We got a Flip Video Recorder

Here is an attempt to "share" our Christmas Morning fun. Christmas Eve is for opening presents and visiting with Rober't side of the family. The kids open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Barnes and us on Christmas Mroning- long after they see what Santa brought. This morning this video is from opening mom and dad's presents, since they coudn't be here. The first video I made can be found on you tube, just search Robert Mullens Eats Pudding. I tell you it's a classic.

I am having a heck of a time u ploading it to blogger- so click on the link below and you'll be redirected to you tube - I like being on you tube- so far we've had 6 hits- LOL

Mullens Family Christmas Morning

We've had a wonderful time with Robert home and we look forward to another wonderful year. Next week the kids and I are going to my mom's for a couple of days. It will be a great way to end the holiday season. Mom and Dad rival Santa Clause when it comes to home decor and lights. The kids will love it.

Dad takes a few days off

When Robert transferred to this division of Siemens, one of the "bonuses" was that they close the shop a couple of days before Christmas until after the New Year. YEAH SIEMENS- however this year is different and the shop stays open- BOO- so when that became apparent, Robert started to take a few Friday's off since he no longer needed to save any vacation days for the end of the year. The first was in November.

On that day we decided to take our precious littlest Mullens to the Houston Zoo.

I should have posted the pictures and narration 6 weeks ago, but I was on facebook, so I'm making two posts in one- because today he took our future zookeeper/exotic animal vet Alice to the zoo as well.
I suppose anyone could have gone, but only Alice was awake and she's been hounding him for more "Daddy-Daughter time" and when she says daughter, she's not including the last born.

Here are some cute pictures of the girls with their favorite guy.

Ok, here Joely is all "I can do it myself"So the minute Robert puts his hand down, she freaks and decides it safer to sit on the "sleigh" Robert looks a little uncomfortable.

Both look much happier in the sleigh

Just to clarify, they aren't really standing in the ocean, it's a statue in front of a kick butt mural.

This is one of the favorite spots, watching the California Sea Lions.

"Uh Dad, I can't See"- Even when Cleary she could, she convinced Robert to pick her up.

She had so much fun she had to take a nap.

Since I was here at this event, I had planned where lunch would be, long before the Zoo day was set in stone. Pictured here at Lupe Tortillas on Kirby and 59. It is by far the best place to eat fajitas. While technically I love Chuy's better, I do not like fajitas at Chuys. Lupe Tortillas makes these awesome flour tortillas that are literally bigger than your plate. You have to "share" the condiments (cheese, guacamole, lettuce,sour cream, beans and rice) with your "partner" and this is where Robert is and always will be number one, he only wants the rice. We leave Lupe Tortillas with condiments in the cool dish. Another time I went there and shared with my good friend Galadriel and it was not nearly enough to "share."

But I digress.

Here is his day with Miss Thang. She took a lot of videos and she LOVED the day with her dad. Robert said the best part was the drive there and back while she sang and danced to the Christmas Music on 99.1- she's a performer at heart.

This is in the Cool Children's Part of the Zoo. Apparently Alice raised her hand to answer questions and was so cute, she was asked to assist the zookeeper. She was able to pet a "jungle" bird that looked like a chicken and felt a turtle exoskeleton in a box (aka the shell- it can only be taken off after the death of the turtle as it it's skeleton - just like you can't live without your skeleton)

One of the lesser known Animals, The Okapi, the giraffe of the forest. It has been one of Alice's favorite animals for years. It's tongue can reach its ears. We would catch Alice walking on all fours with her tongue out and towards her ear, she was pretending to be an Okapi. Today she got to listen to the Okapi keeper and it was "awesome"

She's actually taller than she apperas, she's not standing straight.

"stand up straight little missy!"

Alice is not mad, she's in character.

We have tons of pictures of each child in this nest, but none of Joely, she refuses to a mindless part of the herd.

Alice chose Chikfila for lunch, no picutres were taken.

as Promised

So our littlest Mullens turned three on the thirteenth.
What a fun day she had.

She just kept singing

"Happy Birthday -- MMMEEEE"

all day, it was too cute.

She LOVED her Themed Cake and her awesome Yo Gabba Toys.

She loved that her BFF Keegan was there-

and another older BFF Dana was there. (stupid me I forgot to take her picture)

Joely loves to talk to and about Dana, however whenever Dana is close by she is usually quiet.

On her "cell" I hear her talking to Dana all day long.
In fact she reminds me that I need to call my friend Dana. In reality Dana is my friend, along with her husband Dayle, Dana and Dayle have a boy, Travis who is a BFF of David and Quentin and also Alice adores him, we call Travis our brother from another mother. But I digress.

Grandma and Grandpa Mullens came to her party too, and she loves her grandparents.

She was concerned because Lacie, wasnt't there, but she told me

"Grandpa will bring her dinner"

Which is true, Grandpa makes sure to bring home some of his food to feed Lacie.

So Basically we are enamored of Joely.

Here are a few of her favorite things

1. Going to see Keegan

(which is awesome for me, because I love to go see Keegan's mom)

2. Going to church- today she couldnt' go because she has strep and had not been on her penecillin long enough, she was in her room searching for a dress to wear all the time crying that she was going to church- ADORABLE

3. Her grandparents. She loves when my mom comes to visit. I become invisible, the only thing she is concerned about is what grandma is doing, where she is, who she's talking to etc. She loves to visit Rob's parents and when we go over there, she takes out her car seat and tells me goodbye before I even get to the door. She assumes and she feels entitles to an overnight visit whenever we stop in.

4. Yo Gabba Gabba- None of us understand this, but none of us are three.

5. The puppies. She loves her dogs.

6. The babies. She plays with her baby doll, so sweet and she uses a cute voice. Typically the baby needs to go to sleep, but she's always patient with her. She also loves Baby Colton and pulls faces at him and talks baby talk to him, (the aforementioned mom of Keegan babysits Baby Colton)

7. Doing things independently. Her most common phrase is "I do it MYSELF"

It's nice on the one hand, and completly lame on the other but she can and will do most things by herself.

8. Last but not least she wants to "HELP" and boy does she. She will help with anything just as long as she's first, and well if she's not first she makes it clear that you need to give up your spot.

We are so glad we have our little Joely Rose. What a fun little girl she's been and she's brought us great joy. Let's hear it for unplanned pregnancies!

Yo Joely Joely!

Technically this post should be all about the last child born of loins, but let's be honest shall we?

This blog is all about validating me.

Pictured here is a work of "heart"

I wanted a birthday cake much better than the "bee" fiasco of last year. Last year my attempt at making her a bee cake ended horribly bad. First off, I couldn't get the frosing to turn black enough, so the Bee was yellow and brown. Then it didn't look anything like a bee. Also the homemade frosting tasted spoiled. It turns out this year when I broke out the crisco can, it smelled rancid and had an expiration date of 10/06, before Joely was even born. I'm thinking that last year the shortening had gone rancid.I also thought I was buying yellow and black balloons, but the black was purple, so the party looked like some kind of LSU alumni wedding, it was wretched. Fortunatly only grandparents were invited. Very few photos were taken, and none were taken of the offensive cake or the lame balloons.

At least there was plenty of pizza and you can never go wrong with Blue Bell.

So back to me.

This year I asked Myriam Zambrano of fabulous cakes and more, to help me design the yo gabba juke box. How hard could it be? It's a gray rectangle and with her mad skills of being able to recreate anything with fondant, I knew "I" could do it.

Well basically what I contributed was that I made a delicious cake, and then Myriam did everything else. I feel like I created the cake because it was my idea and I did make the cake (like the little red hen, I poured the box contents into the kitchen aid all by myself, added the eggs, butter and water all by myself and then all by myself I turned the kitchen aid on and then placed the batter into to rectangular pans, but I only greased one)

Also, without me, Myriam would have never made a yo gabba juke box. Now she has that in her repetoire and can go forth and actually make money on them.

While she made sure the frosting was just the right Gray, she had me rolling out fondant, adding food coloring, and cutting out the shapes. This took me literally two hours. When it came time to adhere the fondant to her cake, she didn't like what i did, apparently my rectangles looked more like teletubbies and my circles were egg shaped. It took her five minutes to get the shapes right. The only thing she left was my lettering Yo Joely and really it should have been Joely Joely, but I had lost patience at that point and the kids were going to be getting of the bus to a locked home.

So that's the story of the cake.

I'll blog about the little princess and her wild party later.

Who Dat?

Quentin Mullens #14- Nose Guard

Crosby Cougars

Well Quentin, aka Q-BONE- turned 10 over a month ago and somehow I never blogged about the second child born of my loins in 1999.

So where do I start?

Let's start with the obvious, he's smart, adorable and funny-

He's just like his mom

He's stubborn, opinionated and Too smart for his own good sometimes

He's just like his Dad Seriously, Quentin is a very fun kid and an engaging Brother. He is adorable with is little sister Joely, he is as patient as he can be with Alice and he competes with and loves his Big Brother.

(Quentin pictured giving a thumbs up)

Quentin is the only little brother and big brother we have in our family, he's unique and useful.

He LOVES Crosby Cougar Football.
He loves his teachers

He still loves Mrs. Butler most of all (#1 Kindergarten teacher- EVER)

He has fun doing most anything.

He laughs a lot. Sometimes we dont' always get the joke.

He has to get in the last word (hmmm Barnes or Mullens DNA- not sure)

He has excellent handwriting.

He will make an excellent Police Officer one day because he's already concerned about Law and Order in our home. He wants to make sure everyone else is following the Law and that he can mete out some of the Order.

He loves to watch my detective shows with me. He'll watch Psych and Monk and edited versions of the Mentalist, he'd watch the Law and Orders if they weren't innapropriate.

He loves to eavesdrop and likes repeating and questioning what he hears...
It's not politically correct to say he's a suck up, we prefer "teacher pleaser" best.

His Bus Driver says, "M'aam he's a joy to drive around!"

And he is.

Quentin is a very fun kid.

I'm so glad he fell in love with playing football. I already have my delusions of Grandeur for when he gets his Heisman Trophy. He'll say something like this.

"I'd first like to thank my mama, she inspired me to do my best and she made sure I had water at my practices. I LOVE MY MAMA! I'd also like to thank Coach Spencer for being the best teacher. "

I'm sure he'd mention his dad and grandma's and probably his aunts and uncles. In fact his list would be very long, he has a lot of people that love him.

He has inherited my love of quoting movies. After watching an edited version of waterboy, he was busy spouting off some of the good lines, and there were plenty to choose from.

I'm so glad we have our Quentin, (even if his breathing does bother Alice) I'm really glad he lived through those 2 months of colic from 11/99-1/00.

I'm looking forward to him turning 11 next year.

To Covet is a sin...

From left to right

Austin McCoy

David Mullens

Alice Mullens

Quentin Mullens

Joely Mullens

Note how uncomfortable David looks, as if his sisters hands are covered in acid and it's causing his flesh to burn off his body. Immediately after the picture was taken, Joely kissed Quentin and hit Alice.

LOVE - true Love

So anyway back to coveting.

I know it's not just wrong, it's a SIN

(insert evil devilish laughter)

I mean, it's listed in Exodus as one of the top ten sins.

But still I covet.

Yesterday I was coveting because of the football seats that Allie scored.

She has a friend/business colleague here in Texas and he got them Club suite seats for the game.

She called me from her suite and said they just listened to a band play. You could hear her so clearly, because the sounds of the "riff raff" was muted.

COVETING

This was THE game of the season.

Local boy Vince Young returns to fight the Texans as the QB- the last time he played here was in his rookie year and he scored an awesome touchdown. (thank you ESPN for continuing to show it over and over and then again mentioning it OVER and OVER)

Again Texans front office, why didn't you draft Vince Young back in 2006?

Plus it was the Titans, and Houstonians are still hurting over the Oilers leaving and becoming "titans"

So this game was for the fans.

Sadly, the good guys lost.

Quentin and I were watching it from our recliners and not in the club suite like Allie and Austin,

but the loss was just as devastating.

Quentin even cried.

We both are hoping this is Kris Brown's LAST game.

To quote Quentin, "He's the worst Kicker in the history of the NFL"

Quentin NEVER Exaggerates.

I called Uncle Bo and he was mad, he couldn't believe Vince Young, "Quarter backs don't run like that, they need to take him down at the knees"

Well I guess there is always next year.

We'll get that bad boy, Vince Young...

and his Titans too....

I've seen miles and miles of Texas

Austin and Allie are here on a quick visit from Utah's Dixie, St. George, Utah.

When Allie comes it's time for a road trip across Texas. This visit was no exception.

First off they flew into Dallas Fort Worth airport with Allie's brother Dallas.

He was going to the cowboys (boo hiss) game the next day with a couple of friends.

Since he had time to kill, he drove Allie and Austin to the Crossroad of Texas

Buffalo Texas.

Where we met up at Dickie's BBQ

(pictured David -in green- Austin in requisite BYU hat- and Allie's arm)

Along the way we stopped at the cleanest toilets in the world- Bucees rest stop, where Beavers Rule!

Dallas, Allie's brother, and his friend, were both glad they left their mother's behind and weren't subjected to humiliating photos.

Quentin was too cool to pose with Buccee, but not too cool to eat snacks and get drinks from his rest stop. Seriously, the bathrooms ROCK in there, if you get a chance to drive across texas, make a point to rest in one of the spacioius bathrooms. I wanted to take pictures inside the bathroom, but I thought that might "appear" wierd, so I refrained. Take my word for it!

This is David, the good sport, just outside the bathroom, talking trash to this local outlaw.

That was Saturday. Sunday we took another road trip all the way to Katy, TX to visit with Arcalee and have a great afternoon.

David went to see Dylan and Austin, Quentin, Robert and the girls stayed in Crosby to play HALO ODST for a marathon day.

We had fun, I was supposed to bring dessert, but the recipe didn't turn out so we went to Chili's

For some reason, the pictures I took with Allie and Arcalee, didn't get saved on my camera- WIERD0 but we had a great lunch at Arcalee's house and enjoyed catching up. Arcalee took us on a tour of her master planned community, 7 Meadows .

Today we are meeting Dallas and his friends at Chuys' for lunch and then they are going to the Texans/Titans game. Allie scored club tickets thanks to a colleague here in Texas--

I can't wait for their next visit, when we'll travel to San Antonio!

Timing is Everything

Last night some members of my coven and I went to see Jacob Black kick Vampire butt.

Like true fans, we went first to the nine pm encore showing of Twilight and then safeguarded our seats against the mayhem of the midnight showing of New Moon.

Jacob was delicious.

But seriously, the movie was boring.

Yes I said it.

There wasn't enough Werewolf Action.

New Moon was my favorite of the four books, specifically for the Were Love.

I'd rather 108 degrees than the coldness of the undead.

Part of the problem last night, could have been exhaustion, but it was more blah blah blah, Bella's feelings about Edward and not enough of the shirtless Jacob and his pack of wolves.

And the Volturri, was rather anticlimactic. I wanted to see some bloodshed or more torture. I have to admit that although I loved that Dakota Fanning lended herself to the movie, her portryal of the evil angel Jane was BORING- and not true to the book. The screenwriter, makeup artists and costume people totally had it all wrong.

And don't get me started on her "twin" brother.

I'm certain I'll see the movie again, but I think as approach my 4th decade, I do not need to attend midnight movies.

It was a long drive home looking for the telling eyes of the werewolves.

I am however thrilled to have spent an evening with my coven away from distractions of Children etc. We all need a girls night out every now and again, next time, BEFORE the witching hour.

Too Busy or not Too Busy? That is the question

Mom came for a visit last week to share in the Halloween activities. On the 29th Joely and I drove to Brenham, TX to pick her up. We live EXACTLY 200 miles, door to door, from mom and dad, and Brenham is exactly 100 miles away, so it's a great place to meet.

On the way back we had some extra time, so we stopped at Arne's Warehouse to get some party stuff for the halloween parties. Well as per usual it started to pore down rain and to get into the warehouse you have to park in a parking lot across the street. EVERY time I go there, there is a torrential downpour. That day was no exception. We got the goods and then got stuck on

I-10 due to rain and an accident and the fact that people in general can not drive correctly in the rain. That night Quentin's practice was canceled.

The Next Day Friday- we went to the Dead Scientist Program for David. Came home got some lunch, and then Mom (THANKFULLY) stayed home with Joely, and I picked up David and went to Alice's party. Afterwards I picked up Quentin a little early and left hime with Joely who was napping so Mom, David, Alice and I could go decorate for the party.

Robert, of course, ended up working late. He rarely works late but when we are in a time crunch some ding dong where he works schedules a 4:00 meeting.

SO, We left at 5:00 from decorating, went back home and got Quentin off to football practice. In the meantime, Robert came home, got Joely and met me at the field. I went back for Alice and mom and we went back to decorate until about 9:00

Then Saturday we had the playoff game from 1-3- then the party started at 5. I came home around midnight.

Church on Sunday- we need to leave by 10:30 to there in time- Alice started to freak out because something gross was happening in the bathroom. She was right, the sewage was backing up into the tub-

GOOD TIMES-

So We made it to church in time for Sunday School and Robert worked on the sewer line and fixed the blockage- he's so awesome.

On Monday... we needed to grocery shop and have lunch- nice time- then after a quick dinner Robert and I attended the Parent Teacher Conference for David.

Tuesday- We Chillaxed somewhat around the house, but after school the fun started again. Quentin needed to be at football at 6:00 the same time Alice needed to be at Girl Scouts.

Wednesday was Quentin's birthday, so he got a special breakfast. I then went and got the car alligned (again Greatful that grandma was here to keep Joely) then took quentin his lunch and cupcakes for the class. Dinner that night was Quentin's request- roasted chicken, green beans and mac n cheese) Also he wanted a special cake- the day was very busy busy busy

On Thursday I took mom back to meet dad in Brenham.

She said on the way home, you guys sure are busy so on the go. I thought at the time, "what is she talking about?" -- but as you can see, she's right, it was one crazy week.

I'm going to miss the football, but I'm glad that one thing is going to be eliminated after Saturday.

I'll take My God, My Liberty and My Guns...

You can keep the change

I saw this on a bumper sticker yesterday when I came back from church and into our small town.
I've posted before how much I love Crosby, but that's another reason why- they are not afraid to share their ideas on the backs of their trucks. This truck didn't have the scantily clad girl on the mudflaps, because it was owned by a girl.
Know how I know that?

Because her other bumper sticker said,

"Silly Cowboy, Trucks are for Girls"

So this post is all about why I hope we never leave Crosby.. EVER and also to catch up on my two month absence.

First and foremost- Great friends.
David and Quentin both have awesome friends they met through our Cub Scouts (of which I proudly brag, I'm the treasurer and the Den Leader for the 4th grade Webelos)

This year we combined the boys birthday parties with their two friends Jacob and Travis and had one huge Halloween Extravaganza.

David is Damon Salvatore, when he's suffering from Blood lust.
He made a handsome vampire.

Sadly, I did not get a picture of quentin in his full gear. Right now he looks like an effeminatePeter Pan or a woodsman.

He was really Beowylf.
Robert made the costume and it was awesome, just a little warm to be running around in for a Party.

The girls were cute

This Alice, a mutated werewolf with bat DNA, because a Bat wasn't scary enough.

She was a good sport. Robert was originally going to take the girls home early so they could trick or treat, but Alice said, and I quote,
"I can live withouth trick or treating this year, I just want to be with the boys."

So they stayed. Here is Princess Snow White

She had a blast too, there were enough little sister princesses to keep her happy. And a cute little pug named Herme, that she played with all night.

Second Thing I love about Crosby-

Being close to the beach. We are only about 90 minutes from some good clean fun at Surfside, I've posted about our old friend Surfside before, but recently we went back for more than just sand and surf-

The Bohanons were in town visiting Gala's parents, so we went and spent the day with them. It was just what I needed to get out of my funk. It was like they never left, we just picked up from when they left us all alone in April (HEE HEE just kidding, but we dooo miss them everyday)

Joely and Delyla. Joely is 10 months older than Delyla, but Delyla does not let Joely boss her around (much to Joely's dismay) Delyla has two older brothers, so nothing gets passed her. She had grown up so much in the last six months I hardly recognized her, but she still has her big smile and cute laugh.

Alice and baby D- I realize that I'm not the best photographer, but I love taking the shots. I love how it looks like Delyla is paying close attention to Alice, and I love that Alice never misses an opportunity to pose for the camera.

Here are the boys playind seperatly, but together. They always did this in Crobsy too, Darrion would be playing leggos or building something and Quentin would be playing something else and David would be reading a book. But they LOVED to be at the same house.

Third, our wee library

I try to meet Megan and her tribe at the library on Tuesdays for Toddler Time. The librarian is wonderful and she makes it so much fun. We often miss but just as often we go and we always say we need to do it more for the kids. Naturally they had a Halloween party and the kids got to Trick or Treat at the Library. Joely really caught on tot he concept of Trick or Treating. She has a very sweet tooth.

Fourth thing I love

FOOTBALL!

I have become what I used to mock, a football mom. Quentin has done so well this year. He has improved dramatically throughout the season. Saturday is their last game and it's the superbowl. They are playing the Longhorns, if you are in texas, it's at 4:30 in Crosby off of Hare Road, behind the Community Center and Library.

Pictured here is Quentin after his victory at his first night game. He plays nose guard, so he gets hit A LOT-- too much -- but he hits as hard as he gets hit. Their last game was a shutout and Quentin recovered a fumble. I told him that it was cool the offense scored two touchdowns, but it was way cooler that his defensive line did not allow any touchdowns.

Yes I am scary.
For instance, one boy, a local boy was playing VERY DIRTY and he even kicked my precious son in the chest (AFTER THE PLAY AFTER THE WHISTLE- it's on video) and that's when I got loud. We were 3/4 of the way through the season, but after that I can't sit still or quietly through a game.

There are a ton more things to be thankful for here in Crosby but I'll leave with

My fifth Favorite thing

The Crosbty Volunteer Fire Department. I had to call them this morning- about an hour after I cooked toast, the house filled with smoke. Apparently a piece was stuck and it continued to burn. I did not realize it, because the house was literally full of smoke. I called 911 and got Joely and the dogs outside. As it turns out it was nothing but a lot of smoke. But they came fast and they were courteous and knew what needed to be done.

Here is a picture of the Brave little Toaster.

Dead Scientists

Norman E. Bourlag

In fifth grade you don't get to party on Halloween. But you can dress as a dead scientist. So we researched a Nobel Prize Winner who Robert listened to once during a lectur on Economic Geography.
Originally I said, hey let's do Bill Gates- he's a computer scientist, then I got the instructions and found out it had to be a dead scientist. So Robert suggested this amazing person who dies last month. Our world is a better place because of him.

Back in 1970, when he won the Nobel Prize, it was for actually doing something, not just talking about- oops this isn't a political blog, so back to David.
He came in as second runner up in the contest.

Here is his report

Norman Bourlag was born March 22 1914. He is credited with starting the green movement. His most important contribution to the world is his development of breeds of wheat and rice which allowed for higher yielding and more resilient crops. Because of his continued work in this field worldwide, he is credited with starting the Green Revolution and with saving more lives than anyone on that has ever lived.
He grew up working on a farm in Iowa. His early education was very primitive. The country school he attended had only one room and one teacher and was from first through eighth grade. In high school he excelled in football, baseball and wrestling. He wanted to attend the Iowa state Teachers college and worked as a farm hand earning fifty cents a day to earn money for his first year of college. The depression hit Iowa especially hard but because of it he was able to earn a grant to attend college in Minnesota. He majored in forestry, agricultural science and became an accomplished wrestler. After marrying his wife Margaret he earned in a PhD in Plant Pathology.
He graduated during World War 2 and began working for the Dupont Corporation doing research in Mexico. In Mexico, the farmers were having problems with crops and were unable to produce enough to feed their own country.. The problems included a rust fungus in the wheat and small crops. Also the farmers in Mexico were hesitant to change their ways of farming and listen to an American who did not even speak Spanish. His childhood experiences helped him to keep trying for 13 years before he and his team were successful in creating a disease resistant type of wheat that provided for a large crop. When he left his studies in Mexico the country was self sufficient in their wheat production.
He was asked to work his magic in South Asia. Because of his research and agricultural expertise he was able to teach them to increase their crops by 400 percent. In the previous century over 160 million in Asia had died from starvation. In 1968 he and his team created a miracle rice that would double the crop size had more nutrition than regular rice. His work in Bioengineering led him to be the Father of the Green Revolution.
He received the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his accomplishments in India and Pakistan and for his role as the Father of the Green Revolution. When the announcement came that he had been chosen, he was working in a remote field in Mexico. His wife had to drive hours to reach him and asked him to return home to answer the interviews and phone calls. He refused to leave because he still had lots of data to plot and research to be done. He is the only agricultural scientist, so far, to have received this prize. In the 4 decades since receiving the Nobel Prize he has worked harder than he did before the prize.
Borlaug continued to participate actively in teaching, research and activism. He would spend much of his time in Mexico and then would come to Texas A&M and teach one semester each year. This is how I heard about him, because as a student at Texas A&M my dad attended one of his lectures on economic geography.
Norman Bourlag died on September twelfth of this year. His children released a statement that says, “We would like his life to be a model for making a difference in the lives of others and to bring about efforts to end human suffering an misery for all mankind.”
Sources
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug
2. http://www.worldfoodprize.org/borlaug/borlaug-history.htm
3. http://www.mi-cherries.com/art14.htm

I'm glad to know about this man. David's teacher was impressed because she had never heard of him and really enjoyed the presentation.

David was happy he got extra credit.

I also went and got him out of school at one so he could go to Alice's Party. Here are some pictures of him helping out the "little Kids"

At one point the teacher said, "who hasn't had a chance to ...."

and the kids around David were screaching.. "ME ME ME"

so David said," Listen very carefully, the following information will bring your very far in school and in life. Just raise your hand, don't say anything and the teacher will call on you."

He later told me little kids need these types of life lessons.

Little boys all wanted David to help them make their necklace. He taught them that they either needed or didn't need a pattern, it was up to them.

Helping the clean up of the mummy contest.

Friday Night Lights

Hey Dayton Broncos, We're after YOU!!!

The Best thing about living in a small town, is the community.

Right now we are in Football Season and everyone gets into the
CROSBY COUGARS.

All the billboards say "go big red" "Go Cougars" etc.

The Football players eat lunch with the elementary school kids.

Ticket bought in advance are cheap and you can get them at any school.

Everyone is pumped up.

The Best fundraiser I have ever seen is for the cheerleaders and they do a

(drum roll please)

Mini Cheer Camp

They let the 1-4 grade girls learn cheers 4 days after school for the low low price of only 20.00

And then...
They get to cheer the first quarter of the game that week-
SWEET!!

So our little princess had to be a part of it this year.

(she's in the red)

This year had a little quirk from Mother Nature.

COLD COLD COLD RAIN-

But as you know,

In Texas, nothing stops a game-

So Alice stayed out there as cold as she was for the whole quarter.

We left shortly after she was done, since it was so cold and wet and we didnt' have anyone playing on the field...

But Crosby went on to Beat the Dayton Broncos, I'm sure the extra cheering during the first quarter is what kept the momentum going.

And here is the money shot- Alice got to see her most favorite person ever-

MRS. RANDOLPH--

She's an avid booster of the football team, so she was selling spirit gear. It was wonderful to see her, she was being showered with hugs from her previous students.

It was a very fun night. Best of All, big brother Quentin let her wear his jersey so Alice looked extra cool and very spirited.

They cheered some old favorites, 2, 4, 6, 8 who do we appreciate- Hey let's fire it up-2 bits 4 bits 6 bits a dollar-- Come on cheer with me!

And now we can't stop but say "you got to rock with the red and roll with the white"

Hey Hey you, You know what to do!

I fell off the wagon-

Vampires are back in my life.

It was peer pressure

The New year started with a resolve to close the coffin on Vampires.

And I lasted until about a couple of weeks ago when my friend Gala convinced me that I would love the Salvatore Brothers.

and I Do love them.

Time stands still on Thursdays from 7:00-8:00.

Me and the rest of the teens who watch the CW are now hooked on the mystery of the vampire history of Mystic Falls.

Admittedly I was slow to jump on the bandwagon and therefore fall off the wagon.

My fellow vampire loving friends told me I "HAD" to watch it.

But I was a snob, after all it's on the CW- which used to be the WB and when they had Charmed on I would watch it, but really I'm not their target audience.

So I didn't watch it.

But then Gala called.

She said I needed it in my life.

She was right.

There are books written that the series is based on, but I'm not reading them, yet anyway.
I'm too entranced in the mystery, excitement and absolute terror.

For those of you who has missed them, you can catch them on this link.

So the gist of it is, there are two brothers, Damon who feeds on humans and Stefan who feeds on animals. They return to their ancestral home of Mystic Falls (I think Virginia) and the mayhem begins. There are some in Mystic Falls that have retained a knowledge of how to hunt the vampires, but most people dont' remember.

In this tale, you have to invite the vampires into your homes. Thus confirming my fear of ever inviting anyone into my home. I just hope that anyone that I've already invited in, is not a vampire.

So the other night, I was waiting for everyone to go to sleep so I could watch it and not traumatize the kids and it was probably midnight, you know the bewitching hour!!!

Of course Truffles needs to go outside and since she's still in potty training you have to go out there with her and praise her. I was petrified. It was a typical hot muggy SE Texas night and I had goosebumps, I just knew a hungry vampire was "fixin" to attach his teeth to my neck and drain me. Leaving Robert to raise the kids alone, without a mother.
Luckily we made it back in unscathed and Truffles took care of business in a quick manner.

So I dare you, invite the Vampire Diaries into your life.

Corny

Putting a lid on drugs

Today was hillarious hat day for day four of Red Ribbon Week-

Alice went a little corny- as did Big Brother David

About 4 years ago, we had a similiar day, that ended not quite as hillarious

Quentin circa October 2005

He made his own Hillarious Hat and nobody laughed.

Poor Q-bone.

Prince David celebrates the advent of his eleventh year

In addition to it being David's birthday it's also day two of Red Ribbon Week.

Today is retro day.

He told me last night before bed that he wanted to dress up.

I'm not my mom, I can't pull something fabulous out of thin air-

so this was the best I could do, a greaser circa 1950.

I can't beleive 11 years have passed.

He's such a great kid.

He's also very very funny. You have to listen close because it's sometimes quite subtle.

He's got a great sense of humor.

Here are a few of his favorite things

His mama- (LOL)

Pokemon

Video games

Cartoons

Missing school

His grandparents (really should be number one spot)

Another thing he has shown an interest in is "bulking up" and he's been bugging us to get him a weight set. I didn't want to go all nutso and buy him a brand new set to rust away- so I went to craigslist and with the help of Rob's parents-

He got his wish.

A "new" weight set.

Without the grandparents truck and muscle , Robert and I would still be trying to fit it in the mini van.

Clearly he's thrilled. Soon he will be building brawn and dawn and "pumping it up"- we'll call him Arnold soon enough.

He had a great birthday, he got an "early" birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Mullens a couple of weeks ago. (Scribblenauts for DS- sweet)
My mom and dad were with him this weekend and so he got another early gift (fossile fighters for ds- apparently it's AWESOME)

And then last night Grandma showed up with Action Replay a device that lets you get cheat codes for various games. He's been bugging me for months to get him that- I refused but that's what grandparents are for, to get things that parents dont' want to get.

He's having a great day so far and it's only going to get better-

"I Only got Five Bucks!"

Appalachian Alice

Alice lost one of her big front teeth last week.

She has been wiggling and wiggling and wiggling it for quite some time now.

If finally came out.

When she bit David.

There was blood everywhere.

Apparently David was Trash Talking the Girl Scouts.

So Alice bit him and out came her tooth.

The next morning she awoke screaming.

I thought she was excited over her bounty.

But she was dissapointed.

Apparently a crisp five dollar bill isn't the going rate for a large tooth.