Rudy Family Rukus~Parenting tips and humor meet in one big "rukus"

I have always loved Jon Schmidt . I have played several of his arranged songs over my many years of piano playing. So on Wednesday when someone posted a link to this song I was  thrilled and I just couldn't keep it to myself. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

My cool Blogfrog friend Jenny gave me this award the other day. She blogs over here at Toddlers, Teens and in-betweens .  She is a mom of 7 and 3/4... yes she is expecting #8 isn't that cool!!  So go over and visit her she just announced name and sex of baby #8.  I am passing this on to.....(drumroll please) Brandi at My Three Bubs Kate at Kate's Life Lolli at Better in Bulk Okay I think I am supposed to do more but I just can't do any more links.  So now, how to pass it on. ~Copy the Splash logo into a new post ~Nominate up to 9 blogs that allure, amuse, impress, or inspire you ~Let them know they have been "splashed" by commenting on their blog ~Be sure to link back to the person who "splashed you". Thanks again Jenny you are the best. Okay now for the Flashback.  I was going through my old pictures and there are so many that I love but this one takes the cake for today Title "Road Rage" Disclaimer--he wasn't actually driving, yes

Thank you philosophy "hope in a jar"  I do love you.  You make my skin youthful and lovely, but really why do you make me sweat florescent yellow??  I had to explain to about a million people why I had yellow stuff all over my face after I ran 13.1 miles. I didn't want to talk about my sweat I wanted to talk about how awesome it was that I just ran a half marathon and instead I was talking about you!   Thanks, Hates Having her Thunder Stolen Winter, Thanks for sticking around with all your inversions and bad air quality.  We just adore you.  Our dry, cracked skin delights in your lack of moisture.  And of course on the bad air quality days we really LOVE to stay indoors because that is so much fun with three rambunctious children. Thanks, Cabin Fever Oh and thanks (being serious here) to all my readers and commenters who keep coming back for more.  Seriously LOVE you guys!! Sincerely, Trying to Be Witty Every Day...... Join up with KMama over at The Daily

She has a nightgown for a cape and cookware for goggles.  And with that hair I think she could really save the day. This is posting a little late for me but I was having some issues with my iphoto and blogger connection so thanks to photobucket I was able to get this up!! For more Wordless Wednesday posts head on over to 5MinutesforMom .  I also linked up with Mamma's Cookie Jar and her Kid Witty Wednesday.

Finally I got this thing to work and up and running.  I hope.  Here is the finish.  I ran the entire 13.1 miles.  I was so excited that I actually DID it.  The cute girl in the green shirt is my awesome sister.  We ran together obviously.  So now as soon as I get my knee checked out I am going to keep training for the next one.  Oh and since I posted the training for this as a Tackle it Tuesday I am linking up with 5MinutesforMom because I actually followed through on this TACKLE.   

I am in St. George today running my first half Marathon.  I will have pictures to post on Monday.  Maybe even a video if I don't look too scary!!  Wish me luck!

Wow I miss those babies!  Where did the time go?

I know I am a week behind but I saw this button on some of my bloggy friends blogs and I thought it was kind of cool.  The idea originated over at Funny Things are Everywhere .  The idea is that if you are here visiting even if it is for the first time you leave me a comment and then I zip on over to your blog and say hello.  The trick is leave your blog address because I use disqus comments OK??  So go ahead unveil yourselves I would love to meet you all and of course I LOVE comments too.

I love sleeping children.  It reminds me of how simple life really is and helps me to step back and get some perspective.  See my other Wordless Wednesday posts here .  To see more Wordless Wednesday posts head on over to 5MinutesforMom and link up.

I am joining up with Lolli at Better In Bulk and Beth at Manic Mother again today for another bloggography challenge. Today is all about ISO. Click their links to read more. So the challenge was to shoot in P with no flash and adjust the ISO. This was my first attempt not great right. Oh and the inspiration was children's toys and since Dalton is obsessed with these Lego toys right now I thought they would work great. Anyway I moved my subject to near a window and I shot this one with ISO 200. Better right?? See I will get it eventually. The next one is with ISO 400 The last one I used ISO 1600 just to see what it would look like If you want to learn more about your DSLR camera you should go visit these awesome ladies. Lolli uses a Canon and Beth uses a Nikon so you can get instructions for both.

I do not have a post today.  I can't think of anything.  Okay I can think of lots of things but my husband is home and my kids and we are celebrating the holiday together in the snow.  So although it is NOT like me to NOT have a post for today I am going to give you this link to all my OLD "not me" Monday posts .  And I promise tomorrow there will be a fresh, shiny new post to read!!

Joining up with Julie over at Foursons today for Letters of Intent. Dear Katie Bug, Please stop begging for snacks with those puppy dog eyes.  I can only say NO so many times to them before completely caving.  It is not good! And besides that you are starting to sound like your sister! Who also begs for snacks all day long with her version of puppy dog eyes.  Just stop okay! Sincerely, The meanest mom ever. __________________________ Dearest friends, neighbors, etc..... Football never ends.  Just in case you wondered, which I know you do because you keep asking.  It doesn't end.  Just because it is not on TV does not mean they shut it down.  (I am talking about college football right now)  My husband still works everyday all day long.  And during recruiting season, which is now he works longer hours on the weekends than during the week.  So just in case any of you wondered there is no OFF season.  It just isn't on TV. Sincerely, Tired and Stressed

I know, I know I am SLOW.  But I really wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from 2009.  Hope you enjoy them!! I really have several more favorites but this will do for now.  Here are some of my favorite posts too just in case you LOVED these pictures. Nine Things I have Learned The Mom Song  Fit Throwing 101 The Things That Matter Most What is Going on Here? What the World Needs

Okay not completely wordless sorry.  They were on the couch watching for the bus out the window and they were playing this staring game and giggling.  It was really cute.  I was trying out different modes on my camera and I was surprised at how well it turned out. Want to see more Wordless Wednesday posts head on over to 5MinutesforMom . Oh and my awesome BlogFrog friend TrenchMommy is featuring me over on her blog.  You should go see me here .  She said some really nice things (of course we haven't met in real life yet *sarcastic laugh *).

I was looking at some blogs tonight and ran across this little blog hop over at The Collins Clique .  And I really wanted to do a post about body image and how the world today distorts everything.  SO.... You are supposed to post your goals for the month, tell everyone how you are doing on them.  You should also include anything you have learned and what changes you have made. My goals for this month are (drum roll please)... 1.  Run the St. George half marathon next Saturday (1/23) 2.  Have a more realistic body image for myself and help to teach that to my daughters. Two things I have learned... 1.  I am capable of a lot more than I thought. 2. Watch this video and learn what I did the other night.

I am linking up with my friend Lolli today from Better in Bulk and Manic Mother .  The challenge for this week was use any mode on your camera except for FULL AUTO and take a winter-themed picture.  I think I nailed the winter theme.  The frost on the cars the PILES of snow the mountains in the background.  I was shooting in M-manual, which Lolli said meant I knew what I was doing.  I however do NOT.  But I remembered that Wendy had messed with my settings and she obviously DOES know what she is doing so we will give her the credit even though I took the picture. Oh just in case your bored and want to see some of my other photos that I like you can see them here . 

I am not going to spend some serious time on the couch holding this silly girl this morning.  Nope not me especially when I have about a million other things to do.  But I am NOT going to feel guilty about it because she will not be 2 forever. I was not happy to send these little people on their way this morning.  Nope not me!  I never look forward to my children leaving.  That would be selfish and I am definitely NOT selfish (insert sarcastic grin here). Hope you are all having a fabulous NOT ME Monday.  Head on over to visit MckMama and see what others are NOT doing today too.

I am so excited. I am going to my first blogging conference in May. My friend Lolli from Better in Bulk is going to be speaking. That is how I heard about it but when I read more about it I was so excited I couldn't wait to sign up to attend. So tonight I signed up and I was so excited I couldn't wait to tell all of you. Want to join me? Go here for more info. Hope to see you all there!

I don't have a great post for today because I am tired, I have to work tonight and I need to go help in my kids classrooms today.  BUT I installed a new comment system and I want to know what you all think.  So please if you have a moment won't you let me know if you like it or not. I chose to use it because it is more interactive and I can respond to your comments much easier.  If you don't like it and can't figure out how to use it just go comment on one of my older posts it still has the old blogger comment system.  After you have done that you should check these few things out.   My friend Jana made this for me.  It is really CUTE. These are the pictures I had taken as a Christmas gift for my husband.   Wendy did them for me. Here is a sneak peek of one go here to see more of them.

For more Wordless Wednesdays go over and visit 5MinutesforMom and link up. Post edit: So this picture has spawned a discussion about bedding go here to discuss further.

I know you don't normally get these from me but I am trying to branch out a little in the new year so here goes.  My friend Toni from The Happy Housewife shared this link with me and other premium blogfrog members. She has also teamed up with some other fabulous bloggers and formed this network   to help give tips to all bloggers.  If you are on twitter you can see their tips by following this #savvyblogging. So before you go hopping around to all those links....here are some of my goals for blogging in the new year. Clearly Define my Purpose as a Blogger .  Really I am a hobby blogger but thanks to blogfrog and many others I have started to be much more than that.  My goal is to find what I blog about that my readers love and really stay focused on those areas. Work on my BlogFrog Community.  This is such a fantastic way to increase reader interaction and I feel like it is a way for me to really get to know those that read my blog and find out what we have in common so

I did not scare this handsome young man to tears last night when I was going to bed and he was coming out of the bathroom.  No "not me" I would never startle any of my children that would be sad and insensitive.   I have not yet mailed all of my Christmas cards.  "Not me"  I would never delay the mailing of Christmas cards into the new year.  It is also NOT going to cost me $1.27 per CARD to mail with the lovely US postal service because I was not trying to be crafty and make these lovely cards for all our friends and family.   And that has nothing to do with why they have not yet been mailed. I also have not taken down all my Christmas decorations and then just left them in bins in my front room where anyone who comes close to my front door can see the huge mess.  I would never do anything like that because I am much more organized and neat than that.  In fact I would never be that LAZY!!  Nope "not me". OH and I also did not run 8.5 miles with m