Friday Funnies

1. Remember how I just posted about my love for Nyquil? It has been brought to my attention that my brother, who's the pastor of our church, actually mentioned in a recent sermon that he knows "some people" who are actually addicted to Nyquil. I missed that week because I was out of town. But I only have one thing to say to that..."Hello Kettle, it's me Pot. You're black"!

2. Parker recently went to a Bible study where they were teaching about the fiery furnace. He came home and told me the three men in the fire were Shadrack, Meshek, and Aminuteago. He cracks me up! I was telling Brian about it, and I figured out that I grew up pronouncing it "Uh-BIN -di-go", but Mr. Fancy Pants (Brian) said he has always said it correctly ~ Abednigo. Isn't he just special?

(I just looked up these names to make sure I was spelling them correctly. Apparently, there are several different spellings for each of them. However, none of them are Aminuteago.)

How do you pronounce it??? I need just one of you to please say Bin instead of Bed!

3. One more little story for today that I've been meaning to tell you for a while. Back in May, I went to the Garth Brooks concert in Knoxville with a big group of family. Before the concert, I decided to go get a drink (and let's be honest, there were also peanut m&ms involved). I had noticed all the little whipper snapper twenty-somethings simply stepping over the empty seat in front of them instead of having to crawl over people to make it to the aisle. You see where this is going, right? I knew it was a bad idea before I even started. Unfortunately, I had a family full of cheerleaders who were encouraging me. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that my sister-in-law was LITERALLY cheering, "You can do it! You can do it!" The first foot seemed to go over with ease. As my 39 year old second foot tried to stick the landing, the chair quickly folded under me and trapped my leg as I fell so gracefully to the floor. At this point, my mom is up there yelling, "Her ankle is probably broken!" and my niece Megan was gently chanting, "You're ok, you're ok" as if I was a toddler who just fell off a swing at the playground. Meanwhile, other family members are laughing and thousands (maybe millions) of strangers are looking to see what other kind of pre-concert entertainment I might provide. I'm actually surprised Garth didn't add me to his tour line-up. I make a great opening act!

Please tell me you've done something embarrassing like falling in front of a stadium full of people!

I Just Can't Quit You

I'm lookin' at you Mr. Nyquil.

My family likes to give me a hard time because I like Nyquil maybe just a little too much. Strangely enough, I really love the green liquid kind. Of course, I don't take it unless I have true symptoms, but surely there's somebody else out there that likes it too. They keep making it, right?

Oh, how I love the peaceful sleep it provides instead of coughing and tossing and turning all night. I think I should be a paid spokesperson. Hey Nyquil, have your people call my people!

I remember when Angie Smith said her dad wrote the little slogan that Nyquil has used for years in their commercials. Remember...the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, so you can rest medicine. I was so jealous when I found out because I bet Angie got a lifetime supply. Only in my dreams friends, only in my dreams.

Please tell me I'm not alone. How do you feel about that glorious green goodness?



39: Reasons I Don't Like Green Beans Edition

I'm continuing my 39 Series with a little silliness today! I hope you enjoy my 39 reasons I don't like green beans. So in no particular order, here we go!

1. They are slimy.

2. They taste awful.

3. They stink.

4. The texture is frightening.

5. When you take a bite, a little bean might pop out in your mouth unexpectedly.

6. They are stringy.

7. They are yucky. 

8. They aren't pizza.

9. They aren't chocolate.

10. They aren't fried (I can kind of tolerate a fried green bean if they are skinny and have plenty of dipping sauce. I still don't like them though.)

11. They stink up the house.

12. They stink up the neighborhood.

13. They stink up the world.

14. They make the food that touches them horrible.

15. They are gross.

16. They are despicable.

17. They make me sick.

18. They make me gag.

19. I mean really gag.

20. They are the worst food in the world.

21. They are the worst food in the universe.

22. They are dreadful.

23. They are appalling.

24. They are horrific.

25. They are horrendous.

26. They are repulsive.

27. They are altogether unpleasant.

28. They ruin the delicious fried onions in green bean casserole.

29. They grow in a pod.

30. They are a type of kidney bean. 

31. Kidney beans are gross too.

32. Just not as nasty as green beans.

33. But almost.

34. I looked up green bean in the dictionary, and they are described as slender.

35. I'm not a fond of slender.

36. Because I am not.

37. It also says they are immature. Ha!

38. I can't associate with immaturity in my food.

39. Because (based on this list), I am very mature.

Keep On Survivin'

It seems as if I should have added one more thing to my list of 39 things I don't want to do while I'm 39.

Find a frog in my house in the middle of the night.

Technically, I wasn't the one who found the frog. The story goes a little something like this...

Parker came into our room in the middle of the night and told Brian that there was a frog in the bathroom. I was sound asleep, so I had no idea all of this went down until the next day. When Brian went to investigate, fully intending to find a frog shaped piece of fuzz in the corner, what he found was a frog. A real frog. When I heard this story, I pictured this only even uglier and bigger (the size of the bathtub for example).

Brian assured me that it was a tiny frog that looked suspiciously like Claire's African dwarf frog that resides in a tank in her room. Claire's frog, Ella Katie Murray, is known to be a survivor. First of all, she's lived almost three years. Parker's frog only lived about a year. Secondly, she's survived for months and months in the dirtiest, nastiest, can't even see through the water it's so foggy tank. Maybe we aren't the best frog owners, but that's beside the point. Yep, that girl's a survivor.

My theory is that Ella Katie was so deprived of clean water that she managed to find a way to escape from her tank in a search for the nearest water (the bathroom). I seriously can't find any way that she could have escaped, and it's a mighty long way from that tank in Claire's room to the far corner of the bathroom. Somehow she did it. So Brian, in his middle of the night sleepy stupor, gave her what she was looking for. Water. (Insert flushing sound here.)

We are hopeful that she's swimming in the sewer somewhere singing (in the words of Destiny's Child), "I'm a survivor, I'm gonna make it, I'm a survivor, Keep on survivin'".

Swim on, Ella Katie, swim on.

What I Learned In October

1. Elderly frogs are surprisingly strong and determined. (More on this tomorrow...)

2. Claire officially has what my family refers to as the "Friday Foot". Listen people, my side of the family has big feet. Since my maiden name was Friday (yes, like the day of the week), we've always called it the "Friday Foot". I bought her some new boots. They are a size 8 1/2. IN WOMEN'S. May I remind you that she just turned nine years old?

3. Parker's foot is pretty big too. Time will tell whether it will officially be a "Friday Foot".

4. I really like to sleep in my own bed. (I already knew this, but since we traveled a lot in October, I got a big reminder.)

5. However, I really love to travel. I seriously can't get enough of exploring and seeing different places. New places, places I've been before, places I've never even heard of, etc, etc, etc. I love it all. (I already knew that too. Ha!)

6. We need a much longer fall season. The beautiful colors and the cool (but not yet cold) weather just doesn't last long enough.

7. I really love Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks. Since I'm not much of a coffee person, I never gave them a chance. Until this year. And even though I'm late to the party, I'm hooked. Now for the bad news...

8. Starbucks told me yesterday that they are out of Pumpkin Spice FOR THE YEAR! I looked at the girl like she must be seriously mistaken. She told me again. FOR THE YEAR. I just don't understand. PSL has to be one of their best sellers. Why would they quit selling them at the end of October? Please. Somebody. Do. Something. For. The. Love.

Let's just stop there. I'm not sure I have the will to go on. (See #8)

What did you learn in October (silly or serious)?

Old Friends & New Fun!

 

 Last week, we went to Greensboro to visit my cousin Krista and her family.  Anna, Gracie, and Will went with us to join the fun.

 

Claire & Emma

 Rub a dub dub, three girls in a tub

Claire, Gracie, & Emma

 

 

Anna & Will

 

Claire & Emma

 

A way too crowded, possibly breaking the law car situation

One day we went to Wet & Wild Waterpark.  We had SO much fun playing in the pools and all of the slides.  I don't have a lot of pictures because I was busy going down every slide with all of the kids who had unwilling mamas (whose names I shall not mention).

 

This, however, I did not ride:

On a different day, we went to a park to play. 

 

 

It was all fun and games until somebody got hurt. 

 

We ended up here:

Anna and I entertained five kids in a doctor's office waiting room with only hot chocolate.

 

Here were our magazine choices:

Poor Hunter broke his arm! 

 

I talked with Brian and Max at home every night.  Everybody Skypes with their dog, right?

 

Totally normal.

Here we are the day we left to come home.  We finally rounded up the kids in one spot for a picture!

Me, Krista, & Anna
Gracie, Emma, Hunter, Claire, Will, & Parker

Last Day Of School!

We were ALL so excited about the last day of school!

 We even got a little silly about it!

 Welcome to Summer Parker and Claire!

 Orange You Glad It's Summer?

(Thanks Pinterest)

Yay for Summertime!!!

Are You A Bobcat Believer?

Back around Christmas, my family went through a little bit of a crazy phase.  Actually, we live in a continual crazy phase.  This was just beyond crazy.

It all started when Andy made a comment about thinking he saw a bobcat in my mom's yard.  Oh, he was sure that, without a doubt, it was a bobcat.  Then Mom/Nana started saying that yes, indeed she had seen a bobcat at a different time. 

In an effort to convince the rest of the family, much insanity ensued. 

There was food left out to entice the bobcat to visit.

There was a camera installed.  I'm not kidding.

(I told you we are crazy.)

There were multiple gatherings at Mom/Nana's house.  Some of us were there to watch for a bobcat sighting.  Others of us (ahem) were there to eat and talk.

Here are a few pictures of one Bobcat Gathering:


The dogs were especially on the lookout.
  "One thing you don't want to be when a bobcat is around is a small dog." ~Charlie and Bear

See, some of us were just hanging out, eating, and talking.

Others were literally staring out the window at the alleged bobcat hideout.

There was musical entertainment.

(Probably a song about a bobcat.)

Max even made it to the party.  He thinks he sees a bobcat on the ceiling.

Wonder why you can't see anything in this picture?

That's because a bunch of crazies were sitting in total darkness staring out the sunroom window. 

Looking for a bobcat.

Seriously.

The whole thing went on for a couple of weeks.  Because the crazy runs deep.

There were pictures like this sent around to each other...

There were even persuasive videos made...

In the end, some still believe there was an actual bobcat visiting the premises.  Others have concluded a very large house cat may have been an impostor bobcat.  Others just think everybody is crazy. 

I'll let you guess which group in which I belong.

I love my crazy family!

Weekend Stuff

Last weekend was a little wild around here.  Parker and Claire both had friends spend the night. 

 

The girls loved Just Dance.  Look at that hair in motion.

 

 The boys played games on the computer.

 

 And Wii

TV on Saturday morning

 They were worn out from all the fun the night before and such a late night.

Then some type of salon came about.



 Hannah did this to Parker's hair:

Later on Saturday, a very tired Claire and I went with Grandma to the American Girl fashion show. 



 

 

 Claire modeled a little after the real show.

Then we went home and played with paper dolls.

 

 At school this week, Claire and her friend started a business in the hall after school.  They sold Easter eggs for two cents each.  The proceeds are begin split between "the poor" and candy.

 So the next day, Parker began his own little business venture.  He was selling stamps for 50 cents.  I tried to explain that his price may be a little high for a stamp, but he insisted. 

I think I have some little entrepreneurs on my hands!