Another campout

We slept out in the tent again last night. This time Blaise joined us. Why the heck does anyone camp? We settled down for the night around 8 or so and Rae fell asleep pretty easily by 8:30, but Blaise was awake for a long time - probably till about 9. He's not used to having to block out noises and light so he had a harder time falling asleep. Plus, he took a long nap late in the afternoon. Roy had to stay up and write a test for his class tomorrow and it ended up taking him till 2 in the morning! He came out at 2 and got Rae to go potty. After that I couldn't get back to sleep for another hour or so and then Blaise woke up and realized he was outside and wanted to cuddle with me, so I spent the rest of the morning with his head on my shoulder. It got pretty darn cold last night, so I also kept waking up to make sure the kids were covered and that they weren't pressed up against the sides because there was a lot of moisture on the tent and it would get you wet if you pressed against the sides.

Sigh, what a night. Blaise woke up at 6:30 and I took him in the house and woke Roy up and then went back outside to be with Rae. Luckily she slept till 7:45, so I got a little more sleep. Poor Roy is going to be exhausted today, and Blaise is already showing signs of lack of sleep. My back and shoulders hurt and to top it all off we are all getting colds. Fun stuff. Moral of the story is: if things go well the first time, don't do them again!

Happy Birthday MOM!

I don't know if you'll get a chance to check this today, but I hope you have a great day and get a little relaxation. Love you!

New pet!

We've been talking for a while about getting a pet for Rae. We were considering a frog but they are pretty boring. We thought some easy fish, but those are boring too. We went to Columbia yesterday and hit up Petco. The first animal we wanted to consider was a ferret! Turns out they cost like 130 bucks and their cages cost another 130! And they are a lot more maintenance than I'm ready for right now. But Roy has always wanted a ferret, so it's something we'll consider in the future.

We spent SO long at Petco trying to decide. The kids were super hyper from chocolate shakes and it was after 7, so they were fighting off sleepiness too. We looked at frogs, fish, hamsters, mice, etc,etc and finally decided on a guinea pig! Well, we decided that if we were going to get a pet we would get a guinea pig, but we hadn't decided whether we were ready for the start-up cost involved. But we decided just about every pet is going to involve some start-up cost, so if we wanted a pet we might as well do it now. The kids are at a good age for a new pet and life is pretty calm and easy right now. And guinea pigs are supposed to be super friendly and easy to take care of.

So, introducing....Violette: (named after the building where Roy works, and purple!)




Not very good pictures, but she's pretty scared and timid right now, so it's gonna take some getting used to before she comes out for a photo-shoot :) She's only a few weeks old. Last night she let me hold her quite a bit, but this morning she's super jumpy and doesn't want anything to do with me. We'll give her some alone time in a while when we go to the store, so hopefully she'll be able to relax a bit.

Anyway, pretty big excitement in the Wright home! Guinea pigs can live like 4-8 years, so this may be a really long commitment. I'm already worried about finding someone to watch her during Christmas break, but as long as I start looking early I'm sure I'll be able to find someone.

McDonalds and Redbox

On Tuesdays our McDonalds has Happy Meals for $1.50. With every Happy Meal you buy you get a code for a free movie from Redbox. Woot woot! We've done Tuesdays at McDonald's twice now and last time there was this old guy there that was getting Happy Meals and he gave us his toys and codes. (Nothing like a playroom full of junky toys!)

I love Redbox. We have 4 of them here in Kirksville, so you can almost always find the movie you want. And I hardly ever have to pay for them! I also get a text every Monday with a free code. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot! They also have some good kid movies. The only problem is having to return them the next day, which isn't convenient if you don't plan on being out. But ours are so close that it's worth it. Our other movie-renting option is a place called "Movie Gallery" which is like Blockbuster but cheaper. You can rent new releases there for 2 bucks for a one night rental (it's like 4 bucks for a week rental) and they have a big selection of kid movies that are only a buck for a week rental! I like the options like Netflix and Blockbuster, and have used both, but I always felt like I HAD to watch movies to make it worth my money. Now, when we have a holiday break we can watch a bunch of movies and when we are busy we can just watch one or two.

I watched Baby Mama the other day. Good stuff if you have nothing better to do!

Lame-o

I can't believe I didn't post anything for a whole week! I'm so fail.

Not much going on lately. We had a lot of rain this week. I went to the gym several times. Me and the kids went to Columbia for some "big city" action. Fun stuff.

Sometimes I get in a blogging rut. I'm sure I'll come out of it in a couple of days and get back to business! I've got some pictures from our lake trip last week, so I'll try to post those soon. Until then - umm....stay tuned. :)

Houseflipping?

We've got our eye on a nice little property down the street from us:

Link!

...or maybe we'll just move in ourselves!

We just finished off the last of my homemade pancake mix and the kids loved them! Time for a new batch - this time with a little more whole wheat flour and a little less white flour.

I finally made it to the rec center yesterday! It was great! There's so much to do there. As Roy's "designated guest" I only get to go between 6:30am-2pm. So, I pretty much have to go as soon as it opens or there won't be time for Roy to get to school on time. I can't believe I have access to all this stuff for free! I'm trying to make it part of my routine so that when it's cold and dark outside I still get up and go. On Saturdays I can use it anytime of day, so I plan to have nice long workout today, and hopefully every Saturday. I should ride my bike to the school, but then I might be too tired to do anything else!

WOWZA!

I missed the two-year anniversary of starting my blog!! I did my first post on August 13, 2006! You see, I was "hip" before blogs were so popular. :) I think my friend "Bluebell" over at Degenerate Subspace was the one who made me really want to start a blog. Hers is very honest and fun to read. And I like that it's changed tones over time to reflect things that have gone on in her life - proof that she's not trying to please any audience. Her early posts always made me crack up and feel relieved that I wasn't the only one who thought that way (but I'm usually too afraid to admit!) Some of favorite posts: Santa Rant
and Moo

Anyway, Happy Birthday/Anniversary/Whatever to me! Thanks for reading!

Randomness (edited to include pictures) Updated: "After the storm"

I'm officially a Missourian. I got my driver's license on Tuesday. Whoop whoop! I went today and registered our van. (We had to get it inspected first, which ended up costing a bunch of money because there were a few things to fix - ergh!)
I love the "DMV" here. It's just a little tiny office with 3 or 4 employees and they are all super nice. And the two times I went there were only a few other customers. Way better than in CA!

Our oven doesn't cook very evenly. I burned some muffins the other day, my oatmeal cookies didn't cook right today and I just took some rolls out of the oven and the bottoms almost burnt!! Ergh! I never burn things! Seriously - I hardly even leave the kitchen when something is baking because I'm constantly checking it!

Our kitchen has such little counter space that we are forced to do the dishes constantly or we won't even have room to butter a slice of bread. Seriously, no counter space, especially since there's only one drawer in the kitchen, so all of our knives and spatulas are in little "carousels" on the counter top. My BIL Chad would have a heart attack if he came into our kitchen since the counter tops are so covered! (He's got all the counter space in the world, yet he insists on putting the paper towels in the pantry!) :) Good news is: the dishes are ALWAYS done!

Butter and margarine are sold in long skinny bars here. In CA they were a little shorter and thicker. Weird.

Check out the size of the praying mantis we found! We actually found three this size. Creepy!



Went to a thrift store the other day and I got a really cute pair of pjs for myself, a Halloween vest for Rae and a Tigger costume - all for $1.25. Awesome.

The other day Roy was being neglectful in the morning, so Rae got out leftover eggs (green eggs to be exact) and two plates from the dishwasher and served up breakfast! She's been super helpful lately. She gets herself dressed for bed every night and even gets out PJs for Blaise! Notice the fly on the table. We have a lot of flies here. Gross.



Rae can't decide what to be for Halloween. She wanted to be a little old lady, and then she got that tigger costume, which is cute, but not super exciting. She wants Blaise to be a cat. Weird that Blaise doesn't even know what Halloween is! I know he'll LOVE it though!

We've had some nice cool weather lately, but it was pretty warm today, I even considered going to the pool but we just didn't have enough time. We picked Roy up from school at about 4:45 and it was hot and sunny. I wish I had more of a notice of rain..check it out... by 5:45 it looked like this:



After the wind settled down a little we let the kids go out and play in the sandbox, which was now a pool!






Okay, here is a picture from 7:30 tonight...the storm is completely over and it looks as if nothing ever happened!



Yup, total randomness. I've been meaning to blog about most of these things for a few days now, so here it is - all in one post!

Good ol' Blythe

I grew up in Blythe,CA (in case anyone out there didn't know) My friend sent me a link to a video from "pvtv" with my daddy in it! My dad is the principal at the high school there - and his name is Jeppson, not Jessop.

A few things I must point out:

-How unprofessional does that "news anchor" look?? Nice tattoo.

-The football stadium took a really long time to remodel (I dunno how long - but something like 4 years!) and it look exactly the same! :) Okay, it does look nice, but not that much different.

-All the other principals had a few short sentences to say, but my dad had a whole speech prepared! I think he's probably the only principal that has anything prepared for the school year as well.

-The last principal they showed - Jeremy James - was a teacher at the HS when I was there and I had a huge crush on him.

-How pathetic is our band?! Some things never change.

He's finally here!

My sister Katie finally had her baby boy today! (5 days late) I'm so glad he came safely and without any complications! Congrats Katie!

Toys toys everywhere

I've been thinking lately about starting a Christmas list because there are certain people in my family that like to shop super early (ahem, Baerbel!) but I haven't really come up with anything the kids need. Here are a few things they do NOT need:

Cars - Blaise loves to play with them but he has about 30 or so!

Dolls - We are overrun with dolls. We have talking ones, swimming ones, and cuddly ones

Doll clothes/accessories - We have blankets, towels, bottles, toys, beds, swing, etc

Puzzles - I think we have plenty, although maybe some more complicated ones for Rae

It's amazing how many toys you realize you have when you have to pack them and then unpack them. We got rid of lot of junk but we still have enough to fill the playroom. I do want to get a kitchen for them, but I'm not sure where it would go.
Anyway, just some random thoughts I had while I was cleaning up the playroom tonight.

Oh, I stumbled upon this video on You Tube today, and it pretty much sums up Kirksville! Well, it's focused on the medical school here, but that's pretty much the center of the community. It gets a little boring, but the beginning is funny.

One more post today

Here are a few random pictures from the past few days:

Several parks here have these "wading pools" and are open various times of the week. They are free and there's a lifeguard there. It goes from about 1 foot deep to about 2, maybe 2 1/2 feet deep. We've only been to this one a few times because the weather has been so unpredictable, but it's a great free activity and you don't have to fill up your own wading pool! (And yes, they empty them every day)



Burger King playground rules - look closely...







Ummm, okay...like this?

Should have looked outside

I got up, got dressed, put on my socks, grabbed my shoes (I like to sit on the porch and put them on or else Blaise will ask for his shoes on too) and went outside to go walking only to discover that it is raining! Ugh. I don't know how I didn't notice it was raining, or think to check (it was about to rain when we went to bed). I have a pass to go to the Student Rec center on campus now, but it's too late in the morning to attempt that. Bummer. Oh well, maybe I can go tonight.

When it's rainy outside I like to have creamy soups and hot chocolate. Or, at least I did when I lived in southern California. When I moved to Davis it was rainy from Dec to Feb so I got a little used to it. But my first two weeks here I found myself craving hot chocolate and soup when it rains, because one day it will be hot and yucky outside and then 10 minutes later it will be cloudy and rainy and chilly! But I better get used to it, because I will get really fat if I eat creamy soup every time it rains!
(Especially if I can't go walking!)

Happy Birthday Christie!

Today is my oldest sister's birthday! Hope you have had a good day so far and maybe even get to do something fun or relaxing for yourself!

BTW

Blaise is all better. Just a little bug I guess. He still breathes a little funny when he's sleeping, but overall he's all better! Thanks for all of the suggestions and well-wishes! :)

And we decided to go with Geico. Their rates were way lower than what we were currently paying and a bonus is that you can do it all online and don't have to call anyone, which I avoid as much as possible! (which is why we were using Esurance!)

Umm, I think I was going to update about something else, but I can't remember now. And it's way past my bedtime!

Another question

Have you seen Premonition with Sandra Bullock? What'd you think?

Quick question

What kind of car insurance do you have? We've been with Esurance for a few years and now that we've moved we have to cancel our current policy and do a new one, so I'm shopping around making sure we have the best deal. So, what company do you use and have you had any problems or really good experiences with them?

No pictures, but lots of fun

I'm teaching a lesson at church tomorrow in Relief Society. I honestly can't focus on assignments like this until it gets a little closer to the deadline. I read the lesson several times throughout the week and figured I'd work on it Friday night and today. But I started my day by getting up with the kids for a while and then waking Roy up and going back to bed till 10am - ah, lovely! Then Rae and I went to Walmart during Blaise's nap and as soon as we got home he woke up. He was feeling better today, so we all went to the State Park to swim in the lake. It was a nice, warm day, but not too hot. The water was cold, but Rae was willing to go out to the deep area on my back. We built some sand castles, ate lunch and finally towards the end I sat down in the shallow part of the water and got Blaise to play with me. He got really into it and was throwing himself into the water and had a lot of fun. Roy and Rae built a huge tower but it fell when Rae tried to put a window in it. We brought the camera with us, but we left it in the van. :( We'll have to go back sometime soon and do it all again!

Anyway, I worked on the lesson a little more after dinner and started to work on it some more after the kids went to bed but I decided I better go for a walk while it was still light out. Well, my walk turned into a bike ride, which turned into an exploration of the city, which turned into me getting a little lost. :) I'm home now, should be working on the lesson, but blogging instead. I am now officially out of excuses and I will go finish that lesson now!

Oh, and Blaise's fever went away this afternoon (which is why we decided to go to the lake) but he's worse now. We really shouldn't have gone to the lake. :( (We've just been waiting for a nice sunny day and were so excited that the weather was perfect!)
Now he's more congested and he's back to having a fever. :( Poor little guy. At least he had fun at the lake!

Any ideas?

Blaise has had a fever for about 24 hours now. I just took his temperature and it was about 101.8 :( He hasn't shown any other symptoms yet. He's been acting really achy and tired but tries to have fun too. He tossed and turned all night last night even after giving him Tylenol. He ate a decent breakfast and was energetic this morning, but around 11 he was ready for a nap and could hardly walk. Ever since his nap all he's had to eat are some grapes and a pear. He tries to do something and just gives up and lies down or crawls into your lap. His poop is normal, no throwing up, I guess one other symptom he does have is that he's a little bit stuffy. We don't have any insurance yet (doesn't start till Sept) so I'm not taking him to a doctor unless it gets more serious. Besides, even if we had insurance I wouldn't take him, there's nothing they could do at this point. Any ideas of what it could be? I'm counting on all you moms with experience to have some insight into something I haven't thought of, so maybe I can either be prepared or know what to watch for. Most likely it will all just go away tomorrow and I'll never know what his fever was trying to fight off.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any ideas you might have!