5 Random Things (that you don't need to know, but that you'll probably read anyway)

1. Dave and I have been invited to his cousin's wedding at the end of April. This means that I will have to do something that I loathe to do - go shopping. It's unfortunate that Levi's 524 Too Superlow Bootcut jeans and an ATA hoodie sweatshirt would not be appropriate attire for the occasion - I'm sure people would be much more comfortable if they were able to dress casually at weddings :) Would anyone like to be my personal shopper?

2. Ryan challenged Dave to a race this past weekend. Dave is freakin' fast and I thought that Ryan had NO CHANCE whatsoever; apparently, I hadn't taken his long, floppy legs into consideration. If he hadn't looked over at his dad to see where he was - he'd have beat him! As it was, Dave only beat him by one stride. Ryan will smoke him by the end of the summer!


3. I'm not quite sure that Coco is completely comfortable here with us yet.

Okay, so I lied. She's a total princess and she knows it. One night last week she decided that sleeping in her crate at night was not cool - so, now she sleeps on our bed like a little angel all night long. She has also proven to us that she is pretty smart. We shut her in the kitchen last Thursday night when we went to tkd by blocking off the two doorways with Aunt Kim and Uncle Chris's gates. Guess who met us AT THE DOOR with a wagging tail when we got home????? She chewed a perfectly engineered zig-zag pattern into the plastic gate webbing and hopped right through - she's obviously brilliant!

4. There is an after-testing-celebration being planned for "people who get squat this testing cycle". It basically started when Painter Jeff (who isn't really painting anymore - do we have to change his name??????) and I were whining about the patheticness of our paying $60 for nothing (yeah, yeah, I know, we get a score - whooo hoo!) Anyway, we decided that we'd go out after and get a drink or something along with all of our peeps who also get nothing but a score (Kim, Curt) - and those others who would like to join us :) Any ideas of where to go?

5. I got all wet running back and forth into and out of tkd numerous times today because I let someone borrow my umbrella :) Ha! It was only sprinkling and I'm not sweet enough to melt. Thanks for calling and letting me know it was safe in the mailbox - I was getting worried :) Next Thursday for the walk, right? That's the day after testing..... we'll have plenty (of people) to talk about.

The Incredible Hulk

I love that I have boys. When they were little they used to curl up on my lap and I'd read books to them. I'd spend hours down on the floor building block towers so that T-Rex could knock them down over and over and over again. Every day in the summer we would hook up the garden hose so that volcanoes could be built and then cause great destruction in the sandbox realm. The boys would swing on the rope swing and want me to throw pretzels at them while they were spinning wildly to see if I could hit them. They would want me to commentate while they did different tricks and moves on the trampoline.

These days, they don't need me for very much except procuring food for them and washing their clothes; certainly they can't curl on my lap for a story! Now that they're getting older, they've developed that sense of humor that boys seem to naturally come by. The ability to say the most amusing things and completely crack me up! I have recently heard a story that tells me that my nephew, Levi, is honing his skills for when he gets a little older. The amazing ability to screw with his little sister has already begun to form quite well at the tender age of 6:

Bannah recently re-saw (not that that's a word or anything) the Hulk movie. Apparently the whole "rage turning you into a giant green monster" thing has really struck her psyche. She was wrestling with her brother and he had her pinned. She started to FREAK OUT - not because he had her pinned, but because she could "feel herself starting to get frustrated and she didn't want to turn into the Hulk." Danielle went through the whole, "It is a pretend movie. Blah, blah, blah............ That doesn't really happen" thing that every good parent patiently goes through. Well, the next day, Levi accidentally knocked over some books that Bannah had standing up to make rooms for her "dudes" to play in. She freaked out again because she was mad and didn't want to turn into the Hulk. She was all crying and wigging out. Again, Danielle explained that "people do not turn into big, giant monsters when they're mad. Their skin does not turn green. That's a promise." So, what does that little, ornery stinker, Levi, do? He goes into the kitchen, scribbles on his skin with green marker, comes back into the room and says, "Bannah, look! Look what's happening to my arm!" Now, she's REALLY freaking, he's laughing so hard he falls over onto the chair, Steve and Danielle are trying not to laugh (because, you have to admit, that was genius) and are trying to calm Bannah down.

I wish I could've been there! I love boys :)

We Bartholomews have been a bit busy lately. Dave decided that he needed an officey/desk area where he could do his "freelance" work. He used to have a big area in the basement, but when he switched jobs, he took his fancy, schmancy desk there because they didn't have one for him. Then he put a huge chunk of gym equipment down there....... so he didn't really have a place to work - except for the dining room table - which was kind of a problem because when he was done working, he'd leave all his stuff there and it would be in the way for when we did schoolwork the next morning. I said all of that to say this............. here is his new desk (from Sam's) and his new chair (from Wal-Mart).

I don't think any "work" has taken place here yet :)

We've also rearranged the upstairs closet. I was getting tired of hauling Consuela's rather substantial butt up the stairs every time I wanted to sweep, so we made room for her in the closet. Notice that only one of the boys' shoes each fits in one of the shoe holder thingies. Apparently, they don't make those spaces large enough to accommodate the boats that these people wear on their feet!

I spent some time this morning swiffering, sweeping and dusting in preparation for my Dad's birthday party which is being held here tomorrow evening. The boys watched tv in their jammies, Dave was running around returning stuff and buying stuff, and Coco worked on her "roadkill" impression:

After that, I was a mean, mean mommy and made Frick and Frack go outside and help clean up the front yard. We picked up and raked up sticks and bagged them for trash pick-up. Afterwards, they decided to get their bikes out and cruise around the 'hood:

They can't just ride past normally. They have to make weird faces, do weird gestures, or act like they're singing...... Ding dongs :)

While all of this was going on out front, Dave was in the back cleaning and fine-tuning the grill:

Wendi told me earlier this evening at tkd that if I didn't blog tonight, she wouldn't be my friend any more. Since her friendship is very important to me, here's my thrown-together post:

Coco successfully survived her first trip to the groomer. Now, we can tell that she has eyes and I think she looks even cuter than before. The groomer people at Pet Smart wanted to put a topknot bow in her hair........... um, no way is my dog going to have a dorky bow in her hair, thank you very much!

Coco would NOT like to thank her Aunt Kim and Uncle Chris for the use of the baby gates. I, however, am loving Aunt Kim and Uncle Chris right about now since I don't have to wonder if Psy-Coco has gone upstairs and left a gift in someone's room.... or if she's chewing through a cord...... or choking on a Lego............... :)

Yesterday we went to my sister's house for Savannah's 5th birthday celebration. Lori came in from Ohio for the occasion, only to be tortured by Dave:

Savannah got a "Pretty, Pretty Princess" game for her birthday. It basically requires spinning a spinny hickey and then picking out the jewelry that the spinner landed on. Here are some shots of the game participants:

We're not at all concerned that Levi eagerly participated in the game. Nor are we concerned that he actually won and received the crown and the title of "Pretty, Pretty Princess". In fact, I think all of the bling goes very well with his "Jedi" tattoo......

And here, we have the birthday girl modeling her red princess dress. What I don't have is a picture of what happened next, which was when she started flirting shamelessly with my brother-in-law, Jesse. Maybe it was the bold, red color............ Perhaps pink would have been a better choice - or possibly white........