Two Odd Little Ducks....

This past Saturday was a busy day! We started our morning off with Soccer. If you are in need of a daily pick me up or just a good laugh you should really come watch. You never know what you may see and Josh, well he is what he is:) The highlight of the game was him deciding to be in goal (um at this age there are no goalies) but not only did he decide to take on this awesome responsibility he decided to be a goalie for the other team! Don't worry we still cheered him on. As you watch the kids run from one end of the field to the next in hopes of touching the ball even for a second you may start to wonder oh where is Josh? I can't really tell you where his mind is, but he typically can be found in the middle of the field hangin out! Like I said never fear the douglas are here for your comic relief!





But wait this isn't even the story that goes with my title "two odd little ducks"! I am referring to Caleb and his sidekick Connor! This week you could find the two of them chillin in the baseball diamond next to the soccer field. They were busy playing Buzz Lightyear! Ryan headed over to check on them and inquired as to what they were playing. Ryan was informed that they were playing Buzz Lightyear, so curious to know how they worked out the odvious conflict of who gets to be Buzz, ryan asked who they were! Now lets just think for a moment of a few of the characters from that movie, we have buzz, woody, zurg, jesse, bullseye even a dinorsaur for goodness sake! No our kids they had the best characters lined up!




We had Connor as Lil' Bopeep







And Caleb Jackson as Ham!

It's All About.....

If you were to enter our house these days you would be bombarded with the following....Shrek 2 xbox details beyond belief, did you know that when you hit the y button little red throws her apples...now ya do! Facts about Narnia, have they read the book-no, have they seen the movie- heavens no but yet there is an endless supply of knowledge that they have miraculously (their Nana) obtained that we hear about. And of course there is still the old stand by Star Wars which is hanging on by a thread these days but none the less still holding fast:) You gotta love these phases and really can't help but be amazed at how much information they can retain when they are fascinated!
Tonight I was putting Josh to bed and his biggest concern was getting past a particular level in Shrek 2. Now Josh knows he is only allowed to play for a certain period of time on certain days. As I am tucking him in he is pleading with me that when him and Caleb go to sleep that Daddy and I will finish the level, he has it all worked out in his mind. You will never see two children go to bed more peaceful and quietly then these guys, knowing that their mommy and daddy are downstairs beating that particular level. I guess the saddest thing is that we actually are playing their game after they go to bed, but the stinkin thing is sooooo addictive!
Abby doesn't share to the extent the passions of her brothers, but don't get me wrong she is right there alongside them banging on the tv screen, yanking on the controllers as her brothers fight prince charming in Far Far Away. Cheering and chanting to get any attention she can. Abby has started her own new tricks. We have been working on teaching her to communicate with us in a more pleasant manner then her current squeals, grunts and screams. We have attempted to teach her how to say please in sign language (we got this tip from my sis, worked for her daughter). Anyways Abby seems to be getting the concept the pounding of her chest (the sign for please) has so far been accompanied with the squeals, grunts and screams but eventually she does the sign and we reward her greatly. Tonight was quiet funny though, she seemed a bit confused right before bed she wanted her sue sue, so I was holding out waiting for the please signal, after the stare down the noises of discontent she broke down and said please. I clapped and cheered made a big deal out of her achievement. Well for the next 15 minutes before bed that is pretty much all she did, patted her chest and smiled waiting for her audience to applaud. Even when I laid her in her crib she continued to do the please signnon-stop with a big smile on her face.... well she may not get the concept but she can obviously do the sign!!

Friday Night Date Night!

Tonight was date night at the douglas house! Josh and Ryan are off to a giants game, and Caleb and me decided to go swimming. We brought Abby too, she was our third wheel:) We hustled our way over to the rec center which took me FOREVER! We had lots of phone calls, lots of missing bathing suits, lots of turtle like movements from Caleb but we finally managed to get ourselves in the van and on our way to the pool. By this time it was 7:15pm which is a wee bit late as bedtime is 7:30/8pm but a special date we can make exceptions right? We got to the pool and were at the front desk I paid and the man mentions "oh there is a birthday party here tonight for 8pm so it will probably get kinda loud in there, just so you know". I said "oh no problem thanks for the warning." We hustled on our way to the change room. Now I am not sure exactly where my thinking was at, but I did not bring a buggy for abby I carried her had Caleb by the hand and the bag over my shoulder. When we got to the change room it was a tad awkward but I managed to get everyone changed without letting her touch the ground(I have issues with pool floors eewwww)and she isn't' standing on her own so it would be her crawling around yuck even the thought. Finally we are in the pool everything seems great, it is a bit busy but it is Friday night. Lots of young teenagers around but still I didn't' think too much of it. The night was off to an exciting start as Caleb has been working through a variety stretching exercises and unique forms of pilates in order to grow faster to meet the height requirements for the green slide. Well guess what people, tonight was his night, all his hard work paid off he is officially TALL enough for the green slide. He rode that thing at least ten times, we swam, we jumped, we splashed it was all going excellent a bit crowded for my liking but still manageable. Until......8:00 struck! Something odd began to change in the pool. I began looking around and the place was JAM packed full, but one of these things was not like the others, one of these things just did NOT belong....And yup it was me! 8o'clock hit and there were no more people found over the age of 16, and no one younger then the age of 10, yet more people then you have ever seen in a pool. Oh but wait there is still MORE! the lights were turned down, a DJ started to blare some tunes and over 100 teenage girls began to scream. You would think after 10minutes or so into the event the screaming would stop but let me assure you it DID NOT! So me and my dates attempted to tough it out and not let this EVENT stand in the way of our swimming, we stuck to the baby pool. My head was pounding the music was HORRIBLE, my kids were LOVING it. I have Abby dancing to 50cents "take me to the candy shop" and Caleb cha cha chaing to black eyed peas "My humps". It was time to go! We gathered our things just as a life guard comes over to me and says " oh you picked the wrong night to come, fridays are not always like this but the third one of each month is teenager night" AHA, so to all you unsuspecting parents wanting to head over to the leisure center for a swim mark your calendars the third friday is NOT the night to go!!!! Now our evening is still not over remember I mentioned I chose not to bring in a buggy, getting changed was an Olympic event but I promise you Abby did NOT touch the floor!!!

You feed them eyeballs for lunch and you end up with one silly afternoon!

these are videos' just click on the pics to watch:)

Shrek Eyeballs!!

If you know Josh and Caleb you must know how much they are into their Shrek 2 xbox game. I can say without exaggerating that Josh lives and breaths this game these days. He has a Shrek 2 book which has a recipe in it, that he has been dying to make. So today for lunch at the douglas house we ate Shrek Eyeballs! I mean really what else could we do:)


this is a video just click to watch!

Quiet can be Good!

It was really quiet in the house, I was in the kitchen getting supper ready and the kids (all three) were upstairs playing. I was so impressed at how well the three of them were playing together no fighting, screaming or car throwing(you would be surprised how painful it can be getting hit in the head from a flying hotwheel). After I had supper all ready to throw in the oven I began to worry....maybe a good thing wasn't so good after all. When I went upstairs I couldn't find them! I was calling their names and of course no answer. So I did my check, our bedroom, the bathrooms, abby's room-nope no kids. So still not hearing anything I wandered down to the boys bedroom where I found all three of them huddled around the radio, listening to a book on tape. It looked so cute! Even Abby sitting right in between her brothers listening to the story.
As I looked at Abby closer I noticed she had some new clothing on! Josh had decided to dress Abby up he put one of Caleb's vests on her. I have no idea how he managed to get her to sit still to put it on let alone zip it up but he managed. Of course by the time I got the camera the huddle around the radio was over but Abs still had the vest on.
I had to share this little moment with you all because I think it is the first time it has been quiet in the house with all three kids home and awake that hasn't ended in fire, flood or destruction!

Abby's First Date!

Who said bowling wasn't a good idea for a date?

Abby and Aidan workin' it out.

Christmas Snaps!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is 2006! I just can't wrap my brain around it at all. 2006 is a big year for me....the big 3-0 and our ten year anniversary...wow hey! Did you all have a great New Years? We sure did. As the kids get older it is fun to celebrate with them. Our church had a disco bowling event planned so we bowled from 7:30-9:30, which was perfect for them, as that is pretty late. So they were pretty done by 9:30. They were tucked in and asleep by 10ish and that left the grown ups to have some fun! We invited a few couples over to ring in the New Year. We had a great time matching the new years resolution to the person, good luck with that spelling Shane-o, and of course playing games and a balloon popping countdown! Fun fun. As I reflect on the past year so much has changed for me and Ryan and we both sit stunned at all the blessings in our life. God truly is good. January always feels like such a fresh start, so here is to a year full of life, love and happiness.
In Everything.....Give Thanks!