Blogging Layouts

I HATE WHEN I WORK SUPER HARD ON A LAYOUT...PREVIEW IT A MILLION TIMES...AND IT STILL LOOKS STUPID WHEN I POST. TAKE, FOR INSTANCE THE POST BELOW:

I WORKED & WORKED ON IT...AND STILL...NOT CENTERED- OR NOT JUSTIFIED TO THE RIGHT SIDE...OR WHATEVER! GRRRRRRRR.

NOTICE I WROTE ALL IN CAPS TO RELAY MY FRUSTRATION!

Tyler's Baptism Weekend

FYI: My sisters & mom have normal sized heads covered by massive amounts of hair, which on the positive front makes us all appear taller than we are; however, we all look like giant-heads when put next to my dad who is #1 a pinhead and #2 hair-follically challenged...

Greg & Tyler ready to take "The Plunge"

The week after school started, I began working full time at an optometrists office. A few days after starting work, my family started arriving from out of town to celebrate Tyler's baptism. For me it was bittersweet for the following reasons:

1. Excitement & trepidation over learning something totally foreign at work.

G'Pa Grove & Tyler

2. Stress over the fact that my house was a disaster.

3. Not enough time to lay in bed chatting with my sisters while listening to

the children play & fight.

4. Elation over seeing my little sister, Gwen, pregnant with her first child.

Belles of the Ball:

Some of the Poulsen Cousins

5. Disbelief that my second child is old enough to be accountable for his actions! Yikes!

Thanks to my wonderful family for putting up with my mood swings brought on by stress and sleep deprivation! I love you guys!

Some of the Grove Cousins...Need I say more?

Creating a Monster

These angelic looking women, er, um girls... are two peas in a pod. My sister, Joleen, has always loved girliness...make-up, shoes, glitter, and all that jazz. Similarly, Joelle is fashion conscious...and likes all things pink. Joleen is creating a monster in Joelle. Every time they see each other, Joelle asks Joleen about when she is going to give her a makeover. While it's cute now- I can see the writing on the wall (in lipstick.) Joleen might have to be given temporary custody of Joelle during the crazy teenage years. It's only fair, after all- since she has created the problem!

Catch Up Time

I was told the other day by more than one person that I am a terrible blogger. This is NOT news to me! I have a hard time keeping up with laundry, much less typing out the goings-on of my daily life and that of my kids. But that doesn't mean I'm a quitter...I will keep trying!!! I am imagining the little engine that could....

Soooooo, first and foremost- school started! Wahoo!! Here are the first day of school pics:

Almost time...

I have been counting down the days until school start. If I count today....4 more days! This is not to say that I haven't had a ton of fun with the kids. But there IS such a thing as TOO much off a good thing. We have played a ton, laughed a ton, swam a ton...on the flip side there has also been a ton of fighting, crying, & mess-making. I am feeling pretty much drained from the constant entertaining and refereeing. Ahhhh, 4 more days....

Birdie Heaven

After we came home from church the kids ran upstairs to check on our pets and found the ledge empty. They ran outside and found the remaining baby bird (the other one disappeared a few days ago) outside. They were so upset!

So like any good dad, Greg dug a shallow grave and we held a small funeral for our little friend. Some of the words of consolation from Scottie to Joelle, who was the saddest, were "Don't worry, Joelle, the birdie went up to the big nest in the sky." She looked up and around and still didn't get it!

Scottie helping with the burial. Morbid creature!

We are also missing the adult birds and the nest looks to be abandoned. The twigs have been scattered all around. We did find another small bird that had been eaten. It was too big to be our other baby, but we're wondering if there is a predator around who is attacking!!

More Birthday Fun

Cousins came over yesterday to celebrate...

Yes, this is frosting up the nose...in my family growing up we had a tradition that the birthday person would take a little bite out of the cake and then the surrounding people would push his/her face into the cake...hence, frosting up the nose!

Even though he got a bike, his favorite present was this football!