Instant Karma


Whoa Dylan!
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
This picture has nothing to do with this post. But my nephews came to Vanessa's game with their parents this weekend and I thought this pic was sure cute!
In case you don't know - I'm not winning any "Mother of the Year" awards - despite my coffee mug that says so. I'm unconventional and have very rigid beliefs about how to raise up some youngins. And you probably won't find my methods in any parenting books - YET!!
And also in case you don't know - I still call people retarded when I mean "silly" and I rarely think at all before I speak.
Now this story shall not surprise you because you have been warned.
The kids and I are in the car parked right at the door of a Schlotzskys. An elderly woman in her late 80s or early 90s was SLOWLY coming out the door. A younger man was trying to help her with the door but he was behind her and couldn't really reach it. She was dressed so cute and looked sweet but she was SLOW.
Without thinking - I said - $10 to the first person who can push down the old lady.
Quickly, we all jumped out of the van, and I opened the sliding door for Ethan. He leaned forward with all of his weight, planted both hands on my shoulders and tried to push me down.

I wish I could say I learned a valuable lesson. But probably not. I'm retarded.

Rated PG13 (for innuendo)


I'm gonna kick you
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
The kids had a great afternoon at the park on Sunday. The weather was perfect, it was busy but not too crowded -- and they were wearing clothing that matched and complimented the playground equipment - which made for pretty pictures :-) (click on this one for more!)
We are driving home in the car and talking about "How to Train Your Dragon" since we haven't been able to see it yet...And Ethan says he wishes he had a dragon so he could fly around. I told him that was a good idea - I'd put a 50 feet leash on it so they could fly around in the yard. He would never be bored again!
But I told him- in about 2 months he would be coming to me - I'm burred! (which is "I'm bored" in Ethan-speak) and I would tell him to go fly around with his dragon and he would say "I did that YESTERDAY!"
And then I said "Well I would tell you to go build a booth in the front yard and get people pay you to ride your dragon"
About 4 seconds later my 14 year old son chimed in.
"I think that's illegal"

The things these kids learn in school!

My babies - Easter '06


Vanessa and Ethan
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
Did you know I still call them "the babies" ?? I've tried really hard to stop but it still slips out every now and then. In an hour I will be leaving work and having a fun night out with some of my closest friends. I have no doubt we will have a great time. Chad will be at soccer and the babies will be with their dad.
I won't lie - there have been times I counted the MINUTES until their next visit with their dad or my parents. It meant I could shower without anyone opening the bathroom door and letting all the warm out - or go to a movie that didn't have a cartoon character or 'cheese touch' in it - or even watch an entire sitcom without missing a single punchline. I cherish those moments believe me.
But lately they are getting so big. And I just miss them. I miss them when I'm at work! I hate separating from everyone in the morning. I've taken Chad to work more often this year than his entire school career combined!
Can you believe Chad starts high school next year and Ethan starts Kindergarten?
Pretty soon they will be finishing up grad school or their stint in the Peace Corp. :-) Possibly running for office, or attending their premiere or accepting an award for their new hybrid vegetable that helps feed the hungry.
Or maybe I will just shut the door and close the blinds and we will all play UNO until they are of a decent age to be on their own. 43 sounds good.

Chavaneth Easter 2010 2.0

Just like every family in America, we celebrate holiday's multiple times. :-) So this past Sunday we headed up to Bartlesville and had Easter all over again. Vanessa and Maggie even wore their matching Easter dresses again!
Having kids 5-15 makes it difficult to have a traditional Easter Egg hunt and make it fair and fun for everyone. So Grammi did a field day full of games and prizes! If you click on the photo of Maggie and Vanessa dying eggs, you'll find over one hundred pictures of our fun day!
Also, 90% of the photos on this account are taken by me or someone in my family so I take credit for it. But these are the pictures from Maggie's camera so I give her and her mom credit for taking these pictures! :-)

Spring has Sprung

Chad is out in his garden once again. He loved having one raised bed garden so much - he had decided to do 3! So here he is - even trying a couple of fruits along with the vegetables. In the front yard, he planted flowers - at my house AND Maggie's :-) He also picked out an dwarf apple tree (does that mean the apples are small? or the tree?) but once we got it home, he found out it has to be cross polinated with another tree to bear fruit. So back to searching for tree #2 to cross polinated with! Hopefully we have our lawnmower working properly by then because I don't want to take many pictures of our overgrown yard :-) Although Chad does take good care of it - you can tell a stark difference between our backyard and our neighbors! :-)

Chavaneth Easter 2010


Getting ready for the pic
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
Off to church we went - where I spend another Sunday trying to talk at least ONE of my kids into joining a choir and they spend another Sunday refusing. :-) I just think those kids are so cute and the songs are fun. But nope. No one is interested. Luckily, I can get them to pose for pictures and chase down a couple of eggs. Vanessa and Ethan had a great time - and found tons of candy. And Chad picked up a few flowers to plant (another blog on Chad's new garden to follow) so everyone was very happy. Maggie and Jonnie came with us which made for some adorable Vanessa/Maggie pics in the garden :-) I have an Easter pic of the three of them on the same bench from a couple of years ago - I need to find it :-) Click on the picture for more Easter fun!

Surprise Visitors


What a cute bunch!
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
I get a random phone call at work. From a North Carolina area code - and it was my cousin! She has since moved with her family to Arkansas and she was calling to say they were driving thru Tulsa! They would be here in a few hours - did we want to hang out? :-) I said yes!!! But you may not come to my house!!! :-) She agreed.
So of course we dropped everything and met them at the Aquarium after work - The place was empty! We only had one hour until they closed and we stayed almost until the last minute. We had a private lecture on the sharks, and Ethan was able to hold shark eggs as long as he wanted!
Afterwards we went to dinner and then to see Diary of a Wimpy kid. They got back to the hotel around 10 and their dog had been there they entire time :-) I haven't heard yet if there was any damage!
Thank you Juli, Jimi, Toby and Kayli for stopping by! Next time give me a few days notice and you can see where we live :-)