Artistic genius

What you are about to see is the delightful surprise that awaited me when I happened past the Lego table this morning.

Tyler, who's not yet 4 years old, has been lately infatuated with Disney's "The Sword in the Stone." He asks about once a day if we can go to Disneyland so he can try to pull out the true sword from the stone. Then he wants to know what we should do with it once he pulls it out, because he's sure he's the "chosen one," just like Arthur.

Much to his disappointment, though, his mama won't let him wear a coat outside (like Arthur does when he pulls out the sword) in the middle of summer, so he's eagerly awaiting the winter when he can wear his coat in the snow.... the snow that we most likely won't get, but I don't have the heart to tell him that.

So without further delay, here's the creation that my little artist put together all on his own:


Tyler is very particular about details, so please notice the correct amount of "stones" and their relative sizes, the cape/coat for "Arthur," and of course the snow on the ground. Brilliant, don't you think?

Big sister brag

My brother is going to be on TV tomorrow night!

Last year, a producer...I mean, "reserve deputy," ...shadowed and filmed Deputy Walter's gang unit for several months and the result is a TV show called "LA Gang Unit."

It airs on A&E tomorrow night, Thursday, July 9, '09. A&E's website says that it's on at 11:00pm and 11:30pm, but my DVR shows that it comes on at 8:00pm and 8:30pm PST.

Justin shows off his skills in episode 2, which shows at 8:30pm (or 11:30pm, depending who you trust).

I'm really proud of him and all he does to protect and serve, and after you watch the episode, you will be too!

Here's a teaser commercial I found on YouTube. You see Justin at about 0:03-0:04 seconds in, on the right hand side wielding his baton. He's given major air time in episode 2.

More marriage talk

Overheard in the back seat of the car today...

Colby: We'll have to separate someday, Tyler. We each have to marry girls.

Tyler: I don't need to marry a girl. I have mama.

C: Well, I'm gonna marry a girl.

T: But remember Colby? You won't come back if you marry a girl!

Promotion Sunday

The photo may be a little small, but perhaps you can tell that Colby was recently promoted from the 2nd grade class at Sunday School.

Yes, giving us all a laugh, Colby came out of Sunday School last week with a going away gift and a certificate showing he had finished 2nd grade and was promoted to 3rd grade.

You may think they mistook him for a 2nd grader all year just because he's tall. I prefer to believe the real truth: it was because he is so emotionally and spiritually mature for his age, just like his humble mother always was.

He did let them know that he had only just finished Kindergarten, but they were kind enough to let him keep the certificate since it was already made out. And I think he conveniently neglected to give back the play-doh they gave him as a gift.

At least he'll never have to worry about being the runt.

Marriage talk

So this is my first post via text message. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my iPhone? When Brian first talked about getting one for us, I thought it was silly and frivolous. While still probably frivolous, I just didn't realize how *cool* it would actually be.

Anyway, right now we're sitting on the patio of a hotel room near Disneyland, ready to make a day of it tomorrow at the park. Earlier during dinner Colby was telling Tyler about what a wife is:

"When you grow up, you get a wife. And it has to be a girl. I'm going to pick a pretty girl who has God in her heart. Not just any pretty girl."

I can put my stamp of approval on that.

Two little lovebirds, sitting in a tree

Have to give a shout out to my wonderful parents, who are celebrating their 36th anniversary today. Happy Anniversary, you two!

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So this week, I did not play pillow fight and dodge-pillow with the kids using the "decorative pillows" from the good couch. Those are just for looks, you know.

At the wedding I coordinated, I most certainly did not neglect to get any of the sparkling cider bottles open before they were all placed on the tables and the pouring was supposed to start. And we did not have only one bottle opener, causing guests to have to use their own key-ring bottle openers or their teeth to open the bottles in a timely fashion.

I did not, at that same wedding, bend over a little too far in my short dress in front of the whole crowd while arranging bouquets at the head table.

And of course I did not eat out or make mac & cheese for the kids 4 out of the last 6 nights. I only make balanced, healthy meals. Every night.

Speaking of eating out, I did not stop by Arby's when I could have grabbed a sandwich at home just because a roast beef & cheddar sounded good.

And here's another thing I would never, never do. I did not take Colby out of school early on Friday so we could go see "Up!" before the crowds descended upon the theatre. Education before entertainment, I always say.

And finally, I did not purposely ignore that little piece of paper scrap in the hallway and walk over it about 50 times. In fact, it's not still sitting there right now.

As somewhat of an update to this post, here are a few shots of the "little" guy now:

He and his big brothers came to play for a little while today while their mama went to her OB appointment. The next little buddy should be arriving in the fall. :)

Aforementioned big brothers:

Story time

Nothing like getting the video camera out to make the kids clam up, but I did catch a little bit of Colby's reading on video before he noticed me recording him.

Worth the wait

Finally, something to break the blog-drought. I've been hanging around on facebook most of the time lately, but I've got something here that I thought was pretty blog worthy.


As part of a project I was doing, there were scraps of previously rolled-up paper left over that were just asking to be made into scrolls. Colby decided to write Scripture on his scroll, partly to remind him what the Bible tells kids, and partly to teach others about God.

Here's what he came up with, completely on his own, without spelling or grammar help from me (hopefully that's fairly obvious!).

This part says, "Obey your parents/ Be kind/ Love one another/ Don't be afraid"

"David did ask the king to fight in the battle. David met Goliath."

"David shot Goliath. What is the lesson? Don't think you're more powerful than God."

My favorite part is where he asks, "Wut is the lesn?" This will be a keeper!