Our Musical Sunday

What better way to spend a Sunday evening than to have a little musical performance? Rinar played the piano while the boys performed various pieces they have been working on. This one is fun because it even has choreography...



Then, I have to share Zach's latest obsession: the piano. He has been playing the piano all week, but especially these last few days. He reads music very well and was able to figure most of this out on his own. I helped him with the bottom hand a little bit, but 85% of this is all him and his diligent practicing. I think I am going to have to find him a piano teacher as well. I get woken up in the morning with the piano and songs like this. It is so wonderful.

Okay, and here is one more. Raef had to get in on all the piano fun.

A Mini Rock Concert

This was a lot of fun. Today I took the kids to the local outdoor mall and we watched our good friend Dwan and his son Alexander rock out for a captive audience. He sang, "My Generation" by The Who. It looks like he had a lot of fun, fulfilling a lifelong dream...

Enjoy.

Boys Excursion to St. George

Rinar went to St. George with the kids last week so that he could play golf with his brothers and watch Nordel's football game. Nordel is on a semi-pro team called the St. George Blitz. The team has been doing really well and so has Nordel. It doesn't hurt that he is 6'7" tall and is a big guy. I think Rinar said he plays tight end. They won the game and the whole family came out to watch them.

Nordel is the tallest guy in the middle of this picture. I think he is #63,


The kids played with their cousins all day on Friday while they had their golfing excursion. I think Rinar said they golfed 27 holes and it took about 7 hours. I bet Rinar was really glad I stayed in Las Vegas. 7 hours of golfing? Are you kidding me???

On Saturday, Rinar and Nordel took Raef and Zach fishing. They were catching bass at a golf course pond. It was catch-and-release. Look at what the kids pulled in by themselves...

Zach's fish weighed 1 pound.

Raef scored a two-pounder. Impressive, huh?


CAUTION: THIS NEXT PICTURE MIGHT BE DISTURBING TO SOME OF YOU



They also went shooting with Uncle Lyf. Yes, that really is a real gun. It is a .22 pistol. I am sure some of you are probably going to freak out when you see this picture. Rinar and his brothers would do this with their Dad at this age, a long time ago. I guess it is a rite of passage for boys. Rinar and Lyf do a great job of explaining gun safety to the kids. They go far out into the middle of nowhere.

There are a lot of "middle-of-nowheres" in the west.

When I saw this picture, I was a little freaked-out too. It is my motherly instinct. But I have complete faith in my husband. I know that I can trust him implicitly.

By the way, I don't think that Zach hit the target.

Say Hello!

This is the latest thing from our little marshmallow, Eli. When you say, "Hello!", he puts his hand to his ear like he is talking on the phone and he responds back to you a lot like this picture. It is almost automatic. Plus, everything is a phone...toys, remote controls, cups, boxes. He does not discriminate. If he can hold it in his hand, it is a phone to him.

He is just a very busy baby right now. Eli gets into everything and wants to know how everything works. He loves closing doors and then opening them and then closing them, etc., etc., etc. He has taken a notice to shoes lately and tries to put them on his feet. Oh, they grow so fast.

And as a side note, not that I am trying to influence my very scientific poll, but I really think I am having two boys. Make sure you vote. My appointment is on May 14th. Hopefully, if the babies cooperate, we will know what we are having. Of course, my intuition is not very reliable. I was very certain that Eli was a girl.

Orange Hawaiian Dresses Part II

Here is a follow-up photo of the dresses I made for Halle and Ava. They were all matchy-matchy for church. Cute, huh?

Little baby girl dresses are very hard to make, just in case you were wondering.

Tea Partiers Are All Just a Bunch of Racist Rednecks

The headlines today go something like this...

"Liberal Actress Says Tea Parties Were Racist"

"Let's be very honest about what this is about. This is not about bashing Democrats. It's not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea party was about. They don't know their history at all. It's about hating a black man in the White House," she said on MSNBC's "The Countdown" with Keith Olbermann Thursday evening. "This is racism straight up and is nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks. There is no way around that."


Take a look at this wonderful video montage of the tea party that I attended in Las Vegas. Does her description of our tea party seem to fit with what you see in the video?

Basically, what Ms. Garafolo is saying is that because our president is black, we are not allowed to disagree with him about anything. If we do, we are obviously racists. Did you notice all of the racists in the video? Especially me...I was near the end of the video, just oozing hate and racism. I was practically foaming at the mouth.

The number one racist of all had to be Herman Cain. He was the most hateful, racist guy there. I mean, look at him. You can tell he wants to keep the black man down.

I find it very ironic that she would start her little rant by saying, "Let's be honest..." How do you define honesty, ma'am? Is this like Clinton honesty or something? I am a little bit confused here.

I would just like to quote for you from one of our esteemed American citizens...

“I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic, and we should stand up and say, “WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!”

Ms. Garofalo, isn't this person horrible? Redneck racist, right?

Yeah, like totally...Hillary Clinton, you should be ashamed of yourself for saying something like this.

Instead of throwing out blanket statements Ms. Garafolo, why don't YOU explain the history of this country and what the Boston Tea Party was all about? You are the expert, right? Please, educate me correctly... I am waiting.

Oh wait...that's right. All you know how to do is accuse people that don't agree with you as being racist.

Another liberal keeping it classy, I guess.

Tax Day Tea Party in Las Vegas

My fellow Americans,

On this tax day, 2009...I respectfully protest the incredible financial burden the government has placed on me and upon my posterity. I fear for the future of my children.

You may not see it now, but it is coming. Your taxes may not be sky-high now, but they will be. Even if your income taxes are not high, think of all the other taxes you pay on a daily basis. Every which way you turn, you are taxed, taxed, taxed. It is never enough. They always want more.

When I don't have enough money, I stop spending. I cut back. I go without. The government expects us to pay our fair share, and yet they NEVER cut back or tighten their belts. They just keep spending and spending: Democrats AND Republicans.

Wake up America!! The government works for us, not the other way around. Taxes should not be an overwhelming burden on the citizens of this great nation. It is oppression. Speak up and let your voices be heard.

Respectfully Yours,
A Concerned Citizen in Southern Nevada


I invited Meridy to come with me to a tea party that was down the street from my house**. It was an awesome experience. There were people there from all walks of life. Everyone had signs that had obviously been made at home: unique, funny, and witty. No one was paid to be there. People sacrificed time off from work to come. You see, these people actually work for a living and make this country what it is everyday.

Everyone was very polite and nice. The atmosphere was electric. We listened to a few speakers and one of them was from Atlanta here on business: Herman Cain. He was incredible. Then he was followed by some whacko dude who bragged about not paying taxes (I totally disagreed with him, btw). About halfway through, and with a very subdued crowd, Meridy and I decided to go stand on the street and wave to people and hold up our signs. A majority of the cars were happy and gave us a thumbs up or honked their horns. There were a few that flipped us off but, hey, it is a democracy, so whatever. They were just keeping it classy, I guess.

It was a lot of fun and I am very grateful that I could go and participate in a protest I strongly believe in.


**Okay, as I was looking at the media picture of the rally, I totally can see myself in the crowd. Can you pick me out? I am wearing a blue shirt,big huge sunglasses, and holding my sign backwards so people behind me can see. I am pretty much near the back of the group. Go on...it will be like a fun game of Where's Waldo?

An Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday was a lot of fun. The weather cleared up perfectly for our Easter Egg hunt. We decided to do it at the Steere's condo complex, instead of the park, so that there would not be any unwanted hunters like there was last year.





Eli loved it out there. He got an early start and tried to pick up every egg he saw, but he could only hold a maximum of three. Then he really got excited when he discovered that there were yummy things inside the eggs. Hot dog.




And then when his supply of candy ran out, he started scavenging for candy in any unsuspecting basket within his reach. He can be very resourceful.



We put some eggs in the trees. That made Raef very happy. He loved climbing in the trees to find little oval treasures.

Then his friends joined him for a while. It was a nice perch.



Happy Easter to everyone!

My Camera

It has been resurrected!!! Pictures will soon be coming once again. Happy Thursday to everyone!

My "Frah-jee-lay" Moment

Have you ever had a "frah-jee-lay" moment?



I did yesterday.

I was reading a scripture story to the kids. It was going well. The title of the story was "Balaam and the Talking Donkey". Characters in this story included Balaam, Balak, the Moabites, and a guy named Ashamed.

Ashamed? Who is this guy? He just popped up out of nowhere in the story.

The sentence said, "Ashamed, Balaam bowed his head while the angel rebuked him..."

Yes, I read the sentence out loud like this, "Ah-shaw'-med", and then I got very confused. Then I realized the error. I was so ashamed of myself.

Ralphie's dad has got nothing on me.

Then I couldn't stop laughing so Rinar decided to take over the reading responsibilities and he read the word "co-ax".

I'm sorry, what is a co-ax doing in an Old Testament story. Oh, you mean coax, like, come here little donkey, come here please.

When You Gotta Go!!!

For Christmas, Rinar and I thought it would be a great idea to use his frequent flier miles and hotel points to give his sister Aislinn and her husband Jason a weekend getaway to San Francisco. We also told them that babysitting was included (this was before I was pregnant, or even contemplated the possibility that I would ever have twins again). They came last night and stayed here so they could leave for their morning flight. Now, I am the overwhelmed mother of seven kids.

But I digress...

Rinar worked on finding a place for everyone to sleep last night. Our kids ended up sleeping on the futon in the living room. Raef wasn't feeling well, so Rinar gave him one of my nice silver mixing bowls to have by his side in case he needed to throw up or anything like that.

{{{Or anything like that...}}}

Today started out with a bang. What do you expect when there are 7 kids running around the house. I still managed to do some school work with the kids. Jayde and Xayden joined in on some of the fun. Then I took them all to the park next to the violin teacher's house. She did the lessons, I watched all the kids and we got it all done. Then we headed over to another park that was much more fun, after a quick stop at the grocery store for some fudgesicles. It was well worth the stop.

Leaving was tricky as I could not find on of Cayleb's shoes anywhere. I looked and looked and it was just gone. We had to leave without it.

Then we got home and I exiled all the kids to various corners of the house for naptime/reading time. It was quiet for a little while. I was picking up stuff as the kids emerged from seclusion, when I noticed the silver bowl had a yellowy liquid in it.




Could it be? Was it possible?

Do I really need to elaborate for any of you?

I was flabbergasted and asked Raef what the heck it was all about. He said he was scared and too dark to go to do his business in the proper recepticle.

The mind of a seven year-old. What can I say?

I am so proud of his problem-solving skills.