Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

My little Bub is the most precious little guy you could imagine....but his sloppiness is legendary.  Sometimes I can't believe that I gave birth to such a slob!  It drives me insane!

This past week I had reached my limit with his disobedience.  My kids have strict rules about clutter, but he just can't seem to get it together.  All the usual punishments just seemed to have no effect, so I've had to get clever.  We have an upcoming history fair in which Bubbie was planning to be a Navy Seal, his favorite thing in the world.  I gently explained to him that Navy Seals had to carry their own weight and follow instructions and stay ahead of the game.  I gave him an ultimatum:  either get it together and act like a Navy Seal, or change his history fair character to "an Obama supporter", somebody who free loads and expects other people to carry their load.

In order to help him see his progress, I made him a calendar for daily room check progress.

I think he's FINALLY motivated!

- Posted using my iPhone

Just Because It's Funny

If you're not familiar with the crazy guys at Bad Lip Reading, well...they're just funny guys who take speeches and scenes and turn the sound down, and lip read.  The results are always hilarious.  I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times the kids and I have watched this video, but I will tell you that it still makes me laugh out loud.  This was MUCH more entertaining than the original debate!

Sing a Happy Song!

With all the rain we've had lately in our neck of the woods, several mushroom gardens have sprung up all over our yard.  Tuesday, I was cooking supper and heard a loud scream and ran out the door to find Summer Rose sobbing in the front yard, with Seth standing there with that "innocent" look on his face, holding a mushroom.  

 ...or should I say, holding a Smurf house.  Whenever Summer and I walk in the yard, every time we find a mushroom, I'll say, "Shhhhhhh!  Listen carefully," and we'll lean down and I'll quietly sing, "La la la la la la, sing a happy song.  La la la la la la, sing the whole day long."  She just loves that, and I guess has taken it a little more seriously than I thought.  She was truly heartbroken that Seth had carelessly destroyed a Smurf village!

I just love little girls!  And though I am working on making her less of a "cry baby", I love it that she can still get so upset over something so cute.

Google Fun

Google the word "askew".  It will drive you crazy if you're a neat freak like me, but it's fun!

More fun:  Enter "google gravity" and then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" and watch your world fall!

2 Sets of Dog Ears

I don't know how many Yankee readers my blog has, but where I come from, we call this hair style "dog ears".

2012

1978

See any resemblance?

- Posted using my iPhone

In Honor of the Brownies We Had for Breakfast

Can She Cook?

My family and I have laughed at this all weekend.

For your viewing pleasure...the Duck Commander:

I dedicate this post to my own personal redneck, whom I have loved (and cooked for) for 18 years!

The Care and Torture of Caterpillars

Summer Rose has overcome her fear of caterpillars! I know they are so glad.

My kids have always "loved" caterpillars. Here's Seth (sitting in piano lessons) with some caterpillars he colored with a Sharpie last year.

And here's a picture from 2008 with my dirty little munchkins making caterpillar houses out of magnets. (Sis will kill me for posting this. Aren't they precious?)

My Bear of a Blog

Well, it's spring. The bears are coming out of hibernation, and it's time my own blog came out of hibernation too. I've been pretty overwhelmed the past few months from many different angles in life, and I just had to focus on the essentials for a while.

I have truly missed blogging, although I don't think anyone else even noticed I had quit LOL. Here's a little update on what's been going on at the Stringer household:

KK has grown a foot and gets more handsome every day!

My sweet girl turned 12!

Seth is still cutting up dead stuff (see cow eye below)

Bub is still saving the world from Nazis and Muslims

Summer has discovered Dorothy!

And for something pretty funny....I was preparing to send in my older version of Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra that KK did for 8th grade for the newer auto-grading version they just released so I'll have it for my future students. For this exchange, it is required to send in your old, used textbook. As I was getting my package ready, I scanned through the book and noticed the last page. My little comedian tends to doodle all through his school work. I bet poor Greg and Shawn (the Teaching Textbook authors) will be surprised when they see this! :-)

This is dedicated to my husband...

who absolutely cannot read lips to save his life!

This website takes public speeches and songs and "lip reads" them. It's hilarious, because it really does look like they're saying the nonsense that you hear. I chose the Rick Perry one, since I'd rather hear hilarious nonsense than his globalist, soft-immigration, Mulism-loving, parental-rights-hating hot air.

But I have to admit, this one is funnier:

Birth order, anyone?

I'm definitely not into psychology, but years ago I read Kevin Leman's birth order book, and I was amazed at how true his descriptions of family dynamics were. I am the firstborn. Maybe just a teenie, weenie bit controlling and bossy. (only a little!)

What do you think? (also from 1982, 7 years old)

About the smoking, no...none of my friends smoked, although some of them obviously had sinus and fidgeting problems; but smoking would have been my worst nightmare. My daddy smoked (thankfully, he has quit! Yay, Daddy!), but I hated every second of it growing up. Obviously LOL.

"7" Was a Rough Year

My parents cleaned out their attic and gave me a box of things from years gone by. I thought this was pretty funny. It's dated 1982, when I was 7 years old. Incidentally, this was about a month before I got saved. :-)

And just for the record, I had a wonderful childhood and I dearly love my sister, Jada.

Little Sister Boot Camp

This is how the soldier gets his baby sister in shape.

- Posted using my iPhone

The Donkey Whisperer

This has got to be the best campaign ad ever!

Score for the Cat Lover

KK got caught with his iPod during school time and had it "repossessed" for a while. Bad mistake when you are playing pranks on your sister! He was shocked to find what Sis posted on his FB when he finally got his iPod back!

No Kitties Were Harmed During the Making of This Blog Post

There is a constant rivalry in our household as to which is the better pet: cat or dog.

In the left corner we have Madelyn, devoted cat lover. She's ready with a shovel in a split second to scrape that dead rat off the carport before her Dad sees it.

In the right corner, we have Caleb, dedicated coon dog breeder. He's been known to trek the woods until dawn, faithfully pursuing the coon dog that got sidetracked by an armadillo.

And now, the devoted cat lover and the dedicated coon dog breeder have reached adolescence. And they are about to drive their longsuffering mother crazy.

Below you will see the latest chapter in the Cat vs. Dog soap opera. (I can already hear it..."Mama, what's a soap opera?")

Caleb and Seth slipped outside today while Madelyn was busy with chores and staged this picture. (disclaimer: it was just for show! below kitty is alive and well!)

KK just tiptoed down the hallway and set this photo as Sis's iPod wallpaper. She'll have a nice little surprise waiting in the morning.

I am absolutely certain that there will be payback. Stay tuned for more Cat vs. Dog!

- Posted using my iPhone

They Make Me So Proud

I know what the Bible says about being puffed up with pride, but seriously....just look at these little geniuses.....YOU'D BE PROUD TOO!

This little angel is 11 years old. I'm hoping the self-respect thing kicks in real soon.

The dentist suggested I help Seth brush a little more along the gumlines at night. Maybe I should consider this.

Bub came running in from swimming at Gran's house and yells, "Mama, look! Gran put jell-o on our hair!" (translation: gel)

And Seth has managed to accomplish what I've failed to do in 3 years....get Summer to obey, without challenge, the first time she's told. I think I'm going to make me a list of commands like his and try that!

Wife's Diary, Husband's Diary

This has been circulating on the internet, so I can't be sure of who wrote it, but I thought this was pretty funny.

Wife’s Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to

meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends

all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit

late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I

suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but

he didn't say much.


I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was

my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had

nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I

told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving.

I can't explain his behavior I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love

you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely,

as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there

quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.

Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15

minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was

distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I

cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are

with someone else. My life is a disaster.

Husband's Diary:


Boat wouldn't start, can't figure it out.

"Just a minute!"

Just for future reference, whenever you call your 2-year-old and she says, "Just a minute!" at the very same time your 6-year-old says, "Mama, I smell something
funny," you should take off running. What was really funny was when I walked into the bathroom, she said, "Mama, take a picture of my pink piggies." (All the bloggers' children know that know matter how big the mess, a picture will be taken!)

I Obviously Have Too Many Children

To all the naysayers out there who've said rude things to my face and behind my back about "all those kids" that Jason and I have so irresponsibly brought into the world...well, okay, I guess you might have a point. I'll at least concede that maybe we have too many children for the amount of toilets we have in our house. You see, a deep dark secret is that....my boys end up using the bathroom outside almost every morning. The routine goes like this: everyone gets up at the same time, the big kids take their showers first thing, and if the boys drag around, they miss their opportunities to use the restroom. Inevitably, they have to go bad and end up yelling, "Mom, I'm going to pee outside!"

So this evening when I told Summer to go pee pee, she found both restrooms full, then runs to the kitchen door yelling, "Mom, I'm going to pee outside!". When I tried to stop her, she burst into tears and then I had to video!





So the bottom line is this. STRINGER KIDS, you all better walk the line this week! Somebody's going on eBay before the week is out! Our kid:toilet ratio is out of balance!

- Posted using my iPhone