The Gold Girls

The Golden Girls…

….we look as unlike a famous Rock Band since The Chipmunks.
But hey, if they can do it, so can we.
We absolutely cannot resist the chance to play a little Rock Band when we see it set up at Sams.
It does not matter how much shopping we have on our list or how close it is to bedtime.
We just know that those Sam’s Club employees set that equipment up for us.
We would not want to disappoint.

If only we could afford to bring one home.

But, of course, if we bought the game Rock Band,

we would then have to add a Nintendo 360,
and then we would need the big screen TV,

and then after we got it set up,

but before we could play,
we we would have to go back down to Sams
and get some onlookers to come home with us.
You just can’t be a Rock Band without some groupies.
(this is starting to sound like the book: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie)

And, everyone would come from far far away to see the Gold’s play.
They would not be able to resist our talent or our charm.

And, I don’t care if the game thinks that we are failures.
We all know that these electronic games come with programming glitches.

Potato Sack Fashion and Perseverance
I’ve taught all of my girls color coordination.

And, I am upset because anyone that matches her shirt
to her potato sack deserves better than 4th place.

Even, if they have a clothesline hickey on their neck.

We were so proud of Abigail at her track meet a few weeks back.

She is a pro at the potato sack race.

Her love for the sport all started at her monstrous 7th birthday party.

She practices all of the time during our backyard cookouts.

Abigail was in a strong second place. She was about to pull out to the front when she stumbled just a bit. She got right back up. She got 4th. She is a winner. Life won’t get her down.

Life’s not fair

Life is just not fair.
I preach this message to my daughters.
I figure if they get the message into their tiny little bodies now,
they will be able to enjoy life’s injustices in their bigger mommy bodies later.
Here are some pictures to illustrate my point:
Last week, LG got this.
Abigail got this:

Abigail, Sophia, and Bella got this:
(I have to be honest, I kind of got this too, but if I admit it, the fact would ruin my point)

And, on Friday, here is what I got.

Oh, and I won’t forget to show you what else I got, even though I cringed when LG photographed it.

(I have to say now that I am grateful for LG’s assistance in my blogging goal last week – even if I was too busy to think of it, he didn’t forget)
And, the real reason that life is not fair.

On Friday, after helping LG with his practice all week guess what I got?
After catching up on all my housework,
I then got to spend 4 hours doing my favorite thing ever
and pack the whole family for the weekend!
(I, too, got to enjoy the weekend get-away, along with the rest of them, but if I told you about that here, it would also ruin my mother martyring moment)
Needless to say, last week was extremely busy.

I missed my blogging time. But, hey, life’s not fair. I’ll take it when I can get it.
I will also take the moment from last week when I bonded with a mother of a different species.
I couldn’t help but wonder how this mother bird feels about her duties on the home front?
And the quote from the day is brought to you from my blogging buddy, Sheila.

In those times in our life when we yearn to have more in our lives, we
should dwell on the things that we already have. In doing so we will often find
that our lives are full to overflowing.

LG’s dream
Here are pictures of LG’s new office, although I am secretly wishing that we will make enough money to buy the place and reconvert it back into a home.
(Sorry for the confusion)

For 10 years we have been working towards LG’s dream.

Yet, today, all day, we were out searching for furniture to make that dream come true.

I think this was supposed to be a whole lot more fun!

We need an interior decorator, desperately, but, paying her wasn’t part of the original dream.

So, I guess we will have to keep faking it.

h2o woes

My sister Shannon, the family pro of soccer, recently gave me some great advice on surviving soccer season.

She used to drag me out to the BYU field to watch her then fiance, but now husband, Brett, play. (I won’t bore you with the details of Brett and I having the “is soccer or football the better sport” debate for eight hours straight one Thanksgiving)

Anyhow, Shannon’s simple advice truly made my life a lot easier during the past couple of months.

“Keep a case of bottled water in your van.”

Thank you Shannon. Because of not rummaging for water last minute, I was actually able to make it ON TIME to approximately 10 of the total 50 soccer practices this season? Wow.

Anyway, during this same conversation about bottled water, I asked Shannon if she knew anything about these new wave water bottles. (the ones that are supposed to keep you cancer free) I told Shannon that I had briefly read a blog post about somebody purchasing these really plush water bottles and replacing all the plain old plastic ones in the house. (I wish I could remember who posted about this, and I would link)

I had no idea that plastic water bottles were linked to causing cancer. Not that I care. I don’t trust scientists, and it truly seems that everything in this universe is out to kill you. My way of being happy in this life is choosing to ignore all the health reports.

Shannon and I talked about the days when we used to go out to the public ball fields to play Bobby Sox. Shannon recently asked my mom, “Mom, I don’t ever remember taking water bottles to the field back then, how did you get out of that responsibility?” Mom reminded Shannon, “Back then, everyone used the water fountains.”

Needless to say, I was thrilled when we traveled to Norris last week for one of Abigail’s games and found this quaint little community. I got to make a lesson out of this really cool old-school water fountain.

I sounded like a senior citizen, “Girls, when I was a kid, we didn’t have water bottles. Everyone would drink from public water fountains, just like this one.”

Seriously, are you with me on ignoring health reports? What really has the potential to be more harmful? The old school water fountains with all their public germs or water packaged in plastic?

Do you know what I say, “Who cares!” For all I know, by the time I am a true senior citizen they will be saying that it’s the water that causes cancer.

Mothering 101

Tonight as I talked with my husband, I was expressing my concern for a friend who just had her third baby.

I asked LeGrand, “What can I do to help her transition?” I really want to try and alleviate some of her adjustment pain.

“Should I call the Relief Society and set up meals and babysitting?” LeGrand with his infinite wisdom says, “Yeah, you could do that, but why prolong the inevitable nervous breakdown.”

And, here is the telling rest of the paragraph. I hate to nark on myself here, but it is just too funny not to share. Here is what came straight from my hubby’s mouth.

LG: “Alice, she has to figure it out on her own. She’ll have the nervous breakdown, just like you did, and she’ll then figure stuff out on her own.”

Me: “Stuff, like what?”

LG: “Like, she’ll quit bathing her kids every day, and she’ll get a hobby, and she’ll let them sit in front of the TV, wash her dishes once a week, and get behind on her laundry.”

With LG’s raving review of my mothering skills, don’t you think I should call my friend right now and impart all my knowledge? And, also, don’t ya’ll think I deserve a really GREAT BIG Mother’s Day gift for learning every Motherhood survival technique known to womankind?

Soccer Skills

After posting about Sophia’s eight goals, I have been feeling guilty for not showing Bella out on the field. To tell the truth, I had picked out some pictures the other night, but I just got sick of waiting on upload time.

Here are a few of my fav’s of Bella. I guess I will have to get to Abigail later.

While Abigail plays offense and defense, Sophia is our offensive player. But, Bella , well she is most definitely our defensive player. We have been bragging on her abilities to “get that ball out of there” for the past couple of weeks. She never runs as fast as she does when she is trying to beat the opponent to the net.

At the last game, LG and I laughed so hard when we realized Bella’s motivation for getting to the net. I know she likes to stop the goals, but we figured out that she really loves to fish the ball out and hand it to the ref. Really we think that she only runs THAT hard to put herself to good use. She is such a good helper. She is such a hard worker. She loves to be useful. She is so much like her mom it is pathetic. Should we start her in therapy now or later?

Non-twirly coach
LG expressed the sentiment today that he really misses coaching the girls in soccer. We suckered Clint into the coaching gig this season. Because our lives have been so hectic, we thought we deserved a little break. Clint was so gracious to embrace his new responsibility and he has been a great coach.
But, he is a non-twirly coach…in fact, he is an anti-twirly coach. What is a non-twirly coach, you ask? It’s the kind of coach that picks his team players up one by one and twirls them around in the air every time a player scores.
Now any of you that are “real” athletes know how ridiculous this is. Clint is an “athlete”. What does he do when the girls score? What any real athletic coach should do. And, look, how happy the girls are to join in the ritual. Forget this twirly thing!!! We all could live a lot happier with a good old fashioned Hi-five from time to time.

See, I do pay attention
Let’s just say I get a little excited when watching my girls play soccer.
Let’s just say I get a LITTLE excited and leave it at that.
LG accused me today of only watching Abigail’s team and ignoring Sophia and Bella’s.
He seems to think that the competition with the little ones
just isn’t fierce enough for me.
LG accused me wrongly!
I have pictures to prove it.

Here’s one goal:



Here’s two:





Here’s three:


And, if I showed any more, that would just be bragging!
P.S. “LG, you should be glad that I don’t get overly excited for both age groups.
I am already trying to round up some valium for Abigail’s future games.”

"God is in the wind"

I loved this faith promoting post about roses are red’s visit to the Columbine High School memorial.

I found this scripture to add to the post: Mark 4: 39 & 41

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And
the wind ceased, and there was a great calm …. And they feared exceedingly,
and said one to another, “What manner of man is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

I tried to capture the wind in photograph. Here is the best I could do for now.