A MOHAWK AND DONUTS

The boys LOVE monster trucks so any time we can find Monster Jam on T.V. we like to watch it. It was on the other night so we all gather to watch, and the way Chris and the boys act as they watch is quite entertaining! I actually like it myself. I have always liked them. My dad took me to a monster truck show or two when I was young. Anyhoo, a driver of one of the trucks had a mohawk. The boys thought that was the coolest, especially Mackey. I knew we had an upcoming appointment for haircuts so I told Mac he could get a mohawk if he wanted. "WEALLY?" he said. How cool was I that I was going to let him get it! So all this time we've been talking it up, big time, and he's been telling everyone that I'm letting him get a mohawk. Yesterday was the big day. We were so excited. Being that Miss Karen doesn't get many requests for a mohawk, she was just as excited to be doing it. Brace yourself. Here are the results:

How cute is that! I LOVED it! Grant and Reid loved it, I sent a picture of it to Sissy and she loved it, Chris loved it, Miss Karen loved it (she's even putting a picture of it on her website). Mac - well he did NOT love it. In fact, he didn't even like it. The smile in the picture above is when he first saw himself in the mirror and didn't quite know what to think. This is him after he realized he likes the 'do on the man driving the monster truck and not so much on himself:

And that look did not go away until the mohawk was gone. :( I seriously loved it and would have let him keep it. It just fit him! Maybe some bribery between now and the next haircut will work!

On to the next topic: DONUTS

Some men bring home flowers. My man brings me these:

Don't get me wrong, I love flowers! Tulips are my favorite. But he knows the way to my heart is Krispy Kreme donuts! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

FAR FROM HUMDRUM

That's what yesterday was. Chris and Grant went to Selma (actually Marion Junction) yesterday afternoon to check out his dove field at his parent's house. I enjoy seeing Chris so in his element with things like this. It's so neat seeing him on a dove shoot, kneeling down on one knee, holding his gun in one hand and petting our lab with the other who is so patiently sitting right beside him waiting to retrieve the next bird. I guess you just have to be into that kind of thing, but it's like a picture out of Cabelas. Grant is quite the little hunter following right in his daddy's footsteps so that's kind of become their thing. I enjoy it too but because of being pregnant for practically 3 straight years then subsequently taking care of those babies, I haven't even shot a gun in over 5 years. We're all supposed to go this Saturday so it should make for an interesting day! Mac is a little young for it but wants to do everything his big brother does so when he found out Grant and Chris were doing their thing, he was not a happy camper. I did a little arm-twisting, suggested some swimming, and promised him and Reid some Hunt Brothers pizza. So, as you can tell from these pictures, all was good:

Love that smile!

Although it looks like it, that wasn't a belly-buster! :)

WHEEEEE!

Surely there's a name for this jump:

This baby makes a mama laugh!

While swimming, Chris' friend Ashford came by to do this:
(Note the poor pitiful and very dead garden in the background.)



Of course, in their minds it's a small tractor so naturally it captured their attention:

Once the swimming and "tractor show" were over, as promised, they got pizza. This is Reid so very thankful for his Hunt Brothers:

When Chris and Grant got back, we all capped off our night with this:

That would be a copperhead - gives me the chills just seeing the pictures. Mondo, our spanish-speaking friend, also went with Chris and Grant. As Mondo was leaving he saw it slithering across the drive from the woods toward the garden. He had a shovel in the back of his truck so he took care of it for us. Scary! Even after it had been dead for a few minutes, it still kept opening & closing it's mouth:

This was 10-15 min. after it was killed:

That was enough excitement for one day!

FROGS

All three of the boys have been quite under the weather this past week/weekend. It started with Reid who gave it to Grant who then passed it on to Mac. That's about the only time they share. :) It made the rounds. We're still not sure exactly what it was. The flu? Possibly. Just a fever virus? Maybe. We just hope it's outta here! Because of all that we have been stuck inside a lot more than we like and were so so excited to wake up yesterday to everyone feeling better and a beautiful sunny day! One of the first things the boys like to do when they get outside is to check the skimmers in the pool for frogs. They do eventually return them to nature but not before they torture ME with acting like they're going to release them on me. I can't imagine where they would even come up with that idea!?! I HATE bugs and jumpy things! My husband knows this. A couple of weeks ago Chris thought he was going to be cute by getting a frog in his hand to put right up to my face to scare me with, only he opened up the end of his hand a little too much and the sucker jumped on my chest. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Of course he thought it was hilarious as did the boys! So every time they find a frog now it's like, "Hey, let's go get mommy with it!" Grant hasn't been brave enough YET to let it go and put it on me. But I have a feeling that day is coming because he's getting braver and braver. And he knows I'm at his mercy. Here are some pictures of the torture yesterday:

Kinda cute from a distance:

It escaped (or tried to). Mama can breathe!

"I'm gonna put it on you, Mama!"

Isn't it 'heelarious' as Grant would say, watching Mommy scream like a little girl!!!

Umby, I'm waaay out-numbered! HELP!!!!!!

One more thing...

If you haven't ventured out to Hardee's to try these yet:

You MUST! They're Hardee's Biscuit Holes and they're a little taste of heaven! You can get a 12-pack for only $1.89. But be sure to ask for extra icing because you'll want it! Thanks for introducing them to me, Boo! YUMMY!

YEAHHHH, I'M A ROCK STAR

Hope this one tickles your funny bone. It sure does mine and I've watched it a thousand times just this week. Turn your volume up. And you have to watch and listen a couple of times to get the full effect. Sunday we all ventured out to Academy Sports because Bethany wanted to see their selection of some shorts she likes to wear to cheer practice. Chris promised the boys a toy if they were good. I'm all about some bribery when it comes to something like that. And they have been in Academy Sports before so they know the toy section is awesome. Bethany found her shorts, Grant decided on a gun, Reid got a truck, and Mackey decided on a play guitar. A guitar was somewhat out of the ordinary for Mac because usually he wants whatever Grant has but he was dead-set on it so I went with it. Fast-forward to that night when I was getting ready to tuck the boys in and Mac was nowhere to be found. I saw the light on in the playroom and tip-toed by the door to find Mac going to town "playing" the guitar. At this point he wasn't singing, but boy was he rocking it out! No one was in the room with him and he sure didn't know I was watching and listening. I ran to the kitchen to get my video camera and as soon as I got it on, he REALLY started jamming, singing, "YEAHHHHHHHHHHH, I'M A ROCK STAR. YEAHHHHHHH, I AM A ROCK STAR." It caught me so off guard because Mac has the sweetest, squeakiest-sounding voice on any 3-year-old boy I've ever heard. It surprised him even more when he realized I was there because he surely didn't think anyone was around. So here he is, Pull-Up-ready for bed and all, rocking it out. The video is terrible as I was trying to be sneaky while laughing my arse off. Listen closely toward the end and I'm laughing so hard you can hear me snort.

RAH RAH SIS BOOM BAH

Thursday was monumental!! I drove to North Alabama to watch my Umby cheer in her very first "official" football game. As if that couldn't get any better, my sister, Martha, called me the day before saying she thought she may be able to go with me. So Reid and I (Grant and Mac had some daddy time) head to Shelby County to meet Ra Ra. Rachel jumps in the car with us and we're off to Decatur! Bethany didn't know her Ra Ra was coming so she was super-surprised and excited! I can remember looking through the Oak Park cheer pics in the yearbook with her after she made cheerleading, and she would say, "I cannot believe that's gonna be me!" Well, Bethany, believe it because it's you!!!!! You are capable of anything, and you still never cease to amaze me! You did an awesome job, and we're all so very proud of you. Here are some pics: (I hope to post a short video later but don't have the time right now)

On the way to the game:

She never missed a beat!

Let's go Raiders!! :)

I couldn't be more proud! And Martha, thank you so much for going! It means the world to me and I know it meant a lot to B too! I truly do treasure our time together. You make me laugh, you don't take life too seriously, you love to have fun, you keep me in check, you love my kids like your own - I could go on and on. Now enough of that sappy crap. You know I luh yo mama!!! :)

Umby, this weekend with you was fabulous, awesome, wonderful, all of the above!!! I hate saying goodbye! I love you and miss you more than you know. I love you a million times this:

And that's a lot!!!

A LITTLE COMPETITION NEVER HURT ANYONE

It was bugging Chris all summer that Grant is 5 and didn't know how to ride his bicycle without training wheels. Chris said he swears he learned to ride his without training wheels when he was "like 3". I seriously doubt it but, we'll let him keep thinking that. Chris worked with him a few times on it this summer, but Grant lacks in the patience department. Can't imagine where he gets that!?! Well Chris came home the other day and told Grant he saw Stone (a little boy in Grant's class - yes, that's his real name) riding his bicycle without training wheels. That's all he said. Grant said, "You saw Stone? Riding his bicycle? Without training wheels?" Chris said, "Yes, Grant - without training wheels." The conversation went no further. I guess Grant really started thinking about it and did not like it one bit that one of his friends knew how to do something he didn't. So the next day, which was Tuesday, Grant went to Chris and said, "Daddy, will you take my training wheels off my bike and teach me how to ride it?" This is Grant on his second day (yesterday) of riding without training wheels (and please excuse our ever-obnoxious lab barking at our neighbor's horses in the background):

Isn't that great! I'm so proud of the G-Man! He can can hardly wait to get home every day so he can ride it. He even will get on it in the morning if we have a few minutes to spare.

And about our lab barking, I figured out that maybe it wasn't because of the horses. Maybe it was because she saw my other two little monkeys stealing her food:
When I say I let my kids eat pretty much anything, I bet you didn't think that included dog food, huh? There aren't many things that would make me turn away a kiss from this little man:

But a mouthful of dog food is one of them! Gag!

I FEEL LIKE I GOT HIT BY A CEMENT TRUCK

Oh wait, I did. Well Friday was far from boring. It started with one of our dogs, Nate, not acting quite right. This is Nate:



He's a hybrid - 50% Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/50% Bichon Frise - called a Cavachon. Just a glorified mutt, really. He's hypoallergenic which we had to have because of Grant and Reid's allergies. He's really a sweet dog and is great with the kids, but I do understand why my mom didn't let us have them growing up. He's just another "child" to take care of. But he has become part of the family and we love him (except when he makes a chew toy out of my shoes!). So back to Friday. He was acting a little strange so I reached down to pet him and saw some blood on his back. I took him in the kitchen to check it out and it was a gaping hole. It's off to the vet we go to get that taken care of. We think it was likely a dog bite. Nate likes everyone and is friendly with other dogs to the point of being annoying. Our neighbors' dogs do not care for Nate, and we think one of them was letting him know it.


Grant's class read The Gingerbread Man Friday, and they made a big "gingerbread man" out of sugar cookie dough. Since I live a minute (literally) from his school, his teacher asked if I would come get the gingerbread man and cook it. Our plan was for me to call her on her cell after I got him home and tell her he ran away then sneak him back in while they kids were at P.E. I bring it home, make the "he ran away" call, and decide to go ahead and cook it just in case it didn't turn out. Well, that was one big cookie, and when I cooked it, it all turned to one big, ugly blob. I decided to make a run to the store for more cookie dough to make another smaller one. They couldn't have an ugly Gingerbread Man, right! I had just enough time. As I made my way out of my subdivision, I got behind a cement truck - not unusual around here being that there is a good bit of construction going on. The cement truck gets in the left lane, ALL the way in the left lane, and I "assume" he's turning left. Being that there are mostly county roads around here, it is also not unusual for those type trucks to get in the left lane to turn left. I had my entire lane open so although he had not turned left yet, he was in that lane so I proceeded ahead so as to drive beside him. Only he wasn't turning left. He was actually getting that far over to make a sharp right turn, didn't see me, and turned literally right on top of me. We weren't going that fast and my airbags didn't even deploy, but it did some damage. We'll find out just how much today. The van was towed to the body shop. Not to mention it scared the crap out of me. Thankfully none of the kids were with me. I can't imagine how terrifying that would have been for them. That truck had a full load of concrete so a couple more feet here or one of us going a little faster and the results would have been much different. I'm ok, just really sore. I was a bit sidelined for the weekend. But I'm better today than I was yesterday, and I'm sure tomorrow will be better than today. I'm just really thankful it wasn't worse than it was and that the kids weren't with me. The van can be fixed.

BTW, the Gingerbread Man made it safely back to Grant's class, albeit a little late. They looked for him all over the school a bit longer than everyone thought it would take to find him. I trimmed him up to look more like a gingerbread man and "followed his crumbs" (a/k/a the trimmings I put in a ziploc bag) to find him. They devoured the thing and his crumbs, so all was good! Grant's mom and dad saved the day! :)


Friday ended with my sister and two nieces coming to my parent's for a visit. Any time RaRa, GaGa and Mags come my boys count down the minutes, literally, until they get here (I do that myself!). Add to that the visit being at Mimi and Granddaddy's, and they can hardly contain themselves. Thanks for letting Grant and Mac spend the night. And thanks, mom, for coming to get us a little early being that I am temporarily without a vehicle. You saved my sanity! :) They are already talking about "next time." Martha, you make me laugh and I love every chance I get to see you and my girls. I wish we could see each other more often!

I'll close for now with a few more pics:

Don't you just want to pinch it!!

Reid trying to escape me putting a "dipey"
on him - how dare I cover up his manhood
so that he can't keep his hand on it!







Grant trying to hide from the camera -Too slow for the Mommy Monster, G-Man!

No caption needed!

I'm working on Reminiscing Part 2 - found some goodies at my parent's. Shea, do you remember meeting Bethany for the first time???