SchlegelRock

I told you three days after breaking his collar bone Truman was totally fine.  Look at this.  I took him to the park this morning and he’s swinging on the kiddie “zip line”.  Now he totally can not use his left arm but he’s apparently just fine swinging around on his right.  Oh, to be a kid again.

Oh, and he goes to get his cast tomorrow (Tuesday) and would like a green one.  We’ll see what they have to offer in the morning.

So if you’re surprised by this post, I don’t blame you.  My last post was so cheerful and light but in fact, Truman broke his arm while playing at the park shortly after the swing pictures were taken.  I didn’t say anything before because he hadn’t been x-rayed yet.  The poor kid was climbing up the slide and Max decided to come down the slide and it hit him just right.  There’s a horse shoe shaped bone at the elbow that has broken clean off.  Needless to say, Max feels horrible.  The thing is, they’ve done that a million gazillion times before and never gotten hurt.  It was just the right angle, I guess.

Tru is on Tylenol with Codeine so he is so super mellow it’s ridiculous.  And he’s carrying his baby doll around with him and is always covered with a blanket.  Poor kid.  It’s like his body has totally shut down all unnecessary functions in order to heal itself.  I remember when he broke his collar bone he was down for about 3 days and then boom he was back to normal so I’m wondering how long it will take this time.  I’ll keep you posted.

That’s what I heard today at the park while the kids were swinging.  Over and over and over again until I finally grabbed my phone and started snapping. They were having so much fun.  Tru wanted me to get a picture of him jumping off the swing in the air but my action photo taking skills aren’t that fine tuned.  So, you get a picture of Tru preparing for take off.  We have park day every Friday afternoon so we were there playing with friends.  Our numbers are dwindling though as people move away so if you want to join us let me know.  We like playing with friends at the park.

You know when you’re running around trying to get as much done as possible before you pick up the kids and you get hungry?  What do you eat?  My favorite thing to grab is a Coke and a Snickers.  Got your basic food groups represented for sure.  I was at Safeway the other day and grabbed the best Snickers I have had in my whole life.  I looked at the package and lo and behold it was a Big Bite.  So not only was I eating heathy, I was eating an appropriate portion.  And while we’re on the subject I want to say that I personally think Coke tastes better out of a bottle.  Plastic is fine.  There’s something about the flavor of bottled Coke that just denser and more enjoyable.

Anyway, I want to know what you grab when you’re running around.  It’s OK if it’s actually healthy.  I wont think less of you.  I promise.

It’s true.  I spend most of my time over at Blog the Day Away now but I would never leave you for too long without posting.  I took some pictures of the kid that’s at home with me now and thought I’d share him with you.  Oli is still having a rough time with all the transitioning we’ve asked him to do.  What with the older boys going to school and him starting preschool it’s a lot for one little 3 year old.  Plus we’ve given him chores and expected him to eat his meals (this is not a new one but an ongoing battle) and clean up his toys when he’s done playing with them.  He’s not enjoying all of the responsibility but by golly, who does?  Despite his growing pains he continues to be a very loving sweet boy.  He’s my littlest buddy and I love hanging out with him as long as he’s not screaming at me.

I had a nice time with my Mom this morning driving out to visit my cousin who just had a baby girl.  She is a  t-i-n-y little baby and oh so cute.  It’s babies like her that make me want to have a little girl.  She just had girl written all over her from her beautiful eyes to her delicate little mouth.  What a sweetie.  But I guess that’s what nieces are for huh?  I should really get on to spoiling them.  I just have no practice with girls and I never know what their mother’s will think is appropriate.  There’s no time like the present to learn though.  Operation spoil nieces will commence shortly.  Any tips?

The van is totaled.  I just talked to the insurance rep and they’re actually giving us a really fair price on the van.  Which shocked me.  I have had a totally painless experience with Farmers.  I’m really glad we have them for our insurance.  As odd as this is to say it’s actually been pleasant to work with them.

So anyways I’ve already started shopping for a replacement.  I thought the H2 was a very reasonable family car.  What do you think?

Btw, I’m joking.  I would feel ridiculous driving this around.   My only requirement is a third row seat whether it be a van or an suv.  What are your favorite family vehicles?

I am so excited about my new blog.  I’m doing this with Julianne and Laura and it’s going to be all about media.  So all of the posts I’ve done about TV shows and Movies will be on the new blog now.  Schlegelrock will go back to being a family blog.  The nice part is this is just in time for the new Fall shows to start.  I’m giddy just thinking about all the great TV I get to watch soon.  We’re hoping to get people to participate in the blog and make their own posts so this should be really fun.

Come check us out! blogthedayaway.com

I am not joking when I say that on Sunday on the way home from the airport Scott and I were talking about accidents.  I was telling him that the only accident I had ever been in was when I stopped too close to the guy in front of me and the guy behind me hit me into him.  Barely a buckling of paint on my car and nothing on the guy in front.  I don’t really consider that an accident.  So I told Scott I think my time is up.  I think I will probably get into an accident soon.  Can you believe this?

This morning I was driving down Mary to drive Oli to school and this guy pulled out right in front of me.  I mean right in front of me.  I didn’t even have time to hit the brakes before I hit him.  The van plowed right through him though.  Dented his car and ripped off his bumper.  He wasn’t hurt and neither were Oli and I so everything is going to be fine.  He was pretty freaked out especially when he saw Oli but I assured him he was all right.

 So now it’s just all the claim work and getting the car fixed but how weird is it that I was just talking about it being my time?  Every once in a while I’ll have things like this happen where I feel afterwards like God was trying to prepare me for something hard.  It doesn’t happen very often though.  Or maybe I’m just not listening.  I’m just glad that the accident was so minor and nobody was hurt.

We had a very nice time in Arizona.  It was nice to finally see Mark and Markaa’s house and meet Markaa’s family.  They even have two dogs that the kids kind of got used to by the end of our trip.  My favorite part of AZ is the cacti.  I love to go up and feel the spines of a cactus.  I love how some of them are blunt and some of them are ridiculously sharp.  I even found one that releases it’s spines into your finger if you touch it.  Luckily they were easy to pull out but could you imagine falling into one of those.  Really any of them.  The cacti aren’t enough to make me want to move to AZ but I felt like a little kid playing with them.

I also found two flowers that I thought were absolutely beautiful.  One of them I’ve seen in CA before so I know I could plant it in my own home but the other I’ve never seen.  I don’t know the names of either of them so if anyone knows let me know.  I used the call the first ones whirlygigs.  But I just can’t see that being their real name.

I can not tell you how happy I was to get home to cool Sunnyvale.  Still warm enough to wear shorts but cool enough to tickle your legs and arms with the breeze.  I have never been so grateful for green grass and trees on every lot.  I was walking around just marveling at the beauty.  I love green.  Love, love, love it.  It just goes to show there’s a climate and location for everyone.  Mark and Markaa found theirs and Scott and I were born into ours.  What a beautiful world we live in that you can find a place that’s right for you.

Mark and Markaa were married today in the Mesa, AZ Temple.  It was a beautiful ceremony that actually got me crying.  These two have way more than a fighting chance.  I’m really glad we made the trip out here to experience this day with them.  Definitely worth baking to be here for this.  Congratulations guys!  We wish you the best.

I’m not suggesting this as a life choice because these two families have been through hard times but it was so fun to see the kids involved.  It’s great to see them bonded already as a family.  They’ve got four really great kids.

And you would never believe what happened.  My friend Sarah who lives in Las Vegas was at the Temple for her mother’s wedding.  Can you believe that?  She stopped me in the hall and I just about freaked out.  How fun is that?  Sarah reminds me of Heather Locklear.  Only because she’s a drop dead gorgeous blonde and she could totally kick your ass.  Well maybe I should just speak for myself.  I think she could kick my ass.  Either way, it was so good to see her.  What a great trip this has been.

We got into Phoenix last night (Thursday) and drove out to Peoria to stay with Mark and Markaa.  Our flight went really well but let me tell you what we had to entertain the kids.  We had Batman on the laptop and on the iPhone, we had the Nintendo DS LIte with MarioKart and Super Mario Bros, and we had two iPods if you include the iPhone, which I am.  We were totally prepared for the trip.  It went smoothly.  The kids were a little loud for Scott’s liking but I felt they did great.  The only surprise of the night was the Phoenix Airport.  It’s huge.  Holy crap.

Today we went to the pool and had a great time.  The surprise of the day is how huge the pool is.  They have a “play” pool that’s at least three times as large as our pool and then a lap pool and some water slides.  You didn’t read that wrong.  They have water slides.  They weren’t open today   We’re thinking of trying to get back tomorrow to play again because it is over 100.  Of course it is.  What else would it be.  We’ve got a big family dinner planned for tonight and then the big day tomorrow.  So far so good.

Ryan got Student of the Month today so we went down to the school to visit him.  In case you’re wondering who is in the pictures it’s Logan, Maxwell, Jake, Ryan, Tru, Addi and Oli.

I just finished the partial draft of Midnight Sun and just so you know, I’m not going to apologize for reading it.  Stephenie Meyer put this version out there for her loyal readers and I believe I am one of them.  If she finishes Midnight Sun in the future I will buy it and relish it as much as I have loved all of her other books.  If not, I have gotten a taste of Edward’s perspective and it was delicious.  The manuscript Stephenie put out is only the first couple of chapters of Twilight.  It ends before they even make it to the meadow which was totally heartbreaking.  If anyone else reads this let me know.  I want to know if Edward is who you thought he was.  I love him more than ever.  And I loved getting to know the Cullens better.  Aaah, I love how Edward describes Bella as silk over glass.  What a perfect description of how fragile she is.  I also love how Alice is fighting to know Bella but is also giving Edward his space to figure out what he needs to do.  I sincerely hope that Stephenie finishes Midnight Sun.  It’s fabulous.  If you haven’t read the partial draft, read it.

As you probably know, Stephenie was on Ellen today.  I loved Ellen’s opening monologue about vampires.  Very funny.  She said something about how they always look so great which is hard to do since they can’t see their reflections.  Funny stuff.  I skipped all the other guests and went right to my favorite author.  It was obvious that Ellen didn’t know who she was because all the questions were generic.  How did the story come to you?  How did you find an agent?  None of the juicy good stuff.  Oh well.  I’m happy for her fame and hope she’s happy too.  Did anyone else catch Ellen?

Well am I the only one disappointed with last night’s show?  They just had the Wipey’s for goodness sakes why another recap show.  I will say though that the whole show was worth watching for the last 4 clips.  The dodge ball sweeper was too much.  I was cracking up watching that again.  Especially when they showed the guy turn around and just randomly throw the ball at the guy behind him then they both throw their arms in the air.  I thought I was going to die.  And then the other one who threw the ball while jumping.  And the older guy with the beard who threw the ball like a grandma.  Oh, it’s just too much to even think about.

I don’t remember number 3 but oh, do I remember Jacob Mann.  Who doesn’t remember him?  The splits on the big ball.  Ah, a classic.

And of course my favorite girl, Ariel Tweto comes in number one.  ”Where’s the pole?”  That one will go down in Wipeout history folks.

I am glad to hear that the big balls will still be in the new obstacle course.  I hope they redo the final obstacle course.  It’s more painful than funny.  I want more funny.  The spinner is the only part I would keep.  I love it when contestants actually knock one of the cylinders off but nothing is funnier than when they hit it full on and get knocked back, flying into the water.  I can’t wait for next season.

What’s your favorite Wipeout moment?

Is anyone watching this with me?  The last two episodes have been amazing.  How great was it that Cameron turned bad.  You knew it was going to happen eventually but pulling out all the stops!!  ”I love you John.”  I always wonder how blurred his lines are with her.  She is a Terminator after all but she’s hotter than crap and more and more she’s either acting like she has them or she’s developing human characteristics like thinking about things before she does them.  Either way I’m loving it.  

Then Monday night to have Sarah totally disgraced was shocking because she’s so darn tough.  And I can’t say enough about this new Irish Terminator that’s made an appearance, Catherine Weaver.  Wow is she wicked cool.  And the best part is John and co. don’t even know who she is or what she looks like.  Awesome.

I loved that John brought Riley home from school.  Chances are pretty good she’ll just end up a bloody pulp.  I remember in Terminator 3 John has a girl who he was supposed to marry but her name was Katherine Brewster.  So unless they’re changing things up Riley is probably just someone to protect for a while, right?   Anyway, I’m glad she’s there to add another layer of interest to the story.

My favorite part is when John tells Cameron he doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone.  Way to finally get some balls.  I’m glad to see his character developing though I’m sure he’ll make some mistakes along the way.  And I always get a kick out of seeing David Silver (Brian Austin Green) from 90210 playing rough and tumble Derek Reese.

Did anyone catch these episodes or am I on an island all by myself?

Well, yesterday went really well.  I actually enjoy giving talks and teaching.  I feel so good when I’m done it’s totally worth all the work up to it.  This is going to be a short post.  I just thought since I don’t share a great deal of my spiritual side I’d drop a note.  The meeting yesterday was about obedience.  I was asked to pick two principles of obedience and speak on them.  I chose being prepared (saving money, food storage) and Prop 8.  For those of you who don’t know what Prop 8 is I’m going to do a post on it soon but the gist is to amend the California State Constitution to state that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”  I chose these two subjects because the Spirit prompted me and I am really struggling with them.  What better way to gain a testimony of a subject than to study and pray about it?  This ended up being a fabulous learning experience for me.

Just in case those family members that live far away are curious as to what I said here’s my talk.  Be warned it’s sloppy and I don’t have any of the quotes cited.  I didn’t end up using parts of it because of time but this is the information I started out with.  It’s a Word document (I’ve never done this before so I hope it works) talk