Bonkers anyone?

It's been a busy, crazy month so far and I'm ready for it to slow down. I get to a point where I don't like the month of December. I love the fact of what Christmas means and stands for but I get irritated with the hustle and bustle of life.

I tell myself every December that I will be on top of things, that I will not wait for last minute gift shopping, but every year something comes up. Something that is unavoidable.

So for the sake of my children, I will make this a great Christmas by showing them that it is better to give that to receive, but most of all, that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Enough of a pity party. I'm good.

The boys have been driving me bonkers lately. Yesterday was a bad bonkers day.

The boys wake up and they rough play which usually results in someone crying.

They start school and AB is staring at the wall, or out the window with a blank stare. While UB is whining over not remembering what he had learned a month ago. Then AB starts scribbling all over the big pink eraser while UB starts to dump his crayons out because he'd rather draw than do math.

I send them outside, in this cold weather, and they end up fighting over who gets to ride a certain bike.

After lunch, it's reading time. AB picks a spot to read and is quietly reading, while UB sits on my lap to read to me. UB is finished before AB, so he goes off to play. At least that's what I think he does. That is, until I see a head bopping up and down as I sit on my bed folding laundry. I look down and there is UB, doing some yoga poses on the yoga mat. After the allotted time to read, they rough play some more. And they end up crying. Both of them this time.

AB goes to play on the computer while UB decided to use the bathroom. So when he comes out, I notice that my femenine pads are opened and in the trash. I ask him what he was doing with them and he says just playing. I tell him that they are for girls only and I stop myself from telling him that they are special napkins because I sure don't want to see those special napkins at the dining table when we actually need napkins. He then runs to AB and tells him that he was playing with mom's big band aids. (deep sigh)

I'm still doing laundry when I hear UB laughing. I go in my bedroom to see what is going on and I see my chihuahua's bed and blanket in the shower and my poor chihuahua shaking like a leaf, terrified of UB. I save her for the second time that day.

I send him to his room, but he stops at the Christmas tree to turn on and off the lights because he wants to see the lights blink. After I get on to him, he keeps the tree lights off because he says he doesn't want to waste the battery. (another deep sigh)

My mom had given us a bread machine as an early Christmas present so we tried it yesterday. AB wanted to make pretzels. When the machine beeped that it was time to get the dough out, UB decides to push the button again and the machine turns on to start the process all over again.

I get to it in time, take it out and am about to let the boys make the pretzel shapes when I see that there is about a pound of flour on my countertop. There stands AB, with a grin on him face, telling me he's ready to roll the dough in the flour and form the pretzels. He says that is how Emeril does it.

Now, it was just flour on the countertops I wouldn't be so flustered, but the flour was on the flour, on whatever else was on top of the countertops, but most of all, on the boys. (another deep sigh)

When they finish forming the pretzels, they decide they want to put cinnamon and sugar on a couple of the pretzels. Before I could react, they had already tag teamed each other and were making the mix. So now I have flour, cinnamon and sugar all over my floor.

We put the pretzels to bake and the boys went off to play while I went to finish the laundry. I figure the mess in the kitchen can wait a while.

As I sat there, folding laundry, I realized that it wasn't about me. I was making memories with the boys. That even though they weren't doing things the way I would have done them, they are learning. I have to remember that I was once a kid.

So as the boys continue to do things that drive me bonkers and make me speak in Spanish to them during those times,that probably to them sounds like I'm speaking in tongues, I will thank the good Lord for those opportunities I have with them.

I'm still being used as a jungle gym.

I'm going to start posting pictures of my food again. I've noticed that this helps me be more accountable.

I've just been doing an exercise video and haven't ran. I guess I need to get my booty out there and run. I just don't feel like running enclosed inside a gym when it's so pretty outside. And I am a little scared running alone down my country roads way early in the morning. I've got to find me a running partner. In the meantime, I've got my dog. I do need to buy her a leash so that she won't run away from me and chase the cows.

I've got a quick story to tell.

I previously told y'all that I've been doing yoga. I try to do my exercises alone with no one watching. Nothing like having an audience.

Anyways, the boys always seem to make it into the room to watch or they become peeping Toms.

During the time of the video when I think that I can't do it anymore and Bob is telling me to keep going, that he's almost done, the boys try to encourage me as well. Not like Bob, but more like "That's not how they are doing it mom" or "Come on mom, I can do it better"

While I'm trying to do the poses, they think I'm a jungle gym and crawl under me, jump over me, try to avoid my hands when I'm swinging them around and so forth.

At first, it was a little annoying, but the more it's done, I enjoy it because I'm not thinking of my legs shaking, or my arms feeling as if they are going to fall off.

As a matter of fact, by the time this all happens, my whole body feels as if it's been tortured and I can't go on anymore.

The boys will show me how it's supposed to be done. I am not as agile as they are.

I do believe the poses are getting better because I've heard less of "that's not how to do it mom" and more of "that looks hard mom"

I'm getting there. Slowly but surely.

Yoga is exercise

We've been busy with a visit from some wonderful friends, last days of school work, the everyday business of life, baseball and whatever else has been thrown our way.

I've been eating better. I might not see results but I sure can feel them. I sleep better and I definitely feel better.

Since my last run posted , I have done some home exercises and did 20 min of running up the hill and walking down the hill. Butt kickers is what I like to call them.

I was showing my friend yesterday my little so called muscle on my biceps. Telling her that AB just kept looking at me when I was bragging about it and Hubster is a good man by telling me that it seems like they are getting bigger. She asked if I lifted weights. I said no. Simply because lifting 5lb weights every other week is not going to get me some definition in my muscles. And going to the gym every three weeks is not going to cut it either.

I do think that maybe my arms are getting a little toned just with the combination of exercises I do. I get bored doing one thing over and over. I have to break that monotony. I sort've make up my own exercise combinations and it works for me.

But the thing that I have been doing that is helping out my core(that also helps incontinence) and helps tone up everywhere is yoga. I've been doing yoga with Bob (biggest loser) only about twice a week, but those two times kick my butt, literally.

When I heard of yoga, I constantly told myself that I would never do that. Seriously, how was I going to stand like a flamingo and then suddenly lift my leg up into the wild blue yonder all the while trying to keep my balance. Not to mention, keeping all my body parts from moving out of position. No way!!

I ended up buying Biggest Loser Yoga weight loss video some time ago. It sat unopened for months. I tried it and was sore the next day. Bob keeps you going. I learned new names for exercises that I had never heard of before. Downward dog, upward dog, cow, cat, triangle, warrior, and the dreaded plank.

I do have to admit that the first time I turned on the video to view it just to see if I would like it, I saw them do these poses and told myself, "that's easy, you can do that"

Ha Ha Ha laughed my body when the next time I turned the video on and actually tried it. Your body stretches and reaches and moves and works. Never again will I say that yoga is not exercise.

So L, I think that's what's happening to my little so called muscles. Yoga baby!!

I ran another 3 miles this morning. 30 min this time. I was trying to do a slow and easy 3 miles.
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The boys had baseball games this week. It's been fun to watch them. UB is still in Tball and gets bored during the halfway point. He enjoys it though.

AB is still in coach pitch with Hubster as his coach. During the opening tournament, their team won the championship. It was great. Since then, they've won some and lost one.

AB hit an infield home run on Tue and was quite proud of himself. I was proud of him as well. This is the same kid that last year hit maybe 4 times the entire year. He's been doing so much better this year. It was a good home run. He hit it down to left field, hit the fence and he ran and ran, they threw the ball to the catcher and AB slid right between the catcher's legs(not touching the catcher). The catcher dropped the ball. It was great.

It's funny how even though his daddy is his coach, and he wants to impress him, he still looks for his mom for approval. I love it. He'll tell me that he's going to hit it hard again, or that he's going to catch a pop fly. Well, last night during one of the times that he hit the ball, he made it to first base and was looking at me for my thumbs up sign, he smiled and waved when I gave it to him. I hope he always looks for me.

He even caught a pop fly. He just lifted his arms that are 3ft long and caught that ball that was going high up. It was great. And yes, he looked to see if I had seen it.

Anyway, enough bragging. I'm just a proud momma, what can I say.

We are having company this weekend. My brother in law and his son and my sister in law and her family. Along with more family and friends for a get together or two.

Time to go finish mowing, clean the house, do the laundry, change sheets and just get ready for the company that is soon to arrive.

Have a Blessed Weekend!!!

A trip to the State Capital

You know what is the best thing for a day of hormones kicking it up in full gear?

A brownie fudge sundae.

Just kidding. It's a big hug and kiss and a sincere "I Love You mom, You are the best" from your child. Everything seems better after that.

Anyway, don't have pictures of my food. I've been too lazy to download and post. I'll post tomorrow.

I have had plenty of yummy food. Most good, some not good for me. But all so tasty.

We went on a field trip to the State Capital on Tue. It was so much fun. I never thought I'd say that History is fun because I am the one that flunked history and government in High School and College.

Even though the kids were young, our tour guide, the secretary for our State Senator, made it very interesting for them. She even had them role play so that they could understand how a law becomes a bill and trying to get them to understand checks and balances.

I do believe they all enjoyed themselves. We were able to meet Our House of Representative and our State Senator. The man this is our House Representative goes to our church so we already knew him, but were able to talk to him about Home school issues.

The State Senator talked to the kids first. He was sweet in that he commended us parents for Homeschooling and said wonderful things about Homeschooling. It makes you feel good to know that someone is behind you.

The Representative was as well. His wife was a Missions Kid and was Home schooled. He was a public school teacher and coach, so he has the knowledge on both ends.

All in all, it was a great day at the Capital.

Yesterday was spent mostly catching up on what should have been done Tue. It was a rough day in school. Both boys acted like they didn't know what they were being taught, when in fact it was just review. Days like that make me feel inadequate. My self-doubt sets in. All the pressure from the public seeps in takes over my thoughts. I question myself whether I'm actually teaching correctly. Am I not getting the point across the correct way? Am I doing the right thing?

We took a little break until after lunch and then continued with school. It was much better. The boys suddenly remembered how to do the lesson and all was good. Then the insecurities that I had earlier were gone. All was good.

I leave you with this little story.

Hubster and Teenster came home for lunch yesterday. Hubster had taken his motorcycle to work and therefore that is how they came home. UB made a comment about that to them and said, "Two guys riding one motorcycle? I just don't get it."

I don't think Hubster liked that comment.

Zucchini Lasagna

Not much to talk about exercise wise or food wise. Did good until Sat. morning. Then it went downhill from there.

I ate mostly leftovers on Friday and then made some gluten free pancakes for breakfast on Saturday. Mixed pecans in the batter then I put some frozen strawberries in a saucepan with a little water and mashed them. That was my syrup for my pancake. It was good.

Won't tell you what I ate for lunch. It was definitely not good for me.

I did come to the conclusion that bad food just makes me feel horrible. I can't breathe, can't sleep, just feel bloated. I definitely don't want to feel like that again.
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The weather has been crazy lately. Rain every other day or so. I supposed that's good news for our pond since it's finally full.

The only complaint I have with rain is the grass that grows twice as fast and all the water and mud puddles.

The other thing that comes out with this weather are toads. Lots and lots of toads. Toads that are coming out of hibernation to play in this spring like weather.

Boys and toads go well together. The boys enjoy playing with these nasty animals. UB more so than AB. I have to check UB's pant pockets when he comes inside. He likes to carry them with him.

Last week, he was walking into the house with a yellow tool box. Trying to discreetly make it to his room. I was in the kitchen with my back to him but my eyes on the back of my head saw him.
"What do you have there?" I asked
"Nothing mom." He innocently says
"Open that up and let me see."
He slowly lifts the lid to the toolbox and what do I see? Ants. Red fire ants. He was wanting to put this tool box in his room and the ants were going to be his pets. I tell him to take that back outside and put those ants back where he found them.

I look at him and realize he's holding something else. A mesh bag that is tied to his belt loop. Inside this mesh bag was a toad holding on for dear life. That was another pet he was wanting to put in his room somewhere.

Hubster comes home and makes UB put the ants back where they belonged. I go outside to see what is happening and see 3 toads inside that mesh bag. Tied to the handlebars of the bike.

If I were those toads, I'd find a different place to live when they were set free.
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Zucchini Lasagna
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 8oz cans of no sodium tomato sauce
1 lb extra lean ground turkey
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Italian herb seasoning(optional)
1 egg
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1 tsp whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup skim, fat free mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
3 zucchini sliced into 1/4 inch think pieces

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add turkey and brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomato sauce. Season with Italian herb seasonings. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, slightly beat the egg. Stir in cottage cheese, flour and 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

Pour 1/2 of meat-tomato mixture into a 1 1/2 quart roasting pan. Top with zucchini slices and cottage cheese mixture. Then cover with remaining meat-tomato mixture and zucchini.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake 10 minutes longer.

The bug is here

The bug has entered our homestead.

UB got sick on Friday night with the pukey's and then went on the the pukey's on the other end. Hubster helped Friday and Saturday night cleaning up puke.

I don't really do well with puke.

Then on Sunday evening AB got the same thing that UB had.

I knew Hubster was tired and had to go to work the next day so I kicked him out of our bedroom and to AB's bed while the boys camped out in our room.

So from 12:30 am until 5:30 am AB and I stayed up.

Him to puke and me to clean up.

I was so tired that at 2:30 in the morning I was putting doing a load of laundry and cleaning the toilet.

My life is so exciting.

Poor AB was complaining that his stomach hurt so bad. When at 5:25 he let it all out. Then we fell asleep shortly after that.

I was so tired yesterday. I still had loads of laundry to do and did as much as I could.

I think the boys are doing better. Still complaining of hurt stomachs, but they are fighting now.

Hopefully the bug is gone and Hubster and I don't get sick next.

Lysol has been my friend for the last three days.

Is it wrong to Lysol your kids down?

We had fun in the ice..... but I'm tired of mopping

We had an ice storm here that started on Monday. By Tuesday, it was sleeting and there was lots of freezing rain.

Everyone knows I don't drive on ice, so we were stuck at home since Monday.

The other thing that happens when the weather is bad is that our Internet doesn't work so well. The joys of satellite Internet.

Even though the schools were all out for snow days, we still had school.

But after school, even though it was 23 degrees and freezing rain was falling, the boys wanted to go out and play in it.

They got bundled up and out they went. They got cold and came back in.

They bundled up again and went back out. They got cold again and came back in.

After mopping a couple of times, I finally told them it was too cold for them to be out there.

Someone asked me where my sense of adventure was when I told them that they boys wanted to continue playing in this weather. My response was that it went away after the upteenth time I bundled and unbundled and mopped.


It did look pretty out there. All white and cold.

Then yesterday, it wasn't warmer by any means, 12 degrees is what my thermostat said, but the sun was shining brightly. The boys wanted to go out again. No school for the town, but definately school for us. So before school this time, we went outside with our generic sleds (cardboard boxes and plastic tote lids) and went sledding down the hill in front of our house.

It was fun running and sledding and trying to see who won. And it even did me good to get out of the house.

UB preferred the plastic lid because it wasn't as fast as the cardboard.

AB preferred the cardboard box. It was his mode of transportation down the hill.

The neighbor boys came over and all 4 of the boys had fun just playing out in the ice that was melting. They actually went out to the dry pond. The hills are more fun there.

And after a hard day outside in the freezing temps they came inside to eat what?

A Popsicle. Strange kids.

Hands on Health Field trip

After a very busy week, we took a field trip to a hands on health place. We hadn't been on a field trip in a while and had been wanting to do this one.

I didn't know what to expect. Most health places are somewhat boring. Too much knowledge for kids to understand.

But this place was pretty cool. They had lots of hands on stuff for the kids and the kids all seem to have enjoyed it.

One of the purposes of this place is to show the kids all the different areas out there in the medical field and maybe intrigue their interest to do one when they grow up.

They even had a car where you would sit in and the video game was showing you how difficult it is to manuvour the car when you are drunk. They also had an area for those people that smoked. It showed the difference in healthy lungs and smokers lungs.

When they walked in, they encountered this slide. It was in a head and when they slid down, air would blow on them to signify the sneeze. The bottom part had a red punch bag that looked like the tonsils. Needless to say, this was a hit with all the kids.
They had places throughout the area where you could step into the doctors shoes. It showed a little video of the role of the doctor and told you all about it. You would step out and then step back in and it would be another doctor's role.

UB's favorite place was the pharmacy. He pretended to be the pharmacist and enjoyed it.

AB's favorite place was where you pretended to be a surgeon. They were able to keep the mask and cap and they were quite thrilled with that.

This surgery place had a plastic bin of some sort and you would stick your hands into the gloves that were there. They would actually perform surgeries. They could do heart surgery, knee surgery or something else. The video was performing at the same time and tell all about the surgery.

The boys enjoyed it, and they even learned a few things.

Great way to end the week.

Come hither, strong GI Joe. Save me!!

When I was little, my mom used to have to bribe me to play with dolls. I disliked dolls. Muchly.
Dolls scare me. I have only two dolls in my house. My first doll that I ever got, when I was five. And a porcelain doll that my mom gave me several years ago.

My poor mom. She had two boys and me. A tomboy. I would rather climb trees and run barefoot through the sticker patch than carry dolls around and have tea parties.

She would have to bribe me with books. I love to read. Even at a young age, I enjoyed it. Reading is a gateway to different experiences.

Anyway, mom would tell me that if I would play dolls for a certain amount of time, she would get me a new book. As much as I hated playing with the dolls, I did it for the new book.

So now that my boys are older, they still play with Lego's, but now they play with action figures.

DOLLS!!!!

Not having girls, I thought I wouldn't have to worry about playing with dolls. Boy was I ever wrong. What does it matter if these 'action figures' are manly with guns and ammo. They are still dolls.

The boys bring me these dolls to play with them. I make excuses because I just don't want to play with them. I know, mean mom. Whatever!!

So here are the boys 'action figures' that have kept them busy and entertained.

Here we have some small action figures. All with different jobs for the task at hand.
Skeleton guy takes a breather because he does have a cast you know. He's actually thinking of how to kill muscle man in front of him who just wants to show off doing push-ups.

Here is a guy driving the fast motorcycle while his partner seems to be falling off the back.

Here is a big GI Joe, or Tom Selleck GI Joe(according to my brother in law)

This poor guy has lost his boots. Nothing like trying to keep up when you have no shoes. At least he's wearing pants. I think yesterday his pants were off.

This guy is getting ready to shoot all the bad guys trying to get his friends.

Here are his friends climbing the tower. Trying to get away from the bad guys. Strong aren't they?

"Hurry guys, climb to the top, I see tortillas and tacos up there."

A tradition

During the Christmas season, I always try to do things with the boys. You know, traditions.

When I was growing up, our tradition was finding that perfect 'live' tree, then bringing it home, decorating it and then watching that 'live' tree die because we always forgot to water it.

Of course, we also had other traditions. Like baking cookies, making candy, making tamales and eating.

I still do all those with the boys. I sometimes get so behind on what I'm doing that I end up making it all myself.

But one thing that we have done for the last three years is put their hand print on a tree skirt.

I bought some red muslim and cut it out. You Martha's out there would hem and haw and whatever you do to sew and make it look pretty.

I don't. I just cut it. And left it that way. Without being hemmed up. So there.

Anyway, the boys then play with the silver or gold paint before the decide that they have enough paint on their hands and place it on the fabric. AKA the tree skirt.

They have fun doing this and since I'm a sucker for hand prints, I have fun watching it.

The questions that arise at the grocery store while checking out

Because the boys are always with me, they end up going grocery shopping with me. Most of the times they like it, every once in a while they complain.

But, since I don't give them an option, they have to go where I go.

We went to the Toy Shop to pack up boxes for families. The Toy Shop is a place where people donate toys and this place then gives the toys away to families that need them. The boys like to go pack boxes for kids.

The only problem with that is that they want to 'try out' every toy there to see what it sounds like. So at one point, there were all these toys making noise. I think the old ladies were ready for us to leave.

After we left the Toy Shop, we had some time to go to the grocery store before UB had karate. We did our shopping and were waiting in line. In a long line. But in the grocery stores defense, they only have 5 or 6 registers and they did have 3 of them open.

Apparently, that wasn't enough for the impatient older man behind me. He was not happy that there were more than 4 people in line.

Some poor employee was walking past him and he asked her if they had any more cashiers. She looked at him calmly and said that she thought they were getting some more.

He was still complaining and moved from behind me to another register.

They finally open up 2 more registers and people start moving to those newly opened registers.

He of course doesn't move fast enough and still doesn't get to the front of the line. The 2 people in front of me decide to move and so I am next in line.

I can hear him complaining and I look at the line where he is and ask him if he would like to go before me. No, he says, I'll just wait. So wait he did.

While we were in line, AB was reading all those headlines on the magazines.

You know, the drama headlines of Hollywood.

The "Brad and Angie fight because of Jen" or "How to lose 30 lbs in 4 days" or "Eat all you want and still lose weight" or "Brad finally apologizes to Jen and Angie get jealous" or "Vanessa (from High School musical) shows you how to get in shape for the Holidays"

AB was reading all the magazines and was telling me about them.

He then says, "Mom, I don't understand what this means. Come look."

I tell him to just read it to me as I was pushing the shopping cart to the register.

Out loud he says "How to get big cleavage, What does that mean mom?"

I look around to make sure no one was listening.

"Umm," I said "help me unload these groceries."

"But mom, what does that mean?"

"What does that other magazine say?" I ask

"Patrick Swayze is still sexy. Who is Patrick Swayze and what is sexy."

I hurry up and pay and get out of there. I'll have to distract him next time with a candy bar.

Will the magic eraser clean a marked up car?

Well, I'm back!

I do have lots to tell, but it's going to have to wait.

We arrived home late on Saturday night. We then did nothing but rest yesterday. So while I was resting and reading the paper, the boys decided to 'paint' a little car toy. With sharpies.

They then decided to 'take off the paint' with water. So this morning I look in their bathroom and there is a sink full of water and bubbles. The car toy is somewhere in there. Along with a magic eraser.

The boys thought that if they put a magic eraser in the water with the car, the magic eraser will magically clean the car.

This is the reason I can't blog right now. I've got to go clean up lots of little magic eraser pieces that disintegrated in the sink. Along with making sure the boys clean up the 5 gallons of water that are all over the floor and the counter top.

Well, how do you say it then?

The boys speak in two different, distinct slangs.

AB doesn't have one and UB has an Okie, Mexican slang.

Being from Texas, we say y'all, wanna, dontcha, yontoo and several more.

AB thinks he's from some upper class Okie area. He only speaks in complete sentences and corrects those that don't.

UB on the other hand, likes his slang.

He speaks just like the Okie's do. With a Mexican twist.

I try to encourage him to speak in complete sentences and use proper words because as much as I like my friends from Oklahoma, their hick slang is rubbing off on UB.

For example, people here say "I done did that" instead of "I already did that"

Or "let's go that a way" or how about "We done gone". Done is a very popular word 'round here.

And UB adds his hick language as well.

The sentence "The first man was Adam" is said in UB language "Thu fuirst ma-yn wus Aeedum"

With a strong Mexican accent finishing it all up.

So I guess I need to work on his English before he goes off to college because then he'll be telling his professors, "Y'all know I dun diyd thaut, so leut's go fiind the ma-yn thaut stole my horse. He dun goun and weynt that a way."

The boys and the family

My mom used to be a teacher's aide. When the teacher's would get new stuff, she would be given some of the stuff that was not wanted anymore.

At this time, I was attending college and studying to get my degree in Elementary Education. I was working at the time and the job offer where I was working, along with the pay offer was more impressive than a teaching job.

So mom kept all these things hoping one day I would use my degree.

Here I am, using my degree, but not getting paid for it with real money. But I do say, the benefits are better.

Anyway, I have these little wooden figures that come in sets. One set is of Community workers, another set is a family and another set is of farm animals.

Even though they are old, they have come in handy. The boys enjoy playing with them.

The other day, the boys had all three sets all over the dining room table. They had their own little village going on.

I was working in the kitchen and AB kept hollering at me to tell me that UB was being 'sick'.

"What do you mean 'sick'" I asked?

"Well," he says "he keeps saying that the grandma is going to marry the little boy. That's just sick mom, she's too old for him."

Hmm, I say

"And he says that the old man is going to marry the little girl. That's even sicker. Tell him to stop being grosse mom."

So I tell UB to play nice.

Later, I hear this from AB "My horse is going to poop all over your living room. Then he's going to pee all over your couch."

Evil laugh from both boys.

I just love living in a house with boys.

Halloween 2008

Here is Jake. The boys made this scarecrow and named him Jake. I think Jake is going to be my riding companion in the car from now on. I'll use him as my target for adult conversation. That way, I know he'll never talk back, or correct me. I will always be right. At least to him. The boys had a blast going door to door begging for candy. Instead of saying Trick or treat, they would say "please". I've got some explaining to do.

I'm not really sure what or who they are supposed to be. Army guys with glow in the dark face paint that didn't really glow in the dark. Although, I'm not sure if they allow red chucks and flip flops in combat. Happy the clown joined us for some action.

The boys ended up having a great time. Getting lots of candy, and making us glad this is all over. Now I just have to hide the candy little by little so that UB won't eat it in the shower anymore.

We don't need our heater on yet!

The cooler weather has arrived. With the cooler weather come a couple of things.

First, I don't need the A/C. And second, I don't need the heater. Yet.

We like it to be cool in our house. The only time we turn our heater on is if we've got icicles hanging down our nose when we wake up in the morning.

And when it's cold outside, with no heater turned on, it means that it is pretty chilly in my house.

I would rather bake something to warm up the house than to turn that heater on.

So yesterday, it was colder in my house than it was outside.

So we did what any other crazy person would do and went somewhere where I knew would be warm.

The library.

I had intentions of taking the boys to story time. But as I arrived there, I realized that it was almost over.

We go in to get books. All three of us get some books and go up the elevator to sit on the nice comfy couches to read.

A couple of years ago, AB got his hand stuck in the elevator. Don't know how he did it, but it sure was scary. He stays clear of all moving parts of the elevator now.

UB was excited to be upstairs. I read with him and then he went to look for a magazine. He walked back and forth from where we were sitting to another area with some comfy chairs.

Thinking we were going to get kicked out for UB being a distraction, we decide to go home.

UB pushes the button to the elevator. We get in and we wait. And wait. And wait. Something is just not right, but we still just wait. The elevator isn't going anywhere.

During this time of our wait, AB tells me with a big grin that dropping that paperclip down from the top floor was fun.

What do you mean dropping? When did you drop it? I was with you the entire time.

Well, he obviously dropped it while I wasn't looking. While still not moving in the elevator, I explain to him why he shouldn't do that and tell him to never do that again. Uh huh.

At this time, I realize that we still haven't moved. Thinking that we are going to be stuck in an elevator in the libraray, I start looking around.

I ask UB if he had pushed the button. No. What button should he push?

I push the correct button, the elevator starts going down and when we get there, I hightail it out of the library before we end up getting kicked out.

Hey, at least we warmed up enough to enjoy our cool house again.

What is this in the tub?

I don't know if anyone has the same problem I do, but I don't understand why my boys can't aim in the toilet.

It ends up everywhere but in the toilet. The walls, the floor, the rim and seat of the toilet. You name it, it's on there.

Don't tell me to make the boys clean the toilet because that doesn't work. They fight over who cleans what toilet. AND, they have fun doing it.

So last thursday, I took apart the toilet seat and cleaned every inch of it. From the seat, to the screws. It was nasty.

Hubster had the boys with him, so I was getting a lot done. I wiped it all. The walls, the floor and everyting else.

I really don't know why, because we were having freshmen boys for the next two nights. But I did anyway.

I then pulled the shower curtain back and I found some pee in there. Yes, you heard me right. Pee. In. The. Bathtub.

All I can say is it's a good thing the boys were with their father at that particular moment.

I called Hubster and told him to look each one in the eyes and ask who did it.

No one owned up to it.

I did get upset then started to ask God "Why didn't you send me any girls. Why only boys?"

And He said "Why NOT boys?"

So I shut my mouth and continued cleaning. They took a long time getting home. I guess they figured I needed to cool down.

Then they took me to Whataburger. Who can be mad after a Whataburger?

So I ask you to be the judge. Who do you think peed in the tub?


Culprit #1














Culprit #2

You decide!!!

I'm not leaving without my Krispy Kreme!!!

Recently, we went to the city to get the seat belt fixed in my car. Everytime a kid would sit in the middle in the back seat, they would complain about not being able to buckle up.

And since I don't have the midas touch, it wouldn't work for me either.

Hubster of course could get it to work. But I can't take Hubster with me everywhere I go, someone's got to make some money so that I can stay home and watch spanish soap operas and build Lego's.

I'm kidding. I don't watch those spanish shows ALL day.

So we went. Hubster ended up going with us since he had to go check on some jobs while we were there.

We went to the dealership and the guy called me out and said that it was working fine. Figures.

He then asks me if I was putting the middle seat belt into the middle latch. Well, maybe that was my problem dude, I was using the side seat belt that is located by the door, into that latch.

OF COURSE NOT DUDE!!!! I may be a stay at home, homeschool mom and lose some brain cells sometimes because I don't have much adult interaction, but I know where the seat belt goes.

But I kept my nice smile on and told him that I was doing it correctly. Even the boys said that it hadn't been working properly.

Whatever!

We go check out the jobs that Hubster's guys are working at. This takes a while because there are two jobs and Hubster has to talk to all on site.

But that's okay because our next stop is Krispy Kreme.

When we arrive at Krispy Kreme, I go into the woman's bathroom and the boys go into the men's bathroom with Hubster.

I'm using the bathroom but then hear knocking on my door. What do you do when someone knocks? Say "Hey, yeah, I'm here. That's why the door is locked" So I just stayed quiet. Didn't feel like talking to strangers.

Then another knock. Good grief!!! I open the door and it is Hubster and AB. Hubster is asking me if I heard knocking on the door. Why yes, I say. Well, that was me, he says. He's not happy.

I ask what's wrong. Here comes UB holding his hiney with a towel. Well, as they were running, yes running, into the bathroom to beat each other as to who was going to be first, UB slipped on a puddle of pee and water mixture and fell on his butt.

Normally, I would laugh at this because there's not much you can do. But with Hubster around, laughing was not an option.

So I held my innocent look pose and listened to the story.

While Hubster took UB to go strip off his clothes in the car, AB and I stayed to get donuts. There was no way we were leaving Krispy Kreme without donuts.

We get in the car and then decide to go to Wal-Mart. We would have gone home but I still needed to go to Mardels.

I tell Hubster to drop me off at the doors while he goes to the gas station to fill up. It was $2.41. Of course, all the rest of the city thought that was a good deal too. I look for some clothes, pay for them then see that they are still filling up.

I walk over there and Hubster is not happy. It seems that the pay at the pump thing was having issues and wouldn't take his card. He had to walk up to the lady and pay her.

I tell UB to get dressed. He tells me that he needs underwear. Underwear? I didn't get any underwear. He says it's okay, he can put his ironman clothes on without underwear.

We stop at Mardels so that I can get a Bible for the pastor in Ecuador. AB and I get down while Hubster and UB (commando) wait in the car.

I get the Bible, pay for it and tell them to engrave it. I go back for it and the name is crooked. Hubster tells me I shouldn't accept it like that. I go back in and tell them my problem. She says that they can refund me 1/2 my money back and then put a gold plate on top with the name on it.

I decided to get a refund on that one, buy a new one and start again. This time I hung out while the girl engraved it. It worked.

It was dinner time and we decided to go eat some Mexican food. We sit there and we pray that God just help us relax and watch over us.

And you know what? All this time, I believe it was God telling us to slow down. If we would have listened, all those things wouldn't have happened.

But then, I wouldn't have anything to write about.

Dressing like it's summer in the cold fall days

It is 55 degrees outside. Can you tell?

This is how the boys dress when it's 100 and this is apparently how they are going to dress when it is sub zero.

Looks like I'm going to have to hide the tank tops and shorts and flip flops this winter.

I'm sure I'll get looks of "you neglectful mother" or "what kind of mother are you" when we go out today, but you know what?

Some battles are just not worth fighting.

Why do I have to break up fights about heads?

"I want my head back"
"Please give me back my head"
"mooooommm, he has my head"

That is what I awoke to yesterday morning.

It was early, I hadn't had my morning coke and they were arguing over a head.

A Lego head, just in case you are wondering.

That is what little boys fight over.

UB doesn't understand the concept of trading and AB takes advantage of it. Even if they are just playing, AB takes it out of context and tries to make UB think that he gave it to him.

AB did do the right thing and gave his brother his head back. Heads, good grief. Never did I think I was going to be in the middle of a fight about heads.

Life with kids.

So here are a few pictures of some of the heads and bodies I found. They are all scattered all over in different places in the house so not all of them were there for the family photo.

Some are getting ready for dinner while the others are left to starve.
This poor chump is saying "where is my body mate?" But he can't see that his friend has no legs.

And I really don't want to know what's going on here. It seems to me that Darth and his compadres are getting ready for a manly dinner.

But wait, what's that on the table? A head? Or a hair piece? I guess it's up to your imagination.