

Morgan thought the whole thing was pretty sweet since she's been wanting a haircut for awhile. (obviously, since she was willing to get one from her 4 year old cousin).

Lana did a smokin' job of fixing the mess they made. (Thanks Lana!)

Super cute Morgan!

And maybe someday, when Owen is 16 or so, I will let him use scissors again.

Maybe.

Shoot For the Stars!

I know. I've been on a roll the past few days. So here we go again.

Lana has a sister in town visiting and she has 2 boys, ages 7 and 11 I think. As we were lounging in the pool yesterday she was telling me a little about what they want to be when they grow up.

The older one wants to be either an engineer of some sort or an architect. He takes things apart and puts them back together, builds things, has a crazy brilliant mind.

The younger one is quite into chemistry. Chemistry? I don't think my children even know what that is. Apparently he wants to be a chemist or world famous scientist and tells his mom that he is going to cure all disease. What the?

The reason I found this so fascinating was because the day before yesterday Owen and I had a conversation about when he grows up. He informed me that he really wanted to go to college. I asked him what he wanted to study at college and he said, "I don't know. I don't know really what they do there."

So I explained that you go to college to study something that you'd really like to do as a job when you get out of college. So then I asked, "What do you want to do for your job when you grow up?"

He looked to the side, thought for a second and then turned to me quite proudly and said with a smile, "Ice cream tester."

The look on his face was something to the effect of: Holy crap! I really get to PICK what I do when I grow up. Then it's going to be something awesome!

No worries. At this house we teach them to dream big!

So far we've got Owen the ice cream tester and Morgan the duck.

Quack.

FIVE!!!

That's the number of times I've gone into the kids bathroom and had to flush this:

...because there was poop in it.

FIVE!!!

It is only 4:30 pm and I only have 3 children.

1. Why the heck can't they flush...ever?

2. Who the heck is pooping so much? (my guess: Morgan)

3. Sick.

Eh? What's That You Say?

Sooooo.....

The other night as Shane and I sat in 116 degree heat with Morgan jumping all over us waiting for Liv's and Owen's swim meet to start we were just looking around and having an innocent conversation.

You know, stuff like, "Look at that little baby, how cute." and "Hey, I think I know that person from somewhere." etc.

So then Shane looks across the pool to the other side as some of the older guy swimmers were getting in to warm up. One of the guys was wearing a suit that looked pretty much exactly like

this (minus the cool black racing stripes):

And he says to me: "What is up with some of the suits these guys are wearing? They are so weird. Like look at that guy over there with that red suit on. It looks like he's wearing grandma panties."

Just then the lady in the blue chair (who was sitting directly in front of us at the time...like maybe 1 foot in front of us) turned around and said:

"It's a drag suit. That's my son."

And then Shane's face looked about like this:

Seriously? What are the odds?

There were several HUNDRED people at that swim meet. There was only one sitting close enough to us to hear him say that.

Just one.

She moved away from us a little while later.

Oops! :)

What Spunk Looks Like

There aren't too many kids in this world born with as much spunk, sass, and confidence as this little one right here. "Little Miss", as I like to call her, really keeps this house hoppin'!

She's fun, quirky and quite smart. She loves animals soooooo much. We can't pass a dog without her needing to pet it and talk to the owner all about it. She's never scared or shy to do this. Ever. She will be sure to mention that we have a Cheagle--"part Beagle, part Chick-a-wa-wa".

In her preschool this past year they had a Reptile Show in their class where this man brought all sorts of lizards, snakes, etc. Morgan was front and center to pet them all. One of the kids asked the man, "Is a mouse a reptile?" But before the man could answer Morgan turned and said, "No, a mouse is a rodent." A rodent? Really?!? She's so cool.

After going to Sea World she would tell me how much she loves Orca's...not Shamu, Orca's. And Otter's. She was a baby Otter for a few weeks...in the tub, getting dressed, eating breakfast. (Phew, glad that's over.)

If you asked her a few weeks ago what she wanted to be when she grew up she would tell you "A duck." She saw no problem with this. She has since revised this to a ballerina. (But if Ballerina doesn't pan out I think duck is still a close second). For Halloween she was a duck and since we did a triathlon that day she was our "cheerleader duck". So now if she asks to wear her "cheerleader costume" she is referring to her duck costume. (took me awhile to figure that one out).

She pays very close attention to details that you wouldn't expect. The other day she held up a peach and said, "Mom, a peach has fur all over it. That means it's a mammal." I didn't say she pays attention to ALL details. I had to explain that peaches don't give live birth, so no, they will remain in the fruit category.

I long for the sheer life and confidence that exudes out of this girl. She did this whole photo shoot at Olivia and Owen's swim meet in front of bleachers filled with people. Not a thought given to the fact that she was wearing her leotard with her underpants hanging out, or that her hair was, well, special. She was just enjoying herself and didn't care about anything else. Some of that is because she is 3 years old, but some of that is because she is Morgan.

Thumbs up to you Morgan. Nothing makes me smile, quite like you. :)

(side note: story coming up on that lady in the blue chair behind Morgan).

Annoying Pet People...Don't You Just Hate 'Em?

I have always been so bugged by people that think their dog is so cute or funny.

I'd hear people tell stories about when their dog died and how sad they were and I'd think, "It's a dog...give me a break."

Well, I have to say, I officially understand those people.

Somewhere over this last year I've let this cute little Cheagle named Jersey into my heart, and you know what? I freaking love my dog!

It's embarrassing to catch myself telling people stories about her like she's one of my kids. Or Shane and I will watch her play with one of her toys and laugh because it's so cute the way she does it.

She's got personality and spunk, but most of all she is very sweet and so good with the kids.

But she's a DOG!

I know, I know. But she happens to be the best dog ever. :)

I had no idea when we got her that she was the perfect dog for our family. I didn't even know you're supposed to think about what you want when you get a dog...I just wanted her. Come to find out I just got very lucky. She's not a barker (yes!), she's super smart which means she was pretty easy to house train (yes!), she's very good with kids (yes!), she's short-haired which means way less shedding and no need for hair cuts (yes!), she's small so I can carry her when necessary (yes!) and she's the Olivia of the dog world...just so good. :)

So a dog like this deserves a birthday party when they turn one.

And that's what we did.

I made a chocolate, bone-shaped birthday cake (for us, not her).

And we even had her blow out the candles. (I think that's Owen's mouth there helping out. Jersey's blowing skills aren't the best).

The kids really wanted to get her some gifts too. So I took them to the store to pick something out. Olivia insisted on using $2 of her own money so Jersey would know it was just from her. Morgan gave me a Venazuelan coin that Shane had given her to pay for her gift for Jersey (which she later snaked out of my pocket and put back in her bank). And Owen just laid claim to the other toy we got for her.

We had some family over and literally sang Happy Birthday to Jersey.

Holy crap? When did this happen to me?

But you know what? It was so fun and the kids loved it.

Jersey has brought a lot of enrichment to our life and we love her for it.

I really have to say, she's one of the family.