Corndog Cacoon

The other day the boys wanted corndogs for lunch and here is the conversation that I overheard.

Jacob: "Austin, look at this."

Austin: "What?"

Jacob: "See this bread around the weenie?"

Austin: "Yeah."

Jacob: "It's like a cacoon for the weenie."

I'M WEARING 3 PAIRS OF UNDERWEAR RIGHT NOW!!

I had an interesting conversation with Austin the other day and it went like this:

Mom: "One of my spies drove by your school yesterday and saw you playing kickball. She said that you kicked it and were running to first base."

Austin: "Yep, I've been testing something."

Mom: "What's that?"

Austin: "Well, you know, at kickball, I'm no good. But I have found that, on the days I wear 3 pairs of underwear, I am good."

Mom: "That's interesting. Who is washing all these pairs of underwear?"

Austin: "It's ok, you aren't actually washing any extra pairs. I were them all for 3 days in a row and switch them around after I take a shower everyday."

You gotta do what you gotta do right?????

THE BIG BIRTHDAY!!!!

Finally I am taking the time to post some pics from the big birthday party. The weather turned out beautiful!!! That's always a big concern when you have about 30 4-year olds invited to your mostly carpeted home!!!

The day actually started with boy (Jack and Jacob) riding on the float for their preschool. They loved it!! Jacob's arm probably hurt from throwing so much candy. He even threw it when there no people standing around. There isn't much better than a small town parade. Ashlyn and I were sooo excited and kept pointing out the firetrucks and horses to Addie and Austin who have apparently grown past the stage of being excited by horsies and firetrucks!!! The two who would have loved it were riding in the parade and, believe me, you have never heard two women squeal so much when a float drove by. NOw, it was the best entry in the Columbus FFA parade!!! Would it be too silly to say that we rushed over the where the float would end it's ride and ran along side it taking MORE pictures?? Ok, we didn't (or did we?????)

After the parade, it was back home for a quick night-night and then the party. We had a decent amount of kids show up and quite the carnival atmosphere. We had a jumping castle, a playground, popcorn, snocones, and helium for balloons. Did I mention that a MONSTER TRUCK showed up for our MONSTER TRUCK party?? Well, you see, my sister knows a guy, who knows an guy, whose girlfriend just so happens to drive a really big truck with really big wheels. NOw, it's not as huge as the ones that actually drive over junky cars and stuff, but to a bunch of 4-year olds (who really didn't seem interested), it was a real monster truck. Jacob was interested though cuz, that's my Jacob.


It really was a great day. I can't say for sure how long Jacob bounced, but it was certainly longer than any of us could have. They grow up so fast and I can say without a doubt, the trouble that somtimes goes into having a party is sooo worth it when you see the excitement in there little eyes!

A Cowboy and his Horse!!!

This picture gives me the giggles. That is Cowboy Jacob and he is leading his trusty steed, Dinky Do(I'm not sure if it is spelled "DO" or "DOO", either way, I get it). Rodeo Day was alot of fun. The kids sat around the ol campfire and cooked hotdogs and marshmallows (Cowboys don't just eat bacon and beans anymore!!) We "roped" some "steer", did some barrel racing, and played a good Cowboy game (oversized horshoes). We even did the Chicken Dance. I never knew that was an old cowboy tradition, but next time, we're out on the range, we are going to look for groups of cowboys doing that chicken dance.

Jacob turns 4 next week and we are having his party this Saturday. It will actually be the first BIG party he has had. We have invited all of his friends from school and church and Austin has invited some of his big friends too.

We are going to have hotdogs, cake, a real popcorn machine, and a real sno-cone machine, and a jumping castle!!!!! Hmmmm, maybe I better put some buckets around in case the kids eat too much and then bounce!! It's a MONSTER TRUCK party and I hear that a "monster" truck may even show up. I promise to post photos (not that I think anyone is still looking!!!)

Hello Again!!!!!

Wow!!! I cannot believe that it has actually been almost 3 months since I last posted anything. I guess we have been just a little busy.

The new house is just wonderful. We are loving being out in the country and loving the peace and quiet. We worked our rears off and had the whole house pretty much put together and fully decorated in about 2 weeks (did someone call me a drill sergeant?). We were able to have a cold, wet Thanksgiving with no stains or mud on the carpet. We also had our Sunday school Christmas party here.

So much seems to have changed since I last posted. The kids aren't crazy anymore. Life is so calm. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!! But seriously....

Austin is doing well. Well, actually, he is sick right now and I am hoping that he doesn't have strep throat. But in general he's doing well. He is still making great grades and running his own business. He had a great Christmas and got lots of cool stuff. He played a skunk in a Christmas play at school. He was pretty shy, but had a great costume (he knows a great seamstress named mom).

Jacob is still wild as ever. He is doing great in Ms. Polly's class and still loves going to school. He's really into cars and playing (cheating at) the game Memory. We have to play that everyday when Nicholas takes his nap. He's developed newer quirks. He only wants to sleep in the clothing that he wore all day and right now is wearing two pairs of underwear. My mother thought that was weird, but I have other things to fight about in a day. Two, three pairs of underwear are the least of my concerns. In fact, Austin wore 3 pairs of underwear the other day on a field trip.

Nicholas has changed the most over the past three months. We have finally decided to keep him and I'm no longer threatening to get my tubes tied every other day. He turned one in November and stopped breastfeeding!!! He got his first haircut just this past weekend and looks so stinking cute!!! His two favorite things are still me and his thumb. Oh wait, I forgot he prefers to suck his thumb while sitting in my lap with a finger from his other hand shoved in his belly button (unless he can get his hand down the front of his diaper. That has just started in the past few days). He has also started ripping his diaper off whenever he gets a chance. I never experienced that stuff with Austin. Jacob was a diaper digger. I have my ideas that Nic is going to be too.

The boys love the new house. They love their bedroom. We have two sets of bunkbeds, a total of four twin beds, so most nights they sleep in one bed together. Jacob wetting Austin's bed twice hasn't even stopped them from sharing!!! At my sisters house, it was a war every night to get them to stop fighting about sharing a queen size bed. Kids are weird. We built a HUGE playset for Christmas. It cost a pretty penny. I usually look out and see both boys on one swing!! I should clarify that "we" did not actually build the playset. Ralph pretty much single-handedly built it himself. It said 5-10 hours for build time. We think that it meant 5-10 people. Ralph did get it done in 2-3 days and it's great. Jacob only learned a couple new words from Dad!!

We love the new house too. We don't have any grass. We have LOTS of mud right now. It seems like is has rained everyday for the past week. We don't have any plants because we don't have a fence to keep the cows out yet. Cows are NOT like deer. They will come up to your house and lick your windows if they can.

Ralph and I are doing great. Ralph is taking a welding class a couple nights a week so he can start building us lots of stuff. Well, he isn't actually going to build a bunch of stuff, but he has always wanted to know how to weld and it will come in handy at some point. I am working on my Doctorate (heheheheheheheh). Just seeing if you were paying attention. I pretty much do the same stuff I was doing a few months ago, except cleaning 2 more potties, and several more rooms. I am taking charge of Vacation Bible school at our church so that should be alot of fun.

Well, I think I am done for the evening. I have got to get to bed. For some reason my kids have started coming in early the past week or so. I had Austin and Jacob in bed with me at 6 this morning. Good thing I didn't need a shower too badly huh?

I will hopefully get to post some pictures soon. Not too many pictures though. We have satellite internet access. Way more expensive, but not as fast as dial-up. Apparently uploads are slower than downloads. When I told the satellite guy that we used to upload, like, 100 pictures to Wal-mart and have them printed, he laughed at me and said "no, you aren't going to be doing that anymore." But, IF my kids happen to do anything interesting, I'll try to get a picture of it.

Austin and his new Grill!!

Austin got his braces yesterday and did very well. He didn't get his entire mouth done (yet). I have never had braces, nor did I ever realize how much those tiny little pieces of metal cost!! He wasn't in pain. My checkbook did cry a couple times!!

We are still planning on moving tomorrow so it will be a busy weekend.

Before Braces

After Braces

Do you have a mouse taped to your chest??

WARNING!!! THIS IS WEIRD AND GROSS (NOT TO MENTION FUNNY, AT LEAST TO ME AND THE REST OF MY FAMILY). I GUESS IT COULD EVEN BE EMBARRASSING.

Someone in this home leaves the hugest clumps of hair in the shower. I have theories, but I won't say who. I don't think it's me since I never get to shower (hehehehe), and it's probably a combination of the 3-4 adults that shower here "regularly"(hehehehe). HOWEVER, from what I have been able to tell over the past month and a half, if I were not cleaning these clumps out, they would now be the size of a small dog.

Anyway, last night the boys needed to take a bath so I started the tub. Here comes one of those clumps ( this is so gross!!), so I scoop it out and set it on the underwear that Jacob has just taken off. I was going to fling it over into the trash and be done with it. I WAS!!! Austin scoops it up, lifts his shirt up and sticks it under his arm!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He dreams of the day he finally has armpit hair. Well, being the weirdo that I am (not that I would put that stuff on my body), I run and grab some tape (you know, mainly so the hair isn't falling off on the floor). We tape his armpit hair on and he goes around the house showing it off. That fun wears off and we tape it to his chest. He shows it to Ralph and Ralph asks him why he has a mouse taped to his chest. I don't know why this stuff is funny to me, it just is.

The hair did finally end up in the trash. Unlike the hair from Austin's haircut a few months ago. He had gotten pretty shaggy, so there was alot of hair cut off. He asked the beautician if he could keep a ball of it. She looked at me and I said "whatever". She already had an idea that he was weird when he asked her for pork chop sideburns. Anyway, this ball of blonde hair came home with us. It stayed nice and "bally" for most of the day since he had asked her to apply lots of hairspray to it, but by the end of the day, the ball of hair had babies and was beginning to shed. I chunked it.

Today will be an interesting day. Austin gets BRACES!!! Poor thing has had so many teeth problems. One of his front baby teeth (which most kids seem to have lost by 1st grade school pictures) never would come in. Low and behold, we get an x-ray that tells us there is an extra tooth up in there keeping the other from coming down. So we have surgery to remove the extra one and make a better channel for the other to come down. That was last year and still no permanent tooth. So, now we go for partial braces to see if we can't open up enough space to make it come in. If it doesn't come down, we go for more surgery to attach a bracket to that to "drag" it down. If that doesn't work, I guess he gets a fake tooth. That is the worst case scenario.

Oh, I have a HOUSE UPDATE!! We are supposed to close on the house this Friday!!!!!Woooohoooo. I'm a little nervous about getting too excited. I can't think of anything at all that should hold us back, but I know these things can happen. If it gets cancelled I'm gonna freak. If it does, I'm going to make Ralph call the banker and pretend to cry. I think that would have more impact that me crying.
These could be the last of my blogs for a bit. Not sure how we will live with dial-up internet. I know that Ralph has already checked into a satellite service so maybe that will work better.

Oh, I have a HUGE CLUMP OF HAIR UPDATE too: I used my scientific skills to come to a conclusion about that hair. I was the last person to take a shower last night and Ralph has taken a shower this morning and there is NO huge clump of hair. Of course, everyone loses hair when they shower. I notice it more because I am the cleaner of the bathroom. In the old house, I used to wonder if Ralph was going bald, but apparently, when one hair falls out, 18 more grow in it's place. That man has the thickest dark brown hair with not a touch of grey. I contribute that to working outside of the home.

Tootles!!!