Beaver Habitat's, Snakes and So Forth

As I was about to write a blog to you all, S2 shouted he found a snake.

Right outside my window.

In my favorite spot to sit...the front porch.

You can see how I would find that distracting.

Especially when he did not catch it...but caught ANOTHER one across the driveway by the bunnies.

I have no words.  And I live here.

I wanted to just drop in to give you an update on our summer goings on.  We have been busy.  So busy.  It happens when you have boys who are building Beaver Habitat's (never mind that we have no beaver's in this area.  If, by chance, they decide to move here the boys will be ready for them), catching snakes and frogs and turtles, feeding them (oh. my. goodness.), planning Hubs and I first ever trip ALONE, planning a trip to see Becca's Crazy Boys (follow her on twitter here, be warned, we may get annoying in our excitement) and enjoying a very eventful visit with Rebecca Gates.  Believe me, that is a post you are NOT going to want to miss.

And working, farming, living....

But I miss blogging.

Tomorrow we are excited to be hosting Buck Howdy at our town library.  Thrilled we are!  And we are listening to all his music today. :)

I leave you with this.  Because really, my words would never do this justice.

Just Being Honest....

The other night, I sent my boys to bed at seven pm.

After a rough night with them I just needed them....to go to bed.

When I went to bed, I covered my head with my pillow and prayed for a better tomorrow.

It was only eight pm.

How do I go from waiting excitedly for them to get home from school to being exhausted and frazzled so quickly?

They had come home on a bright sun shiny day.  Beautiful weather.  The house was spotlessly clean.

I had waited for them to get here so we could make cookies.  The three youngest helped me mix them up and were super happy to eat some dough and fill the cookie sheets.

S1 was out checking his trap line and couldn't wait to get in to get a warm cookie from the oven.

An idyllic wonderful day.  A blog post was forming already in my head....

But before these cookies were baked...which takes all of ten minutes...the boys had run off to play.

But instead of playing, they were already squealing.  "Stop!"
                  "I'm gonna tell!"
                                  "Mooooooooooooooooma...."

It went down hill fast.

By the time dinner was on the table, I was fried.  I had helped with three boys homework, read two books to the youngest son, walked into the living room to find I couldn't even see the floor anymore so I just walked out, the dishwasher chose that night to break - completely - and my husband claimed I was in a "grouchy mood."

And I was.

I had just turned into mean mom and hollered to "clean up the living room.!"

               "Just don't speak to your brother!"

                                   "I TOLD YOU to SET THE TABLE!"

And so they were sent to bed at seven.

I knew S1 still would be up doing homework but I didn't stay up with him.  I didn't care when I heard S3 and S4 running across the upstairs floor or coming down for the fifth drink of water and sixth pee.

I just covered my head with my pillow and pretended to sleep. I prayed tomorrow would be better.

I love my life to pieces, you all know this.

But there are times when my stress level, on a scale of 1 to 10, is high.  The last couple of weeks it's at about a nine.  And while I still find lots of reasons to find the silliness in the mundane...I thought I would just throw this out there to you all.

I'm just being honest.

Sometimes, being a wife and mom is tough.

Anyone else out there know what I mean?

I'm a Chicken Girl, not a Turkey Princess...Yet

My boys are always looking for pretty things for me.

I am currently using a leaf for a bookmark.  I have flowers and pretty leaves at various places around the house.  It's not uncommon for me to have rocks or nests on display.  I regularly sport a flower tucked behind my ear.

If the boys find it beautiful, they have to share it with me.

Today the two little boys brought me in a white chicken feather from S3's chicken...you recall the one that went to school with us?  Yes, that chickie is still doing well.

They gleamed joyfully as they handed the chicken feather up to me.  "For you, Moma!"

"Oh!"I exclaimed happily, "A new bookmark?"

"No!" S3 nearly spat out, shocked I would mention that.  "It's for your hair." (It was said "like duh!")

"Yah, your hair!" S4 agreed.

I wrapped my hair up in a pony tail and stuck it in the band.

The boys were so impressed.

"It's beautiful!" S3 informed me.

"But not pretty like an Indian Prin-preen-prencee...what's that word?" S4 asked.

"Princess?"

"Yah, that.  You aren't as pretty as that Indian girl" - S4 wrinkled his forehead in concentration - "Princess but...I'm not saying you look BAD, Moma, I'm just saying you don't look princess good."

"You'd need a turkey feather to look that pretty," S3 agreed.

"And maybe black hair.  But that would look....different," S4 added.

When S4 says "different" he really means "bad".

They posed for the picture and then ran outside, determined to find me a turkey feather so I could be a princess.

Because with this feather I am a Chicken Girl, not a Turkey Princess.  Yet.

Monday Ramblings

Today my boys don't have school.

I may be a tad bit giddy about that.

And I guarantee you we don't look nowhere near as clean as this picture I picked to show off today.  This was from our family photos at Portrait Innovations.  But it's the most recent of all the boys and me so I thought I'd toss it out there.  Currently, the boys are going on no shower, no brushed teeth, all sorts of dirty....

In fact, to be honest, as I type this in my shorts, tank top and bare feet in OCTOBER (LOVE this), the boys are barefoot outside setting up a trap to hopefully catch a wood chuck.

You know I'm not joking.

It lives under some huge log outside in the woodpile so they are using kite string to hook up some sort of foot trap and catch the thing.

I don't hold much faith in kite strings but this is MY boys we are talking about...I'l probably have myself a pet woodchuck by the end of the week.

Since we had this whole glorious day to ourselves, I thought it would be a great time to have the boys update you on their lives, since Moma has apparently been slacking.

So far S3 and S4 have and their stories are in their own words...totally un-enthralling compared to the stories they told me they were thinking about.  I might have to add a bit to the end of them.  But to be fair, they were dictating when the wood chuck trap idea was formed by their older brothers.

Blogging was suddenly so not cool.

Hopefully you are all enjoying your Monday.  I honestly haven't been this groovy happy on a Monday in forever, it's a day I want to cherish.  I've missed a full day home with my boys.  I kinda like them a lot.

Be prepared for the boys take over of the blog this week.

Just a Quick Update

My husband got a new phone...a droid something or another.  He is sitting behind me letting me know how many square inches of property we own....

Because apparently we all need to know the inches, feet and centimeters he and I farm here.

Anyhow...

I have survived the week and I find this miraculous because....

I don't like to be gone much and I have been gone each and every day for days and days on end.  THIS week alone...

This weekend - S1 SHOT HIS FIRST DEER!!!!! And, oh, that's a blog post he'll take over. :)

Monday - went to Shipsiwana.  Oh, that is a blog post in itself.

Tuesday - worked at the library.  Do you all know how much I love the library????

Wednesday - field trip to the capitol with S2.  On a bus for two hours one way, people.  And I survived.

Thursday - doctor's appointments for boys and grocery shopping...also, I cleaned my fridge.  I think it was breeding new forms of food in there.  Okay, not really food because I would never eat what it was breeding.

Friday - work and HOME...all of us home at night!  No football practice!  As we were putting our coats on (seriously, my coat was ON) to head out the door to a neighbor's to help with cider making, S4 puked all over the floor.

Tomorrow is S2's football game.  He won since I last wrote to you (how long it's been since I have blogged) and then he lost terribly last week.  Tonight he tried to catch a football in the dark, it slammed into his face and he is crying himself to sleep sure he will never get to play football tomorrow.

I don't think he will play football in the dark again anytime soon.

Anyhow...

That's my week.

But I miss you all so very much!

Next week looks slower....notice I didn't say normal (what is normal?)...and I hope to blog lots because I have lots and lots of stories for you!

Now that I have said that I will suffer the worst case of writer's block.

But tomorrow, TOMORROW, other than the football game I'll have to fill you all in on (and the awesome book I just finished...) is the day PRAISE AND COFFEE MAGAZINE goes out.  Woohoo!  We are a year old with this issue.  AMAZING.

Okay, gotta run.  I fear I look so haggard tired that the frozen spoons in my freezer won't do much for me tomorrow.

And my husband keeps telling me all these facts from his droid phone, stuff he is sure I need to know.

I assure him one day soon I will own an iphone and it will knock his droids socks off.

S4 Took the Camera (Again)

It started innocently enough. S4 came running into the house one day begging me to take a picture with my phone AND the camera of his super cool thing he made.

Yes, that is a John Deere tied to his bike.

It quickly became apparent to S4, about 5 pictures in, that Moma was not capturing the true genius of his creation so he asked if he could borrow the camera - since he knows how now and all that. I agreed since I was in the middle of cooking dinner.

You all need to know, this was a JOHN DEERE tied to his bike.

See, truly genius.

The string? Tricky work!

Notice the toes.....

And the toothless grin. I love his toothless grin.

I believe I was called to take this one. Then his brother helped him.

A self portrait MUST have bunny ears, even if you have to do it yourself.

This is what his brothers were up to, hauling wood. I have five pictures of this load of wood.

Here is GK helping us with a load of wood. Notice S1 being ever watchful. Nothing must happen to his tractor.

This is the "Yes, I'll pose for you but are you supposed to have Moma's camera?" look.

I do love that he actually took pictures of flowers next to the wood stove. He did pick something up from all his time with me.

See! See! Take my picture! (I can hear S3 saying this. Also, note how nice his clothes look. These are NOT play outside clothes but he just loves them.)

This. This photo makes me laugh every. single. time.

When he handed the camera back to me he said "Moma, there are pictures they didn't want me to take on here. But I took them anyways."

Love that.

Because, really, how can you not love when S4 hijacks my camera?

Blessings

Since Monday rolled around, our family has had a rough week. We feel beat up. You know, the kind of days where you say "We need to watch Facing the Giants" like every single day, numerous times in the day?

That is the kind of week we are having.

It's also been a week full of blessings from friends. One came to our rescue on a night we were dreading facing. A family said "You are coming here for dinner tonight" and fed us comfort food...pizza, muffins, cookies and brownies. (Notice the desserts, hello, comfort food in the greatest degree!) After that night, S3 came home, fell into the chair and said "This was the best day EVER" and promptly fell asleep, head in his hand thinking over his fun night. Sound. Asleep.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of that.

And all the things we've faced this week are minor, really. They just ganged up on us. We are all healthy, our families are healthy. My husband has a good job. We have good friends.

Last week my husband was trying to remember this song for me. He has an uncanny memory when it comes to music and can hear a song once and sing it. But he had a hard time remember how it went and I couldn't recall hearing it and we forgot about it.

Today he determined to find it for me.

Cuz he is awesome like that to me.

Then he called me to tell he me had found the song but he didn't want me to hear it until I heard the story behind it.

The story sorta puts everything back in the right perspective.

Here is the song Blessings (With Lyrics).

Here is the song, Blessings, in the video format I like the most.

Here is the song, Blessings (again), that has the most youtube hits.

I think you can get the idea that I want you to hear the song. ;)

So in case any of you are having a bad week...the worst week of your life or a bad day that just leaves you grumpy...here is a song for you.

And know that others out there have them too.

You are not alone.

You are blessed.

In Which I Whisper Hello to You

It's early in the morning here.

Okay, technically it's not early but it's early enough that the boys aren't awake.

I have nada to blog about but I miss blogging so much I thought I would give you a long rambling hello...to let you know we are doing fine and all is well and things like that.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love summer?

Long pause of joy.....

I do.

I love that as I type this the sunflower S2 gave me is smiling at me. I love that I have flowers on the table and in the kitchen and in the yard. I love that I go barefoot about every day. I love to see the boys all filthy dirty with their hair all sweaty knowing they are having the time of the of their lives. I love that all my windows are open to hear the birdsongs. I love that my husband goes out in the field and comes back smiling about growing plants.

I love summer.

This week we went blueberry picking. I took along two extra friends of the boys and they had a lot of fun with some other friends we met up there. We got about 2o pounds of blueberries...but that isn't what they were most impressed with. They were most impressed with all the goats and ducks and baby chickens. S3 has learned to read VERY well and he read they were all for sale.

S3 and S4 have concocted a plan on how they can get a goat home without me knowing. They would prefer I DID know, but, I might say no, so they are sure they can fit in the back seat and get it home where I will fall in love with it and it will live forever with them eating popcorn and blueberries.

S2 got the okay from Daddy to play football this fall and I filled out the paper last night. It brought a tear to my eye. My little boy, getting all big on me. I know nothing of football but according to the schedule of practices and games I think I will be learning much about it.

But I'm not ready for that to happen yet, because I loooooove summer.

And I don't want it to end.

I'm watching S1 grow out of this boy stage into young man stage.

It chokes me with pride and the grasping of how little time I really have with him.

Yup, I want summer to last forever.

Today the boys have two friends over and later today I get to watch Jr. and his little baby brother, lil cuz. I am soooooooooo excited!

And even though it is steamy hot today, I have blueberry pie to make and zucchini bread to whip up.

Summer food - the best!

But, to accomplish all that, I'll need more caffeine, I'm sure. I stumbled upon this recipe looking for the Pioneer Woman's maple peach crisp to share with someone (again, summer food is the BEST) so I thought I'd share it with all my coffee loving friends (because those of you who are giving up coffee, I do not understand you. At all.)

Here's the recipe for iced coffee. Make it immediately. I plan to..... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

So until I can sneak away to whisper hello again, thanks for reading the rambling blog post of the day. Tell me how YOU are, I'm missing you all so!

Phone Calls

My poor husband, he never knows what he is going to get when he calls me. I usually answer with "Hey, husband!" or sometimes I'll be silly or sometimes I'll all gushy.

If I'm busy and just answer "Hello?" he feels badly and wonders what's up or wrong.

Then he always says to me...."How is your day going?"

That's a loaded question. It can bring a myraid of answers. You read my blog, you know this to be true!

Here is a sampling of a call from the other day.....

"Hey, Hubby!"

"Hey, wife! How's your day going?"

"Well....................I think I hit a bird."

"You hit a WHAT?" (He is now calculating the cost of the repair of anything I may have damaged.)

"A bird."

"Oh....a bird. Well, that's not bad." (Phew. No money lost here.)

Now my words all run together in a gushed outpouring, "I was driving home from school and there was a flock of birds in the field and they were all just sitting there being twitterpated and all the sudden this one flew up and flew all around and then BANG! I heard something hit my suburban. And then a cop drove by and I was sure I had a black bird splattered on the front grill of the suburban and I was sure he was going to pull me over for animal cruelty. (I paused to take a breath) But he didn't."

My husband was chuckling now. "Well, that bird won't be twitterpated anymore." He is sooooooooo compassionate. And practical.

"But I really felt badly."

"Was it a red wing blackbird?" He knows these are one of my favorite birds.

"No....it was just a black bird. I know how I'll feel better! I'll say it was a grackle!!! One less grackle in the world, hahahahaha!" (That was an evil laugh, by the way. I despise grackle's. They bully my birds and knock eggs out of mess and eat up all my bird seed.)

He chuckled. "Only you."

I think he married me just for the fun phone calls he gets to have every day. :)

My Great Grandma is Dying

My great grandma, who is ninety, is dying. Her heart has weakened, hospice has been called in and someone sits with her all hours of the day and night.

My mom, my sister, my two year old niece and I went to see her Sunday afternoon. Honestly, I do not recall a time only the four of us have done anything together - except maybe sat in the hospital when my niece was born - and we had a good time out and about today. The January sun shone brightly and cheered our travel. We giggled and laughed and drank coffee. My niece and I made funny faces and skipped across the parking lot together, her in her princess shoes, glittery skirt and fancy pink beads.

My great grandma always scared me as a child. She is tall. And wore heels. She spoke loudly and I could never tell her and her sister - who was always with her - apart. I thought they were twins. I would go to hug my great grandma, get my aunt, they would look all the long way down at me, exclaim "oh my lands", pat my back roughly and off I'd go....scared to death being the timid girl I was (am).

Growing up, I never thought much of her.

Sometime after my husband and I married and settled here, she began to show up at the house. She always came bearing chocolate of all sorts (whatever holiday had just passed, that was the chocolate she brought. She always informed me of the great price.). She brought me tablecloths that I loved but was afraid to use. Baking dishes. Kitchen towels. Balls for the boys to play with or coloring books and crayons.

Then she would sit at my table, look at the chaos around us, smile a bit, and tell me a bit of when she lived on a farm.

I had never known this.

And in her visits, she became very dear to me.

And life being what it is, I never made it out to see her at her apartment.

Until today.

My Aunt (her daughter) was there and I have always liked my Aunt B. She is stylish and sweet and kind and I have always admired her. In a chair, bundled in a white blanket someone had painstakingly made, was a shell of the woman who had visited me.

My great grandma.

What do you say to a dying woman?

After a bit of time and small talk, I asked Aunt B if she knew where any pictures of the farm were. I had never seen any. She dug around a bit and showed me a stack of old pictures, none of which were the farm, but all were pictures of my great grandma.

Young.

Huge smile upon her face.

Twinkle in her eye as her shoulders were flung back and her head was held high.

She oozed spunk.

She wore heels.

Her arm was always around my great grandpa - whom I never met.

I had never seen a young photo of my great grandma before.

As I was flipping through them, great grandma's sister - the one I used to always confuse for her - came in to visit. Dressed in a house dress, her earrings, socks and shoes all matching, she hugged her sister and sunk into a chair to chat with the company.

Someone came across a photo of a truly hideous Christmas tree and they all began to recall Christmases where the tree had been cut from some top of a huge pine tree up north, hauled home to be put up where all the needles would dry up and die before Christmas was over. How my great aunt's husband would suddenly disappear while all the kids were clearing the table and washing up Christmas dinner, grumbling over how they wanted to open up presents when suddenly SANTA would appear, hohohoing as the dishes were just done.

Great Grandma and her sister chuckled, sisters whose eyes were far away recalling past memories.

My Great Grandma, oblivious to all of us but her sister in that moment, croaked out "Those were the good old days, weren't they?"

My great aunt rocked a bit in her chair. "Mmhmm, those were. Those were the good old days."

Silence held a moment as they were lost in their thoughts.

And it was then, holding those old pictures, looking at my great grandma and her sister that it struck me...........

Those good old days?

Those are the moments I am living RIGHT NOW.

THIS moment when the boys are all seeming to make me go crazy but still run up and give me hugs good night and kisses on my cheek and want to snuggle a bit.

THIS moment my sister is in, huge pregnant and due in mere days with her second baby.

THIS moment when I have a husband to wrap his arms around me, to protect me and care for me. When our future, as much as one can see, is laid before us.

And I can lean my head back on my strong husbands shoulder, laugh with him at the antics of our children, and know I have been blessed.

THIS MOMENT.

This frozen moment in time.

Tired mothers out there, grasp this. Do not wait until the moment has passed and you missed it, worried over getting past it.

It was just yesterday to a ninety year old woman.

Knowledge I Have Learned From S4 Over The Weekend

S4 talks all the time.

As in...

ALL

Day

Long.

He even talks in his sleep.

When he spends the day at the library with me, no one wonders why I blog. The problem is, I can't even remember all the things he says in a day because it is sooooooooooo much.

I'd like to record him all day long. Really. Because he is his own comedy act even when he doesn't mean too be. But sometimes he does and then he is really funny.

This weekend he was especially "wise".

He informed me that Girls don't know that much stuff. All girls have to do is cook and write. Boys know cool stuff and are way stronger so they are cooler than girls. And girls can't do anything without a license. But boys can. That's why boys are better.

I try to argue this with him. But his mind is made up.

I can't understand because...um, I am a girl. Enough said.

S4 looooooooooooooves his Sunday School teachers. I don't know how Mr and Mrs G do such a great job week after week but I sincerely hope they are S4's Sunday School teachers for forever. Honestly. This week they apparently learned about Satan...and S4 took all they had to say to heart. When S3 wasn't wrestling fair with him, he informed him it was because he had learned to be mean from Satan.

Would that not make you suddenly want to be nice?

I think it's gonna be S4's new ace in the hole response. Which means I had better come up with a good explanation when we are out and about and he starts telling strangers they learned bad behavior from Satan.

Can you imagine????

For a looooong time S4 has told these elaborate stories about when he was a "little kid". They all begin with "Well, when I was a little kid....." and they are grand wonderful stories. I will do all I can to pry them from him. Since he has started school, however, he never has them anymore. This makes me terribly sad and wishing I had written more down. Today he informed me that he would tell me a story....if I let him stay two nights, or more, at Oma and Papa's house (my parents). Until then, no stories.

Well.

I hadn't even asked for one. Had no thoughts of one. He just informed me. In his no nonsense way.

He then let me know that if I hurt his feelings I can just hug him and he will forgive me.

That's a relief.

Saturday night I put my hair up in all sorts of little buns. That way when I woke up Sunday, it would be all curly. I used to do it all the time when my hair was in that "I can do nothing with it at all" growing out stage. I couldn't remember exactly how I used to pull it off. S4 jumped in bed to snuggle with me and give me a full report on all his brothers going ons and noticed my hair in its buns.

He stopped mid report.

That never happens.

"What did you do with your hair?" he asked disgusted.

I played it off as thinking it was super pretty (this is probably why he has such a big job of explaining life to me....Obviously I need serious help). He informed me all morning with a scrunched up nosed look that he thought it looked "different".

He was thrilled when it got all unwound and was curls. Though he likes it better "regular" looking he informed me. And since my hair didn't really turn out well after all, he did have me there.

His brothers and he watched Because of Winn-Dixie. Remember the bear that comes into the library? Well, he is going to be ARMED and PREPARED next time we go to the library. He has it all planned out. Because, he is a boy and he will have to protect his moma and Miss A. It's the boys duty.

And he will be brave enough to do it if he has a nerf gun, a piddow pet and his moma nearby.

All weekend I got innumerable hugs, kisses, "you are the best moma ever" statements and compliments on the chocolate chip cookies I made. That little baby boy of mine, well, he is hilarious and he melts my heart a million times a day. And when he goes to school full time next year, my life will be boring.

It will.

He is a treasure and I am so thankful God surprised us with Abraham five years ago. He knew we needed him. Heck, ABE knows we NEED him.

All the boys have their own special places and special quirks, S4's just demand my time more often and I thought I'd give you a glimpse - I stress that strongly, this is a glimpse - into a weekend with him. This, by far, is my favorite stage of boyhood.

55 days till spring

Sometimes.....

My handsome hubby looks up to see

This....

He totally deserved it.

Glimpse Into Our Life

Sometimes I think people think our life is so perfect, so happy and so lovey that it should be a Hallmark movie.

Our life is super real. And it's all those above things too. But here is a glimpse of our real life for you all...

When we woke up Thanksgiving morning, we checked traps. As in mouse traps. And we had caught three. I literally did a happy dance. The boys gave high fives. We have been trying to catch these little mice for two weeks...they were so little they could eat and run. Well, they got fat enough finally.

My happiest moment of all of Thanksgiving was watching my brother crawl around on the floor and get my super cranky niece to scream and giggle and watch Jr attack his suddenly grizzly bear Daddy. Literally I almost cried it was so precious and so funny and so great and just so my brother.

My Dad did that with him and I like, last week wasn't it? Weren't we just those ages?

This morning, when I woke up, I was literally laying on the side of the bed. I could not lay on my back or I'd crush Jake. I could not lay on my tummy or I'd be on the floor. I had hardly a sheet on me and it took all my mostly asleep strength to pull just enough of the comforter to wrap me up a bit so I could go back to sleeping. There was, in our queen sized bed, S2, S3 and S4.

And Sadie.

And Jake.

And me.

I wonder why I wake up like an old woman, shuffling for the coffee pot, holding my side that still hasn't healed from the tripping incident and catch a glimpse of me, dark circles under my eyes and rats nest in my hair? It's shocking. As in scary shocking.

But I tell you what, when those chubby little arms fling over and cuddle me closer, I do feel loved.

And realize that it's sad S1 doesn't cuddle in bed with us in the middle of the night anymore.

S4 declared we had too many people in this family, too many brothers. Then when Hubs asked him when we should have stopped having boys and he realized that whenever they would have stopped would have meant no him, he decided that we had the perfect number of brothers. But he was up for having S3 sent to him room for awhile.

We went and got our Christmas tree yesterday. It's lovely. And it's not decorated. It's not decorated because it's so lovely in the raw form...no...it's not decorated because in order to get the decorations I have to clean a path through the spare room. Seriously. That it's not decorated makes S4 so very sad.

And makes me feel even further behind.

My house is such a mess that I would be mortified if someone stopped in. Today I finally took the dead hanging basket down from where it hung on our front porch. But I just set it on the front porch...

I told Hubby that I was desperate to write. He metioned I could in my spare time...

I have no spare time.

I sometimes think my head is a whirlwind of half thoughts and half finished projects.

I didn't even get my sister a birthday gift this week.

And my best friends birthday package is upstairs, half put together, not sent out. Her birthday was in September.

So, if I don't blog often, know its not because words aren't bouncing in my head desperate to get written. I am typing out this rambling bunch because they screamed the loudest. And then I'll be off to re-clean the kitchen, recheck the mouse traps, make dinner, clear all the unfolded socks off the table so we can eat the dinner I have yet to make....

But I'll be thinking of all the blogs I want to write.

And all the walking runs I wish I were doing every day.

And being totally and fully and gratefully thankful for my insanely loud boys, my messy house and my hardworking hubby.

Because I am blessed. And my life is BETTER than a Hallmark movie.

Carpets Are The Cruel Curse To House Wives

When we bought our house eons and lifetimes ago (it sorta feels like eons when we moved in childless and now have four boys, one of them nearly as tall as me!), it had orange carpet.

My husband thought it was just fine.

I did not.

I asked for wood floors. Throughout the whole house.

He assured me I would indeed want carpeting. Who wants cold hard wood floors?

Even before children, I could see the writing on the wall.

Fast forward twelve years. Because he loves me greatly, husband and a friend put down wood floors in the dining room (where the carpet was a light berber...I'll let you think about THAT color carpet being in your DINING ROOM and also your MAIN ENTRANCE into the house. The house in the country. With mud. And dogs. And four boys. Okay, got a good mental image now?). The floors are seven years old now and scuffed and worn and I love them to pieces! I have never ever once thought "I wish we hadn't put wood floors in here".

But because my husband is so enamored by carpet, the man went out and got a huge roll of carpet for the living room. It's white.

I'll let you think on that a moment.

It's not tan (well, now it kinda is). It's white. Brilliant white.

It was free.

He could not resist.

I have spent the entire day running the carpet cleaner over it to sorta return it to a sorta white tinted carpet again.

And every time I dumped the nasty, full of mud and dog hair and BB riddled water down the drain I thought "All I wanted was wood floors."

At this point, I would be happy with plywood floors.

I hate carpet.

And venting this to all the moms who understand my feelings on this makes me feel we are more bonded now in the sisterhood of housework.

Critters on the Farm

(this post is dedicated to KE, who will despise this blog post, but her kids will love.)

Because we get too many in one day, and because I was going through all my photos and seen all these pictures I thought I would post them up here for you all to get a glimpse into what our boys consider a good day.

You know you are having a good boy day when S4 asks to pray and he prays "Dear God, thanks for the turtle and the frog and the snake and the watermelon. It's a great day. Amen."

So, here is a picture of a gartner snake, my hubby is holding it, he thrust it at my face and I screamed bloody murder. Notice the green shirt of one of the boys, scared they are not. Laughing they all were at their girly moma. I LIKE being girly!

Here is a garter snake that S1 is holding and I zoomed the camera in to get a close picture of it and it just is blurry but nightmarish so why not share? It was on the camera, I figured I might as well.

Here is a blue spotted salamander. This is the largest one I have ever seen, I believe. Hubby found it in the field and handed it off to S3 who was more than happy to take it for him. We used to catch these all the time as kids but the boys don't find too many. I think they are too cool so I make sure they let them go the same day they catch them. One time we tried to keep one, later in the day we had to have a funeral for it after the unfortunate bathtub incident.

See, aren't they just the cutest? Love those salamander smiles!

This is a big honkin' bull frog. S3 thought it should live in the house. I did not. I am not sure how I should feel about him thinking that our home is PERFECT for bullfrogs.

A painter turtle + two toads = a great day.

This, THIS, is the cutest toad EVER. How can you not smile at that cute face?

One morning, S2 went outside, seen this baby bird on the grill, picked it up and brought it in the house to show me at 6:30 in the morning. He had been headed out to check his tomatoes, of course. He named this bird Wing. Wing lived with us for a day. The boys informed me it had a hurt wing. It seemed to fly around the house just fine, I thought. And when we let it outside, it flew to the squawking and calling birds in the old orchard by our house.

Here is a boxer turtle. I literally turned around to go back and get this cute thing. It rode on the back seat of the suburban and seemed genuinely happy for the ride. He was a big hit at the Vacation Bible School pick up time too. This is Lauren (check her mom's great blog and great stories about Lauren here) and she informed me that she doesn't like this turtle. She only thinks Snapping Turtles are the pet turtles to have.

But I think Boxer turtles are by FAR my favorite turtle. And we let it go in the swamp out back so I hope that I cross it's path very soon. No turtle is as cheery as a yellow boxer.

And to leave you with, here is a picture of the bunny that got away and hid in our house for about 48 hours only to be found, and then once put on the porch it escaped again but it escaped outside so I wish it only the best. And you have to admit, it was adorable.

So there you have it, a glimpse into some of the wildlife on our farm here. We don't necessarily find them all in the same day...but all in a week or so wouldn't be out of the realm of possiblitly. Which is why Becca won't be visiting any time soon, and why KE thinks our life should be a reality show. Hope these pictures make you come visit us soon, Farmer's Wife! Maggie would have a ball playing Survivor man here, I am sure! :)

The Rule of Three

Many apologies to Becca who tagged me ever so long ago and I am just now responding. I didn't totally forget, Becca!

Our Crazy Boys is a great blog I have been following for awhile now. Becca answers all my Mac questions with patience. She lives a life totally unlike mine, I do believe, and I have come to think of her as a dear friend. She has literally kept me giggling in waiting rooms of the Walk in Clinics and given me new ways to think about my life that is always refreshing. Her blog is a hoot, check it out because I know you will love it.

The jist is, I give three answers to the questions. You can check out Becca's answers HERE.

Three Names I Go By.

Moma.

Dee.

Auntie Dee.

Three Jobs I Have Had.

(other than being a wife and mom)

Farm Market.

Newspaper Stringer (for a super short time).

Waitress.

Three Favorite Drinks.

Coffee.

Iced Tea.

.....water.....but I can live dangerously and add lemon.

OH! I like those fruit drinks...what are they called? Vitamin Water. XXX is my FAVORITE. But I hardly ever get them.

Three TV Shows I Watch

Fox 17 News...all the time. :)

24, when it was on.

Glee. I admit it. I watch it when I can.

And I am currently looking for a new show to watch, to look forward to every week this fall and winter. Suggestions?

Three Places I Have Been.

Hawaii my senior year in high school, to see my Aunt.

Canada two boys ago, to visit that same Aunt. (she is VERY loved)

When I was little, my parents took us all to see the coal mines in West Virginia and the Ocean. I loved it. And only remember snippets, which is sad.

That's it....other than Upper MI or Indiana, that's all the places I have been other than home.

(though I really really really liked Becca's answer on this.......I've been there, AM there, too!)

Three Places I Would Like To Visit.

Montana. Especially a farm in Cohagen.

All of the USA, really. I hear about it all and would love to just travel it over. In an RV. With a full time tour guide and me not driving. And especially Becca's pool when it is cold here. And R's place in Texas, cuz she lives around the corner from Cabela's and didn't even know what it was and she runs to Starbucks all the time and that would just be fun.

Germany, to visit my cousin and travel around with her. We could go to all of Europe and I would be okay with that.

And Australia. Because I want to say "good'ay" so badly. And Paris, because I read Almost French and now I have to go to BOTH Australia and Paris.

And I know that's really four places. But Montana is IN the USA so really it's three.

Three Favorite Dishes

Anything my mom makes. Really.

All kinds of bread.

Peanut butter. I eat it every single day.

Three Things I am Looking Forward To.

More beach days this summer.

Helping Sue with Praise and Coffee, especially the tour of coffee shops and writing. I love to write.

Sleep. I just have to say, I just love to sleep. Read and sleep. And I don't get nearly enough of it. Ever. I always am not finished reading and not getting enough sleep.

Thus another reason for coffee.

So, now you all know......I am sure your life is better by knowing these things about me.

Happy Anniversary to my Wonderful Husband

Today is our anniversary, Hub and me.

We spent part of this past Sunday afternoon on our front porch, rocking in our separate rocking chairs, quietly chatting so the boys wouldn't know we were out there eating ice cream without them as they watched Duct Tape forever...again.

It wasn't anything deep. We were discussing the book I had just read, the crops, the wood he had cut, how to get over poison ivy...just random pieces of our weekend.

But there is no one else I would rather spend the rest of my life with on a little front porch rocking in the rocking chair, eating ice cream and discussing mundane life tidbits with.

We have reached that point where we are no longer newlyweds (thank goodness!) but we aren't the oldest couple out there either (ie, much to learn). Some days it seems like we have just gotten married, but then we glance back at all the boys in the back of the suburban and know full well it's been awhile since we said "I do".

When I said "I do" to him, I did not think I could possibly be more in love. I looked at our brand new future life through rose colored glasses, and at my husband the same way, sure our life would be a fairy tale.

And now I look at him and love him more than I can put into words, I know very well that life - married life and life in general - is tough. But I also know that it is worth all the work, a hundred times over it is worth all the work.

Because I am truly blessed. I am truly head over heels in love with my hubby. And I hope that one day, fifty years from now (when I am still younger than him!) we are still rocking in rocking chairs on our front porch, staring out at the crops, discussing grand kid tid bits and eating ice cream.

THAT is a real life fairy tale life.

I love you, ever so much, Jake. Thank you for marrying this little country girl all those years ago, and then spending all these years laughing and being my best friend and loving me on my bad days and holding me on tough days and being a great daddy to all the boys we've been blessed with.

You make me laugh, you make me break out in silly songs...you make my tummy do butterfly flip flops and my knees go weak.

Here is a song we both really liked, but didn't know the other liked it, till we watched the top 20 countdown one lazy coffee drinking Saturday. I think it's one of Reba's best. Enjoy.....

Wanted, Dead or Alive

A few nights ago, my Hubby was out working in the fields when he came upon a little baby bunny. A "Wild Rabbit" as my boys call them. It was so tiny and he was able to just scoop it up. And this was just too cute not to share, so he brought it to us in the house. I oohed and aahed over it, cuz it IS that cute, but the boys fell in love with the little thing and wanted to keep it for forever and forever...or until it got so big it could live on its own.

Before we could even say, "we'll think about it" they had a milk crate lined in an old towel, a little dish of water, grass and a carrot in the milk crate and every one of them was taking the time to cuddle with the bunny to show us how responsible they all are.

So we agreed. In hopes it would be let go later this week.

And it was, just not the way we intended.

The bunny escaped the coop. Some time in the night, it got out of the crate and is hiding in our house.

I have searched every corner I can, I have crawled on my hands and knees, I sorted EVERY piece of dirty laundry, and I still cannot find it.

Anywhere.

I think I'll put a poster on the door for anyone who stops in "wanted, dead or alive, this cute bunny".

Cuz when the weather man is talking 95 degrees with high humidity this week, uh, you don't want to smell out the little bunny's hiding place.

And once we do find it, cute as it is, it's living outside, where if it escapes again, it can find other bunny friends to live with instead of dusty house corners.

PS As I was loading the photo up on this story, Sadie began tearing the living room apart. As I hollered at her, from the corner of my eye I seen a flash of brown. Followed by the clamor of Sadie in hot pursuit. THE BUNNY!!!!!!! I was screaming at Sadie so loud to stop that the boys came falling into the house and what do they see? Their moma, still in her jammies, diving over the garbage can to pick up a bunny. Unhurt. And now it lives outside. In a crate. On the porch. The end.

We Got a New Dog....

And SHE needs a name.

Badly.

She is full blood, German Shepherd, five months old, completely black.

And she needs a name.
She has lived in a little coop in little garage with her two brothers (who were adorable and it was heart wrenching to choose. I stood coldly away, trying not to be attached to them instantly, but really, that is hard to do)


So here is what we will do.

Post a name to this POST, the best name you can come up with. We will list all the names that you all come up with betweeen this and the facebook post and HUSBAND will pick the name.

Winner will get some sort of prize, really. I am not sure what....it might just be a printed of her footprint but, well, that's a prize, right?

Thanks for your help!!!!

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.