Year in Review

January: Had a huge ice storm. I drove into the ditch that is in front of my house and now am not allowed ( by the boys) to drive on ice.




February: The boys tied some boxes to the back of the little tractor to take 'rides' in.








March: While Hubster got the red dirt ready for some sod, UB took advantage of the comfortable ride and slept while daddy worked.








April & May: Boys went fishing with daddy and AB caught a saugeye. They also caught lots of othe fish that they brought home so that we could eat. UB was more interested in playing with the rocks at the water line than waiting patiently for the fish to bite. Teenster graduated high school and AB finished kindergarten.





June: A beautiful rainbow reminded me of God's promises.

July & August: Lots of fun on the trampoline. Visits to friends & family down in Texas.

September: Get togethers with family. Mud baths were the main attraction for the month. AB started 1st grade and UB started Pre-K.

October, November & December: Busy months. Visited family. Celebrated holidays with loved ones.

I hope you remember your favorite moments from 2007 as we head into 2008. I pray that each one of you has a wonderful and blessed New Year!

From my family to yours, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

God's painting

This is the beautiful senset that I get to see everyday outside my front door. God sure does know how to paint, doesn't he?

Brotherly Love

AB:"Give me back my Lego's"
UB:"I had them first"
AB: "But they're mine and I want them back." grabs them from UB.
UB:"You're a dumb moron"
AB: "Mom, he just said I'm ?!!?."
UB: "OK, I"m sorry, you're not dumb, but you are a moron"

AAAHH, at least he apologized.

Cinnamon with a twist

This is Cinnamon. Cinnamon likes to do stuff that drives us crazy. This is Cinnamon trying to get warm inside our house. Here is her story.
This is Cinnamon's nice comfy cozy house. Keeps the dirt and wind away. Keeps her warm when it's cold and dry when it's wet.

This is one of three blankets that are supposed to go inside Cinnamon's house. She drags them out of her house to the front of our house. Every evening, Hubster goes and gathers all the blankets and puts them back in her house. But by the next morning, they are back all over the yard again.

This is the chair that she prefers to sleep on. It is 28 degrees outside and still she sleeps on this chair. She is guarding her house as well as ours from this nice and comfy chair. The chair that doesn't stop the wind from blowing dirt on her or the rain from getting her wet.

I'm sorry!Do you still love me?

Let the lego adventure begin

The boys got some Lego's for Christmas and they needed help building them. Daddy had to go back to work so I helped. We built both sets. Each had over 430 pieces. I was starting to see double by the time I finished Underwear Boys. But the ships got built and they played with them a little last night.

That is how I spend my afternoon yesterday. Making my boys happy by building their Lego ships. There were so many pieces that I dreamt about Lego's invading my house last night. Wait, that's already happened.

When you come to our house, you'd better have shoes on or else the tiny little Lego's will invade the space in between your toes. And if you decide to wrestle with the boys on your knees, you might want to wear knee pads or else you'll have a tatoo of a Lego piece on your knee. Don't worry if you kick a Lego piece under the couch, it will eventually be found by the vacuum cleaner.

I need to get a sign at our door that reads:
"Warning, enter at your own risk. Lego invasion occurring"

or

"If you want to enter our house,
be prepared for a joust.
The Lego knights are all around,
waiting to get you on the ground.
So don't be afraid to come on in,
your Lego adventure will soon begin."

Quick, open the door before the alarm goes off!

I am notorious for setting the fire alarm off. When it does go off, the alarm people call me to see if I need them to send the fire dept. Thankfully, so far the answer has been no. Although, there have been a couple of times when they couldn't reach me and they called the fire dept. for me.

The boys don't like the loud sound and therefore do whatever it takes to prevent it from happening. Nothing like listening to an alarm that sounds like a freight train going through your house.

I was making some Mexican food for hubsters office. My food doesn't burn, but the sensor to the smoke detector is very sensitive to steam. And you can't make good Mexican food without a little steam.

So while I was making the food, the boys were doing school at the bar. When they heard the sizzle in the pan, Adventure Boy quickly tells Underwear Boy to go run to open the back door while he ran to open the front door.

While they go open doors, I am standing underneath the smoke detector fanning the steam away with a dishcloth. Then AB goes to get the little fan from my bedroom to point directly up towards the smoke detector. We go to great lengths around here to stop the alarm from alarming. Maybe hubster just needs to de sensitize it or something.

But no alarm went off and my enchiladas, rice and beans turned out good. At least I thought so.

Brothers racing

Here is what the boys got for Christmas. At first, we thought that Underwear Boy was going to need training wheels because his feet don't touch the bottom without having to tiptoe. But he proved me wrong. Now, he has daddy start it for him, he sits on it and says "launch me daddy".

Adventure Boy is a natural. He got his first dirt bike for his 4th birthday and someone stole it last year. What low life steals from a child?

I stay inside because it just makes me nervous to ride. AB is now doing tricks. Like standing on his seat, doing the spider man, and other stuff. UB is trying to do it, but knows not to.

They had some friends over last week and the friends got to ride these dirt bikes. The friends live on the other side of town in an area with lots of trees. We don't have any trees. These friends went home that day and told their parents that they needed to sell their house and move closer to our house in an area without trees so that they could buy some dirt bikes.

The simple logic of kids.

Isn't that just clever!

While I was cleaning my car yesterday, I overheard the boys talking about a dump truck. Adventure Boy wanted Underwear Boy to wear his helmet and buckle it up. Underwear Boy said he would wear the helmet but didn't want to buckle it up. This argument continued on until Underwear Boy told Adventure Boy to stop 'arassing' him.

They continued to talk about the dump truck. Adventure Boy said he would get in it and Underwear Boy said that he would use the controller to make it go. The only dump truck looking thing we have around here is UB's power wheel tractor that has the bucket in the front.

Starting to get curious as to what is happening, I peak around the corner and this is what I see.

This is the dump truck they were talking about. Adventure Boy tied the rope around the basketball goal and then tied it to the so called bucket. He even had some extra rope on there so he could pull himself up and down.

This is the so called remote that Underwear Boy said he was in charge of in order to make the bucket go up and down. Notice the tape around this concoction. The controller even has a switch.

I quickly took inventory of all the extension chords. I was sure those boys would use one to power up this thing.

The ingenuity they have amazes even me.

What's the going rate for the Tooth Fairy?

For those of you that asked if the Tooth Fairy came to visit Underwear Boy, the answer is yes. The Tooth Fairy at this house pays well for the first tooth, $5, but after that, the price goes down to under a $1.

The Tooth Fairy at this house is quite proud of the first lost tooth.

Before bed that night, while tucking Underwear Boy in and giving him a good night kiss, I saw that he had his tooth in a baggie and had the baggie towards the middle of the pillow. Normally, that wouldn't be such a bad idea, but when your child sleeps on the top bun, it makes it quite difficult to reach up and grab the package in order to make the exchange.

I told him to move it towards the side closest to the floor. "No mom, it has to be in the middle under my pillow". I was already wondering how the Tooth Fairy was going to reach up there.

When it was time for the Tooth Fairy to make the exchange, she reached up and found Underwear Boy sleeping soundly with the package wound up tightly in his hand. So now the TF had to figure out how to get it out without waking him up. Tiptoeing as high as she could, because the wings were broken that night so she couldn't fly, she reached in with one hand to remove the package and with the other hand stuck the money in his hand.

It was a little difficult for the TF, but she's a woman, she handled it well and with only a few minor bruises from the rails of the bunk bed.

He woke up and found the money then came to our bedroom and said proudly, "mom, dad, the Tooth Fairy came and left me a dollar, but that's OK because I only wanted a dollar." Hubster and I look at each other because I knew that it was more than that. I look and ask him what number was on the bill. His eyes got big and said "5". Still not understanding the whole concept of money, he says "It's a dollar with a 5 on it. I have a dollar 5."

Maybe I can exchange the 5 for a 1 and he won't know. Just kidding!

Yes, it's hard to believe that he is only 4 and already losing teeth. As a mom, I keep telling myself that he's still too young, but the dentist said he was right on track. But maybe also as a mom, the realization is hitting that my baby is not a baby anymore.

What is the Tooth Fairy, if you believe in it, or what are you giving for teeth when they fall out of get pulled out of your children's mouth?

Will the tooth fairy come to my house?

My baby lost his first baby tooth yesterday. It made me realize that my baby is growing up. They grow up so fast. When he went to the dentist, the dentist told him that his bottom two teeth were loose. Yesterday while in karate, he told me that his bottom tooth is wiggling. He wiggled it with his finger just to show me it’s true.

While Adventure Boy was in karate, Underwear Boy was sitting on my lap wiggling his tooth. He said that the tooth fairy was going to visit him that night. When AB was done with karate, UB approached him and showed him his almost out loose tooth. AB grabbed it and out it came.

UB came running to me with a huge grin and blood all over his face saying that the tooth fairy was coming to his house that night. When I asked him where his tooth is, he informed me that AB lost it when he pulled it out.

I walked over to the crime scene and asked AB where the tooth was, he shrugged his shoulders and casually told me that he didn’t know, it fell somewhere on the floor, but did I see that UB’s tooth was out because he pulled it out for his brother. Never mind that sentimental, pack rat mom didn’t have her baby’s first lost tooth.

It didn’t even bother them that the tooth was lost. AB was just proud that he helped and UB was glad his loose tooth that the dentist told him would come out finally did.

But someone had the tooth and they gave it to me. Now sentimental, pack rat mom can put it away in the drawer that has all the other memories and what nots of the boys.

Underwear Boy was quite proud of this new hole in his mouth. He showed everyone in the waiting room at karate and everyone was nice enough to make nice comments. UB even asked if he looked 'cool'.

We went to run an errand after karate and while I was paying, I notice a gentleman glaring at UB. I look over and UB is showing him his missing tooth. Not saying a word, just doing this.

The man apparently didn’t care too much for the show because he was not too happy. I wanted to give him an ugly look and tell him to chill out. I kept my cool and told UB to stop harassing the NICE man because it looked like HE didn’t want to be bothered.

Then I gave him a nice mommy grin and left. Don’t mess with my baby mister!

The moods of Underwear Boy

Underwear Boy has been a little like us women……hormonal. I’m not sure what the proper way to say it for boys is, maybe testosternal? Whatever it is, UB has it.

He’s got seasonal asthma and this year’s seasons have been real doozies. He had a cough for several weeks. Not so bad during the day, but pretty severe at night and when he played. He never complained about being sick. He just went on with his daily orneriness.

After several weeks, I decided it was time to see the Dr. I figured if I was overreacting, the Dr. would tell me. After being examined, the Dr. concluded that his asthma was still hanging around and his small airways were a little blocked.

He prescribed a medicine that he has to take two teaspoons twice a day. Needless to say, this is making him extremely moody. One minute he’s happy and laughing, the next he’s crying. Sounds like his momma. Poor kid.

On Sunday, as we were getting dressed to go to church, he was happy. As soon as it was time to tie his shoes, he started to cry. Saying he didn’t want to go to church, he just wanted to stay home.

In the car, he’s fine. Still sucking those fingers and while he’s doing that he’s happy. When we get to church, he starts to cry again. We persuade him to get out of the car and we proceed inside. While walking inside, hubster and I are trying to make him feel better.

Me: You like going in your Sunday school class.
UB: No, I want to go in Ms. Maggies
Hub: But you have so much fun in Ms Melissas.
UB: No I don’t, we just play
Me: You get to do crafts in her class and you like that
UB: I only like to do crafts on Sunday’s
Hub: But today is Sunday
UB: I mean only on Tuesday’s

He’s still crying when this is all over. Hubster was teaching so he leaves to go to class. I am still trying to console Underwear Boy and trying him to get in his Sunday school class. Surprisingly, I have some patience. I ordered some up that day. Actually, I think I’m feeling guilty because I didn’t take him to the Dr. before he got this bad and now feel like it’s my fault.

I inform Ms Melissa about what is happening and then bribe UB with some candy to go in his class. By this time he’s laughing with his friends. All is well!

Until the next mood swing.

What movies are good for kids?

Today we are a going to talk about how you decide what movies your child should watch. This requires some participation from anyone reading this blog.

In case you forgot what "participation" means, it comes from the word "participate" which means: to have or take part or share with others. So sign in with your nickname or your real name and "participate".

Of course, I could just be writing to myself because I"m not really sure if anyone reads my blog.

OK, now that I've got that out of my system, let's start.

What type of movies do you allow your kids or nephews, nieces, grand kids to watch?

For example, my kids are 6 & 4. There are just some movies that we don't allow them to watch. Anything rated R or PG-13. Even some PG movies are a little strong. Hubster and I base it on what content it has.

Back when I was growing up, mom used to allow us to watch movies. I don't even remember if we had PG-13 back then, but the rated R movies were nowhere in content as the rated R movies are now.

I'm not trying to shield my kids from life issues. But I would like them to stay innocent as long as they can.

The problem is when they have friends over. My kids get harassed (not bad) about not being able to watch PG-13 movies. But Adventure Boy will sometimes tell them that God doesn't want them to listen to movies with bad words in them. Go AB!

We had some friends over and the 9 yr old wanted to watch a certain PG-13 movie. Hubster knew the content it had. This 9 yr old said that it had some sexual content in the movie, but it was OK because it wasn't much. They did however say lots of bad words and it was violent.

After hubster decided that we would not get that movie for our boys to see, even if it was a popular one, our friend told this little boy that they preview the shows first to see if it is proper for him to watch and then allow him watch all types of movies.

So what do we as parents, grandparents and such preview? How strong the sexual content is? What is appropriate to let these kids see? A naked body? Two adults naked in bed? Where do we draw the line?

What about the words that are said? If they don't say more than 10 "F" words it's appropriate? Or if only 2 people get beheaded then it's OK? I just don't understand.

Everyone will raise their kids the way that they see fit. We will continue to raise ours the way God wants us to.

And no, we are not holier than thou. We are just trying to do what's right for our kids.

So what is your opinion? Remember, PARTICIPATION.

Wal-Mart + low prices = ipod

Why does it seem that Wal-Mart is the topic for many blogs? I'm serious, if you google walmart, I'm sure you'd find lots of stories about them.

I have another one for you. I don't like to go to Wal-Mart, but yesterday I had to get some things that I could only find at WM and not Homeland.

Adventure Boy knows how to read, but prefers not to. When we got to Wal-Mart, he proclaimed loudly "mom, look, it say low prices. That means we can get ALL our stuff here because the low prices will save us money"

Underwear Boy just said "yeah, and it also says no smoking".

Teenster let Adventure Boy borrow his game boy. While at WM, he was playing this game boy then said, "well, since I don't have an ipod, I'll just listen to this game boy as an ipod." So he walked around Wal-Mart with this game boy on his shoulder next to his ear. He was even doing that little walk. You know, the one where your knees bend and take small hoppy steps because you are listening to "music" all the while bobbing your head.

AB saw the ipod shuffles and this is how the conversation went:

AB: mom, it's "only" $78, you can get it for me
ME: $78 is a lot of money. I don't have $78.
AB: just put it on your credit card
ME: I don't have a credit card
AB: yes you do, put it on that thing you use
ME: that's a debit card that takes it out of your checking account
AB: but mom, remember what the sign says"
ME: no, I've lost some brain cells since then
AB: It says low prices. So this is a low price. Can we get it and use the credit card?

Do you reckon I use my debit card in front of them way too much?

Adventure Boy's Christmas list

Adventure Boy is 6 going on 16. He wants everything electronic for Christmas. He thinks Santa is bringing him everything he asked for. Boy is he going to be surprised when that doesn't happen.

His list consists of an xbox, playstation, wii,electric guitar, laptop, drum set, computer games, ipod, and various other items. Do you see a pattern here? Nothing on that list says less than $10.

Hubster wanted to get the boys a video game console so that they can have something to do with their friends. I said, "let them dig holes in the back yard and find horny toads with their friends". We ended up getting them a used console of some sort. I think it will do the job and maybe when they get older, as I will, I might consider getting them something that I know they won't break.

Adventure Boy knows people with an ipod. When he is around these people, thanks Barb, they let him listen to their ipod. He is rockin' and rollin' and thinkin' that he's getting one little ipod for Christmas.

Yesterday while on our way to karate, I hear humming from the back seat. That is somewhat rare because I usually hear fighting. I look in my rear view mirror and see some headphones in AB's ears. I turn around to get a better view. Yup, sure are earphones in there.

I ask him what he's listening to since he was humming AND had earphones. He says "nothing mom, I'm just pretending I have an ipod."

Well, at least he's using his imagination.

How many ways can you use tape?

Yay! I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I decided to wrap some presents for the boys while they were over at my friends house. The only problem is that I forgot that finding tape (of any kind) at my house is impossible.

The boys use tape on everything. They build structures of some sort with tape. We used to have electrical tape, masking tape, paint tape, scotch tape, duct tape (wait, that's what I use on the boys) but now there is NO tape.

I find it everywhere. On their dressers, on action figures that are being taped to the top of a hot wheel, on drill bits to make them longer, on anything these boys can get their hands with.

As you can see, the top item is a paper towel cardboard with some sort of car knob or something taped to the end with electrical tape.

The bottom is of two paperclips joined together in matri-tapy to live happily ever after as a couple.

Hubster and I have even almost fallen down when masking tape has been used as a trap in our bedroom to keep unwanted visitors out. I'm just wondering why it doesn't keep the boys out.

After looking a while for tape, I remembered that I just bought a new pack and I hid it.

But where did I hide it? I know I put it someplace safe from little boys, where might that be?

High-ya

The boys have been fighting since yesterday. I blame it all on the weather. It's always someone or something else's fault, never mine.

Adventure Boy uses his karate skills on Underwear Boy, but not to fear because Underwear Boy knows how to bite and pinch hard. Thus starting the he hit me, he bit me, he started it first saga.

I wait until they both start to cry then they get in trouble. I won't tell you what I do to them. All I can say is that if that law that they are trying to pass in that weird state ever passes here, I'm in big trouble. But I do threaten to tape them to the wall, hang them on the ceiling fan or even tie them to their beds, but none of that ever works.

Adventure Boy was having a stripe test at karate. The way karate is done here is that every month they get a black stripe on their belt. After three black stripes they get a red one and after the red one they receive their next belt. AB is only a white belt. Yesterday he got a red stripe and because it was red and not black he wanted me to take pictures.

During the testing, one little boy was going to get his gold belt. He was told by the instructor to break a board with his foot. All the kids in the class were watching with much intensity. The little boy did it. He broke the board in half with his kick. It was neat to watch. Of course we moms are like "I bet they broke the board a little before they let him kick it".

Well, that brought Adventure Boy to a whole new level of adventurness. All he could talk about was how he was going to start practicing on breaking a board with his kick so that he could do it on the first try at karate. (The little boy took 3 tries)

While he was showering, I heard a noise in the shower. He normally hits the bathroom wall because it's a fun noise (I'm guessing here). I tell him to stop and to my dismay I see he is practicing his kick in the shower.

I can only imagine how many holes we are going to have in our walls while he attempts to practice this move over and over until next month.

I'm thinking that today Hubster and I will have to go buy a supply of boards just so that AB could leave our walls in one piece.

Don't make me karate chop you!

Does this coat make me look fat?

I'm a little late posting today. It's still cold outside. But at least the ice is gone. The boys actually let me drive today.

I like the cold weather. The only think I don't like are the heavy coats. Nothing like wearing an extra 10 pounds to the already heavy body. Feeling like a sumo wrestler.

The boys don't like this weather. Adventure Boy wears sleeveless shirts during the summer. So what do you think he wants to wear when it's 28 degrees outside? Yep, sleeveless shirt.

On Sunday, it was 28 outside and he was determined to wear his sleeveless shirt(to church) with a long sleeve shirt on top, because he couldn't get it through his head that the ice on the sidewalk and weighing the trees down meant that it was cold outside. It's only ice you know.

After much persuasion, he wore a regular shirt with a long sleeve shirt on top. Then came the dilemma with the coat. He wanted to wear a hoodie. I really don't think he understood the concept of coooooold by this time.

He has a heavy camo jacket, but Hubster didn't want him to wear that to church. He brought his heavy coat that has two jackets in one and makes you look like the little boy with the red rider bb gun.

He was arguing that the coat was too heavy, that it was too hot, that it was in the way. By this time, I just tuned him out. Freeze if you want boy!

We arrive at church and he does not take this coat off. He says it makes him warm. HMMMM!

After a while, he starts complaining that he can't breathe. I tell him that if he took off his big heavy coat, he'd probably breathe a lot easier. No mom, can't do that, then I'll be cold.

After much persistence on my part (because I'm just such a nice mommy) and heavy whispering of "well then stop complaining about not being able to breathe" he decided to take his coat off.

"Wow mom, I can breathe now" he said

How much longer until spring?

What do you mean I can't drive on ice?

Winter is finally here. It started on Saturday when it was a cold and dreary day. Misty rain and a high of 42. Woo hoo. These are days that make you want to just stay home and snuggle under your blankets to watch The Hallmark Channel, while your kids tear up the house because they can't go outside.

We had a brunch for the ladies at our church Sat. morning. As I was driving there, I turned on a road and was singing along to KLOVE when I noticed a police car coming the opposite direction. Force of habit and I tap my breaks. I didn't even realize how fast I was going. He quickly put his lights on and I just pulled over to the side of the road to pull out my drivers licence and insurance while he made a u turn to come behind me.

I knew I deserved a ticket. I think I was speeding but can't be really sure since I didn't look at my speedometer. If I was speeding it was 10 miles over.

He came to get my stuff asked me my correct address and said he would be right back. I then realized that I didn't even lower my radio. I just kept singing along.

He came back after a couple of minutes and said he was not going to issue me a citation, I just needed to slow down. How nice was that!!

It reminded me of how God gives me mercy and grace especially when I don't deserve it. I didn't deserve to be let off the hook, but the guy gave me a break.

On Sunday, it was pretty icy at our Little House on the Prairie. We didn't make it to Sunday school, but we made it to church.

Let me back up a bit. Last year we had that terrible ice storm. One of those times, Hubster was out of town and after a week of isolation I was ready for some sort of adult contact and didn't want to cook. I loaded the boys in the car and told them we were going to McDonald's. Even that sounded good and I'm not really a McDonald's fan.

I forgot that I don't know how to drive on ice. Our house if up a ways from the road. If you go to the house from the road, you go up a couple of little hills on the driveway. So if you go from the house to the road, you go down the hills. Get it?

I backed the car up out of the garage. So far so good. I noticed the 3" of ice on the drive, but totally ignored it. I drove down the drive, down the hills never putting on my gas. The car went down on it's own. When I stopped at the road, the car continued to go just a little so I turn the steering wheel so that I could turn left. But the car didn't cooperate with me. It had ideas of it's own. It kept going straight. Next thing you know, I'm in the ditch across from my house. I sure made it far.

The kids were scared but I tried to reassure them that nothing was wrong. What could possibly be wrong? The car was in a ditch with the right rear tire up in the air.

I called Hubster, like he was going to be able to help from where he was. He called some guys from the office to come help me. While waiting, my neighbor came by and started to attempt to pull me out. Then a whole crew of guys from Hubster's office came to help. They were excited because they were able to get out of the office and play in the ice.

They all helped pull me out and then it was time to go UP the driveway. They had to pull me with with a chain because the hills just weren't allowing the car to go up. Stubborn car.

Then they pushed me up into the garage. I parked the car then decided that I'd be staying home until Hubster came home. The guys asked if I needed them to get me anything, I said no while my kids were yelling from the back seat, "McDonald's please mom". I still said no and the guys went back to work, but not before playing in the ice. But see, I got my adult contact. Ha Ha.

So back to Sunday. While Hubster was driving, the boys were remembering how mom got stuck in a ditch and how mom doesn't know how to drive on ice. Then they proceeded to tell daddy that he needed to give me ice driving lessons. They still laugh about it.

I write stories about how my boys do crazy things and they make me laugh. It wouldn't be any fun if I didn't laugh at their expense. I suppose it would be OK if they laughed at me when I did crazy things. At least they know that mom can't drive in ice and snow and they sure aren't getting McDonald's during that time.

Sweet dawg

Do you like her "guard her" belt?

This is what I call a redneck garter belt.

The boys decided they were going to dress up Cinnamon just a little. Amazingly she just lets them do what they want with her. She kept this contraption on until I decided she had been a good sport long enough.

I've been pretty tired with Hubster out of town. It seems like I always have extra work to do when he's not around. I wonder why!

The boys have been good. For a change. Cinnamon has been ornery. Must have been pay back from the belt issue.

I spend a good amount of time cleaning the mess she had made outside.

She has a nice comfy house on the back porch. This house has 3 nice and warm blankets that are supposed to keep her warm. For some reason, she takes all the blankets out and drags them out all around the house.

Hubster says this makes us look like white trash, but I beg to differ since I'm Mexican. I can think of many other things.

Each blanket is set up in it's own primitive location due to the way the sun shines. She has to sunbathe and just goes from blanket to blanket during the day.

I still have pumpkins outside that I need to make more pumpkin bread with. But I guess I won't anymore, because Cinnamon has been placing them as decorations around her blankets.

I had left a cooler outside and forgot about it. I don't know why, it's not like I have much to do around here. As we get ready to go to karate, I notice that she had dumped the cooler over and there were several water bottles that I had failed to get out of the cooler. She got a hold of them and was having a drinking party at night. These water bottles were everywhere. All chewed up and the lids were unrecognizable.

Dogs are just like children. Wanting attention and doing whatever just to get it. She looked at me with her big brown sad eyes and I couldn't help but love on her. Sweet dog.

All I need is some gas people!

Contrary to popular belief, women are NOT the ones that don't know what they are doing.

Upon seeing that my gas tank had a little light on to the left of it, I looked at my screen and it told me that I had 5 miles left to go until I ran out of gas.

The thought of walking to the nearest gas station with three boys, somewhere along the way I picked up a kid, just does not appeal to me.

I approach the nearest gas station and see that all 3 pumps (small in -neighborhood convenience store) were busy. I pull in behind the car that has no one in it, because my thinking is that they have gone inside to pay. I should stop thinking!

I do notice a group of 20 somethings around the front of the store. All boys, all talking nonsense to each other. As I pull in behind this car, I notice two boys coming towards that car. I'm thinking all is good. I should really stop thinking!

This guy goes to his car and start pumping the gas. HMMMM. I patiently, annoyingly, wait for a little while. All the other pumps still have someone pumping gas into their vehicles.

I turn off my car so that I won't run out of gas while waiting for pretty boy to decide what he wants to do, because by this time, he's walking back to talk to his friends, then decides against it and comes and sits inside his car to groom, but not before he adjusts. (if you know what I mean)

At this time, I see a car leaving. I hurry up and turn my car on and zoom over there so as to beat the little old lady that I see eyeing that spot.

I open my gas tank, fill up my car and pretty boy is still sitting in his car while his car is being filled. He then walks back into the store and comes out carrying a case of cokes. He proceeds to sit back in his car. By this time, my car is full and his is still filling up. I don't quite understand that because he's got an old ford Taurus that doesn't look like if it can hold more than 5 gallons.

Oh well! I just drive off and think that people have it all wrong when they say that we women are indecisive. And then I decide that I'm going to start thinking again, so there!

A cup is a cup

This is the back of a motorcycle.

This is what Underwear Boy uses to drink water out of and to rinse his mouth out after brushing his teeth. Underwear Boy and this item have a special bond.

Can you find this object in the first picture?

Can we pleeeeeaase watch a movie on the camcorder?

I think the weather, days with fluctuating temperatures anywhere from 37-7o degrees, have made the boys wilder than what they are.

For example, Adventure Boy wakes up early. By 7 am every day. Doesn't matter if he goes to bed at midnight, he's up by 7am. The rooster sets his cock a doodle doo by AB. Not only does he wake up early, but he's got his full energy throttle set in from the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep. One day I'm going to figure out how to bottle up all that energy and makes millions.

Underwear Boy likes to sleep in. 8 or sometimes 9 am is when he wakes up. UB likes his sleep.

He wakes up sucking his fingers and "plotting" to see what he can get in to.

AB has learned how to light a match. Scary. This morning, while I was trying to wake up and not having had my intake of caffeine in the form of a coca-cola, he is walking around the house trying to make the house smell good by lighting every candle that exists in this house.

I also have an oil lamp and he turned that on. I soon got a headache from smelling spicy, sweet and other smells around my house.

UB decided to play with my industrial sized mop bucket and tried to use it as a cannon. Apparently, the mop handle makes a nice cannon to ram into the wall. Good thing I caught him in time. Otherwise, I'd have to explain to Hubster why there is a big hole in our almost a year old wall.

AB wanted to record all the "fun" things that him and UB do and so he charged the battery to the camcorder. After 5 minutes of being plugged in, he asked "Is it ready yet?" This continued for the next hour. That blasted thing was dead. There was no way it was going to be ready in 5 min.

After an hour, I told him he could go get it. For the last 3 hours it has been sitting on the coffee table in our living room recording the TV. They want to "watch" TV on the camcorder before bed tonight. (deep sigh)

Before AB started recording, we went to the Toy Shop. The Toy Shop is a non-profit place here in town that provides free toys to needy families for Christmas. It is a very good thing.

So we went to go pack some boxes with toys for some families. We had a 7 yr old boy and a 4 yr old boy on the list. Good idea, I thought, same ages as mine. These boys will know what those boys would like. We start loading the box full of toys that the kids said they would like. They both liked scooters and one wanted a football and the other a soccer ball. We got those things. But then I was informed by an older lady that 4 yr olds don't ride scooters. I put my hand on MY 4 yr olds head and said "He's 4 and he loves riding his scooter" She said "Don't take this the wrong way, but 4 yr olds shouldn't be riding scooters". I guess I won't tell her that he got the scooter when he was 3.

We put one scooter back and then we were also told that the 4 yr old couldn't have a soccer ball because then they wouldn't have enough balls for all those older kids. I guess this 4 yr old little boy is just not going to get what HE wanted this year. Maybe his older brother will share. We did throw in a couple of extra cars that he wanted AND a cool spy kit.

I was just informed that the camcorder ran out of life. I'd better go charge it so that they can "watch" TV on it tonight. I sure don't want to disappoint them. Ha Ha