Family Rule #2

Allred Family Rule #2: Eric and Laura must frequently go out, alone, on dates to spend time together, talk, and do fun things.

Tonight, our date night brought us to Borders book store.

We found this book,

settled down with a hot chocolate at the little cafe,
and made a discovery.
We need to read more books.

Out of the 1001 listed, I had only read 30 and Eric had only read 21!

So we bought 3 new books to get us going in the right direction.

The fun didn't stop there.

We ate dinner, ice cream, and went on a walk.

Oh, yeah. And it got even better . . .

We went home and put the boys to bed . . .

And guess what was on TV?!

That's right.

High School Musical and High School Musical 2--the sing along and dance along!

Not only did we get to see the movies for the first time,

but we were instructed in 2 of the cool dances and got to follow the words on the screen as we belted it out.

Eric says if we had been in High School together he would be Troy and I would be Gabriella.

Ahhhh.

Don't you love date night?

This is . . .

This is the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.These are the wings that had to be clipped because of the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.

This is the Eric who chased the rest of the chickens to clip the wings because of the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.This is the branch that Eric ran into because he chased the rest of the chickens to clip the wings because of the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.This is the scalp (see the hair) from Eric's head that got caught on the branch that Eric ran into because he chased the rest of the chickens to clip the wings because of the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.This is the puddle of blood (see the dark spot in the grass) that gushed from Eric's head when the scalp got caught on the branch that Eric ran into because he chased the rest of the chickens to clip the wings because of the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.This is the 10 cm gash and the 11 staples to stop the blood that made the puddle when the scalp got caught on the branch that Eric ran into because he chased the rest of the chickens to clip the wings because of the chicken that flew to the top of the fence.

Notable Comments from the Evening:

*Kacin: (as the blood literally shoots from Eric's head) "It's not bleeding that bad, Daddy."

*Eric: "Do you want me to drive to urgent care?"

Laura: "I'm OK. I haven't passed out yet . . ."

*Eric: (later on at Urgent Care) "Kyler, would you please throw my juice away."

Kyler: "Get up and do it yourself."

Eric and Laura: lecture about being kind, daddy's hurt, service, thoughtfulness, love, etc. etc.

Laura: "What would you want us to do if you were the one hurt like daddy?"

Kyler: "I wouldn't get hurt on that tree. I'm not tall enough!"

*Kacin: (saying the family prayer tonight) "Please bless that daddy won't run into trees."

Amen to that one, Kacin!!

All in a Week's Time . . .

Our visit to the Valley of the Sun ended up being pretty busy. And I thought I'd have nothing to do while Eric was working . . .

Our week consisted of (in no particular order) . . .

*Lots of swimming at our hotel

*A nice visit with Eric's parents and sister

*Looking at about 30 houses, putting offers on 2, and ending up with nothing

*Lots of time for Kyler and Kacin to spend with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Brent being spoiled and having fun. Kyler loved to take naps with his Grandpa, even though it really just consisted of watching a lot of TV. (Thank you SO much for watching them when we needed it!!)

*Seeing Jacqui perform as a cheerleader in High School Musical at Broadway Palms dinner theater (As you can see, Kacin did a lot of watching! Ha ha. As soon as he ate 2 plates of food and dessert and the play started, he fell soundly asleep)

*A KFC picnic on the truck with Jenny because my mom won KFC gift certificates from the radio (Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner)

*Making cookies with Natalie, but never feeding the ducks (maybe next time)

*A lovely trip to the Zoo. We all loved the train ride and Monkey village where you get to be in the cage with the cute, squirrel monkeys

Can you spy the monkeys??

I think the water play area was my mom's favorite . . .

*Dairy Queen Blizzards! Real Dairy Queen!

*A "plane ride" to Greece (The sisters planned a date night and the guys were in for quite the night). We rode on an "airplane" in Jacqui's living room, ate peanuts, and watched the beautiful sights of Greece out of our "window" (aka the TV). We exited the plane and decked out in Greek toga's (of sorts). We ate gyros and greek salad. We made clay sculptures.

Eric's tongue is sticking out--which means he is concentrating

Finally, we participated in the "Didn't Quite Make it to the Real Olympics" Couples Competition. We had exciting events and a few injuries. There was Bottom Balancing (on the big exercise ball), The Blow (keep the cupcake holder in the air), Bobsledding (on the longboards), Chariot Racing (piggyback), Javelin Throw (throw the skewer the farthest), Frog Throw (fun with velcro).

The gold medalists were Aaron and Jenny. The silver went to Jacqui and Josh. Bronze medalists were Tyson and Stefanie. We won't mention who came in last . . .

The Hunt

The hunt continues.

It is discouraging when you have made two offers on houses, each house had no other offers when you saw it, but the next day when you put your offer in, it has 12.

Ridiculous.

Going on a House Hunt . . .

. . . gonna find a foreclosure.

'Cuz that's all there is here.

I've seen my fair share of dirty, water-damaged, no doorknob or handles houses.

But we finally find one we like :) . . . tomorrow we put in an offer and hopefully we'll get it.

The market is crazy here so we are praying a lot.

What happens will happen though . . .

So the hunt may continue . . .

A Greater Love

Attention: We have actually discovered something that Kacin loves more than food!!

Our Moving Truck!!!

For the last 3 days, all I have heard about and been asked about is the big moving truck.

But I didn't know his true affection until this morning when I returned from walking. He had been up since 6 am excited about the truck and was outside helping Eric load a few more boxes. When I got there, I asked Kacin if he was ready for breakfast and he replied . . . "No, not right now, maybe later." I was in SHOCK. My Kacin? Turning down food?! I was really happy for him, just a little taken aback.

His love for the diesel continued to show whenever we returned home from errands today. He would run out of our car straight to the truck and attempt to give it a big hug.

He promised and succeeded in being really obedient tonight so he could ride in the truck again tomorrow.

:)

Aww, Love!

I Saw . . .

Over the last few days,

I saw . . .

*S'mores being enjoyed by the Rogers and Heustis family

*Projectile puke on my back porch

*A yard with a flower "bed" (no really, they have brass bedposts in the middle of their yard with flowers in place of a mattress)

*A frog, lots of pretty flowers, and green grass at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens (and some cool friends)

*A stroller going up the stairs

*Two dads dipping their children's heads in a fountain

*A Mohawk

*A pirate looking at RVs (no joke!)

*A BIG Budget truck in front of our house ready to be loaded for Moving Part 1

*Rainclouds :) (Keep sending the rain, please!)

*A bacon burger from JCW's (this one disappeared quickly)

*Kyler and Kacin counting all of the boxes we loaded up from my classroom and concluding it was just too many to count (Agreed.)

*Only out of my left eye for 2 hours! It keeps happening! The right eye was all blurry for no reason and then all of the sudden got better. I tell you, I am going blind. But I also saw the calendar today so I made an eye-drs appointment (It was past time anyways).

*Eric still has blue toenails