Today is the last day of school before Fall Break!! Jon has Monday and Tuesday off and the twins have the whole week off and my daddy and Nelda are planning on coming in for a few days to spend some time with us while the kids are out of school. We are SO looking forward to that! It’s rare that we get to be together with out having to rush off to a church meeting so we plan on soaking up a lot of quality time doing "granparentie" stuff with them. And maybe, just maybe, taking advantage of having some baby sitters around for a few days!! Maybe.

Jon’s parents and my sister and her kids were here last weekend for the party so we are getting a little spoiled having family around. It’s weird how the more time you spend away from your family and the home where you grew up it gets easier. You don’t feel so “hollow” when you leave there but at the same time it’s sadder because you do feel different. And as the children get older, it gets a lot more emotional. Especially when they can’t fully understand (and who can blame them?) why we don’t live close to ANY body. And when they break down in tears when we have to leave a place. I know we live closer to my family but you still have to pack up and drive a good distance to get there. And you can’t just pop in on any body for any event. Georgia or Louisiana.

We miss a lot of events and our families miss a lot of our things. A lot of things most people take for granted. Birthday get together’s, recitals, Christmas programs, football games, open house’s, shopping together on a whim, lunch dates....the list could go on. Feel sorry for us yet? Good. Just kidding!! I’m not looking for sympathy, honest. Well, maybe a little!

Any way, we do try to look on the bright side of things. Be the Polly Anna of our situation, our life’s calling and hope that because we do miss a lot that means we appreciate being with our families more than most. And we appreciate and are thankful for the relationships and bonds we build when we do get to be with loved ones. That our time together is more special just because we don’t get to be together that often.

Obsessed

Within the last 2 months my husband has become obsessed (and I mean that in every sense of the word) with Squirrel hunting. Off.of.our.front.porch. Most of you (ok, all of 4 of you who still read this blog!) know we live in the city limits of our little town so he really is living on the edge. Even though he is using a BB gun, the kind you have to pump, I don’t think law enforcement would approve of his new habit....

Our yard and trees are overly populated with the little varmints and always have been. They have always gotten in Jon’s craw, especially when they eat all our pecans from a tree in the back yard. But just recently he had enough and decided to take action. First, he set a trap in the front yard using peanut butter as bait. I suggested extra crunchy and it actually worked! He has caught one squirrel and one opossum. The squirrel died behind bars since he got caught over a weekend we were out of town and you want to talk about STANK in our front yard. I am so sure the neighbors appreciated that.

He has gotten to be a pretty good shot and has killed over a dozen, with a few of them being left in the tree where they were shot. i.e One day Olivia and I were outside in the front yard and I noticed a vulture flying really low over our house. I didn’t really think any thing about it until I spotted 3 more. We walked into the back and I kid you not, I counted 11 vultures on the ground in my back yard with at least 10-15 more circling overhead. I knew it had something to do with those stupid squirrels and when I told Jon about it he sheepishly said “they must of been after that one that got left in the tree the other day.” Nice.

After about 2 weeks of Jon coming home every day after school and staying outside shooting squirrels until supper time and then going back out until it got dark, I really started to worry that something was wrong with him. Seriously, I thought he was using it as an outlet or something for a bigger problem. I texted his sister one afternoon and told her that her brother was obsessed with shooting squirrels and she just laughed and said “He always has been.” That made me feel a whole lot better. Then his mother told me his daddy does the same thing every morning so now it all makes sense. It’s genetic.

Good father/son bonding time!

 “He still has an acorn in his mouth, Amanda! Take a picture of it!”

p.s after reading this blog post I’m sure those of you who saw the post on facebook about Audrey wondering if we were eating Squirrel, well, I’m sure it’s 2x as funny now. Now you can see exactly WHY she would of thought it possible to be eating squirrel at our table :)

Ernie’s 2nd Visit

Ernie came home with Audrey yesterday. Oh joy. He went straight in the dryer when he entered the door. Still trying not to freak about the car ride home.

Anyhoot, Audrey was beyond thrilled to bring Ernie home. Since his tumble in the dryer took a while she forgot about him till I brought him up at bed time. She remembered to bring him down this morning and he enjoyed watching her eat her birthday breakfast of french toast. She also remembered to bring him to the car so I didn’t have to pull a U-ie on the way to school again!

Olivia and I took cup cakes to James and Audrey’s class this afternoon for their birthday. I grabbed the trusty old “pocket” camera that I haven’t used in months because I knew breaking out the DSLR in that situation (class room full of 4/5 year olds + chasing Olivia trying to make sure she didn’t wreck the room or break her neck) could result in injury. However, since it hasn’t been used in months I didn’t even think to check it and make sure there was a memory card in it. There was not. I realize that life does go on if an event in my children’s lives is not documented by pictures. But I feel like I’ve committed some kind of mortal sin. Kinda like if I paid someone to make my kids birthday cakes!!

Partay

On Saturday we had James and Audrey’s 5th birthday party and it was a huge success!! Every year I claim that this is my last party. Not going to throw another birthday party. They are too much work and cause me too much stress because I am a perfectionist. In all honesty, it’s not the actual party itself that gets me but the making and decorating of “the cakes.” I like to bake and really like to think of myself as cake decorator extrodinare but it’s really just all my imagination. Since I like to bake cakes and I can successfully ice one, I think I can whip out some Cake Boss quality things. Just by looking at what I want to do and saying “I can do that. No problem.”

One would think that since I know what causes me all the stress that I would simply eliminate that part and just pay someone to do it for me. I mean, that’s what any logical, normal person would do. Well I am neither, I suppose, and I am stubborn and hard headed and perhaps a little prideful. But I do sincerely wish to make our children’s cakes myself for the simple fact that I do consider it a labor of love. And I do enjoy creating them. Until the disaster happens that always seems to happen.

This time it was the icing for Audrey’s Barbie cake. I had decided to just use some white icing to pipe with around the edges that was already made and in a tube. Well, dummy me didn’t buy enough and I ran out. My mother in law went to the store for and of course Wal Mart didn’t have any. SO I whipped up some home made but I guess it was too hot in my kitchen and the icing kept getting too warm so it basically was just dripping out of the piping bag. Not to mention that it was not white but cream colored. This was at 9:30 at night. I scrapped everything off, made some more and finally got half of what I wanted on the bottom and top edges of the blasted “dress" and then pulled out the edible pink glitter, sprinkled it all over the cake and finally felt satisfied that it at least looked feminine enough. Even if it was sorta lopsided :)

I kept the cakes a surprise from the kids (which added to the pressure of perfection I think) and James was beyond excited to see his Angry Bird cake!! Audrey, on the other hand, was almost horrified when she saw her Cinderella Barbie stuck in her cake. (Perhaps I should of chosen one that was not so special?!!) She was not impressed and said “Mama but why did you do that? I NEED her.” I couldn’t help but laugh. All that worrying about having the “perfect looking cake” for my daughter and all she cared about was that I had stuck her barbie in some cake! Children really do teach you valuable lessons. She did like it though after I explained that the cake part was Cinderella’s ball gown and that she was gonna get to eat it. She thought that was hilarious :)

Wednesday Wonders

Today I am wondering why when I organize closets and drawers and kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets that they just don’t stay that way? I mean really. You would think that somebody around here would have caught on in the last 5+ years that if we would just put things back the way that we found them or throw things away when they are empty or out of date that I would never have to spend another minute of my life cleaning stuff out. We would all benefit from it because if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. You know it’s true.

Nice chair there, Sis

Now get out and let me try it

Or, I will just climb in with you

Our week day

We have finally gotten into a pretty good weekday routine around here. Finally. School started and I was trying to find my way and just about the time things were settling in the kids got sick. All of them. And they stayed sick for about 3 weeks straight. And having a doctor that is a good 45 minute drive away really throws a kink in the day or the week if you have to go more than once. Which I did. Any who, things are looking up and the last 5 mornings have been really good mostly because of the beautiful weather. It’s cool enough to go outside and stay outside with out getting attacked by mosquitos!

Olivia and I take James and Audrey to school and get home between 7:45 and 8:00, depending on what time I got out the door to take them. We eat breakfast when we get home, usually eggs or blueberry waffles. Sometimes both. And lately Olivia has been eating hers while watching Mickey Mouse, her favorite thing to watch. That gives me time to get something done that’s hard to get done with her at my heels. Then we go outside and play, play, play. She loves to slide and swing although the swinging only lasts for a few minutes, she’d much rather be running around moving than sitting still! Then we find birds and squirrels and kick her ball around. Then we walk to the front yard and go up and down the steps and try to pick the blooms on my impatiens and we hopefully look for a dog from across the street to come out for his walk. We scream at a few cats and scare them back across the street. All the while running around jabbering non stop. Seriously. She is never quiet!! Then it’s time to get in the wagon and go for a walk around the neighborhood. She has had to learn to like it and I have had to learn just how long she will ride. Again, she doesn’t not like to be sitting still! Oh how I remember pulling James and Audrey around for what seemed like hours. They LOVED to sit and ride in that
wagon.

I have got to work on achieving catch lights!! If her eyes weren’t

so dark this picture would be perfect. Or save up enough money

to buy PhotoShop!

Weeeee!!! Is her new thing to say. Along with Go!!

I had to teak the 1, 2, 3 GO to Ready, Set, Go

because when I get on to her and start to count, she smiles

and says GO!!!

After our walk we come in, get some juice and then she is content to play by herself while I get some more things done. Or at least try to! She eats lunch between 11:30 and 12:00, just depending on the mood. She eats in her chair watching Mickey. I have recently discovered that she eats MUCH better if she is sitting in front of the t.v. Believe it or not but it’s true. When she’s not watching the t.v. she’s too concerned about getting out of the chair and running around so she doesn’t eat much. But if the t.v. is on she will sit there and eat every last bite on her tray and then some.

After lunch she takes a nap. And since she has moved back into the twins old room, she sleeps longer. I think because it’s darker in there. She’s gotten back to taking at least 1 1/2 hour to 2 hour nap. You just don’t even know how much that has helped getting me back on track around here. Of course our days don’t always go just like this but when they do, the days are perfect! Again, I am enjoying being home with Olivia. Just me and her. And when James and Audrey come home in the afternoons, I feel like I am a much calmer, more rational mother to them. The Lord is blessing us!

Nekked

She is a ham. And she knows how to make you laugh. And she likes to laugh whether she knows why she is laughing or not. I love this little girl. We all do!!