robots

So for a school project zach had to build a robot out of things we had around the house. the rule was that u couldn't buy anything (after seeing some of the robots other kids made I am pretty sure some parents cheated on that one, but I digress) anyways, so Zach started collecting things he wanted to use: a cereal box, foil, etc. He drew up a plan- I so wish that I had my scanner hooked up cuz it was so precious- which told all the materials he would need and where he wanted to put them all. He had to make a coulple of substitutions, but he was very happy with the results. Kerry and Zach worked hard putting Zac-bot together,(and Jared supervised)

but when they were done they thought something was missing, so Kerry came up with the idea to add some teeth- removable teeth! He used a partial he had hanging around the office. I personally think it is disgusting, but he assures me that it had never actually been used in someone's mouth. So we'll go with that. Needless to say, Zach thought it was awesome!!!
so meet Zac-bot:

the frog is actually his heart, I'm not sure how that works, but like i said it was all Zach's design.

behind again

Once again I am hopelessly behind in blogging. A lot had been going on in our lives, lately, and I have not had my camera as handy as usual- go figure. And since I blog based on the pictures I have, I probably won't be blogging about it all. And since I haven't blogged in a while I will have older things to post about. So here we go with yet another marathon blogging session: or at least I plan to. I do actually have to take the kids to school and run a million errands, so it might be put off once again- sigh.

okay maybe don't eat your veggies!

So, after a few days of patting myself on the back for my brilliant veggie strategy, I'm thinking I might need to rethink it. A couple of days ago I tried green beans, which FYI are one of my fav veggies and one that I thought was pretty kid friendly. Well, I forgot that i am raising the drama queen of the world! The boys did fine- Jared made the cutest grossed out face each time he ate one- but they did fine. In fact, Zach figured out the system and after enjoying a small bowl of cookies and cream ice cream asked, "Mom, if I eat more green beans can I have more ice cream?" Well I had to think about that for a minute, but decided okay that would be fine. He ate 2 more helpings of green beans and had 2 more bowls of ice cream! Hannah on the other hand, gagged on each green bean. Seriously gagged- it channeled the days when mom would make me try a snowpea! yuck. SO as I am having my snowpea flashback I realize this is going to be bad. I tell my sweet girl, "Hannah you don't have to eat those." I want to say that she can just have the ice cream, but how would that be fair? I mean, the boys ate theirs and I didn't give her that many...oh being a mom is soooo hard sometimes. But Hannah is determined she is going to get that ice cream. She eats all but one and then says she has to go potty. She comes out of the potty saying her tummy hurts and she better lay down for a little bit. She then declares that she must be allergic to green beans so she can never eat them again. But as I am making her bowl of ice cream Zach chimes in, "But she still has a green bean on her plate! She can't have ice cream yet." oh brothers!!! So she drags herself off the couch and over to the table whining, "but mom I am allergic to green beans...i can't eat even one more!" Then her knight in shining armor comes to the rescue (as usual, man that girl knows how to work him) "Hannah," dad says, "How about I eat half and you eat half, then you can have ice cream?" Well half to him was the entire thing except for this teeny-tiny piece. But oh well she ate it, and was soo happy when she got her ice cream.
Then came the part that I remembered so well as a young girl. She decided she could eat more green beans in order to have more ice cream. I'm not sure why I even let her try, I think there is this morbid part of me that wanted to see if she could keep them down. Anyways, I'm sure you can guess what happened. Mid-bean she starts to gagg again, but this time it all came up- the ice cream, the green beans, all of it. And my poor sweet baby started crying because she thought I was going to make her eat more, because the ones she threw up didn't count! So, our veggie policy is out the window. But I still want them to try veggies so any ideas? And once again that Mother of the Year award slips further from my grasp...Seriously, I am like Susan Lucci and the daytime emmys (oh wait she did eventually win, didn't she? maybe there is still hope for me then)

Eat your veggies!

SO being the normal mom that i am- you know guilt ridden and feeling inadequate- it was really bugging me that my kids don't eat their vegetables. So I have discovered a simple, but effective way to get them to. I grew up with the "try-a-little-of-everything" method which did introduce things, but my big brother, Stephen, found a loophole, he took it literally: one pea, one piece of lettuce, one green bean, etc, and to me that defeats the whole idea. So I channeled the days of yore and have introduced a novel idea to our dinners: DESSERT. It is not something that they have to eat, but it sure is yummy. SO now, I put a serving of veggies on their plates (a kid size serving, mind you) and if they eat it all, they get dessert. If not, they don't. the choice is up to them. So far it has worked with peas, brussel sprouts (or muscle sprouts as Jared calls them), and spinach. And guess who loves spinach:

and guess who doesn't:

He doesn't really like the new deal, he has never had to eat his veggies, in fact in his house veggies are corn, but he is a trooper. That is a mouthful of spinach you are looking at folks. And I am pretty sure that he only ate it because I reached for the camera- but hey whatever works.

my new fav song

So if you can hear my music, this is my new favorite song. I love it! if you can't hear my music it's called lucky by Jason Mraz featuring Cobie Calliat (I probably didn't spell that right) go check it out. My favorite line is "Lucky i'm in love with my best friend." Because, well, I am. and "you make it easier when life gets hard." because, well, he does. (WARNING: GET OUT YOUR CRACKERS CUZ A MAJOR CHEESE WHIZ MOMENT IS COMING) I feel very lucky to be married to my best friend. He truly is the man of my dreams, and I can't imagine being with anyone else. He makes me laugh everyday, and finds ways to let me know that he loves me. Plus, he is super dad and super hot- so i get the whole package. Okay, I'll make this short so no one gets sick from the sweetness- but I love you, Kerry. With all my heart. I'm so glad that I get to spend forever with you.

p.s. he'll probably be mad that i put this pic up, but I love it, cuz he REALLY didn't want to put on the hat, but he did it for me.

funny kids

1. Hannah: "Mom all the boys in my class are stinky...except Ryan (big sigh and batting of eyelashes)."
2. Jared: "Mom, do you know what is in peas? pea juice, and i don't like pea juice, so I can't eat my peas."
3. Zach: "you know what i love most about cinnamon twists?" (big pause for added suspense) "they're good."
4. Jared: "I'm a bobblehead." (yeah, that's not really funny without the visual).
5. Hannah: "mom, i don't like the jonas brothers anymore." mom: "why not?" hannah: "because zach said it will break Ethan Piet's heart if i love the jonas brothers, and i don't want to break his heart."
5a. (a few minutes after #5) Hannah: "I will just love the jonas brothers when zach is not around."

those brainy burgess boys!

i was sorting through pictures and found these that i totally planned on blogging, but forgot. so here they are...
I should start by saying that i love my brother-in-law dearly, but he looks for every opportunity to make fun of me, so when I found a chance to tease him I had to jump on it. Seriously, I was laughing so hard when I was taking these pics, I am surprised they are not shaky!
So here is the story, we were out at the warehouse my father in law owns to help them load a car to tow back home. the combined brain power of my hubby, father-in-law, and brother-in-law were figuring how to get the car on the trailer cuz it wouldn't start. The Burgess boys planning is something of legend, but that is a different story...
so Kory gets in the car and they push it onto the trailer, then I ran to get my camera cuz of this...


can you see? Here's another angle:

I'm not entirely sure what they were thinking, but Kory was pretty much stuck. Plus, the car had power windows so they couldn't just roll down the windows. So they are looking for a screwdriver or something to take the door off. this is Kory not thinking I am very funny with my camera- he and Gordon should talk!

Well after few minutes of thinking, they finally decided to roll the car back off the trailer so he could get out, and then push it back on without him inside. I know it's not nice to make fun of people, but duh?! why was that not their first idea? Awwww sweet freedom!


the rest of these pics are just cute ones I took of the kids while the boys were crafting their plan. Love you Kory! Hee hee hee