Ride the Ducks in Branson!

If you ever get the chance to Ride the Ducks, DO IT! We did this last year in Branson, Missouri and the kids DUG IT! Plus everyone gets a duck call, which makes for tons of fun (and parental headaches) in the car and at home later.



We’re going again this summer. We used to go out drinking and dancing at clubs for fun. Now we Ride the Ducks. Aron and I are such geezers that we prefer the Ducks these days!

I’m always looking for good vacation spots: What’s your best vacation spot/activity?

4/17/12 We still have this annoying and fun little duck whistle!

When Kids Crash on Their Mom

This is a rare photo taken January 2. I love having all my kids asleep snug in their beds while I roam the house and check on them, but I also love when they crash all around me.

I Hate When They’re Right

Me: Joel, how many episodes of Tailspin are left on this DVD? Because if there are only a couple, we’ll just start school once it’s all over.

Joel: I don’t know.

Me: Really? You loaded up the DVD and it shows how many episodes are on it and you had to choose the episode you were on from last night. You don’t know how many are left?

Joel: I don’t know.

Me: What would you say if God asked you?

Joel: He wouldn’t ask me because He would already know.

Product Review: Perler Beads

Since today is the 6th time Eva has gotten a Perler Bead stuck on her bottom tooth, I figured I’d better write about how great these things are. Yeah, I know, we don’t worry about our kids choking on things, we worry about them getting them stuck on their teeth.

Santa brought little starter sets of these cool things, and the boys went so nutty over them that I sprung for the tub o’beads at Michael’s (don’t be dumb like me: wait for the coupon to come out because the tub is like $13). Still, I’ll happily pay that for hours of fun and creative outlet.

Basically you put these plastic beads on boards that look like tiny cleats. You make cool designs (you have no idea how many different options there are; even Glow-in-the-Dark Perler beads!!!). Then you have an adult iron the board so the beads melt together.



Sorry about this one ... I forgot to get it flipped sideways for the posting and I'm posting this off-site. Just turn your bean to the left to see it ...


You know how I don’t iron clothes, right? So for a few days the boys would only wait until their dad got home to iron their Perler bead designs. Then I got fed up with being treated like a domestic moron and took over.

Look out! Mommy’s ironing!

Apparently I got the job because the boys now want “Mommy to do it.” Good Lord, next I’ll be sewing BUTTONS on stuff!!!!!!!

The Twin Connection

A couple of weeks ago I asked Aron (below, left) if he felt seasick. He told me no and asked why. I said, “Because your twin brother is on a cruise right now, and aren’t twins supposed to be cosmically connected?” He called me an idiot, and rightly so.



Did you know identical twins have the same DNA? So you could do a paternity test and not know which twin was the father of a kid. Freaky. But their fingerprints are different.

Aron and Eric have taken the Switching Identities thing a little farther than just pulling one over on girlfriends and teachers.

A couple of years ago Aron had to travel to Canada a lot for work. Every damn time he tried to get into the country he got detained because his brother had impersonated him once, which is a federal crime. They’d pull Aron out of the Customs line and take him into a room and ask him questions.

Fraternal twins MAY have some hereditary deal on the side of the mother (whew, I’m safe), but identical twins MAY BE an anomaly (or “freak of nature,” as I like to call my husband). Age has a lot to do with ending up with fraternal twins, and this article says sometimes if the guy is a twin you may end up with twins. Oh, crap.