Friday, July 29, 2011

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!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

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.

Driveway Hockey Game 7-11-11

Here is the video from the post



Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Dealing With Potty Talk

Today we went to the beach with some friends. S4 was doing the pee dance and had to go bad, but they were cleaning both bathrooms and we had to wait. His friend noticed and when asked what was wrong, S4 just said he had to get in the bathroom. Bad.

"Do you have to go number one or number two?"

S4 looked puzzled up at me. We have never done the numbers. For our family you have to go pee or guck and/or really bad. This number thing was new information to him. My friend explained it to him and he proudly then declared he had to go 1...and maybe 2 too. And then the dancing began again.

After the beach day where we all got nicely sunburned, S4 went home with my friend and her boys so the two little boys could have a play date. They had all sorts of fun and tonight we are all dragging after an adventure filled weekend has caught up with us.

And because we are sunburned too. That just sucks the life out of you.

In the tub the two littlest boys sat and S4 - who very honestly is alllllllllways talking - informed us he has learned what number one and two are and now we can say that so we don't have to use "potty talk".

S3 and S4 then began to discuss how cool this new information was to have.

Until S4 scrunched up his forehead and said "But I don't know what number 3 is...Moma, do you know what number 3 is?" He didn't even wait for an answer. "Oh, I know, I bet it's puke. I think number 3 is puke."

"Yah, yah!" S3 agreed. "And number 4 is fart."

"Number 5 is wet fart."

"Then number 6 is diarrhea."

Then began the discussion of diarrhea and don't you die from diarrhea because it's "DIE-arhea." So then S3 had to explain in great detail what diarrhea is and how you feel and how gross it all is.

Silence came upon the tub until S4 said, "Yup, it's a good thing we don't have to potty talk anymore now that we know the numbers."

Why, yes, your moma so agrees with you.

I think it's time for them all to go to bed now.


Friday, July 1, 2011

Summer Magazine

Our new Summer Edition of Praise and Coffee Magazine is Out!!!

(this makes me greatly happy)

Please take a moment in your busy summer to check out our latest edition.


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And thank you ever so much for all of you who serve our country

So we all can enjoy our freedom

That was truly not free.

God bless you all so greatly!