Worst pet ever

I saw a sale for African dwarf frogs the other day and thought they would be so fun. 

 The best part was they were half price shipped to your door and came with two little frogs, their own living habitat, and enough food for a year.  Sounds great right?  Well the answer is no, not at all, not even a little bit. The stinking frogs always look dead.  They either burrow by the rock and you worry the rock has smashed them because they have not moved once all day. Or they float spread eagle on the top of the water, also looking dead because they only breathe air sporadically.  Probably one of the worst purchases I've ever made.

The other day one of the frogs did die and we were all so happy.  It was a relief to actually have him dead instead of worrying.  I could tell it was dead because it was upside down and pure white on the blue gravel.  I bought the kids a beta fish thinking the second frog will go soon and I will use the little habitat for it.  It has been 4 days and I had to buy the beta fish a new habitat because now the second frog refuses to actually die, rather then always looking dead.  Dang you African dwarf frogs! Now I know why you were so cheap!!

Jason's Birthday

Jason had his birthday in the middle of our week of fun.

 He asked for a grasshopper cake.  The idea is simple enough, it has 4 layers and you freeze in between each layer.  The problem was the wording of the recipe.  It says a "can of Hershey's fudge".  I searched high and low.  I eventually bought Hershey's hot fudge topping, but then I had to heat it up to be able to spread it.  It is the third layer and I was so worried I would ruin everything by pouring hot fudge over it.  Stressful!

 By the end you are supposed to mash up more oreos and I was so done with this cake, I just threw the whole Oreos on top.  In these situations I like to yell in my best Seinfeld voice, "Oh,  to hell with it!" Did I tell you I also had to go to 3 stores looking for mint chocolate chip ice cream? What the heck?

 Jason loved it and was so happy.  We also did not quite have the best candles so Jason is turning either 24 or 42 plus five other candles.  Seinfeld again!

 This is a cut picture of the cake, very yummy.

 Ryan has now started her love of oreos.

 The cake was so good it turned Tyson cross eyed :)

 For Jason's birthday we also went to play bingo!  Super fun way to pay our state taxes :)  We sadly did not win but because it was Jason's birthday they gave him a birthday dauber with Happy Birthday all over it.  He felt very special.

 We ate at the casino buffet and then did a little gambling.  We had the huge spending limit of $20 each.  Jason wanted to do manly games like blackjack but when I saw the Monopoly slot machine I was hooked.  After a few rounds of losing at blackjack Jason came over and we had a blast playing the 2 monopoly machines.  Super fun night!  I forgot to mention Jason didn't get one present for his birthday :(  Don't feel too bad for him though, he banked Father's Day and his birthday together and got an ipad, so he is just fine! 

Happy Birthday Jason!  We love you!!!

August 12x12

Yeah for August!  Is anyone else extremely excited for the kids to be back in school?  I cannot wait!

I really wish I could have an announcer's voice to pair with this picture of our dog Nickel.  It would say, "There are many faces of depression, but none is sadder than that of a depressed dog..."  I honestly am thinking about anti depressants for her.  Jason working nights makes Nickel crazy.  Jason got home at 6:30am and was getting ready to go into his sleep cave, aka our closet.  He has a whole set up in there, mattress, fan, earplugs.  Nickel heard Jason come home, and promptly went in his sleep cave and peed on the mattress.  Dog depression is the worst!

 The kids are on a waffle/ pancake kick.  They have not had cereal in over 2 months!  I am not a breakfast fan, you would have to pay me money to eat waffles or pancakes.

 Ryan's new favorite game is chase.  She is still crazy unstable and we can only play for a little before she hurts herself.

 We had lost Tyson's new night braces/retainer the night before and come hell or high water we were going to find it.  This is probably the closest I've ever come to killing the children.  I went through EVERYTHING in our house.  The couches and living room were taken apart.

 I emptied the girls room of every toy.  This emptying actually started the night before and Taylor slept with her shoes so I wouldn't get rid of them too.  It was not pretty in our home.  The girls started playing with cardboard boxes because all of their toys were taken.

 I had just cleared Tyson's and Ryan's room, gone through all of the dresser drawers and was about to start on the linen closet when Tyson shouted he had found them.  Hayden had stuck them in a toy mail box.  I actually cried. 

 To celebrate finding the teeth we went to McDonalds for lunch.

 After a fun lunch we came home and saw Dad for one hour before he had to go back to work.  Tyson had an optometrist appointment so I  hauled everyone over there to get his first exam done.  I am at my wits end with this boy.  I had a 3 step plan to help deal with him and his refusal to read.  1.) rule out eye problems, 2.) rule out dyslexia,  3.) send to an orphanage.  Turns out my boy is farsighted and needs glasses!!  Who knew?!?  The doctor said it is very hard for him to read because his eyes are straining to focus.  He said, "Imagine it like two different film cameras that are fighting each other to get focused on one point."  He was surprised he didn't suffer from headaches because of it.

 After the eye appointment we came home and had the ever thrilling dinner of spaghetti.  I think Tyson was loving the amazingness of dinner :)

 After dinner the kids headed outside to play in the mud and water.  I really miss having actual grass but don't miss the upkeep of it.

 We did bath time after mud time and then it was on to night time zaniness.  Ryan had us rolling after she decided to wear this bucket on her head.

 But the biggest belly laughs came from the wigs and ballet tutu.  Hilarious!!

Barely survived this day, the only thing that kept me going was looking at my calendar and counting down days until school starts!!!

Chuck E Chesse

Another adventure in the week of fun was Chuck E Cheese!!  We got there right at 10am and were the first people in the place.  The best part was that they had a maintenance guy working on the games and EVERY SINGLE game had tickets hanging out of them.  Tyson grabbed all of them and had over 260 tickets before anyone else even showed up.  AWESOME!!!

 We love Chuck E Chees as evidenced by Hayden here :)

  My cousin Kara met us there with her little girl Cece.  The best part of the day was Cece wanted to do everything with Ryan.  Poor Ryan usually is too small to be included in the big kids activities.  Ryan was in heaven!

 Chuck E Cheese came out a few times and danced with the kids.  They also threw tickets for all the kids at the end.  Tyson had over 650 tickets, he blew them all on squishy caterpillars and dinosaurs.  Taylor had 180 tickets and got a slinky and Dracula teeth.  Hayden gets all the leftover tickets and spent them all on candy. (She's my kind of gal)

Such a fun day!!  If I were independently wealthy I think we would go to Chuck E Cheese everyday.  Tyson and Taylor are at that age where you don't have to help them anymore and they check in every time they need more tokens.  Hayden is doing worlds better and Ryan was just so happy to be able to walk all over and be involved it was great!!  Ryan did freak out when Chuck E Cheese came out but did warm up enough to give him a high five.  Hilarious!!

Adventuredome

One day for our "week of fun" we went to the Adventuredome at the Circus Circus.  Jason and I figured out the last time we went there it was for Frightdome before we had children.  Easily over 8 years ago.

 The kids were in heaven!  I don't think they knew what to expect.  They kept saying it was like they put Knott's Berry Farm in a dome.

 This is Hayden smile, she was not a fan of this train ride.

 The girls loved the little hopper ride though.

 The Roadrunner ride and I are no longer friends.  They should have called it the "How chiropractor's stay in business ride".  Ouch!!

 Ryan really goes with the flow.  She liked it when the huge roller coaster would shake the building.  I think that was my least favorite part.  I was surprised to see that they are celebrating their 20th anniversary, it made me not fret to much with the shaking ground.  It's kept up for 20 years, what's one more day while I'm there?

 The carousel is always a favorite.

 But Tyson has decided the carousel is too "baby" for him.  He decided to just wrestle with Jason while the girls were on the ride.

We rode on the balloons again and had a heck of a time getting Ryan to not jump out.  She was way past nap by this time.

While we rode the balloons Tyson and Jason rode the big shot ride.

We had to be home by 2pm to meet Darrell's ride and have lunch.  Afterwards Jason and the terrible T's went back for a night full of fun.  They also went over to the Circus Circus midway and played a bunch of circus games.  They came home with stuffed animals for everyone.  So Sweet :)