this just in....

that's right. this will be the headline special...where each piece of news is shocking and/or dumb enough to receive a worthy front page story with awesome headline. there were too many prospective titles to only choose one for this blog post. and most of these are from work. I'll just tack on our other news at the end.

circle circle, dot dot, now you need a rabies shot. no, the squirrels do not belong to us. and if you feed them, they might just bite you. duh.

crazy hair. 3 year old girl asks 2 year old girl a question. 2 year old turns to 3 year old and says "you have crazy hair."

sir, are you alright? man falls asleep while waiting for children to look at all the animals in the manta aquarium. being the dad on a vacation is definitely the hardest job.

why is squidward a squid and not an octopus? just in case you were ever curious, it's because the illustrator thought that 8 legs was too many, and made him look like he had poopy pants.

you baptized your child where? what do you do when a dad dunks his infant into the dolphin pool and then walks away with her half dripping wet? your guess is as good as mine.

give me some of that misty goodness. in the florida heat there is no excuse not to have your child fan and mist you.

you want to be what when you grow up? you still have a lot of years of school left if you appear to be in high school, tell me that an octopus is a squid and a starfish is an octopus and then tell me you want to be a marine biologist.

yes, lettuce is high in fiber. manatees eat lots of salad. lots of salad means lots of fiber. lots of fiber means lots of gas. lots of gas means lots of questionable bubbles arising from the manatee.

wazzup wood stork. this number is pretty funny. wood storks when basking appear to be picking a fight. whats up.


I'm sorry you grilled your pet turtle. "I used to have a turtle, not a sea turtle but a box turtle. then my dad put it outside so it could warm up. then we forgot. then we had hamburgers for dinner and the turtle was too close to the grill and it got too hot and it died." yikes.

howling at the moon....or clawing at the water. both look crazy. pulling the water closer to you does not actually bring the dolphins with it.

goodbye guinea pig, hello sea lion. "can I buy one? I'll take really good care of it...I'll build it a really big pool!" me: "do you hear that dad? you're building a pool!" dad: "well we'd have to get rid of the guinea pig that has been in our family for 7 years." girl: "ok!"

it's not smart to put your children where you can't reach them. if you have 4 children and 2 hands, you probably shouldn't lift them up all onto rocks that are above your head.

and when that picture reappears on their wedding day, they will hate you. in 10 years when you look at the picture of your kids in front of the frisky dolphins, you will laugh. until then, those around you will laugh at you for not noticing.

the soak zone really does soak you. duh. I guess we didn't really believe it.

if you have vertically challenged bosoms, please don't wear a strapless swimsuit. please.

no they are not robots. you wouldn't believe how many times the question "are they real?" is asked in reference to our animals.

no, it is just an empty pool. you also wouldn't believe how often "is there anything in there?" is asked.

thong bikinis. enough said.

wait we have one of those? ok so this was me. until about 2 days ago I didn't know our sink had a sprayer. did I just never look for one? did I get spoiled on our apartment sink that was a sprayer/faucet in one and just forgot they weren't attached? I must have cleaned around it 30 times.

in other news: rhett starts training his new employees today! I plan on going to enjoy lunch with him so I can meet the groups on either side of lunch. also, he leaves on thursday to head to texas for the summer offsite with his company. I will miss him mucho. but he is super excited to see everyone. we have also been busy pouring into all the church ministries. we are now officially a part of the nursery, youth, college, and small group ministries. we love our church home, and all of the friends it has brought us. I find out in just a week and a half if I will be kept on at work. I don't know what to expect. each day I get a different vibe, and I would rather just know one way or the other than wait it out any longer. I applied to a doggy daycare right near our house, and have been putting feelers out just in case I need to start job hunting. I have also found another great place to volunteer in the meantime, and will probably apply there in the next few weeks (the other place had too much training to be able to work it out this time around). we are tweaking our vacation plans for october, but not by much. love you all!

you look crazy when....

I will try and make all of my news complete the opening sentence. because most of it does. some might be a stretch.

(selves): you break your juice pitcher and now have to mix up crystal light in a mixing bowl.

your work vneck tan is rockin.

you fight the windshield wipers as the rain slows down and speeds up the whole way home.

you try to draw an elephant getting its groove on while playing the nelson game with college group.

you talk to no one on the other end of the phone while the epass lady doesn't tell you she is still there and trying to find your information

you don't realize that while on the phone you zoned out enough to do all the dishes and laundry

you pay $21 for movie tickets to see harry potter. that's right college station, enjoy your $4 movies because when you grow up and move away, they are now $10.50. good thing we won a free pair of tickets this week.

you talk to your dog on speaker phone on the way home from work. what a loyal puppy. he always greets us at the door when we get home!

(roscoe) you check to make sure we're ok when we're in the bathroom.

you lick the floor and nobody can figure out why until we realize that juice got spilled there last night.

(park guests): you chug 2 bowls of dippin dots at aquatica.

you ask how big polar bear poop is.

you wear high heels to seaworld and/or a water park.

you talk loudly and openly about an STD given to you by a fellow coworker in the employee bathroom.

your (already revealing) speedo is worn down from being sat on and your crack/cheeks are clearly visible to the entire world.

you are afraid to go underwater and are at a water park.

you yell "DANG THAT'S A BIG LIZARD"

you ask park employees if they can give you money.

you wave at the lizard, ask if it's real, and then ask why isn't it waving back.

you don't have a bellybutton.

you sniff the sea turtle shell.

you complain that you paid for valet parking so that you wouldn't have to "walk this far to get to your car" when you have been in a theme park all day long walking around. do you want me to drive your car to shamu stadium to pick you up?

I'm glad that we're all crazy. because if you can't beat 'em join 'em.

truly blessed

friday was a day of deliciousness. we got dressed up as moo cows, and went to chick-fil-a for cow appreciation day. and we all got free meals! yum yum. nothing better than free chick-fil-a. then we went back to the thomas's and played quelf with stephanie and alex. which was really funny because stephanie was still on pain medicine for her wisdom teeth. I loved getting to visit her and bring her a milkshake on friday afternoon! we are so blessed to have the thomas family in our lives.

our friends the somers are currently in africa meeting their boys that they are adopting! so psyched to get to see them next weekend and see pictures of their adventure!

our first college group night at our house is this wednesday! I am so excited to serve them and feed them! we have discovered walmart neighborhood market, which so beats the regular walmart on food quality and ambiance...but still has walmart prices. score.

for the month of july, seaworld has some awesome team member nights out going on! can't wait to go bowling and go to gatorland with the hubby!

rhett played basketball with the guys on saturday...it's officially a tradition! 3 weeks in a row! we may have to postpone this weekend....it's either busch gardens or harry potter for us! we are going to have to try and cram all of my employee discount freebies into these last 4 weeks just in case I don't move up to part time.

church was superb on sunday. one of my precious nursery boys (who is crazy smart!) had this toy in his hands, and then set it on the ground (with his hands still under it) and leaned on it. at which point his fingers were pinned between said toy and the ground. too funny. "stuck, stuck!" and then we had a new visitor sing "it is well" and he was so good and it was so awesome.




most of the rest of what I've got is the work stories portion of the post. we haven't had a whole lot of news lately.

first of all, I totally understand doing construction work at night. but if you are going to work on the major highway out of the orlando attractions, you should definitely not start at the exact time that all the parks close. come on people.

I love when kids are so excited about animals. I talked to 2 little girls yesterday that were both so smart and had so many questions....about 20 minutes each! they wanted to know so much they just took me around to all the different animals in the exhibit and asked questions. even if they couldn't think of a question they didn't want me to leave because they wanted every drop of knowledge they could get. so awesome. and their parents were so excited for them too.

I met a fellow education team member who is an animal ambassador. that may be exactly what I want to do. hopefully a spot will open up.

a blind boy came through wild arctic on saturday...and it was so cool. we have biofacts in there, and so we got to feel how big a polar bear pawprint is, and a walrus tusk. so cool.

the sleeping polar had her tongue hanging out of her mouth on the ground....rock....ice. hilarious. made me think of a christmas story.

I also caught myself saying "ice holes" several times when I was talking about beluga whales...and quickly had to reword. oops.

and a young boy trying to open all of the fake window/doors in one of our aquariums. tugging with all his might. bless his heart.

and parents pleasantly surprised faces when I manage to speak 3 year old and decipher the babbles of kiddos.

"polar bear, time to wake up!"

me on mic: "so here in front of you we have the beluga whales. beluga whales have several adaptations that make them fit to live here in the arctic......."
guest interrupts narration: "what animal is this?"

the highlights and the lowlight.

I'll just get the lowlight out of the way first, because that way I can cheer myself up. I just ran outside to see the final launch...and it was too dang cloudy. couldn't hear it, couldn't see anything but the cloud plume, wasn't going 20 miles out of town at 3am to get a good view. but hooray NASA! 30 great years of the shuttle program, can't wait to visit Atlantis in its resting place here at the space center in a few months. I'll awake to the sonic boom when it returns on the 20th.


dog things:

-yesterday I cleaned out a dish with beans in it...into the trash can. the dog approached the trash can, sniffed the beans, then reached around to sniff his own rear. it was almost as if to say...beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot. hilarious.

-it is precious every morning when Rhett leaves for work, Roscoe walks him to the door, and then walks to the window and watches him pull out of the garage and drive away.

-yesterday there were bugs on the screen door, outside the glass door. which roscoe didn't understand. so he kept jumping at the glass, and reaching no bugs. oh sad confusion.

-we also had some pretty good thunder yesterday. he finally settled down and fell asleep in my lap. I tried not to move.

schedule things:

-tonight is free chick-fil-a if you dress up like a cow! we are going to hit that up with the thomases.

-last night rhett and I went to aquatica and seaworld. we added passes to get in to aquatica...and haven't used them yet. it rained and rained but didn't lightning, which was perfect. we rode everything in 2 hours....no lines. then we ran over to seaworld which was empty too! awesome night.

house things:

-I think we are having a slow steady bug invasion. not gross bugs...actually kind of cool bugs, and only one of each. a caterpillar, and 3 different awesome looking beetles. maybe it was the rain and cool/warm weather change.

-I made Rhett some of his favorite green salsa. the house has been a happy place all week with - green salsa around : )

-I am pretty sure that our neighbors edged our yard for us? which is super nice. we keep it mowed when we borrow our friends mower, but don't have an edger. and I checked out the fenceline and it was magically cut.


work things:

-I am still trying to work out my schedule to be able to volunteer with the local zoo at the same time I keep the seaworld job. If I can trade enough seaworld shifts...I can complete the training for the zoo.

-we had scheduled background checks, which are pretty boring. but the guy who did my interview also did my background check and it was fun to catch up with him!

-I am totally psyched about next week...a guy in the aquarium department is offering a seminar to see the manta aquarium behind the scenes during our study sessions. I can't wait!

-so last post I wrote about my verbal quiz and the evaluations to come....and turns out they scheduled me for an evaluation on wednesday because I had requested one! it was so neat that they remembered. it went well! especially for my first one.

-our octopus laid eggs...which is awesome and sad. google it.

-we also have a preggo dolphin...who was contracting when I left on wednesday...but rhett and I visited last night after we left aquatica and she still hadn't popped yet. poo. can't wait to see a baby dolphin on saturday!

-and of course....the quotes. "so if a weedy sea dragon is weedy, can you smoke it?" and... "one day when we all live underground, you won't be around, but I will, and I'm going to watch and make friends with these stingrays." uhhhh what??

it's friday, friday...oh wait, no it's not.

there's not much to update today, but if I work on posting when I have a little bit of news, then maybe my posts won't be so long and ominous.

so after the beach day on sunday, monday was a nice relaxing morning, and a fun afternoon with our second family. we went to the thomas's in the afternoon, and some of our small group was there, and we just ate and played games and celebrated america's birthday together! and, of course, went to see fireworks.

dear thomases,
we love you very much. thank you for adopting us. we quadruple love your kids. we love that we feel at home in your home. we love that you take care of us. we love that you tease us. we are so blessed to be so well taken care of by you. thank you for being mentors in marriage, and ministers of Christ.

then yesterday, several things happened!

I had requested on saturday to take my verbal situation test at work on tuesday. so I studied for it, and wasn't really expecting much, because everyone that I saw walk into the office for their test, walked out with a non-pass (you have to make a 100%). I thought, the earlier I took it, the more time I would give myself to re-take it. but I PASSED! first try! I am totally psyched. at this point, the only thing that it means is that I am proving my interest in being kept on after the summer, and taking the steps towards moving up. essentially it adds on to my file, so when they look at all the files at the end of the summer, they will know that I want to stay! over the next few weeks, I will also request to be evalled on my narrations as well.

casey anthony verdict. enough said.

roscoe is awfully winey today. he will get double walks.

and the seaworld winning quote of the day: "look it's a baby manatee!!!" (as she points to a catfish).


not so much.

happy 4th of july!

welcome to the one-sentence special, where every piece of news will be one sentence long (except this intro). all you grammar sticklers out there, prepare for run-ons.

-Friday I learned rhett's biggest pet pieve which is leaving the britta/drink pitcher empty, oops.

-I heard back from the volunteer position that I applied for, and am hoping I can work it out.

-the bigger and better game at church was awesome (see picture above); we started with toilet paper and ended with all that stuff! (like that semi-colon?)

-in the midst of that game, I learned an awful lot about my neighborhood from the man in charge of neighborhood watch...and let me just say, sketch.

-we went to the beach with sarah and milton yesterday and it was so awesome and fun!

-sarah also informed me that winn dixie will sell you catfish, fry it up for you, and send you home with delicious dinner...I can't wait to try this out because I have been craving catfish.

-speaking of fish...rhett sometimes talks in his sleep, and this morning it was "take the fish"

-I had a dream that I was living everyone else's facebook statuses...weird...which led to me running into a friend of mine who had grown up to be a french painter?



-yesterday we celebrated roscoe's 2nd birthday... see recipe below for delicious puppy cupcakes
(roscoe gobbled them up!)!

-roscoe got his monthly flea medicine and heartworm medicine, which he proceeded to drip and drool everywhere-gross.

-also, roscoe has started carrying his dogfood to other places in the house to eat it...which can lead to me standing up from the couch with dogfood stuck to various parts of my body.

-because we live outside city limits...lots of fireworks were set off last night...and i'm not sure roscoe slept a wink he was so scared.

-my new most awesome favorite park guest is the one who takes a family picture by the manatee statue, but never actually walks up to see the real-live manatees.

-I saw a little girl with the most perfect little blonde ringlet curls...super J.

-because it is certainly impossible to have not heard the noisiness of the sea lions and I am out there so much, I am always surprised when I hear a new noise out of one; this week it was the "elf belch" noise like will ferrell...awesome.

-and I love my hub-a-dub who takes out the trash and mows the lawn.

the end!

P.S. recipe for puppy cupcakes:

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg

Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Spray cupcake pan with nonstick spray and bake for 24 minutes at 350°F. Makes 8 cupcakes.

Icing:
6 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla.

I want cotton candy

so we've got a lot of things on the slate over the next few days, but today is a day of cloudy gloom outside on which there isn't anything more fitting to do other than update the blog. so here we go. we'll start out with the slate of the future.

-tonight we are going on a trade-up/scavenger type thing with the youth group. that will be fun! I've never done one before.

-my time off officially got approved for the october trip...so we are booking our tickets very soon to come visit texas!

-on sunday we will be having a birthday party for Roscoe and visiting the beach. happy 4th of july! monday we will spend the holiday with our small group at the thomas's house. totally psyched about making bean dip! yum! Roscoe will be 2 years old...hooray for doggy birthday cake and a giant bone for his present!

-we are excited about all the talk of family and friends visiting over the next few months! we should have company at the end of the summer, maybe in the fall, and some for each holiday! we can't wait to show you our new home and orlando!!

-as part of all these visits/vacation...we are in need of several things/favors. we are looking for a house sitter (steph thomas??) while we are gone in october. we are also in need of a pack'n play/crib over christmas break to borrow. also in october we may or may not have a place lined up in college station and houston to stay? let me know if any of these things are calling to you :)

as for the last few days...

-I applied to several more jobs....just in the event that the seasonal position does not transition to part time. cross your fingers for hearing back on those.

-we currently love watching pawn stars.

-I forgot to tell you that we got our first letter (and wrote back) from our compassion sponsored child, Ibrahimu. it was so sweet and filled with kind words and such love for the Lord. we can't wait to get to know him over the next years!!
"Ibrahimu greets you, he says praise the Lord Jesus, he greets you "shikamo" a respectful greetings to an elder by a junior. an elder replies "marahaba." He says he lives together with his parents at Mwadui area. He says he thanks God for choosing him for your sponsorship, now he will be well educated and get free medical services once he becomes sick. He says he will pray for you so that the Almighty God bless you, and also requests your prayers so that he performs well in school. He says how he is in class one, and plays games, in athletics, football, hide and seek. He says every saturday he attends project and learns the word of God, memory verses, praising and worship and plays together with his friends. He bids you farewell, God bless."

and to finish it off...a tuesday seaworld quote. with backstory. educators get to carry animal trading card prizes for good questions, anwered questions, etc. so during a narration I asked a questions, got an answer, and told her to remind me to give her a prize. "I'm ready for my prize. I want cotton candy."

precious.