S2's First Football Game

Well, we are now officially football parents.

We arrived at the game over half an hour EARLY, S2 was so worried we would be late.

I got to watch some of my friends boys play football, I worked in the concession stand (I may have cheered loudly a few times as the touchdown was right out my window), and when it came time to watch the game, I settled into the bleachers.

I'm not sure who was more excited and worried.

I'd guess S2.....

It was close though.

But Daddy ended up on the field to cheer - seriously.

And I may have jumped up and down and cheered so much I shocked even myself.

I think we have caught the football bug.

Here he is with his best football buddy....they just assume they must be in all photos together. I love that.  I am so thankful they have each other.

 Woohoo!!!! About to walk on the BIG FIELD for the FIRST TIME!

 Last minute instructions......

 Action on the field.....I have to tell you right now, I am a terrible picture taker because I am so afraid to take my eyes off my little football player that I can hardly get any shot at all.

 Good game, good game, good game.....

 They made it through the line before they began celebrating insanely.

 Exhausted, but MUCH brighter smile that he had his first game!

 Daddy, who was working, made it just in time to see the game.

And what a game it was! They won 25 to Zero.  That is a pretty good confidence booster after a tough and awful scrimmage a few days prior.

But it was kinda tough to drive away, all happy, and follow all the cars home and realize some of the players we won against live on the same road as us.  Because while I am totally ecstatic over a win for him, I know that we could easily be the ones loosing.

And whenever a player lays on the field and cries, my heart stops.  That could be my little boy out there.

It's an emotionally draining day, football days.

But honestly, SUCH a blast.

Here's a video of an amazing touchdown that S2 ran....but it didn't count, there was an illegal tackle or something like that (still reading to learn about football).

It's an awful video but in it you'll get just how excited my husband gets during the game.  The good part start about three minutes in.

We Have a Football Player in the House

S2 has signed up for football.

I am now a football mom.

On his first day of practice, he couldn't stop pacing he was so excited.
He had to eat a good meal...
A good meal to him is toaster waffles.

You can see him here at his first practice, tossing the ball around.  You can note his green shirt and tall maroon socks.

I thought he did a great job throwing this ball....but that may be a moma brag.

Notice how he is "sorta" looking at me.  He would only give me a half a wave, just barely moving his hand a little.  I, however, waved all out enthusiastically at him.  I'm THAT mom, apparently.

Don't they all look so little?  This was the very first day of the very first practice.  They have since moved on to full pads for practice, but I love their look here, all helmets and chewed mouth guards.

You can't tell unless you know, but here is S2 in his green shirt, next to his best friend, in his green shirt.  And they didn't even plan it.  JC lived right down the road from us and the two boys love that they get to play football together.

As a girl, I happen to know NOTHING about football.  Not. A. Thing.  Except what I learned from movies like Remember the Titans, Facing the Giants and the such.  But I did know I wouldn't enjoy watching boys pile up on my son.

I mean, how do you go from protecting them from all harm to slapping the side of the helmet and saying "Hey! Go get beat up!"

So, I told my little nine year old "Here's the deal.  You can play football if you run so fast that no one can catch you."

We'll see how that works...TODAY is his FIRST GAME. 

I'll be the crazy cheering mom, you won't be able to miss me. 

A Monday Night that Turned Into the Boys BEST Day Ever

On Monday afternoon, my husband came home from work a little early. It was an unexpected surprise. He did some things that needed done around the house and with the raspberries not on quite yet enough to pick, he and his boys played a bit of hockey. You can see a winning score HERE on youtube. (Or, if I figured it out correctly, the video will be posted at the end of this post.)

The boys LOVE to play hockey with Daddy because Daddy does NOT take it easy on them. He is in it to win it and criers have to sit on the porch. It's humorous to watch every time...and the boys will have the "hockey ice" all set up for him in mere moments if they think there is any chance at all he will play with them.

After dinner, Jake decided to move his Buick that has died.

A bit about THE Buick.

He has had this Buick about 2 weeks shy of four years. He loves the thing. It is unmistakably his pride and joy. About a year ago the muffler fell off and I could - very literally - hear him a mile down the road before he got to the driveway. The Buick also worked as an alarm clock. He would fire it up and then head quickly back into the house because there the boys (ALWAYS S2 even if everyone else slept in) were to give him a kiss and hug goodbye. The Buick has been called a rat trap of a car. He has kept everything he can imagine ever needing in it. Seriously, it's a four door car and only one person can fit in there - tightly. It was his traveling tool box, the place he stored his hammock for two years, the trunk he used for planting...we were afraid to wash it in case the water went thru the rusty doors. I've only ever cleaned the windows in this thing.

It died.

The beloved Buick literally rusted through and the back tires are unstable at best.

Never fear, he has already bought a new Buick. A gold old-man-ish one that is silent (that is so odd for us) and meticulously clean. All six of us can fit in it - for now.

Anyhow.....

He had to move the Buick that the boys believe is as tough as General Lee on the Dukes of Hazzard.

Since there is no possible way it could break anymore...he had the boys load into it and they ran the go cart track that outlines our back seven acres that we grow our garden in.

The Buick is surprisingly tough.

I was on the porch watching them and laughing hysterically.

So they swung by the porch and wondered if a hot moma wanted a ride in the cool Buick.

I did.

We bogged through mud, we ran up hills, we screeched to halts in front of the asparagus and all the while the boys were screaming in joy.

We had to scream to be heard over the missing muffler.

(The smell in that Buick? Oh my. There are no words. A man's trashed for four years car filled with four dirty unwashed boys and a big hard working man with all the windows up....on a hot summer day...oh. my. word.)

When they dropped me off at the house, Jake decided to let S1 drive.

The boys were thrilled when S1 made the go cart course and he was literally ready to bust with pride.

Then came S2's turn. He made half the track, but still. Full of pride.

By that point it was getting too dark so they parked it for more fun tomorrow.

Because the Buick is now the coolest toy we own.

And Jake is seriously figuring out a way we could use it like a garden tractor...with seats and a radio.........to be considered the coolest "tractor" ever.

I guess I spoke too soon when I said the Buick died.

Earlier in the evening, Hubby had driven down to the store to get hamburger buns for the BBQ pork sandwiches we were going to eat for dinner and he told me they were the most expensive buns he's ever bought.

Because on his way into the store he and S1 noticed all the fireworks were 75 percent off.

So with the Buick in the background, the boys helped Daddy light off a bunch of fireworks.

When it the last two fireworks were done sparkling (it was our grand finale) and we had clapped and cheered, the boys headed in for baths and bed.

I gave my husband a hug as he was chuckling and headed towards his last few chores and said "Do you realize you just gave the boys one of their most favorite growing up memories today?"

It was a good day.

That average Monday night that turned into the boys BEST day ever.

S2's Cowboy Boots

This is S2.

S2 has a style allllllllllllll his own. And while it does not involve looking like this everyday, it does involve wearing his own put together creations.

Usually, he has on some sports shirt, a jersey of the Red Wings or Michigan Football (although Tara can't read that...he likes it because it says Michigan, not that he is the biggest fan. Yes, yes, I promise you, Tara, I am working on him liking State. I know, I know, I don't follow sports enough....). And, usually he wears a red bandana on his head.

We don't know why. He says it looks cool.

But recently, he discovered he can wear a pair of cowboy boots that we hidden away upstairs in a closet just waiting for someone to wear them. He can't wear them to school because he plays football at recess and they wouldn't help him grip the grass so he gets home from school and immediately puts them on.

Because he likes the sound of them, he just wanders the dining room with no real particular reason to being there.

The dining room is the main room of the whole house. My computer is in this room, along with our table where all the visitor's sit when the come over and where we do homework and look at magazines and talk about life...and eat.

But when S2 puts these boots on, he has to walk on just the heel so it makes the loudest click across and bang across the floor.

I recall when I got my first pair of boots. I was a shuffle girl. I recall my Dad sitting at the table in the kitchen complaining that since I had gotten those boots I had forgotten how to walk because all I did was shuffle.

I liked the sound of shuffled boots.

Just like my son likes the sound of click bang boots.

And just like my Dad, I am groaning at the sound of them.

Especially when he is just walking around our tiny dining room doing nothing at all but listening to his boots and trying to look busy so I don't holler at him to knock it off or go outside.

I am sorry, Father dear, for all those days shuffling in boots in the kitchen.

I sure hope you forgave me.

Just like I'll forgive S2 one day.

Maybe.

His Winning Essay

A little while back, you may recall that Isaac was sending in an essay. In fact, I shared the rough draft with you.

Today, we got a letter in the mail.....

It began "...proud to announce that Isaac...is a winner in the "Reading Month Essay Contest"...WHAT I DO TO HELP MY COMMUNITY".

We let him read the letter out loud to us, since he is so good at reading now, and he beamed when he read "Isaac's essay is beautifully hand printed. He says, "I am a little version of my dad." Isaac helps people by selling tomatoes, squash, corn, pickles and flowers. He also helps with snowplowing, the farm market in front of his home, and in cutting wood. He included mention of three brothers, two dogs and a cat. He says, "I am glad we have no sisters." Isaac included a self portrait with a well drawn face showing a big smile. In the picture he is waving "Hello".
Where he found out he had WON!!!!! AND he received a $20.00 gift card to Barnes and Noble.

(He had to find out what that store was and the thought of buying a book was a thrilling one, but he was more excited that there was a coffee shop there and asked if he could perhaps have a coffee, this being a special occasion and all. I told him I thought we could let that happen. Is he my boy or what?)

I love his grin!!!!

The winning essay....

Hi.

My name is Isaac D. I am eight and in 3rd grade. I live in S-, Mi. My favorite subject is gym and hockey.

I help people by selling tomatoes, squash, corn, pickles and flowers. I am a little version of my Dad. He sells most of the things that I do and more. We go snowplowing, to farm markets and wood cutting together a lot. We sell most of our produce at our stand in the front of our house.

There are six people in our house, 4 boys, 2 parents and 2 dogs plus 1 cat. I am the second oldest boy of my brothers. I am glad we have no sisters.

Good job, Isaac!!!

We are sooooooooo very proud of you!!!!

Isaac's Essay

Our eight year old wrote an essay. This is the rough draft. I made him rewrite a bit of it and take a part out.....guess what part we left out.

Here it is, in all it's eight year old glory.....

Hi.

My name is Isaac Dykstra.

I am 8 and in 3rd grade. I live in Shellbel MI.

I am 8 and in 3rd grade. I live in S-, Michigan.

My fravit sujet is gym and hockey.

My favorite subject is gym and hockey.

I help pepel by seling tmateois, squosh, corn, pickels, and flowers.

I help people by selling tomatoes, squash, corn, pickles and flowers.

I am a litte verhin of my Dad. He sell's most of the things that I do.

I am a little version of my Dad. He sell's most of the things I do.

We go snowploing, farm marcits and woodcuting togeter a lot. We sell most of are prtigs at are stand in the front of are house.

We go snowplowing, farm markets and wood cutting together a lot. We sell most of the produce at our stand in the front of our house.

They are 6 people in are house. 4 boys and 2 parints and 2 dogs + 1 cat. I am the secint oldist boy of my brothers.

There are 6 people in our house. 4 boys and 2 parents and 2 dogs + 1 cat. I am the second oldest of my brothers.

I am glad we have no sisters if you had any grils I fell bad for you. Ispeshle if you had to sleep with her. My mom wants a gril very badle not me. I don't think my brothers want one to.

I am glad we have no sisters if you had any girls I feel bad for you. Especially if you had to sleep with her. My mom wants a girl very badly, not me. I don't think my brothers want one too.

Just tell us how you feel there, Isaac.

(love the part about his Daddy though "I'm a little version of my Dad")

Been cracking up over this for awhile

and wanted to share it all with you!

32 days till spring

3 Quick, Funny and Gruesome Updates

Just a few quick stories for you before I work on my super fun can't wait to share it all with you trip to Fox 17.

But I've had one of THOSE days today. Here is why......

Earlier today, as I was quickly cleaning up because while my husband had not said he was irritated at the state of our house, I could tell he was. You just know when you are moving things to get to the coffee pot and then can't get water out of the sink 'cuz the panS are still in there it's not a good morning. Anyhow...

S4 was standing on the porch, peeing off the porch to the driveway, waving.

I'll let you take in that mental image.......

Now, keep in mind, to get to the porch he had to walk past the bathroom. Because we only have one bathroom, I peeked in there and sure enough, it was EMPTY. It was as though he is so used to it being occupied he never even checked.

But why was he waving?

I asked him.

His "I can't believe you had to ask me this" reply was (brace yourself)......"It's just in case someone sees me peeing," he explained, "If they seen me that would be bad. They see me waving and that makes them happy."

Yes, that does make perfect sense.

Not very long after this, S2 and S3 were fighting, AGAIN. They were on the floor wrestling with anger. This never ends well. And it had been going on all morning and I just snapped. I hollered fear into them, getting them to settle down and quickly thought of the first thing that popped into my head. "YOU, sit at this end of the couch. YOU, sit on the other far end of the couch. You will sit there until you think of TEN things you like about your brother."

They were stunned.

Silenced.

Lunch was made and served and suddenly S2 came up with Ten things that I made him tell his younger brother. He thought he was in the clear, until I then made him WRITE THEM DOWN. The TORTURE!!!

He did, and then scarfed down his mac and cheese, letting me know just how this was the best ever in the whole world mac and cheese. Brown-noser.

It was after he had handed me the list that S3 began sobbing. SOBBING gut wrenching awful sobs. "What is it?" I asked, worried he was ill.

"I can't think of TEN things about Isaac that I like. I can't think of ONE. I'll be on the couch for the rest of my LIFE!!!" he wailed.

Thankfully, RC had set up a beach day for us and we were leaving in half an hour so he was spared the torture.

When we arrived to the beach, it was shockingly windy due to a thunderstorm and cool front moving in. I am not fond of this lake near our house, in stead I prefer the awesome lake we camp at. But this is literally mere moments from the house so it works well.

Usually.

RC and I sat in our beach chairs in the water. The water that is only chest high on S1 at the "booboo" as S4 calls it. (Buoy) We sat in water that was just up to our chair seats and I could not see my feet with the swirling seaweed and sticks and rocks and sand and FOAM. The whole lake was covered in foam today. RC knows I do not handle this well. But we were in desperate need of girl time so we were suffering through until, suddenly, behind us I spotted something so awful I screamed and made RC jump up and grab her chair.

A big old rotten cat fish floating by behind us.

The boys, of course, found this fascinating. I warned them to not touch it. RC realized that I could not handle water time anymore and graciously kept her chair firmly on the sand for me. We continued chatting away S3 calls out to me with glee to look at him.

On his shovel his is holding up the rotting dripping catfish carcass. I holler at him to drop it, which would be at my feet I realize so I holler at him to toss it in the far weeds near us. He does...but I never fully recovered from it.

That's my day folks. I am ready for bed. And the sun hasn't even set yet.

An Evening at the Park in Photos

Recently, the two oldest boys were at a Tractor Show with my Dad for a few days so Hubby decided to spoil the boys a bit and take them to McDonald's for dinner. Afterwards I asked him if he wanted to stop by the park so we did....and I am so glad we did because it ended up being the absolute most fun thing. It is going to be one of those FAVORITE memories of mine for a very long time.

So here is our night, in photos........
First of all, we have the lion. There is always a fight to see who can get the lone lion first. S4 won, can you tell?

S3 is a swinging monkey bar king. So he tried to teach S4. And by the end of the night, they were both swinging monkeys.

I love the "oh no!" look on S4's face.

S4 mentioned to his Daddy that he would just really be happy if he could just hear that song "What the world needs is a few more Rednecks." Why? I don't know. But hubby was more than happy to look it up on youtube and play it for him. He spent the rest of the evening at the park singing bits of the song at odd times. Every time he burst out a new line I would start giggling.

Notice the cards on the table? We had just played cards at McDonalds and I thought I could beat him at another game at the park but we had so much fun we never played cards!

The boys spent a good long time on the tire swing chatting about what to move on to next to play on.

Since I was busy snapping all these photos of the boys, i asked Hub to pose with me. I love this picture.

And here are the boys being silly. They pulled this look off all on their own. Think they are having a good time?

While I was running around getting photos, Hubby was sitting at the table playing with his phone. The man would be L.O.S.T. without his Droid.

And then it occurred to me suddenly that I don't have hardly any photos of just me and the two youngest boys. It's always all four of the boys together. So i asked Hub to snap a picture before we left.

I am framing this one.

S2 And His Garden

S2 had spring fever probably worse than any of us. Before the time change, he was awake at six, he was out the door before seven and he played until we left for school. When he got home he literally dropped the book bag at the door and RAN outside to his 'garden'. When the snow was still on the ground he was scouting a spot. When the snow melted, he dug out child sized rakes and raked clean the grass. He has asked about every other day if we will get the rototiller out so he can plant some seeds.

His plan is to grow his own little garden, set up his own little stand at the farmer's market and sell his own produce. He would like to make one hundred dollars.

What will he grow? Oh, he's not sure yet.

What will he do with the 100 dollars? He's not too sure about that.

When does he want to start planting? Yesterday!

It is fun to watch him. I have ordered him a bunch of books from the library about kid's gardens. He struggles with reading and this project he is actually looking forward to learning more about and I will feed that just as much as I can.

He scouts out his Daddy's garden and will dig up things he feels Daddy has neglected. That had to be stopped.

We went to a greenhouse on the last day they were opened and he was ecstatic when the owner pointed to a huge mound of discarded vegetable plants and told him he could take all he wanted. For FREE.

He cleaned the place out.

He gingerly takes care of all the tomato plants he has rescued. When he got his first cucumber we cut it in teeny tiny pieces and layered it into our salad for dinner and he beamed with pride.

He notices any body else's tomatoes and has long conversations with him about them. He checks his tomatoes as soon as he gets up and again in the afternoon and just one more time before he goes to bed. He gives me updates all day how red certain tomatoes are getting.

The boy got his Daddy's love of gardening.

Yummy Blueberry Shakes

I have five million blog posts to write to you all. Okay, maybe not five million but literally I am jotting notes all the time down next to the computer. I need to be grounded...sent to my room and refused to be let out until all these blog posts are done....I wish. Kids, they have it so good.

But I do have this funny little story to tell you.

I heard Cohagen's Chronicles talking about Blueberry Shakes and got thinking how yummy those are at the 50"s diner my Dad and Mom take me to every once in a blue moon and then wondered, hey, why can't I make them?

So I made the boys be my guinea pigs.

I made them with enough blueberries to make them blue and chunky a bit, vanilla ice cream and milk.

S1 sipped long. "Moma, these are sooooooooo good. You could, like, be a professional shake maker."

S2 agreed with, "Yah, you should really get a job at McDonald's."

"McDonald's!" S1 cried. "Oh no, somewhere better than McDonald's!" He sipped again. "Burger King or some place nicer like that!"

I'll take a compliment any way I can.....

Mom Competive Sports, Part One

Can you make a lunch in 30 seconds flat?

I can.

It's a talent I did not know I even had.

Here is how I found I did have the amazing ability to make a FULL school lunch in 30 seconds flat.

The night before S2 had made his lunch along with his brothers. If I stock the house with some goodish choices (notice, goodish. I know every little Debbie snack, really) and make sure they make a sandwich, they are happy to make their lunch and eat it MUCH better. I figure I can let lunches slide a little since I am in control of breakfast and dinner and that if they are starving the fridge is filled with apples at any time.

Anyhow...

S2 made his lunch. We all seen him do it.

In the morning, S2 had lost his lunch. He swore he left it on the bench in the porch. It was not there. He stared at Sadie, sure she had gobbled it up somehow. As in, gobbled up the lunch box, food, any smidgeons that would prove her guilty.

S2 cannot eat school lunches. He has no idea at all who makes that food and you just can't trust someone you don't know to make the food you are going to eat. His thought....thought it up all on his own.

So, we are late (as usual) and he is looking up at the ceiling and wandering in circles, bawling. “My lunch, I can't find my lunch.”

Good grief, he could have made a gourmet lunch in the time it was taking him to search it out!
So, I threw together a lunch with a peanut butter sandwich, juice bag, hard boiled egg, little Debbie snack, chips and we were done. Thirty seconds flat.

He was happy. I was a hero.

When we arrived home, I found his lunch. On the outdoor porch.

He was very glad to find it, smacking his forehead in his “oh, yah” fashion, and happy he got a night off from making his lunch.

The next morning, we ALL reminded him where he had left it so we had a much smoother morning!

Mom Competitive sports, I have you beat in the lunch department, I do believe!

Morning Mishapes

As most of you know, I watch my now ten month old nephew on Thursday and Friday's. He is sooo super cute. Adorable. To watch Jr, I get up at four in the morning and watch him till some time after lunch. He is a huge joy in our family for the few hours we get him.

Today, the alarm was going off when Husband bolted straight up in bed. “Quick, get up! The alarm is going off!”

We had overslept by all of about five whole minutes.

But the way we woke up left me disorintated as I stumbled for the bathroom. It was worse as S2 came tumbling down the steps to ask me if he could do his reading homework with me right then. At 4 am? He had gone to bed early the night before and hadn't gotten it done and obviously it was heavy on his mind...still.

I sent him to back to bed. He had FOUR hours before school began!

Sadie was ecstatic for the company after hours of being left alone at night. She was circling me and wagging her tail excitadely. I have found her tail to be quite the weapon.

My SIL showed up and Jr was sound asleep so I chatted with her, made hubby's lunch, got his coffee ready to go for him, picked up a bit of the kitchen and seen I could easily go back to sleep for about 45 minutes.

I take any extra sleep I can get.

So, I snuggled down into bed. Where the alarms went off for hubby to get up for his day at work. But since I had crashed in bed the night before way before hubby had come to bed (I mean, he and S1 HAD to watch the Red Green Show before they could go to bed) we had a bit of catching up to do, I was headed to lunch, he was working with some new people, you know, daily chit chat we usually do over coffee at night, when I am not so soundly sleeping that when he tickles my feet I don't move (and do you think that is all that sweet to do to your precious wife? Tickle her feet as she soundly sleeps? Good thing I was so soundly sleeping.....)

Hubby took Sadie for a quick walk and when he brought her in, she leapt for joy upon me, kissing my face and letting me know she was indeed in and she was indeed happy to start a new day and she fell between the mattress and the wall where she was stuck. I laughed as I helped her out and thought about just getting up at this point, being all awake now after my wake up 'kisses'.
At which point S2 came down the stpes again to do his reading homework, again. So, I stayed in bed to hear him read and being the wonderful, caring moma that I am, I fell asleep. His story dealt with Miss Spider and one of the words he didn't know was 'dung'. And I recall wondering why 'dung' would be in such a kids story....but I must have thought bed was warm and cozy and I fell sound asleep.

Sound asleep.

To be awoken at 7:05, to the sound of four boys coming down the steps to get cereal.

How does this happen to me?

How do I manage to have a full day BEFORE seven in the morning?

At least this morning I had coffee in the house. And I made it super strong as I flew around making sure we were all indeed in the suburban before we left. And we did, indeed, make it to school on time before the bell rang and with no tears.....THAT is an accomplishment!

And this, folks, is just a few hours of my life...in the morning, the time when I need the most quiet and darkness and caffine to slowly wake up. Welcome to my wonderful life!

My Camera was Hijacked

Warning!!!!

DO NOT READ if you are about to eat.

Some photos are not apatizing......

Recently, S2 asked if he could borrow my camera for something really cool he had done. I recalled Ihad just let him borrow the camera a day before and he had put it back right away so I let him again. I heard giggling.

folks, this is just a SMALL preview of the photos I found later on my camera. Every picture you see here, there were at LEAST three more JUST like it. Before I deleted them all, I figured I would show you what happens when a seven year old hijacks your pink digital camera....

Here it is, the moment that started the photos. He had eaten an egg and made this heart. Ahhh, cute, yes?

Then a photo of his brother who I think, by the looks of it, wanted his photo taken.This, dear folks, is a photo of S3's lost tooth. I warned you not to be eating..........

Here is our highly ambitious dog.

The teddy bears that he needed a photo of. I think there were FIVE differant photos of this...all in the same pose. Well, except for the three photos with the truck in front of them. I thought Iwould spare you all of those.

S4, hamming it up AGAIN.

And just in case I forgot who borrowed the camera, he took a photo of himself.

Valentine's Day with Four Boys

Taking a short break from Flo and Joanie to talk about Valentine's Day. Valentines' Day with four boys is....an unromantic adventure.

They have to have valentine's day cards. They each have their own school party and three boys in elementary school is a lot of valentine's day cards. I have a hard time purchasing something for them that they don't care to fill out, that will just end up in the garbage at the end of the day and did I mention they just don't care?

I admire mom's who go all out for Valentine's Day. I really do. But it's one more area I fall short in the “cool mom” category. Or do I?

I do try to make the best of it. For instance, I ask them what kind of valentine's they would like...

S1 “Well, you know...anything hunting would be great.”

S2 “Red Wings. You HAVE to get Red Wings!”

S3 “Do they have blue? I want blue ones.”

S4 “You know, Moma.....LIGHTENING MCQUEEN!”

Great, the only one I have a chance of finding is for my four year old who doesn't go to school but has to have the valentine's like his big brothers.

So I headed off to the store. Obviously, they have no hunting valentines. But I found dinosaurs...which is no where close to hunting but at least it's totally boyish. I did find sports themed ones. There are no blue ones. I did find Scooby do ones though. And of course, CARS. At least one of my boys will be happy.

I looked at getting the candy ones. At least they would have candy to make up for the lack in cards but all the candy ones are soooooo expensive. They would be great if I had ONE child in school, but not three.

Why I mind buying Valentine's is because I would like the day to be special for the boys, but it's just not a boy kind of holiday. And I don't know how to make it special. Why can't we have a celebrate hunting day? THAT I could make special for my boys...then we would find hunting cards. Or, hockey appreciation day? But little boys aren't too interested in sending lovey dovey cards out. And if they were, I would be worried about them.

So I make the boys cookies. In the shape of hearts. Because the one way to make sure that my boys feel loved is a full tummy. So cookies I will make them. And why can I spend hours making special cookies for my boys? Because I LOVE my boys, but I don't' love all the kids in their classes. So, forgive me all 4th, 2nd and kindergarten classes....you just get flimsy cards my boys didn't want to fill out anyhow. But my boys will know beyond a doubt their Moma loves them, and that is more important to me by far.

Rough Sunday ends in Much Laughter

I had a rough day, this Sunday. Sunday's are just not my favorite day of the week. It should be, I know, I wish it were, but it is too rushed and stressed and never goes smoothly. And when it is over, you only have Monday to look forward to.

Take today for instance.......

I went to start dinner first thing, a roast, potatoes...regular Sunday dinner. But Hubby was watching “America Eats” this morning. We all wanted KFC instead. And when I went to wash the potatoes, I realized the sink drain was frozen, again.

I put two french braids in my hair last night so my hair would be all cute and kinky the next morning. But one of the braids came out in the night.

So when I took a shower, the water was luke warm. Which would have been bearable but I had to wash my hair now. And by then I was cold.

Dressed in my cute suit, all fashionable feeling and that, Hubby called me over to see how he was thawing the pipe for the drain. He opened the window up as I leaned over the filled with old coffee, drain water, milk from cereal....and the little cobalt blue vase hit fell off the window and splashed into the sink, soaking my now not smart looking blouse in very icky disgusting water.
The boys had no socks. Or clothes. And they were supposed to get them night before.

I never got a chance to finish my one cup of coffee I had poured for myself.

Church was so cold that my nose about froze off.

S4 decided he didn't want to go to Sunday school and sat with us. When Sunday School had ended, he burst into tears that he hadn't gone to Sunday school and was inconsolable.

When we got home, I went right to work finishing dinner while the boys thought McDonald's Mc Ribs or slow roasted BBQ was sounding better.

S4 kept running in to tell me it was like him and Daddy and the guys were at the movies it was like I was at work and when would my work be done so he could eat?

Dinner finally was done. It was good, they did eat well. Roast, mashed potatoes, beans we canned ourselves, cheesy vegetables, gravy, home made rolls. When dinner was done, Hubby told me “chop chop, this table will have to get cleared. I had a lot of dishes to do.”

I gave up. I went to bed. It was wimpy and pouty but I didn't say anything mean, I just said I was going to bed.

Laying in bed I read on my blackberry a message from my friend MP over at Cohagen's Chronicles (if I knew how to highlight the name so you just click it and go there I would do that for you but I don't....I'm sorry. Here is the address.....http://cohagenchronicles.blogspot.com/
She and I had been talking about our boring winter lives and how our blogs were lacking so she had the brilliant idea to make up a story that we would each write a part off and post on our blogs every day for a week.

She had written a doozy of a beginning.

And it was up to me to write the next installment (which will post tomorrow). It made me giggle right out loud reading it and my head was spinning with ideas.

So I headed out of the bedroom where to find the table cleared, the kitchen busy with Hubby and S1 loading the dishwasher and washing dishes and taking care of all the food.

They are the sweetest ever.

I curled up in the golden yellow chair in the kitchen and read the first chapter, and Hubby and I had all kinds of fun coming up with great ideas to take the story. Then I settled down at the computer to write. It was so much fun! I was giggling and sipping coffee and giggling some more.

The sun came out shone brightly.

The boys played out side, laughing instead of fighting.

The kitchen was clean.

I still have my beautiful bouquet from S2.

Maybe Sunday's aren't so bad after all.

A Surprise from S2

It's been an unusually rough patch with S2. He struggles with reading and while he has finally found some books he truly enjoys reading (the Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant), he still would rather play hockey in the driveway, slide down the snow banks with his cool sled, watch TV, stare into space....just about anything other than homework. This has lead to some rough nights and mornings filled with tears as he realizes he doesn't have his work done and only himself to blame.

He also is the worlds biggest cheerleader. He will clap and cheer his brothers on with everything. “Great job bringing in the groceries. Way to go.” “Man, you are doing great, Dude, clearing the table.” “That was some great work shoveling the steps.” The problem is, HE is supposed to be doing these things.

I am exasperated with him, I will admit it.


And when I don't think I can take much more he does his new favorite coolest thing ever to do. He flaps his arms and walks/hops through the house making out LOUD chicken sounds. He thinks he makes a great imitation of a chicken.


S1, always supportive, finally told him he didn't need to KEEP showing us he could do chicken sounds, we have it figured out already.

So today when he wanted to quickly pull on his jacket and run out to help his Daddy bring back all the soda cans we have been collecting the past few months, I figured he wanted to have a break from his Moma.


Imagine my surprise when he stumbled into the house, HUGE grin on his face and pushed under my nose a bouquet of flowers. “These are for you, Moma. I bought them all by myself. They were five dollars and Daddy had to give me 35 cents but they are just from me because I knew you liked them from when we went there before.”


My heart stopped a moment.


And then it totally melted.

Elkins...it's What's for Dinner

Husband and I were laying in bed last night listening to the TV program that S1 was up watching. All the boys had fallen asleep already but being a Friday night we had let S1 stay awake. He was flipping between watching the Red Wings and a hunting show. They were calling in elk on the hunting show and I had groaned in protest.

“I can sleep to nature sounds, but not when they are calling in elk. Ug!” I muttered.

“At least you know that is an elk call,” husband answered brightly.

Which got me to giggling because when I am really tired I giggle easily. So maybe this post will only be hilarious to me......but I will continue on anyhow.

We began then repeating snippets of conversations throughout the night that had cracked us up. At the dinner table S2 declared “Daddy, we took four testes today.”

“Testes?” Hubby asked sarcastically, to get S2 to realize his mispronunciation. “Were any of those tests on English?”

S1 nearly spit the food he was chewing out of his mouth he found that so funny.

“No.....” S2 answered hesitantly, not catching the joke, “Wait...we were talking in English so I guess the testes were in English.”

Moving on.......

Husband was playing S1 in the awful wonderful addicting table hockey game (again) and for whatever reason (we never do know why he does these things) S4 was running through the house at top speed yelling out “cab fare! Cab fare!”

No, I don't know why.

Once were had all agreed that is what he was yelling out, Husband asked the neighbor boy, IM, if he had ever ridden in cab.

“Um, no, I don't think so. Well, wait, maybe, but I don't know but I think so,” was his definite reply.

“Really?” S1 asked incredulously, “You have NEVER ridden in cab?” To his credit, he never looked up from attempting to beat his Daddy at the game so he didn't see husband and I waiting to see what he would follow this up with. “I've ridden in a cab tons of time!”

“You have?” IM asked, shocked. “Where?”

“A truck!!! You have NEVER ridden in a cab of a truck???”

Yes, S1 thought who got to sit in the cab with Daddy was 'fair' and didn't realize there was any other 'cab'.

Moving on again......

Making dinner, S4 asked me what was for dinner. I get asked this about 30 times a day, 20 times from four to six or whenever dinner is on the table (and even then I get asked what is on the table for dinner as they are sitting there staring at it). I get really tired of repeating myself so when S4 asked I just said “All kinds of food.” And we were. Roast, potatoes, squash, green beans, rolls.....

He looked only momentarily confused. Then he asked brightly, “Can we have hot dogs with that elkins?”

“With what?” I asked.

“Elkins, what we eat for dinner. Can we have hot dogs with that elkins?”

Elkins...as in "all kinds". Crack me up, took me a bit to catch it but he thought when I said "all kinds of food" I had said "elkins".

Bless him for not telling me that 'elkins' must have sounded gross to him.

Just a FEW of the snippets of conversations we have had around the house........

S2 and His Awful No Good Terrible Day

Last week I had a blog-worthy day by 8 am. Not kidding.

The week after Christmas vacation is just rough. The boys have finally realized you can sleep past six thirty, they have stayed up until ten or eleven every night playing some intense game of hockey or marshmallow guns or bop it...they have spent days outside where they have sled and ice skated and played hockey and they have watched every hockey game or super exciting great hunt on TV. They had friends from Texas come play and they caught tadpoles and went swimming (indoor pool, not the swamp they found the tadpoles in but they did have to dump water out their boots) and watched their sixteen year old cousin play some intense high school hockey.

And then they went to school again.

They were bound to be tired.

We dragged through Monday. Almost literally. I think I fell asleep on the couch that night, but the day is such a blur it's hard to remember.

On Tuesday I realized that I had no food in the house to make the boys their lunches. Without bread you can't do much for sandwiches so I had decided to take the boys to school and S4 and I would then head into town. Husband heard there was snow moving in and wanted to get the most wood he could from the woods to heat our chilly farmhouse on the hill.

S2 woke up and banged his funny bone on the dresser. When he came down crying to tell me I had no sympathy for him. “I told you to have your clothes on the chair so they would be ready for you in the morning...its your own fault.”

Yup. I was that mean. I should have been nicer.

S2 ate his cereal with tears in his eyes. H was sure his arm was broken, shattered at the bone. No matter he was using it to eat with.

Then S2 couldn't find socks. He had a headache. His tummy felt a little funny.

Because I have dealt with him saying such things before, because I knew he was over tired and already planning his seven pm bedtime to catch up on that sleep, I told him to get in the suburban with his brothers.

As we viewed the huge water tower that looks like a grain silo in town, S2 began to cry silently. When we made it to the flag, he was crying loudly. By the time we made it to the fire barn, he was nearly hyper ventilating. All I could get from him was “MY ARM...sob sob...IS..sob sob...BROKEN!”

I parked. All his brothers stared at him as if he had lost his mind. I knew it was time for hard parenting. “Listen, you can sit in the suburban and be late to school or you can quit crying and walk in that door and have a great day.”

S2 cannot not ever ever be late.

He went into school, wiping the tears away.

I dropped S3 off in the kindergarten class and chatted with his teacher, the wonderful KE, and when I headed off I seen S2 headed straight for me. His shoulders were back, his back was straight and his steps were all but running in my direction. But it was his face, his red face with the tears filling his green eyes but not spilling out that really got me. He fell into my open arms and sobbed.

“What happened?” worry was gripping me.

“My...my...my...backpack broke!” he finally spit out.

I could not laugh. I could not.

“Well....I can get you a new one when I go to town today.”

“But it broke and how will I get home and it broke and I don't know what to do and it broke!”
A teachers aid over heard and told him she knew there was a brand new back pack in the office so she would hurry to get it with him. He would rather stay with me, he told her.

Even if I had been mean that morning.

We went to tell S1 goodbye. Every child in the hall stared at us, well, at S2 and his beet red face and the falling tears. I knew he wanted the ground to swallow him up. I knew he needed about 24 hours of sleep.

The teachers aid found a great looking ROOTS back pack. He took it sadly, it was not red.
When we walked to his room, the panic came on him again. “I feel sick,” he gasped.
“you are fine.”

“My arm hurts.”

“It'll be fine.”

“My stomach hurts.”

“You will be fine.”

“I think I am going to throw up.”

“Go in the bathroom and puke then.”

Steely nerves you need to be a mom.

I knew I had him at that. I knew he wasn't sick. So it was a complete surprise when he began to gag right there, next to his class room door.

His teacher, LC, whom we love, came running out of the room. “Are you okay?” she asked, concern etched into her face.

“My back pack broke,” he squeaked.

“Did he wake up like this?” she asked him.

“No, it started when he hit his funny bone.” I replied, not even catching the humor.

“That. Is. Not. Funny.” she pursed her lips and looked forward. I had to turn my back to not giggle in front of S2. It was wonderful to finally giggle, even silently.

So, to make this long blog end much more quickly, I took him home. He was completely calm when he got out of the school. He laid in his bed until noon. When he got up he grinned brilliantly at me and said “Wow, looks like I laid in bed so long I won't need to go to school. I could help you pick out my new back pack in town.”

Instead, he ate lunch and went back to school.

And the rest of the week went just well, especially since I found him an all red back pack to take to school the very next day.

The Great Christmas Play

The boys were in a Christmas play for our church this Sunday and I could tell you that it went off without a hitch and it was perfect and all went smoothly.

Then you would look at the title of the blog to make sure that you were, in fact, reading the correct blog and then you would believe it had been hijacked.

But it DID go very well. The play went perfectly. The boys were great......
Well....
Sorta.
Here is what happened.

You recall my bad day that wasn't so bad. Yes, well, the glass places are closed until Monday so we did not have the suburban. But we had the great to the rescue cab and half, nice and cuddly close, plow truck.

On Sunday, the day of the play, we had church, we had dinner and then I had a little tiny bit of time to clean a big huge mess. And cook. And bake.

But I had a great plan. I made the cookies and then when husband brought the boys to church for their last practice at 4:30, I would clean the floors, wait til then to clean the bathroom, and be ready to go by 5:15 to be to church by 5:30 to get a great seat and cheer on my handsome fellows.

I have great ideas.
They just rarely work.

As I was getting the boys their shoes and socks (this is a big deal, they all had socks on!), I told S4 to go in and wash his face. He was gone a very long time. He came running out of the bathroom grinning. “See my hair, Moma?” he asked. “I cut it just like Daddy does!”

And he had. A big huge bald spot right in the very front of his head.

You see, Husband cuts his own hair. He buzz cuts it, along with the boys hair. But he trims his goatee with scissors, it gets singed by the hot wood heat so often he usually trims it every few days. And always always always when we are headed out to church or some other look nice event.

What do you do? I just sweetly smiled and said “Wow...how about we not use the scissors again though, okay?” His hair is so short I am hoping no one notices the bald skin....but I will.
Not long after the boys had left and I was jamming along to great Christmas music, the phone rang. It was husband. “Honey, please tell me that JM is home with the extra set of keys to the Dodge.....”

JM plows with Husband.

“Um, I think so.....” I said, straining to see if she was but not seeing her car. “Why?” I asked afraid of the answer.
“Somehow we locked the truck. And it's still running.”

Well, I skedaddled, grabbed the extra set (we so are making hidakeys after this!) and jumped in the big mean Dodge with the hunking huge v-blade and raced to be the hero.

It's kinda fun being the hero for Husband for once.

Except, the gas light was dinging just as soon as the Dodge rumbled loudly to life.

But I talked to Dodge, told him how to shift correctly and warned him of the predicament he'd put me in if he left me stranded with no gas and made it to the rescue, and then Husband and I celebrated by rolling into the gas station.

We are very romantic.

This put a HUGE crimp in the getting the house ready for the Christmas play party but I figure they are family and they are forced to love us anyhow so we raced to the church and arrived five minutes before the play began, when our family was all there already, waiting for us.

The play went off without a hitch. S1 had a speaking part and he has been grounded from all hunting or target practicing until he memorized his lines and since he said them correctly I am sure hunting will be in the very near future. S2 grinned perfectly, stood perfectly, sang perfectly. S3 was hard to see because he was on the far side of the group and I could only catch glimpses of him from where I was sitting. Then there was S4.

This was a big deal to S4. He was finally old enough to be in the play with his guys. He knew every sang every line with determination, a constant bop of his head to keep time. “Gloooo,oooo,ooooo,oooo, ria” was a fun one to watch him sing. Every new “o” was a new bop. When the play would start up again after the song, he would turn and watch it, I mean, why not, that's why everyone was here. And since he was at the end of the row, why not get comfy? Here's a few poses.

GM, my sister in law, and I especially liked when he was up on his knees waving his butt in the air like he had a tail. And then there was time when just the girls talked in the play and who wants to listen to girls? Apparently not him, because he just laid right down on the middle step in the middle of the stage and waited for them to be done.

But when it came time to sing, he stood up straight and sang proudly.

GM and I giggled through the whole play. Husband, at the other end of the pew, couldn't see him. So only half the church seen S4's antics.
Which is good.

(after the play, S4 didn't get the mic during the play, thank goodness!)

Afterwards my parents, Husband's Mom, my brother and sister in law and Jr and my sister and her husband and baby Back-up all came back to the house to eat the cookies and sloppy joes I had made and we ended up having more food than we needed and having more fun than expected.
It was a great night.

That went perfectly.

S2's Style

S2 has his own sense of style. I think you can see that by the photo here on the side of the blog. He dresses to the beat of a different drum, if that makes sense. Sunday's are true challenges. Why can't you wear gym clothes to church? I like to have one day he looks 'normal', that's why. However, when he looks normal he ends up looking abnormal.

It's one of those things I just love about him!

So, it was really no surprise after watching Davy Crockett (the original) that he would decide he needs a coon skin hat. And it shouldn't surprise any of you by now that he had a coon tail all ready...thanks to my loving parents.

He put the coon tail on the back of his beloved Red Wings hat and I could tell by the light in his eyes that this was going to be his new fashion statement for a good long time.

The next day, when he wore his hat proudly to school, he got many a reaction, as I am sure you can imagine. Our first drop in the morning is the kindergarten room for S3. All the little kindergartner's swarmed S2. They all seemed to have a bit of fear in their eyes.

“Is it real?” they asked.

“Yup. But it's not alive,” S2 replied.

They would look at the tail, then the front of the hat. All hovered near him, but not too close. Finally one little boy dared to ask “Can I touch it?”

“Sure”, S2 allowed.

The little boy held out his hand and it was quivering. The closer he got to the tail, the more his hand shook. He would get very close and then jerk his hand back. It took him SIX tries before he actually let his fingers just barely graze the tail.

It was all I could do not to cheer for the boy as well as laugh hysterically.

S2 has caused quite the phenomenon at school now. I wouldn't have expected anything less.