The Junk Drawer--part 1

Everyone has a junk drawer in their house. Or maybe a junk closet,.... junk ROOM even. You've been putting things in there that you don't have time to organize but you know that you will need them at some point. You just don't have the time or know just what to do with them yet. That's kinda how this post is. My online proverbial "junk drawer" of pictures and events that happened over the summer. I have so many so you'll have to brace yourselves.

And just like my real junk drawer here at home.....I don't really ever organize it completely. It just looks that way. So here are some of my sections of the junk drawer I've thrown in those little plastic dividers.

CHARLIE MY LITTLEST BABY OF BOYS TURNS 6:

Guess what the them was you gize. A personalized "legendary" Pokemon (whatever that means, I just nod my head and say "mmm hmm.....cool!)
Since the day after his 5th birthday until this very moment he'd been asking for a DS. Nothing else but a DS. In fact his birthday list looked a little like this:

"dee ess"

And surprising to us all, SOMEbody could read his own birthday cards. Papa was impressed.

FATHER'S DAY/MY BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA:

Complete with a special musical number from Riley to Papa (extra points who knows which song it was)

And his favorite gift was from me of course. A pic of us together!! (I'm his favorite you know - he told me so)

And lucky for me I got to share my birthday on that day too. AV was nice to make a cake to celebrate both occasions. (That's a LOT of candles)

You don't even have to tell me how cute we are....

BRAINS HAD MANY A SWIM MEET:

His besties were his biggest fans, often hanging around all day just to watch his events.

On the blocks

We call this one "The genetic rib"

(Papa's was on the left, right mom?
Mine is on the right
Brain's is on the left)

Homie's got back

BEST FATHER'S DAY GIFT TO SHED EVER!:

One of these cute harnesses!!

Jay Kay. I got him "Total, complete, all the way.." sky diving.

Do you remember when you were a kid and you had your own "yard sale" in the front and brought some of your old toys and books out to make money? What a genius you were! To make some other kid happy and give yourself a pat on the back and some kudos/money at the same time. But then, Shorty across the street walks away with (what you now realize) is your favorite Purple Pie Man (Strawberry shortcake, you gize, geez!).

This was kinda like that:

I changed my mind!!! Come back!

But all was well and before you knew it lookie here.

And to land in such a gorgeous place....full of....dirt and....smog!

By far the funniest part (for me) was seeing Shed stand up after landing and immediately looking like he was gonna lose his lunch. I could see th body language from 100 yds away. Priceless. His friend, Arn, didn't seem to have that problem tho.

Let's do a little compare and contrast.

Arn:

Shed:
(even greenish skin right?)

Ihave to admit, you gize, I couldn't stop lollerzing.

How do you do this?

::ginormous deep breath::

How do do a blog post about your dad dying and his funeral? I've been mulling over that one for weeks. Paralyzed by it actually. I finally decided that less is more when it comes to the world wide web. I'm sure you would all agree to that. And the final push was imagining my dad asking me if I had a new blog post up yet (he was a devoted fan you gize).

Cristen Rio Parks died on July 11th after a 4 year battle with ALS. He was surrounded by loved ones, myself included.

His funeral was amazing,......uplifting.....generally all around awesome. I want to thank everyone who came....those who loved my dad dearly (doyee) and those who only got to know him recently and fell in love right off the bat (fer super duh).

AV (my mom) had the grand kids put stickers on the casket at the viewing. Priceless.

I also want to thank all the people who supported me and my family. Texts, emails, cards, food, Kleenex, funeral prep, traveling, laughing, letters, hugs.....the list goes on and on.

Funeral days aren' t the happiest days of your life. But as far as a day like that goes, I'd rank it a 10 out of 10. And like the text that this lady sent me that night describes:

"It was a perfect day."

Rise and Shout the Cougar is out.

Rise and Shout.

IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM

It's been almost a month since I've blogged, you gize. (or FB'd or any other online communication route) Longest. Hiatus. Ever. I'm on sabbatical tho. It's a multiple month sabbatical and I'm not sure when I'll be back to blogging.

Check out my chosen field of study:

Sorry to make you gize so jealous.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!

I love you more than life.
-Emily Kristin

Yin and Yang

Or it's yang and yin, I'm not sure which way that's sposed to go. Either way, there is a vast difference in the activities that go on in our family. Most of the time I feel like that song from Sesame Street should be playing as a general sound track to my life...."which one of these is not like the other". And during that song you'd see Brady Bunch style pics of each of the four males in my life and then there'd be me. Only thing lacking in that scenario is the general sounds and, er, smells that would go along with that song. (Don't be fooled those sounds and smells would include me. Sounds being the shouting "REALLY?!! Those dirty clothes were left on your floor AGAIN. REALLY?" But the smells would only be flowers and fruity stuff.)

Anyway, despite that we are actually pretty well rounded over here. Did you gize know that math was a sport? I know. I think they are petitioning for the olympics or something like that. Here is Brains at his very first Math Field Day with some of his besties (who are also well rounded I should add).

And these stinky, full of raging hormones and messy roomed boys (tho I can only speak for one of them) even get trophies for winning math relays! They even look sweaty, you gize. Math. Is. Hard.
So, here's where the Yang comes in....again. Or was is the Yin?

I consider myself a pretty logical person. I'm organized, keep my house fairly clean, look both ways before I cross the road,......ALWAYS wear my seatbelt,.....I even use hand sanitizer on the regulah.

At the same time I can let it all hang out. I can get c.r.a.z.y. Throwing away my soda cans without recycling them sometimes. Only shaving my legs once a week for church. I've even run a red light or two. But something about this just feels wrong.
I mean, do you gize see it?
Yeah, I'm getting that tickling sensation in my armpits that signals something. My breathing is speeding up and I predict a violent gush of sweat coming on. (my armpits really suffer as a mom, you gize)

But, I'm outnumbered. Even tho math is hard I know that 4 is way more than 1. And, specifically the adult in that number of males has quite a large vote. The BBguns have been screaming from the garage for his "men".
Don't they look so happy on that beautiful day up in Tehachapi? Almost like they were out on a stroll or a leisurely hike, right? Do not be fooled. They have ::whisper:: guns.

At least one of my offspring has a tiny bit of his mama in him. This particular one stuck with the much safer wrist rocket. Much safer. Right?

There were rools tho. And to his credit, their padre taught them and reminded them of those rools a lot.
Of course, that could have been because of the whimpering and sudden shrieking that the sweaty pitted girl was doing. ::pointing to self::
As an aside here, did you notice that I have a 16 yr old? Yeah, me neither.

It was actually a beautiful day. Which I only notice now in the pictures since I was.....preoccupied at the moment.
I really envy them tho. I mean, imagine going through your day in a world where this makes sense. That's gotta be a happy place.

Hello Interweb, It's me, Memzy

I think me and the world wide web are in a fight. You could cut the tension with a butter knife you gize. But I'm not freaking out. Every relationship goes thru it's ups and downs. Me and the internet machine are just gonna ride this one out. So until I get my mojo back I wanted to show you this gem from Open House night at the boys school the other day.

Brains self portrait:

I hope that parents/teachers/the principal weren't offended when I out loud laughed when I saw this. (Brains was no where near FYI) Let's just say I picked it out right away. And this confirms his claim that kids call him Unicorn Boy at school, which he completely embraces as a nickname. I think he pretty much came out the birth canal with hair like this. It made for quite a difficult labor.

Cracker's Chess trophy:

Wha?!!!!? The Chess coach came into his classroom and awarded it to him. Our school didn't have a chess club this year so she came from a different school to give it. This kid's been having a hard time lately. So let's just say it was a HUGE "happy" for him that day. Apparently after only one tournament his chess rating is "phenomenal" (those are her words, not mine). So I'm pretty much Braggy Braggersoning about him. In all your faces. Btw, his school is having an "Apple Valley" theme right now and have to dress up in those old timey clothes. Which explains the outfit. In case you were wondering.

K, so the computer and I have a date later this weekend to try to "mend our relationship". I have lots more to post if we can get it together.

I was basically living in the dark ages

You know, my whole 13 1/2 years of married life I've baked cookies and cakes and even ::gasp:: bread dough without one of these:

Happy Mother's Day to meeeeeee!!! Total sprise. Not that I've hinted at, whined about, or begged for one in the past tho. Look how she glistens and shines there atop my counter.

And that is where Lola will stay (yup, I've named her LOLA) onnacuzza she weighs a ginormillion pounds and this "no lifting" rule kinda prohibits for a while. Here is another angle. I aim to please you gize.

Shed totally rooled M-day this year. It's like this Mother's Day is to all other Mother's Day's as the running man is to all forms of dance. ::nodding our heads in the I-get-it way::

On another side yet equally interesting slash funny note: I'm allowed to walk now for exercise. Imagine my excitement as I hit the gym and jump on the treadmill (and when I say jump I mean gingerly step up) and punch in 2.5 mph right?!! (not sensing the sarcasm are you) I walked for 45 minutes. It's almost yet not even the same as a real workout!! I stomped my feet (and when I say stomped I mean tapped my toe delicately) and complained to Shed that these workouts were lamerz and why even take the time. And just to give you an idea on just how out of shape I am at this point, I did that first "workout" two days ago..............and now I can barely move. I'm SORE from WALKING.

I share this with those of YOU whom I will be seeing sometime soon and want to give you fair warning that my hiney has.....how you say?..............grown.

kthanksdontjudgebye

Drumroll Please

Gize guess what?!!

My little baby sis had her fourth kid on Sunday. His name is

Graham Noble Cris Larkin (after two grandpas in the middle yo--and I hope I spelled it right)

I was there to take pics and help. Look how totally helpful I was you gize.

The short of the long is that she was in labor over 20 hours with no progresso. Cut to (pun intended) the necessary C-section. Hence this outfit.

Then, within moments there was this:
And this:

Have mercy. It hurts.


Could you die at that daddy's face?
Oh boy.
Um. Single tear.
::insert sucking on hand noises here::
::insert gramma goo-goo voice here::

Good heavens. Someone make me stop!

And in conclusion I have this poem:

Ovaries/Uterus
Don't lament
Don't cry for me
I'll borrow him
The End