Back Home!

Well, well, look who’s blogging. Not only getting back into my routine here, but coming back w/ a new look and more dedication and desire. Did not plan on a three month absence, it was just one of those things where I just did not do it and after a while that became my routine. I’ve missed posting as I am sure you have as well. So here we go… I guess I will start off w/ a rundown of last weekend’s festivities. Started out Saturday morning w/ a Hello Kitty Club meeting. This is a club w/ MaryJane, Kelly, and Lionel in it. I got the last question wrong on the entry test not long ago so im not in it. Lionel was being his cranky self and with him not wanting to follow the club rules and eat his healthy celery he was left in the bedroom when we made our way to the living room. He later ate his food…and the napkin . Silly kitty. Next up was creating Spongebob’s out off sponges; what else. Hers are Queen Sponge and a kitty and mine is a green Spongebob. They turned out great. Our washer broke about a month ago and we finally got a new one Saturday. MaryJane and I helped get the old one moved out. We had lunch while he was gone taking the old one away and bringing back the new one. Upon his return we helped bring the new one in. Then I did some laundry and actually enjoyed doing it. Haha. A good part of the afternoon was spent writing letters. We have mailboxes we made from sandwich bag boxes that she set in the kitchen. I received mail from Plants and Zombies and I wrote to them. There is a game called Plants vs. Zombies that she likes; that is where this comes from. A ton of mail was sent and it was really cool and really fun. Bye the way…Plants Rule and Zombies Drool. Hehe. We later played a game where the 6 main Disney Princess stuffed dolls competed in singing, dancing, and moves and before we left for mommies work we did a quick game…it’s the one where the pet shops sell bread…hers sell the fluff and do great and mine sell the crust and do badly. Its classic and always a good time. I picked up Gurly in time to make the late service at Fellowship Sunday morning. Being Palm Sunday it was an emotional service. After lunch we broke out the Care Bears for the first time in a long time. We played a lengthy game of school. We put together families in the living room, the clothes basket bus picked up kids, school was held in the kitchen, and we had a great and hilarious time w/ it all. : ) Once school was out we played a game of America's Got Talent. Our two giant Care Bears and Her or I were the judges and one or two Care Bears at a time put on performances. There were some great acts i tell ya. We later jumped bounced on the bed while listening to music and played a game where she is a princess on the bed before hitting the tub to get washed up and play Barbies. She got some foam soap last week and it has made for some great playtime w/ the Barbies. It gets pretty silly...and very pink. Hehe. Before bed we started the 3rd Beethoven movie of the weekend. Another fun weekends in the books.

Birthday and Christmas Fun!

With a Birthday and Christmas I have lots of pictures and lots to say.

Woke up Friday morning, my Birthday, to wonderful gifts from Gurly. She made me another sweet card, a super cool visor, and this neat picture that I put in the frame she decorated. What creative and wonderful gifts from my sweetheart. MaryJane and I spent a majority of the morning on the folded out futon playing LPS, coloring Garfield pictures, and reading a Larryboy book. After a relaxing morning (well…except the part where we went nuts on the bed..hehe) we headed out to live it up on the town. First stop was Shogun’s in Fayetteville where we meet up w/ my work peoples for the annual Christmas Luncheon. We enjoyed the food, show, and company. Afterwards her and I enjoyed ice cream and a book upstairs in the lounge. Lovely. Next was the comic shop in Fayetteville; Rock Bottom. We browsed the huge store and each selected a fine comic. She got Pokemon #4 while I got Wildcats #2. Then we went to the Springdale Library to pick up 3 more Larryboy books and a new book by the DragonLance authors that we had put on hold. Liking the whole “hold” thing. After that we were off to FastLanes in Lowell. Kinda like Locomotion, but bigger and better…and more expensive. Hehe. We loaded our cards (you swipe a card vs. using coins) and went crazy. We racked up over 350 tickets and MaryJane scored 2 stuffed animals out of one of the washing machines. We traded our tickets for prizes and headed to the mall for a cold stroll and some pictures. After grabbing me a much needed pair of shoes at Hot Topic Missy posed and posed for pictures. What a doll. After warming up briefly at Build a Bear Workshop we made our way back to the car and went just up the way to Golden Corral for another feast. Love that joint. Anywhere that has all you can eat steak is a winner in my book. Haha. Finally we made a pit stop at Wal-Mart for a few necessities…and 2 Pokemon packs. Hehe. A wonderful 30th birthday spent w/ the bestest daughter ever.

Saturday we spent a good part of the day playing at the house. We got out a bunch of stuffed animals and put them on the floor in front of the futon and played washing machine. One of us would get on the futon and put quarters in a bank to be able to control the other person, picking up and winning stuffed animals. It was a blast. We played Littlest Pet Shops on the Futon too. We got into this game where some of the pets controlled by me had a pet hamster that gnawed on wood pencils. She would take a pair of tweezers and scrape the outside of pencils off and pretend the hamster had done it. She told he she wanted to write a book called something like "Michael and MaryJane Mysteries". We were to solve some mysteries and then she would write them down in a book we would make together. We went on what was called something like "The Mystery of the Bird Bath" outside and discovered that the statue we thought might have been a predator trying to catch birds was merely a pigeon. Mystery solved. Hehe. We played an Orphan game where she was an orphan that lived in a Treehouse (the futon) and I was a rich man that discovered her and did things for her. After a game of Barbies in the tub we got ready and headed out to Dad's for my birthday party. We had a great time of course. Here is MaryJane playing w. there new puppy. They are both just precious. Oleta made my requested meal of crawfish jambalaya and fried potatoes and she did a wonderful job. It was soooo delicious. Cody and Robi, G and G Danforth, and Grandma Mary were there and visiting with them was a pleasure. I got a Wii for my birthday and we are loving it. Dad and I have played Bowling and some golf almost ever time we go out there so now i can practice and maybe, just maybe stand a chance against "the pro". Hehe. While we played on his Wii MaryJane constructed this super sweet graham cracker house. Nice.
Sunday morning was traditional Church followed by a special visit to Grandma Gina and Poppy's house. Bill and I spent most of our time downstairs watching football on the big screen, chatting, and eating the delicious array of goodies Gina had prepped for us. This is how watching football should be done. We we soaked this up Gina, MaryJane, and her cousin Hallie played together. They colored pictures, played outside on the swing set and trampoline and MaryJane and Hallie discovered there is a ghost in the house and they saw a shooting star while we were there. We all spent some time together as well. A great time was had by us all. MaryJane and Hallie are best friends and she cant wait to see her again.
Thursday morning we played around the house before setting out to Walgreens to pick up wrapping supplies for all the gifts we had purchased the night before. We got in our game of Santa's workshop when we got home and it was fun. A Santa bear was Santa and two stuffed animal reindeer were the elves. I wrapped and MaryJane checked the gift and applied the bows, ribbon, and tags. I loaded the trunk w/ gifts and we made our way to Aunt Cheryl's for the family Christmas Eve get together. Every one accept Rachael, Matt, and there children was there. We visited, ate, listened to music and opened gifts. MaryJane got lots of goodies including a Neopets plush, Pokemon game, and a cool bracelet craft. I got a desperately needed new coffee maker. Hehe. Upon returning home we quickly put out Cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and hurried of to bed. This is a picture of her saying Merry Christmas
Christmas morning we awoke to find that Santa had filled our stocking and brought MaryJane a bunch of presents. She got a Three Musketeers Barbie, Pokemon cards and games, books, a Neopet, a My Meeba, and much more. We spent the morning and afternoon playing with all her new stuff before picking up Christian and going to Mommy's. MaryJane opened the gifts and emptied her stocking. She got a new bike, a Wii and DS game, a calculator, and much more. I spent some time playing w/ the kids and and visiting w/ Jessica before heading home. It was a wonder white Christmas.

Saturday morning I picked up MaryJane and we went to Dads to continue our celebration of Christmas. We visited, opened gifts, and played. We got another Wii-mote and Super Mario Bros. Wii. and we each got a couple other nice gifts. After playing with her fashion designer kit,some Wii action , and more we left to go to Grandma Mary's. There we hung out w/ Cody, Robi, Mam, Branden, and Grandma Mary. We visited, ate, and opened some gifts. MaryJane did a neat Butterfly craft. Another fun day.

Sunday morning we attended Church and then came home to recoup and play at home after all the running around. We took a whopping 3 hour nap, played Neopets figures, stuffed animals, and babysitter. Kelly and Lionel visited our restaurant and learned a little about cooking. We also played Wii and watched Ghost Busters while eating dinner and doing art.

MaryJane's Art Gallery!

Thought i would put up some of my little artist's masterpieces from the weekend. Enjoy!

This is an ornimate she made Tuesday night at the Library. Pretty!

MaryJane gave this to me this afternoon. It is the 1st of my 4 birthday gifts. What a sweetie!

Tis the Season

MaryJane and I are just a little excited about Christmas…NOT! We are so anxious we just about can’t handle it. Every day she asks me “How many days until Christmas”. So in the spirit of Christmas we did lots of Christmas stuff over the weekend.

We started prepping our Christmas cards Saturday night. She picked out some awesome cards at Wal-Mart and it all about doing them all by herself. She’s writing all the inside verbiage, putting the to and from addresses on the front, putting the pictures inside, marking where the stamp will go, and will surly seal, place the stamps on, and put them into the mail for you all. She did all the writing in cursive by the way. My only involvement is cutting out pictures and signing my name below hers on the cards. They will be done and in the mail later this week so keep an eye out for yours. : )

We made Gingerbread Dudes and Friends Sunday afternoon. We had much fun decorating them and playing w/ them.
















We watched 2 Christmas movies. Thanks Netflix. The first was the DVD of Santa Buddies. Very cute and funny. We did the traditional “chase” during the credits, we danced to the music video, she rode on me during the sing-a-longs, and we enjoyed some sneak peeks too. We got our monies worth out of that one…hold on…it was free…hehe. The second was the Instant Online of A Nightmare Before Christmas. As creepy and weird as usual.

She made these cool Christmas crafts. They are sticky foam characters, acessories, and letters on foam frames. Very creative designs by a very, very creative gurl.
We had planned to play Santa’s Workshop as well, but didn’t get it in. Sure we play it this week. Love that game.

Also, going to get our Christmas light up this week. Still scheming on how I want to do it this go round.

Best Bud’s!

Well as scheduled we meet up w/ the Camacho family at Home Depot on Saturday morning. MaryJane was thrilled to see Eliana. She is also buddies w/ Mailia. They built there helicopters, flew them around, and attacked me w/ them. Haha. They invited us to brunch w/ them at Village Inn and we gladly accepted. Of all the B-fast joints that one is surely the yummiest. Some of us had breakfast, some of us had lunch, and we all had a very nice time. MaryJane, Eliana, and Mailia chattered, looked and Bella Serra and Pokemon cards, and colored. Cutest part had to be when MaryJane and Eliana did one of those clapping hands thing…not sure what you call that?...anyways they did it to the tune of that “Mrs Susie” rhyme…the one where Tiny Tim tries to eat the tub and they call the lady w. the alligator purse….they clapped and sang so loud, but Aly and I just sat there b/c it was just to precious to interrupt. Before we left I just had to get a picture of those two cuties together.

Thanksgiving Plus Rundown!

I was making a few notes to follow before I blogged and I noticed that I was putting things down in groups of 2…so I thought “what the heck..why not put them up in pairs”. So here goes in some random order…

2 Very Special Kiddos – I was so lucky to have 2 kiddos Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, and Thanksgiving morning. We had fun during the nights going crazy playing in the house and going to FBCS for Blessing Baskets. Thanksgiving morning was very pleasant. This is Super C “playing w/ his food” and Sis posing w/ her “20 Questions” game.
2 Games – Well there were two pertinent games Sat & Sun and they were Kelly and Lionel’s Charm Factory and Nature Class w/ Handicapped Girls. For the first game we set up Barbies on the Futon and a line of stuffed animals on the floor. The Barbies ordered “charms” on-line from the futon and the orders were taken in by Barbie the Giraffe. (side note: the charms are colored pipe cleaners with a various assortment of alternating rainbow beads on them. She got this as a craft to do earlier in the week and had already made a bunch before this game). So after Barbie took the order from the Barbies...hehe..MaryJane made the charm. You will see this is a factory line. After she was done she passed it on to “Tiger” who checked it for errors (my fav part) ; then “Stripe” who put it in the kennel for 3 minutes to cook; then to “Kitty” who rode up the elevator to the top of the chair, then a bear whos name I am unsure of flew the charm to the correct Barbie on the couch. The whole time I was Kelly and Lionel running the show. Kelly was the good boss and Lionel was the bad boss. The factory pumped out a ton of bracelets. There is more I could elaborate on, but I will not. The second game we went for walks and she was the new gurl in nature class. She was mainly “Angela” the blind girl, but was a few others as well. Kelly and Lionel would not understand her handicaps and I would help her along her way and talk about the other senses she had and how she could still enjoy nature.

2 Thanksgivings – Our 1st stop on Thursday was Bill and Regina’s (aka Poppy and Grandma Gina). We hung out for a good hour and enjoyed the delicious food and the fabulous company. Jessica’s sister, Angela, was there w/ her boy for a short time after we got there, but we spent most of our time visiting w/ Bill, Gina, Jean and Ira (aka Great-Grandma Jean and Chief). MaryJane enjoyed herself. Gina loaded her up w/ goodies from Hawaii, including a fan, bags, and lots of cute jewelry and accessories. It was great to see them all and very much looking forward to seeing them all more often in the future. Our 2nd stop was Dad’s. We got there pretty late, but there were plenty of left over’s to be had. We visited and ate. MaryJane watched Shrek 2 and part of Bedtime stories w/ Robi. Dad, Cody, and I spent a good while going at each other on the glamorous Wii. We played three player golf and bowling and it was great fun.

2 Best Friends – We meet up with Camacho Family at Cambridge Park on Beautiful Friday Afternoon. MaryJane and Eliana (6...bout to be 7) are Best Friends. Alyson and Dathan also have 2 to other daughters, Sasha (4…I think) and M (8..for sure). They are a fellow Homeschool family, Aly taught a class last semester at Tree house, and all her kids attend. We figured MarJane and Eliana could not survive w/o each other till February when Treehouse starts back so we are getting them together b/w semesters. So this park has a pond w/ a trail and bridges around and is in slightly wooded area. The kids spent time building fairy houses and then got into a game. This was where they were trying to get water to flow from the pond, under a bridge, and down the culvert as far as they could. Eliana built a dam while the rest of us pushed water w/ sticks, cared water in cups, and cleared leaves from the waters path. We got pretty good results, but MaryJane insists we go back to the park soon to work more on the project. MryJane and Eliana enjoyed there time together, exchanged hugs and gifts and are meeting again next weekend at Home Depot to build and play together. : )

2 More Games – I couldn't limit myself to mentioning only 2 games. Hehe. We got the stuffed horse rides going. Our big thing now is spinning around in the living room. Her and C love it. The rider grabs the reigns or his neck and hold on for dear life while I grab the horse by the face and spin him around in circles. They are both quite good stuffed horse riders. To end the 4 day weekend Sis and I had a Webkinz Fight. This is where we close the bedroom door and w/ her on the bed and I on the floor we pelt each other w/ Webkinz. They both love this game too.

2 Signs Christmas is Coming – As you know Sis has been working on her Christmas List for some time now and after a trip to Toys-R-Us earlier in the week she was ready to mail it off. She sent him one page of things she wants for Christmas. She filled out the envelope, decorated it w/ stickers, put the stamp on it, and we used team work to put it in the mailbox. Now we wait to see if Santa will write back and to see what he will bring her for Christmas. We got our tree out Sunday evening and put it up. It looks so very nice thanks to Miss MaryJane and her super decorating. She got 2 new ornaments this year, a Buzz and a Tink mini snow globe. She went thru all the ornaments from years past and put the “hooks” on the ones needing them while Kelly, Lionel, and I loaded them into 3 stockings. We transported the stocking over by the tree and she decorated the tree while I played Christmas music. She had so much fun and did a wonderful job on the tree.
2 Subjects Down - Moving Right along w/ the 3rd grade. We smashed thru 2 Lessons of Math, a Lesson of Social Studies, and she did great on her History Test. Going to try and pick things up a little more over the next few weeks before Christmas time is here.

2 Great Movies – After seeing part of Bedtime Stories and Nana’s and her telling me how great it was before and after that experience we had to watch it. We are now members of Netflix. We shopped for the movie, but it was 15 dollars and after mention of Netflix from Aly I decided to check it out. She said they had a lot of movies and TV shows “on-demand”…and she was right. That’s the best part really; being able to watch tons of movies and shows instantly on the PC. We are getting “Santa Buddies” in the mail today. She also watched a Tom and Jerry movie that she had seen before, but loved just the same. She’s really digging that Cat and Mouse Duo right now. Now…what to watch tonight? Hehe.

2 Gifts 2 Give – A week or 2 back MaryJane got an Angel from the Angel Tree at Wal-Mart. So we made a Trip on Black Friday morning to Toys-R-Us and got her 2 very nice gifts; a “Totally Tattoo’s” Barbie and a “Gummie Bears” purse. We dropped them off over over the weekend and it was a great experience for her. She is such a sweetie.

To Infinity an Beyond!

Well, its late and im just now getting around to the blog. So as youve probably already read over at Jess's place the 4 of us went and had Christmas pictures done Friday night. The delay was excessive, but the results were fabulous. I cannot wait to share pictures w/ you all. We thought we would put C in there first, but he wasnt having it so we switched to MJ first. Sis loves the spotlight and soaks it up, so no problems w/ her. Well, as soon as he saw her doing it he was right there by her side.After the first picture he was all about it, laughing and clapping after every one. They both did great as you will soon see. I made sure we got our fair share of pictures taken and the girl who handled us was very nice and did a good job.

Saturday started off to a “crappy” start w/ a clogged toilet. Prime suspect…Super C. After an unsuccessful attempt w./ that so called plunger I was off to get the kiddos from Mommy. After visiting w/ Jess we headed to Wal-Mart. That is where she got the shirt you see. She loves it. She put it on a soon as we got home last night and didn’t take it off (other than long enough to bathe) until Sunday night before bed. She’s loving Toy Story, Tom and Jerry, and Up! right now and I can’t blame her….they are all awesome. She watches Tom and Jerry online and has watched Up! numerous times. Her favorite is Doug. We played outside for a good hour or more when we got home w/ Super C. I gave back rides, Christian played in the car, and Sis and I did some chores. We made a deal that if she did some chores she could earn money towards a new Build-a-Bear. She put away groceries, helped clean out the car, and we picked up trash around the neighborhood. After C was gone we did our History lesson for the day and then got in the car to head to town…but we went nowhere. The car would not start and I took it as being the starter. We were disappointed we didn’t get to go to town, but we had a great time at home. I even got a “This is the best day ever”. I love those. : ) We played a game where she was a dog and I adopted her from the pound only to find out she was a bad dog, but the pound (ran by Kelly) didn’t care when I called and when he finally sent Lionel to pick her up it was to no avail as the dog was to wild. It was way fun. Aft3er bed it was UFC 106. I love the internet. I can watch a $50 PPV for $0. Sweet! Only downside is I can t put it on DVD and I can’t watch it again, but I can live with that when its free. : )

Sunday morning was play time galore. We started things off w/ a stuffed animal game in the bed that included Kelly, Lionel, Kelly’s Sister and Mother, Lionel’s Mother, and Samantha (the girl cub from Lion King 2). Due to the elaborateness of the game and the details being a bit fuzzy due to my sleepy head I will not go into detail, but I will tell you it was a good hour plus of awesome animal fun. We continued on w/ the bed fun w/ a game of Math Class. She broke out an old math book and really did great w/ some big addition and subtraction problems. W+ for MaryJane, A+ for Kelly, and F+ for Lionel. Next it was out to work on the car. I fiddled under the hood and she made wishes. Neither worked. Hehe. We headed to the couch where she read Kelly and Lionel part of Genesis from her Story Book Bible. How cute and fun this was. Next it was out to work on the car. I fiddled under the hood and she made wishes. Neither worked. Hehe. Back inside She read some more to Kelly and Lionel, we read a funny Garfield Story and we went outside and read in the yard. She had found some broken glass down by the road Saturday and she had brought a piece to the house as a jewel. Well, she grabbed lots more and she now has a Jewel collection by the TV. Yes, it’s broken glass, but she was very careful w/ it. So with this by the TV she created a museum with a dragon egg, a magic wand, and the first candy ever made. Kelly and Lionel toured took a tour and despite Lionel wanting to try the ancient candy he was denied. Then to my surprise we were helped out by Tony. He came out and jumped the car to see if it was the Started or Alternator…and I’m happy to report it was neither. The battery had drained due to a loose cable. Happy that we had wheels again we headed out to do our Saturday stuff. We first went to Toys-R-Us so MaryJane could finish her Christmas list. She has one full notebook page ready to be mailed. Then it was the trip to Build-A-Bear she wanted so much. Between a $5 off coupon, money earned from chores, and a small loan she was able to make a new friend. She was after the soon to retire “Snazzy Kitty”, but she was already in retirement when we got there. I asked about the kitty and she showed us a new kitty that had just arrived and wasn’t even on display yet. She was “Cool Kitty”and MaryJane wanted her right away. Her name is Jenny and she is certainly cool. She’s going on-line for the first time tonight. We visited w/ Jess at Marketplace and ate to re-fuel before we went to Petco to get a sucker fish and to Wal-Mart to get a toilet sucker (aka super plunger). Haha. When we got home s wrestled w/ the toilet while MaryJane made crafts on the couch. She got some colored pipe cleaners and colored 1500 beads at Wal-Mart. She made me a “Razorback bracelet”, 2 “Broncos Bracelets” (one for her and one for her best friend Eliana), and 2 more pretty ones as well.