Reason's To Be Late To School

This morning, five minutes AFTER the time we were supposed to be leaving for school, S4 began what I could immediately tell would be a long story on how the red gloves on the floor were so cool because he could wear them OR I could wear them.

So I do the whole "look at me...We. Are. Late."  This has to be carried out with the greatest of care because if it is too emotional, he will burst into tears and then we will be even later.

The ladies working the cross walk at school have gotten to the point that they cheer when we are on time.

Not. Even. Joking.

But the best, the BEST reason we have been late to school lately is this jewel of a story....

Some well meaning teacher at Word of Life gave S4 an airplane.  You know whose cheap ones you buy flat and then slide the pieces into?  They are sorta made of foam?  Those.

Sorta like this but not this one - thanks Google Image.

They were ready for school early (SHOCK!) and had run outside to play.  Because it was a work day for me, I was still flying around getting ready.  S4 brought out his little airplane and S2 had a brilliant plan.

I'll let you pause a moment to think about what could possible be a brilliant idea.......…

Our kitchen on the house is a lean to built on ancient million years ago.  Our entire house was built so long ago that it doesn't have year — seriously.  And at some point they added the lean to kitchen.  The roof dips low and that roof had caught S2's eye.

"Let's fly the airplane over the kitchen.  It will look SO cool!" he suggested.

Since S2 has the best football throwing arm of the three of them, S2 threw the airplane.

It landed on the roof.

And it did not fly off.

S4 burst into tears.  S2 knew he was going to be in trouble for this one so he thought up a brilliant idea. Hockey sticks are long and have a sorta hook on them...hockey sticks could get this airplane down.

Meanwhile, I am in the house thinking they are being so super good getting ready for school.  Imagine my surprise when I heard THUMP on the roof.

Do you think I could pull those boys away from rescuing the airplane?  No.  We ran to classes explaining that they had tried to get an airplane off the roof with hockey sticks and everyone stared at us for a moment and then just laughed because that pretty much figures with us.

That night I had forgotten about the hockey stick and airplane incident.  Being cold and ever so tired, I decided to take an early shower.  As I was lathering my hair in shampoo I heard the door slam.  Then I heard running feet on the upstairs steps.  Then I heard "thump, thunk, thump".  The dog began to bark. The feet ran down the steps.  The door slammed.

And then it started all over again.

No one heard my "Hey, what's going on?" shout from the shower.

When I got out of the shower, dripping wet, wrapped in the towel, three little boys filed into the house. "What was going on out there?" I asked.

S2 shrugged.  "We were just playing football."

"Yah," S3 agreed too quickly.

"Why was the dog barking?" I asked.

"The dog barked?" S2 asked blankly.

"Why were you running upstairs?  And going in and out of the house?" I drilled.

"Um, I don't know," S2 said slowly.  I had him pegged as the ring leader.

"I feel you are not telling me something."  I gave them all that mean, hard mom look which I must have mastered because, lets face it, it's hard to take someone seriously when they are wrapped in a green towel with a pink towel turban on top of her head.

S4 caved.  "We threw the football to get my airplane," he squeaked out.  He held up the recovered airplane for me to see.

"How did you do that?"

"Well," S2 began, all nonchalant like it was no big deal, "We just threw the football on the roof to get the plane down."

A light went on in my head.  "You went upstairs and threw it out the window."

S4 nodded solemnly.  He was certain I would take the airplane away now.  Tears were forming in his eyes.

S3 was not admitting to anything.  He was willing to let his brothers get in all the trouble and make a clear get away on this.

The three boys had run upstairs, opened the upstairs window over the kitchen, leaned out the window and thrown the football towards the airplane, attempting to hit the airplane to get it to move and fall off the roof.

It took a lot of tries.

S1 wandered in the front door about this time.  "What's going on?" he asked, looking us all over.  S2 tossing his football from hand to hand.  S3's eyes huge and his feet fidgety.  S4's head hung low with tears dripping down his face.  Mama in a towel in the middle of the room.

"Where have you been?" I demanded.

"I was in my shop.  Why?" he asked, thinking he should have stayed there.

I turned back to the other three.  "That was NOT a wise idea."  I could see them holding up the window — it doesn't stay up on its own — while they leaned far out the window to toss out the football.  "No football till you play with Daddy," I added.

The three nodded solemnly.  I headed for the bedroom to get dressed, S1 hung around to get S2's story.

Really, why am I exhausted at the end of the day?

Can NOT Wait For Monday

Those who know me well know that I do not like Monday's at all.  Not. At. All.

Those who know me really well know I do not like Sunday's much either.  Not much at all.

But this week?

I can not wait for Monday.

Saturday was our last football game.  S2 stormed onto the field, played the game and lost.

It was tough.

It was also as windy as could be.  We have battled rain, enjoyed sunshine, had our eyeballs frozen and everything in between.  But now it is over.

That won't seem real until I am not driving to school every evening for practice.

I couldn't wait for Saturday night.  I had dinner on the grill all planned.  A movie to curl up with my honey over.  I could see popcorn in my near future.  A "hooray! we can slow down now that football is over" night if ever there was one.  I had been looking forward to this night for about eight weeks or so.

As it was, my husband made plans without consulting me.  Our good friends we haven't gotten together with in forever and ever called to see if we wanted to see a movie their church was playing. A movie we have already watched called Monumental. It's a great movie, I was happy to watch it again, just not THAT night, not THAT far from my snug little farmhouse.  Jake told me we had not watched the movie before until I reiterated to him the entire movie, what we were doing before we went to the movie, where we watched the movie at (our church) and mentioned the fact that S4 had been covered in dirt and barefoot that night we watched Monumental at our church during the summer.

He could hardly remember this and so he had made the plans and didn't want to back out of them.

And I, being the mature person I am, did something out of character.  Something low.  I looked at my husband and said to him, "How is it I married you?  I would be happily snug at home tonight as my introvert self but oh no, I had to marry YOU, Mr. Social!!!"

He gave me a loud kiss.  "I'm good for you."

He is.

But not on this day.

We hurried through dinner.  I suffered the pain that MSU lost their game agains U of M and S2 cheered - how as a mother have a raised a son who cannot cheer the great MSU team?  It's like a mom failure or something - and went to the unfamiliar church to watch a movie my husband than remembered and then joined them for ice cream.

We arrived home exhausted and still my husband needed to give the boys haircuts.

I curled up into bed and fell asleep.  Oh, sleep, how I miss you!

Sunday I awoke to the smell of coffee.  Fresh brewed coffee is such a wonderful smell when you didn't brew it yourself.  My husband had picked up these amazing cinnamon rolls at Weicks the day before and I could hear him opening the package and warming up a roll.

I smiled in complete blissful love.  My darling husband was making me breakfast in bed.

How was I ever so blessed to marry such a wonderful guy?

I didn't want to ruin the surprise so I snuggled in bed and closed my eyes when I heard him headed my way.  He entered the bedroom, that love of my life.  It was so difficult to act asleep when all I wanted to do was grin or throw my arms around him and tell him how wonderful he is.  But if I did either of those things I would startle him and he would spill my coffee and we cannot spill coffee.

My husband walked around the bed and...grabbed his phone.

Grabbed his phone and walked away to the dining room where I heard the fork hit the plate of his warmed up cinnamon roll.

I figured he was just being sweet and didn't want to wake me up, just let me sleep in.  I mean, I didn't even know I wanted breakfast in bed until I was apparently not getting any.  I couldn't resist texting him though.  "You would rather spend your morning with youtube than with me?"

He ended up bringing me coffee to bed.

When we got up all we did was run.  We ran to church where we rushed out as soon as our pastor said "You are dismissed."  We drove like the wind to arrive home and quickly grab some clothes to change into that somehow we forgot as we ran back out the door.  Time home?  Five minutes.

We pushed a little past the speed limit to arrive at my husband's mom's home where we had one hour to eat dinner and then make ourselves look great because we were getting family photos taken.  We have never ever had family photos taken and the photographer was great and cheery so we really can't wait to see how the photos turned out.

We had half an hour after pictures to visit before we had to run to Jake's office, grab his paperwork, hurry to the dollar store to pick something up we had forgotten we needed for church and then hurry home where I had fifteen minutes.

In fifteen minutes I made a pot of coffee and loaded the dishwasher.  As i was headed out the door, I spilled my entire cup of coffee all over the stove.

We jumped in the suburban and hurried off to church.  Jake had left with S1 to make sure he got him to youth group on time.  It was then I realized we had forgotten a child.

Yes, you read that correctly.

We hadn't even made it a mile down the road when my call to double check with my husband that he did in fact have S2 with him only to hear he did not.  S2?  He heard me holler.  He heard me leave.  He knew I would be back for him.

Grrrr.  What a stinker.

We arrived to church where we had our Dave Ramsey class while the boys battled a real live bat.

Yes, you read that correctly too.

They thought it was so cool.  They hope the bat continues to live in the church.

My husband stayed at church for a meeting.  I took four boys boys home, three of which were so exhausted they were fighting and crying.

The smell of a dead mouse hidden somewhere in the house greeted me as I walked in the door at eight fifteen at night.

Monday the boys get to sit at school.  I get to sit at work.

Monday night we get to stay home all night for the first time in about eight weeks with no practice to run to.

i can't wait for Monday.

Praise and Coffee Fall Magazine is HERE!

Praise and Coffee Fall Magazine has arrived!

We are sooooo excited for this magazine issue.

Perhaps you have been at that place where you are not sure just what God is telling you.  Perhaps you have just had to let it all go.

Because that's where we were.

I sat on Sue's back deck and said, "I'll miss it terribly, but if we need to leave the magazine behind for a little while, I'll do that."

From that conversation came a rebirth of the magazine.  And not really the magazine, but the movement of Praise and Coffee.

Perfectly timed was a visit from our dear friend, Ronel.

Ronel writes a blog called Chosen For More and she is the National Director for Praise and Coffee.  She can spout out all sorts of information about Praise and Coffee at any given moment.  That is cool, but what rocks is her heart.  Her heart is with her family, her country and helping women.

And...get this...she likes to write curriculum.  I did not know this.  Sitting at the same table you see in this picture, she wrote out an entire study.  Amazing.

While we were all together out for lunch meeting some really great women (Check out their site Circle of Friends), Ronel gave a "mini resume".  I was blown away.  I looked over at her and thought, "And here I loved you because I loved your heart....But holy wow!"

Sue, Ronel and I sat around the table and from our heart flowed words — and Ronel then looked up the words to make sure the words we used were exactly what our hearts were saying.  It was an intense two day pow wow, and it was a God moment in so many ways.

What we were willing to give up was reborn and the excitement we have — spectacular.  Our vision is clear, and we know that had to have come totally from God.  His fingerprints are all over this.

Thrilled?  That would be an understatement.  We poured our heats out here, and thrilled we are with the end result. 

So look over our magazine, tell us what you think.  

I mean, really tell us!

We want to know what you think.  Check out our Facebook links, they are a way to stay even more connected and join the conversation.

Connect. Encourage, Inspire.

It's not a ministry, it's a movement.

Won't you join us?

Praise and Coffee Magazine

My article on the football phase of my life and the friends I have — a post from the heart. HERE.

Korene's amazing fall craft is EASY and found HERE.

They Lost - But He Won

Today was S1's furthest away game.

While I sat behind the desk at the library, everyone walked in telling us how cold it was.

How it was a great night for cocoa and a book.

And I had to head out in it.

After school I picked up all the boys, returned to the library so they could eat a snack and get dressed for the game.  My lovely youngest son was in shorts and a tshirt and nothing more to wear.

Alicia called her husband, who ran us over a pair of too small pants that their youngest son had and with a glance of the clock, we flew out and dropped S1 off at the bus right at 3:30, their take off time.

As I drove off to Subway for our sandwiches, I thought how great S1 handles this.  He was ready in time for the game, but getting three brothers ready on time can be...challenging.  Especially when you have less than half an hour.

Our local Subway has been awesome to us.  Because doesn't everyone love to hear, "Hi...we need six subs.  And can you write our names on them for us?"  My cell phone ringing.  "Um, we are going to need to make that nine subs."  And they just smile and get the job done.

Korene met Nancy and I slightly later than we planned to take off, it's called real life, people - so coffee before the game was not going to happen.

And I knew right where we were going for coffee....Uncommon Grounds.

Kor and I bundled up and headed to the game.

Do we look like football moms of boys or what?

Special thanks to Kellyn for my hat.  I tell you, my ears and head were NOT cold during the game.  Honest.

And the wind was blowing approxemetaly 500 miles per hour and there were seriously (no joke on this) snow flakes in the air.  Earlier it had been raining ice.  Lovely weather.

Here is Max, Kor's littlest guy, S4 who was just moving from one screaming disaster to another today, S2 who was happy to not be water boy tonight and S3 who was happy to play some football with his buddies - because we were at a football game, right?

It didn't take us long to realize we were going to need warmth.

I was severly suffering without my coffee.

So Kor headed off for hot cocoa.

We needed the cocoa.  We were nearly frozen and our boys were loosing.

Big time.

The cocoa?  Lukewarm at best.

The usual cost?  Fifty cents.  This? $1.50.

But we grinned about it anyhow.

But then I realized Kor didn't have her hood up.  And with her hood up and my hat, we are hard to miss.

This also is one of my new most favorite photos.

Seriously.

I am ever so thankful for Kor's friendship.

I asked Nancy and her honey to smile and look warm.

Well, at least they look happy.

Our boys lost.  They lost huge. 36 to 0.

At the very end, one of our boys broke free and ran it in for a touchdown.  We cheered.  We were the first team of the entire season to score against them.  And we were loosing so badly that they were just running the clock to end the game for us - and them.

There was a flag on the play and it didn't count.

The coach, a new coach who was filling in for their coach who couldn't be there, was furious with them at half time. The coach told them to do something that my son didn't think was right.

"He's the coach and all, but it's just a game," my son said with a shrug.

My son got it.

My heart soared.  It didn't matter that they lost and we froze, it was all worth it to hear my son's take on the game.

We left the game and scarfed down our Subway.  We headed for coffee...saw the coffee shop and saw the line to get in and drove on.  All that build up for coffee and we didn't get any.  You all must know how this pained me. We drove like the wind to get to the school, taking back roads and saying over and over again, "It's so beautiful out" with the fall colors and the changing sky with the setting of the sun...but the school bus apparently knew a much faster way.

Our boys were waiting for us.

And was waiting with our boys?  The Coach who signed on to help later in the season because our coaches needed help due to their other work schedules.  This coach I cannot speak highly enough of.  He cares for these boys and it's obvious.  I am thankful for him.

Our football season is nearly over, two more games for S2, one more for S1.

And I am as proud as can be of my boys.

Football - First Game Ever, First WIN Ever

On September 12th, S1 had his first football game.

Ever.

I never expected him to enjoy football.  I never really expected him to play football.  He has had a lot of guys tell him he should play but I thought he would stay hunting. But he signed up, was glad he survived practice and then low and behold, he ended up liking football.

The day of his first game, it was hard to figure out who was the most nervous.

S1 didn't seem nervous at all.  S2 was so nervous for his older brother I thought he may be sick.  I was so excited and so scared...S2 I tell to run as fast as he can so he can't get caught with the ball.  S1 I have to say, "Hit the kid hard enough that he stays down...but don't hurt him...and don't let him tackle you."

That just seems wrong somehow.

They marched onto the field and I have to say, I may have had a bit of a tear in my eye.  I snuck a photo as their cleats clicked along the pavement.

We have, seriously, one of the VERY best sports announcers for our little school.  He cares about the kids out on the field, he has great school pride, he is naturally hilarious and he can sell food like no one I have heard before.  He can sell cheese dipped in cheese, seriously.  He let our boys climb up in the press box to watch the game.

The day was hot.  Hot hot hot.  And S1 played hard with his team, getting over the nerves and putting into practice the plays they have worked so hard on.  It was all a learning experience.  At the end of the game, the other team pulled out a touchdown in the bottom of the fourth and my son's team lost by eight.  He still smiled.

We took a zillion photos.  Okay, I took a zillion photos.  We had made it through the first game! We had survived!

S1 had had his own cheering section.  The boys in the press box, us, my parents, my grandparents, my aunt and since it was a home game, a lot of friends from school came out to cheer their friends on.

It was a good game.

He told me later it was hard to hit a kid he didn't know.  It's fun in practice, it's just "horsing around".  But on the field, it's business.  That was a tough switch for him.

Wednesday, September 19 I loaded the suburban up with cookies, brownies, water, caffeine, an extra kiddo and two extra mom's and we headed to a school in a town I had never been to. Our first away game.

We did not get lost on the way but we nearly had to be like the Dukes and jump a hole in the road that blast it all I didn't think to take a photo of until we had turned around.

We sent our boys to school in their white jersey's, we arrived to the school it find them in old school maroon jersey's.  The school we were playing against only had white jersey's so someone had dug in the dark corners of the school and found some ancient old jersey's.  The parents in the stands were straining to get a glimpse of a face, watch the way the boy walked to find their player.  Some jersey's only fit the boys half way down their torso's.  Some seemed a bit snug, or big or small.  But they were our boys and we cheered like the dickens for them.

I sent texts during the game to Jake who couldn't be there.

"We just scored!!!!!!! :) 6 to 0.  That extra point didn't go in."

"Ugh. The other team just ran it in."

"Extra point no good so it's tied 6 to 6."

"Someone just ran it in! Touchdown Martin!!!!"

"Extra point is good!!!!!!"

"On our last quarter.  We are ahead 14 to 6."

We won.

Those boys whooped and hollered and cheered and jumped up and down.

Us parents gathered the blankets, coats, popcorn and drinks and made the trek back to the vehicles, shivering a little because we were so cold that night.  Thrilled with our boys! Staying away from the parents who had the son's who had lost the game.

But no one got hurt.  That was the call I made to my husband.  "They WON! And no one got hurt!"

Such a mom.

We hung out at the bus as the kids climbed on.  Korene and I were all set to take our boys home with us, planning on getting some McDonald's for dinner.

The coach told us no.  "They need to enjoy this moment as a team," he said.

This mama knew the coach was right.  But as I watched my boy climb the bus, cheering and celebrating with his team, I realized again just how grown up he is becoming.

How as a mom I need to adjust to that.

And how much I am not ready for that.

What To Do If A Gallon Of Paint Falls All Over Your Kitchen Floor

There are so very many titles for this post.

Here is what happened....

Yesterday I began getting all my fall decorations out and somehow managed to make the house messier than it was before I began.  And people, it was messy.  Like, I can't believe we are living like this messy.

I blame football six days a week.

Anyhow.

Hubs had given me "the look".  So this morning I made some super strong caramel coffee, ate an apple donut and got to work. 

I kicked butt.

I cleaned parts of this house that forgot what clean felt like (behind the toilet, for instance).  I scrubbed every pot and pan.  I folded five million loads of laundry (but not any socks).

I still had a ways to go, but I could see the end in sight.  Jake was gone on an overnight haul trip and I was certain when I went to bed the house was going to look transformed - and very fallish (my favorite kind of decorating.  Seriously. Who can't love fall decorations?).

I had calculated the time that the boys would only have 15 minutes after getting off the bus for us to leave again for practice so I decided to go pick them up.  Being busy cleaning, I had not made any after school snacks, but figured I would quick mix up a batch of no bake cookies when we got home.  I grabbed my cookbook for the recipe to be out when I returned, walked into the dining room and suddenly heard a very loud

Crash

I knew.  I knew before turning around what it was.

Long ago, before summer even began, I finally had decided on a paint color for the kitchen.  We had gone and bought said paint color.  I had asked a bunch of times if we could paint because according to my husband I am by far one of the worlds worst painters and he needs to help me.

I know for a fact, after today, I am WAY better than some others who shall remain nameless.

Timing never seemed right, so I just kept the paint on top of the dishwasher but I recently had moved it because it made a great book stop for stack of cookbooks.

Well, it had made a great book stop.  No longer.

Paint oozed out.  There is no way to scoop up paint, in case you ever wondered about that.

Once it begins pouring, you just begin crying.

It was like THE time for me to leave for getting the boys.  As I drove to the school, I realized that I was in the currently living in what would probably prove to be a great blog post.  I quick zipped to school and picked up my very surprised boys who thought they were riding the bus home.

"How was your day?" asked S1.

"Well, here's the thing...." I began.

"What.  Happened.  Now."

S1 knows me ever so well.

"Well," I began, "There was a slight accident.  But no one was hurt!  Um, thereisagallonofpaintalloverthekitchenfloor," I rushed out.

S3 and S4 suddenly had sonar ears.  "We get to paint? Yippee!" and they ran for the suburban.

"My thought is," I explained to S1 as I watched them gleefully run, "to just start painting the kitchen.  There is no way to get the paint back in the can so let's just paint it.  But I don't know where paint brushes and stuff is."

When we arrived home, all the boys trooped into the kitchen.  "Wow.  That is a mess," was the general statement of the moment.

What struck me greatly is that while this was definitely a big mess, no one seemed shocked by it.  Not even slightly fazed.  It's almost as if they are used to such things happening....

Maybe I should be worried.

No time to think on that now.

I set S3 and S4 in a spot in the kitchen I was sure that no eyes would ever see but me when I dared to move the furniture.  I had the boys just scoop paint onto paper plates and paint as fast as we could before it got sticky and before we had to leave for football practice.

(You apparently paint better if you just wear your grundies.)

Because I had not gotten to mopping the floors yet (that is an after bedtime thing to do here), the paint has a certain "texture" to it.  We have a sort of grass effect going on.  But we could call it "organic" and it may catch on.

I did not think that the little boys could possibly ruin a back hidden wall.  

I was wrong.

And the door was right next to the wall and the door was already covered with paint and since all the paint happened to be right in front of the door....

People, my boys had a great time. They laughed and stood tall knowing they were helping their mama, but that door is forever going to look like an eight and six year old painted it.  And a few other parts of the kitchen one wouldn't normally paint in a room are glowing in red.

It looks like we really like the color red.

All the boys agreed on one thing...it was a good thing Daddy was overnight.

We weren't even close to being done when it was time to leave for football.  S2 cried all the way to practice, he is so tired.  S3 and S4 fought over who could pretend to sing to the radio and who had to wait for another song to come one.  I did the never done before and left the two football players behind and drove home to continue painting.  When we arrived home, I sent the two little ones to watch TV.

The kitchen floor was covered in paint now.  Everyone had stepped in it and walked all over.  Paint brushes dripping in paint had left long lines of paint across the room.

My husband called.

Now, he can call me and talk for twenty minutes straight about someone he met or some place he stopped or road conditions or weather.  I was really hoping he wouldn't say, "And what have you been up to today?"

But he did.

So I told him.

I held nothing back.  Might as well prepare him.

He was not even shocked.

Are you catching a pattern here?

Even my friends I had text the photo too were unsurprised.  Some even giggled.  Giggled hysterically I would suppose.  Just they wait until paint falls on their kitchen floors.

Wait, I am the only one I know of who has ever had that happen.

The kitchen I had worked so hard to clean was suddenly this hazard mess everywhere.  I only had one burner on the stove I could get to so dinner had to be "creative".  I made up a couple packets of instant noodles, added some left over roast and headed out to pick up the boys.

When we went to get into the suburban to leave, somehow S4 forgot that his door was open, as in wide open, went to lean against it to buckle up and fell out of the suburban onto the hard pavement.

He was still gripping his booster seat.

He let out the most blood curdling scream.  A dad came to see what exactly was going on.  S4 was wailing and it was hard to tell if he was crying because he was scared, hurt, super hurt or overtired.

He asked if he could go to the hospital.

I may have gone to that "mom zone" in my head as I drove home to S4 wailing he may never be able to sleep again and that his wrist was broken so he could never to go school again while S2 cried that his Lions hat he had forgotten at practice the night before was missing and looked to never be returned again.

When we got home S4 ran for the TV, ate two or three plate-fulls of what all the boys deemed one of the best dinners I had ever made (hmmmm, that isn't helping me much.  Here I cook all these big from scratch dinners and they like the noodles from a package with left over roast beef.) and seemed to be just fine.  Well, until shower time when the wailing began all over again.

I think the second week of school is tougher than the first.

I sent the boys to bed.  S3 and S4 said they had to sleep with me so I wouldn't get lonely.  They have taken over the entire bed with all their stuffed animals.  S4 who was so sure he would never sleep again due to his booster seat accident seems just fine.

I scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees.  In my head, I rearranged some furniture pieces that I am now too exhausted to move.  I will spare you the gory details of scrubbing but believe me when I say my fingers ache.  It is pure love to share the story with you (so you can all be thankful this did not happen to you).  But just as I was finishing, S1 came down and stood in awe of the kitchen.

"We did pretty good," he said, "We should have painted this a long time ago."

I have to admit, we did do a pretty good job.  I love the color and I had forgotten how pretty it is.

So, if you need a room cleaned, spill a gallon of paint on your floor and let your kids go wild with the paintbrushes.  It will get done in no time.

OR....paint it as soon as you buy the paint and spare yourself (and your knees and fingers) some serious grief.

All in all, even though I am glad this day has ended and I get to finally go to bed, it honestly is going to be one of those days that we remember forever.  I think we all will grin when we tell the story of how the kitchen got painted. 

Sunday Afternoon Fun

On Sunday morning, we woke up late.

Jake and I honestly cannot remember waking up at the time we should have been leaving for church in a long time.  "We'll just go to big church," Hubs told me as he snuggled down into the bed again.

"OR...." and I gave him my best cute look that I could muster after being asleep for ten hours, "We could stay home today."

So we stayed home.

And it was blissfully wonderful.

After eating a big breakfast of pancakes (yes, Becca, with peanut butter), I cleaned up the kitchen while listening to the intense football game going on outside my kitchen window.

You know those moments you want to bottle and keep forever?  That was one of them.

So I grabbed the flip cam and took a few videos of the boys....




Daddy plays all time QB, S1 and S4 (Andrew and Abraham) are a team and S2 and S3 (Isaac and Eli) are a team.  The boys literally beg daddy to play football with them every single day.  Having a day free to play football? They couldn't have been happier.

A friend had facebook messaged us to see if we needed a free dishwasher.  And while we did not, my sister did so we made plans to head over and pick it up.

"Head over and pick it up" was close to a three hour trip because Kelly Faye is that awesomely sweet.

Every time I get a chance to see her I leave saying, "Jake, we need to get together with her more often."

She just bought this house in the past year and being a single girl, she didn't want a dishwasher.  Her house is done up in colors I love.  Seriously, I am just going to have her give me paint colors so I can pick them up for our house.  The boys love her dog Remii, and I dare say Remii will sleep soundly after chasing innumerable tennis balls thrown by the boys...not to mention the chasing of the boys themselves.  

I could go on and on about Kelly Faye.  She is that sweet, that down to earth, that wonderful.

And she lives next to Jake's high school good buddy, Bob.  And when Bob saw we were there, he had to pull in and say hello too.

So here is the funny story that Jake tells everyone about Bob.

When they were in high school, Jake bet Bob one hundred dollars that Bob would be married before Jake was.  Jake and I just celebrated 15 years, Bob has never been married.  Jake tells this story and looks at me as if to say, "You've been costing me money since I married you."  BUT HE SAYS, "You were worth every penny."  I always then choose to believe what he says.

And Bob, being Bob, did not make Jake pay that one hundred dollars. 

But I thought to snap this photo of them and I am just going to say, I love it for some many reasons.

After saying, "Well, we are going to get going" about twenty times (literally), we finally loaded up in the truck and headed home to grill chicken for dinner.  S4 had to clean out the suburban to help pay off the toy he bought (but didn't have the money for) and found our Burger King crowns from earlier this week.  He deemed me a princess and wanted me to wear it....

He thought I looked princess-y but since I had not combed my hair or put on make up that day, I seriously doubted it.

But what cracked me up was checking on my grilling hubby and finding him like this....

I love it.  I was almost sad no one stopped by to see us wearing crowns as we went about our evening.  I mean, that would be a memorable "drop by" for someone, don't you think?

As Jake, S1 and I snuggled on the couch eating hot fudge pudding cake and ice cream, tired and full of sweet food, I couldn't help but think what a wonderfully perfect day this was.

It was a good, good day.

Things I NEVER Imagined I'd Do

I've written a post titled this before.  You can read it HERE.  (But Kellyn won't want to since it deals with a boar's head.)

But this is again something I never thought I would do.

Today I went shopping for Jock Cups.  Which, actually, are not called Jock Cups.  They are actually called Flex Cups.  But come on, we all know what Jock Cups are and we wouldn't know what Flex Cups are.  Also, I would not suggest google searching such words.

Anywhoo.

I left the boys to find them for themselves while we shopped for groceries at Meijer.

They came back with chin straps.

This is when I began to get worried.  Because did my boys really want their mama calling for assistance to find jock cups?  Because you know that's what would happen.  They were happy to look for them on their own...and eventually found them.  They kept them in their own cart they pushed around the store, not wanting me to see them at all.

When I went to check out I looked at the selection of jock cups, mouth guards, deodorant, axe spray and sport formula febreeze I had in my cart.

I never thought I would buy these things.

I mean, when my boys were all sweet and little itty bitty, did I ever once pause to think, "Thirteen years from now I will be buying jock cups"?  No.  I did not.

But that's just what I did today.

After the grocery run, we had to head to a doctor's appointment for S1's Sports Physical.  Middle school is new territory for us all and I had no idea that he needed one to play football this year.  And his first ever football season starts Monday.

On our way to the doctor's office, we stopped at Burger King.  The boys have never eaten there.  S1 and S2 were pretty thrilled they had something called a bacon sundae and had to try it. S4 was thrilled there were crowns.  He begged me to wear it and beamed with pride and joy when I wore it out of the restaurant to the suburban.  S1 and S2 didn't quite walk with the three crowned members of their family.

We had a little time to kill and since we had already looked at and purchased jock cups, we headed to Bob's Gun and Tackle.  I mean, why not?  There we purchased ammo, gun cleaning kits, camouflage coat and shirt and various other things I have no idea of.  I also purchased a candle.  I mean, come on, with all this boy stuff I needed a girly candle and shockingly, they had an amazing vanilla smelling candle.

We arrived at the doctor's for the sports physical with the boys telling me what an awesome day this was.

S1 has reached that age where I asked him if he wanted me to tag along in the waiting room.  I acted like it was no big deal but if he had said no I think I would have called a girlfriend to sob that I was no longer needed any longer by my son.  But he did want me there!  He did not want his brothers.

So I gave the other three the biggest stink eye stern face you must behave look I could muster and off I went with S1 to get his sports physical.

Technically it was called a well child check up.

You know, the ones that little babies go to?  The very ones I took him to at three months, six months, nine months...etc.  Now it's once a year...

And now instead of being glad he grew a little I learned he had grown FOUR INCHES in one year.

However, he is exactly one quarter inch shorter than me.

We had thought he was taller but that quarter inch is a big deal and I am still taller! Woohoo!  I did a happy dance, he was crushed.  But he knows it won't last long...he'll beat me in height soon enough.

But when it came time to check "his boy parts", they asked if he wanted his mom there.  "She would probably not like to see this," he said so they ushered me out.

I gave birth to the boy!!! Hello?

But I chatted with all the nurses in the back room and scored a great almond cookie recipe.

When I called Jake to tell him how the appointment had gone, he asked me if the jock cups had jock straps.

I was not aware such things existed.

So, off to the store we went again and stood in front of the jock cups and straps and all sorts of manly things.

After all that, I needed a Biggby.  With an extra shot.

All in all, it was really a pretty great day.

One I may not recover from for some time but great all the same.

And the boys don't seem too traumatized...but again, these are things I never imagined I would do.

What else will I have to do now that they are getting older?

Wait, don't tell me.  I need no more boyish things today.

Football

It's that time of year again.

Football.

This year S1 has sorta decided to play.  As in, he survived two conditioning practices and isn't for sure if he is going to play.  Well, until he got this t-shirt, that is.

We signed S2 up for football today, he was THRILLED to get his old number back again.

Look at those tough farm boys!

S3, you can't see, is crying because he isn't playing this year.  If he cries much more, his Daddy may give in and sign him up.  S3 has been sadly looking at his Daddy all night tonight.

I wanted to get a photo now, in the beginning.  Before the bruises, before the losses, before the wins, before the exhaustion, before the elation.  Two boys playing football...it makes me tired all ready.  And it makes me thrilled all at the same time.

This was the sunset tonight...

It feels like summer ended tonight.

Well, other than the fact that it was 94 degrees today.

As I walked the track tonight at school while S1 had his conditioning practice, I chatted with two of my dearest friends.  I watched our kids and a bunch of other kids ride their bikes and play their own football game on the hill.  I waved hello to old friends.

I have missed the camaraderie of football season for me as well.

So, look forward to LOTS more post of the boys football season.

It's sure to be eventfully thrilling!!!!

And if you are a football mom...or if you just love football...check out this book.  I can't wait to reread it!

Weekend Lions Football

Before S2 played football this year, we idly watched a game every now and then.

It's not like we had much to watch for.

Until this year.

Any football game can get their attention.  But nothing quite gets them all involved in the game like the Lions.

Suddenly the Lions are amazing and suddenly every boy in my family is fully engaged in the game.

Our house is small, an old farmhouse they just added a new wing on every now and again, leaving the original door frame as the entryway from room to room.  It's small.  It's tight.  

And on Sunday afternoon this week, we had THREE tv's going with the SAME game on.

So now I have to share this terrible secret with you....

Brace yourself.

We have a tv in our bathroom.

We DO!

My husband went on and on and on and on about how great a tv in the bathroom would be and I just put kept putting my foot down saying "NO WAY!".  But then one day I thought I would surprise him because he was so sure he onto a brilliant idea and then he would realize how insane it was and we could be done with the whole tv in the bathroom thing.

Except that he looooooooves the tv in the bathroom.

And...I have to admit, I even turn it on every morning as I get into the shower to listen to the news as I shower.

I am sure you can imagine just how much Hubby rubs THAT in.

Anyway, back to Sunday.

On Sunday the tv in the kitchen (which has the volume going out in it) and the tv in the living room (which is some ancient monster of a thing that is so blurry you literally have to check the score on another tv to see it) are ALWAYS on.

But the tv in the bathroom? It's not connected to the cable network and so it has a few seconds over the other tv's.

And the tv in the kitchen is slightly behind the tv in the living room.

So on Sunday when the Lions make some amazing catch or incredible run or amazing touchdown...

Husband is standing in the bathroom watching it.  S2 is always in the kitchen watching on the little tv (you can see the score then) and the rest of the boys are in the living room.  Husband will begin cheering some wild insane cheer at some "need to see that again" play.

The boys, knowing he seen it before them, run for the bathroom.

At the same moment, the Hubby is running from the bathroom to the living room to see the replay 'live'.

Then, because he needs to see the score and the boys have seen a replay, they all cram into the tiny kitchen to see it again.

Every run means my husband, S1 who is nearly as tall as me and three more boys are trying to barrel their ways through the small doorways all at the same time.

My house on Sunday afternoon is....INSANE.

I try to stay completely out of the way...which is pretty much impossible.  Even more so now that S3 and S4 play football with Beanie Babies while the game is on (the real football got banned from the house...much to the dismay of the boys.)

Beware of our house on game day.  You have all been warned.

On a side note:
S2 lost his last football game.
UofM lost their game (but I told S2 to cheer for MSU the BEST team, he didn't believe me.
He does now.
AND the Lions lost in the last two minutes.
S2 cried and cried and cried.
He says it was a terrible weekend.
Football boy he is now.