Ten Things on Thursday

1. Basketball has been consuming our lives around here lately. But the end is near! Russ's team plays at district's tonight for a spot in the state playoffs. Even if they go all the way there's only a couple of weeks left!  (Of course I'm rooting for that to happen... go Cougars!) And Cooper's season ends in a short 9 days.

We aren't going to know what to do with ourselves after that!

2. My parents are in New Zealand right now. In 75-80 degree, beautiful, still-summer New Zealand. I am so happy for them, and so, so jealous at the same time :) The cool thing about technology today is that before they left we all downloaded this free app called Viber onto our phones and now my brother and sister and I can text and talk to them while they're there for absolutely free. So we're keeping up on all the family visits and cool stuff and yummy food that we're missing out on. Which isn't helping the jealousy but is still really awesome.

Cutest V-day pic ever from my Dad's facebook page this morning

3. Survivor started last night. Does anyone else still watch Survivor or is it just me? Because I still loooove that show! Bring on the drama, baby.

4. Downton Abbey is almost over and I have to confess that after watching the first episode of season 3 on PBS I couldn't handle the suspense and searched the internet to find a way to watch the rest of the season (since it already aired in the UK) online. Which I did, in like 3 days. Cheaty McCheaterson right here, folks.

And I can't wait for the last episode to air here so I can finally talk to somebody about it! I have EXTREME emotions that I need to vent!

5. While my Mum is in NZ I have been helping watch my nephews for my sister. It's been pretty easy because Hayden spends the whole time playing Lego Star Wars with Blake and Elijah spends the whole time running back and forth through the living room calling as loudly as he can for the dog to chase him. I have literally listened to "C'mon Miweeeee, c'mon!" being repeated about 200 times so far.

The funny thing is that Miley is only slightly interested for the first 10 times or so before she gives up and sits on the couch blatantly ignoring Elijah. And this has not phased the two-year-old one single bit. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be hearing "c'mon Miweeeee" in my sleep after this week.

6. Russ and I are going out tomorrow night to celebrate Valentine's and I'm pretty excited about it. And not just in a "hey I'm going out and it's not to a basketball game!" kind of way. We're going to Cinetopia up in Vancouver, WA and we've never been before so we're looking forward to the fun new experience.

7. And while on the subject of fun experiences, I'll tell you of one that wasn't so much. Last night I helped Kendall and Cooper put together their class Valentine's gifts. I saw this idea on pinterest and thought it looked so simple yet cute:

    

So I bought the supplies and made little name tags to attach to them. When we began assembling them however we quickly realized that gummy candy doesn't slide as easily as you'd think onto a bamboo skewer... in fact some kinds don't slide at ALL. And thus began the stickiest, slowest, hour of my life. That's right, it took all three of us working together an HOUR to put together 27 candy kabobs. 

They turned out pretty cute, at least.

  

8. And now for a safe family movie recommendation: Touchback. Russ and I watched it the other night and both enjoyed it. And seeing as that it was a sports drama it of course made Russ cry ;)

(And as an interesting side note: the actress in the movie that play's the main character's wife, Melanie Lynskey (of Sweet Home Alabama, Ever After, and Two and a Half Men fame) is from New Zealand and went to New Plymouth Girl's High School with my sister Kelly. Weird.) 

9. Watch this video in Kelle Hampton's blog post today. It will make you tear up good tears (if you're a sap like me that is). I don't have kids with special needs but I hope my kids will be the ones serving and dancing with and loving on those that do like the teens in this video one day.

10. Last but not least... Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Jodi