I'm On The Blog Again....

...or so I hope. Were you signing it to the tune of "On the Road Again"? I don't expect anyone to believe it until they see more than one entry in a row.

the list from of blog topics from before has grown and some of it has actually changed. Let's revisit the list:


~The Family Vacation to Disneyland~ We had a great time. The kids were so good and everything came together fairly seamlessly. The parents all survived to tell the tale and there are lots of great pictures. I think this is still going to be it's own entry someday and when I do I have to make sure to tell the tale of Bitty!

~Ephraim's School Expulsion~ There is so much to say in this department. Several entries really. A quick update is that after 5 1/2 weeks Ephraim started at a new school where he actually enjoys going to school every day. Really can you ask for more?

~Run for the Arts~ The kids had a great time. They ran less laps than last year but only because Eph needs to work on pacing himself and Ruby had friends to talk to this year. I missed out on the event so I don't have much more to say on that.

~Ruby and the Wizard of Oz~ I'm so far behind we actually had another play yesterday! It was a dance theater production of Cinderella. She was the wicked step-mother and this was by far the best play yet. I'll have to see what we can do about getting them on the web.

~Judy the Karate student~ICE! This one will have to wait partially because I'm not sure what I can say without getting a chop to the middle of my head. No wait that's what I keep doing that Judy can't seem to block. Who is really learning this karate stuff. In all seriousness she's kicking butt (almost literally) and taking names. Oh, and she's cute in the outfit too. ~The Return of Tonks The Dog~ Got Tonks. Couldn't have Tonks in apartment. Invaded Katie's house sometimes with Katie still in it. Found new house. Snuck Tonks into apartment because what were they going to do, evict us? Now happily living in new home with Tonks the Lactating Dog. Yes. you read that correctly. I was sleeping on the dog yesterday when I awoke and noticed something white on her nipple. I went to wipe it off and it was MILK! Yes, I squeezed the dogs nipples to check how many of them had milk and Judy has decided I am dog molester. It turns out that dogs actually have a high occurrence of false pregnancy. So we could be at this for another month before the imaginary puppies are born! We are accepting donations for her spay! (actually we found a good deal on it through the Oregon Humane Society.)

~House Hunting~ Our marriage actually survived finding a house. Not that our relationship is that fragile rather house hunting sucks that bad. If you have unlimited resources for rent you could live anywhere your heart desires in our fair city for just $1250 a month. However if you want to live in a 3 bedroom anything that allows dogs that weigh 50 pounds and you refuse to live in Gresham than your screwed. We also discovered that certain property management companies in the area exist only to make money off multiple denied application fees. I will not name names but I swear to you.... they will someday go to Hell for the wrongs they knowingly committed (and I don't even believe in Hell so you know it's bad).

~House Finding (I pray that will be a topic very soon)~It's not only a topic but we've done gone and moved into it! So our new home is so very cute and absolutely perfect for us. We've moved out to the suburbs and live a few blocks from good friends. The owners couldn't be nicer people. The neighbors are friendly, the street is quiet, and I think our yard is 5 acres. Ok, maybe .5 acres but when you are mowing the lawn it feels like much more.

~A Tiny Tidbit on Work~ Not sure why I ever said I'd add a tidbit on work. I never post about work only that I work. Must not have been thinking at the time.

In Addition........

~Ruby's Birthday~ The beautiful and talented Ms. Ruby turned 6 years old. I swear it can't have been that long. Really! She has matured so much these last few months it's crazy. I feel like she grows before my eyes.

~Ephraim's Birthday~ Mr. E turned 7! It's crazy and I do mean really crazy. He loves his birthday so much it was really fun. On the morning of the actual day I called him to say "Happy Birthday". He was telling me about his presents when his bus came. He hung up on me to run and get his bus. That's how well school is going! We took him to the nickle arcade on his birthday and he spent nearly all his nickles on his favorite jump rope game. It's a good way to burn off some energy. He played the same game at Chuck E. Cheese for Ruby's birthday but he had to take turns with other kids so having the machine all to himself was like a birthday present all on it's own.

~Teeth~Eph's teeth have been falling out right and left and some of them are actually growing in again already. He lost the two top front teeth and I thought he couldn't get any cuter. Then the bottom ones fell out on either side of his front teeth and it's the cutest carved pumpkin grin ever. The tooth fairy had the opportunity to come visit our house on the last tooth and that was really fun.

~Hilda~ Did you know that the Candy Witch (of Halloween Fame) has an evil sister? Actually neither did we! However, one day we were informed that Hilda not the Candy Witch had taken away all the pez. I think Mommy might have had something to do with this version of the story so as to preserve the good name of her dear friend the Candy Witch. None the less, we ended up with Hilda who only visits the kids at our house and is "super greedy and a very mean lady"! When we were packing up the kids room to move we even discovered correspondence left under Eph's pillow begging Hilda to be his friend and give back the pez. Apparently his pleas did not fall on a heartless Candy Witch's Evil Sister Hilda! In his bed tonight when I went in to take pictures of his room, Hilda had returned so many pez and they were all tucked snug in his bed. I can't wait to see what Ephraim thinks when he comes over next.

~A Washer and Dryer~ We have our very own washer and dryer! Ok well they are Jeanna and Katie's that we are babysitting for them. They are hooked up, washing, and drying. I realize this may be something that some of you take for granted. I'm just so thrilled not to have to trudge to the laundry room, spend quarters, and still not get my stuff all the way dry. The other option has been trucking a car full of laundry to the Property to wash it for "free". This only works when we actually get to go out there and the way things have been lately our clothes would have been walking and talking if we'd waited. As part of having a washer and dryer some things that really needed to be washed but we couldn't justify that cost found their way into the washer.

So that's that for now. It's late and the bugs are eating me as I'm sitting out in my nice backyard with my cute Wife studying for her math final!