Saturday, November 8, 2008

a little culture

On Wednesday night the boys and I (Bryant was working out of town) went uptown to see a performance by Traces see their link: http://traces.7doigts.com/en/index.shtml#the_cast



They were A M A Z I N G!

The boys and I left the theatre in awe. What talented people they are and so awesomely strong. (sorry uncle Jon, they are even stronger than you!) There was so much I tried to capture with my camera, but they moved too fast.





This is Brad spinning on what looks like a large hula hoop. Notice how he's holding on only with his hands. He spun a few times with his feet touching too and he did a wobbling thing (like a coin does when you drop it on a table) Way cool!


This is Heloise! She flipped that chair around like it was nothing.

Check out the website for some cool photos and videos.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Trick or Treat!

Our Halloween came and went without a hitch. We had a ghost, Jedi (again), motorcycle dude, and a pirate....arrrrgh!


Garrett is a little old to be going door to door, but letting him go was worth not having to go myself.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Hard Hats Anyone?

Life is busy on a normal day with 4 boys a dog and a snake. We have our mad dash each morning between 6am and 7am for breakfast, shoes, backpacks, lunch, sweatshirts, library books, and then for the bus. Then our afternon routine of snack, homework, reading, more snacks, outside time, and chores (ha, right!) We have our umpteen (yes, that IS a real number) loads of laundry per week. We have an assortment of scout, YM, PTA, HOA, and Primary meetings. There are groceries to buy and put away, dinners to prepare, dishes to wash, trash to collect, bills to pay.

These things make our home a mess. Add to it our recent construction project and hoo-boy, there really aren't words.








I haven't vacuumed in weeks. Why should I, the floors will be replaced any day now. They are covered in saw dust, sheet rock dust, and who knows what else. My sister in law swept my kitchen floor the other night and by the next morning you couldn't tell. (sorry Jen) The doors are off the hinges (except for the bathroom). Most of living room furniture is pushed into the center of the room. What there isn't room for in the house has been moved to the garage... a dust storm waiting to happen. The walls are painted but the majority of the trim is not.

We are blessed to be able to do this now. I am not complaining about the constuction, just the mess it has created. I will be happy to get back to our normal mess. In the meantime here are some photos of the project.




My construction workers taking down the half wall between the family room and breakfast nook. If you look through the mess in the background you can see the new built in shelves and cabinets Bryant made.


The soffit above the left cupboard is gone...the others are going soon. Tomorrow maybe?

Monday, October 13, 2008

Good Bye Old Friend


We have enjoyed long rides on the open road. You and Bryant were HOV partners and commuters. You were loud and a little flashy but OH SO FUN! It was fun while it lasted.

Now you live in Georgia with a new man. I wish you well. I wish you long rides on the open road.

Good-bye old friend.
Bryant sold his motorcycle. He sacrificed his toy for our new floors. We are all a little sad. (except Hope who is glad to have at least one of the big noisy things in the garage gone)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

My Mosaic





1. Laura'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_renata/1803988360/">Laura y el aire,
2.
Will'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/altemark/142649790/">Will eat for food,
3.
Spaulding'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/broyea/1024072566/">Spaulding High School - Sign - 8-4-07,
4.
blue'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/bevcraigwhite/2228036867/">blue and white...2008,
5.
movie still,
6.
23!,
7.
Cosmic'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/itzfromme/2287920448/">Cosmic Dream:kerala:India,
8.
Ben'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/normy/5275929/">Ben and Jerry's,
9.
One'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/lozinho/2201523370/">One engine approach with Airbus A330 simulator,
10.
Nace'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/happy-mami/2087556428/">Nace un bebé, nace una mamá / A baby is born, a mom is born,
11.
Gisimba'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/camera_rwanda/210876438/">Gisimba Memorial Center,
12.
Peanut'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/fornal/373418814/">Peanut Butter Cup Heart


The Rules: you answer the following 12 questions about yourself (my answers are in parentheses after each question):



  1. What is your first name? (Laura)

  2. What is our favorite food? (all)

  3. What high school did you attend? (Spaulding High School)

  4. What is your favorite color? (Blue)

  5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Owen Wilson)

  6. Favorite drink? (Diet Dr. Pepper)

  7. Dream vacation? (anywhere but here)

  8. Favorite dessert? (Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream)

  9. What do (did) you want to be when you grow up? (Pilot)

  10. What do you love most in life? (babies)

  11. One word to describe you? (Volunteer)

  12. Your Flickr name? (Laura)

Want to play? Type your answers to each of the above questions into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL's into the Mosaic Maker. (3 columns, 4 rows)


Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Here We Are!


For those of you who thought we had fallen off the face of the earth.... nope, we are still here. We are very busy now that school has started.
We do have some things to catch up on though. For instance, the first day of school. It came and went with no ceremony or photos. (bad blogging mommy) BUT I did send them to school with lunch!
Then there was the trip to the beach. We went to the Outer Banks again this year. This was a tradition we started when we lived in Virginia. We LOVE the Outer Banks. We went over Labor Day weekend with Laura's parents, brothers and their wives and "Uncle" Jake. (Jen's brother)
I DID remember to take photos of that trip. (see below) It was SO great to get away. We read, slept, swam, sunbathed, slept, read and ATE.

Did I mention we slept?


the boys playing in the sand













This is Garrett's Cannon Ball in mid-air.
What is with the boots you ask?
We don't know either.




Sutton's toes being eaten by a daddy "shark"


Evan the Mer-Man!



Noah the "surfer dude"

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Fay Visits Charlotte


This is what happens to our backyard when a Tropical Storm comes for a visit. Cool huh?

It gives new meaning to the phrase "natural area". That is what we call that wooded part of our yard. If you look closely you can see the top of the four foot dog fence, the cut logs (that were neatly stacked) floating around, and the tree house ladder to the left. At least we know the tree house is safe in the event of a BIG flood.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Jury "dooty"

It has been quite some time since I posted anything....sorry. I HATE it when I go to your blog and it is still the same! So now you know how it feels, a little taste of your own medicine.

Anyway, I have been busy trying to keep my house and children in order. I know, it's probably a lost cause, but I am not ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

I had Jury Duty today. They actually call it Jury Service now....whoopee! It doesn't matter what the call it, I am convinced I will never be able to actually sit on a Jury. I spent all day at the courthouse. It wasn't actually a bad thing. I had 9 hours of kids free time. I watched a movie( The Great Debaters) uninterrupted and read my scriptures...I KNOW!, and read a few more chapters in The Host. (I am starting to get into it now)
What I didn't like was having to wait two hours in the court room to be called to sit in the box (as an alternate) and be shot down by the defense. The prosecution didn't have a problem with the fact that my father is a retired police officer and that *Carter (*relative whose name I changed) was convicted of a felony. She said...."thazzz cooo!" (ok, but she rested!) and then BAM! the defense said "we'd like to call a motion to dismiss this juror" no questions, no nothing! RUDE! I am perfectly capable of being fair and impartial. My father chose a career as a civil servant.... SO WHAT? It isn't like he came home every night and told me stories of all those bad bad people that were "allegedly" driving under the influence. And that I was forever swayed to think that the policeman is always right. Hello? I wasn't born yesterday. The saying "Good Cop, Bad Cop" had to come from somewhere!

Anyway, I am hoping that my ranting and raving will help me calm down a bit because what started out as a great day ended with me in a really crappy mood. (mumble, mumble mumble)

Will I ever get to serve on a Jury? I will have to wait at least 2 years to find out! I'll keep you posted.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Happy Fourth!

The Parade

This is the first year since we moved here that we spent the July 4th holiday at home. We enjoyed the day by first decorating our bikes for the neighborhood parade. We used paper and star garland scraps. Then the parade! Though it wasn't long, it was fun. We walked and rode to the end of the cul de sac for goodies and fun facts. It was fun to get to know our neighbors better.








In the parade





Cooling off with popsicles




Sa-wing batter!


____________________________________________________

At the end of the day Dad showed off his fireworks skills. Some were loud, others annoying, but over all we had a great show.
(It helped that our neighbor down the street had the big fireworks)




(ours)





LOUD!

(theirs)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Rap Stars

I LOVE that my kids have (and use) their imaginations. We received a few bags if hand-me-downs and the kids found some "rapper clothes" to wear. I took this photo just before they broke into their own form of beat boxing and dancing. I SO wish I had my video camera...While they were mostly just jumping up and down and waving their arms, Evan started doing the robot dance. Ha Ha Ha!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Bird House

Noah has been a Cub Scout now for a whole 21 days and he whizzed through
the Bobcat requirements and is almost finished earning his Wolf badge.
(He has a year to complete this).
This is the bird house he built for requirement 5. We found a pattern online went to Lowes and bought a cedar fence board....a few hours later (with mom's help with the power tools) ta-da it's a birdhouse!

This is an 'action' shot.
Notice that he's biting his lip...he gets that from me. I get it from my dad.


This is what adorns the inside wall.
Okay, I admit it is cheesey but I couldn't resist (and Noah thought it was cute).

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Summer Vacation: Day One


Today was the first official day of our Summer Vacation. Bryant and Garrett left this morning for Scout Camp. Evan, Noah, Eli, and I went to the pool with Kim and two of her girls. The kids ate watermelon and popsicles and had fun in the pool diving for rings. Kim and I caught up on eachothers lives. Oh! And I got my first sunburn of the summer. I have had worse, but we have another "pool appointment" with Alisa tomorrow. Hmmm.... we'll see how long I last out there!

The kids in the back of Kim's van.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Catching up!


It has been awhile since I have blogged. I have quite a bit to tell you all. No life changing news....just a lot going on. Garrett (our oldest) celebrated his 13th birthday in May, shortly after my last post. I certainly don't feel old enough to have a teenager. It helps that he doesn't act any older than 2 most of the time!

Here is the one okay photo of him with his cake.
(notice the tealight....I didn't have birthday candles. Classy huh?)



Scripture Olympics

The following weekend we had a Primary activity at church for the kids age 3-12. I was in charge of this one (we have 4 a year) and we picked "Scripture Olympics" as the theme.


The kids had a blast shooting "Goliath" with marshmallows




and "Samuel the Lamanite" with water balloons.




We had a "Nephi's boat race"



and "Noah's Ark" challenge.



The kids had ice pops and water afterwards. We had concerns having an activity on Memorial Day weekend, but all but 9 kids showed up!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Noah's Concert

Noah "Yankee Doodle" Haines
Noah performed last night in a 2nd grade "Patriotic" concert. He did such a great job! This is the only good photo. He was on the top riser in the back behind the lights. I took some great videos of him singing. As soon as I figure out how to upload them, I will!
It was either out of focus or too dark. He found the hat at Mom's and Dad's last weekend. We borrowed it especially for the concert. It sure made him easy to find!

Noah outside after the show!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Book Fair

I know you ALL are dying to know what it is I do in my spare time. Some of you may have heard that I am the Book Fair Chairperson for the elementary school's PTA. I have proof now that the frequent excuse "I can't that day I have a book fair thing" is not a way of putting you off. I promise I am not really avoiding you...I actually am busy with the book fair. I have proof (photos) from this Spring's "Take a Reading Road Trip" Book Fair.



I have a great bunch of friends I get to work with. In fact if I didn't work with these women, I probably wouldn't do it. The first thing we do for the book fair is brainstorm for decorations. We don't HAVE to decorate, but it is a tradition that, as stressful as it may get, we love. We decorate the wall just inside the front door and near the entrance to the book fair. The kids LOVE this. They know the fair is coming soon when they see us decorating the wall.


With the "Road Trip" theme we decided on a US map with points of interest you could visit on a road trip. It is hard to see in this photo, but we have the name of each state on a license plate. We thought we might need to help the kids out...heck, WE had a hard time figuring out the states in the mid-west. They all seem to blend together! Plus, there was a kid who asked where Madagascar was.... I explained to him that this was a US map, but he asked again. That is when I realized he thought Madagascar was part of the US, so I set him straight. We all had a good laugh over that and told our friend Tanya (the principal). Funny though, she wasn't as amused as we were.



Here we are with some kindergarteners. They got to help the teacher pick out the books their class won in the door decorating contest. Oh an the adults in the photo are (l-r) Debbie, Me and Elissa. Stephanie either wasn't there or was avoiding the camera.
PS. Elissa's son is the boy with the serious look on his face. He is a cutey pa-tutey. He and Eli get along great.

So there it is. The book fair lasted for only one week (thank goodness) and our total sales were $14, 875 and some change. Not too bad for a few volunteer moms, huh?

Saturday, April 26, 2008

2008 Olympic Team Trials





Garrett had a fantastic opportunity to volunteer with his scout troop at the US National Whitewater Center. The 2008 Team trials for Whitewater Slalom are being held there this weekend. He worked all day in the sun passing out drinks to spectators and athletes. He was able to meet some of the athletes (Kyakers, ages 12 -14). He had a blast! I am so proud of how hard he worked today THERE and then in the garden!



Garden Party!

The garden is started! I was so industrious this morning and went to Lowe's (and then Home Depot and finally Pike Nursery, UGH!) to get the vermiculite, peat moss, and compost. Oh! and the rest of the plants/seeds. But by the time I got home I was hot and tired and honestly a bit cranky. (Home Depot no longer sells vermiculite? Some garden center!) So I took the afternoon off. Not very productive of me, but hey, it's my garden.


Later in the day (5pm) I finally felt a need to get it done. So here are the photos. Though the garden isn't complete, I am off to a great start!



Garrett hefting and pouring compost for the garden.















Okay, I know this isn't the most flattering photo of me. Keep in mind that Eli took this one and I had pretty much lost all feeling in my face because he took his dear sweet time!










Here's the cukes and beans (seeds planted)

From the top, tomatoes, and onions.

Here is part of the garden behind the family room (where the garden was last year) There is another box this shape and size mirrored to the left. This has carrots and onions in it so far.

Still to plant: zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon and pumpkin.



Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Random Thoughts

So I have been reading a few blogs today. They are written by very funny, talented women. I am a bit jealous. I have my funny moments, but to write about everyday life and have it be laugh out loud funny...well, I won't put you through that. Maybe I just don't see the humor in life and I have turned into a grumpy old person....naaaaaw!

I have some things to blog about...like my garden, or what will soon become my garden. I have pictures of the process but they are on the card in my husband's phone. My husband is currently in Boston which means I can't post any of the pics until later this week. :(


I do have a picture of the poster I made. (Made might be a bit deceiving. I traced it from an overhead projector and then painted it. )
For all of you who wonder what it is I do for the Book Fair...this is one thing. Our theme this Spring is "Take a Reading Road Trip" so we have a wall in the school decorated with a map (photo coming soon) and this sign. I spend a lot of time doing the two Book fairs a year at the Elementary School, but I LOVE it. And I love the girls I work with.



I promised Noah that I would post a photo of this worm.
He is convinced it is a cankerworm that the county has recently sprayed to kill. I don't have the heart to tell him it is just some ugly run o' the mill worm. At least, now when he asks if I posted the photo I can honestly say "yes".













This (left) is a photo of a REAL Cankerworm.







Saturday, April 12, 2008

Our Happy Holiday


The family (and ship) in Ocho Rios, Jamaica



Ok, so our vacation didn't start out "happy". It was a bit stressful to drive 2 hours to the airport in Greensboro to find out our flight had been cancelled (thank you skybus!) BTW...our flight was scheduled for 9:08pm on April 4th. The plane had been refueled, our bags were loaded and THEN they made the announcement. On the BRIGHT side...we didn't get to Florida via skybus and then have no way home, and we aren't the employees who lost a job!

So, long story short...we drove thru the night, 13 hours to Miami to meet our cruise ship in plenty of time. We definitely had the help of the Lord. I drove most of the way (11 hours) and didn't nod off once. The weather was abysmal (thunderstorms and hard rain) but the kids slept, we made it safely thru the storms and the traffic was almost non-existent.

The Cruise..... recoup, regroup and relax.

We were on the ship from Saturday to Thursday making stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Georgetown, Grand Cayman. It was a perfect vacation. Enjoy the photos.
Leaving Miami... Bon Voyage!



Noah and Eli in the pool



Sunrise at sea Sunday April 6th.
Yes it is pretty, but I didn't like waking up early on my first day of vacation!



My four sons (Garrett hated the matching shirt thing!)



On Monday we spent the day in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on the beach and playing with dolphins and other exotic animals. Here are two Jamaican drummers.




Laura having her hair braided in Ocho Rios




Sally the dolphin posing for a photo shoot




Evan on the beach in Ocho Rios




Bryant and Noah in Ocho Rios




Eli caught by a pirate's hook




Noah with a bird



The family with Elvis the Iguana



Pretty birds



Eli asleep on the bus back to port in Jamaica.


The guys in snorkeling gear in Grand Cayman



Cooling down in Grand Cayman



Pirate ship in Grand Cayman