We interrupt this busy life for....

You'll NEVER believe it!!! I, the last person on earth who hasn't joined the "Twilight Frenzy," attempted to go see the Twilight movie! I say, "attempted" because AS we were standing in line for tickets, the box office gal put the "sold out" sticker on our movie time! Oh well, what d'ya do? I don't know what I'm missing out on (so I've been told) anyway! I did find it a tad bit surprising that even after 5 weeks in theatres, it's still selling out, BUT AGAIN, I know NOTHING! But, then when you take into consideration that just among the group I was with (my Sisters-in-Law & Mother-in-law) it was going to be the 2nd time seeing it for three of them and the 3rd time seeing it for one of them. Then I guess I can start to understand the deal with it selling out - it's mostly repeat customers (and a single ignorant one like myself!)

So, I will say that this experience drummed up just enough curiosity that I decided to open my copy of Twilight that I got for my birthday 3 1/2 months ago. (AND the fact that a couple of people have taken me aside and chided me for NOT YET partaking of Ryan's gift and the negative effects that could have on him - Oh the guilt!) Well, on the first day, I read one page! It was actually the PREFACE and it didn't even take up the whole page. The next day, I got to page 22. On the third day, I finally finished the 1st chapter. So, as you can see, I'm making great time! Y'all were done with 1+ BOOKS in this amount of time!
I am told I should have time now, since Ryan, Haylee & Katelyn are all away staying at cousins' houses. And, as of 10:00 this morning, Kyle is STILL asleep and Miss "B" is down for a nap! BUT, (ya gotta know that's coming!) We were seriously GONE every day for this last week and EVERYTHING has gone to pot! That neglect was very, very bad on my household! The laundry...oh, the laundry - but I can't even get into my Laundry room and concentrate on working since it's been overtaken by every one's snow boots, pants, gloves & coats! (We've found out that they don't dry out in a cold, drafty garage!) Then, there's the general "disaster" state of most rooms in my home. The clutter, clutter, clutter! Aaugh!



Not to mention we're out of milk & bread, the bills & checkbook are sure to be in disarray, and we probably have overdue library books after this kind of inattention! My new 2009 calendar is still blank and I don't know how I'm supposed to breathe without my life written in it. I hope the mail man doesn't return all our mail due to the box not being emptied! Plus, I've got a brand new church calling that I need to sit down and figure out....and I haven't blogged for about a couple of weeks (that was my aversion to starting this whole thing, remember?)...yadda, yadda, yadda...

So, do I have a major problem if I can't "ignore" all that stuff that is screaming at me (it's seriously screaming!) and sit down and read the world's favorite book?

You Lookin' at Me?!?

Oftentimes, when talking to Brookelle, we all shower her with all kinds of gushy words of affection & compliments (all in the high, falsetto voice tone, of course!)

Overheard lately at the Brenchley home:
Ryan: "You're just the cutest, little thing!"

Kyle: "It's soo fun having a baby around!"

Katelyn: "WE HAVE A BABY - It's BETTER now!"

Mom: "I just LOVE you SO much!"

Haylee: "Mom! Hurry! Come take a picture! Brookelle is doing the PERFECT picture!"

Dad: "You're just so KISSABLE -- almost as kissable as your mother!" (Oh, but that's another subject.) :)

Kyle: "You're so precious."

Ryan: "What was it like without Brookelle? I just don't want to imagine it."

Katelyn: "Let me give you a hug!" (repeat 4X)

Haylee: "I'm so glad we had Brookelle!"

Mom: "You've gotta be my CUTEST baby ever!" (No offense to child #1 - 4, but I think it might be true, OR maybe I just can't remember!)

AND THEN the conversation STOPPER...

Dad: "We better keep on having them if they're just getting cuter & cuter!!"

If that were the case, then one of YOU lucky contestants would be raising All My Children since I'd be in the LOONY BIN, for sure! :) (It's very likely I should be there already!)

I must speak a Foreign Language!

If I were to say, "Get in the car," what would you think that meant? Is it extremely hard to interpret? Is it so easily misunderstood? Could it have several different meanings?

For example, would you think it meant:

"Go play football in the driveway?" *
"Start a snowball fight?"
"Run over to the neighbor's house to play?"
"Talk to the kids you see outside?"
"Shovel the walks?"
"Get pop out of the fridge in the garage & hide while you drink it?"
"Lay down in the back cargo area of the Suburban & don't answer when called?"
"Keep reading your book inside?"
"Stay in your bedroom doing who knows what?"
"Get your scooter out then leave it RIGHT behind the car to get run over?"
"It's time to go get 'lost' in the bathroom...for a while?"
"Call someone on the phone?"
"Shoot some hoops?"
"Torture your brother & sister on the front lawn?"

* Family's interpretations have NOT been changed!

OR...Would you think it meant, "GET IN THE CAR?" (What a novel idea!!)

OK. Thank you. The end.

Random Question of the Week

Where's a good place to get watch batteries??

The last place I got one was Fred Meyer Jewelers and they charged about $15 (& couldn't get to me right away.) Well, I have about 4+ dead watches lying around now, (my own little "watch cemetary") and that'll cost me an arm & a leg if I go there again to get them all working!!

I could get a NEW watch for that amount!

There's got to be a less expensive place to get them replaced! Share your secrets with me, please!

OR is it old fashioned altogether to have a watch still and should I just be looking at my cell phone instead to tell time? (If I could ever find it in the "black hole" - my purse!)

NOW SHOWING...

We have a small collection of Christmas movies that we get out just once a year. As one of our Family Christmas traditions, we watch these together the month leading up to Christmas.


I want this to be really fun, but this year I had to make some rules to ensure that. (& avoid some problems we've had in past years!) Merely picking out which movie to watch was becoming a source of contention with the kids. THEY FIGHT OVER IT! I think it is completely, absolutely ridiculous! ALL the movies are good - we'll get to them all eventually! But, it's become enough of a problem that I laid down the law:

1. We wrote down the titles of all the movies on pieces of paper and put them in a "Christmas pail."


2. We will take turns, starting with the youngest, to draw a movie title out of the pail - and that IS the one we are watching that night - NO QUESTIONS ASKED! PERIOD!


3. IF there is any whining, crying, or complaining about the choice, you're outta there!


4. There will be seating assignments! YEP, another reason the kids have found to gripe, murmur, fuss, pout, etc. So, Matt & I only are on the Love Seat (isn't that what those are for? NOT Mom & Dad AND 2+ kids hanging around our necks, stepping on our stomachs, "accidentally" kicking us in the head, and all the while blocking our view of the movie?) Ryan, Haylee, & Kyle on the couch - in that order - the boys CANNOT be by each other. Katelyn on the little Winnie the Pooh chair next to everyone else. Brookelle in her crib asleep!
   

Last night we watched "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."

We forget about the details of the movies until we watch them again and so we're able to enjoy it over & over. We'll sit there laughing and going, "This is such a great movie!"

Allow me to indulge in some of my favorite lines:

"Hey, hey, easy on the fluids pal. The rubber sheets are packed."

"Has anybody seen my sunblock?" "What's the point in going to Florida if you're going to put on sunblock?"

"Do you know how the TV works, sir?" "I'm 10-years-old. TV is my life."

"Would it bother anyone if I worked on my cannonballs?" (at a Spa type pool.)

"And there's plenty more where that came from." (after giving the Bellman a stick of gum for a "tip.") Then later with the same Bellman..."I'm sorry. You wanted a tip?" "That won't be necessary, I still have some tip leftover." (he takes his chewed up gum out of his mouth & shows him.)

"Two scoops , Sir?" "Two? Make it 3 - I'm not driving."

When Kevin uses the remote control to play movie lines for the staff who chased him into his room..."You been smooching with everybody! Snuffy, Al, Leo, little Mo with the gimpy leg, Cheeks, Bony Bob, Cliff..." (And one of the hotel staff in the room has a name tag that says,"Cliff.")

"As a matter of fact, this has happened before. It's become sort of a McCallister family travel tradition." "Funnily enough, we never lose our luggage."

"What kind of idiots do you have working here?" "The finest in New York."

"Don't you know a kid always wins against two idiots?"

"It's a nice night for a neck injury."

"You know, Herbert Hoover once stayed here on this floor." "The vacuum guy?" "No, the, uh, President."

"My grandfather says if my head wasn't screwed on, I'd leave it on the school bus."

"You just have to wear an outfit that doesn't have pigeon poop on it."

"You better not wreck my trip, your dad's paying good money for it." "Oh, wouldn't wanna spoil your fun, Mr. Cheap Skate!"

[as the others look at their motel in disgust] "Didn't look this bad on our honeymoon."

[staring at the Rockefeller Center tree] "I know I don't deserve a Christmas, even if I did do a good deed. I don't want any presents. Instead, I want to take back every mean thing I ever said to my family. Even if they don't take back the things they said to me. I don't care. I love all of them... Including Buzz. I know it isn't possible to see them all. Could I just see my mother? I'll never want another thing as long as I live if I can just see my mother. I know I won't see her tonight, but promise me I can see her again. Sometime. Any time. Even if it's just once and only for a couple minutes. I just need to tell her I'm sorry."

Do any of you wanna see it now?!? :)

The movies next up on the docket?...

• Home Alone 1


• A Christmas Story


• Christmas with the Kranks


• The Santa Clause


• Miracle on 34th Street


• The Polar Express


• Christmas Vacation (the edited version recorded off TV)


• While You were Sleeping


• Elf


• Sleepless in Seattle

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Kids Say the Darndest Things - November Edition

Taken from the sidebar...

Haylee told me they voted for President at school. Since I hadn't ever talked to her about the election/candidates, I was interested...
Me: "Who did you vote for?"
Haylee: "The guy with the white hair."
Me: "Why?"
Haylee: "Well, You know the guy with the black face & black hair...If a Mom has a baby in her tummy, he'll come to your house at night when you're asleep and kill the baby!"
Me: Speechless! staring at her with a "What the...?" look.
Haylee: "He WILL, I'm serious!" 11/08

SUCKER!!

I got Katelyn's pictures back and there's a story to go with them....
I went to Target Portrait Studios with a coupon. It was good for a FREE 8 X 10 and then $3.99/sheet. I planned on getting some 5 x 7s, 3 1/2 x 5s, and wallets for a total of $11.97, right?!?
After they took some pictures of Katelyn...

They said, "Would you like to be in some pictures with her?"
I said, "Oh, no! I don't look good, today."

They said, "How about just your arm?"

I said, "I'm not wearing a nice shirt."

They said, "Just roll up your sleeve."

And we took a few pictures together. And they were CUTE!

I also had Brookelle with me...

They said, "Would you like to have some together with the baby?"

I said, "Oh, no! I literally whisked her from her crib, sleeping, to come here. She's not ready!"

They said, "Babies are always adorable!"

I said, "I don't want her picture taken in this outfit."

They said, "It's very cute with just a diaper on. We have a diaper cover in black or white. Which one do you want?"

What I didn't say, "She's got poop leaking out her diaper & I left the diaper bag in the car!"

I said, "Do you have a bow for her hair?" I didn't have a chance to put one on."

They said, "No...BUT, she's got enough hair, she'll look great without one."

And so the two girls took some pictures together. And they were CUTE! (I'm not sure if poop got on their black diaper cover or not. Hey! They wanted me to do it!)

And I walked out of there spending $53.20! That's a 444% increase above projected budget!

Needless to say, the next time one of our kids was due for pictures, I sent Matt. He took detailed notes of what I wanted and walked out of there spending $11.97!

TRAINED!

Ever since having children, we've had to figure out how to handle middle-of-the-night awakenings together. For obvious reasons, Matt can't do a thing for a hungry baby during this time, so we came up with this plan: I get up with our babies EVERY time until they're weaned AND THEN Matt gets up with them from then on -- for the rest of their lives!! For any of you out there who are thinking that doesn't seem fair must have had better sleeping babies than mine or can't remember those "baby nights!" Believe me...Matt's total # of times will never equal my total #.

Anyway, along those same lines, our children have always been early risers who think they have to come into their parent's room first thing and wake them up/let them know their awake by tapping on the mattress next to our face. They usually ask for "pink milk" and for help turning on a show ~ or nothing! FOR YEARS I have been trying to teach them that it is NOT good manners to wake people up! I also try to teach them that it's not time to wake up until the sun is shining - well, that backfires on me in the summer! But, until they learned that lesson, I also have trained them to go to Dad's side of the bed in the early morning (and leave me alone!) They have got down the "going to Dad's side" part, but were still struggling with the "leave me alone" part (like when he's not there or won't wake up or they're LOUD & come in multiple times.) I continued to reiterate the lesson of "good manners" each time. Needless to say, Matt always obliges them (to avoid the "weeping & wailing & gnashing of teeth"), but he hates it. (They have no reason to stop if he keeps giving them what they want!)

Well, this morning was a momentous one...

Matt had left VERY early to go to the temple, so when Katelyn came in, of course, she found his side of the bed empty. I vaguely remember a voice saying (to herself), "Where is he?" I think I might have groggily replied, "He's at the temple." And then I went back into my slumber and heard nothing more. Later on, I felt a presence and I opened my eyes and saw Haylee on Matt's side looking at the vacated spot, but she thought I was still asleep. She never said anything and turned to leave. I don't know how much later, but eventually I woke up at a normal time. When I went out into the rest of our house, I found the boys & the baby still asleep and Haylee was entertaining herself, but I couldn't find Katelyn. I looked in every room - TWICE! I asked Haylee and she said she hadn't seen her at all since waking up. I finally went out to the garage and there was Katelyn sitting in our stroller with a blanket. I asked her what she was doing. She said she was waiting for Dad to get home. I guess she knew it wasn't important enough to wake me up for nothing!

And then I realized...those girls are finally TRAINED! YES!! Neither one of them tried to wake me up because they have LEARNED that would be rude (and it wasn't officially morning, yet!) It only took YEARS, but we made it!

Not pictured: Me doing the "victory dance" now!

Now if I can only train the kids to clean up after themselves! :)

Ryan just can't stop smiling!

After "the game", Ryan's 1st words were, "I AM SO PUTTING THIS ON THE BLOG!"

And, so here goes Ryan...

UTAH 48, "the team down south" 24

I'll make it easy for you Cougars. I'll make your comments for you, I KNOW what you'll say:

• "It was a TOTAL fluke!"


• "The officiating was sooo poor!"


• "Max Hall had an Off-Game!" (But he's still up for Heisman.)


• "Dennis Pitta was injured!"


• "The weather was a factor!".....Oh wait, we're having record high temps for November.


• "We just wanted a piece of the BCS check!"

But, could the REAL reason be that the Cougars just aren't "living right?!!" :)

BY RYAN

WOW! I surprised myself!

I was reading a TAG post on my SIL, Mandy's, blog and there was a category where you had to write, "8 Things that happened yesterday." Seriously, my first thought was, "I'm glad I don't have to answer that one - I didn't do anything yesterday! I for sure wouldn't have 8 things to say."

This is where Matt gets the idea that I'm a bit of an "extremist." He thinks I use words like, "Never," "Always," "Nobody," "Nothing," "All," "Every," etc. too freely ~ do y'all notice that about me, too? He "always" tries to tell me that what I say when I use those type of words is really not true "at all."

So, I started to reflect on WHY I responded so "extreme" to that TAG question. Well...it's because yesterday I didn't shower. I put on clean underwear and got dressed, but no shower. I also took a nap. My three oldest kids were at school, Katelyn went to a friend's for 4 1/2 hours, and it was Brookelle's nap time -- I just couldn't pass up this perfect opportunity. How often do my lucky stars align that way?!? So, because of those two incidences, I'd jumped to the conclusion that I didn't accomplish "anything." Well, Matt's right - it wasn't completely true - because upon further examination, this is how yesterday actually all went down...(Humor me, allow me to work this out - it's therapy!)

1. Up at 6:45am
2. Fed the baby, changed the baby, held the baby, put the baby to sleep...REPEAT 5X
3. Drove the Jr. High carpool
4. Read scriptures & had Family Prayer w/ kids (Matt had to go into work early again!)
5. Walked my Elementary School kids to school
6. Went out w/ friends to "Birthday Brunch" for Shawnette
7. Made 15 Freezer Meals for hours
8. Taught Ryan how to call & order Pizza (see #7)
9. Ate Dominos Pizza for dinner ~ ya gotta love "Two for Tuesday!" :)
10. Washed a load of WHITES (or else I wouldn't have clean ones for tomorrow - and wonder if I didn't shower again?)
11. Performed "surgery" on my thumbnail that started ripping way too low
12. Read a bedtime story to Katelyn - Trouble in the Barkers' Class by Tomie DePaola
13. Helped Haylee read a "real" book - Bears in the Night by Stan & Jan Berenstain
14. Instructed Kyle on how to put together a "Pioneer" costume for the 4th grade performance/assembly he was in the next day and where to find all the stuff.
15. Spent time with My Man! (Matt)
16. Went to sleep a little after Midnight

So, it turns out...what I initially thought was "Nothing" was really a whole lot of "Everything!" I hit "all" the important things in my life: Time with each member of my family, spiritual needs, taking care of myself, Friends, and household chores. (notice that one was listed last!)