Dorks-R-Us

So, Colin is at work now...
and I've been neglecting my blog... so how about some random thoughts.

Gabby posted this sweet photo on facebook the other day.
insert lots of ooooo's and ahhhhhh's...... aren't they adorable?!?
Yeah they are, I totally nabbed this photo from her. (Hi Gab)

So yesterday we were totally bored,
and being the dork that I am, I told Colin I was going to take some pics of us for our profile.
Trying to be cool and cute like Gab (the vortex) Fekete....

Yeah, let's just say, we are SO not cute and adorable.

we were WAY to lazy to like get on the floor, or pose....or anything mildly helpful like that...
and
soccer was on. I should have known better than to TRY
We amused ourselves tremendously though, and that should count for something.
(read that I amused myself tremendously)

Things I've learned this week:

The sight of blood can make Jack throw up. Good to know.
(I had a bloody nose, dealing with a bloody nose and a gagging child, not the best combo)

Jack wants to play golf. REAL golf with his dad.

Jack wants to try a grapefruit, and he likes peaches. (Jack HATES vegetables, and fruit, how I failed him in this regard....I have no idea....more on that in another post)

Colten has football practice tonight. This is the beginning of the end of free time in the evenings for us...but I like it.

We are having fajitas tonight...and I'm really kind of stoked about it.
Homemade guacamole, oooh I can not wait... good food makes me happy.

2 weeks of school done and over.
I still hate 6:30am.
and packing lunches.
Why is it when they go off to school do i feel like they need a 5 course meal?
in the summer they run in, grab a sandwich and run back outside.
Now I'm trying to make sure they have veggies, and fruit, and nothing processed.
why? I don't know...Madness.
School though, so far, has been great. Thankfully.

We've been REALLY lazy this weekend. Watched a ton of movies.
("It's not called Gym-NICE-tics")

Season 4 of the Office is out tomorrow. (YAY!)

...and....
we are really SUPER excited that one tiny small monkey is coming to visit us next weekend. And FINALLY the boys will get to meet that cousin of theirs....
(Stole that pic too Gabby)
We are also pretty darn excited to see Ev's folks too. No visitors all summer, and then family after family....LOVE it.

My kids are awed that some kids (like all the kids here) live near their grandparents and aunts and uncles...."isn't that CRAZY MOM?!?!"

126

how did it get to be wednesday already? hmmm.....

nice visit this weekend with my parents.
they made the very un-scenic car trip out this way.
flat land
flat land
more flat land
billboard
billboard...
yeah, really beautiful.
the boys got spoiled, my mom tried out guitar hero and we all had fun checking out beale street in memphis. (apparently the police officers in memphis are really friendly.
no, jack doesn't normally wear socks with sandals, but we were trying on school shoes. yes, jared is dressed for p.diddy's white party....and yes, both colten and jared think they look really cool in sunglasses.)
I forgot my camera in typical e fashion.
thankfully my dad had his.

let's see, what else...
had a doctor's appointment yesterday for my whoops-i-haven't-had-a-physical-in-five-years checkup. just tons of fun.
i think i remember why i hate going to the doctor again.
some highlights (because clearly I have nothing exciting to talk about today):

he asked me one of my all time favorite questions....
"So, are you going to try for a girl?"
Et tu, Brute?
sigh....
such a tacky annoying question.
how about "Are you having anymore children?"...

he gave me a print out for the DASH diet (e's blood pressure a little on the high-ish side)
which said, and I quote....
"Eat 1/4 cup of dried apricots instead of a 2 ounce bag of pork rinds. You'll save 230 calories."
umm, last I checked I have never eaten a pork rind, but thank you for your helpful words of wisdom. consider that 230 calories saved....
very helpful...
not.
my blood pressure has been a bit high since we lived in Fayetteville, which was 3 moves or so ago....the doctor there said I should do "yoga breathing".
which when you are chasing small children around is extremely helpful advice.
so I'll just try to practice more yoga while refraining from pork rinds.
it's a wonder why I didn't get my medical degree... seems to me like it's kind of like being a weatherman....

also....
the blood test I want them to run will cost me $500+ out of pocket,
but i could have had a EKG for free (as part of my physical)....
and folks wonder what is wrong with our health care system?!?
nice.
no blood test for me,
and no EKG.
it's actually insurance I should be venting about.....
but I choose to vent about it as a whole.

"how was your day today Jack?"
"It was school Mom"
"well, what did you learn then? anything new?"
"Umm, pretty much just stuff I already know"

Wait....I can't sleep in anymore?!? Waaaa....

How many guys does it take to move a sofa?!?....
it actually just took 2,
one to stare at the very large sofa,
and the other to debate how to get it through the not so big door hole....
ok,
and one momma to yell
"Watch the woodwork!"
"Ahhh, that's not a good noise!"
"Wha...the?!? WELL, you got it in there, it HAS to come back through"
(in theory)
easier said then done.... that's the last photo I got before I got reprimanded for taking photos during such a serious situation...
yeah.
thankfully Jared was helping, so after a loooong time,
he figured it out.
THANK goodness.
please ignore the laundry basket,
i was attempting to put laundry away...but couldn't get through the doorway....
there was a big black sofa in the way.
it's in the garage now....hopefully I don't change my mind again....
(kidding Col, kidding)

and looky what found a home in the tv hole.....
a TV! brilliant, huh?!? happy anniversary to us.
the Olympics look even better now....so exciting.
(and of course Jake Ryan always looks good.....hi Jake)

my boys started school today.
I miss them already....
here is Coley at 7am.
he's not throwing gang signs, he's just showing me the grade he's going into....
what might you ask is my darling boy wearing? while some might pick out something new or nice the first day....my child picks out his wrestling t-shirt so "everyone knows not to mess with me". Lovely. and so Colten. In his defense the 5th and 6th graders at his new school are pretty big.

and look at this handsome guy....who was sweet enough to not ride to school with his buddys in order to accompany his little brother on the bus.....(thank you Jared)
5'11" according to the doctor. that is tall. wonder how tall he'll be at the end of 8th grade?!?!

this is "put your arms around each other and show me how much you love each other".....
or not...and my tiny little baby. (who was happy that he was only just waking up as the bigs were leaving)2nd grade?!?! oooh my.
hopefully his "froat" is doing ok. no recess or gym this week....doctors orders.
unfortunately i think those are his favorite "classes".

Pass the tylenol with codeine please

My morning started off like this....

a worrisome email from someone I love...
followed by Jack throwing up blood...
quite a bit of it....
an emergency trip to the surgeon's office....
then walgreens...
and now home.
i have not had nearly enough coffee to deal with any of this....
(blood is not my thing)
so i'm going to go retreat to my couch now
to drink possibly the entire pot of coffee while finishing up breaking dawn....
while i wait for the roofer to come,
so i can give him 5 of my hundred dollars
to fix my shingles that are happily sliding off my roof.
(what is that about really?!?)

oh dear.

(jack is ok. i just have to keep an eye on him. scared the momma though something fierce)

"See ya mom, we've gotta bounce"....

my rockstar life is almost over...
school starts next week.
boo-hiss-boo....

it's almost noon.
i'm still in my pjs drinking coffee and eating monkey munch.
the big boys are outside playing...
they'll be in soon i'm sure for a quick lunch and then i'll probably not see them until dinner.
they spend their days playing kickball, capture the flag, basketball, football, soccer, baseball...
you get the idea...
really just the way summer days should be.
totally unstructured...

jack is doing ok.
he is in a lot of pain, and doesn't want to really eat much.
which if you know jack is unheard of.
so i'm pushing drinks...
vitamin water seems to be ok.
i can't wait until he's back to his old self... and he cannot wait to get back outside.
poor guy.

And because my mind has been lazy this week...
more lazy than even normal, if one can believe it....
a bit of fun from my friend Christy's blog.
(I've finally been catching up on the blog world....)

LIFE QUESTIONS

Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the 'X' from the ones you have not. This is for your entire life!

1. Gone on a blind date X2. Skipped school X
3. Watched someone die X
4. Been to Mexico X
5. Been to Canada X6. Been to Florida X7. Been on a plane X
8. Been lost X9. Been on the opposite side of the country X10. Gone to Washington , DC X11. Taken a long drive with the one you love X12. Swam in the ocean X
13. Cried yourself to sleep X
14. Played cops and robber
15. Recently colored with crayons X
16. Sang Karaoke
17. Paid for a meal with coins only
18. Own a GPS (I need this though, see #8)19. Done something you told yourself you wouldn't X
20. Made prank phone calls (before caller ID) X21. Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose X22. Caught a snowflake on your tongue X
23. Danced in the rain
24. Written a letter to Santa Claus X25. Been kissed under the mistletoe
26. Watched the sunrise with someone you care about X27. Been on vacation with your bf/gf/spouse X
28. Blown bubbles X29. Gone ice-skating X
30. Been skinny dipping outdoors X
1. Any nicknames? E....not much else you can do w/ erika. colin calls me girlfriend. My boys on the other hand each have dozens of nicknames, i think it's a sign of love...
2. Mother's Name: Lana, technically Lana Dee....
3. Favorite drink? Good ol' H2o - ditto Christy. water makes me happy.
4. Tattoos? not yet...
5. Body Piercings? ears as of now....
6. How much do you love your job? A LOT! I'm a SAHM - ditto Christy again. BEST job in the world...
7. Birthplace? Saratoga Springs, NY
8. Favorite vacation spot? that would imply vacationing, and we rarely do this. i'd vote someplace beachy though...
9. Ever been to Africa? no
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? no
11. Ever been on TV? yes, for prom. (i'm not in the movie, but the movie is about Racine's prom) 12. Ever steal any traffic sign? no
13. Ever been in a car accident? multiple times before turning 20.
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4 door big gas guzzling truck (that sadly i love)
15. Favorite salad dressing? ranch or balsamic
16. Favorite pie? any
17. Favorite number? 3
18. Favorite movie? which ever one made me laugh last....
19. Favorite holiday? halloween
20. Favorite dessert? yes. i mean all of them. currently chocolate chip ice cream w/ strawberries....naughty.
21. Favorite food? mexican, any of it.
22. Favorite day of the week? saturday
23. Favorite brand of body wash? soap...dove.
24. Favorite smell? lots. Spring air, vanilla, lilacs, coffee, bookstores...
25. What do you do to relax? i read, or watch mindless tv.

Tonsils are for Suckers

Jack spend most of the afternoon trying to sleep off the morning....
with a little ice pack on his neck. poor guy.
He did great. he burst into tears when he saw me in recovery..."I wanna to go home"...
Home is good.
it's the place to be really....
mommy's comfy bed...
lots of pillows...
old baby...
pudding pops, jello, sprite, bomb pops, and ice cream....
much better than that hospital that gives you "goofy juice",
that makes you roar at your mom and dad....
and talk about "ambushes"...
yeah, much better.
(although, I'll admit that was pretty funny)
Colin ended up getting to go.
and only laughed at me a few times.
and only fell asleep in the waiting room a few more times.
Thanks for your sweet words...sorry I am such a dork.
but man, am I glad this day is over!
Whew.

Thankfully Minor...

So my baby....who I do realize isn't a baby anymore....
is having surgery tomorrow.
Just having his tonsils out.
Which I realize is no big deal....
I know it's done all the time.
It's completely routine.
It's incredibly minor.
BUT it's my baby.
and he's going under anesthesia,
and none of my babies have had to do that...
so, I'm a little nervous.
(Ok, I'm a lot nervous)
Colin has this huge audit at work this week, so he probably won't be there.
and he's my calm, reassurance to my very hypochondriac prone mind.
So if you don't mind,
a little prayer that everything will go smoothly...
would be so greatly appreciated from this silly momma.
thank you.

Boring Monday

Jack's date night was this weekend.
he decided on bowling and icecream.
actually Jack will probably always pick bowling.
he really loves bowling.
horrible photos in a dark bowling alley, but proof that sometimes it is just important to record the event and the emotion. technical photography out the window.
and personally i love the jack mid-air.... makes me laugh.proof that date-nights pretty much rock. this smile...
Good weekend.
with the exception of my husband having to work both days.
not for long, but still....
and an annoying email received on friday.
that made me want to write an angry blog post,
but "luckily" sitemeter killed my blog,
and made posting impossible.
so no angry post.
which may have been in the form of a haiku just for kicks.
angry haiku.
hmm.
probably for the better.
the haiku, not the sitemeter. i liked the sitemeter. i was sad to see it go.

and just because
why children should not have cell phones part 2.

"Mom, do you know where my cell phone is?"
"No Colten"
"Mom, really... do you know where my cell phone is?"
"No Colten"
"UGH! JACK do you know where my cell phone is?"
"No"
"JARED! do you know where my cell phone is?"
"Why would i know where your cell phone was?"
"UGH! I'm going BACK outside to look for my cell phone!"
...
repeat a few times a day.
...
repeat several times a week.
...

why does he have a cell phone if it's so annoying you might ask?
you might remember me venting about children and cell phones in previous posts, and then actually getting number one a cell phone.
so the most obvious answer to that question is that i'm a hypocrite.
i do have some valid reasons however.
one being that jared frequently gets left at practice usually so i can get someone else to a practice,
sometimes he gets left with a younger sibling. i feel like if something happened to one of them, the cell is the quickest way for them to let me know.
colten would not have a cell phone, but when we moved here colin got a new cell phone at work, and didn't need two...colten jumped at the opportunity.
I rationalized it with the fact he will be riding the bus this year.
AND because we move so much i don't have "emergency contacts" none. nada. no friends.
so we are it.
and if i need to get a hold of my children, well, a cell phone seems to work best.
it still doesn't make me not think it's an excess that kids don't really need....
and it really doesn't take away from the fact that my kid can not use the darn thing.
but, at the current given moment, it's a necessary evil.
someday when i'm back living in a quaint little town like oskaloosa iowa again.
where everyone knows everyone, and things are simple maybe i'll take them away?!?
nah, that would probably be cruel....

Friday

why children should not have cell phones
part. 1
average conversation with colten who is outside playing:
"hello colten"
"MOM"
"yes colten"
"MOM"
"yes colten"
"MOM"
"COLTEN what?"
"MOM?"
"WHAT!"
"Oh, ...can I get wet?"
"Well, if you come home and get your suit on"
"What?"
"do you know how to use that phone? i said if you COME HOME and get your SUIT on"
"Oh,...why?"
"Colten" (in that don't question me mommy voice)
"well, ....i might already be wet"
"then why did you call to ask?"
"i don't know?!?"
"BYE Cole"
"what?"
....

been scrapbooking my days away...
this is quite obvious when you look at my poor house,
or when jared says to me, "not to be rude, but you REALLY need to do my laundry"
whoopsie.
ok, laundry done.
i've decided my brain works a lot like the mouse's brain in the book
"if you give a mouse a cookie"
yes, sadly i did just compare my brain to that of a mouse.
i tend to jump that quickly from one thing to the next...

(and if you read my blog, well, you know this already)

so one of the prompts from the class i'm taking involved paint,
which is good....
i love paint.
so while the paint was out,
i decided to paint the cd cover for the circle journal essie did for her 40th.
painted a hot crazy mess i did....
then realized I didn't measure the little slot the cd was to go in.
and
it didn't fit.
typical of me.
so i re-did the paint/cd cover...
it's a mess, but i love it
and it goes nicely with the maddness my playlist is.
poor esther's friends,
i was the first to receive the traveling cd case.
i'm sure i've concerned many of them with my taste in music,
but oh well.
it was fun.
i loved it.
and i love my beautiful friend esther.

speaking of circle journals...
i have been in 3.
and i have never gotten any of them back.
which is very sad for me.
so.
if you have mine, email me, and i'll catch you up on my newest address,
because it's an ever changing I know.
I'd just love it, even undone.
and.
because i'm equally as bad about the sending home of cjs.
kirsten.
i have yours.
it's moved a lot now, and it needs to go home to you.
so
please email me your address,
because all these moves later i have lost my mailing sheet.
my eager beaver's mailing sheet.
heehee...i did so love our name.

and because my mouse brain doesn't want to forget these conversations,
i'm including them, for me.
when i go to do errands i like to take one of the little ones with me,
because it's nice to have one on one time with them.
yesterday was Jack.

it's hot out.
"I want to move back to Ohio"
"Compared to this place, Ohio is like heaven...2 times"

Jackman where are you??? are you coming?
"Sorry....I was just off in my own little fantasy world" (my favorite quote of the day)

In the car, out of nowhere.
"I miss the guy at RolyPoly."
"Remember him?"
"He always gave us free cookies"
"Do you remember what I got there?"
(yes, baked potato soup, or a chicken and cheese melt roll-up)
"We went like every day!"
(slight exaggeration Jack)

Grandma and Boppa are sending you a present to open after you get your tonsils out...
that's exciting, huh?
"OH! maybe pudding pops?!?"
Umm...probably not.

I really love that when it's just them, they tell you stories and talk and talk.

we divided up the months that aren't birthday months in our house,
and aren't december ...
luckily that left 6months, and three boys.
they each drew two of the remaining months from a "hat"
and those became their date months.
they get to pick what they want to do,
and go out with just mom and dad.
it's a pretty big deal around here.

if you don't do "date-night" with your kids...
(and with your spouse)
I highly recommend it.

Rewind and Review

So I've been a little preoccupied with Ashley's class (so fabulous), but I wanted to post about our weekend, which was such fun.

Warning: this is a ridiculously loooong post containing nothing really worthwhile to anyone but me.

We decided to surprise the boys and headed to Memphis Friday afternoon...
For a Redbirds game.
It was tons of fun and no one seemed to mind the HEAT (except maybe me)...

It was mini-bat day at the game, making me wonder if the folks in charge of that fun giveaway have children. Mini wooden bats...five of them...no photos of the bat action. Or the bats lined up against the wall after i'd had quite enough of the bats...

jared's face here cracks me up, and coley is giving someone guns....
this one looks like someone photoshopped the redbird in there.... he was riding an ATV and giving everyone five. Colin got us front row seats, which made the boys giddy....coley won the contest for best looks for the camera....jack won most cotton candy eaten....
and why are funnel cakes so good.....?!? jared could have had 20. I managed to have one too, between the mass amounts of liquid i was guzzling....(did i mention it was hot?)
There were fireworks after the game and during the walk back the boys thanked us a dozen times, lots of "that was awesome" "those fireworks were the best" "thank you soo soo much" and even several "i really like funnel cakes" were heard. Makes us happy that the boys appreciate our small efforts at family fun.

We stayed overnight...one plus of having my husband travel, and us move every year is we have accumulated a ton of hotel points, so that was about the only thing affordable about said trip....free is good.swimming is better.
and then we went to check out the Memphis zoo...because the heat index was only 110, and for some reason i was the only one that voted for Elvis's house.....
yes, i really did complain about the HEAT frequently. holy hot weather batman...

"HEY MOM! Come look at this....THIS is interesting. What are they doing?!?"

hmmmm...Interesting is right.
Jared knew what they were doing.
and Colin was mortified that I took photos. What?!? It was funny.....and I personally had never seen ostriches do that....
one other funny story I want to remember:
Colten had apparently never in his entire nine years of existence seen a child "wearing"
a leash. So we're in line at the ballpark getting food, when Colten, who is visibly shocked says "MOM did you SEE THAT? They are treating that kid like a DOG! That is just not right!"... so I explain that some parents use a leash to keep track of their kids... fully expecting that to be the end of that.

The next morning at the hotel. Kid on a leash.

At the zoo.
3 kids on leashes.

By the fourth kid I was hoping coley just wouldn't notice. Of course he did and would just utter in a sort of growl.... "LEASH!!!" and make both Colin and I burst into hysterics.
Poor Coley. He dubbed the kids leashkins, and I know he actually really felt very sorry for them, and no amount of explanation would make it better.

I did tell him I saw a nice backpack/leash combo on one child that I thought he might like to consider for back-to-school....
NOT funny mom.

other happenings today.
i have somehow managed to get stung by a mosquito right between my eyebrows, the boys are just ecstatic about this. cuz it's just "SO funny".
Please Lord tell me that the mosquito stung me while i was sleeping and that I'm really not that oblivious.
sigh.
sadly lately I think I might be....oblivious that is.

Jared and his "girlfriend" broke up. So sad.
No tears were shed, and he's just thrilled to be able to say he "had a girlfriend".
I'm thrilled that the MASS texting has ceased.
Colin at one point said that if the Spartans had as many men as Jared had text messages in one day they'd have won.
yeah they would have.

of course as we were basking in the breakup....
realizing that God was just giving us a little warm up to what the future holds....
chuckling about the whole "girlfriend" situation.

Colten proudly announces over dinner last night that Skyler (our neighbor girl) is his girlfriend.
All I could think was thank God he doesn't have texting.
sigh.

Happy Jack

Jack has decided that baths make all things better.
Actually I completely agree with this discovery, however I am trying to convince him that he can not live in the tubby...
the nasty fever is GONE though,
so we are doing a little happy dance at our house today.
a happy squeaky clean dance....

Sorry We Can't Play

Jack says that having a temperature of 103 for three days sucks.
The End.

The one in which I ever so slightly VENT about my teenager....

Babyhood was so physically exhausting, always being "on" while also being completely sleep deprived. Having little whirling dervishes, not at all concerned about personal safety.
I remember it well.
My best friend from high school and I often talk about how physically challenging babies are, but how emotionally challenging "big" kids are.

As of yesterday I have in fact decided I'd like to be sleep deprived instead of having to deal with "girlfriends".

The only reason I'm even remotely allowing Jared-who-has-momentarily-lost-his-ever-loving-mind to refer to this girl as his "girlfriend" is
1. I don't want him to not tell me when he has a real girlfriend (when he's 18),
2. he CAN'T DRIVE.
3. she lives a town over.
and
4. he has known her for FOUR days.

Boys apparently lose ALL sense when it comes to girls, I knew this, but I've never had to deal with it in regards to my CHILD.
I kinda want to smack him upside the head and yell "HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOO?!?!".
but I'm not sure that would be mature, or helpful at this point.

SO, instead I will just mention several times that you can't know someone after four days.
That actually dating someone is out of the question (in this family) when you're in 8th grade.
And I'll remind him several more times that his mom, dad, 2 aunts AND 2 uncles are all on facebook with him.
duh!?

and I will also continue to call him Romeo, and Rico Suave,
in the hope that he comes to his senses.
Before I lose mine.
Don't you wish I were your mother?
NOT.
No more vacation bible school for THAT one.
Oh dear.
Definitely on restriction.

Hmm....

Do you think people really use the scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner as body wash?
Made me giggle....

m*e*

1. Erika Cushnie, 2. Vegetarian Tacos even meat-eaters will love!, 3. PARK HIGH SCHOOL IN RACINE WISCONSIN, 4. With or without you, 5. David Beckham, 6. Rhubarb "Tea", 7. Blue degradée, 8. chocolate covered strawberry, 9. mom's" happy kitchen, 10. lucky number four, 11. Balloons at the Fair, 12. Orange E

i saw this on a couple other blogs,
and thought it looked like a fun way to make monday more appealing...

so, what you do is answer these questions,
1. What is your first name? erika
2. What is your favorite food? mexican food
3. What high school did you go to? park high school
4. What is your favorite color? red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? beckham
(notice his head got cut off in the mosaic, notice i don't seem to mind....)
6. Favorite drink? ice tea
7. Dream vacation? hawaii
8. Favorite dessert? chocolate covered strawberries
9. What did you want to be when you grew up? a mom
10. What do you love most in life? my four (boys)
11. One Word to describe you? happy
12. Your flickr name. i didn't get anything with my flickr name, so i used *e*, which is my nickname and username everywhere else.

then you,
type your answer to each of the questions into flickr search...
pick an image...
and copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

and you get a happy little snippet of YOU.
fun.
although i warn you...
if you're like me, you'll get lost for a bit too long drooling over photos at flickr.

All Fall Down

it should be noted that no tears were shed over the horrifically bad haircuts....
we have laughed a lot,
and made a few jokes.
i'm lucky my kid has a sense of humor.
and the haircut chick is lucky i have one.

jared is a bit ticked off, not that i blame him....
it really is amazing that i can take him to a salon that was recommended,
with a photo of himself with the haircut he wanted,
(this photo) and have it end up completely different...
i'm going to start cutting his hair.
really, this is the third time he's gotten the same bad haircut.
i mean, i cut the middle's hair all the time.
(grant it, not a difficult cut)but i manage to not screw it up....
i don't say, "oooh, you wanted a mohawk, yeah, i kind of gave you a buzz cut, sorry about that"

now...
had i known that all it would take to get lurkers to come out and say hi,
was to post my kids with bad hair..
i'd have done that a long time ago.
in fact,
if it will make you comment again,
i can post a photo of jack with his new bad haircut.
yes,
it was in fact a duel-bad-haircut-experience,
and both jared and jack now have some growing out to do.

I actually don't even need to post a photo of jack.
just use this as an example.....
he however does not have a blue hat.

"BANGS?!? I have bangs now?!?! I hate bangs!"- Jack

i do have to say that once jared got over being mortified that i posted a photo of him
with the bad hair on the blog,
he was sort of tickled that a college soccer star commented, and said nice things about him...
so thanks for that stephanie.

thank you ALL for your sweet comments.

ok, enough about hair, it's so boring.

how about dominoes,
theres an exciting topic....

story:
jack was lining up the dominoes the other day,
to knock over...
and they looked pretty,
so i took photos.

that is not really the whole story....
when i was done taking photos,
and watching them fall down,
i asked jack if he wanted to play dominoes with me.

"What??? Play dominoes? What do you mean?"
"You know, play the game dominoes"
"There is a GAME dominoes?!?"

yeah,
i then realized he had no idea that dominoes was a game.
just a cool toy to line up in different patterns and knock down.
great.
yeah, we had a lesson in domino 101.
all better.
thanks.

ETA:
umm, lora you should TOTALLY start a blog. i just wrote an entire post about hair and dominoes, i'm pretty sure you can beat THAT.

Uh-Oh

Someone HATES their new haircut.
it will grow out son, it will grow out...

Document 2.

Ok, so it's only one boy,
and the tongue is blue from popsicle and not kool-aid,
but he's sweaty.
(because it's 9,000 degrees here)
and cute.
(because he's the jackman)
so i'm counting it.

question. (as said like dwight)
am i the only one that watches jon and kate plus eight,
and wants MORE kids?
like 5 more...
?!?
is it not suppose to work the other way... ?!?
kind of like birth control on tv?
yeah, not so much for me.
i watch cheaper by the dozen,
and decide i actually want 12 kids.
or maybe 6....
i think perhaps colin is going to ban such shows/movies from our house.

I'm just sayin'

This dessert is really good.
like lick the bowl good.
I wanted something "light" for the fourth...as in not a cake, not baked, not too heavy...
and thought that the yogurt cream might just be perfect,
but i wasn't sure it would be well received by the boy creatures living here...
so i had x-tra cream as a backup, to make whipped cream,
but the boys LOVED it.
so.
i recommend it.
plus,
i did strawberries and blueberries because i wanted red-white-and-blue,
because i'm a dork like that.
no photos
because all berries and cream were eaten in record time.
oh, and i only used 1/2c. of the brown sugar....thus making it "light", right?!? ;)
yeah, i think so.
ok.
my dryer is broken.
which SUCKS when you are a family of five that likes to wear underwear....
so i'm off to hang up more laundry to dry until the repairman arrives.

Tie Dye...

is a super fun and easy summer activity....
the boys made theirs red-white-and-blue for yesterdays festivities,
but are already asking to make more "with different colors"
just thought i would suggest it...
relatively inexpensive, and fun....

Happy Fourth of July

my boys grew up in Fayetteville, NC.
and every year we celebrated the fourth at Fort Bragg.
(when we moved my kids were shocked that every 4th didn't include paratroopers, guns, a thank you to our troops, live music, cannons and a crazy amazing fireworks show.)
but really what living there taught us was to truly appreciate how blessed we are to live here, and how lucky we are to enjoy the freedoms we do as Americans.
our soldiers are amazing.
we love our troops, and we are so thankful for what they do for us.
living in Fayetteville opened my eyes wide to what military wives and families go through.
how much they sacrifice and how strong they are.
my friend's husbands have been deployed over and over and over again.....
it's crazy.
when you see a military family, you should thank them all.
and keep them all in your prayers.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Gabby!!!

We hope that you are having a wonderful day that includes....
cake with lots of frosting,
pressies from your boys,
lots of kisses and hugging,
and being spoiled,
something yummy for dinner,
and a big-long-nap-from the smallest of your boys....

We wish we could be there to celebrate with you...
and go to the beach,
and get trashy magazines....
and
shrimp boats and crabby cakes,
and
key lime pie with raspberry sauce...
i am thinking that sounds like a MUST do for next summer...
and Ev will be old enough to party with the big kids.
so, plan on it. we will PARTY!

in the meantime... know that you are SO loved by me, and LOTS of boys.
three of which that will be drinking kool aid in wine glasses and toasting in your honor today.
ENJOY YOUR day!
happy happy birthday sis!!! we love you.

I spy with my little eye a stupid TV hole...

so the eyeball gummies were fun too....less exciting, but what we've been up to.
this weekend we switched the little boys room around ...
because moving every year isn't enough fun.....not so much because of the purple-ness of the first room, but because of this 100 ton piece of annoyance....it doesn't look like it weighs a lot, but oooooh does it ever.
anyway, for me, i have found that it helps to live in a house for awhile before i get a good feel for where things should be.
(part of the reason nothing is hung up yet)
and with this house i didn't even have that window of "set-the-house-up-in-your-head-before-you-close"...
because i saw the house for the first time the day we moved in.
my husband picked it out, because the boys and i were still living in ohio.
he did a really good job, with just a few exceptions.
one being the stupid tv hole.
you know the one over the fireplace...
the one i've never fully understood, nor enjoyed the look of...
that tv hole.
well, we have one. hate it. and to make it even better..our current tv doesn't fit in the tv hole.
go figure.
so,
until we get a new tv, we have an empty stupid freaking tv hole in the living room.
(i'm trying not to let this annoy me)
we had the tv in the green room above,
but then i decided it would be better in the purple room,
and so we switched it up.
and now, the boys room seems bigger, even though the room is smaller.
will wonders never cease.
and we found a new use for the tv hole in the process.
awesome.
my husband is funny.