I Gotta Think Simpler

Will today ever end? That's what I was thinking early this morning. And I was thinking it late this evening. It was one of those days when nobody understood anything. You say times or multiply and I'll be darned if they don't add. You say divide and they can only think of multiply. I don't get it! LOL That's the newest term around here. When the boys don't understand something, they say "I don't get it".

Well. You know what? I don't get it either. Why in the world when I say multiply, would you add? I gotta think simpler.

MJ did this problem like 4 times today and kept coming up with the same answer. Here's the problem...9+8=___
We all know the answer is 17. Right? Right. And MJ knows the answer is 17. Ok - most days he knows the answer is 17.
Today he added and added and added. He came up with 9 every time. We talked about it...over and over. I ask him, "MJ how can you have 9 and add 8 to it and come up with 9". Finally he looked up at me and held up 9 fingers, "I don't know why mom, but today it equals 9".
You gotta just shake your head sometimes and go on. I did - I shook my head a couple of times. I tried every way I knew to help him come up with the right answer. And when the light bulb comes on...It really comes on.

Tonight JD had some math to finish up. He and I were laying on the floor in the den, working on a couple of problems. Yes - it was division. Oh yeah, you guessed it. He wanted to multiply every time. While he was working on these math problems, his feet were just a swinging away. He kept picking up the cat cubicle with his feet. Me just about at my wits ends finally ask him to keep his feet still. He kept them still, for all of about 5 seconds. Somehow, someway the cat cubicle managed to reach over and hook itself on his foot. He started shaking his foot trying to get it off - finally he said "Get off me you foot snatcher". I lost it! I busted out laughing and I couldn't stop. I couldn't even explain what the heck I was laughing about. I would get calmed down enough to start explaining and I would just bust out laughing again. Side splitting, jaw cramping laughter. It took me well over 10 minutes to finally be able to explain what I was laughing about. Yeah they all giggled, but to me it was hilarious. Guess that just goes to show that I really lost it.

Update on Tigger - Put the Cotton Away

This morning I called the vet and set up a 2:30 afternoon appointment. This appointment was for our vet to see the progress that Tigger had made. Tigger has made a full comeback!
The vet was very impressed with Tigger. Dr. Bennett is our vet. I have been taking my animals to him since the early 80's. He has always been very honest with me and he has always treated my animals the way that I believe they should be treated. Dr. Bennett said "you are very lucky that Tigger made it". According to Dr. Bennett, not many animals in the condition that Tigger was in would have pulled through.

Dr. Bennett ask me where the boys were. I told him and his assistant that I had to have a few minutes with some adults, so I left the boys in the car. He was rather disappointed and he even said so. LOL He said that they are very entertaining and he really enjoys them. He said he didn't have anything to give them and then he ask me if they could each have a syringe. Of course I said yes, so he sent them each a syringe.
On the way home all 3 of the boys played with their syringes. They figured out how to make them stick to their lips and their tongue. JD ask me if they could call him and thank him for the syringes. I think we will all sit down and write a thank you note to Dr. Bennett and all of his staff.

One last thing - When I started to walk out the door, Dr Bennett said, "tell the littlest one that he can put the cotton away".
If you don't remember, when Tigger first got sick and we all took him to the vet, MJ said that if Tigger didn't make it, we were going to stuff him with cotton and keep him.

WoooHooo! Put the cotton away!

Sleeping In

Finally Saturday! I had some really awesome plans of sleeping in. Notice I said "I had"? There really is no telling around here what time one will get woke up or even how one will get woke up. It could be calm and gentle or it could be wild and wicked. Usually if you have plans on sleeping in, then you can pretty much plan on getting woke up by wild and wicked. Either one is ok in all reality, just as long as you are woke up. Because you sure don't want to miss the action.

Speaking of action.
Superman was going to get up early (not as early as usual for him) and he was going to take the boys and do a little welding. WW and MJ were the only ones allowed to go because JD just couldn't behave in class during the week. And you know my plans - yeah - sleeping in. So I'm laying in bed in my own little special dream land and in my sleep I hear "MOM!". I open my eyes and I see 3 boys standing beside my bed and JD is holding something. I hear "MOM, LOOK WHAT MJ FOUND"! Oh yes, they are all excited, I mean to the point that they might as well have just caught a leprechaun, except for the fact that it wasn't St. Patricks Day. Now I'm kinda squinting my eyes to get them to focus from being jolted awake. I see what's in JD's hands. It's a baby squirrel. No joke! I wouldn't have been anymore shocked if had been a leprechaun. The squirrel started hollering at that point. JD handed me the squirrel and I laid him by my neck, he crawled closer to me and just snuggled up to me and there he went to sleep. I talked to the boys about the squirrel and where MJ found him.
I laid there for about 15 more minutes and I just couldn't stand it any longer. I had to wake up Superman. I called his name once and he woke right up and I told him to look at my neck. My gosh - did he see a leprechaun too? Me - now I've raised a baby squirrel before and of course I was excited but not even close to the excitement that Superman and the 3 boys were feeling. I think I was more into the save it's life mode. Keep it warm and get it fed.

After Superman and I (with the baby squirrel) managed to crawl out of bed, we all went about our daily routine of brushing teeth and getting our other little chores done. Me with a squirrel in the pocket of my t-shirt. Superman, WW and MJ went off to weld and JD and I went off to PetSmart.

Don't Tell Dad

Yeah right! LOL We all skipped school today. We were supposed to go to our home school group meeting but the weather just wasn't quiet right. It was extremely cloudy and it rained almost all day yesterday. The boys just knew they were going to get to go swimming after our meeting today and they really wanted to go swimming. We've all had this summer cold thing going on and I really don't think they should swim right now.

When I told the boys that we weren't going to the be with the group - Whoa and behold! I thought I was going to have to fight them off of me. Ok - Ok! Here's what we'll do...We will go to Walmart and pick up a few things and we'll see what the weather is like. They were ok with that until we parked in the Walmart parking lot. Once again - here I am...defending myself and fighting them off. LOL I used the beep beep phone and called Superman. He agreed with me (of course) that it would be best if we wait at least one more week on the swimming thing. Ssshhewwww! I barely got through that.

Once inside the store the boys wanted to walk around while I shopped. I don't usually allow that with out our little walkie talkies. I said ok but you must mind your manners and stay together. I was free! Yeah for a whole total of 10 minutes. But that's ok with me. When they are with me, I know that they are safe and that is the most important part. We did our little bit of shopping and I had to buy some pencils. On the pencil isle, JD spotted some of the felt coloring things. I thought - what the heck...we missed drawing today at our group meeting and the boys can't go swimming - so why not just buy them each one. They all 3 picked out the picture they wanted to do and we were outta there. Easy as that!

Everything put away and now Art class begins. Skipping school - ha - that's what they thought. When we were driving home, I starting singing a little diddy about skipping school. Just something I made up off the tip of my tongue. WW commented that he didn't want to skip school. JD said we could get in trouble for skipping school. I just had to say that we couldn't get in trouble when mom was with us. Me, of course. Then I hear "Don't tell dad". It was really cute! Then the JD and WW say "Mom, you already told dad because you called him when we were at Walmart". They know that their dad and I talk about everything. There are no secrets in our house. In all reality, I think the boys like that about us.

Just remember, when you skip home school...Take mom (or dad) along with you. That way you have a driver and someone to keep you out of trouble.

Crayons In The Shower

I think tonight my husband (Superman) finally figured out the true meaning of fatherhood. I have to say it was rather amusing too.

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and Superman opened the shower door to start the water for his shower. He did something in the shower and then turned to me and said (while holding a crayon, "What exactly do ya'll do during the day and exactly how did this get in there?" Being the comedian that he truly is, his face was distorted in something that favored Bozo the Clown. All I could do was laugh! That really is not such an easy task with an electric toothbrush in my mouth. Needless to say that the electric toothbrush popped out of my mouth (to keep me from choking on it) and sprayed the mirror before I could get my wits about me. I literally had to catch my breath in order to give him a sensible answer. But before I could catch my breath and give him the answer of the crayon in the shower, he spoke up and said, "I know, MJ wrote in the shower I love you dad, in invisible crayon". Ok, it took me a little longer to compose myself because he is narrating on how the crayon got in the shower.

While I am doing my best to stop laughing so I can at least breath, he goes on to tell me about the activity of MJ helping him unload the feed and the hay this evening. Superman is trying really hard to get the feed out of the truck before the rain gets here. He grabs a bag or 2 of feed out of the truck, walks through the gate and into the barn with the feed. In the meantime, MJ gets bored and stands in the gate opening doing some type of gyrating boogie dance. Hands, feet, hips and head just a swinging around. Superman walks out of the barn in a bit of a hurry (because of the rain) and walks up behind MJ (without MJ knowing). MJ just continues with his boogie dance thing and Superman tries to get him to move. Well MJ being surprised steps to the left and then to the right and then to the left and so on and so on...Now it is like Superman and MJ are doing this boogie dance thing together. Superman just looks up and says to himself "let me get through this now because I know that I will be laughing about it later". There is no doubt that we will laugh about it now and later.

These and lots and lots of other things are just pleasures of being a parent. Some days I wonder how my parents did it. But in reality, I know how they did it. They simply ask to get through it now because they knew they would laugh about it all later.

Oh yeah - the crayon in the shower. I washed some back packs today and put them in the shower to dry, the crayon fell out of one of the back packs. I can hear you now - yeah right. That's exactly what Superman said.

Home School on the Road

Today we had to take a trip to Valdosta Georgia. Granny Karen had a doctors appointment and I thought that we would make it a learning experience. In the back seat of the car sat Granny Karen, WW and JD. In the front seat of the car was Granny (my mom), MJ and myself. I always get the honor of driving when Superman isn't with us. But I don't mind. I mean really, here are the choices for drivers - MJ age 9, JD age 12, WW age 13, Granny age 72, Granny Karen age ? (late 50's - early 60's) and of course me age 46. And besides I am the one that has more driving hours than anyone else, since I used to drive for a living. And just who would you want to drive? LOL

In the front seat, Granny helped MJ with his sight words. In the back seat, Granny Karen certainly did keep WW and JD occupied with their sight words, sight phrases and their sight nouns. Not only did she keep them busy with all those words and such, they had to find things in the atlas. And I really lost track of how many things she did with them to keep them busy. How creative this lady is.

On the trip home, I let the boys off from their work. I did have them read road signs to help me in finding the right roads and in telling me which way to turn. Honestly, I knew the way home and all the roads, but it made them feel really important. The best part was when they had to read the signs to find us a place to eat. We were in search of a Cracker Barrel.

"MOM, CRACKER BARREL, NEXT EXIT!" I saw the sign before they did but I kept my mouth shut. Yes, the billboard announced that the Cracker Barrel was at the next exit and then left. The boys missed the "left" part. I ask "Ok, I got at the next exit part, but which way do I turn then?". They didn't know. They just so darn excited that the Cracker Barrel was at the next exit and they were, as usual, STARVING.

That's when traffic came to a stop because of construction. LOL Just my luck! 15 minutes, 2 miles later, our exit was in sight. Off the Interstate and now which way to turn. They did it! They read the signs and found out which way to turn. I took them through a couple of parking lots before we pulled in the our destination. The whole time they were telling me that I missed it, I took the wrong turn and that I needed to turn around. It was hilarious. Of course I took them through the extra parking lots to get them to read and give verbal direction and to express themselves. Really, just what's the fun in just driving and getting it done. I had time, why not.

Full bellies and South Bound. We pulled into our drive way and off the boys ran to play. Off I ran to the barn to help Superman (who just got home) feed the horses.

I enjoy days like today. The boys had a wonderful time too. Now tomorrow, we will be back in the classroom with our heads in the books. I just have to wonder what kind of a day that will be. I'll just hope for the best!

Thursdays Fieldtrip

We met with our Home School group again. Yeppers - back at the springs. I don't remember if I told you the name of the springs or not but anyway, we meet at Rum Island Springs. The kids get to swim and interact with others of all ages, even adults. The park admission is free on Thursdays. We had a great time (as usual). Our coordinator couldn't stay because she had to take her oldest son to the doctor. An email from her today said that her son is fine and on antibiotics.

We had 2 new parents and 3 new children join our group in the last week. Great people! I think the group is really going to grow.

I will tell you all about JD a little later. Ok - I'll tell you now. He was not allowed to swim because of his behavior on Wednesday. He sat at our table and complained about his work. My gosh - he only had 7 questions to answer. It was open book and the answers were on 2 pages. Ok - enough of that for now.

When we left the springs and went into Gainesville because as usual, I try to save time and gas and get everything done while I am out and about. We stopped by The Learning Path and the boys loved the store. I thought it was ok - well better than ok but I think it is more focused on Public School than Home School. There really are some wonderful things for the classroom, if you are into that sorta stuff. Once we left there we drudged across town and into the University traffic. Yeah - what a blast that was. LOL Barnes and Noble bookstore. One of my very favorite stores. The boys had read some books during the summer and for every 8 books that they read, they could get a free book. WW and JD was able to get 2 free books and MJ was able to get 1 free book. Pretty darn neat idea! I had 2 gift cards, one from Mothers Day and one from my birthday that I wanted to use to get me a couple of new books. I walked around and around and I looked and looked - no books for me. I know - how can I not find a book for me in a darn book store? Because I shop the bargain books. I generally buy my favorite author's hardback books for less than $10. That way I can get more bang for my bucks. Or more books for my bucks! I love a bargain! I did manage to find 2 wonderful wall maps for our classroom - one is a World map and the other one is the United States. I managed to get them for $6 and that was with my 20% Teachers Discount (more about this in a minute). As I was walking around looking for my books, I found a table with some school info on it. There was an application for a 20% Teachers Discount - It includes Home School. I'm all signed up for my Teachers Discount! Yee Haw! You really need to check it out!

5 O'clock traffic! Oh no! And to top all the traffic off, WW started screaming like a little girl! And crawling across the back seat and coming out of the shoulder harness of his seat belt. A teeny, tiny spider was on his seat belt. Boy, oh boy - You would have sworn that a giant man eater had jumped in the car with us. I had to stop the car and have a talk to him about spiders and they are not man eaters. It certainly made an interesting topic at supper.

Ok - now will you please pass the Xanax!

ps - JD finally finished his school work and the munchkin made a 100!

Rah Rah Sish Ka Bah

Ok I admit it - I have boys. They are all boys too! Today after class JD wanted to play softball or was it baseball. I can't keep them separate - they are both played with a bat and a ball. LOL WW and MJ didn't want to play softball, they wanted to play Frisbee. JD tried his best to tell me that I needed to enroll them in, in, something - he just couldn't get it out. I spoke up and said "You mean I need to enroll them in ballet?". "Yes mom, then they can stand around and jump and cheer and say Rah Rah Sish Boom Bah"! He was making fun of his brothers and calling them little sissies. It got a good laugh out of us all and JD and WW ran around the house cheering. But soon this got old and they ran outside. Only they know what they played, I tried to stay out of it and have my time.

Another good day for homeschooling. I never did get my little thing made with the pockets on it. I have an idea in my head about it, but I just can't get it out of my head. Once it's ready to come out, well I suppose it will come out.

I managed to catch the boys studying 2 times today. JD had to take all of his books to show his dad and he had to tell his dad all about class. WW and JD sat down before bedtime and had their books out and was going over them. I was impressed, shocked and proud. I certainly hope this keeps up.

After supper tonight, I walked around the yard and believe it or not, I actually took the camera with me. I sure did! Aren't you proud of me? So with that said and done, I have added a picture of our pound puppy - Rocko. In case you don't want to browse over and read about Rocko, here is a great silly picture of him. We were told that he is about 2 years old. We seem to think that he is younger than 2 years old, because he just acts immature and silly. More on the puppy side. He is wonderful with the kids and they sure do love him. Every once in a while he wants to herd the horses but our horses don't have much to do with that. They just kinda stand there an look at him as if to ask "You want us to do what?".


Now this is Molly, she is the queen of Beagles - better known as Daddy's Little Girl. What she has under her chin is a dog toy that was given to us when we first got Molly. She nurses on this thing, it's her pacifier when she wants to settle down and go to sleep. We call it Rudy - originally it started out as a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with a tennis ball in the end of it. Molly has never tried to tear it up at all, but some of our other inside dogs have teased her with it. You can tell her to go find Rudy and she will search the whole house until he has been rescued.



Mindy is our Schnauzer that came to live with us from a dear sweet lady that living in the Villages which is South of Ocala. It's a huge retirement community that is getting bigger and bigger by the day. Ms. Martha (90 something years old) couldn't care for Mindy anymore and ask her caregiver to call me because she knew that I would take care of Mindy. When Mindy came to live with us, her pads were as gentle as a new born pup. Not anymore - she isn't a city dog now. LOL I mean just look at her. She is dirty from playing in the pasture with Rocko. And she is in terrible need of a hair cut. She's as happy as she can be! And that's what counts.

OMG! I just looked at the time. What happened? It was just 9 o:clock. Ok, I'll have to show off the horse pictures and the club house and the 4 wheeler trailer another day. As for me - I'm off to bed. TTFN

Our Weekend

All in all we had a wonderful weekend.

Saturday
Yes - we had a birthday party and it was a blast. JD is now officially 12 years old. Oh if you could have seen his face when he saw all the gifts on the table. He had a special chair that he sat in (my computer chair). They all love to sit in moms computer chair.

Superman sent me and WW shopping early Saturday morning for a few groceries and to pick up the birthday cake. JD and MJ stayed with their dad up until it was time for JD to go over to Granny Karen's. When we got back from shopping the house was spotless! I mean spotless too! What a neat feeling. And to think that I felt quilty for spending $250 on groceries. But it was 2 buggies full. Ok, so I don't feel so bad since I had 2 buggies full.

The party was a wonderful success. JD's facial expressions were so true of his feelings when he opened his gifts. The joys of being a parent and seeing their faces light up is worth the trials and tribulations that the children can put parents through.

Sunday
Do your children creep into your bedroom or open the door really quietly? I mean like they don't want to wake you up. And then they say "Momma?, Momma?". Mine do. LOL And they do this to ask me if they can watch a movie. My goodness boys, you know the rules, do all of your morning chores and you can watch a movie. It's pretty simple. You don't have to wake me up to ask.

We had spaghetti for lunch and it was delicious. I had taken some jar sauce Thursday night and put in a little onion and some ground chuck, cooked it and put in the refrigerator for Friday night supper. We didn't eat it for supper on Friday night, so today I heated it up, added more onion, garlic, oregano and some sausage that I browned. Served over angel hair pasta with toasted garlic bread - mm - mm - good. Ice cream for dessert.
Everyone washed, dried and put away their own dish and I ran off to take a little nap.
Superman woke me up and ask if I wanted to go with them to the springs. Of course I do. So this afternoon at 4pm we headed to the springs for the boys to swim. MJ had to do his famous back flips and show off for his dad. We gave him thumbs up from across the water. He just smiled, climbed the ladder and did another flip. We stayed about an hour and there wasn't any fussing from the boys about leaving. All 3 of them thanked us for taking them.

On the way home I heard JD say to his brothers - "I don't want to go back there because there's too much cussing". There were a lot of teenagers there today and they use such foul language. Now if you remember - JD is the one that had the cussing problem when we first met the boys. Times certainly have changed for the better around here. I explained to the boys that it was pretty crowded there today because of it being the weekend. They remembered that when we go during the week that there are less people there, including foul mouthed teenagers. And now JD wants to go again. Bless his little heart!

I am excited about tomorrow! It will be our first day of home school. I have big plans and high hopes. Tonight Superman and I talked to the boys a little about what to expect tomorrow and this week. We let them know what we expect out of them and ask if they had any questions or concerns. They were all 3 fine with everything and said they are ready to get started and believe that home school will be fun.

I have a few more emails to check on and a little more research to do before I head off to bed. I am sure the boys will be up at 7am tomorrow morning and I am sure that the door will creep open as they try not to wake me, only to say "Momma?, Momma?".

Marshmallow Shooter

I was so darn surprised that I could not react. Yesterday I had to use Superman's truck to run an errand. He has some of his work stuff in the passenger floorboard with an odd piece of PVC pipe sitting on top. I kinda wondered to myself, (now what in the world is that for?). I just let it go because it really didn't matter. Hmmm...my mistake. LOL

Superman and JD took a ride uptown to buy a few things. While they were doing their thing, I managed to get WW and MJ's showers done, the horses feed and the sprinkler moved. I was out in the pasture when Superman and JD slipped in the back door and put away the bread and the milk. I walk in the laundry room and JD comes out to meet me. "Mom, dad wants to see you for a minute". Well that's pretty darn common and I didn't think anything about it. So I walk into the dinning room and then I come around the corner into the kitchen. That's when it happened...
I took the blunt force of a marshmallow right in the forehead. Yes, a marshmallow! The boys just busted out laughing and I am just standing there with this really dumbfounded look on my face. "What was that?" JD picks the marshmallow up off the floor, shows it to me and then eats it. Now the Superman and the boys are running around in the kitchen and the den shooting marshmallows at each other - kinda like spit balls through a straw. It was hilarious!

The strange piece of PVC pipe that was laying on top of the tools, has now become a marshmallow shooter. It may have been a marshmallow shooter when I first saw it, I don't have a clue on that. However, I certainly know that for about 10 minutes that's exactly what it had become.

So I will have to make a trip to the hardware store to buy PVC pipe to make more of these things. WW talked about how he wants to make one but he wants to be able to shoot 2 marshmallows at a time. Little smarty britches!

I was just sitting here and thinking about this fun and harmless game with mini marshmallows and thought I'd google it. OH MY GOSH! These things are online - You can actually buy them! Check this out! Marshmallow Shooter

Rabies

"Mom, he's gonna get rabies if he puts that hook in his mouth." I'm at the barn feeding the horses and that's what I hear coming from the back steps. I listen a little bit and chuckle to myself because the next thing I hear is "MJ if you keep doing that, your gonna get dead".
Personally, I have never heard of getting rabies from a hook. Gonna get dead...Well that's something else totally different. I guess it goes right along with DRT which is Dead Right There. Superman is always coming up with initials like that, and of course they are rubbing off on the boys. When you hide around the corner, you'll hear all kinds of things that you've said in front of the kids. Just chuckle to yourself and keep on going. It's pretty darn silly around here sometimes.

Now let me think, what was all the talk last night at supper? Oh yeah - it was about how the boy's were gonna have sisters and Superman was going to teach the girls to be mean. It was all in fun and every one's cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. The girls were all gonna be dressed up in camouflage and hiding in the woods to ambush their brothers. The boys would be swimming in the pond and the girls would all drop in from a zip line, shooting the boys with paint ball guns and taking them as hostages. Once again, you can blame it all on Superman who has a wild imagination and loves to make up stories. The boys followed suit and made up their own stories of what they were going to do to their sisters. Sometimes I have no clue where all this stuff comes from but I love the laughter and the freedom that we bring to each other to be ourselves.

Swimming In The Heat

It's getting hot down here. I should have said HOT! The temperature at 11:30am today was 93 degrees. The heat index is in the triple digits. I mean around 105 degrees and above. It kinda seems like the first day of August arrived and so did the heat. What I want to know, is who left the oven on?!

We are fortunate enough to have a springs near by, actually within a 15 minute drive. And yes, we went swimming at the springs again today. I had one errand to do before we went, only to drive 22 miles and then get told that it had to be in Gainesville, which is another 25 miles in the opposite direction from my home. Ok that will just have to wait until another day. I'm not one to just run all over the place. I try to plan things and do everything while I am out and about and all in the same direction.

There wasn't many people at the springs today and that always makes it nice. There were 2 very nice kids (boys, whatever you wanna call em) maybe 15 or 16 years old, that helped my boys with their diving and back flips and front flips. WW said that he would never try a back flip again because he did a back flop - kinda like a belly flop but on his back. Now MJ on the other hand - well he was doing back flips and front flips until he looked like a pro. At first I had to sit on the dock and have him stand on my feet before he would try it. But once again, like jumping off the dock, he had to try it before he would jump off the dock. It really made great conversation at suppertime. I can't wait until Superman gets to see his flips and how his swimming has improved. JD is fine with jumping in feet first or doing his famous cannon ball. He isn't much for the diving and flipping stuff. But that's ok, when and if he does them, I will be fine with that. Here is a link so that you can look at some of the springs not far from us. The one we go to is Bronson Blue Springs.

There are lots of things that we want to do tomorrow - such as - mow my moms grass and set up for a yard sale. In order for us to mow her yard, we have to get a bunch of buckets off of the lawn trailer and put them away. Yeppers, they needed moving today and yesterday too. Nothing like planning ahead. LOL Then hook up the trailer, load the mower and so on and so on. I'm just not sure that I have the energy. I know I need to clean the windows on the outside of the house but darn it. They have been dirty for this long, what's another day or 2 gonna hurt. Oh just listen to me, I sound like I'm complaining. Blah, Blah, Blah!

Superman ask me to pick up a movie tonight and he requested Premonition with Sandra Bullock. I saw it while he was out of town and I recommended that he see it. I know I really enjoyed it when I watched it. So sat down tonight and I watched it again with him. I enjoyed it again and he enjoyed it also. We are just big Sandra Bullock fans.

Unless I can think of anything else to blah, blah, blah about tonight, I am off to go through my material tub again. I am ready to start cutting some material, just so I can sew it back together again.

Boys Will Be Boys

Boys! I love our 3 boys. There is no doubt that "Boys will be boys"! But isn't that why we love them so. With all of the issues or problems or whatever you want to call it that JD (our middle son) has or reportedly has, he never ceases to amaze me. He has to be pretty darn upset for either myself or Superman not to make him smile. But generally, if we keep after it, the smile will peek out from under the frown.
We are gradually reducing his meds. Today I discussed this with his therapist (who wasn't happy about it), but then decided that it may just be time to reduce them and that is just what the therapist did. And - get this...The therapist ask when school starts and so on and so on...I told the therapist that I would be homeschooling JD and his brothers. Well with that said the therapist had to ask me why. Oh yeah, I told him why - peer pressure, bullies, crime, lack of one on one time and more. Making a long story short, when I got back home and checked the mail there were letters addressed to the "Parents of" all 3 of our boys. Here is a quote from the letter from our School Board - "Please only return the attached transfer application if you would like to transfer your child to Florida Virtual School or want your child tranported" to another school (I didn't list the school name). Look at the bold in that sentence. Yeah - I know, we all make mistakes. But really - from the School Board?! One would think that they would use spell check or something.

Today he discovered spitting out the car window. Sometimes I just have to giggle to myself. It's the kinda thing a parent does when they look the other way - that's only because we don't want the kids to see the smile on our face. LOL
Not only did he discover this new thing today, but yesterday he found out that when you put the hose nozzle in your mouth and then pull the trigger that your cheeks pop out and water sprays out your mouth. Oh yes - he just had to show me that trick yesterday. Funny thing is - when his cheeks pop out, his eyes get as big as saucers. They really do!

The last couple of days WW and JD have been helping Granny Karen move furniture, take out carpet and tack strips and paint the floor in her bedroom. They finally got half of the floor painted. I don't know why they are doing it in halves but that's what they are doing. Today WW, JD and MJ all sprayed their feet with spray paint and walked across the painted floor. Don't panic! That is how she wanted the floor done. I think it is a pretty darn cool idea. I guess over the next couple of days they will finish the other half. Once it's done I will have to go and see what it looks like.

Uh Oh! I forgot to call my sister yesterday. I know, I know! Today I called and there was no answer, but I did leave a message. Well - we left a message. The boys and I sang Happy Birthday on her voice mail. It was so cute, it kinda reminds me of the animals in Madagascar singing Happy Birthday. Hopefully she still has her sense of humor and will get a really good laugh at it.

Did I tell you about the ring tone that the boys wanted me to put on my cell phone? We listened to a couple of ring tones and the boys wouldn't have it any other way than for me to have "Bad Boys" as my ring tone. Now they laugh everytime my cell phone rings.

We did get to go swimming this week. Once! A darn thunder storm came up and out of the pool the boys had to get. Today is Friday and I finally see the sunshine. That was some thunder storm. LOL But that dosen't mean this was the last week of swimming. Summer isn't over yet. The rain hasn't slowed the boys down any at all. Since we havn't had any lightening I just let them play outside in the rain. What the heck, they would have gotten wet if they would have went swimming. JD thanked me over and over for letting them play in the mud all week. Summer camp is next week, it starts on Monday. This will be their last week of camp for the year. I will finally have a little time to myself. I'll probably be lost and not have a clue as what to do with my free time. Imagine that!

Today

Today is my sisters birthday! Wow - she must be old by now - 43 years old! Hey, I got it - I think that the boys and I will call her (probably wake her up) and sing Happy Birthday to her as loud and off key as we can. Loud and off key shouldn't be a problem for us! LOL
Oh My Gosh! That reminds me that I have a birthday in 3 days! And to think that I am older then her - schew - only by 3 years though. Hmmm...doesn't that mean that 50 is approaching really fast. Oh well, like I always say - I may get old, but I refuse to grow up!

Our boys don't think that I am old, they say it all the time. Maybe that is because of the way I act and carry myself.
The other day we went to Walmart, and I like to enter the store through the garden area. Walmart has concrete block set up with post sectioning off the plants and patio furniture and such. As me and the boys were walking up to the area, I just jumped over the fence. The boys thought that was the coolest thing and of course they had to do it too. And to think that at the river I am the one to climb the tree and go off on the rope swing. It probably puts you about 20 feet above the river before you plunge in. It's a blast! Once I did it, WW had to try it. Now we both think that it is the bomb! Going off the rope from the ground is like riding the merry-go-round. And of course the other day when we ate lunch with Becky, it had rained and there were some really great puddles in the parking lot. Oh yeah! Splash time!
And there are days when I am out in the yard playing kick ball with the boys. Running around as if I am 12. Superman said about a month ago that he looked out in the yard and saw an extra youngin running across the yard and be darned if it wasn't his wife. LOL It wasn't very funny though when I tried to do some really quick turn and stop all at the same time - I kinda did a split and then fell in two different directions. I didn't know my body could do that. Needless to say that the boys laughed so hard it hurt. Once they recovered from their laughing spell, they all had to high 5 me. Wait until we have paint ball guns and 4 wheelers! They better watch out!

No Swimming

Ok - I know. I wanted so bad to take the boys swimming Friday. However, it just didn't happen. Superman drove our SUV to work so that he could work on it. Work on it? Yes. It has a rear axle seal leaking. He called me to let me know that he was on his way home and that he wasn't able to fix the SUV and that he would tell me all about it when he got home.
Once he got home there was an incident with JD that had to be taken care of. Oh not too bad of an incident - just playing in the fire, that's all. All 3 of the boys wanted to have a weenie roast, so out I go to stoke the fire. Ok - now I gotta got back another step. For the past week we have been burning limbs that Superman cut from some of our trees. These things will keep a really great set of coals and be very hot for several days. So I pile up all the little loose sticks and throw them on the ashes, and within about 3 minutes we had a fire for the boys to roast weenies. JD thought that it would be a great idea to get his dad's really expensive flashlight (which none of the boys are allowed to touch with permission), needless to say, he did not have permission. While he was getting the flashlight, he thought it would be ok for him to grab a box of kitchen matches. Not a good idea! But no one was hurt and it was dealt with and over.

The SUV - Superman explained all about how he was unable to fix it. He said that he will take it to work in a couple of weeks and get it fixed. He did explain how he wants me to handle it while he is out of town. So we didn't get to go swimming on Friday but I certainly have swimming planned for this coming week. I think we will go to a friends house that I have not seen in quiet a few years and swim in the pool. I think we will go to the springs, which is only about 10 miles from our house. I think we will go to my friends house that lives on the river and do some swimming and some tubing (which the boys and I love to do). Then maybe we might sneak off to the beach. Who knows.

It's now Saturday and life is good! We just got home from a wonderful day at Superman's dad's house. We had a little cook out and there were lots of kids for our boys to play with. It rained! But that's ok, my father in law, being the wise man that he is has a shop that we can all hang out in. On the way home the boy's talked about all the cousins they now have. It was a very good day!

The Sound Barrier

True Lies. Have you seen that movie? It has Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis teamed up together as a married couple. Great movie! I let the boys watch it Monday and I really think they have watched it at least 3 dozen times since then. Ok - not that many times, but a bunch of times. There is a scene in there where a limo is on a bridge, Jamie Lee Curtis is in the limo and her husband (Schwarzenegger) is trying to save her. There are jets flying and a long bridge. One of the jets breaks the sound barrier. You can see it when it happens. I told the boys to watch for it. You can see like a vapor and that is how you know the sound barrier has been broken. I finally get the boys to see this happening on the movie. Today WW points out to me when it happens - I am thrilled that he saw it and pointed it out. Then he looks as me in his most serious face and says "Can they fix it?" He thinks that the sound barrier is something on the plane that broke. I had to hold back my giggles because he was so darn serious. Of course I explained to him about the sound barrier and how things break the sound barrier. Well I thought this was cute and I just had to share.

Pay Attention

Kids! Gotta love em!

Have you ever tried your best to get your kids to pay attention? Of course you have. Some lessons just seem like the hardest learned. If that makes sense. LOL

Here is our story about paying attention.
Mowing season has finally arrived now that we are getting some rain. We take care of our property and also my mom's property. She has a small yard (1 acre) and it really is pretty easy to mow. Every year, it seems like, I am the one that starts off mowing. I always have to make sure the mower has oil and fuel and so on and so on. If there is a problem I try to fix it, if I can't...Well that is the job for Superman. And every year I always have to start out with a dead battery. It really isn't a big issue, I just pull out the jumper cables. It can get a bit tricky though because the battery is under the seat. The seat has a safety switch that makes the mower shut off when you get off the seat. Hmmm...I think, now how in the world can I put the jumper cables on my SUV battery and then put them on the mower battery while keeping the seat down, while trying to crank (start) the mower. Yes, I have quiet a dilemma here.

Ok - I got it. I look around the seat area of the mower, find the safety switch, figure out just how it works and now just to bypass the darn thing. I found a piece of Sycamore tree bark and wedged it between the contacts. Safety switch is now bypassed. Jumper cables all hooked up and I am ready to turn the key. About mid way between my SUV and the lawn mower, I hear electricity and my middle son holler. Sparks are flying and it is so darn funny, I really thought I would fall on the ground laughing. Needless to say he had gotten on the mower and sat on the seat. This caused the metal on the seat to touch the jumper cables giving him a shock. It is almost as if he flew off the mower.

No harm was done to anything or to anyone. I simply said while I was laughing, "Now you know why you should pay attention". He defiantly agreed.