Happy Birthday to Mom

As I am sure everyone knows, it was Mom's birthday yesterday. To celebrate the occasion I thought we should all write some of our favorite memories about Mom. I, being the best daughter, will go first:

I was riding my bike home from my friends house when I was caught in a rain storm. It was sudden and intense, and by the time I got home, I was soaked and shivering. When I walked in the door, I smelled the delicious aroma of vanilla and chocolate. COOKIES! Mom had made dozens of chocolate chip cookies just for us. Now every time it rains I crave chocolate chip cookies and think of Mom.

This next one is more about Mom having those super powers that moms have:

I was twelve years old and desperately wanted to go to the mall as all tweens do, but Mom said I wasn't old enough to walk to the mall, and cross that busy street, all by myself. Begrudgingly I listened to her because I had already been hit by a car once, even though my friends really wanted to go. I told them I couldn't go, and they left without me. I started walking home by myself, and about halfway back down Hillsdale I got mad, and decided to turn back and go to the mall anyway. This proved a fateful decision.

Feeling brave and defiant, I stood on the sidewalk at the top of Hillsdale and waited until the cars let up so I could dash across. I would just tell Mom that one of my friends' parents had given us a ride.

I was so sneaky.

I saw my chance and ran to the median. I stopped to catch my breath because it was a little scarier than I thought, plus more cars were coming in the opposite direction. So I had to wait in the middle of the road. While I was standing there, trapped like a rat, I saw the bulging eyes of a shocked Mom staring at me from inside the van coming my way.

Oh Crap!

I turned around and ran back across the street, back to the side of safety. I glanced behind me to see mom making a sharp illegal U-Turn. Who was this crazy law-breaking woman! I ran for it. I stayed off the main road and ran through the trees and backyards of the nearby houses. I made my way down a random culdesac to catch my breath. Ha ha, victory was mine. If she confronted me later, I would just say it was definitely not me, and she would feel too embarrassed to say any more.

I skulked out like a cautious fox and headed back to the road just when Mom came racing down the dead end. I don't know how she did it, but the side door flew open and she pulled me inside, all while sitting at the wheel.

Lesson learned: Moms have secret powers that alert them when their kids are breaking the rules. They hone in on your exact location to ground your sorry butt. BEWARE! (PS, good job Mom--I deserved it.)

Cera?

What? How do you not know who Cera is? Maybe I'm mistaken, but I am sure that is a name we used to call Brittany. Who knows who Cera is and why we called Brittany it. Unless I am mistaken in which case ignore this.
Winner gets a punch in the face.

Bigger and Better

That's what she said! A brand new website to keep everyone up to date on the dealings in the McBride household. The new website address is mcbrideandgroom.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Big Fish

Big fish, little fish, red fish, blue fish...
For some reason when ever I meet new people they become fascinated with our family. They can't get enough of the stories, characters, etc. When I tell stories I always tell the ones I like the best and then add a little something extra.
What are some of the stories that you tell the most and which ones do you feel have become the most inflated over the years?
These stories will also help me for a new section on my blog called old war stories, where once and a while I will tell a good story from our past.

One of my favorites: I only tell a select few this one or I will alter it so it does not sound so profane. I will always bust this story out when ever I am playing games. It was when we were all out at mom's house for Christmas. It was late one night and we were down stairs playing the lame Family game that was introduced to us by C-Hag. Anyway mom was reading the names and Doug slipped in an extra one that was a fake name like the ones Bart Simpson calls Moe's tavern with. So, mom is reading the names and comes across Doug's extra one and she reads it out perfect. She slows down has a puzzled look on her face and we are all stunned. Doug's face is exploding with mirth, mom says something like, "For heaven's sake", we all die laughing, Doug propels himself off the coach lands onto he floor and starts convulsing. It might have been the funniest thing in my life. I am laughing like and idiot in the office right now thinking about it.

Most inflated: The time Me, Doug, and Homer were out side of ShopRite and the stupid deli or dilly saying came up. First of all who cares. I can't believe we still talk about it and it didn't even happened the way Doug said. I don't even think he can recall what really happened. What tangled webs we weave...

Nicknames

I was telling people about our family and somehow the fact that we all have a millions nicknames came up. I honestly couldn't remember them all, so please help.
(Don't add the nicknames in the comment section just go to the dashboard and add or change nicknames from editing the post)
1. Donkey, Lampwick, Douglas, Onkey, Pixie, Spright, Worlds Stongets Boy, Topher, Crittifier
2. Cheesesteak, Phillz, Helmet, BW, Roid Rage, Cream Cheese, Poodie Bear
3. Pizzaman, fro, afro, Puff, Eddy Rebel, Moose, Peeper, Bunny
4. Tooth, Baldemort, Cactamus Prime, Lord Baldemort, Don Prickles, Cactus- Prickles, Cactumus Prime, Cactumus Primate-Monke, Chuck,Bucky Ohare-BuckTooth Mahoney, Rabbit, Hollywood, Johnny Cage, Dust Mite, Mur Bear, Angale?
5. Elvis, Nelvin, Underwear man, Goofball, Mr. Wrinkles, Side Burns, Hound Dog, King, Muffin
6. Stash, Mustachio,Varuca, Rattigan, street rat, Splinter, Cera, Kitty, Itty Bitty
7. Homer, Head, Homer, Sausage Nips, Pepperoni Pec, Brotworst breast, Jub, King Kong Bundy, Dancing Homer, CJ ?
8. Lu, Googels, Peanut
9. Gump, Henry, Happy, gumpy/gumperton/gumper/, Henry, Lumiere, Bleacher creature, Danna Bannana?
10.
11. Q, Q Ball, Ringo
12. (Dad) Red Beard, Buzzard, Pa Dukes, Troll
13. (Mom) Ma Beagle, Sid V
I updated the list using more nicknames from Phil previouse blog, but there are more nicknames out there. What are they? What does Katty and Quinn call Britt, dad, and Lou? What is Katty's nickname?

CAPTION CONTEST

Pretty self explanitory but for those of you who rode the short bus someone posts a picture and everyone posts a caption or what have you to it and the winner gets ahhh.....a pat on the back.
Here's the first one

HUNGRY HUNRY HIPPOS!

I figured out the anwser to chris's question. All the hippos names are nicknames in our family: Happy, Homer, Harry, Henry

BOOMSHOKA
chris is gay. he wont get the camera for nancy so that we can take a colorful picture to add character and life to this otherwise bland page.

Oh wait... Nancy hooked me up. See for yourself:

Prayers answered

I wanted to thank everyone who fasted and prayed for me to find a job. I will relate the experience of how those prayers were answered. After searching for months for a job in NJ I was beginning to get discouraged. I had several interviews, some that went very well, but nothing was happening. At the suggestion of Pete some particiated in a fast on my behalf. This coupled with my own personal and family fasts and prayers gave me confidence that I would get a job. More time passed and every lead was turning into a dead end. School was scheduled to start in mere weeks and still nothing. I began to get nervous. Karine and I had discussed the possibility of moving, but neither of us really wanted to especially not out of the state, and not to Utah. To my surprise she said one day she thought we should move to Utah. I was kind of shocked but figured we should look into the option. We prayed about knowing if it was right and felt good about the move. We began planning and making arrangements to move. After a week or so we started getting cold feet not knowing if we should really move that far with no real employment and insurance guarantees. We determined to pray and fast again to gain confirmation that we should go. In less than 24 hours we received our answer that we should go. Karine's mom had also suggested the possibility of me going ahead of the family and looking or work and housing. We also felt that this was right and within 36 hours I was gone. Upon arriving in Utah I was fairly certain that I would have to look for a job other than teaching. To my surprise I found several openings and even got an interview at a middle school in Midvale. Within a week I was offered a social studies teaching position at the school. Certainly these events were not a series of coincidences. It just reaffirms what I already knew, God hears and answers our prayers, sometimes unexpectedly; but He does answer them.

Do You Remember When...

Whenever I leave home for an extended period of time I seem to get extremely nostalgic. Here are a list of memories that have recently bubbled up in my mind.

Mowing the lawn in the summer.
The log fort we built on the side of the house.
The large ice wall dad built one winter.
Big wheel wars.
The smell of Boune Munroe.
Using the younger kids as space ships and smashing them into each other.
The Pine tree in the front yard with the blue bird eggs.
The zip line.
American Gladiator games in the backyard.
The huge leaf piles in the fall.
Smashing pumpkins.
Fighting for a good vent to sit next to on winter mornings.
Watching Jane Fonda's work out with Chris.
Trip wire.
Mine, Tom's, Jason's, Chris's, and Phil's stitches.
Feeling bad for throwing a rock on a rabbit.
Hanging Jason on the fence by his underwear.
Sitting in front of the TV and singing the Simpsons theme song every Sunday as Chris led us.
Trying to watch Married With Children.
Huge amounts of Candy during Halloween.
Jumping in and out of the pool and bath.
Picking Berries with dad on walks.
Drinking Yoohoo at Grandma and Grandpas house.
The summer we drove to Chicago and dad made those picnic like tables for the van.
Sleeping on the nice warm floor of the van on the way to Chicago.
Coming home from my mission and not recognizing Jason.
When Phil hurt his neck real bad wrestling, and when he got lime's disease.
When Chris broke his ankle and would sit out on his lawn chair and make fun of me when I came home from school everyday.
Getting a balloon filled with water thrown at my face when I got home from my mission.
Stuff Your Face and Pancake house.
Picking mom up from the Rustler.
Living on Frank Street and running around with Spiderman Underwear.
Christmas Eve appetizers.
Rad
Shopping with dad and getting 2 carts overfilled with food.
Losing Brittany in Chicago.
The squirrels, park, and willow branch wars in Chicago.
Grandma's apple pie and pink pudding desert.
Learn to Learn with dad.
Spilling juice on the bed in the hotel in Florida.
Football at Boune.
Watching popcorn pop in that old popcorn popper. Waffle and Ice cream sandwiches. Dozens of different kinds of sandwiches cut into triangles for lunch on Sundays. Orange Julius's.

Do you remember them or others?

Conference Sunday (and a surprise visitor!)

We had our traditional conference brunch between sessions.

Chris had all three griddles running, and managed to trip the circuit breaker multiple timesLook who showed up at our doorstep to crash the party!! Welcome back Lou!

Be sure to beg her for your Hawaiian souvenir; she had so much stuff she couldn't decide what to do with all of it!

What's in a name continued...

So, I was thinking about what Pete said about the meaning of names, and I started wondering about our pre-Earth life names. We must have had names--we would have to be called something, and I doubt I was destined to be Brittany. So, I asked Ryan, "Do you think we keep our Earthly names when we die or do we go back to our pre-mortal life names?" The more I thought about it, I remembered that Adam (you know--from Adam and Eve) is his Earth name, but when stories are told about him when he was in the pre-mortal world, they called him Michael. Ryan said he is now more commonly referred to as Adam and not Michael. I guess that means we will be known by our Earth names forever. Sorry Jason Sid. What do you guys think? Has anyone heard anything about this?

The artist formally known as Pete

Does Pete think he's Prince? The artist formally known as Pete will now just go by'P' What's with your user name being 'P' you think you're crazy?............You're not.

Coming Soon

I have set up a new blog and will soon make my first post. The address is lordbaldemort.blogspot.com