Funnies

Here are some funny things the kids have said lately:

Bryson- "What do you think Mom, can I pull this off?" (after dressing himself for church)

Brynn-"Come on girl you can do it, you're almost there. A little bit further, keep going, you can do it..." (pep talking herself while carrying beach stuff to the car from the lake)

Hudson-"WHOA MOM, WWHHOOOAAA. . ." (every time I apply the brakes in the car)

Bryson-"Wow, I think I might even cry here. Yeah, that makes me have a little bit of tears in my eyes." (watching Nim's Island when Nim's dad is lost at sea)

Brynn - "a gone tooth" (when you lose a tooth it becomes a 'gone tooth')

Hudson - "Ah-on a mooby" (I want a movie), "buhpers" (diapers)

Bryson - "OK, but I'm warning you, I weigh like 40 pounds" (what he said to me when I went to pick him up one time--but he actually weighs almost 60 lbs)

Brynn - "I love to practice lettering my name."

Hudson - "cuccas" (yucky), "ma wowwies" (my owies)

Bryson - "Oh Mom, you HAVE to feel the rockets in here." (the jets in a hot tub)

Brynn - "the fly flew out of my tummy" (I'm actually not sure what she was talking about here. I think it was when she had a stomach bug)

Hudson - "ass my binny" (That's my Brynnie), "cay-me" (excuse me--usually whenever anyone else makes an unpleasant noise or smell)

Bryson - "I got stuck in the traffic" (after getting lost in the hallway when church was getting out)

Nevada Beach

Yesterday we spent the day at Nevada Beach near South Shore Lake Tahoe. It was really hot! Unfortunately there was a lot of ash left over from the fires last year and we had black soot all over us. Oh well. It was still a great day

Jumping into the pit

A beautiful clear day

Good thing I'm buff. I do this a lot!

We forgot all our beach toys at home. The kids were thoroughly entertained watching two little mexicans bury their little brother all day.  Hud was right there the whole time

"I'm a mess, I'm a mess

I'm a big old messy mess

From the North to the South

And the East to the West

What I am is a really really

Really big mess."

-Laurie Berkner

. . . so that pretty much sums up Hudson. All day long I go from one mess to the next, without any break.  You might ask how he gets into everything and why I don't put stuff up higher. Well, let me tell you . . . Spider baby can CLIMB!!! He climbs onto the kitchen table, the kitchen counters, the bathroom counters, the piano, the beds, etc.  He knows how to pull chairs over to things he can't climb on, he brings the stool with him everywhere. . . . he has go-go-gadget arms.  The other day I was sweeping a bowl of crackers he had dumped out and crushed to pieces when he spilled someone's cup of water. So I finished sweeping . . . no I didn't, I just had to put that on hold --- and I was cleaning up the spilled water when he reached up and grabbed a bowl of freshly poured cereal and spilled that all over the kitchen. That's when I want a straight jacket!

Takes time out of the pool to inspect bugs --very closely!

Rockin' the goggles

Taking a break on Justin's shoulders during the Luau

Car Fashion Show

Last weekend was Hot August Nights here in Reno.  Its one of the biggest weekends of the year.  We haven't been for a few years but the kids were really curious about it. We kept telling them its just a bunch of old-fashioned cars that people park and show off. Brynn translated that into "Oh, we're going to a car Fashion Show!" Okay, sure!  Bryson was all about the cars with flames, Brynn's favorite was a hot pink Challenger, and Hud liked them all. And we even got to see some Big Wheels.

Here comes that Meinzer gene. . .

For the past 4 years I have been asking my husband to rip up our backyard and do it right. (I was about 8 months pregnant when I tried leveling and prepping the backyard by myself before we did sod the first time so you can imagine how well it turned out.)  Love my husband but he's not real crazy about housework or yardwork. So, knowing that he was going to be gone for an entire week on his raft trip I took it upon myself to fix it, being the strong independent Meinzer woman that I am. If you ask our husbands, I think they would all say its not a great quality to have. I, on the other hand, think its one of my better traits. So I asked Jeff to come up and help me. Good thing, Jeff's like an old reliable work horse who just does what he's asked. Thanks for being such a stud!  Over the past week I (we) have gotten at least 7 truck loads of dirt and DG. I put the DG on top of our retaining wall (which was completely ridiculous because I had to shovel from the truck into the wheel barrow, then from the w/b into a bucket, throw the bucket on top of the retaining wall, climb up and dump it out. Yea, stupid huh?!) Then we rented the sod cutter, ripped up the grass in the back, made two trips to the dumps, got three yards of top soil, bought 135 pavers (which I got to load and unload 3 times by myself), two more yards of DG and a lot of blisters and sore muscles. I saved the sod for Tanner. I can't believe how well the kids were for me all week. My house went to pot and now I've got quite a bit to catch up on. But after 5 full days of yard work I can happily say that I love it!  So grateful for growing up in the country with plenty of hard yard work under my belt and a strong work ethic. Now I feel like having a party so I can show off my hard work. Isn't my husband lucky?

This is what it looked like after ripping up sod

This is where all the first two truckloads of DG went

Anytime Hud found a rock he'd go throw it behind the shed

The ensemble consists of winter mittens, safety goggles, gardening shovel, and kneeling pad

I added the walkways on the edges of the lawn. The pavers were PERFECT until my children decided to try out their balance on them. The shed (that's 2 years old) still needs a door--mandatory for this winter.

Next Presidential Candidate

Ladies. . .can you handle it?

So there's like, what. . .16 hours left till Breaking Dawn is released. Some of you have probably already received it from the pre-orders but being the slacker that I am I never got around to it. I was hoping to have all my junk done this week so I can devote the next few days to reading, but alas that didn't happen either. I have a little while longer before I'm finished with Memoirs of a Geisha too. But I'm still so excited!!!