An Aunt Nicki, Tanner, cookie funny....

Auntie Nicki called tonight asking for the infamous chocolate chip cookie recipe while we were shopping for our before posted "Martha Stewart" moment. We finally got home and Tanner headed upstairs to play a game on my cell phone. 10 minutes into his game I hear this from upstairs:

Tanner: Hey mom!!
Mom: Yeah?
Tanner: Is it okay to leave the vanilla out of cookies?
Mom: What?
Tanner: It's Aunt Nicki..... (with a long pause which in 7 year old terms means "duh, hurry up!"
Mom: I guess.....sure.

Silence...silence...silence.....

I go upstairs....he's propped up on his bed, playing his game:

Mom: Did you tell Aunt Nicki?
Tanner: Yeah.
Mom: What did she say?
Tanner: Nothing....I mean, I can't remember.
Mom: Do I need to call her?
Tanner: No, I'm not starting my game over again.

Alrighty then!!! Hope your cookies turned out okay, Aunt Nicki!!!

Move over Martha Stewart....

Ok, maybe she doesn't need to move over, but my kids sure do think I'm cool!!! School is starting Monday (gag!) and we spent the day with Auntie Kathy and Uncle Levi doing our last minute shopping. Needless to say, I couldn't have done it without them, so props to the Auntie's and Uncle's. Along with school starting, so does Gymnastics and Ballet. And of course, we couldn't be starting all of that without the proper essentials. I have to share with you how we made out in our shopping....and how we made our shopping our own!!!

Here is Sariah with her uber cute Gymnastics bag. Note the cutie, cute monogram.

Martha came to our house and put that on for us!!

Here is Maddie with her uber cute Ballet bag.
Martha came and put her initials on it for us as well.

And then there is Tanner....and if you've ever read a post from our beloved Tanner, you know are certainly in for a treat:

Ok, this is Tanner's bag. If you can't tell from the pic, it's the back. Eric tells me day in and day out, I'm turning him in to the kid who has his name on all his shirts......he's only partially correct. This isn't his "name", it's his initials. :) T insisted if the girls get special bags with thier names and stuff on them, then so does he. So be it. I called him in to see it after I was done. He took it over to his new lunch box, and said the following:

"Look, Mom. It's like it's supposed to be there. My initials on my Nike bag match the swoosh on my Nike lunchbox, that match my new Nike shoes. All the kids are going to love my Nike stuff!"

At least he is the kindest, most gentle, amazingly matching kid with his initials on his back!!!

My kids think I'm cool.....that's all that matters to me!!

I LOVE THE BEE-GEE'S!!!

So i'm sitting here updating PTO reports at work (no Office Space comments, please. It's a job!) jamming to internet radio, and I'm rockin', lovin' the song that's playing....so I flip over to my video player-and it's the BEE-GEE's!!! The song "Love You Inside Out" ROCKS!!!! Hello!! Anne...do you have this record???

Note....next song that came on was "Feelings....nothing more than feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings"....nice way to kill that buzz!!

The Bastings tag the Burns...and anyone else who wants to play!!

I just showed Tanner, Anne's blog, and Alex's silly picture with what looks like she is wearing glasses....and being the competetive sport that he is, promptly said:



"I can be sillier than that!!" and promptly posed:



Challannnnnnnnnnnnnnge!!!! Let's see your silliest face!!!!

It's not just back to school for the kids.....

Here I come!!!! Sarah is finally doing what she always said she would!!! All three kids are in school, so why not add a little more chaos to our lives???? I start Oct. 1, and am headed back into the nursing program. The kids are excited....and can't wait until I can work for Dr. Gee. :) Tanner asks me every day if I still work for ING. I love his concept of time. It will take a few years, but with loads of work and studying, I won't be a secretary for much longer!!! Already studying to take the Nursing entrance exam, and it's not daunting yet!! It's exciting actually. A lot of this feels like review....we'll see how long it takes to kill that buzz. So when I'm seemingly more unavailable than normal, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I don't want to have to move in with your family when the economy decides it can do without my kind!!! :)

Wish me luck....and be prepared to be poked and prodded.

The soon to be....

Nurse Sarah

Vacation at Topsail Island, NC

Here are some pics from our vacation.

Not all....because I haven't pulled the ones from the camera yet.

The Beach House we stayed at-Props to the Schramm's!!!

A beautiful storm on the beach....I love the wind from the ocean!!

Sariah's favorite vacation spot. The jacuzzi tub. Her comment right before this pic:

"Mom, the bubbles won't stop!!!" Hey Riah, turn the jets off!!! :) She's too cute.

Sparkling clean Sariah after her soak!!! Look at the smile!!!

Pic of the dunes right outside our house. I love the ocean. I love the waves!!!

This is a town called "South of the Border". There were signs for it for miles, and we couldn't believe what we saw when we got there. Yep, that's a sombrero on the top of the water tower...and a roller coaster built inside of it. Ahhhh...felt like home!!

Ok, more pics to come later!!!

Tanner story of the day....Aunt Kelly, this one's for you!!

Picture this....
Tanner and I are doing our shopping at the infamous Wally World. We are minus the girls, which T LOVES!!! He's talking no short of a zillion miles a minute about anything he possibly can. We are waltzing through the isles over in HBA and i'm looking for body wash. Two other women are in the isle with us, and I get the "oh, he is so cute" comments. Thanks, he's mine. :) I turn to pick out body wash, and Tanner, with his internal MEGAPHONE voice, starts the following conversation:

T: Mom, what are those?
S: (I turn to find all the girly-girl products behind me) Girl stuff.
T: But what are they?
S: T, they are things that girls use.

**insert the women previously mentioned, laughing their heads off**

T: Well then, what are those sticks?
S: (OMG!!! I'm laughing at this point!!) Those are girl sticks. They are for girls, and at some future point, say, in 25 years, you'll have reason to know what those "sticks" are.
T: But Mom, (remember the megaphone voice, ladies and gents) what are they for?? You used to have some. I saw them in the bathroom under the sink.
S: (i've probably just picked a $45 bottle of body wash, and thrown it in the basket) T-it doesn't matter!!!!
T: Ohhhhhhh.....they're pearls, aren't they???

You can't make this stuff up!!!

It's ok, laugh. Laugh hard. It's like the faster I moved down the isle, the better look he got at all the "options". I seriously thought I was going to crack a rib I was laughing so hard!!!

Auntie Kel, don't laugh too hard!!!