The Trike A Thon

Chicky Magoo 2 participated in a Trike-A-Thon for St. Jude at her school this year. She was so excited about it and raised a lot of money for the event. The track was short, but they were to ride 50 laps, if they could. I think Chicky Magoo 2 was the only one with an actual trike, so her little legs were tired when she finished!

She was great in all turns except for turn 3. For some reason, she liked to take that one REALLY wide, and most of the time she would wonder off the track. Mr. Magoo finally moved down to that turn to try and get her focused enough to make a tighter turn! I think in turn 3 she noticed the outside lines and decided that those were the lines you should ride on!

Her teacher, Mr. Tim rode around in the green machine for his laps.

She was so proud of herself when she finished. All of the kids really seemed to love helping "sick kids" by riding their bikes. They used the event to teach bike safety too, which was good. So during the "race" they had cars made out of cardboard come across the track, which they called the driveway. Someone would yell "CAR" and the kids would stop while the car passed through the "driveway." I'm not sure Chicky Magoo 2 got this concept, because she would use it to pass the other children wide while they were waiting for the car to pass. So Chicky Magoo 2 learned strategy, while they were all learning bike safety.

Daddy, filming the last turn and giving a final high five! Go Chicky Magoo 2! 50 LAPS!

Wow! Something New!

For those of you who are anxiously awaiting another blog post (Hi Dad!) here you go!
Summer is officially here for the Magoo family! With it apparently brings storms and bad weather. :) We have had severe thunderstorms for the past several days, and a few times where we went to the basement "just in case!" The one good thing to come of it is that the kids seem to have little no fear of thunder anymore. There have been lots of nighttime storms, and not once did they come in our room or even wake up. Mr. Magoo and I were up saying "Holy cow!" But not the kids...they have been snoozing right through them!

These storms reminded me of when I was younger. My Dad and I loved to watch thunderstorms come though! We were careful not to pay attention to those silly rules, like stay indoors during a storm, or don't sit by the windows. If the storms were coming, we were out on the front porch. If they got bad, then we would go in and sit by the window to watch the lightening. Hey- if I could ride in a car without a seat belt and live to tell about it, then what would a little lightening hurt?!? These were the "good ole days" remember.

On one particular evening we were watching a storm and both happened to look at the house across the street. To our surprise, lightening hit the chimney of that house and blew the bricks right off! That was probably the loudest explosion I have heard in my life, but of course Dad and I were like "COOL! DID YOU SEE THAT?" "What? I can't hear you!" (just kidding about the I can't hear you part) If you've ever seen lightening blow something up, you don't forget it!

The other storm I remember well was when I was about 5 and Dad was taking me for a ride in the wagon. We were walking in the neighborhood, when all of a sudden right behind us it started raining. Not all around us, but right behind us in a small location. Dad took off in a hurry and ran towards a friend's garage that happened to be open. The coolest part is that as I rode in the wagon, I could see the rain line (if you want to call it that) spread out as if it was trying to catch up to us. My Dad had it too, if it wasn't for the pesky driveway. He was actually outrunning the rain. Now I know all of you think that your Dad's are Super Heroes, but seriously can they outrun rain? Think of getting to tell that story to your friends! "My Dad was so fast, he can outrun rain!" We were just outside the line of rain until we turned into the driveway, and then we got soaked! The guy down the street who's house we ran to just happened to be watching the storm come in and was standing in the garage. So- we waited with him while it passed and then finished our walk home.

Now what makes this story even more memorable for me is that this guy who's garage we were in looks like Kenny Rogers. Not a little.......A LOT! So in my 5 year old mind the story went like this. "We were in the wagon, when all of a sudden it started raining! My Dad was running so fast that he outran the rain! Then we hid out at Kenny Rogers house and talked with him while the storm passed!" Now see- doesn't that story sound made up??? You would think! But it DID happen! :)

Earthquake

Ok- it has been a while, but how can I not post about an earthquake! We were awakened this morning by Gizmo barking, as if she has heard a noise. So we were both awake, when about a minute later the bed started shaking and then the tv. I said to Mr. Magoo "I think we are having an earthquake." to which he says "An earthquake?" as if I was insane. It was quite noisy!

Dinner With the Kids

Dinner when Mr. Magoo and I were dating, was a quick trip. If we wanted the dinner to last a long time, we would max out at about 1 hour. I'm not exactly sure how we both got to be quick eaters, but I think I'm going to blame this on my middle and high school years when we didn't have much time to eat. It was go in stuff your face and head to the next class.

Anyway- now sitting down with the kids always takes forever and is quite an experience. There is never a dull moment, as you never know what incidents might happen in this small span of time.

Update

Hi everyone! (if anyone still reads this- LOL)

The Magoos are all doing well and are alive! Mr. Magoo has been traveling a lot to California lately, which is why I have had no time to write. He is settled for a long while now, so that will be nice.

We have had gymnastics start since I last posted. The girls are really loving it. Chicky Magoo 1 is getting her cartwheel down! She is very proud of herself. Chicky Magoo 2 has the bridge really well too. I don't know if any of you have tried either one of these but I did. Wow! Chicky Magoo 1 told me (and she is totally right) that my cartwheel was "kind of ugly". Then they wanted me to try to do a bridge. I thought, well I could at least try. Well- apparently I am not at ALL able to do this. Now it has become my personal goal to gain some arm strength so I can do a bridge. If you are wanting a good laugh, I challenge you to do this too. Good luck!

Thin Mint Imposter!

I'm sure most of you know that there are two cookies I just can't get enough of....Oreos and Thin Mints. It is that time of year now where the Thin Mints arrive at the door. Yea!!!! Why are Girl Scout cookies so crazy good?!?
Well- I have had a revelation! What is an Oreo WAS a Thin Mint?
I know- I just blow your mind! LOL

Ash Wednesday....Chicky Magoo 2 is not a Fan!

This morning, we went to Church for Ash Wednesday. I remember being a kid and thinking how strange the ashes were, and wondering why some people had them and others did not. Chicky Magoo 2 is no exception.

For the kids Mass today, Father and the teachers put the ashes on the children's heads and were there to also put ashes on anyone else in the congregation that wanted them. I told Chicky Magoo 2 that we were going up and what they would do. She was not in the mood apparently, because on our walk up to Father, she had covered her face, including forehead. I thought to ease her tension I would head to Chicky Magoo 1's teacher (which Chicky Magoo 2 knows pretty well). Chicky Magoo 2 walked up and STILL would not take her hands off her head. I stood behind her holding her hands out, while Mrs. Schulz knelt down and made a cross on her forehead.

After returning to my seat I realized that, okay, so maybe this is a scary thing. I hadn't thought of it before, but it could be a tad intimidating. You walk up, Mommy says they are putting ashes on you (which the only association you have for ashes is that they are in fire, and you have been told fire is hot). Then they say "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Okay, okay. Maybe Chicky Magoo 2 was right to be a little frightened by the process. (And of course as soon as we got to our seats, she wiped it right off. She has also taken a few swipes at mine throughout the day!)

Did You Say "R"

My Dad turned 60 on Monday, and we wanted to throw him a nice party. So, we set out to plan some fun appetizers that we hadn't made before. Our friends, Trevor and Kim have made some GREAT things when we have been at their house, so for my portion of the eats, I decided to make a few of those. Trevor was nice enough to write the recipes down, and even fax them so I could get all of the ingredients in time. He is a great chef, and sort of took a few recipes and made up his own. It was so delicious that i just hoped I could even come close to what he had done.

I tried to make the Shrimp Spring Rolls, and was amazed at how well I could actually navigate the produce section of the grocery. Come to find out when I was done I put them in to boi-l, but the recipe actually said bRoil. Whoops!

McJackpot!

Today we decided to take the kids out for some "family fun" after school. We thought bowling and McDonald's was in order. We all bowled a 300 game....okay, not really, but BOY were we close.

After bowling, we headed to Micky Ds. There were some coupons in Sunday's paper, and thought we'd try them out. I actually have never taken coupons to MCD, but we decided to try it out. We weren't sure they would take 2 coupons in one order, so I had the buy one 6 piece chicken nuggets get one free. Mr. Magoo had the buy one quarter pounder get one free.

As we were walking into the store, two guys were walking out. One of them held the door for us and shouts "free hamburgers inside!" Mr. Magoo said "I wish!" and we went in. Next thing we know, the guy is coming back in and says "Hey Adam. (the guy behind the counter) You see these two little girls? Make sure that whatever ice cream they want today, they get! And if they want to make it, you make sure they get to do that too." So apparently that guy was the owner...

Then while we were sitting down waiting for the girls to finish their meal, I decided to check my email. Come to find out, there will be a recount in New Hampshire after all!

Anyway- what else could you ask for....
Free Quarter Pounder
Free 6 Piece Nugget
Free McFlurry (Oreo of course)
Free Hot Fudge Sundae
and a Recount!!!

McJackpot!

It's a bird, It's a plane....

NO- It's Dance Fever!














Monica (feeling the groove), Uncle Magoo 1 (doing his best Travolta) and me (belting out a great tune) getting down at Auntie and Uncle Magoo 2's "Indiana reception"

drinking + dancing = interesting pictures
(more party pictures to come)

New Years Eve

This year we were actually invited to a New Years Eve party! We were so excited to have somewhere to go! We were also glad that the kids had their friends to play with there too.

The Sky Is Falling

Each time Mr. Magoo leaves town for a few days something major happens. I'm not sure why this phenomenon happens, but believe me, I'd like him to just stay put! :)

This time the kids had just gone to bed and I was watching tv and I heard an awful noise. I, of course, jump to the conclusion that someone was in the house. As I headed for the kids bedroom, I realized that the giant picture above our fireplace had fallen, knocking off some of the mantle decorations. What was even more scary was when I realized that just an hour before we were all sitting in the place the picture fell playing, ironically, the game Sorry.

So after a quick call to Mr. Magoo I found out that it seems the drywall was a little damp. Again, not good! At this point we are waiting on the builder to come over and take a look. It is supposed to rain today, so I'm sure we will get a better idea as to if it was damp, or just my imagination. (I did check it 3 times, just to make sure that I wasn't making this all up!) Now that Mr. Magoo is back, I think the builder might just get a call from him too, and I'm sure a trip to the attic is in order for him. I will keep you up to date as to what we find. I'm just hoping that we don't have to replace the whole thing. (or that if we do, it isn't at our expense!)

A True Walmart Experience!

Today we made a family trek to Walmart. It is always an experience for me, as I tend to attract people that would like to tell me their life story, and it usually has something to do with jail time or how someone in their life is currently screwing things up for them. Interesting stuff, believe me. For some reason when I have the kids and Mr. Magoo as a buffer it doesn't happen. So I have learned to take them along on my trips to Walmart, so that I don't have a weird story to tell when I get home.

After our long shopping experience (of which the kids felt compelled to remind us every 3 minutes just how long it was), we were heading out the door to our car. As we walked outside I noticed a black cloud forming over a car in the lot. Then I saw the flames...to which I said something like "Oh man, is that our car?" (except that the word "man" came out sounding a lot like the word "*hi*") I quickly gave the keys to Mr. Magoo and told him that he needed to investigate , while I stayed with the kids. You know me, always a fan of the women and children hang out in the safe zone. Then came the fire truck. Boy are those things loud up close. On his way to the car, we realized that luckily it wasn't our car, but it was the one 4 cars down. YIKES~ that was close! The black smoke looked like it would be able to do some damage to cars around, so Mr. Magoo snuck in before the fire department could tell him to leave the area. He moved the car and we loaded our goods in at another location. Needless to say the kids had a lot of questions about why a car would suddenly catch fire!

Good ole' Walmart. Even when you go to extremes to NOT have a story, they find a way to give you one (at a rollback price too!)

Happy 2008!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2008! We have been busy with organizing some things in the house. Today should be another fun organizing day. How exciting! At least when it is done, we won't have to do that again for a while.
Closets, playrooms, and cabinets....oh my! :)