warnings there might be changes ahead...

After a couple of conversations (Jeremy, Hope, and David) I started worrying that I might need to go private. The biggest reason I haven't wanted to go private yet is because I personally love to blog stalk onto other people's blogs. I'm not trying to sound egotistical by assuming that I too have blog stalkers but let's be honest, we all know that I have an unidentified "fan" in Little Rock. Don't worry Little Rock I'm not doing this just because of you. I don't know I'm still on the fence but I seem to be leaning on the private side as apposed to the public side. In the event that I am pushed onto the private side I would like to know who would like an invite to read my private blog (this would mean you would have to be logged into your blogger account before you could access my blog). I won't do anything rash. I will give you all a week or two so I can add you as a reader before I make the big change.

Private or public... discuss amongst yourselves...

happy fall y'all

This evening we went out and harvested all of our ripe pumpkins. The kids had so much fun planting and tending to their pumpkin patch this year. I think we might have over planted because the pumpkins seemed to take over a good fourth of our backyard. It got to the point that we couldn't mow a huge chunk of lawn because the pumpkins outgrew the dirt plot we had set up for them. After harvesting the pumpkins we went to a few of our neighbors and shared "the fruit of our labors". It was a really nice way to spend the evening together as a family. We still have about 15 pumpkins that are picked and ready to give out. I think we will have to have some of our good friends come to the "Clement pumpkin patch" and pick out a pumpkin or two. In the pictures you might notice an injury on Morgan's face/head. That would be our first injury due to the bunk beds. Poor baby fell out of the top bunk onto the bottom bunk and then bounced into the girls play kitchen. When I asked Riley and Brooke how she got up to the top they both swear she climbed up there herself. I guess no more free range for Morgan in the girls room.

homecoming texas style

This Friday was my school's homecoming (hc). I don't remember hc being such a big deal back in my high school days. Perhaps it's because I wasn't exactly full of "school spirit" back in the day (I don't think I actually went to any of my high school football games). I do know that we had floats during our hc half time shows at Bakersfield High School. The only reason I know that is because one year a kid chopped off a couple fingers making one of the floats. Our high school here in Texas does not do the floats on the field... Oh no they prefer to WEAR their floats on their chests. Three years ago when I started working for the high school I was introduced to a very unusual custom in Texas (maybe it's a Southern thing). On the Friday of the big hc game most of the girls and many of the boys showed up to school wearing a "mum". In case you are not a Texan I will explain what a mum is and some of the mum etiquette.

-A mum is a HUGE wreath like ornament you wear on your chest if you're a girl and your arm if you're a boy. I think the big goal is to add as many trinkets/ribbons on your mum without toppling over when you put it on. Most people make their mum by starting with a teddy bear in the center and building out from there.

-If you are dating someone during homecoming it is very much expected that your boy/girl friend will give you a mum.

-Parents often give their daughters a mum in the event that they are single on the big day.

-Parents would almost NEVER give a son a mum (that would be considered kind of lame and pathetic). Boys will only wear a mum if their girlfriends give them one.

-There is a direct correlation between length of mum and how much you are loved (not really, but the queen bees would argue this is true).

-The most popular of popular girls will wear more than one mum. The most I have seen on one girl is three.-You do not necessarily have to have a mum for all four years but I would guess that 95% of senior girls would feel very sad if they didn't get a mum for their last year.

-You NEVER wear a mum more than once (tacky).

-An average sized mum will run you between $100-$150. Although it's perfectly acceptable to make your own which is cheaper but NOT cheap.

-If you're a girl and you do not have a mum but your bff does you are often expected to help with the carrying/repining of their mum(s). It can almost look like a bride with her devoted bride's maids carrying her train.

-If you are one of the many students with a baby in the school daycare it is considered very cute to make a matching mum for baby and "mummy".

-All Friday I find little trinkets (small football helmets, whistles, bells, ribbons, sports emblems etc.) that have fallen off some poor girl's mum. It's like the girls are walking pinatas... if you bump them hard enough you WILL get a prize.

I took Jake and a couple of his friends to the big game and they were all thrilled with all the little prizes they were finding all night long. I wanted to take a picture of this particular student without looking like a creep or something. I got a side shot so you can't fully see her shirt.

It read, "Future CHS homecoming KING". I thought it was very clever (rolling my eyes).

As requested by my mother here is a randome picture I took of Brooke tonight. I caught her in a "picture taking mood".

***side note*** We won the game making our record for the year 3-1. This in itself is a worth bragging about. Last year we had one win which we celebrated heartily because it was our first win in like 4 years. We have possibly the worst record in the state of Texas. GO LONGHORNS!!!

my baby part two

I swear we don't have a favorite kid. I happened to pick up Morgan today after work to find my sweet baby in the cutest little pigtails (thank you Mrs. Theresa) and the biggest smile ever. I had to post this picture... it just makes me happy to see that little face.

my baby

What I miss while I'm at work in the mornings...

I'm afraid daddy is spoiling our little girl. Each morning he asks her what she wants for breakfast and then he makes it for her (usually it's either pancakes or eggs and toast). Often times she then gets to eat her breakfast in bed while watching Noggin. Can you say, "wrapped around her little finger?"

***don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?!?! I'm of course referring to both sets.***

what a weekend!!!

Jacob, Riley, Brooke (my bff not my daughter), and myself all went to Dallas this weekend for the NPF walk for awareness. On the way to Dallas Jake made this comment to me:

Jake: Mom did you see that dead bunny on the side of the road?

Me: No I didn't...

Jake: Yeah he's dead... but don't worry, the decomposers will take care of him.

I don't know why but it really tickled me when he threw that comment out.

Anyhow, our team had raised a little over $600 dollars for the foundation and we were all anxious for the big day to arrive. This is the first year that there has been a walk for awareness in Dallas. The organizers had hoped to raise $25,000 dollars and ended up raising over $40,000. It was a big success for a first time walk. Our little team (Jake, Riley, Brooke and myself) ended up winning a gift basket for being a top raiser. The basket of goodies was very impressive. It included several restaurant gift certificates, a voucher for two pairs of Spira brand walking or running shoes, a Target gift card, Dead Sea salt lotions and bath salts, a Nokia phone, two separate gift cards for a free microdermabrasion session, and Riley's personal favorite a leather bound journal (with the Nokia logo on it). We were not expecting to win a gift basket so that was a very exciting surprise. We were able to split up the prizes with Jacob taking the phone, Riley taking the notebook, Brooke taking a pair of shoes, a few freebies from On the Boarder restaurant, and a promise to make anther trip with me to Dallas for our free microdermabrassion sessions and for a free steak dinner at Truluck's. Jeremy and I get to split the rest :).

5K is really not very far (3.1 miles) I figured it would be pretty easy for both Jake and Riley however I was a little too optimistic when it came to Riley. I ended up carrying her for well over a mile of it.

When we got back to the party she was wiped out and had to replenish with donuts and a short rest on one of the tables. Jake on the other hand ran most of it and beat us handily. I tried to remind him that it was a WALK for awareness not a run but he's got a competitive side to him and he wanted to "win".

The "party" included two of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders signing autographs, a funny clown,

and Reba McEntire's sister (I can't remember her name) singing. To call it a party would be a bit of a stretch but hey it was the first year. The award for "my favorite conversation of the weekend" went to Riley and the two cheerleaders.

Cheerleader #1: Hey cutie what's your name?

Riley: Riley (big smile)

Cheerleader #1: Riley that's such a pretty name, are you chewing gum?

Riley: yes (big smile)

Cheerleader #1: Wow guess what, Cassie (pointing to cheerleader #2) LOVES to chew gum!

Riley: really?

Cassie: Yup, I do and I love to take pictures too, do you want to take a picture with us?

Riley: Sure

Picture was taken of the group

Cassie: You're just like me... you like to take pictures and chew gum maybe you can be a cheerleader when you grow up.

Riley: Ohhh cool (big smile)

I know I already posted about the "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" but while we were on our walk I realized it was yet another obscure holiday on Saturday. I know I'm getting this info out to my readers a little late but it's not too late to pencil the date in for next year. September 20th is the "AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day".

I'm starting to think anyone who wants can just declare any old day a holiday. I have a hard time believing either of those days were ok'd by congress or anything. I'm sort of considering coming up with my own official "unofficial" obscure holiday. What do you all think?

We finished with the walk and all the festivities pretty early and Brooke threw out the suggestion of going to Six Flags over Texas for the day. Shockingly the kids were all on board with the idea so we headed over to the park.

It was a really nice day with very short lines. In the five hours that we were there we were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to do. The kids had a blast and I was surprised that my little Riley was tall enough to ride most of the fast rides too. I have always told people that I loved roller coasters. I mean I have been to Disneyland countless times and I LOVE going on Space Mountain (their fastest ride). I guess I never really knew how intense roller coasters could be. Bottom line is I don't really like roller coasters.

I was a trooper and went on all but one of the coasters (Riley wasn't tall enough to ride on the Superman ride so I graciously sat out with her) and each time I walked off the ride I felt like I was going to puke. NOT FUN!! For future reference, I like kiddie roller coasters. As we drove back to Lubbock late Saturday night to drop off Brooke and both Riley and Jake agreed that this was the best day EVER.

We got in to Lubbock so late that I decided we would just spend the night. The kids had some fun the next morning playing with Garth Le until it was time to hit the road and get back to our family back in Amarillo.

I owe big thank yous to several people. Thank you to Torrie and her family for watching my girls Friday evening until Jeremy got off work. Thank you to Heather and her family for watching my girls all day Saturday while Jeremy worked. And of course thank you to Brooke for joining with me for the walk and for the fabulous time we had in Dallas. I couldn't have done all this with out my wonderful friends helping me out. I love you guys!!!


***Side note***
Brooke has been working VERY hard the last couple of months on losing weight and her hard work is paying off. I'm so proud of her. She has a much healthier life style now and it's inspiring. Who knows Brooke maybe the next time you see me I'll be a smaller version of myself too. :)

Ahoy me hearties!!

Today of course is the International Talk Like a Pirate Day and I just wanted to be the first to wish you well on this most exciting day (plus I found this really creepy pirate cat picture I wanted to share). We will be in Dallas for Jake's NPF Walk for Awareness this weekend. Thanks to all our supporters out there. We are very excited for the event and will share lots of pictures and a recap when we get back!

random sampler

I have had a few people ask me about "Hurricane Ike", we're so far north that we really haven't been effected by any of it. We did have some rain off and on for a few days but it was really just enough to keep the lawns nice and green. I know that just a couple hours further south from us in Lubbock they had a different story. They were totally flooded just a few days ago. I took the kids down to one of the parks after school on Friday because it had been raining and they were cooped up inside for too long. The kids found a drainage area with some water in it at the park. I know I'm not usually very whimsical when it comes to getting dirty or wet but I figured what the heck and let them take off their shoes and hike up their pants. Morgan ended up having to take off her pants all together because she immediately sat right down in the water. They had a really good time playing around and splashing each other.

This is a classic Morgan look. She's telling me, "no no mama!"

On Saturday the whole family went out to the fair for a few hours. We got home late in the afternoon and half of us (including me) proceeded to get sick. I don't know what exactly did us in, if it was petting the "exotic" baby animals, eating deep fried smores, checking out the countless animals and homegrown veggies (and all the allergens that accompany them), or licking the picnic tables which housed who knows what kind of germs (ok Morgan was the only one who did this, but she was also the only one to actually throw up that night). Brooke ended up missing school today because she had developed an ear infection at some point over the weekend. I guess the moral of this story is "just because you get free admission tickets into the fair doesn't mean it's a good deal." Our "free" trip to the fair ended up costing us about $60 and our health. We knew we would have to pay for some food but DANG it was pricey. I took my camera out of my bag so I could try and document Riley's hair and then left the camera home so there will be no footage of us eating our fatty food or petting the lamas. I do however have a picture of Riley's hair that morning. You need to understand I am not really very creative with little girl hair. To my credit I do try to make their hair look nice everyday but I have never been able to master any intricate braiding or twisting. I pretty much do a standard ponytail everyday on Riley and occasionally I mix it up by braiding the ponytail. Nothing too complicated. I was up one night checking out some blogs when I found this blog. This lady has a million hair ideas so I tried one of them out and this was the outcome.

Not as cute as her example but I don't think it's too bad for a first time attempt (and considering we don't own a "parting" comb). I did it again this morning and it turned out even cuter. I think I might have found a new signature look for Riley. She LOVES it!!

Sunday was Stake Conference and I was the only one who made it. I felt pretty sick the whole time but I needed to go because I was helping with the Primary choir who was signing to, "I Am A Child of God". The kids looked great and I was happy to help. Jeremy stayed home with Morgan and Brooke who were my other two sickies and I just didn't feel like messing with the other two kids since I was sure I was just going to stay until my song was done. I ended us staying for the entire meeting because the message and spirit were both so wonderful I just couldn't leave. Isn't that usually how it works out? There was a big focus on being a member missionary as well as a theme of personal worthiness. I loved hearing from our mission president and his wife. They both seem like very kind, humble people. It really made me think of my own life and how much I would love to be able to serve a mission with Jeremy one day.

Q: How do you know when your kids are NOT spoiled??

A: You buy a second hand bunk bed and they light up like it's Christmas time.

Morgan is especially fond of the new bed.

I don't know if you can tell but she is swinging from a metal bar, her little bum is a good 4 inches from the bed.

The kids are pretending that they are on a ship and the floor is a shark infested ocean. They also played a game where the big kids all got on the top bunk and peeked over the side to "scare" Morgan. Morgan LOVED that game!! Playing with the bunk bed went on for a good two hours until it was bed time. Actually it's 10:23 right now and I can still hear the girls whispering and giggling in there...

***side note*** I don't know if you can tell from the picture but we have a very loosy goosy rule for jammies (wear them... don't wear them... it's all good).

I'm such a dork

Several weeks ago at church this really nice woman approached me and asked for my phone number. I realize that I am well into my 30's but I still had a little bit of a mental flashback to high school and got VERY excited. I mean the "cute, popular” girl wanted MY phone number (the "nerdy, kind of invisible" type girl). I was on pins and needles the next day or two just wondering why she wanted my number and when she was going to call. Like I said I know it's really not like that but come on some of you must understand the weird excitement and curiosity I was feeling. Was she getting a group of girls together for some very chic girls night out (not that I'd trade my group or my GNOs for anything)? Perhaps she wanted to invite me to dinner one night or to a movie. What ever it was I was really honored that she asked for my number (I'm such a dork!!). The next day I get that fateful phone call that I had been waiting for. I let it ring twice just so I wouldn't look too anxious. Just as I thought, she was on the other end. The moment of truth was here... what grand event was I getting invited to? Where would we be hanging out together?


Me: Hi, how are you doing?!?

Her: Hey Eliza I'm good. How are you?

Me: Good, so what are you up to?

Her: Nothing much I just wanted to call you and ask if you would be willing to help out for our next Enrichment meeting.

DUH!!! That's what she wanted... Of course I said I would be happy to help. Then I got my assignment. She said that my name was thrown out as someone who would be perfect for the assignment. Now I'm back to being curious... She said that they are going to be having a lesson on preparedness and they wanted to do a fun video to introduce the topic. They are asking two families to help out. One family would show the right way to be prepared for an emergency situation (evacuation, or family emergency) and the other family would represent a VERY unprepared family.

Let me guess which one she wants us to play....

She confirmed what I was guessing she wanted to film our family unprepared for an evacuation. They would come by the house with a video camera and our responsibility was to not have anything ready (piece of cake). You know the drill…kids without shoes, grabbing random cans of food, can't find the baby. Things like that. They are making it all very silly and melodramatic and they thought I would do a great job being funny and have a good time with it. I'm sure that if my sister Emily and I were in the same ward they would have cast her family for the "other" role.

Today she came by with another sister from the ward. I think we did a good job hamming it up for the camera. The kids had a blast jumping on the couch and racing around the house with their arms full of canned food. I'm really anxious to see how it all looks. She was going to film it in black and white and make it look very grainy and old. No voices--just frantic music in the background and funny subtitles. I have a feeling that one of the people working on the project might see this so could I please just make one simple request? Could you please have one of the subtitles read, "remember folks the camera adds a good 75 pounds."

what a guy!!

Men and women definitely parent differently, at least Jeremy and I do. I was just talking with my good friend Torrie the other night and I was bragging a little about some of Jeremy's greatest qualities. I totally appreciate his patients and desire to spend time with our kids. I think Jeremy was the one who taught each of our kids how to write all their letters and spell their own names.

Here is just one example of how we do things so differently. One of our kids would come up to me and say, "Mommy show me how to write my name." I will take a piece of paper and write it down for them and then tell them to run off and practice while I finish the dishes or fold some laundry. Jeremy on the other hand would get the same request and sit down with them for an hour going over and over the different steps until they mastered it. He is just so patient with things like that.


Jeremy is the one that taught them how to tie their shoes, ride their bikes, and the VERY important skill of passing the first couple levels of Pac-Man. About a month ago Jake found an old Rubik's Cube in his toy box and brought it to Jeremy and I. He asked if either of us knew how to solve it and I said, "no just keep working on it and maybe you'll get it." Jeremy on the other hand takes Jake to the computer and looks up videos on YouTube of people solving it in record speed. Jake was so amazed by it, he asks Jeremy if he could learn how to do that and teach him. Jake then went onto bed and Jeremy stayed up until 3:00 am teaching himself all the steps you need to solve it. They have tutorials on YouTube with all the steps and algorithms that you need to memorize to solve it every time. The next morning Jake woke up and found his Rubik's Cube totally solved on his desk. He was THRILLED. Over the last month they have had several hours of tutoring sessions and Jake can now solve the thing with little to no prompting (it takes him a long time to get it though). Jeremy has the thing solved now in well under 3 mins. Jeremy now wants to start working with Riley on it.


Like I said he has sooooo much patients. I'm so glad we have each other to balance everything out for one another and our kids.

can't we all just get along?

Jake: Mom can I ask you something?

Me: Sure Jake what's up?

Jake: If North Dakota and South Dakota could ever stop fighting and they could just become "Dakota" would we only have 49 states?

The wheels are always turning...