Oh so Nicky!

My Nicky was talking to me, about the controversy of the health care system reform, him being a Libetarian and me being a Democrat...no, not really, but we were chatting. He kept saying "she" for his dad, which, although Reed has been known to wear pink once in a while, I can testify is an error. I proceeded to explain that "she was for girls, and he for boys".

Me: Dad is a boy, so you say "he"

Nicky: No, I'm a boy

Me: Okay. How about me, what am I?

Nicky: You're a girl

Me: Well, then, how about Dad?

Nicky: He's a SUPERMAN!!!!

How I love him and his Superman Dad too :)

Another Year!

School for us started on August 10th. Maddy is in 3rd grade, Elly in 2nd grade and Nicky started Preschool this year, twice a week. Alex is in 10th grade (is this really true, is my first born a sophmore, learning how to drive, awefully close to the age of dating???) but I didn't take his picture, I don't know why he didn't want to? We had an uneventful start, just hot rides to the bus stop and back, because for some reason, while people think that when school starts, fall starts, it ain't the case in Arizona, where the high is still 110 degrees!A week before, it's time to brush up on your coloring skills, for all ages. First day for the girls, not for Nicky, but almost.

Now, it's 2nd day, because 1st day was in a rush to make sure we were on time and he ran into the school/house so fast that I didn't have time to take his picture. But hey, he's still wearing new school clothes, so that works too.So young, homework already!

Tommy's doing homework too: looking for candies in mommy's purse...straight A's for him!

Random thought

Love is sharing your cold cereal with your baby in the morning knowing perfectly well that if you choose to drink the milk at the end, you will be drinking his slobber.

Summer Snakes

Check out these summer candies from the Dollar Store, love it!

Who said they don't know French?

A typical FHE at our house, three singers, one dancer, one player.

More Summer Fun!

A free Diamond Back Baseball game for 7 (courtesy of the Barney Family Sport Complex for us Vball players)

A friend

A happy boy thinking of a future career...

A master piece

Two friends, for now!

The Teddy Bear Factory in Phoenix. There are only two Teddy bear factories left in the US, one back east, and one in our valley. They do free tours everyday. Of course, if you've been to Build-a-bear, you won't be impressed really. And their prices are way too high, but it's all American made.

Check-out his T: "Caution, I bite" and he does, you've been warned!

Our summer fun

Our summer fun continues. The kids bowl for free all summer at all AMF (you gotta go online to register), so off we went. It was very fun, and I kicked every body's bootey, which made it even more fun for me since I'm a horrible sore loser usually. Of course, we had the bumpers to save us (great excuse to have the kids with us). Elly throwing the ball like a tennis ball...but it doesn't bounce

or does it!!!!

Now, they do oil that thing everyday...it was like Bambi on ice, Reedee on oil!

a little embarrassed ;)

Always match your shirt to your bowling ball, thank you!

We no longer

Lately, I've been very fortunate to deal with a lot of government agencies. I just became a citizen, as you know. I also have to change my social security status and Reed has had the great pleasure of dealing with DES. With those three agencies, we have been able to realize how nice it would be to work for the government (not as a teacher, that's different, they actually get the job done). This is true of our American government, my Belgian government or the German one...all those countries, and many others, seem to have the same mentality. If you can't do a job, for some unexplained reason, just no longer do it!
The one thing that is so great now a days, is that anytime you need something, you can check online first. It tells you where to go, and so you do. Once you get to where you think you need to be, you encounter a sign (it could be a printed paper, or hand written, in pencil if the urgency was quite sudden) that will read "we no longer...dot dot dot- fill in the service you need...at this location. " We no longer make changes to this, or accept applications to that or review this at this location. Please drag your sorry butt to downtown Phoenix and go stand in line there. Thank you." Phoenix is huge, over 3.something million people. That's why they have satelite branches, to help people, so I thought anyway. "we no longer care if you drive all around our beautiful hot valley". I truly think that it's also a sneaky way to make you spend more on gas, since they make you drive all around our valley to get the service you need. Surely there is a government kick back for that!
Take unemployment for example. No one answers the phone any more...we no longer answer the phones. Why? Because the demand is so great (yes, we all know, blablabla, recession, hard times), we "no longer" have enough employees...hey, there's an idea there!!!! Since your job is to help the unemployed, why don't you hire a few more people to answer the phones...I must be a genius!
I hope to soon be done with the changes I have to make and to no longer have to deal the with no longers!

PS: doesn't it suck that MJ died, I know, he was no hero or anything, but dang, he could sing and dance!!!! Now, he can no longer do that!

What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

See how Reed's not saying a word...Nah, nothing happened, we just had fun withOUT kids, what a dream! I love my kiddos, of course, but HELLLLLOOO, I needed a break if they all wanted to survive summer! So they stayed at Grandma's and off we went! We stayed in south of France, right next to New York, not far from Paris and Venice...it's a small world after all.

I don't like walking with my camera, so the only shots we got are from our hotel room...that makes it look like we didn't leave our room much :))))

I lost $4.50 in the Penny Slot machines, I played for 1h1/2 with $1.50, I should've cashed out and get a milkshake at McDonald's, but what can I say, I have a gambling problem!

Our Boogie Bug

Elly Bug had her very first dance recital today. She's always wanted to do dance, but frankly, the prices of dance studios with all their recital gowns and such are a bit too much for my budget! The Town of Queen Creek offers a combo class, right behind the new library (I really love living in Queen Creek, we've got it all, seriously!). They do Tap, Ballet, Jazz and Tumbling. I know Elly is my daughter, so I'm biased, but I think she did really well. She seems to have a good aptitude for dance and I'm glad that she can finally do it! And she's so dang cute too!