Farewell ~Life, Laughter & Lego Lions~!

Ladies and Gentlemen, there's been a merger. There are 4 blogs on my dashboard... 3 of which are unproductive. And one of those 3 unproductive blogs gets tons of spam. I'm not completely sure as to why. But it was on one post in particular where I used some initials that may somehow be associated with those of the homosexual persuasion. Mind you, my post had absolutely nothing to do with those fine folks. But apparently, other folks who may have been searching for information regarding that topic were being directed to my blog. In short, those searching would leave tactless comments I didn't care to read or respond to. So. I removed those initials from that post and have now merged that blog with this one. And I intend to delete that blog once I have posted this.

I'm a little sad that it's come to this. The unproductiveness and deletion, that is. It was a fun blog that I started back in 2006 after my sister and her kiddos moved into town. Before that, it had been 8 years since we had lived in the same state, let alone the same town! And, even though she was going through some extremely hard times emotionally, I was glad to have her close-by again. I was glad I could be there for her and the kids.

So that's why there are now a few posts from 2006 in my archive. (Obviously before my pregnancy-turned-baby-turned-toddler.) :D I didn't want to lose what I had written during that time. I do, however, want to leave you with the paragraph that I had written in the "description" section under the title of my blog:

Lego Lion Philosophy: We may appear ferocious but, really, we're fragile. Even though we look fairly massive, we're still quite malleable. And oftentimes we're loud... but we just want to be loved.

And there you have it. It's all about the love, isn't it?
Cheers.

The Night G'ma Came to Town

Ok, so Aunt Pam was having some fun with her camera on this particular evening! This was the night that G'ma Pugh got into town (Nampa) for the Thanksgiving holiday... so I decided to hook my camera up to the t.v. so that everyone could see a slide show of all the fun pictures and videos taken within the last couple of months. Well, when the camera is on "Auto" mode, everyone can see themselves on the t.v!! Of course, they all started acting silly and so I just started taking pics of the mayhem. This one of everyone with g'ma turned out pretty good. Then there was this one of Jess... a picture really is worth 1000 words................................................ 'nuff said. :D

Happy Birthday, Jillian!!

Well, I'm afraid we have a princess on our hands! While Jillian was at Red Robin with her mom, the rest of the crew and I went to buy supplies for her party. When I asked what kind of party she would like, all the kids responded, "A pink princess party!" So, we had pink cake with pink frosting, pink candles and sprinkles on top... we even found a pink princess wand (that someone ended up sticking in her cake)! We had pink (bubble gum) ice cream and got pink paper plates. And for the party, Jillian sported a pink-ish tiara that sparkled. In fact, the only things that weren't pink were the party hats that we were wearing! I think the boys thought that, if they had to wear hats at all, they might as well wear Tow-Mater from the movie Cars. We did the "Surprise!" thing again when she walked in the door... which always makes the kids act goofy and giddy. Screaming is a given... every time. After everyone finished with their cake and ice cream, Jill opened her gifts. She loved everything she received but I think she enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Brent even more! He can always make her laugh. One of her presents was a slinky... so Jill and Uncle Brent decided to use it as a "telephone" to tell jokes to each other. Most of the jokes were "Knock, knock..." jokes that weren't really that funny... but Brent's responses were hilarious! We were all totally cracking up! I think Jillian even ended up on the floor 'cause she was laughing so hard. Thank goodness I've got it on tape! :D

Big Green Bug.

One evening a couple weeks ago we found a Big Green Bug near our front room window. It was Sunday night and it was our turn to host the small group Bible study meeting at our house. There were kids gathered around to observe Big Green Bug and as soon as Uncle Brent grabbed it, everyone screamed and ran away. One of the first things you may learn about Uncle Brent is that he has an interest in bugs. Any kind. From big and green to small and brown. AND he let this Big Green Bug crawl all over his arms and face. Then he asked the kids if they wanted to hold Big Green Bug. Everyone (except Heidi) screamed, "NO!" and ran away once again. So brave Heidi sat down next to Uncle Brent and let the Big Green Bug crawl on her hand... and then her arm. After they were done playing with Big Green Bug, Heidi helped Uncle Brent find a safe place for Big Green Bug to live - in the tree across the street. The end. :)



I think Heidi likes watching it crawl on her arm!



The Big Green Bug on Uncle Brent's face! Ew!

Trunk or Treat 2006

Happy Halloween everyone!! This one was kind of a bummer for me as I ended up getting sick and, therefore, couldn't make it to the Trunk or Treat festivities. Brent ended up going without me and he was able to get a few pictures to document the event. This first pic is of LeAnne and Alex... I don't think Alex was digging his costume too much! Not to mention it was freezing outside... so not more than a couple hours after folks started handing out candy, they all decided to go inside and visit where it was warm. They were also serving hot soups and chili and had some fun indoor carnival-type games for the kids. This 2nd pic is hilarious! There were several of the adults who had dressed up... Brent had talked about it but then didn't do anything... so it's just funny to see him in his regular street clothes next to some camouflaged dude! I think that's Jaeson Rodgers underneath all that camo. :D Then, last but not least, here are the kiddos in all of their funky outfits. I think Jacob was Fireman (or something), L.J. was The Thing, Jensina was a Medieval Princess, Jessica was... well, I'm not sure, and Jillian was The Little Mermaid. Cute... and funny. They had fun though. I was sad that I couldn't be there, too. There's always next year. :)

Jessica's 1st Concert

This was Jessica's first 6th grade strings concert... boy, did this bring back memories!! I never played a stringed instrument but I do remember playing my flute in a jr. high band concert in the school gymnasium. Uff da. Anyway, since these kids are just starting out, this concert wasn't very long. I think each song was 1.5-2 minutes in length. But they did well... considering. Jess was pretty excited about it. I'm glad to see she's doing well in school! And I know it means a lot to her for us to be there. She's really coming into her own... she's such a beautiful young lady already! Seems like just yesterday she was a little 2-year-old, trying to be independent and telling her mom, "No!" My how time flies.

Dirt, Hay and Pumpkins

A few weeks ago, we decided to designate a Saturday afternoon to having some Harvest fun so... we took a short trek to a local Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze! Yeah, I forgot that the lack of rain in Idaho can make a hot, dry day in a cornfield even worse. As soon as we got out of the car, and I realized that the type of dirt we'd be walking on was the type that poofed a great cloud of dust out from under our shoe every time our foot hit the ground, I knew that there'd be extra mud and grime in our bathtubs that night! I was seriously covered, from head to toe, with a layer of gritty dust after this outing. And that, coupled with a fairly moderate breeze, made for an uncomfortable tractor-pulling hayride. Probably won't be doing that again - ever! I was trying to cough that junk outta my lungs for the next 2 evenings after that! At least the kids had a good time. We bought a couple of snacks to share and some water for everyone at the little "snack shack" there. The kids got to ride in these painted barrels being pulled by a smaller tractor. Wild times, I know! We all ran through the much-smaller, less-formidable hay maze. And then we picked our own pumpkins! Each person was told: "You must find a pumpkin that you're willing and able to carry on your own!" Of course, L.J. and Jensina went for the bigger ones and they were having quite a time hobbling to the scale with their finds... and then they had to hobble to the car after that! Uncle Brent found the perfect pumpkin, in size and roundness, for us. I picked out a tiny pumpkin and a couple of small colorful gourds for the center of my table. Jessica, Jillian and Jacob each picked out 2 of the small pumpkins since they were only a quarter a piece. They had quite the line-up once they finally got them all home! Aside from the flying dust-dirt, we all had fun. Yes, we were exhausted... but that just made for a better night's sleep. :)

At the Fair

I'm not sure that I ever really blogged about our day at the Fair this summer, so I'll go ahead and do that now. Oh, wait. You know, now that I think about it... I may have written a quick blurb on another blog. Perhaps I'll cut n' paste that here with just a few more details and some extra pics.

Here's what I wrote:

So we went to the Canyon County Fair recently. Instead of having our usual Game Night with our small group, we all decided to meet up at the Fair. It was fun. Nothing like the Clackamas County Fair that I'm used to... but it was fun. The kids enjoyed it. They were able to go on a few rides, got their faces/arms painted, and picked up a bagful of nifty "toys" from the AARP booth in the Expo hall. Yeah, I know... there's something extremely amusing about 5 kids under the age of 12 taking visors, bookmarks and stress balls in the shape of potatoes from the AARP folks. There was even a fun booth on how to wash your hands the right way in order to get rid of all the gross bacteria germs! We all put on this "lotion" (a.k.a. germs) and then stepped into a dark area to look at our hands under a black light. Ew. Then we went to the restroom to wash up (we were told to scrub our hands for the entire length of the ABC song) and then step into the black light area again. That was supposed to tell us how well we were washing our hands on a regular basis. Well, even after washing, we all still had the "germs" on the backs of our hands and around our fingernails. Jacob needed lots of help. It didn't look like he had even attempted to wash his hands the first time! Back to the wash basin. Jessica sang the alphabet song aloud for us while we scrubbed. That was quite entertaining. We walked around and saw quilts and vegetables and photos... most were decorated with 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place ribbons, honorable mentions and what-not. The kids even got to sit on a tractor to get their picture taken. Riveting. Once outside, tactical maneuvering was required... lots of food vendors and miscellaneous-eye-catching-trinket vendors who were trying to get us to buy things we didn't need. We made it through without a scratch! After almost 4 hours at the Fair, we knew it was time to go home when the little ones started getting fussy. All in all, it was a fun day and the kids really had a great time.

Now for some extra highlights:

If you'll notice in the pictures above, there's a definite transformation that takes place in Jillian's facial expression. Between the 1st picture of her on the Ferris Wheel (at ground level) and the 2nd (about half-way up to the top), the change is dramatic! The Carousel was definitely more her speed. I think her smile in that photo is one of relief... being safely on the ground and, yet, still having fun. As far as I can remember, she's the one who's always had an aversion to heights. However, she does like to be held by Uncle Brent... so perhaps that's a phase that she'll soon grow out of. Then there's Jensina who's leaning over and looking down to wave at me. She's fearless. In case you couldn't tell in Jacob's picture, he's showing off the "tatoo" that was painted on his arm. (You can click on the picture to enlarge for the full effect.) The last photo is my version of the tractor picture. I think mine is a lot better than the polaroids that the "Farm Bureau People" took. All the kids climbed aboard this John Deere tractor and were told to smile. Jacob looks utterly thrilled. Of course, he is, by far, the most independent of Jodi's kiddos... so if you tell him to smile, he won't. I'm pretty sure that he is "Opposite Boy" from Bizzarro World. Another fun thing: We saw a clown handing out stickers. She would take a sticker from her big roll of stickers and ask each kiddo if they could tell her what the letters on the sticker were. Once they said, "IYQ," she would say, "Awww, I wike you too!" and stick the sticker on their shirt and give 'em a hug. It was cute!

Just Me...

...putting a different self-portrait in here just in case I want to change up my profile photo in the near future. This one is a little bit funny since my nephew is half-way in the picture, too... and his finger just happens to be in front of me... in a very peculiar spot. Heh heh. But don't mind that. Nonetheless, I like this picture. It's one that my niece, Jillian, took. And we're being our usual "hammy" selves... that's what matters. ;) 

Happy Birthday, Jacob!!

Happy Birthday to Jacob!! He turned 4 earlier this month. Aunt Pam signed everyone up for the Red Robin Birthday Club so each kiddo will receive an e-mail for a free burger on their birthday! Jacob was the first to get one... and while his mom took him to Red Robin, the other 4 kids hung out at our place helping to bake a cake and wrap gifts. Then Jodi called to let us know that they were almost to the house... everyone hid really fast behind chairs and bookshelves in order to surprise him when they came in the door. We totally made him scream... not the scared scream though... it was more like laughing and screaming at the same time. :D So after we got settled down, we had some cake and ice cream and then he opened his gifts. It was a fun evening and it was cool to be able to spend a birthday with our youngest nephew!

I Made the Switch!

I must admit, I was a little nervous to switch from Original Blogger to Beta Blogger for fear that things might get lost... that's (mostly) why I started a new account so that I could check it out without the threat of losing all my previous postings on which I worked so hard! Yay, I did it!! And it does look a little more user-friendly... so perhaps I'll change my other account. ttfn

My Very First Post...

... in my new blog! I always like starting new and afresh! It's like getting new socks and wearing them for the very first time. Always comfy and cozy! Just the right fit... not stretched out yet... not faded with washings and time... not holey. Perfect.

Until next time...