The Adventures of Kareena Mullens (and Her Clan)

2011-10-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

In the Mullens House, Fall =Football

This year Davo jumped on the bandwagon and joined foolsball.

He plays on the little league as a Sr. Cougar with Quentin and Joely cheers.

David also plays for Middle School.

Apparently league coaches are much nicer LOL

David, Like Marcia Brady, has joined another Athletic team..

Cross Country-

No big surprise because that's "his thing" but it does mean that on

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday he runs before school, then has athletics (football practice) first period, and then about two hours of practice after school. He tries to make two practices a week for the league.

His league Coach is real nice and subs him in, so he gets plenty of playing time.

He understands he can't start since he isn't able to make all the practices and due to his race schedule he can't make all the games.

Everyone of his coaches describe him as "all heart"

So here is Joely cheering in 111 degree weather, yes that is surface of the sun hot.

Her favorite cheer goes like this-

"The Thunder can't rock the house!

The Lightening can't rock the house!

But you can rock the house,

But you can rock the house!"

She has declared, after three games, that

"Being a Cheerio is Boring"

She's right, it is.

And here is my defensive tackle! He's been stuck on the O-Line and he hates not being able to throw people down. However by the third quarter the coach has let him back on the D-line and he gets some aggression out. And he has a lot of it, because they have not yet won a game. Quentin, like me, is learning how to lose with style. His last team did lose some games, but they were always really close, like by one point in triple overtime, so it never stung quite so bad.

It's a building year.

They have new coaches and its' been a very positive experience for the boys.

Alice and I spent a September weekend in Conroe at a Girl Scout camp with five other girls and my co-leader Jenny. It was a lot of fun for us and we came back tired and very happy to see our beds.

We stayed in the treehouse cabins and it was a lot of fun.

The troop near us didn't appreciate that the girls had to go to the bathroom all night long and then there was a crazed racoon on the prowl, it was a night to be awake, but we had fun.

I don't remember sleeping much at camp when I was a girl.

We have a few more Saturdays of football and then I'll miss it until next year.

To keep us occupied we are on a fantasy league.

David opted out once he found out there wouldn't be wizards and dwarvs, he's content with reality football.

This is Quentin on draft night, he's wearing his lucky hat! It's lucky because the great and powerful Mason Boys signed it. It's blessed. I beleive Q is tied for first, I may be wrong, but I know I'm dead last. Even with my mad drafting skills, I'm plagued. Robert says the NFL Players Union will request that I no longer draft players as they inevitably get injured, some season ending, some career ending. Not even selling my soul and drafting Michael Vick has given me a winning season.

Last but not Least, our sweet Alice

She's busy working on some dish towels, she started the joy of needlework this year! I love passing down this tradition. She's in third grade, taking jazz and rocking it at Girl Scouts.

This is her at the high school football game. She was in a dance and cheer clinic so it was a magical night. During the first quarter she cheered and between the third and 4th quarter she learned a drill team dance. This is by far my favorite fund raiser the school does. For 20.00 you can cheer and 30.00 you can dance. All the money goes to the cheer and dance squad and the little girls love it.

Seminary is back in full swing and I am enjoying the early morning Old Testament Lessons. I love the boys in my class, they are amazing and such great examples. I keep forgetting to take new pictures of them, but I will. I'm continually humbled to be their teacher. I've enjoyed discussing various principles and stories from the Old testament with Robert. There is so much to learn about the Blessings that come from Keeping our Covenants. I'm grateful for the wonderful women of the Old Testament and their faith and courage.

And Visions of Sugar Plums Danced in their heads...

2011-08-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well maybe not Sugar Plums...

Maybe Visions of the Big Yellow Bus

Tomorrow school starts.

Everyone has their new outfits ready..

Backpacks are packed

and

The Back to School Brownies are baked...

Now just waiting for the alarm clock.

Davo will leave at 6:30 and won't be home until almost six with FOOLSBALL practice.

Quentonius will be gone by 7:30, home at 4:00 and then back to his Foolsball from 6:30-8:30 two or three nights a week.

Alice will be dropped off by 8:30 and home by about 3:45, she's going to take Dance this year and not do Art --I'm happy she'll be at Mrs. Carols, but I'll miss her art show

The Boys will squeeze in Boy Scouts and youth meetings at church.

Alice will have Girl Scouts and her activities at church.

The best part of their schedules is that each person gets up and leaves before the next person gets up.

Nobody will be breathing too loud at the breakfast table.

Nobody will be brushing their teeth too long.

Nobody will be using all the hot water.

This will be a dream year.

Thanks Crosby for having so many schools-

And thank you Joely for staying home with me one more year..

This time next year, find me in the fetal position, or lobbying Robert for Home School!

Sunrise/Sunset

2011-08-16T05:12:00.001-07:00

This is the most excited David could look Monday night, on his way to
MIDDLE SCHOOL ORIENTATION

I tried to not get weepy, but it's hard.

I know I've blogged about this before but every first thing with David is hard on me!

I can't beleive it's been almost 13 years since he first came into this world,

and now my little guy is going to Middle School.

He has athletics first period and football after school, he'll have fun in his theater arts class and science. I am sure his English class will be filled with fun books, the summer reading assignment was great, (David, Robert and I all enjoyed it) and he's always good in Math. This year Crosby decided to do a two hour block for math, way to go Crosby, No Math Student Left Behind!

I know it will be a great year for him, but each year gets him that much closer to college, his mission and then just coming home for a weekend visit here and there.

Perhaps I'm being dramatic.

This is David doing his best Lucas Mason interpretation of Cool.

I took him on Tuesday to get his Equipment checked out.

This picture is actually deep inside the boys locker room.

My first visit in the boys locker room.
Scratch that from my bucket list!

They gave the boys their football gear and a locker. David's combo was wrong, but I couldn't help myself, I had to help a bunch of other boys I knew from Quentin's football team or Boy Scouts. None of them knew how to do a combination.

And they were all sooo nervous.

David, however, knew very well, it was just they gave him the wrong numbers

On the way home I asked him if he was embarrassed that I was helping the other kids.

And he said, "Mom that's just you being you, I can't stop you from being you"

He CRACKS me up.

I can't wait to sit in the cougar bleachers with all my bling bling, rooting him on and also his teammates, that I helped on that first day.

And if you wonder why it's hard for me to cut the cord

at the mean streets of Crosby Middle School,

it's because I think of him like these above pictures, somewhere between two and three.

A Week at Surfside

2011-06-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Heaven on Earth!

We spent a delightful week hanging out at the beach. It was amazing.

The weather was perfect and our little town home was perfect.

Pictured above is the view from one of the four balconies.
We had our own private walkover to the beach and at the end was another deck.

Sometimes I have genius ideas, this was one of them.

We only took flip flops.

6 people 6 flip flops.
It was easy to keep up with everything.

Another genius idea,(robert's) no phones and no schedule!

Robert's work was wonderful, no calls or texts.

I loved the little clock, it really expresses our sentiments.

On Wednesday, we stayed inside during the day, we slept late, ate a late breakfast and played a bunch of board games, ate a late lunch and then hit the beach.

We finally broke out Settlers of Cataan. But imagine my dismay when the instructions were taken out and not put back in!

Fortunately, I had my phone, with Internet access and we found an online tutorial.

We are hooked. Sadly I didn't take any pictures during the games, as it's too competitive.

Bathing Beauty! This is on the deck.

The other favorite activity-

Creating sand civilizations.

We had enough time, that we didn't need to just stop with castles.

This was Rob's favorite part.

Watching the moonrise, on the back porch while sitting in the rocker.

It was sooo peaceful.

And the moon was full all week.

One night it looked like Cosmo's moon, but I couldn't capture it, It's just in my memory bank.

Robert wasn't homesick at all, because there was a laundry room.

We only had six towels too, so we'd rinse the towels and suits and dry them.

It was nice to keep the sand away. Not pictured is the below deck showers. WONDERFUL

After the beach, everyone showered off the sun and salt.

No sand was allowed at the house.

Another one of my brilliant ideas! We each had only one cup, each a different color.

Couple that with paper plates and utensils and we weren't spending much time in the kitchen

David and Quentin enjoying some beach time.

Everyone had a hat, but not everyone wore theirs.

Hands down everyone loved Boogie boarding.

Nobody was sunburnt.

And contrary to popular belief, when we got back the boys were able to play their video games just fine, they didn't forget how.

I can't wait for next year's vacation.

I'm thinking this needs to be a family tradition.

Mason Combine 2011

2011-06-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

In order to keep up the momentum of Aggie Camp

We hired the boys a personal trainer

Lucas Mason

Lucas is kind of a hero around here-

He plays High school football, and if you listen to Quentin and David, you'll beleive that he is the BEST PLAYER THE CROSBY COUGARS HAVE EVER SEEN.

He's also a baseball star.

And he's also one of my three favorite Seminary Students.

So to have him over a couple of hours a day is FANTASTIC

He's working on strength, agility and football skills and drills.

When they are through, Quentin always feels like he's going to puke.

Job Well Done Coach Mason

He's done' so good that they were able to crack this cinder block in three pieces. INCREDIBLE.

I hope they aren't juicing.

Lucas also has all the cool equipment too, pictured above the shake weight.

"It really hurts"

Each work out ends in a quick run to Newport Elementary and back, about 1.5 miles and then he rewards their efforts by playing a little Xbox 360 with them. He's the master on the Xbox too, he's legendary on EVERYTHING-

They've taken to calling him Chuck, as in Chuck Norris, because Like Chuck Norris, when Coach Mason does push ups, he doesn't push himself up, he pushes the world down.

Also, Coach Mason has already been to Mars, that's why there are no signs of life there .

Additionally like Chuck Norris, Coach Mason, doesn't sleep, he waits.

And he doesn't mow his grass, he stands outside and dares it to grow.

One more thing, like Chuck Norris, he has beat Halo 3 on legendary, with a guitar hero controller,

But I digress.

It's been a fun few days working out with the famous Lucas "chuck" Mason.

It will be a sad cruel day when he goes to California for his summer vacay, but until then the boys are hanging on his every word and doing EVERYTHING he says.

And for me, I'm thrilled they look up to him and that they are happy to be his minions.

Building Champions

2011-06-07T05:24:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we skipped church and headed to

The University of Texas...

in College Station Texas

The great and powerful

Texas A&M University.

Not to be confused with the lesser t.u. found in Austin.

I digress.

We were taking the boys to Football Camp at the legendary home of

Quentin Coryatt, (remember him Ty Detmer?)

Dat Nguyen (original wrecking Crew)

More Recently the Second Overall Draft Pick and Butkus award Winner

Von Miller

And of course lesser known Twelfth Man

Robert Lee Mullens (check him out on facebook)

Here is the money shot- Future Wrecking Crew Nose Guard

Quentin -- he's putting on his cleats in the TINY Dorm Room,

This is the locker room, David is hanging in Reveille's locker space-

She's the mascot, and she's awesome!

Lore has it that if she's in your classroom and falls asleep,

the professor has to cancel the class.

Joely is ready to go home, she' can't walk anymore, she's tired, hungry and thirsty.

Joely was finally cooling off from our walking tour of campus and stroll down memory lane. She decided to chillax in the locker space of "JUDIE" we'll be watching for him on the field next year. GIGGEM

This is where we were engaged! Now look at us some 15 years later, with 4 kids a dog, a rat and a

mortgage!

This is the Poly Sci building, that was right by our engagement tree. Robert says he'd sit there and dream about the life he'd have with a wonderful wife and children.

I ask him, "What happens when your real life exceeds your dreams?"

And he just smiles.

Here is the 2011 season, look whose on the bottom? That's where they belong.

It's not really a road trip unless we eat at Chuy's.

Alice opted to stay with her grandma and grandpa Mullens.

Engaged. The boys are on electronics and Joely is coloring.

Peace.

I'll admit it was hard to leave them there.

But I KNOW they'll have fun .

I go pick them up in a few hours and I can't wait to hear how they did.

Their first stop?

They want to go to grandma's hot tub.

Funny how it's never grandpa's house or grandpa's things, it's always grandma's house!

Village Creek State Park

2011-06-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

We finally went camping again as a family!

We've done the divide and conquer many times, either me or Robert with the Scouts

or all of us camping except Joely stays with Grandma

Or Me with the Girls Scouts-

Or on two ocassions with the cub scouts, the boys got sick and since I was already signed up as a leader, I took the girls with me!

CRAZY

But it's been well all of Joely's life time since we all camped together.

It was a blast!

We took 5 boy scouts with us (two were David and Quentin)

and they did all the cooking!

The boys stumbled upon a geocache and it was so exciting! They can't wait to find more.

The best part of Boy Scouts is they let you bring the "me toos"

And those two were delightful

The highlights were of course the leisure hike (1.13 miles) to the swimming hole and back. The Creek was low so it wasn't scary or dangerous. Just refreshing!

On Saturday Evening Dad and the girls went on an "Ice Run" that ended at Sonic for them.

The scouts and I ate spaghetti cooked by travis (david's brother from another mother)

and Chicken and Rice, cooked by David.

Ok So I didn't get any pictures of the whole family, and you have to look close to see Quentin, he's in the greenish shirt.

It was a lot of fun.

We plan to go to Livingston this summer and also camp in Galveston State Park.

I prefer the state parks because their bathrooms have flush toilets. I can handle a lot of things if the toilets flush!

They also have showers.

Quentin was the only scout who showered, he now has a testimony of showering at camp LOL.

Our next trip is less primitive, we are staying at Surfside Beach for a week in a rental house.

The Park is located in the National Thicket, so it was wooded and relativly cool.
As Robert kept saying, "It could be a whole lot worse" LOL

We spend an evening reminiscing about camping trips as kids.

I took for granted that camping was a normal part of family life.

I had no idea the preparation and work that went into it.

A big thanks to mom and dad.

Also I remember always being cold, we were in the Pacific Northwest and everything is frigid.

Even though we were cold it was always fun.

I remember one week where we stayed and it rained most of the time, but dad read to us from his novel, "jaws" LOL

We would camp for a week, how on earth mom and dad got provisions for our family in the car I'll never know.
Miracle Workers!

I will gladly take the bugs and the heat of Texas and enjoy swimming in warm refreshing water.

Zombies, the New Vampires

2011-05-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you are quite aware of my absolute lack

of parental styles.

You can't really guess how I'm going to act or react to any given situation that requires

a repsonsible adult to give input, punish or establish order.

However, I'm happy to indulge in the obsessions of my children.

To that end I will explain to you in Cliff Notes form the many lessons

David Mullens has taught us about his obsession with

upcoming and inevitable,
ZOMBIE APOCOLYPSE

It's unclear, when he realized that it's not a question of if but when for the zombie apocolpse, but it was some time in this school year.

I beleive the inception was the little knows faction of the Nazi army that

employed Zombies as killing machines.

The problem with Zombies is that they infect 100% of the people they bite.

The incubation period is very short so it can wipe out nations really quick.

Fortunatly an elite group of Black Ops anihilated the Zombie Corp back in WW2.

But the disease called the Solanum Virus was not wiped out, and David is waiting for another outbreak.

Apparently there are evidences of Zombie outbreaks in ancient Egypt.

So now with the Groundbreaking Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks,

David is ready now more than ever for the impending Doom.

I'm happy to be in his family, as my survival goes up exponentially.

He now wants a crossbow, machete, scythe and a few good shovels.

Sure, he'll explain, Guns are effective, but they aren't silent.

And we all know that zombies are attracted to noise.

Each of his weapons of choice are 100% effective , if you can get rid of the head.

Also you don't need more ammo, they are all reusable.

Sure you may evenutally need more arrows, but you can always recycle them.

Another tip is to not be the slowest.

Perhaps that's why Davo can run three miles so readily.

Zombies have no need for oxygen and therefore they can survive underwater.

They can also climb, so trees won't help.

You need to be barricaded.

In addition you need to be constantly vigilant, sure you may become paranoid, but when the undead are seeking to consume your brains, a little paranoia is just what the doctor ordered, if survival is on your agenda.

David has a quick reference poster in his room that I beleive he will have committed to memory by Friday and he's half way through his survival book, that he received last night.

By summers end, I think he'll be able to quote it.

Happy Easter Happy Spring

2011-04-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here in the south, Easter Celebrations begin on Good Friday.

Since I was raised in the Godless North I don't recall anything special that day or even being off of school, but here in the south we celebrate Christian Holidays.

As is the now custom, We had an EGGSTRAVAGANZA at

Ari's House. Her mom "aunt Connie" and Myriam are

quintesential hostesses. Being from Monterey Mexico means the party is

OVER THE TOP!!!

Well technically Connie was born and raised in Houston-

but was we say in Brazil. "com vivencia"

A delicious lunch, awesome punch and desserts

and then the HUNT!

I lost count of all the kiddos and older brothers and sisters but there were a lot.

Alice was doing a make up day for art with Alex, but we brought her home some eggs.

Saturday was glamour shots day (pictures to follow) but check out

Manti Photography (on my links to the left) for some of their magic!

Here is David hiding eggs at Grandma Dorothy's house on Easter Sunday.

He doesn't look like the sullen tweener that he's become, after all he heard

there was cold hard cash in some of the eggs.

And here is Joely finding all the loot.

Great Aunt Lisa looted the dollar store and Target and

"hid" all the goodies in the yard.

There were fairy wings, slippers, play dough, chocolate bubbles, bad teeth

kites, jewelry etc.

Anything that could be hung in trees, shoved in a bush or placed in a fence slat was purchased.

Alice in her over the top glam shades.

Joely and the bubbles, she declared,
"I got everything I ever wanted"

And so did Robert and I.

It was a wonderful day.

Again the family only asked us to bring drinks and we came home with

a brisket and a ham, plus desserts.

Being the only one with kids, I guess makes us look pathetic-

I know I won't be cooking today, tomorrow or probably until next Sunday!

Stripling Young Warriors

2011-04-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Farewell my Stripling Warrior Del Parsons

One of my favorite histories in the Book of Mormon is about the mothers of 2000 Stripling Warriors. This year for Mother's Day our little primary is singing a song about

the testimonies of their mothers,

It's called I am a Stripling Warrior

and it's made me very weepy and close to the spirit.

The story of the 2000 warriors is amazing. Their parents had been viscous and delighted in bloodshed, however when they learned the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ they accepted and changed their lives. They literally buried their weapons and made a promise to God that they would join with His Church and NEVER use their weapons of war again.

They promised to never fight or kill.

Because of the truth they changed the way they had lived their whole life.

However peace didn't stay in their land.

Once again their lives were being threatened and they considered joining the fight but that would mean they would break their promise to God.

Instead they did something even more unthinkable.

They allowed their young boys, roughly 2000 of them, ages 8-15 go off to battle.

Their sons had not made the same promise as their parents.

They could battle for their God, land, their families and their church.

But they were so young, how could they go forth and fight the enemy?

Because their mothers taught them to have faith.

And that's the great message of the stripling warriors

Their mother's taught them to have faith.

They were led by a man named Helaman, and he loved them, he described them as his sons.

In the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon, the fifty sixth chapter verses 46-48 teaches us

46. For as I have ever called them my sons (for all of them were very young) even said unto me, "Father behold our God is with us, and he will notsufer that we should fall; then let us go forth...

47. Now they had never fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers, than they did upon their lives, they had

TAUGHT BY THEIR MOTHERS

if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt, our mothers knew it."

And those boys did go into battle and they were succesful and not ONE fo the 2000 boys were killed.

This story is speaking to me on so many levels.

First and foremost. The mothers had lived their lives in such a manner that their children beleived everything they said. They were examples of faith and righteousness. They had taught their children to be selfless because they were only thinking of their families and their peace when they volunteered to join the army.

Second their children grew up with faith. They didn't doubt what was taught them. Their mothers undoubtedly pointed out the many tender mercies of the Lord that occured daily in their lives. Their mothers taught them the gospel.

They did not fear.

Each day I send my children out to fight a "war." It's not as literal as the stripling young warriors. It's more figurative and that war is between good and evil. Each day they have to choose

between good and evil.

I hope that because of what I've taught them and how I conduct my life they always choose God and Jesus Christ and that they can say, "my mother knew it."

I hope and pray they have the courage to overcome peer pressure and only choose worthy friends. I hope they will be bold and serve missions for the Lord, each one of them.

I hope they can be like the warriors and think first about the benefit of the group rather than their own needs and wants.

I'm so greatful that my mother taught me the truth and where to turn to in times of need. I'm glad her mother taught her, and that my grandmother was taught by her mother and so on.

I'm part of a legacy of great mothers and I hope that the legacy continues with my daughters and that my boys find wives that will continue our legacy.

On another level, this story is speaking to me in my calling as a seminary teacher.

I feel like Helaman did when he called them his sons.

Clearly he loved them so much and was probably amazed by all they could accomplish.

I love each of the boys in my class and have a motherly concern for their welfare.

I'm so greatful that they are raised by wonderful mothers who have taught them the truth.

I'm greatful that they love their mothers enough that they come to class almost every day.

I'm amazed by the great things they do.

Whether it's Dyllan handing out pamphlets at Crosby High School on For the Strengthy of Youth

https://beta.lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth?locale=eng and always strives to do better,

Or Jace and his peaceful and thoughtful spirit who is always excited about church and the youth program

Or Lucas who simply does everything that is asked of him,

They each make me so proud to be a part of their lives.

I'm so greatful for the fact that my boys look up to them and that my daughters love them too.

So for this week and this month and I'm hoping this year

I'm greatful to be a mother, I'm greatful to the examples of great mothers and I'm greatful for my husband who allows me to be the kind of mother I need to be and who picks up my slack.

Mostly I'm greatful for the young warriors in my charge.

Alice's Baptism February 19th 2011

2011-03-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is Alice in her special dress for her special day.

She was very nervous and excited.

Grandma and Grandpa Barnes came to share in the exciting day.

In our church we believe that when a child is eight they reach the age of accountability and can make their own choices. We wait until this age to baptize the children.

Still it's their choice.

She was interviewed by our Bishop, Gerald Love, and was found ready to take this step.

We beleive literally in the teaching of the Savior that " a man (or in this case a cute girl) must be born of the water and the spirit to enter into the kingdom of God"

She was baptized by immersion and then received the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

We also believe that the ordinances must be performed by someone with the authority to do so.

The Priesthood of Aaron was restored to the earth and has the authority to baptize.

This is Alice with Lucas Mason, a young man from my seminary class that holds the office of the priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, he baptized Alice. We were very pleased that Lucas was willing to do this for Alice. He's a wonderful young man and it's an honor to be asoociated with him.

After her baptism Grandpa Barnes (who holds the office of a high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood) confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and by the laying on of hands she received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She loves her Grandpa very much and was glad he was able to come to confirm her.

As long as she keeps the commandments, prays and repents she will have the Holy Ghost with her as a companion to help keep her safe and make good choices.

This special cake was made by Holly Carraway, it says
"And Alice was baptized and there was much rejoicing in the land"

She's also wearing a special hair piece that Galadriel Hutchings made her to wear on her wrist when she was blessed as an infant.

She'll put the hair piece in her wedding boquet.

We love Alice very much and are thrilled with her decision.

Bald is Beautiful

2011-01-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend David and Quentin participated in this event, I'm so proud of them. As I think about this little boy and his family I am reminded of the myriad blessings our family receives daily. I will always remember my sweet boys and their friends who were happy to help out another Crosby buddy.
Click the share button to see the newspaper article.

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Deck the Halls

2010-12-31T06:49:00.000-08:00

As the kids get older their participation wanes in certain events. It took a great deal of cajoling to get David to participate in this years tree trimming tradidition. After all he's nearly a teen. We are always so greatful when he does participate because he's funny and enjoyable. Joely was the most excited. It's true, Christmas is for the children.

However all the kids got into it and sang along with all the fun. Two days later everyone went with the cub scouts to carol at a nursing home. That helped us to remember the real reason for the season, which is good will towards men and do as the Savior taught us, which is to "Love one Another"

Take a picture of me!!!

Joely was so happy to do the tree!

Here is Alice doing the snoopy dance. The radio was playing "Linus and Lucy"

Can't you just picture Snoopy dancing with his little nose in the air?

Here is David, Not participating.

If you can't beat em, join em. David decides to have fun.

Joely was chosen unanimously to put the star on the top of the tree.

Joely is Four

2010-12-31T06:31:00.001-08:00

Check out Miss Thang!!

I love this little Jackie O inspired outfit, the only thing missing is a little pillbox hat.
Check out the shoes, little tiny heals that she had to clomp around in and make noise. They fit her perfect and they look adorable.

She's wearing a cute little number that was originally worn by Harper Moulton, then passed on to Alice Mullens. I'll hold onto it for their girls and I hope hope hope that Harper marries David eventually, so the dress can stay in the family.

But I digress.

So the baby is four!!! Where did the time go? I dont' know but it's been a fun time watching her grow up. She's a blast, ever cheerful and loves to sing.
She loves to go to church and she loves her Grandparents.

She's always willing to snuggle and you can pretty much make her laugh out of any tantrum.

On the rare occasions that you can't, she'll send herself to her room and take a nap.

Here are a few pix of the princess on her special day.

Pictured with BFF's Keegan and Cori

Wearing some "fancy" clothes she got from Cori's Mom, Holly.

She wanted a pink cake, so she got one! Thanks Walmart.

Inspired

2010-12-31T06:10:00.000-08:00

I have failed to keep up my blog. I blame it on the evil time-sucking facebook and my lack of follow through. But it's (almost) a new year so I think I'll revisit my little creative outlet. My friend and partner in Crime Adrienne has updated a ton on her blog in the last couple of days, so I'm taking my inspiration from her. Please read all the posts and validate me. It means sooo much to me to have the validation!

This is Adrienne with her sisters, she's in the front in the gray shirt.

As you may know I love HEB. Which is an amazing chain of grocery stores in Texas and Mexico. Even the little HEB PANTRY located in Baytown is up to the expectation of excellence one expects from HEB. It is safe to say that HEB has the best produce in town in addition you can get fresh homemade tortillas which you can snack on while shopping. My brother works for HEB in Round Rock and really does well there. So they are a great employer too. Recently they opened up a flagship store in the swanky NE HARRIS COUNTY of Summerwood. So Joely and I took a litte trip out there to see all the hoopla. It was a lovely experience. I only wish I would have gotten there about an hour earlier when they were still giving out enough samples to satisfy you for a full meal.

Here are a few cool finds that Joely and came across.

Fresh Homemade tortillas to be eaten while shopping. This is the only store that Joely likes to sit in the cart. She snacks along the way. She also loves to help with the produce. She counts each one. SUPER CUTE. Last night she sang at the top of her little lungs a great rendition of Lady Gaga's Poker Face. Everyone smiled and she brought such happiness to everyone!

Not since I left Brazil have I seen so many pigs feet, and at such a great price too!

For some reason, the generic "COCOROOS" were all sold out so we had to buy the high dollar Cocoa Puffs, as Joely is definatly Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. The real money shot is behind her 4 CASES of Dr. Pepper (truly an elixer from Heaven) for only 10.00- SIGN ME UP!

2010-12-07T10:02:00.001-08:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Thankful

2010-12-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we were asked to bring the above drinks

and the below dessert-

Please note this dessert looked a lot prettier, I should have taken picture BEFORE we started to serve it.

We also brought our family of 6.

I must say that when you bring 6 people you really should be required to bring more than drinks and a dessert.
And really the drinks were only for us, since everyone else drank tea.

But I digress, my point is, the inlaws know me and love me and just really appreciate that I bring their son and grandchildren along that they don't require much out of me and I'm thankful for that...but even more thankful for the leftovers.

We scored it all, see below.

The rest of the turkey, ham, a near whole apple pie, potato salad, green beans and new potatoes,

All of the cornbread and chicken stuffing, rolls, baked potatoe casserole. It was a smorgas board. I didn't cook for a week.

It was a nice time, We played UNO Attack with Aunt Lisa. Dorothy was sick and didn't make it out of her bed, which was really really sad. Uncle Bo and Aunt Tessie were in Mexico and Uncle Rex and Aunt June were with friends, Kacie and Kelly were with their parents, Baby Brother Matt was with his wife and kids in Victoria-

So it was very quiet with Lisa and PJ, Robert's parents and Grandpa Walter, but still a nice relaxing afternoon. I am thankful that we live close to them and can spend the time together.

I'm also thankful that dad is feeling better and is back to his old self. He gave us quite a scare earlier in November when he passed out on mom one night and didn't wake up for about 16 hours and found himself in the Round Rock Hospital. All of his tests came back normal so they think he might have taken a medication error. So far so good. ON a positive note, I got to go visit them just with Joely. She LOVED the undivided attention and the quality time with the little Smokie, mom and dad's new pup. Robert and the other kids managed in our absence. I'm thankful that his job is flexible enough to allow him a late and early couple of days to take care of our little people. I am also thankful for the discount theater in Round Rock (why don't we have one in Houston????) we went with mom and dad and saw Despicable Me. It was a fun time.

ON thanksgiving Day, David ran in the Houston Turkey Trot and did well. I didn't see him cross the finish line, it was so packed with thousands of runners. In fact I got scared and a little panicked when the people who only walked the race were coming in and no David. Naturally I assumed the worst and that he was abducted and not by aliens. Eventually he said a prayer to find me and he did right away, but it was a scary 30 minutes. I'm thankful he knew where to turn when he was lost. Next time Megan has to run with him, this mom's heart can't handle it.

We are looking forward to next Monday when our princess turns 4! It will be a wonderful evening indeed. She is definatly a blessing we are thankful for.

The Boys at the Levy

2010-12-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Becoming a young man

2010-12-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

In our church when you hit the magical age of 12 you get to join the youth group and for boys you also receive the aaronic priesthood and are ordained a deacon.
David has LOVED his experiences so far. On monday Brother Callahan had the boys out to his property in the countryside of Crosby to have the boys become men. David shot his first rifle. Prior to his he had only shot at imaginary things on the XBOX 360. They also handled water mocassins, caught fish with their hands and started a fire without matches. They had so much fun that all the boys had to change clothes, they are all wearing Sister Callahans volleyball clothes- LOL-
David claims he is now ready for the zombie apocolypse-
If that happens, seek him out, he knows how to survive and to kill zombies. Rule number one, you have to kill them twice.
Thanks to Broher Carraway, Brother Love and Brother Callahan for a fun time.
I will be posting the other videos- THEY are awesome. Sadly Bro Love did not video them handling snakes, and as you may know that's the sign of a true follower, "if they can handle venomous snakes and not be harmed" Ha HA-

GIVEAWAY: Silhouette SD Machine!!!!

2010-11-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY: Silhouette SD Machine!!!!

This is legit! I've known Alison since she was little, in fact it's hard for me to imagine her all grown up, married with children. To me she is still in Primary at about age 10, but Her blog proves otherwise. She has a ton of crafty ideas to do for less. I am sure one of her mantras is "don't pay department store prices" and she doesnt LOL-- This is a fun way to either try and win Silhouette machine or buy one with a great coupon exclusivly for her readers. Even if a silhouette isn't something you desire, I'm sure one of her crafty ideas will inspire you!
Much love
Kareena

Aww Baby Quentin is 11

2010-11-04T06:17:00.000-07:00

Below are few pictures of Quentin. The digital camera did not come for years after he was born and therefore it's hard to show you digitally his progression from birth to 11 years.

Take it from me once he stopped the colic and slept through the night on January 26, 1997

he was and still is adorable.

We were so thrilled to get our little Quentin. Robert wanted his middle name to be Michael after his youth pastor, Michael Clements who passed away the year before we had Quentin.

MIchael was a great man who touched many lives for the good Quentin lives up to his namesake.

His first name came to me while watching a documentary on the Air Force Academy, the cadet was very articulate and also attractive and his name stuck with me.

Upon further investigation I found out it's gaelic for

"From the Queen's estate"

So basically I was sold.

Here is what Quentn likes in 2010

1. Xbox360 --LIVE (gamer tag sweetmamak--add him and Dave as friends)

2. FOOTBALL--He is first and foremost a cougar, but will happily cheer for any team. He loves the Texans too.

3.Swimmig

4. Camping.

5. Sleeping until after noon-

6. Fried Shrimp, Boiled shrimp...all kinds of shrimp.

7. Doing well in school- his handwriting is awesome.

8. And like the waterboy, he "loves his mama very much"

We love you mr. Quentonius Maximus!

Put em up--

This is Quentin as the reluctant Cowardly Lion-

Cute but he felt ridiculous.

He was much happier when trick or treating, since it was anonymous, here everyone knew who he was.

Here Quentin is seven and he and David were playing in the Capital in Austin one evening. They were preparing for Quentin's inevitable political career.

He is a masterful suck up and is already efficient in telling people what they want to hear.
His talents will serve him well.

Same time frame, on the way to Austin we stopped for Blue Bonnet Pictures.

This was our first of many trips with Austin and Allie from ST. George. UT

Here is the "rug rat" he was on an awesome undefeated soccer team in Henerson TX

This is his grandpa and "baby Alice" He was 6 in this picture --Alice not quite 3.

Here he is at age 7 with Baby Joely

Age 5 with David (shirtless) and BFF Caroline Rains

I have an embarrasing photo of he and Caroline dressed as Princesses. It's in his scrapbook, you'll have to come by and see it as I'm certain he would kill me if it was in cybersace.

This is Mrs. Butler- If you know Quentin you've heard of her

She's the reason my daughter in law will be a petite blonde with curls and a darlin'southern accent.

His favorite place to be- Grandma's Pool- That's David helpinghim up. At least I hope he is helping him up and not trying to push him back down.

This was a birthday party he planned for Sally. He was 4 and alice wasn't two yet
Sally was a mean hamster.

Pumpkins 2010

2010-11-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treating in Crosby

2010-11-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ward Halloween Party

2010-11-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

I am finally able to talk about it

2010-10-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

David, my firstborn, is turning 12 this week

TWELVE!!!!

Seriously where has the time gone?

So last week, he had one of his many firsts-

He went on a scout trip WITHOUT ME OR ROBERT.

Granted he was with people I love, trust and adore.

And he's stayed overnight with friends and relatives numerous times-

BUT THIS TIME HE WAS SCOUTING WITHOUT ME!!!

I was his first den "mother" --now they are called Leaders, but I still referred to myself as his Den Mother.

His little den was adorable and his den grew and grew and now he is a boy scout with 5 other friends and they all went to a weekend trip to celebrate the scouting centenial.

They camped with about 20 thousand scouts at Texas World Speedway, just south of College Station.

I was excited for him to go, but when it came down to it, I was sad.

So I did the responsible thing.

I took him out of school at ten thirty that Friday, so he wouldn't be counted absent-

and we ran a couple of errands and had a lovely lunch at El Toro in Baytown.

He is very funny and had me in stitches the whole time, except when I was tearing up and then he would laugh at me.

I bought him Chick Fil A to take for his dinner and sent him on his way.

He had a great time.

I was blue most of the weekend.

I think I made myself sick.

I think about how now he will be doing more things without me, than with me and it makes me want to go back to when he was my only little baby and just hold him more and squeeze him more.

But I can't.

So I hope that he has enough hugs in reserve and that I've taught him well and he'll make good choices and -most importantly that he'll always need hugs from his mama.

Not necessarily a Good Witch....

2010-10-17T19:44:00.001-07:00

So this Halloween the Family will head down the Yellow Brick Road.

You may be wondering how Robert agreed to be a part of this- and I do to, but here is my speculation-- I think he only agreed because he will do anything to make Alice happy- and he still remembers when we were dating and listening to Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of OZ, and well it was wicked awesome, and no - there were not any hallucinogens involved. And then there is the "Let Love Rule" mantra that he has adopted as a true follower of Lenny Kravitz.

The boys have aquiesced because they have learned it is much better to go along with Alice (within reason) than feel the wrath of Alice. Also they are (almost 11 and 12) and well a bit too old to trick or treat, but if you are going with your baby sisters then you can squeeze several more years out--so BONUS

Alice wants to be the "star"so she chose Dorothy and quickly handed out the lesser parts to the rest of us.

I will be the wicked witch of the west, I was BORN to play the part. Plus I have more or less been her every year for Halloween, except for last year when I was Lizzie Borden, but basically it was the same costume, just not a green face and instead of a broom it was a bloody axe, but I digress.

Robert will be the scarecrow, coming full circle from when we were just about engaged and the last time he dressed up.(15 Halloweens ago)

David will be the Tin Man and like he says, "at least I can carry a weapon"

Quentin will be the Cowardly Lion, he's been practicing his signature line, "Put 'em up, Put 'em up"

Joely as pictured SHOULD be Glinda the Good witch -which would complete the theme- but she refuses, she wants to be a princess. So I steered her toward a pink princess costume and blonde wig and she looks like the Good Witch but she is the lesser known Princess Annaliese.

When we are all dressed up, I'll post more.

For now I'm happy to report that I have a free thinking little -not-quite-four-year-old that will do her own thing regardless of the peer pressure.

And for Joely if it irritates her Big Sister, that just may be the Bonus-

Quentin "Brian Cushing" Mullens

2010-10-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

Quentin is happy that Brian Cushing will be back playing with the Texans tomorrow.

In fact he's so happy that his favorite Defensive player is coming back that today he got a mohawk too. He had been sporting "faux" hawk this school year, but today he became a committed d-tack.

You mess with this Cougar, you will get the claws.

Quentin has done so well a the nose tackle, that his coaches have started having him play on the offensive line too, Quentin says, "I take care of my quarterback." But- he till LOVES to throw "playuhs" down on the ground for the defense and go for the sack. He's brutal,until the whistle blows, and he's learning to "Leave it on the field!"

"Holding"

I LOVE watching him play, his team is now 7-0, with two more regular seasos games to go--and the superbowl.
And who knows, he may make all stars this year....

The Red Machine is coming through!

Saying Farewell to A Friend

2010-09-16T07:47:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago I had to take Sammi Jo in her for her last visit to the vet.

It was heart wrenching.

She has been getting worse and worse for the last year.

But still making that decision was extremely difficult.

Even knowing that it was best for her was hard.

For the last year she has had trouble getting up by herself and would have accidents in the house. Her arthritis was really bad and she wasn't eating well.

In July 2009, she weighed a Robust 97 pounds.

In July 2010 when I took her in, she was down to 87 pounds

and then two weeks ago, she was down to 77 pounds.

It was time.

However she didn't make it easy.

For literally months she could barely manage to get up, but on that day when I put her leash on her, she pranced about like a little puppy.

My resolve was shaken.

Whale waiting at the vet there were some labs there that were bouncing around and stretching and I thought, "I don't remember seeing Sammi stretch, it's been that long"

So the memories flooded along with my tears as I waited.

For my birthday in 1997, a short 8 months after we were married, Robert got me a dog bowl and a leash and told me to pick out a yellow lab, "because every boy needs a yellow dog."
We didn't' have kids yet, but we planned to.

She was precious and small and such a good companion.

Robert worked nights, so she kept him company during the day and kept me company at night.

She loved to play at "Barking Springs" in Austin.

She loved the Dog parks.

She welcomed in our other dogs the Gryndl Monster, Nomar Garciaparra and most recently Truffles.

She was a good older sister to David, Quentin, Alice and Joely. The oldest learned to walk holding on to her tail, fur or collar.

I don't remember Joely toddling after her.

She ate toilet paper, sought out mud and loved to wipe her face on the couch.

Up until about 3 years ago, she slept on our bed with us.

She snored.

When I was a sad crying mess, she was right there with me.

She couldn't resist a piece of cake and would jump up on the counters to eat cake.

Once she ate 1/2 of a baked ham that I made for some guests...I actually cut part of it off and served it -LOLOLOL

She also loved to eat hot pads, she was crazy for them.

She always followed the command to "Leave it"

But mostly she was my dear Friend and I miss her.

My children miss her and Robert misses her.

We look forward to another life where we can reunite with her.

Taking her back to the vet's room, was so hard.

My parents have done that for our family dogs and while it saddened me to have them gone, it wasn't as hard as actually taking them in.

Thanks mom and dad for shielding me from that fr 40 years.

But now I'm the mom, so I took her.
I held her paw and scratched her chin and ears until she had passed.

I could feel her spirit leave and it was very peaceful, I'm glad that I was with her to the very end.

I'm grateful that was in out lives for 13 years.

So the kids have been complaining...

2010-09-02T08:34:00.000-07:00

That the blog hasn't been updated.
And I don't know why.
School started last Monday on the 23rd, without a hitch.

So now it's just me and Joely all day and let me tell you...

It's a blast, it's all cartoons, video games, eating out and shopping, mixed in with ice cream and peanut butter cups and some post-seminary naps.

We try to destroy all evidence of our fun before the bus comes again, but too many times we've been found with Chick-fil-a in hand and we are busted.

Alice usually wakes up with a smile, but this week she had enough and complained that it wasn't fair that Joely didn't have to go to Kindergarten.

It doesn't matter that Joely is only three!

David and Quentin are both in the same school this year and they ride the same bus as Alice.

This is their Bus. And if you look closely you can see Quentin Rolling his eyes and saying,

"Really Mom?"

Crosby, like other small towns, has several campuses, but each campus only holds two grades, so last year each child was at a different school, a logistic nightmare if you shuttle the kids to school. A genius plan if they ride the bus.

For me the positives outweigh the negatives.

By the time they get to middle school and high school, they've gone to school with the same kids their whole life. It's nice and keeps down bullying and cliques.

But I digress...

Here is everyone decked out

As always I worry most about David.

This year he raced home all pumped up.

I asked him how the day went and he said,

"it was great, I have 4 classmates with Xbox live, I wrote their gamertags in my agenda, gotta go and add them as my friends."

So clearly this year is a success.

Alice all ready for 2nd grade-

She's with Mrs. Kaune and loves it.

She summed up her first day like this,

"I don't know anyone but Mrs. Kaune is sure glad to have another Mullens in her class."

Mrs, Kaune, bless her heart, has taught everyone 2nd grade so far.

We hope she sticks it out for another 4years so she can teach Joely too.

She's a great teacher who enjoys being with children and is a very consistent teacher.

We totally appreciate her and am thrilled that once again we have someone in her class.

Here is the Qbone- he's all decked out with his

"faux-hawk or bro hawk" whatever you call it,

"It's all good baby"

Quentn has three teachers and various elective teachers. He's happy to be back in school but more than that he's happy to be a Crosby Cougar. So far he's worn this shirt twice and his jersey twice. Quentin is proud of his red and black Cougars.

His foolsball has begun and with his sisters cheering him on, his team is 2-0 and he made his first sack of the season, with numerous "hurries" and tackles.

More about this on another blog.

Joely and I do miss them, but if we get too sad we go to the park or hang with friends and the feeling passes. We love four o clock when everyone is back home exciting us with tales from school.

We are blessed to be in this school district

And big news for me, Seminary started the same day- so my days begin officially at 4:30 and my four students arrive at 5:45 (or should arrive) this year proves to be another study filled year.

I've enjoyed the lessons so far and look forward to learning more about Church History and Gospel Doctrine.

Another thing is that in our training we were told to relate everything back to how it fits in the Plan of Salvation, so I'm trying to do that, it's bit challenging to get them to think like that, but hopefully soon we all can get the hang of it.

I'm very grateful to be teaching seminary.

50 words- a cool video that I did not make- LOL

2010-08-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

This is one of those good finds on facebook, I loved the sweetness of this video. It made me think of what words mean and how they can shape our actions.

Look Mom I CAN sew!!!

2010-07-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Megan got a cute pattern for some easy peasy skirts when her mom visited last month.

I was inspired from a cute post from Jennifer Sorenson Scott's blog
and i really wanted to sew, so we finally got together and made these cute easy skirts.

Next time we'll try to do Jennifer's pattern- (seriously check out her blog)

so cute on her way to church with her scriptures and her song book.

And best of all they twirl and twirl and twirl

watch out mom, I just may "borrow" your surger on my next visit.

It was fun getting in touch with my inner seamstress.

She had been in chains for years.

Just don't look to close to the hem and you'l lbe impressed.

Alice LOVED hers

and Joely Loved having a BEAUTIFUL NEW SKIRT.

This is the Place!

2010-07-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

On July 24th 1847, Brigham Young led a rag tag group of Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. It is well documented that he rose from his fever stricken bed in the back of a wagon and said,

"This is the right place"

Thousands upon Thousands followed and the Salt Lake Valley thrived with the faith, hope and determination of the myriad pioneers that came across the plains and the Atlantic.

Today we celebrate our heritage and I think about my grandparents that made the sacrifice to practice their religion. I'm proud of my pioneer roots.

In Utah and Idaho (where my family comes from)

They have BIG HUGE PARADES, FIREWORKS,THE OSMONDS

IT's a big deal

And that's how the Mormons up north roll.

However, here in the deep south, we celebrate Pioneer Day a little different.

While Brigham Young's words are well documented, a lesser known tradition was born that day.

Apparently the morning of the 24th the Bishopric got up early and made pancakes for everyone and all the women and children had to do was get ready to eat by 8 am.

And that's how we roll.

Thanks for the good food and good times this morning.

Oh and A Huge Thanks to

Grandma and Grandpa Ward

Grandma and Grandpa John

Grandma and Grandpa Bright

For doing all they could do which led to me having it real easy to grow up and beleive in this church- that they literally toiled over.

Happy Pioneer Day.

Toy Story three

2010-07-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Dreamweaver

I realize we are Johnny Come Latelies on this.

But we went today.

I'm still VERY TEARY EYED.

Usually Disney gets me with a dead mom or dog, but this time it was thinking about my precious little guy leaving for college in a brief six years.

Just before it got sad, Joely decides she wants to sit by Alice so David was in the seat with me all snuggled up when I started to bawl- true sobbing you know CHEST HEAVING and all. David was wondering if I was ok and I told him it was sad.

I just kept thinking about all the many firsts I had with the little dude and how once he goes off to college he'll have plenty of firsts but none will have me in it

WAH WAH WAH

He was sweet and held me tight.

Hey what are Alice and Quentin doing sitting next to each other?
Mr. Oil and Ms. Water?

HUH?

Well on Monday they were at each others throats until I made them go into their rooms until they could get along.

I figured they'd still be there.

These two can literally disagree on anything.

For instance They fought over who will win the Final Jam, Alice says it will be Camp Rock and Quentin says Camp Star.

Clearly Quentin knows "aint no way in a manger" a Jonas Brother will lose, so he's just doing it to "offend and insult" (her words) Alice. I'll be honest that one irritated me, I mean come on-

Who doesn't love Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers?

But I digress--Back to Monday

Robert, David, Joely and I left for scouts and told them they still needed to work it out.

They joined together against us and right now we are all enjoying a temporary cease-fire.

Alice called us while we were gone and said,

"You should leave us together alone more often, we played board games"

Most likely they complained about their parents a lot and played a little,

Whatever works.

Cheese Joely.

She didn't like the previews-

"TOO LOUD"

But she enjoyed the show and the popcorn and even Mr. Pibb

(they didn't have the Doctor at the AMC Theater)

Oh yeah, why do I have Barbie and Ken up there?

Because true love wins in the end.

He Lives All Glory to His Name

2010-07-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was able to attend, yet another, wonderful inservice meeting. Our leader, President Pomeroy is the Church Education System Director for the Houston Area. Each month he meets with us and gives us ideas, insights and a spiritual boost.

Tonight's lesson was about the Apostle Richard G. Scott and his powerful address about the Atonement of Christ. President Pomeroy provided us each with a a transcript of the talk and asked us to read and ponder the following questions:

1. Reasons why it is important to understand and rely on the teachings and atonement of Jesus Christ.

2. New Insights you receive from Elder Scott's teachings

3. His suggestion for ways we can better understand and appreciate the atonement.

It was wonderful to read and ponder and I was amazed what I learned and reviewed. I encourage you to listen to the talk or read the transcript here

And if you are interested here is what I learned.

1. Reasons why it is important to understand and rely on the teachings and atonement of Jesus Christ.

"He opened the path wehereby each of Heavenly Father's children born to earth would have the opportunity to rise from death to live again"
While speaking of the Resurrection Elder Scott said, " What a glorious moment that morning was for all who understood the significance."
"we realize that what He has willingly done with immense suffering and sacrifice will affect us not only in this life But throughout all eternity"
"Jesus Christ Lives, He is our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately."

New Insights I received from this particular Teaching of The Apostle Richard G. Scott

"How our Father in Heaven must have rejoiced that sacred day when His totally obedient, completely worthy Son shattered the chains of death." I guess I had never considered the rejoicing that took place..This has always been to me part of the plan, so I thought about it as kind of a business as usual thing instead of something the Father rejoiced in. I got chills when I imagined the happiness in the heavens as a result of the Saviors Sacrifice.
while speaking of your own personal witness of the Atonement Elder Scott said,"They must be more than principles you memorize. They must be woven into the very fiber of your being as a powerful bulwark against the rising tide of abomination that infects our world" I had to ask what a bulwark was, it is the part of the ship that keeps the water out. The powerful imagery that comes from the phrase "infects our world" really shook me. What an wonderful promise though that our personal knowledge (which leads to action) of our Savior and his sacrifice will keep out the evils of our day.
While referring to Second Nephi chapter 2 verses 6 and 7 Elder Scott said, "That scripture indicates that for the proud and haughty, it is as though there never were an Atonement made" Proud and Haughty? whooooaaaa- that includes me a million times over. What a scary statement, that is is if the Atonement never occur ed.
"When we break a law there is nothing left over from prior obedience to satisfy the demands of justice for that broken law" Again, whoa! How many times have thought or even said out loud---"well I did this and this and this, so I'm going to slide on that" or though, "I've served enough, now I can rest on my laurels"
I guess I've always known those thoughts were inconsistent with my knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan (specifically read the address of King Benjamin regarding our debt to the Lord) but to hear an apostle declare it really gave me a "rude awakening"
"None of us can ever adequately appreciate the mortality the full beneficial consequences of the Atonement" I was glad to read this. There is so much I get frustrated with and I need to remember that I won't be able to understand everything during this mortal state. In the next life when the all of mankind is revealed and our memories are open, I'll better understand the complexities of today. For now to quote the Young Woman Anthem, "I walk by Faith".
Another wonderful Apostolic promise given "As parents, prepare your children for the challenges they will encounter. Teach them truth, encourage them to live it, and they will all right no matter how severely the world is shaken" They will be all right, I can't think of anything more that I wish for my little family than that they will be all right.
"In Time we will be released from all other assignments we receive but not from that of father and mother" WOW!!! Again, not really a new concept, because Families can be Forever, but I never thought so much that all the other assignments will come and go. It makes the admonition "NO other success can compensate for Failure in the home" all the more meaningful.

Elder Scott's suggestions for ways we can better understand and appreciate the atonement.

"Strive to Understand more about it"
"I believe that it is instructive to try to imagine what the Atonement required of both the Father and willing Son"
"I energetically encourage you to establish a personal study plan "
"Profound Personal Pondering of the scriptures accompanied by searching, heartfelt prayer"
"Consistent Temple attendance"
"the best way to make a permanent change for good is to make Jesus Christ your model and His teachings your guide for life"
"repent of improper choices and to conquer the negative effects of a life contrary to His teachings."
"Qualify by obedience"

I am so grateful for tonight's lesson and for the time and effort President Pomeroy puts into each inservice meeting. Tonight made me want to be diligent in studying the words of the living prophets and pondering their message. I know they speak the will of the Lord.

Bueller, Ferris Anyone, Anyone?

2010-07-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

The boys and I stayed up late on Thursday Night watching a couple of classic

80's movies on Turner Classic movies.

We watched the end of Sixteen Candles and all of Ferris Bueller (until the very end part where Cameron goes a little nuts and the car goes flying out of the amazing glass garage in a forest in Chicago-- I thought that might get a bit intense plus the whole Charlie Sheen/Ferris' Sister thing I deemed inappropriate for nearly 11 and 12 year olds)

But I digress.

They loved Farmer Ted and his "clean close shaves."

I had to explain head gear. (orthodontists, anyone, anyone- do they still do head gear?)

I pointed out John Cusack, and told them how when I met their sweet Dad that I thought he looked like John Cusack.

They collectively rolled their eyes and said, "ya we remember"
(I guess they've heard all my stories)

They also recognized his voice, but couldn't place it. I'm guessing it's from IGOR, which I didn't' see, but found out he was the lead voice.

I enjoyed staying up late and sharing these flicks with them. I loved that They BOTH Cracked up during the parade scene, when the garage employees took off in the Ferrari. I loved that they thought Ferris was a genius to rig his room with the mannequin and the synthesiser. David acted like he was taking notes when Ferris was explaining how to fake a good sick day. During 16 candles they giggled during the wedding scene, they enjoyed long dong duck and realized that they played the silly "Chinese sounding" music whenever they said his name. I'll admit to being proud that all day yesterday Quentin kept repeating this scene when mr. Rooney is at the arcade and he asks the guy behind the counter about the Cubs gain

Mr. Rooney "what's the score"

Guy behind the counter"nothing- nothing"

Mr. Rooney "whose winning?"

Guy Behind the Counter "The Bulls"

But I was a bit nervous, because there were parts that I had overlooked that can get inappropriate, but I (hope) that it went over their heads and they were so busy laughing at the girl who thought she had to cut her hair off instead of just open the door, to realize she was beyond drunk.
In the movie she says something like, "Help me out I'm your prom queen"

To which David responded, "what has that got to do with anything?"

I laughed.

While watching and repeating these movies from memory I was transported back in time to my senior year--back to the Salad Days of my youth-- and I'm dating myself here, for those of you who I thought I was in my early 30's-

It was August 1997.

That's when my old friend Danielle made her triumphant reentry into Colorado Springs.

She returned tanned, rested and ready for senior year.

We had so much fun, their were sooo many "best" times that I can't really order them

but the most memorable was our love for these hilarious movies.

While getting ready for school, instead of listening to the radio, we both (at our separate houses)

had the movies in the VCR.

There was a time we could have acted out every scene, and she probably still can, and if we were together I know I could still do it.

She Had the secretary from Ferris Bueller, spot on, with her imitation.

Other movies we quoted

1. Breakfast Club (demented and sad but social)

2. Pretty in Pink (he's nursing some serious emotions)

3. Top Gun (I feel the need, the need for speed)

4. Some kind of wonderful, (your bleep is too precious for vinyl)

5.Grease (this is senior year and we are gonna rule the school)

6. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (just eating some pizza and learning about Cuba)

7. Princess Bride (my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die)

8. Dirty Dancing (Nobody puts Baby in the corner)

I'm sure I'm missing a slew of the movies we loved.

I miss my high school friends. I didn't end up near any of the people I loved back then. Although, I love connecting with them on facebook and through e-mail, but sometimes I get really JEALOUS that they and their families are having fun with other people and not knowing me or my family.

It's much easier now to keep in touch with the miracle of the Internet and cell phones.

When I moved away from Danielle, Tiffany and Jo (the three besties who I actually consistently kept in touch with) we had to correspond with letters and stamps and we had to pay outrageous phone bills to keep in touch--but we did and I'm so grateful for that. But a day doesn't go by that I don't miss them and wish we were, maybe not back at Doherty High School, but close enough to meet at the park or go catch a chick flick, scrapbook, or be in a book club together-- and have over for birthday parties, holidays, etc.

I am blessed with wonderful friends wherever I've lived, but you know those besties you have in your senior year, well words can't explain them.

For sure the actions of high school, don't define you, (thank heavens)

but your friends do help to define who you'll be and I'm glad I had the great ones I had and that they are still just a click or phone call away.

Two Thumbs Down

2010-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Joely is giving up the thumb

And it's hard.

So last night she kept asking ever so sweetly,

"Are you sure I can't use my thumb?"

and I kept telling her no, but to use her blankie for comfort.

She finally wrapped the blue blanket around her head and went to sleep.

This morning she cried for her thumb and kept looking at it.

It's going to be a rough two weeks for her, but she can do it.

I do hate hearing her cry for something that she loves,

I'm sure this is one of the life lessons that will make her stronger,

If it doesn't just kill her.

Fireworks

2010-07-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

This is about the light the sky kind of fireworks

and not a description of my ongoing love affair with Robert.

After all it's a family friendly blog-

Here is what we did on the 4th in Baytown.

We hang at the Former MHMR (mental health and mental retardation) building

now the Harris Cty Health clinic parking lot.

We are not about the crowds,

We don't roll that way.

I rarely can get a good picture of the actual fireworks, but this wasn't too bad.

How could they have more fun?

2010-07-09T06:15:00.001-07:00

I know it's hard to imagine anymore fun than seeing Eclipse, going to a parade and shopping at Hobby Lobby, but noooo our fourth o july fun did not end there.

Saturday we headed out to Uncle Rex's to check out the new pool and have some lunch.

As always, there was plenty of food, hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, chips, sodas, you name it and it was there! YUMMY

Her Royal Higness Alice, kept mentioning how cold she was, until Uncle Rex turned on the Hot Tub, and then she was able to relax and not be cold. This little cutie with her is Uncle Bo and Aunt Tessie's niece. They came out too, it was a lot of fun.

The pool, it now has a deck around it- Gosh they move quick!

And farm fresh eggs. David and Quentin gathered these at Uncle Rex's chicken coop.
He has 10 adult chickens and 12 babies- but no roosters.

David declared, "It reeks in there"

Apparently it smelled like Chicken Poop in the Coop.

We Missed Aunt June- hopefully she'll be back from Corpus Soon.

And More fun...

2010-07-07T12:37:00.001-07:00

After the parade the kids thought they were on their way home.

HA HA HA HA

When I told them we were headed to Hobby Lobby,

nobody complained, because they thought it was a joke.

And the joke was on them

Because we went to

HOBBY LOBBY.

According to David, "it's the least happiest place on earth"

When we pulled into the parking lot, the boys were still in denial.

Only Joely was singing the "Hobby Lobby Song"

which sounds somewhat like Spongebob's C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G Song.

I needed the exact right color of red to go with some baby shower invites, due the next day.

Alas they were out, so I made do with some other papers, but I had to take their picture.

To which Quentin said, "Really mom? I am in my uniform."

To which David replied, "Don't fight it, you know it's for her blog."

To their relief, I really did just go in for paper and not to browse the merchandise.

And to make it up to them, we had Chick Filet for lunch.

Chick Filet (or Chickolaid as Joely says it) is the best way to show your gratitude for children behaving in a place like Hobby Lobby.

More fourth fun to come, right now I'm being called back to battle Mario Karts.

Fourth of July Weekend Fun!

2010-07-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

The weekend started on Friday Night. After Houston was soaked to the rim with the outer bands of the Hurricane, the rain left and we had great weather for the weekend.

Friday night I went to a late showing of Eclipse with Holly and her fam. It was wonderful, I liked it sooo much. If you you don't remember, I HATED the New Moon movie. But Eclipse was wonderful, It had everything I needed, shirtless werewolves, awesome vamp fights and I now have another convert in the "Bella needs to be shot, not made into a vampire" group. She irritated Holly too! LOL

So that was Friday Night!

Great time, and I can't wait to get the video and watch it again and again and then one more time.

So what says 4th of July better than a Crosby Parade?

(if you look close you can see Quentin- I couldn't get this mom to move, and she's with the Sherrif's department so I didn't want to remove her by force)

This year the parade fell on July 3rd, which was pretty good scheduling, if you ask me.

And we really don't feel right about attending a parade without the Loves.

And thanks David for joining us. He did eventually come out to help pick up candy, after just "one more level, then I can save it."

More activities to come- but I'll publish this for now.

Rainy Summer Days

2010-07-02T05:55:00.001-07:00

Our new obsession is GLEE

Through the miracle of Netflix the girls and I have watched the first 10 episodes.

We laugh and I sometimes cry.

But mostly we are singing the songs and Dancing.
Alice is awesome at interpretive dancing.

Watching videos is a great way to waste a way a RAINY

RAINY week in SE Texas.

My tan is diminishing...

Joely has been taking some extra naps.

Not pictured is Quentin, I didn't want to risk waking him with the flash

But yesterday he slept until three pm.

When he woke up he declared,

"I'm hungry and my head hurts."

Just showing you her healthy lunch.

Turkey Sandwhich with mustard cheese and lettuce and

instead of chips, tomatoes, carrots and green peppers to munch on.

Love my little VEGAN

My friend posted this link about ten reasons why having a toddler is like being at a frat party.

And my favorite entry was #9- there is always a girl in the corner crying her eyes out.

Robert was appalled I took this picture, he shook his head and said,
"her timeout is not for your enjoyment"

Joely is getting a little cabin fever and she's been throwing things at Alice like

HARD WOOD BLOCKS, Alice's PET ROCK, Barbies, really anything that can be an effective weapon, even her blankie can cause pain.

So we started the nose in the corner because ANY other punishment ends in her laughing at us.

So this is how you find David, playing Xbox live and chatting while he kills Zombies in Left for Dead 2. He can't wait to get "Naughty Bear"
Which is a sweet little video game about a Teddy Bear that doesn't get invited to the party and goes on a killing rampage.

Cute- thank you deranged game developer.

David has fun though, he explains that he understand that violence isn't the answer, that the bloodshed isnt' real and when real people get shot/maimed/etc. they can't pick up a backback with a red cross on it and get healed instantly.

He's grounded in reality.

For now we wait for the storms to pass before we can see the light of day again and we are REALLY looking forward to Robert being home for three days in a row!

GOOD TIMES

So What's up with David?

2010-06-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Proof that he loves me.

His grandma had been wondering so here is what he's been doing..

Playing Xbox 360 Live (he's got the gold membership- sweetmamak is the gamer name)

Sleeping Late due to staying up all night playing against Travis on Xbox live

Working on his personal hygeine (I went Swimming, why do I need to shower?)

Running. ( He had run one 5k and one 1K and is in training for his next one)

Finishing up his Tenderfoot Requirements- Just the pesky knots are left

Swimming

One month of summer down and he's had a blast. He and Quentin spent a week at South Padre Island with Rob's parents. He's stayed with Travis and has some friends stay here. He's been swimming at least 5 times a week and he goes running and is working on his Fitness Merit Badge. He's up to 100 situps and 20 pushups. He finally was able to do one pull up, he's been working on that since April. Last night he got proficient in his knot tying, so at our next troop meeting he'll get one final test and should be able to have his board of review for his Tenderfoot. He completed his Weather MErit Badge, and next week after his Dental Exam he'll have his Dentistry merit badge and he's pretty close to getting his fingerprinting one. But like he says, just one month and 24 days of freedom left. He plans on making it all count.

The Stuff of Nightmares

2010-06-29T07:31:00.001-07:00

Robert, Precious Robert, says, "It wouldn't hurt you to fill in the hole that YOUR dog dug up"

so I thought, "Sure I'd rather fill it in than have Truffles chew through the water pipe"

But while I was shoveling, I had the uncanny feeling that I was being watched.

And being watched, I was.

By 8 beady eyes.

So Robert, You are wrong, It could really hurt me to fill in the hole.

The thing moved along it's web, all the while looking at me, wanting to capture me in its delicate web.

I did notice that there were several mosquitos squirreled away for its breakfast.

I shall call it Charlotte and it will save us from swarms of pests.

That is until Hurricane Alex makes landfall anyway.

All-Star Dad

2010-06-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

The votes have been tallied and Robert has been honored with a place on the

Dad's All-Star Team.

He won by a landslide, and now he has the T-Shirt to prove it.

Quentin handcrafted this gift, an iron on of

"My old business partner Bob Marley"

That "quote" is from an episode of Foster's home for Imaginary Friends

Which was quite frankly, one of the best cartoons ever made.

Curse you Cartoon Network for taking it off the air.

We all love the music of Bob Marley- thanks to the indoctrination by dear old Dad.

My favorite is "Don't worry about a thing"

And he's not just awesome with our kids, this is Robert helping Mya put the animals back in the right spot. Mya has spent enough time with me to know that I normally ignore children's request for help with toys. She went immediately to Robert, who gladly stopped what he was doing to help her.

By the way, these awesome toys came courtesy of Robert's Great Uncle Gene- It's kind of hard to envision how awesome they are by this picture, but the animals and dinosaurs are amazing, they are heavy duty and they have this neat ledge that has places for every animal/dinosaur. Uncle Gene and his sister Grandma Dorothy find the most amazing toys.

This is at Michael's Making the All Star Dad shirt.

The Michael's lady wasn't real interested in children doing their own craft.

In fact she only let the kids do their hand print, but even that was done by her standards.

As you can see her perfectly manicured hands were pressing down on Alice's hands.

Joely allowed the lady to help her too, but reluctantly. What the lady did not know is that Joely can do ANYTHING by HERSELF.

This is her bored, because after we washed the paint off, we came back and the lady had done the rest of the painting, when I asked if the girls could at LEAST paint their names on, she agreed to allow Alice to do it, but "not the other one, because you have to be at least six"

This is Alice, although she normally likes to do her own art, she let the Michael's lady have her own way. She had met us there because she was staying with Emily.
I'm glad we got to do it, but I really think that Baytown Michael's should not put the anal retentive lady on Kids Craft Detail.

So now let me tell you about Mr. Wonderful.

He's such a great dad. Originally he wanted a new grill, but the forces of evil conspired against me when I went to purchase it. So he said, "well go on Saturday and find the perfect one"

Well on Saturday we "donated" $285.00 to the Crosby Youth Football League so Quentin could play football and Alice could be a cheerleader.
Robert decided the grill could wait until maybe Labor Day Sales.

I'm excited about football again.
Quentin (and I as a crazed football mom) had such a great time last season.

I know this year will be even more fun--

Who knows maybe I'll get political and try and get on the football board!

I digress-

Robert, this is about Robert.

He works hard and never complains about his commute or job.

(and I know the commute is HORRIBLE- for those of you in the know, we live on the east side of Houston and he works on the west side at 290 near Hollister)

He's always willing to stop and play with the kids.

He's very patient with me and keeps me calm.

He makes us laugh.

Each of the kids feels they are his favorite.

He spoils the girls rotten. (we pity their future husbands, but for now they have the confidence they'll need to make it through the tough times)

He will play Xbox with the boys and LOVES a basketball game too (real and outside)

He Agreed to be the Scout troop treasurer and even let me buy him a shirt.

He is my BFF!

Ace is the Place

2010-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

We moved here almost four years ago.

And one of the first shops Robert went to was Ace Hardware.
We dont' remember what it was he needed (keys copied, somethign for the lawn mower?)

Anyhoo for some reason the service was bad.

So we decided to boycott.
Well this week we needed some air filters and a drain auger and I just didn't

feel like Driving 15 miles to Baytown or 13 miles to Atascocita,(to the Lowes) so I stopped into

Ace Hardware.
Much to my suprise they were awesome and friendly and gave us a great deal on the air filters

(buy a box of 12 but only pay for 10)

So now that we can't remember why we were boycotting them, I'm now a fan.

Definatly had the "friendly hardware man"

Today the girls and I had lunch with Arcalee and then swam for about 3 hours at the pool with Kristen Nelson and Kaitlyn.

It was a fun fun day.
We first met Kristen and Kaitlyn 4 years ago at "cheer kingdom" the girls were just 3 and 4 and Alice didn't cheer the whole year, but I would ALWAYS run into Kristen in and around Crosby.

Then this spring I was at a Girl Scout Leader Meeting and there she was again and we camped with them at Lake Livginston and I'm glad to get to know her for real.

The girls had a blast and so did I.

Also since Kristen is "from crosby" she knows everyone or at least their brother and so its fun to learn about everyone she went to high school with and she also was one of my mother in law's students, "back in the day"

With the exception of the Ace hardware picture, I forgot to take any other photos- silly me.

Again I can't wait to see the boys tomorrow.
They called and had been on a pirate cruise, Life is good for the Mullens Boys.

Oh and I cooked a pork tenderloin tonight.
It was yummy and easy and well healthy too! (I seasoned it with Tony's and cooked it for 30 minutes ina 475 oven- a variation of a Rachel Ray recipe)

I also made this Giant Green Salad

I got the recipe from my friend Rebecca Jones Food Blog (you can find her on "keeping up with the Jones" ont he side of this blog- I digress)

I was real excited to make the salad, because it's her recipe that's printed in a Taste of Home issue, she's a food editor. But like most things I don't read the directions all the way through.
When I was cutting up the lettuces I thought, man this sure calls for a lot, then I read the directions for the dressing and I thought Holy COW- that's a lot of oil- and then I read the bottom- Serves 85!!! 85 Ay Caramba, and then I considered the title, "GIANT" green salad- so then I giggled and cut the recipe down to about 1/5- It made me think of the cookbook Adrienne, Heather, Jenny, Breezy and I put together one night for our old Memorial Park Ward, there was a recipe in it called Manwacos that served 106 --we giggled so much that night.

Anyhoo Alice and I loved the salad sooo much that we'll make it again and at my next Church Dinner we will make the whole recipe and serve 85 of our closest friends!

Have a great night.

More of Camp Alice and Joely

2010-06-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

See how cute they can be?
We had Emily with us and then we picked up Anoi, Keegan and Mya to come see the
"Jack and the Beanstalk" play at the community center.

By just getting there 20 minutes early the kids got to sit on the front row- woo hoo. They were as good as GOLD during the performance. When we checked in the volunteer asked if I was a day care center. That just made me laugh, because the answer is no, but I did bring 6 kids with me.

This is Joely's favorite part, the refreshments.

For the craft they let the kids plant a bean sprout. Very cute. Another fun thing is it's run by the senior volunteers, and they always say how cute my kids are and that makes me want to go back. You always see some strange people, and I can't help but eavesdrop-- so naturally I have a good time too- LOL

Afterwards we went to the Pool and had fun, however we went a little late and around four o clock it was inundated with teens, scantilly clad, and a lot of parents so we have to get there early enough to leave by three, the kids don't like a crowd---where do they get that from?

Today will be fun too, Lunch with Miss Arcalee-FINALLY I dont' even remember the last time we got together.

And tomorrow the boys have their triumphant re-entry into Crosby.
They've been missed.

More Summer Fun, starring Joely and Alice and featuring Emily

2010-06-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

With the boys away, we thought it would be the perfect time for

a girls sleepover. This is Emily Skanks one of Alice's BFF's from Girl Scouts and Church.

She's super funny and the girls are very much alike.

In fact they even look quite a bit a like.

Mostly they are silly.
The boys have friends over a lot (of course not as much as they would like) but A LOT.

The difference is they are busy killing each other on Halo or Left for Dead 2, where as the girls

Did nails, played littlest pet shop, pretty ponies, barbies and their sweet Nintendo DS games. We also watched "Princess Diaries, Royal Engagement" and the girls laughed at me while I cried during the wedding scent.

Robert and I pulled out the futon couch so they could sleep unencumbered by the TV.

The boys sleep wherever they pass out, usually holding a controller in one hand.

It was a fun evening and today proves to be fun too, A play at the community center and swimming before we take Emily home tonight.

It also promises to be filled with Giggles and Silliness and quite possibly new nail polish, we'll see.

This is at Emily's house, (before the sleepover)they have the cool backyard pool, the way the picture is taken, Alice looks like a giant, but her and Emily are about the same height.

Emily has a cute little brother named Earl Jr. who is the same as little Joely, they had fun yesterday.

On the banks of the crystal clear San Jacinto River Beach.

If you are a dedicated follower, this lovely beach has been blogged about many times,

If this is your first time here, this is one of the amenities we get in our neighborhood for our

$40 a months homeowners fees.

I love the silly beach.

It's in the neighborhood, so if we get down there and I forget the cooler, it's not like anyone is going to die of starvation, we just have to cut the visit short.

Also if I feel like going to the beach but don't' want to invest a whole day, well then here we are.

LOVE IT!!!

Alice is a natural for the camera- I love this swimsuit. So many of the suits this year were hoochie mamaish, and this one is nice and modest and Alice loves it.

Again, crystal Clear.

So maybe it's not the spring fed Guadalupe, but it's in my own backyard and it is a great way to beat the heat on Mondays when the pool is closed.

And like David says, "BEST OF ALL, no lifeguards yelling, Adult Swim"

Lasagna

2010-06-14T18:23:00.001-07:00

For the past three summers, Quentin and I

have been excited by the

"Next Food Network Star" Competition show.

It's inspired some delicious dishes.

We've laughed, We've Cried.

(We've kissed one hour of tv good bye)

But this week my little Q-Bone is on a vaction, so I was watching it alone last night.

Don't feel too bad, he was soo full from eating his weight in shrimp last night that he couldn't even talk to me- He and David are on South Padre Island with Rob's parents.

One of the challenges the contestants made a Lasagna and my stomach was growling, but it was midnight so I went to bed and just dreamt about it..

So today I searched for recipes for a veggie lasagna.

I used different sources and tweaked things here and there, so I proclaim the masterpiece,

Kareena's Lasagna.

(Per Chef Adrienne, if you make a recipe and change it enough it becomes yours. In fact I changed the Chicken Salad recipe enough that she even said that is mine, and I got it from her, the highest compliment she could give me)

You'll notice one side has a lot of cheese, that's for the lactose tolerant of the family.

Here is my recipe, one day I'll have my own show called,

"Cooking with Quentin and his mama"

but for now, enjoy my food photography and delighful comments.

Imagine, if you will, a 30 minute program where I make funny comments and cook delicious meals for anyone to recreate.

First the sauce

Sautee One Chopped Medium onion, 3 celery stalks chopped fine, and about a 1/2 cup chopped carrots (the holy trinity of vegetable seasonings) in about 2T of Olive Oil and 4T of minced Garlic

After about 5 minutes add two (28 ounce) cans of Diced Tomatoes.

Stir well

Add

Kosher Salt, Pepper, Oregano and Thyme to taste

Add 4 Bay leaves and simmer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime in a heavy pan, sautee in olive oil

2 chopped zuchinis and

2 chopped yellow squash

After about 5 minutes add Spinach until it wilts.

Oh yeah, also cook the lasagna noodles before all this.

For the Cheesy part-

Mix one container of Ricotta with 2 eggs and a container of shredded parmesean cheese. Add Garlic Salt and stir real well.

Now just assemble your layers.

At this point I would have these awesome pictures but Blogger is not letting me add pictures the way I want so I'm giving up -wah wah wah-

Any hoo layer it, and then cook it uncovered at 350 for about 45 minutes, longer if you want the top cheese to be nice and crisp.

Make sure to end with Mozarella on top.

Sorry Rachel Ray, it took longer than 30 minutes but it was "delish"

What Summer Means to Me

2010-06-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

My favorite thing about Summer is staying up late and sleeping way TOO LATE!!! Joely epitomized this today. Last night She stayed up way past midnight and this picture was taken today at noon. She rolled out of the rack in time for lunch. Now we are "fixin" to go to the River Beach in our neighborhood. For the record, I woke up at 9:30 which was AWESOME-- While I was at seminary graduation, President Banks mentioned how even though he no longer teaches seminary he still gets up at five am to study. I'm not delusional, I am not attempting that and I was glad he didn't pronounce it in terms of "divine inspiration" because frankly I'm not sure I could handle that edict, this summer- For now staying up late and sleeping late are summers' greatest joys and since all the camps are done with, we can all do both!

Shallow Day -TWILIGHT (what have you done to my wife?)

2010-06-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

School's Out for Summer

2010-06-12T17:49:00.001-07:00

Can you hear Alice Cooper Singing? I am soooo glad that school is out. This was our first full week. Dylan Hutchings came over to spend the week. He and Quentin got up early (7:30 am) to get to football camp. Last year at the end of Football Camp David said, "Hey mom, next year when you think of signing me up for football camp, Don't!!!!" David likes to play, but he's like me, anything that starts early in the morning (with the exception of seminary) can't be any good. Then in the evenings, Dylan David and I went to twilight camp.
Twilight camp is actually for cub scouts, but if there are scout leaders who want to lead merit badge classes for boy sctous whose parents are working the twilight camp then the boy scouts can go. Naturally I signed up to do it. It would be easy. Typically there are about 8 boys, I asked my other leaders who was in and The Knights both agreed. Pat taught Dentistry, her husband Erik taught Fingerprinting and I picked Weather. In hindsight, it was a really lousy idea. Instead of 8 boys we had 32!!! YES 32- CRAZY. They were of course for the most part really good and I enjoyed them, but it was too much to keep a handle on. And to be honest the boys were immensly bored. Can you blame them? Come to the camp for 3 hours to learn about WEATHER???? Fingerprinting and Dentistry were at least hands on, but Weather what was I thinking? LOL- I know what I was thinking, I picked something we could start and finish, it wasn't my best work. THen the last night we had them working on citizenship merit badges, they started some, but for the most part they wanted to play, and I don't blame them. The Cubs were doing some real fun activities including being sprayed on by a fire truck. Needless to say, next year I won't be raising my hand, and at the next few round tables, I will be ducking my head in shame- hee hee- anyhoo Alice had a blast, she was in the cub camp as a "me too" with about 8 other little sisters of cub scouts. She loved the crafts, games and comraderie with the other girls. So I will say with all certainty, I am glad I did it because it made Alice happy. I'm also very proud of David because even though he was bored, he was a super boy and did everything he was asked and he maintained a happy heart, which under the circumstances he could have gone with the "eye roll" attitude. He knows when I'm feeling down and does a good job of trying to lift my spirits. Also a shout out to Quentin because he babysat Joely for about an hour every night and he was thrilled to do so. She usually fell asleep and he could play Halo ODST uninterrupted until we got home at about ten, but for those few minutes that we were leaving he had to basically stand on his head and do a jig to keep her from going ballistic. He said, "I was like her servant" he got her ice cream, cookies, chips, Dr. Pepper, juice whatever she asked and then rocked her to sleep. Robert and I have great Kids. Oh and This would have been Quentin's third year at twilight camp and he wasn't interested in going, he's almost done with his arrow of light requirements and can't wait to be a boy scout. I realize that most of this sounds like I'm speaking a foreign language, but it is what it is.
I figure if you are still reading by now you are Allie- Hey Allie!
The boys are off on vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Mullens and the girls are watching Toy Story 2 for the very first time. This suprises me because how many times did I watch this with the boys? We have it on VHS and DVD and yet somehow the girls never saw it. I am listening to it and I still have it memorized. It makes me wonder, what else did they miss out on? I know I exposed them to the Princess Classics, but I think they missed Lion King. They saw Lion King 1 1/2 but I'm positive never Lion King 2. What else have they been deprived of? Maybe this week we will catch up on some classics as I did deep into my DVD Vault.
Robert isn't having much of a summer break, in fact he's working more. He's had to work last Sunday and he'll go in tomorrow, and probably every Sunday for awhile. He never complains and I love that. I am making a goal to be a better and supportive wife, this summer he'll have good food with plenty of veggies and no calls from the road to pick up Frenchy's or Chinese Food.
Have a great summer y'all!

Seminary comes to an end for the year.....

2010-05-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

So what does a high school production of Don Quixote have to do with seminary?

Well the lead was Kenny Chilton, one of my students-

So Alice and Quentin and I went to watch the final showing

of the award winning production. It was great, I had no idea I had been

in the presence of such great talent. The Lighting Guy, (not pictured) was Brody Stotts, another student, and apparently he's famous in the area for his excellent skills.

Not knowing much about lighting I told him if the lighting had been bad, I would have noticed, but it seemed "spot" on to me.

The whole cast was awesome and I could stay out late, since I only had one class left.

I am not so good at the whole holding the camera out and taking a photo.

So today's class was fun and a little bittersweet, I'll miss Brody he's going to BYU in the fall but I'll still have Kenny and Brandon and hopefully three other students, and of course three months of sleeping in will be good too --- to say the least.

For class we had a breakfast party and I gave them each a dvd of "How rare a Posession" which talks about how precious the Book of Mormon is. IT's good and not cheesy, like some church videos can be.

Then we read the final "sermons" of the Book of Mormon Prophets. This was suggested by my CES supervisor, Brother Pomeroy and I thought it was a wonderful suggestion so we did, Here are the References if you are interested. In Alma and Helaman, several prophets write, but it was hard to find a "farewell" speech, so we just kind of skipped them- I hope they are not offended.

Lehi- 2 Nephi 1:21-24

Nephi- 2 Nephi 33:10-15

Jacob- Jacob 7:26-27

Enos- Enos 1:25-27

Jarom- Jarom 1:13-15

Omni- Omni 1:1-3

Amaron - Omni 1:6-8

Chemish-Omni 1:9

Abinadom Omni 1:11

The above Omni Prophets, really didn't give much info, but rather recorded that they were doing what they were old, and in the case of Chemish he was tattling that his brother only wrote what he wrote the same day he gave it to him, it's kind of funny-

Amaleki- Omni 1:25-26

King Benjamin- Mosiah 3:41, Mosiah 5:14

Basically Mosiah 2-5 is his farewell address, but in the interst of time, i focused on my two favorite scriptures.

Abinadi- Mosiah 17:10

The whole story of Abinadi is worth reviewing, but we had done just that on Monday.

Alma- He is giving instruction to different children

Alma 37:46-47

Alma 38:15

Alma 42:30-31

Samuel, a Lamanite- Helaman 15:17

Jesus Christ 3 nephi 27:30-33

Nephi 4 Nepho 15-18

Mormon -Moroni 7:48, 9: 25-26

Mornoni - Moroni 10:31-34

I'm so grateful for the three months I taught this class and I look forward to next term when I can teach Church History and Gospel Doctrine, It's going to be fun.

This summer I get to do a home study program for New Testament and Old Testament for some students that missed out on their freshman years, I'm glad to keep up the studying. We'll meet once a week and they'll do work at home, but I'll be keeping up with them.

Below is a video of a talk we studied this year from Elder Holland. I was moved to tears because of it's divinity. I hope you enjoy it, I add my testimony to his that the Book of Mormon is true and that we can obtain happiness in this life and an eternal reward in the next life by obedience to the gospel and teachings found within it.

Is it wrong to enjoy Alice being sick?

2010-05-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

Look how sweet she looks, just sprawled out on my bed, clinging to her blankie and watching early morning nick jr cartoons, to sick to even protest the annoying baby cartoons- ADORABLE

She hasn't been feeling well for two days and this morning was especially bad. I myself was pretty tired from Seminary and restless sleep with her fever the night before, so I cuddled up with her and dozed off and on all morning with her in the crook of my arm.

Joely kept busy playing "my dot com" She loves to play Nick Jr on the computer now.

She would wake us up now and again to ask for "passion fruit juice" or if she could use the bathroom, but for the most part she was content to just play her "dot com" and watch her shows. What a sweetheart.

It is fun to have Alice all to myself. She's seven now and seems so independent. She does occasionally need "snuggle time" but mostly she just wants to do her own thing.

It's been a nice couple of days.

I think tomorrow she'll be ok to get back to school, and I'll miss her.

Looking forward to June third almost as much as the kids are.

Facebook- Amazing, Evil or somewhere in between

2010-05-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

If you've wondered why I haven't been so dedicated with my "deep thoughts" here is because I've been sidetracked by sound bytes on Facebook.

I was slow to love Facebook, but for about 10 months now, I've been too involved in it.

At first I was just excited to reconnect with my cousins but then it grew into reading about and getting sucked into the everyday drama of people. Sometimes it was like watching reality TV starring people I was "friends" with.

So is it an Amazing Tool or is it Evil? Or is it somewhere in between...

Facebook has been amazing because of reconnecting with my cousins, I love them and miss them dearly. I spent every summer of my life until I turned 14 with them. Some of my cousins are much older than I am and so I "grew" up with their kids. Some of them are my age, and some cousins I had not seen since they were infants, but through the miracle of facebook, I can "watch" them grow into the people they've become.

I get real weepy when I see some of the pictures, happy for the memories I have of them, and weepy for the memories we don't share. I remember our grandparents and the uncles (and one of my dear aunts) who have passed away, I think of how they would love my husband and children and I miss them.
Then I get all joyful thinking about how we are all sealed together through our grandparents and one day we will meet on the other side and we will embrace and have those tears of joy again.

I thank facebook for bringing my cousins back into my life.
I love to read what they are thinking and I LOVE to see the pictures.

One cousins, Nedra, posted a ton of pictures of us all when we were much younger. They looked like pictures my Grandma Bowden had in her photo albums. Some of the cousins, were frozen in time, and those pictures are how I remember them.

It's hard to grasp my head around the fact that they, like me, have grown into adults with children of their own.

My cousin Jamie posted family pictures. Realistically I knew she was the adult in the picture, but her daughter looked just like the Jamie I "knew" when I last saw her, and again I wept tears of happiness. My cousin shawna had two children when I spent one summer with her, they were Oriana and "baby" Rhett, Rhett was one that summer, he was adorable and Oriana reminded me of snow white, now Oriana posted pictures of their entire family, I couldn't get over how grown up they all were and how many more there are ---yet Shawna looked the same to me, maybe just a little more snow on top- My cousin Duane was always teasing me, just a few years older than me made me a target of his good natured fun. I always adored him and looked forward to his teasing me. He married a wonderful girl named Kelly. I knew she was wonderful because she married Duane, and my mom and aunts always had nice things to say about her. Thanks to facebook I've been able to see her positive attitude in action and look at their beautiful children and rejoice that we are all part of the same family.

So many stories I could go on forever.

So to sum up that, I am so grateful for the cousins I didn't know, cousins that came into the family through marriage or were born after my summers in Idaho were over and because of facebook I can know them.

I have a wonderful legacy and I'm grateful to be a part of it and I'm grateful to the facebook for helping me to get in and stay in touch with my family.

On the other hand, I found a lot of time wasted reading mindless drivel. I was recently "yelled" at by an old acquaintance because I was offended by her choice of language, I realized then that I don't need to add grief into my life by reading things that are not going to uplift, so I won't be "living" on facebook as much, If it wasn't for staying in touch with my family, I'd probably just shut the whole thing off, for now I will use facebook as a tool for doing good and to uplift and ignore the unpleasantness of the "global community"

And that also means, I will stop neglecting my old friend, the blog.

So to answer my question, Facebook can be very good, if used to bring about good and uplift others and it can be a source of Evil if it's used to demean, profane and belittle. Based on my teaching of Seminary last week and this, I agree with Mormon in Moroni Chapter 7 and that is we can judge what is right and wrong as easy as we can judge day from night, things are either good and bring you closer to God or bad and carry you away from Him.

I choose Good.

I get by with a little help from my friends

2010-04-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today I am especially grateful for wonderful friends.

Recently "little Red" our beloved Saturn has been on life support.

Which means Robert is driving the van, since he needs to continue to work and keep us in this lifestyle we've grown accustomed to.

Which means, Joely and I are grounded.

Fortunately we found a Lazarus Mechanic that will be able to resurrect the Transmission for a low fee. Some of you my think it's time to let "little Red" go be with Jesus, but I can't let her go.

It was in 13 years ago that Robert and I lovingly took her off the Saturn lot.
Back then, when Saturn was new, you didn't buy the car, you joined their family.

They chanted and took your picture.

You joined a cult.

Well now that Saturn is no longer, where would Little Red go if we don't keep her? I shudder to think that she would be suffer in a junk yard.

David Will be driving in 4 years, what better gift to him than the first car he ever road in?
After all she's a classic.

But back to my friends.

So since Little Red, is awaiting her transport to the mechanic, I've needed help.

And like always my great friends come through for me.

When I worked at the San Jacinto ER, one of the FEW great things about the place was meeting some great co-workers. One is Hope Hart- and like her name suggests she fills everyone's heart with hope. She's a great person and wonderful friend and she makes you feel better just by being around her. I needed to take Truffles to the vet yesterday

Look closely and you'll see the fish hook hanging out of her mouth.

When I sent Hope the distress call, she quickly agreed and even said, "Yeah I'm so glad we get to spend time together." What a great friend, not just willing to transport us but happy to spend the time with us.

As you can see Truffles is now OK --thanks Hope!

Also yesterday, I was bored in the morning, so Precious Megan picked up Joely and I and we went to the park. It was double good, because I got to spend time with both her and precious Jacob and Joely was able to play with Keegan. Megan is great and I'm glad that if I don't see her everyday, I talk to her everyday and she helps keep my sanity in check. She's also been a great friend to David, she lets him do homework at her house so he can stay focused and has inspired him to pursue running, his first race is on Saturday.

As if yesterday wasn't busy enough, Alice has art on Wednesdays, obviously I couldn't drive her there, so her art teacher Miss Alex, came and picked her up. Alex and her family have been our besties since Quentin was in 2nd grade. I'm so glad we know them, they've been so helpful and just fun to hang out with. It's always a giggle fest with them.

Another great friend came through yesterday too- Connie Whiffen and I met through cub scouts, three years ago- she's an amazing mom, patient and giving. She is always so willing to help out and I love her to pieces, her kids are some of my favorites too and her mom and husband also make me feel like family. Yesterday Connie quickly agreed to pick up David after school so he didn't have to miss his Chess Club, one of the very few things he loves about school.

On Tuesday I had to miss my monthly in-service meeting for Seminary, so my BFF Myriam took copious notes and got my packet of info for me, she called yesterday with the updates and I didn't feel so guilty for missing the meeting. Myriam is a great party planner and I've been grabbing on her coat tails to be a hostess with her for different showers, she does all the creative work and I get some of the credit- it's a great friendship.

Thinking about how blessed I was yesterday by my friends, I thought of two "old" friends from Laredo. Back then, all we had was little Red, My friend Julie Woodmansee, was so kind to pick me and the boys up so we could go to the "childrens Museum" in Laredo or go swim at her house or anything fun so we weren't stuck in our house. She made us feel so welcome in the desert. Another real good friend, Heather Moulton was the first to call to see "when" she could pick me up, not "if" I needed a ride. Heather would always thank me for the opportunity to drive us because she said it allowed her to live a longer fuller life when helping out others.

I hope to one day be as great of a friend to others like the friends I have are to me, and I hope my Children are learning how to be good friends too. I have many wonderful friends, not named, but you know who you are!

Thanks y'all!

Unable to Sleep

2010-04-03T23:29:00.001-07:00

I anticipate the Easter Bunny will be hop hop hopping down the bunny trail.
I can't sleep.

Maybe it was all the peanut butter eggs I binged on all day.

Maybe it's the excitement of tomorrows blog worthy event,

Crawfish Boil/Easter Egg Hunt at Uncle Rex and Aunt June's house.

Maybe I'm going through the change.

I'm also anticipating a friend going into labor, what if she goes into labor and I'm asleep and don't hear the phone? Will she still be able to have the baby if I'm not literally on call?

Maybe and I think this is it, It's a list in my head of the many things left undone, that I am not motivated to do.

And maybe it's just knowing that I don't have to get up early tomorrow.

Tomorrow Night I'll post pictures of the Eggstravaganza at the Petty's house.

You'll wish you were there.

2010-04-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the video from the birthday visit to Austin.

Please note how ADORABLE Joely is looking at all the cute egg and bunny decor.

Also note, Joely is wearing Alice's hat. LISTEN CLOSELY.

David almost went to "be with Jesus"

2010-03-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

One of the 12 River Crossings
For those of you with an eagle eye, figure out why this is going on the awkward family photos. just remember what I learned in the 80's "crack kills"

David lost and regained his "lucky" hat. He's now a huge Owls Fan. He'll do well when he attends Rice on a full scholarship.

Climbing the rocks leading up to the top of the big rock/mountain.

Just after "the incident"

On the Very top, according to an US geological survey marker

Before I proceed, let me whine that I was unable to move the photos, but since Blogger is free, I am getting way more than I paid for.

The video was taken "before" the incident.

Robert took David and Quentin on a hike to Enchanted Rock. And of Course Alice was not be left behind. We went to mom and Dad's house for a few days of spring break and on March 19th the small clan of Mullens made their trek from Round Rock to Fredrickbsurg at 6 am. The thing with Enchanted Rock is that only a certain amount of people are allowed in each day and so you need to get there when they open. They arrived at 8:00 am and began their trek.

Joely and I are basing this blog on the information given to us. We stayed behind and promptly got back in bed. We had an early lunch at Delaware Subs with mom and dad and then went and spent the afternoon with Yvette Fuller, my sister from another mister, we also got to see Brother and Sister Davis who have always been very special to me. So special in fact that she's lived in her "new" house for 7 years or longer and I'm just now saw it on this trip. I had sooo many wonderful friends in Austin it's hard to see any of them on my trips back home.

But I digress...

So the hikers arrived at the summit at about 10 am everyone was thrilled, so excited they called me and told me they made it. Quentin however needed to hike for at least 5 miles to earn his outdoorsmen activity badge for webelos (funny side note, I just realized when I made this link that the requirement is only 3 miles--) So off they went on the hiking trails. They had a great lunch (prepared lovingly by me) and kept on trecking.

And then we almost lost David. Literally his life was in the balance.

While hiking ahead of Robert and Alice he came across a rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike. Quentin was very close by, but as David said,"In that moment I wasn't worrying about Quentin." What Robert and Alice saw was David looking at something and then David and Quentin running like they stole something and screaming.

Apparently the snake was almost 6 feet long.

If it wasn't for the fast feet of David, he would have been left on the trail to be food for the vultures. He's too heavy to carry out.

I am so glad he can run like Forest.

And so can Quentin, as needed.

Robert reported that ALice was a trooper and only had trouble with the last 1/2 mile when her "dogs were barking."

They came home to Rudy's for dinner and one of my oldest Austin Buddies, Carla Salas joined us, it was a great weekend. I'll post another cute video of Joely seeing her gramma and us all singing happy birthday to Robert and my Dad-

Watch the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse trailer on #Fandango

2010-03-13T05:41:00.001-08:00

Watch the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse trailer on #Fandango

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"Go Blog about it!"

2010-02-25T07:09:00.000-08:00

That's what Robert said to me yesterday when I called telling him I was feeling sick to my stomach. I think that's the 2010 version of

"here's a quarter call someone who cares"

What do you think?

Usually he's a little more sympathetic, but he was at work, where he is the

big boss man and it can't get out that he has a sensitive side.

So I forgave him,

But I won't forget.

About 14 years ago he made a snide comment about me becoming one dimensional, a comment that has bit him in the hind quarters more than once.

Robert forgets that I have a near perfect Instant Recall of all things said to me or heard by me.

I'm sure he'll regret ever saying, "go Blog about it."

Other than that the month has been great.

I started to teach seminary on the first day of February.

What is Seminary you ask?

Here is the official word from seminary.lds.org

Seminary provides weekday religious training for youth in public or private high schools and homeschools.

Each year we focus on one of the scriptures. This year we are studying the Book of Mormon, and while I admit, I was apprehensive at first at how I could manage the five am wake up call, teach high school age kids and get my kids to school on time, I'm happy to say I've been blessed.

With the blessing of teaching Seminary from 6:00-6:45 am each day I've been able to accomplish the following.

1. Keep my house cleaner than it has ever been, including (but not limited to) dishes being done the NIGHT before.

2.Get up early and not hate it- seriously, I wasn't a morning person. Even though some days REQUIRE a nap, I've not been unhappy with the early morning.

3. The kids only missed the bus once- miracle in itself.

4. The Kids have been very helpful in getting up with smiles and getting themselves into the shower.

5. I've really enjoyed the daily study and application.

So that's all I have to "blog about" today.

Jesus Wants Joely for a Sunbeam

2010-02-20T21:18:00.001-08:00

In our church when you turn three you start going to primary. Primary is what other churches call Junior Sunday School, childrens church etc. The first year you are there you are called a sunbeam, and Joely well she's our little sunbeam.

She loves to sing the songs, and the above video is a medly of her favorite ones. She has been singing the sunbeam song nearly non stop since she started primary. She also loves Popcorn Popping, Do as I'm doing and Head Shoulders Knees and toes, (knees and toes). Another favorite is the Hello Song, but she just learned it last week and isnt' ready to perform it.

Joely's teacher is Sister Duncan and the other little one in her class is Keegan, you may remember him from previous posts.

Another favorite thing for her are marshmallows, as you can see in the video, she interchanged marshmallow and sunbeam.
She's a cutie patootie

Valentines Fun Fun Fun

2010-02-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day began on the 12th with a party hosted by

Joely and her BFF Keegan.

It was a fun party. The kids decorated lunch bags with hearts and glue.

They colored some valentine pages and made "love visors"

They decorated cupcakes and played Bingo.

And there was candy and chips.

Before they left they handed out Valentines to each other.

It was adorable.
The moms had fun too, we had a yummy lunch of Chicken Salad and Broccoli Cheese Soup.

There wer 6 little party revelers.

On Friday David came home early (no parties for 5th grade) and watched Joley so I could go to Quentin's party. I had my cameras with me, but was swamped with workin' the party that I forgot to take pictures. Next time I'll have Quentin take pictures and film.

His teacher (Mrs. Brightwell) was wonderful. She had root beer floats and sundaes for the kids. What I liked best is she had me scooping ice cream, and another mom doing toppings and she gave each student individual attention when they came to make their choices. You can tell she really cares about her students and she has a great deal of patience.

I am so glad Quentin is in her class, her partner (the english teacher- Ms. Hammond) is great too. Quentin always comes home with great stories and her games for spelling and vocab. He really enjoys school and does well.

For Valentines Day they made "simple machines" to collect their valentines. Quentin made the "reel love machine" with a fishing reel, pully system and hinges, also an inclined plane, his simple machine turned out a little complex. All the projects were adorable. I was impressed with the creativity and talent.

On Saturday we had our annual Blue and Gold Banquet and this year we celebrated 100 years of scouting. It was a great dinner, my friend John Catered the event and it was awesome BBQ. We also were entertained by skits and jokes.
Good Times.

Sunday I was greeted with roses and chocolates- who could ask for more?

I took the kids to see the Lightening Thief last night. I'm not sure which book this was based on, because it wasn't based much on the 5 Percy Jackson books I read. I hope Rick Riordan is so disgusted he won't let them make anymore. Some of my favorite characters were absent and they added junk that did not need to be added. In addition to that - we were able to see the Gods in their true form and we all know as mortals we would be obliterated if that was true.

Very dissapointed Hollywood.

And as it is written, so shall it be done....

2010-02-14T22:48:00.000-08:00

I can't get Charlton Heston out of my head, so I used his words as my title. My BFF Allie wrote and asked me to update, and as she writes I do her bidding- I have posted several posts tonight, scroll down and read them all for your enjoyment and my validation.

I can't get another quote from

the Old Testament-(the movie - not the book) out of my head.

"Your eyes are as beautiful as they keen"

This is what Jacob Allegedly said to Rachel, when they met. Before he was tricked into marrying her sister and then had to wait 14 years to marry her.

I really like Hollywood's version, the script is much more fun to listen to than Genesis.

But I digress.

I am writing tonight about a beauty we have in our house, Miss Alice Anne.

On thursday night she informed me of the sweetheart dance in gym class. She wanted a new dress, it needed to be beautiful and black and twirl and fabulous.

Since we don't indulge her nearly enought, we stopped at palais royal, which is in town, but I hardly ever go there, it's so expensive, but when they have sales or clearance, it's a good place.

So we went, naturally the first dress she saw was sixty bucks.

I explained how there was no way in a manger we would pay that.

Then we found a gorgous one on clearance that fit the bill.

I beleive she looked amazing-

What do you think?

You'll notice her foot cocked a little and a look of indifference, you can't teach that- it's a natural talent. And please notice the locket, it "helps me to feel warm inside"

She's so filled with confidence, I just love that she's aware of all her talents and intelligence.

I am so glad we have Alice Anne in our family!

Enjoying the balmy 40 degree weather

2010-02-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

So we had a bright idea on the 31st of January, let's go for a day trip to the Brazos Bend State Park.

Typically it's not freezing weather, but it sure was cold in January.

Earlier in the week though it was nice and warm, like Spring for SE Texas, and Summer for like Blackfoot, Idaho.

We made our plans, we had our family meeting, we were ready to go.

Like any trip, I planned the meals.

We had watched a show on Diners Drive Ins and Dives about "Bob's Tacos and Snowballs" and it's just outside of Richmond, which is "on the way" if you detour about 15 miles or so to get to Brazos Bend state Park. And my mouth was still watering, so off we went.

I figured, It's a hole in the wall, how busy can it be....

Well Apparently everyone who watched the episode thought the same thing.

Here we are waiting outside to get in, to wait inside to be seated. We waited about an hour to get seated and then another 30 minutes or so for the food.

Normally I would have given up, but then where is the story in that.

Just look at the love Robert has in his eyes, he LOVES me to take random shots that will go on the blog. He's soooo supportive.

This is a cute girl who took our names and gave us menus. She wasn't shown on the episode, but she said it's made things sooo crazy. Normally the resteraunt closes at two, but they've been staying open passed four just to get people in the doors.

The food was good, but here is my complaint, when you think "Dive" you think cheap food, well here is a picture of the bill, for 5 people, because Joely just ate from everyone, and they included gratuity, which just bugs me.

Ok I'm getting a little bit irritated, I can't move my pictures around like I like to, and I don't know why- So if for some strange reason you are still reading this, here is a collage, press play and it will be a slide show.

Why you may ask are there pictures of feet? Surely she clicked the camera on accident. No, there was an incident with feet kicking between Quentin and Alice, each blamed the other, I took some shots to prove who it was. Not to be outdone, Joely and her "sparkle" shoes needed a picture.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What next? Oh Yeah Family Fun Day

2010-02-14T22:00:00.001-08:00

Ok so what do you get when you smart off to dad?

A family "fun" day.

Complete with menial tasks like cleaning out the gutters.

Pictured Below Quentin and David with happy hearts.

Joely always gets in on the action, she's the quintessential "me too"

Everyone joined in the waxing and cleaning of the Saturn (bless it's little 13 year old heart) and the Oddyssey, only three more payments...

And the taskmaster himself, Mr. Wonderful.

Actually it was a real fun day before we were hit with yet another Arctic Blast.

To quote my favorite NFL player Chad Ochocinco,
"Child Please" about the global warming. I'm just not "feeling" it. It's time to Kiss the Baby on that one.

If you are not a fan of Chad Ochocinco, you should be. His type is what keeps the NFL a game and not some political machine.

I'm just sayin'

Mom's visit

2010-02-14T21:48:00.001-08:00

Last month mom came to stay with us for a few days. As you can see Joely was in Heaven. It was all about her and "my grandma"

All of us love the visits, but I really think, right now, Joely is getting the most out of them.

After all she's there all day.

And the kids do have things in the evenings, and then they have to go to bed early

to get to school the next day, but not Joely.

For instance one night David had some friends over before going to Cub Scouts. I was busy getting them their dinner ready so they could eat first and we could go.

I casually mentioned to Robert, "I'm getting these plates ready for the boys."

And Joely pops up from grandma's lap and says,
"What about me and my grandma?"

She made sure grandma got fed and took her shots and pills.

She made sure grandma read her books.
She also made sure grandma knew the family's pecking order

1. Joely

2. Everyone else

The funniest thing about mom's visits is that I become invisible.

Usually Joely wants to be where I am at or go wherever I go, but with Grandma she quickly says, "Bye mama" or just completly ignores me.

Grandma sleeps on the Day bed, which is where Joely is supposed to sleep, but she has called it Grandma's bed, and when she decides she'll sleep there it's never "my bed" it's always the Grandma's bed.

Pictured Below is mom sitting in the back seat of the van. Of course she'll sit there with Joely instead of riding shotgun with me. (refer to the pecking order if you are confused)

It's time for Grandma to come visit again.

The plan was to go visit her house this passed weekend, but cub scouts had their blue and gold dinner and Uncle Brian got real sick too, so now I'm not sure what weekend we can get away because Alice starts Softball practice this week, and they have practices on Saturdays.

We'll have to get Grandma again for Joely to play with.
Good Times!

Getting away in the Big Easy

2010-01-15T10:09:00.001-08:00

Last weekend Robert and I took an early anniversary trip to New Orleans-

One of my High School BFF's was having a 40th birthday Bash.
The theme was Solid Gold Dance Party.

We took off on our road trip on Friday and had a blast. It's about 350 miles to New Orleans and we got there in about 5 hours- which is amazing.

I drive with 4 kids 200 miles to my parents house and it takes almost 5 hours- GO FIGURE-

On Friday Night we ate at Bubba Gumps and had Shrimp and we stayed in the Sheraton on Canal Street. It was sooo relaxing.
The Girls spent the weekend shopping with Rob's parents and the boys stayed with their friends.

Danielle and I have been friends since 9th grade, she's sooo much fun and we laugh and carry on like teenagers when we get together.

She met us for Brunch at the Court of Two Sisters on Saturday Morning

I know there are more things to do in New Orleans than just eat- but that's how I vacation.

The Court of two sister is a fun place to eat and listen to jazz music. I read it about in a Hemingway novel and a Faulkner novel once. Then before Robert and I went to New Orleans nine years ago for Danielle's wedding, I was reading a novel and in the novel the writer was interviewing Hemingway at the Court of Two Sisters. So we had to go then and since it was fabulous we had to return. Also I am a big fan of William Faulkner and he wrote his first novel around the corner from there and so well you just have to go.

After we left there we went to the Faulkner Book store- where he lived and I bought a Flannery O'Connor Novel. That girl was NUTS- her writing is very scary and I'm amazed that she published in the 40s and 50s. She's timeless though.

At Danielle's party she had Karaoke. Danielle, unlike most people, can actually sing. I wanted to join in the festivities and you can see our internet sensation here on you tube. For some reason they turned down my mike...hmmm must not have wanted to overshadow the birthday girl- lol

We had a great time and were just thrilled to spend some time alone, you have to do that every now and again, it's the secret of a long and happy marriage.

Speaking of which on the 27th we'll have been married for 13 years. It seems like only yesterday we went on that fate filled blind date. He still has those gorgeous green eyes and he still makes my heart skip a beat. It's been a fun 13 years and I look forward to about 40 more!

Here is another video I shot of Joely and her friend Corey at the zoo on the 31st. Alice isn't in the videos because she spent the day at a zoo camp. Click here to watch it, but I warn you it's about 6 minutes long.

Ode to some cookbooks

2010-01-13T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's not that I never learned to cook, I just never learned to cook southern, I was raised Mormon and ate a lot of WONDERFUL food that was easy to cook.

Mom taught me how to cook and she supplied me with plenty of my favorite recipes. One of my favorite dishes is actually something my dad always makes, Meatloaf. He always cooked Lima Beans as a side dish to go with the Meatloaf and it's dreamy. Sadly nobody else cooks them the same, and I have yet to master the art of the Lima Bean.

But then I met Robert.

Robert, who is basically perfect, except for his palate.

He didnt' grow up on casseroles, and he disdains anything with "cream of..." soup in it.

We had dated a few times when I thought awww I should cook for him.

This "aww" moment came after visiting his apartment. His fridge had some sodas in it and some steak umm in the freezer.

Clearly he needed my culinary expertise.

So he picked me up from work and we went to Central Market in Austin.

Back then we didn't grocery shop like we do now.
Back then it was all magical, holding hands gazing into each other's eyes.

Grocery shopping for one meal could take HOURS.

Now we divide an conquer-

"You take the meats, I'll get produce, we'll meet in Breads

GO! GO! GO!"

But back then it was all rainbows and unicorns.

So I go first to the amazing cheese selection, because I was going to make my specialty, stuffed shells and then Robert said something I'll never forget.

"Don't get any cheese for me, I don't eat cheese except on Pizza."
What the What????

How could I cook on the fly with that info? Shouldn't he have given me that information, say the night before?

At that moment, everything I knew involved cheese.

All of my favorite dishes that I had learned from the tutelage of mom.

Broccoli and Cheese Chicken, Manicotti, Sheperds Pie, Lasagna, Most casseroles.

You know add cheese and Broil? Cheese makes it all better.

I was frusterated to say the least.

So after him hawing around I admitted I had no clue how to cook without cheese.
Sure I could have made Meatloaf, Chicken Supreme (an awesome dish that involves chicken, bacon, something else, but also cream of mushroom soup, my spidey senses told me to stay away from that) Chili, rice pilaf etc. But all of these items required a recipe, I didn't have recipes on me.

So we spent about $40.00 on kick butt salad ingredients and then picked up pizza on the way back.

After that he did the cooking, and he's good at it.

After we got married, In the Christmas of 2000, Sue, his mom started a tradition of giving me a new cookbook each year for Christmas. The above picture shows the cookbooks, minus this years cookbook.

I love the cookbooks! I've made at least one thing from each cookbook.
The first cookbook, is my third favorite cookbook ever. It is a collection of recipes from Central Baptist Church, where Robert grewup. Robert's Aunt Susan put a lot of recipes in there, I cherish it. Plus nothing beats a good Church cookbook.

The Second one was after 9/11 and Sue had been to New York that summer, it was real neat to have a cookbook from New York. I made a bread recipe and a soup recipe from there.

In 2002 she gave me the Lady and Two Sons dessert and candy cookbook. It was two days before I would no longer be the Lady with just two sons, because we were having Alice on the 27th. It has come to mean a lot to me because it was published before the Lady, Paula Deen, became famous thanks to the food network.

I love all of my cookbooks and I'm proud to say I've mastered making buttermilk biscuits, this took 12 years of practice and thanks to this years cookbook

I've mastered the art of making gravy. The formula is simple. Use two Tablespoons of pan drippings and then add two Tablespoons of thickening agent and mix quickly with a whisk. Add two cups milk and bring to a boil, stirring the whole time. If you need more or less gravy, just remember this whatever amount of grease you use in Tablespoons, add the same number of Tablespoons of thickening agent and then the same number of CUPS of liquid. Perfect everytime.

My Second favorite Cookbook is an old Exxon cookbook,that was Robert's great grandmas. IT has her name and address written in the cover and her coke a cola cake recipe in it. It also has her notes in it. Also it calls for Oleo instead of shortening, so you know the recipes will be tasty.

My favorite cookbook is last, but not least, the cookbook my friends and I put together in the Memorial Park Ward in Houston. When I say put together, I mean it quite literally. I typed the recipes, Heather formatted them and did the graphics and got everythign printed. Then Jenni, heather, Adrienne and I collated them and got them bound. It was hard work, but it has all my favorite recipes in one place. My aunt's recipes, my mom's recipes and then my friends stuff too.

So now I have in my personal arsenal instructions on how to cook almost anything. Robert is bound to like something and sometimes when he's not looking I'll add some cream of something soup, just to remind me of home.

Wondering about David?

2010-01-04T07:12:00.001-08:00

You can see his reflection here in the game he's been playing seemingly non stop since christmas.

David has just been simulating life.

He's a huge fan of Sims.

He had Sims 3, but wanted Sims 2 plus Sims 2 nightlife so he could become a vampire.

So he's been dedicated to making his Sim world perfect.

I'm happy to say he was able to become a Sim Vampire.

This is also David on a rare turning away from the computer.

"must not go outside, my eyes they burn"

Christmas at the Claus House

2010-01-03T20:10:00.001-08:00

This is the front of my parents house.

They beleive in Christmas and they do a great job.

Joely couldn't beleive her eyes, Everything was a "Christmas Miracle"

at her Grandparents house.

The kids and I went for a visit last week for a couple of days.

It was too short, but we'll be back soon!

Here are some pictures of the house.

Mom takes down her regular home decor and puts it away during Christmas.
The result is nothing short of perfect
Or as Miss Joely says, "A Christmas Miracle" well she doesn't really say it as much as sing it.

Alice is Seven!!

2010-01-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

Instead of taking pictures on her birthday I filmed her on the Flip camera- now to make some videos of that - when I do they'll be on you tube-

Anyhoo- here she is at my mom's house on the day after her birthday.

Her birthday is on the 27th, so before church she opened her presents. She got a bunch of new clothes from us and a cool art kit from my parents. As of today she hasn't visited her other grandparents for her gifts.

You may be thinking, clothes how lame? But don't worry. In lieu of a birthday party she accepted to fabulous events. The first was on Thursday, she went to to the Houston Zoo for a Day camp at Camp Zoofari. This was an all day event with other 6 and 7 year olds. She learned about Arctic animals. Ask her about blubber, she'll tell you all of its benefits. Alice wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up and possibly an orka trainer. To quote her, "Mom, when I learn something about animals it just sticks to me." It's true, thanks to Alice and her love of the Animal Planet and the Zoo, we've learned all kinds of great facts, like Koala babies eat their mom's poo. Sounds wierd huh? Well click here and scroll down to breeding.

The other fun thing she's going to do is spend the night at the zoo in March with her Dad. Technically it falls on his birthday, but it's really her big present.

Here are some fun things about Alice

1. She's an excellent reader.

2. Although she thinks she's "not any good at math" she has consistantly earned 100's on her math tests.

3. She takes art lessons once a week and her skills are improving.

4. She isn't fancy, she only wants her hair combed down straight, no clips, barrettes, or headbands.

5. She can't be near scizzors and not create something. Usually its a napkin or a paper plate, whatever is handy.

6. Her dad is her favorite person.

7. She can talk to animals and they listen to her. I need to get that on video, it's rather uncanny.

8. She'd rather watch anything on Animal planet than a cartoon.

9. She loves to visit her grandparents.

10. She loves school.

We are so glad we have our "baby" Alice.

We got a Flip Video Recorder

2009-12-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-22T20:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-20T23:46:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-12-14T20:27:00.001-08:00

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?

2009-12-10T12:24:00.001-08:00

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...

2009-11-24T05:04:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T07:36:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-31T09:24:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

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-

2009-10-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-22T09:27:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-20T06:55:00.001-07:00

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!"

2009-09-27T19:33:00.001-07:00

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.

Rocket Science

2009-09-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is my fabulous husband, with a masters degree in Political Science.

And a PHD in keeping his wife happy.

One day we were watching an episode of this old house that was showing cool science project type things to do with kids. They showed a watter bottle rocket launcher- I looked at Mr. Robert (as they say here in Texas)

and said, "PLEASE!!!"

and of course he complied.

He made a couple of different launchers and found that the plans on

http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/

were pretty good but he tweaked them

First off he made it much shorter and therefore easier for the kids to do.
He also didnt' mess with the "trigger" it didn't really do that good of a job, and the bottles shot off without the need of a trigger- it just needed enough air pressure.

The Webelos were very impressed and declared,

"this is the best den meeting EVER!!!"

I am so glad he caters to my every whim!

And although he didn't complete A&M with a degree in aerospace engineering as was his plan when he entered- he was still able to make the rocket launch above the trees.

So attaboy, mr. Political Scientist!