Katie's Journal

Do you have Sprint cell phones?

Fri, 11 Feb 05 23:45:00 UT

Hi all! We are looking at switching our cell phone service. We are looking at Sprint. Have you all been happy with your Sprint service? Our biggest concern is coverage area, as we depend on our cell phone to talk to customers. We have been dropping a lot of calls lately (or had very bad reception), so we need to switch.

We like Sprint because they seemed like they have a good coverage area. Also, they have very cheap overage (which happens sometime).

Anyway, please share!

By the way, I have finally updated www.thegeistfamily.com so check it out for photos of the kids.

The "S word" and the "D word"

Wed, 3 Nov 04 21:47:00 UT

Tonight Jessie was talking about different television shows that she likes. She said she doesn't like to watch the Powder Puff Girls because they use bad words. I asked her what they said and she responded "the S word" and "the D word."

I have never watched the Powder Puff Girls, but I was kind of surprised that they would curse words. I asked her what the S word and D word are (and told her it was OK to say them this once).

She told me that the S word is "stupid" and the D word is "dumb."

Don't you love the innocence of youth?

Joey is a true Texan

Tue, 21 Sep 04 11:56:00 UT

We went to On the Border last night with my mother-in-law (who got back from Denver yesterday). After dinner, the waiter brought us some to-go boxes for the kids left-overs. I went ahead and grabbed one of the extra boxes and filled it with all of the yummy chips that we had left. I was eyeing the salsa, thinking that it is a shame for it to go to waste, when I had the brilliant idea to dump the extra salsa into the kid's drink cups and take it home.

Fast forward 14 or so hours to this morning. Dan and I occasionally pour the kids orange juice at night so they can get it on their own in the morning (and Dan and I can sleep a little later). This morning, I saw Joey go in and open the fridge and get a cup. "Hmm..." I thought. "I don't remember pouring them Orange Juice last night... maybe Dan did." Joey took his cup back into the play room with Jessie. Several moments later I saw Jessie pass through (quickly) into the kitchen and get a cup of water.

It wasn't until later when I was putting the cups away that I realized that Joey had grabbed the "salsa" cup for his morning beverage. I asked him if his Orange Juice tasted funny this morning, and he grabbed his mouth and opened his eyes wide and said, "It tasted funny and was hot."

I personally could almost drink On the Border salsa as a beverage, but I guess it is a little much for a four-year-old.

My Graphic Artist

Tue, 27 Jul 04 16:52:00 UT

Jessie created the prettiest picture using the Microsoft "Paint" program that comes pre-installed on most computers. Check it out here...

http://www.thegeistfamily.com

I'm not worthy of journalscape

Fri, 9 Jul 04 12:14:00 UT

Wow - my last journal post was a month ago! So sad. I do good just to find time to read other people's entries, much less write my own. But, I'll try.

I have a random question. Since I think the only people who read (or even know about) my journal are my siblings and mom, I thought I would post this here.

Do you remember when we took that fishing trip off Galveston when we were young and we all got incredibly motion sick? Why did we go on that trip? I don't remember dad or mom being big fishermen (or should I say, "fisherpeople") growing up (much less deep sea fishing). So why were we on a big boat where the only purpose was fishing?

Anybody remember?

Joey's turn

Wed, 9 Jun 04 23:17:00 UT

In the tradition of my mother, I must give my other child equal time. I did a journal entry on Jessie, now I must do one on Joey.

Uncle Matthew gave Joey a Slip N Slide for his birthday this year. Joey had his own unique method of "experiencing" the Slip N Slide. He would run quickly across our entire yard, and then do a hard belly flop onto the Slip N Slide. He would then do a "commando crawl" across the entire length of the slide. What made it even funnier was that he would squint as the water sprayed up into his face as he scooted, and he always ended up with a mouthful of grass by the end. It was so funny and cute!

The other interesting thing was what Dan and I did that evening. To some people, a fun evening would be going to dinner and a movie, but to us this was an ideal evening. Sitting on the deck, watching our kids playing, splashing, and laughing as they discover the wonder that is Slip N Slide.

Gee... maybe I should write Mastercard commercials. "One Slip N Slide... $20. A garden house... $15. Watching your kids splash and play.... priceless. There are some things that money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."

You have to watch that slang

Wed, 9 Jun 04 22:34:00 UT

We of course have been discussing presidents a lot with Jessie lately due to this weeks events. She made a comment this evening that made me laugh.

She said "It must have hurt when they kicked Nixon out of office." We had to explain to her that they didn't actually kick him. I guess she had this visual of someone with a big boot kicking him out of the oval office. We then gave her a little history lesson on his resignation and what happened.

I guess I need to watch my slang a little!

I love the internet!

Tue, 8 Jun 04 16:00:00 UT

I find myself becoming more and more dependent on the internet, even for the littlest things. For example, Jessie recently had an awesome garage sale find..... an easy bake oven (+ extra light bulb and accessories) for just $3! (much better than that garage sale Woody doll, right mom?)

Jessie (and I) have wanted an Easy Bake Oven for a long time. My reservation had always been the expensive mixes.... I don't like "toys" that you have to continue to pay for accessories in order to use and enjoy them. But now Jessie had the oven, so I had to do something. So, what did I do? I turned to the internet. I typed in "Easy Bake Oven Recipes" and found some great ones on Google. It was pretty neat... it made enough for 10 "baggies" that can be refridgerated for 12 weeks. She just has to add 4 tsp water to each bag and she can make a yummy chocolate cake! That alone probably saved me $40-50 on mixes.

So we got the first mix ready to make, when it dawned on me that I really don't know how to use the oven (i.e. how long to preheat the oven and how long to cook the cake). Now of course, it is not rocket science, I would have figured it out, but I hated to risk ruining her first cake! Again... the internet... a PDF of the instructions for the oven.

I find myself looking up all knids of things on Google now. Do you all have any good stories of time-saving or money-saving searches that you have performed?

Hallelujah!

Fri, 7 May 04 18:26:00 UT

Today was my last day of class at Rhema!!! Yeah!!!! I am very happy, excited, rejoicing, ect! It has been a great experience, but I am excited to be free from school again.

On a side note, Jessie "graduated" from Kindergarten yesterday. She has another week and a half of class, but they had the ceremony yesterday. It was cute as the kids showed off all that they had learned this year. Interestingly, when they were handing out the "graduation" certificates, they called Jessie's name first. We figured that must mean she was valedictorian. :-)

As if having a soon-to-be first grader isn't hard enough, my little baby is turing 4 on Monday. I can't believe he is so big!!! Joey is all the sudden into the typical "boy" toys.... Hot Wheels Cars, trains, Spider Man, Power Rangers (though he has never seen a single episode of either of these shows). Of course, he still asked for pink frosting and heart-shaped cookies for his school party, so I guess he doesn't fit every stereotype.

The TLC Generation

Fri, 9 Apr 04 11:18:00 UT

I had to share this....
Jessie's best friend Meghan is over this morning for a play date. They are in her room playing "What Not To Wear." They have already been "shopping" and now they are giving each other makeovers and doing each other's hair.

Who needs Nickelodeon or Disney Channel when you have TLC?

BTW - they said are planning to play Trading Spaces next.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Wed, 17 Mar 04 22:58:00 UT

I thought I would share some funny things that my kids have said...

Jessie: She likes to perform "pretend" weddings. Whenever she does the ceremony, she says "Do you take this man to be your awfully wedded husband....." MaryAnn.. maybe you should use this in your weddings!

Joey: We watch a lot of Nick at Nite in our family. There is a commercial on a lot for Three's Company. It is to the tune of "Three Blind Mice." One day, as Joey was playing with his toys, we heard him singing "Three Blonde Mates, Three Blonde Mates, See how they've changed, The first one was Chrissy who's last name was Snow, The second was Cindy but she had to go, The last was Terry who finished the show, As long as they were blonde, as long as they were blonde."

Jessie: Jessie was talking on her play walkie talkie the other day. She was saying "That sounds good... Roger that... I'll be there later... Roger... Let's go play... etc." I asked her something, and she responded, "Hold on second, I have to talk to my friend Roger first."

Do kids understand the shows they watch?

Wed, 11 Feb 04 18:05:00 UT

Yesterday, we purchased the "Lion King 1 1/2" (yes - that's right - it is a "fractional" sequal). The story is about the same events as the original Lion King story, but from Tumon and Pumba's perspective. In light of savedisney.com, I felt really guilty spending money on this direct to video release. This movie typifies what Roy Disney (and others) are complaining about. But - my kids REALLY wanted it and I couldn't resist!

Anyway - we put the movie in and Dan and I went into our room and were checking e-mail and stuff. We checked on them a while later and realized that they were watching the movie with the French soundtrack! They had been watching for at least 20 minutes in the French language.

I thought that was pretty funny. They didn't say a thing... they just kept watching. It makes me wonder how much they really understand the shows they watch.

Just thought I'd share!

This doesn't work Mommy.

Mon, 29 Dec 03 14:32:00 UT

For those of you without young children, you might not know that they currently have "Disney Princess" toys in McDonald's Happy Meals (along with "Power Rangers" for those who aren't partial to the Disney Princess). We don't watch the Power Rangers at all, so naturally Joey wanted the Princess stuff. (Any of you who saw Joey at Christmas know that he likes it!)

Anyway, the most recent toy is a magic wand (from the Cinderella story). Jessie and Joey were really excited to get it. What is quite funny is that Joey keeps complaining that his magic wand doesn't work.

The other night we were driving and Jessie was looking out her window at the moon. Joey couldn't see it from his angle. He waved his magic wand emphatically. But he still couldn't see the moon.... "Mommy this doesn't work!"

He was trying to get a toy down from a shelf he couldn't reach. While looking earnestly at the toy, he waved his magic wand... "Mommy this doesn't work!"

Don't you love the innocence of a 3 year old mind!

Virtual Photo Album

Fri, 19 Dec 03 11:40:00 UT

I sometimes feel guilty because I have over a years (OK - almost 2 years) worth of photos on my computer that I have never printed or put into scrapbooks. There are some great photos sitting out there, but it is just a matter of finding the time (what with that pesky task of raising 2 kids, going to school 20 hours a week, starting and running my own business, etc). Plus, it adds up (money-wise) printing all of those pictures.

I had this great revelation yesterday that I plan on using as the excuses of all excuses. I think we should have "virtual photo albums." In other words, instead of pulling a photo album off of your bookshelf, you would pull a slim "tablet/monitor" out. You would still be able to do the cutesy scrapbook decorations, but you could do them all on your computer without ever printing a photo. Just "upload" them to your virtual photo album somehow, and your good to go. Plus, rather than having 20 photo albums of your life, you could fit them all on the one "Virtual Photo Album." You could index the pages instead of having to search through for the whole set for that one picture you are wanting. Plus - that would be a lot easier grab if you ever had a house fire and needed to get out of the house quickly (not to mention being able to store the data off site). Unlike photos, which whether with age, this would only have to weather technology changes.

Hmmm... I think I have an idea for my next business. What do you all think?

For you trading spaces fans....

Sun, 14 Dec 03 00:03:00 UT

Isn't cardboard cool!

Click here

Sad... so sad!

- Katie