Busy Saturday

moved packed boxes from house to garage

taped and labeled boxes


took a field trip to the petstore to do "research" ...

adopted Jacob's new puppy ...


Welcome to the family, Layla.

Forgot to get more boxes...

Jazzercise...again?

I hurt my right arm. Some ligament stretched and now my bicep tendon pops out of it's little groove when I use it. I try to be good, I try to wear my sling thing, I try to use my mouse with the left hand... but I asked if I could go back to Jazzercise - if I didn't use that arm?

The dr. said yes, so I gave it a try. I went to the 5:30am class so I wouldn't have to take any kids with me.

There is a certain amount of momentum that a left arm creates that throws you off balance when the right arm does not reciprocate.

Think I'll wait a few more weeks until I try that again.

In the meantime, I'm going to add some of the jazzercise songs to my playlist so I can listen to them - while I'm eating cookies with my left arm :)

sfpp

Warning: You need a pencil and piece of paper for this blog...you might be required to do math.


As I ponder/ dream/ wish for a new house - today I was mulling over square footage per person (sfpp).

During my googling I found some interesting facts...

-In 1950,the average sfpp was 292 sq ft
-In 2006,the average sfpp was 900 sq ft

That means that back in the 50's, my family of 8 would have lived in a roomy 2336 sq ft home...and in 2006 we should have been in a 7200 sq ft home. I think we missed that mark by more than 5000 sq feet in this house.

The numbers don't really take into consideration that the needs of a family of 4 (bathrooms, kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms, etc.) doesn't require another 900 sq feet for a new baby... although another baby and another and another might need a few more bedrooms.

I also don't believe that everyone in the family will pull their weight in the cleaning and maintenance of their 900 sq feet... so those new babies don't qualify for their own 900 sq ft in my bungalow.

Those numbers measure what they measure - people living in houses. It doesn't include the homeless or account for people without kids living in larger square footage, but we'll go with those numbers anyway.

Now, before I bemoan my current 234 sfpp... I thought I'd share an article about a New York couple and their 200 sq ft apartment - that's only 100 sq ft per person!

Sounds fascinating...and maybe my family could squeeze into an 800 sq ft apartment, since that's where my husband's heart longs to live anyway. Right in the middle of the city, close to a park and walking distance to everything. Just grab your backpack and go.

Since we aren't moving to New York this time around, here's one of the floorplans we like right here in Texas.

The main problem is location: Krum, Tx. What do you call people from Krum? Krumonians, Kruminites, Krumers, Krumcakes, Krumbly...

...but it would increase our square footage per person by 76 (that's another 600 sq ft bringing the new home total to 2487 sq ft.).

Enjoy your walk in closets and 3 or more potties today.
You know who you are.
I'll be joining you shortly!

Jedi Training Academy

Ever since we saw Luke get his light saber from an older Obi-Won, haven't we ALL wanted our chance to wield a real light saber.

How many things would you have broken as you swung that light saber around the living room? Your mother's trinkets, lamps, small animals and older relatives would have been cut in half. Better leave the force to those who are trained in it's ways.

Now that Emily and Becca have gotten that chance, we'll have to keep a better eye on Claire. They were trained by "real" Jedi... to fight the evil foe.





Where could something like this even take place? Putting young girls out to fight the Dark Lord.

Only at Disneyland, where dreams really do come true.



Emily and Becca with their Jedi Training Academy certificates.

May the Force be with You.

The O face - by Jacob

My little sister, Claire, makes the O face.


I was supposed to be doing school the other day, but I snuck my mom's camera into the cozy room to take a few pictures of Claire. Out of the 54 pictures and 2 videos I took, about a dozen were of Claire making her O face.








None of these were staged or rehearsed. She just likes to make that face all the time. So we all make that face back to her... positive reinforcement at it's finest.

Here's a video of her trying to eat the camera cord...you'll notice the glistening O face throughout. She likes to drool, too.



Til next time - J. T. Petersen

Katy sings for the masses

It's that time of year again. The trees start to bud, the flowers start to bloom, even the carnies awaken from their winter slumber.

The Denton Jazz and Arts Fest today was a great example. A lovely day to taste and see and hear Denton at it's finest
(or not ?)



Finest: Katy's 4th and 5th grade choir got to sing on an indoor air conditioned stage. She's on the top left.



Not so finest: Not sure Emily realized she was filming...





Finest: The Jazz Fest is by one of the nicer playgrounds

Amanda climbing up


Emily climbing down


Claire is real excited...YEAH!!!

Katy and Jacob were watching everyone else...and I was watching them


Becca was sliding..and I snapped this one at just the right time.


Not so finest: We didn't ride any of the "rides" They wanted $2 - $4 per kid for one trip through a bouncehouse/tunnel thing or a scary (old and wobbly) little ferris wheel.






Finest: Katy got to do a little painting in the kids free arts and craft tent.

Not so finest: Some little kid painted on his paper and hers :(







Finest: The kids like to take pictures with my camera. Sometimes they do a great job. Thank you, Jacob.


Not so finest: Sometimes they take pictures of random stuff or the people sitting around us. Good job, Amanda.




Finest: Claire was sharing her Kix with Amanda....

Not so finest: During the last song, Amanda starts telling me that "Claire needs more Kix"...louder and louder and louder. I think Amanda ate all Claire's cereal and Amanda wanted some more :)



Finest: We have many memories of being at the Jazz Fest over the years... Darren has played with all kinds of bands: UNT lab bands, Pecos River Brass, Inner City All Stars....

Not so finest: Which usually meant Darren was on stage while I was the main parental unit for our offspring. This year was no different. Daddy was playing his axe at a church conference, so I was still the main parental unit. Missed you daddy.
And you too, Bonhams.
But the offspring did great.

Wizard of the Bob

Out of the blue, this morning my funny 2 yr old says, " I want to see Wizard of the Bob. You know the one with that green guy, the witch."

Yes, I know the one with the witch...I just can't believe it left such an impression on her that she still brings it up, month and months and months later. We had read the book with the girls and then we watched the movie. So did Amanda.



Just because she can say it now, doesn't mean she gets to watch it again, anytime soon.