"That Old Lady Smell"

While cleaning out some forgotten drawer, I found a bottle of lavender spray from the Healing Garden. I sprayed a bit, it smelled wonderful, so I sprayed the curtains in our bedroom with it.

I have been cleaning the house all day and it's pretty much a lost cause.  I mopped the floors in the living room, they are now covered in mud.

I cleaned the bathroom, S3 put his muddy shoes in the sink.

Anyway, back to lavender.

I love the smell of lavender and I thought that tonight, when I went to bed on my just washed today sheets, I would smell the lavender and feel fully spoiled.

I moved on to the kitchen to start cleaning, it's scary messy, when S1 walked in.

He tilted his head to the side.  Sniffed.  Scrunched up his nose.  "What's that smell?" he finally asked.

"What smell?" I asked him.

"That different smell.  That girly smell."

"Oh, that.  That's lavender spray I put on the curtains," I told him.

"Huh."  He stole one of my green apple slices with peanut butter on it.  "When we were in fifth grade, or some grade, anyhow, they had lavender hand sanitizer and we boys called it "old lady sanitizer."

"So the house smells like an old lady?" I asked him.

"No, it doesn't smell like alcohol," he explained.

I couldn't resist, leaning against the kitchen counter with a smirk I asked, "So...old ladies smell like alcohol and lavender?"

Realizing he couldn't win this one, he retreated back outside to help his Daddy.  Guy stuff is so much easier than talking to girls.

Husband Disregarded the Warning

I gave my husband fair warning.  

He completely disregarded it.

He likes to live dangerously, I suppose.

Let's begin by stating the fact that it is spring break.  And there is now a fridge on my front porch...filled with worms.  

MovingRightAlong.

Wednesday I woke early and had my coffee slowly, watching the sun rise as I cleaned my kitchen.  I was the only one awake and it was a rather lovely time.  When S4 stumbled down the steps he greeted me with the sweetest, "Good Morning, Mama".  You know when they say something in such a way that makes your heart melt? It was that sort of greeting.

My nephew's have been staying with us on Wednesday's and I wanted to have the house cleaned before they arrived.  L is nearly three and H is about nine months.  At nine months he crawls and I have realized our house is FAR from being baby proofed.  On this day I decided I needed to mop our floors.

I asked the boys to pick up their stuff.  The fighting began. "That's not mine."  "Yes, it is." "No, it is not." "Yes, it is." "Mama, so and so is not helping!" 

And somehow cleaning turned to wrestling.

Wrestling makes mama shove them all outdoors.

S1, who I realize all the time is a huge huge huge help to me, was helping Daddy at work so it was the three youngest.  Three is not a good number when it comes to brothers, I'm thinking.

Anyhow, I went to mop the floor.  I had *this* itty bitty much of lysol left so I dumped some bleach in there to make it extra powerful clean.  I turned the water on as hot as it would go.  I dropped my amazing tornado mop in the bucket, thankful Renee persuaded me to buy a mop so that I no longer had to scrub the floor on my knees - that was honestly my thought, I can not make it up - as my mop handle literally rusted right in half.

I did not even know it was rusty!

I couldn't dump the water out because it was all the soap I had so I poured in some cold and began scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees.

The boys had been warned to stay outside but suddenly S4 burst into the door and was rattling off his emergency so fast I had a hard time making out his words.  S3 just stood there dramatically sobbing loudly.

S2 had thought it would be a great idea to let the bunnies have exercise.  Spot the bunny had decided that hopping was so great he managed to hop himself to the middle of the road.

So, I am standing there in pj shorts...ones that cover what need to be covered but nothing to be seen in. I had on no bra and an old t-shirt.  

But a bunny was on the brink of death. 

I pulled my husband's sweatshirt, slipped on my shoes, and ran for the road.  The bunny had made it safely back to our yard and we had the tricky job of catching him.

Thankfully, the hop had wore the little thing out and S2 scooped him up.

S3 put Spot back in the cage to rest.  He was pretty sure he had had enough exercise. We all concurred with that idea.

I finished scrubbing the floor, jumped in the shower to wash off the mud of the floors (I will spare you their gross state) and when dressed I was feeling all could be right with the world again I saw this.....

Granted, you may not know what THIS is.  It is mud.  The boys had decided to make mud to smooth out some bumps in the driveway.  Were there bumps in the driveway?  None that I knew of!  And know they were sinking in mud that covered their shoes.

What is that step?  Oh, just the first step onto our porch to enter our house.

I may have turned into mean mom then.  I made them all take their shoes off before they entered the house...but really, I knew my hour mopping the floors was going to prove naught by the end of the day.

The boys picked a flower to apologize.

So I wrote this to my husband on Facebook....

Dearest husband, before 10am I had cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, folded and took care of said laundry, bandaged wounds, stopped quarrels, mopped all floors on my hands and knees cuz the mop broke, saved Spot the bunny from certain death and only had 2 cups of coffee. All this BEFORE my nephews arrive. By the time you get home the house will be trashed and at this rate I will be an exhausted mumbling crazed woman. Be extra nice to me and bringing a gift home may be a wise move. You have been warned.


He called about this time to say as the route would have him go he would be driving by the house so we took ourselves out to the road to wave hello to him. (I may super love this photo)

My nephews arrived and the fun began.  I had, by this time, recuperated from the morning and had began to fill up on coffee.  I had clothes on the line and the managed to pick up enough bb's and air soft balls to cause me to wonder if they had a mini war in the house while I was sleeping.

When H woke up, he was all grins and smiles and cuteness for me, as usual.

Dinner was done and the dishwasher was loaded.

I kept busy all afternoon with H and L.  The boys had a blast but there were cookies to dispense and milk to be poured and just the natural hub bub of five boys...one of who was just crawling.

When my husband called to tell me he was on his way home, he was surprised to hear our nephews there.  "Didn't you read what I tagged you in on facebook?" I asked.

"I started too," he admitted, "But it was too long.  Hey, what are we having for dinner?"

I. Did. Not. Scream.

When my husband pulled in, the table was set and the food was on the plates.

Was I exhausted and running on the fumes of coffee? You bet.

As we were eating the lasagna, my husband told me how great it was (brownie points to get him out of his hole!) and then he said, "Hey, did you make this with sausage?"

"Mmhmm," I grinned, "It adds a nice flavor, don't you think?"

He cut up a piece of the sausage.  "Did you cook it until it was done?"

Silently fuming.  "Yes."

"Are you sure? I mean, did you use the my meat thermometer to make sure?" He caught the look in my eye.  "I, um, am, um, sure it is fine or, uh, done."  When he didn't think I was looking he cut another piece of sausage up to check for pinkness.  He saw I had seen him and quickly ate the piece of sausage telling me how good it was.

S1 laughed.  "Daddy, I think you just dug yourself in a hole."

After dinner, I told the boys to clear the table and make sure that everything was picked up because it had been earlier today and I wanted it that way when we went to bed.

"I did not mop these floors for the house to look trashed," I said, standing up from the dinner table to make yet more coffee.

"Hey, did you mop the floors?" My husband looked at the floors.  "Hey, you did!  Wow, they look great!'

I smiled, tilted my head and said, "You would know this if you had read my too long message to you."

He grinned.  Swatted my butt as I walked away. "You can't stay mad at me, baby."

And he's right, I just can't.

Because what are clean floors compared to this?

The joy of my boys' faces on a good day playing outside, catching snakes in the sunshine.

But did I curl up in my husband's arms that night and fall immediately asleep?  You better believe it.

Just to Make You Smile

I finally framed this photo.

My Aunt Sher got me a cool frame that reads "The Boys" and I finally got this picture in it.  It makes me smile each and every time I see it.

So I thought I'd share it all with you again.

The Truck Got Stuck and I Got it Out

My husband and I were out with the boys picking asparagus - as usual - in the evening. It went much faster than we had thought it would go and as I hopped in his big green Dodge truck that he loves so very much (cuz, I know it's a truck, but there are vehicles we do love...like my 87 Chevy short-box pickup (manual transmission) or my 1972 cherry apple red Nova).

When I pick asparagus with my hubby, he drives the truck out. We crank the country music and it helps the time seem more like a party than just a lot of work.

Anyhow, we got done, I hopped in the truck and as we turned around in the to be pumpkin patch he said "Wow, these weeds just aren't so bad this year, are they?'

Because we are farmers. We comment and take note of weeds and color of dirt and how the heavy the soil is.

"Wonder what it's like over the hill?" he mumbled and we drove the truck up the little knoll down the next near the huge maple tree that I love. The tree is monstrous. I take pictures of it but they never do it justice.

I thought to myself how it was good to see it wasn't flooded in the little dip of the land over by the maple tree about the same time my husband thought to himself "Oh, it could be a little wet here". Neither one of us mentioned it to the other.

But we should have because we sunk.

Deep.

In thick slimy mud.

I have never gone "mudding" when someone drives their vehicles through mud in a the middle of fields. I am always too worried that the truck would get stuck or broken or the wear of the mud on the working moving parts of a vehicle would ruin it.

I am fully aware that I am my father's daughter (he is a mechanic).

But those who do go mudding speak of it with such enthusiastic joy that I was curious to see how this would go for us. My expert driver of a husband (really, he is) nearly got us out.

Nearly.

But not quite.

So we walked back to the house where the boys were waiting for us. "WHAT?!" S4 exclaimed, "Where is the truck?"

"Moma got it stuck," his Daddy said not missing a beat.

S4 looked questioningly at me. Just this week we were about to get thunderstorms so I had driven the Dodge out to the field to listen to the weather on the radio. We had crossed through the big puddle in the trail (the one you seen the boys bathe in in the previous post) and mud had flung up over the cab making my passengers - S3 and S4 - get wide eyed and scream "Whoa! That was soooo cool!" and make me instantly much cooler of a moma. I knew this was running through his head.

"Moma?" he asked sadly, as if he were afraid to know the truth, "Did you?"

"No! I'm gonna go get it out," I assured him.

So my husband started up the MF tractor and we headed out to the field.

I must admit my heart did little pitter patters of love to sit next to him on the tractor. I even got a kiss. I so love being a farmer's wife!

But I have never been pulled out a mud pit before so I was more than a little nervous as he hooked the chain to me, began doing all those hand motions that men all seem to know and women look at them as if they are trying to decide if they just made those up right then and there and how on earth are we ever to know what this or that means.

But it went as smooth as can be.

And I just loved seeing S4's eyes as I roared through the giant puddle and rumblingly arrived in the middle of the yard.

Yah, I know my husband pulled out his truck with his tractor in the mud pit he got stuck in, BUT I drove the unstuck truck into the yard.

And that's all that counts.

And it's the story S4 will proudly tell you.

Mud

On Sunday it was finally hot.

It went from a full week of rainy and cold and windy and cold and rainy and cold and drizzly and cold to sunny and hot...in the evening.

Yup, really.

My parents had just returned from a trip along Route 66 and come bearing really cool t-shirts earlier in the week and the boys had worn them to church on Sunday. When the rain had finally stopped, they literally fell out of the house to get outside and play. I hollered that they should take their shirts off.

That's all I said. "Take your good shirts off!"

After they flung their newest favorite shirts to the floor, they sprinted outside and silence settled upon the house.

And the yard.

My husband, being six foot three inches (so much much taller than me) sipped his coffee and as he looked out the window and said, "You should see your boys right now."

When he claims them fully mine, I know to brace myself.

He informed me they were in the mud. How "take your shirts off" turned into "and then go roll in mud" means the same thing, I'm not sure, but I figured it would be worth it to grab my cameras and head out to see them.

Do you see the shoes? There are two in the picture. This was my first indication that they cared for nothing but the mud they had somehow been drawn too.....

As I came to the end of the trail, S3 greeted me. His teeth were a bit chattery and he was headed back in but I persuaded him to show me his brothers because it would make a great picture.

I am always bribing them for good pictures.

I was so happy to see that S3 was wearing his good shoes in the mud. I'm thankful to see he was thinking of safety first.

And I am super glad to have persuaded S3 to tag along because as he ran ahead to alert his brothers of my arrival, I was able to get this picture.....

And this one.

This was a part of the field that my husband had just plowed but hadn't gotten any further on because, well, it's been raining all week. But rain all week mean this mud.

And sheer joy for my four boys.

As they headed back to the house (S3 was so en-caked in mud that his shorts wouldn't even stay on), they stopped at a "clean puddle" to wash up.

In case you are wondering, you can't get very clean in mud puddle. Even if it is a "clean" puddle.

And I am, in fact, still working on cleaning up after the boys on this muddy mess. They came into the house for warm showers, and then had to take another later because they were still finding mud on themselves, but the laundry? Oh my. And the floors? Oh me oh my. And the tub? Oh me oh my my my.

But it was a great beginning to summer, I do believe. And it will all clean up (eventually). The video I shot of them is definitely a new favorite. And the pictures? Gonna frame them for sure!

Happy summer everyone!

Why I LOVE Tide Detergent

When I do laundry, this is what I use.

All the time. My thought is that if I am going to do laundry I want it done. I don't want to rewash.

Before I used this detergent, I used the coldwater version and it ALWAYS got my clothes clean. Yes, in bitter cold water.

But when we upgraded our water heater I thought I would try this because - um, you do recall I have four boys, right? - and all those boys and my construction working farmer hubby (which just means SUPER HARD WORKING), I thought I would try this.

I love it. Gets the dirt AND the stink out.

Which is good, I have lots of laundry to do!
See the pile? To the ceiling? It's asparagus season here and that means that my time is limited. You can't do it all and on this evening as I was bundling asparagus I looked at my literal mountain of laundry to fold and had to take this picture.

This is my life people.

Love it, but it's a little insanely busy right now. (thus the less blog posts of late)

After the whole Swamp Blog Post, I tweeted to Tide that I should be their new spokesperson. I really can't believe I actually tweeted that but I did, and whaddaya know, Tide answered back.

In a big way.

They sent me TWO huge bottles of Detergent, TWO huge bottles of stain release, and coupons for napkins and kleenex (THANK YOU!!!!!!).

I have been super impressed with the stain release. Not that I didn't think Tide did a great job already, but......when S1 went to swap meet and wore the same clothes for the entire weekend (even slept in them) and arrived home literally filthy dirty and stinky from head to toe, I knew the stain release had it's work cut out for it.

You could not even see that the clothes had been that dirty.

Not even a bit.

And the boy had torn apart and put together a garden tractor while he was gone. We are talking dirt, grease, grim, mud, food, gas and ICK all over him.

Tide does great giveaways on facebook too. Check it out, one of the stain release give aways ends TODAY.

But that's not the only reason I love Tide.

Tide sent down Tide Loads of Hope to Alabama and washed thousands of clothes for all the tornado victims. That touched my heart deeply.

So, if you are looking for a great detergent, BUY TIDE. If you are looking for a great company, look at Tide.

And if you want to help me fold my super clean clothes, I always take volunteers.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO TIDE

for all my detergent. It meant soooo much to me!

It got my boys muddy clothes clean.

I wasn't paid to write this.

I wanted to write this to share it with all of you.

It's Spring Break - Swamp (Mud) Season Begins

On Sunday, following a week of cold and rainy weather, the temperature soared to 85 degrees.

Yes, 85 on an April day in Michigan.

I wore a summer dress and tall heels to church. I was so happy to be in heels and skirts that I didn't even mind how very pale white I am...I hope no one else did either. Last week, I wore a hooded sweater and a scarf and wool socks and two layers to church. Seriously.

When we got home, the boys begged to go play in the swamp. Daddy informed them how cold it would be since it's been 45 degrees or so all week.

They didn't care.

Off they ran as soon as they scarfed down amazing cheeseburgers Hubby grilled for us. I was busy sweeping off a winter's worth of dirt and salt off the front porch and could hear the boys whooping and hollering and laughing in the woods so I grabbed my camera and decided to sneak up on them.

I was very cautiously walking too because you just don't want to see a snake already this season.

And when I arrived at the boys "Swamp"...oh my.

You see, sometimes I wonder if you all think I make up these stories of the boys and the swamp and the mud and the fun they have.

Pictures don't lie.
The boys were THRILLED when after a graduation party they were given the beverage pools. They have been saving them for THIS...the ultimate swamp boat.
I was thrilled I caught S4's pose on camera.
This is their favorite way to spend the day....this was the best day of their spring break, I think.
This is not a swamp monster.

This is S2.

Really, it is. We had to hose him down. Then he took a shower (because I want you to think good thoughts of me, I did not take a picture of the tub afterwards. May I remind you...our only tub/shower.)

This is why I think Tide should pick me to test their detergent. I promise to make sure it works hard.... :)

And......just in case these photos aren't enough for you.....here it the video I took before I ever took a picture with the camera. It's better than anything I could ever try to write for you.

Enjoy.

And feel free to come over and help me clean up from this day.

Dirty Pics...as in Muddy Dirt

You have all seen the pictures....you know that our boys can be mud covered. VERY mud covered.But recently, this is how I looked...pretty much all day long. Notice my hands? Covered in mud. I was completely drenched in mosquito spray...it was like this invisible protection all around me. Sadie did not fare as well.

The funny thing is, Hubby thought it was the coolest thing ever to see me all dirty in my garden trying to start this perennial garden. He wanted to capture the moment.

So since we usually just post nice pictures of us, when make up and clothes and hair are just so and we are feeling pretty confident in sending it out into the cyberspace, well, I am taking a huge risk in showing you these.

Just trying to keep it real out here on our little farm.

At Least We Left them Laughing

(warning:this is a long post. I have been working on making them shorter, really, but this was such a bad trip it only could be told long. It could have been longer.)


Today was a day I wish I could just forget. Instead, I will write a blog about it...so you all can laugh along with the workers at Arnies.

When this is written, I am off to bed. With a headache.

Today S3 had a dentist appointment. He was sooooooo thrilled to get to go to school, drop off his back pack and then LEAVE school. This was a BIG deal.

I had Jr with me today. And because Hubby was worried what our Sadie girl might do in the house alone for that long, I had the adorable big five month old puppy with me too.

And S4, of course, who I always have.
What could possibly go wrong?

Because I was going to the CITY, I dressed up a bit. High heeled black boots, fancy black sweater I scored at a going out of business second hand shop and fancy top I wear usually on fancy Sunday's. I shocked everyone when I dropped the boys off at school, I usually am in old jeans, slip on shoes and a hooded sweatshirt.

When we arrived at the dentist, a good 45 minute trip away, I thought it would be good to walk our dog since she has started whining a bit when we were right in the city. When I took her out, she was shaking so badly I was afraid she might be sick. We walked the perimeter of the property, which is really a very pretty wooded lot in the middle of the city, she was shaking so badly. The boys were climbing up the snow banks and falling in them and thinking this was the greatest time ever. I was sinking in the mud, my high heeled boots disappearing.

I had to lift my puppy back into the suburban to take S3 in for the appointment. Doing so got me a bit muddy. From lifting her, sure, but mostly because the boys let go of the leash and she darted, panicked and I had to lunge to save her. At least I was wearing black.

Jr has a cold. He didn't want to be held, couldn't crawl around, and wasn't too bad but wasn't too fun either. It was about this time that I realized I didn't really eat breakfast, just one pop tart at four thirty this morning and that had long done its sugary job and I was starving.

The boys dental hygienist came out to inform me S3 had some cavities. This woman, I am sure, may in fact truly be a nice lady. But she takes the whole “teeth cleaning” to a new level. I, personally, despise going to the dentist. I would rather do most anything else than go there. Really. I hate it. It's why I brush my teeth with a one hundred dollar spinning toothbrush just so I don't have to go. The boys leave her scared to death all their teeth will fall out because they aren't taking proper care of them. I don't think anyone could really take the 'proper care' of teeth the way she thinks they should. And she REALLY doesn't think I know what I am doing to ruin my poor boys teeth...one day she came out of the office to find the boys eating donuts and nearly hit the roof telling me what awful things the sugar was doing to the boys teeth.....but that's another story.

So, I didn't take the advice she had for me well. But I do try to be nice.

And I hope she never finds out about this blog or this post.

I asked the boys if they had to pee, they didn't, and we were off.

To celebrate S3 surviving her cleaning his teeth, we stopped at Biggby and I got them the biggest kiddie drink ever. I have NEVER done this with them so they thought they were just the coolest, and as a mom, it's fun to watch their eyes get huge and realize they are being super spoiled and just enjoy the moment. I have planned this moment since I knew we were going to the dentist.

About ten minutes down the road, S4 starts crying, then wailing, he has to go 'guck' (poop). Bad.
At the same time, Jr begins to really wail. I think he secretly loves coffee and thinks he should have gotten some too. But his bottle was going to have to work, and I couldn't' get it to him.
I pulled into Arnies. All who know Arnies is cheering that is a great place to stop. It's a yummy restaurant, a wonderful bakery, and is one of the cleanest places and prettiest bathrooms.
S4, who always seems to need to get out and in the suburban via the drivers side, suddenly decided he needs the other side. He is standing in the suburban crying and moaning while I am unbuckling Jr and holding Sadie back from jumping out.

I told S3 he could look at the donuts while S4 went potty. S3 took this as meaning he could bring in the pies that he thought looked good and show them to me.

Now just picture him, ripped red coat because it's his favorite, not because he doesn't have another one, dentist gloves on his hands, glasses making his eyes look big and adorable, shoes on the wrong feet...opening the bathroom door to say “this, Moma, I want this!”

All the while, S4 is sitting on the toilet, explaining in great detail to me that the gucks are coming out, that they have to fall out of his butt, why its taking him so long, etc.

S3 had not shown up in awhile so I went out to check on him, who was wandering around, checking out what he needed to show me next. S3 is the kind who would just follow a stranger around talking with them or unintentionally getting lost. He is accident prone. All the time.
Between me checking on the S3, jiggling Jr in the mirror to keep him happy and trying to rush S4 along, I was at my wits end.

I bough three treats for us when we left (2.32, that's CHEAP) just to make up for the commotion we caused. All three workers were laughing and smirking and trying to be professional but not able to pull it off.

It gets worse.

We get to the suburban where Sadie has decided she can't sit in the back anymore and must sit where S3 was sitting. S3 moves his car seat to the very back, then he hands his donut up to me (why?) and drops it. Then he moves his car seat back to the second seat and works on the leash that we realize is caught between the seats. Then he releases the leash, gets the car seat and moves it back to the last seat. Then he needs his donut.

I go to take a sip of my extra shot coffee only to realize that it is spilled all over the lid and every time I take sip it spills over me. There is something defective with the lid. So I look for a straw. I don't have one.

We get on the highway and my purse leans, LEANS, against S4s foot and he has to tell me about it and insist it get moved. I change lanes and his water bottle gets stuck under my foot.

About this time, I see my husband has called me twice. I call him back. He wants to know what has taken me so long today and why I haven't called him yet.

Since my 'good wife' tip is to not bombard your honey with bad news first chance you get, I tell him I am on my way back to school right then.

I'll spare you the ride conversations and minor issues to the school.

I came home and wrote this blog.

And now I can't nap. The extra shot has kicked in.

And my dog is fine and sleeping on the couch and sweet again. And S4 is napping because he informed me he is really really tired.

And I made a lot of people at Arnie's laugh today.

Muddy School Mornings

Yesterday Hubby got new work shirts. Because no one at work is really a size small, he got a few extra. Today, everyone in the family is sporting this bright tshirt.

Think they will notice our boys at school today?

They did.

But after this photo (do you see Sadie's back?), the boys went back to playing. You see, even though its a school morning and it rained last night and Sadie moved all our shoes, everyone got ready about half an hour early for school today. When this photo was taken, S3 already had mud caked on his jeans.

After this photo, S3 ran around the house and accidentally came upon the flock of chickens that Josie the dog was chasing and Josie, not to be deterred, ran into S3, he flew thru the air and landed right in the middle of a mud pile.

Literally.

He was covered in mud from his hair to his toes. So he had to quickly shower, change, and we STILL had an extra shirt for him so he could match his brothers.

When we got to school, I noticed that S2 had a paw print right in the middle of his butt, S3 had ridden his bike in the last remaining seconds before loading up in the suburban and had mud splashes up his back.

But I tell you what, I think they are the still the brightest cheeriest boys at school today.

I love this spring weather!

Mud Mania

I know, I know, I just posted today about the first day of summer school and all the others but this is too good to pass up. Remember how I told you S4 was just so very upset for falling in the rain puddle and how awful panicked he was about the rain touching him?

Well, check out these photos of S4.

I told you the boy doesn’t mind getting dirty or mud puddles. Did you think I was misleading you?

We got this big rainstorm late this afternoon and the boys just had a blast running through the mud. Here they all are lined up for a photo…..

But I had to get their backsides too. Here they are…as they are explaining to hubby all the fun they had…..

They wanted to come in, but my husband sent them right back out. This is what the door looked like….

They had to be sprayed down with the hose. S4 ‘didn’t love’ being sprayed with the hose so I carried him in to put him in the tub. Here is the tub when he was done (I’m not too sure how clean he got).

But here is his smiling face when he was done. I guess he looks clean.

Now, the boys laundry, their shoes, the house, the bathroom, the floors…those are far from clean.

These were just too great of photos to not share with ya’ll. Hope you enjoyed them!

Love or Nail Polish?

It's spring break over here and I have been trying not to be on the computer much at all. And the boys have a free trial of education city so I just don't get to HAVE the computer that much! But they are all watching a short movie so I can do a short blog before I try to find my house...cuz, remember, it is spring break.

Yesterday we drove up aways away to visit one of my very dear friends. She has three boys and they all play well and any time we have to visit I just cherish it. We soak it up...who knows when we will get together again? I had called ahead to tell her I was running late (as normal) and would appreciate food, caffeine and nail polish. When I arrived, she had a gourmet looking lunch, caffeine and a bottle of nail polish and polish remover sitting out for me. I felt spoiled! After lunch I sat at the counter and painted my nails as we chatted and the boys played outside. The momentary silence was nice, we knew it wouldn't last very long, and she had a cool color of pink I didn't have so instead of just painting my toenails, I decided to do my finger nails. I never paint my finger nails, it's just going to chip so fast but this weekend is Easter and I thought, "why not?"

No exaggeration...as SOON as I finished my nails, son#2 ran into the house and to tell us that we had a problem. Son#3 had fallen into the mud puddle. And son#2 was grinning, so we knew it was bad.

My friend has a HUGE mud puddle in the back of her yard. Before letting them out of the house, we had done the whole mom routine..."There is a mud puddle out there. You do not go near it, you do not touch it, you do not play with it, you stay away from the mud puddle." To which all the boys nod their heads and say "Yes, Moma". And then, just to drive the point home more, I say "what are you supposed to do?" "Not play in the puddle," they respond and then they had flown out the door, yelling with joy.

And I had painted my nails.

I went out on the porch carefully. I did not touch the door with my fingers, I used my palms. I stood there in my bare feet (I couldn't put shoes on, I had just painted my toes too!) and listened as the wail became louder. Finally, son#3 rounds the corner of the garage and, well, words fail me.

He was covered from the middle of his head, all down his face, his entire shirt, his entire pants and his boots were COVERED in muddy water. It was literally dripping down his face.

I just had to laugh.

"Did you go into the mud puddle?" I asked.

"No" he shakes his head emphatically, " I jumped OVER the puddle, but I fell in it."

I told him to take his clothes off and we would give him a bath. But he was soaked, he could not peel those clothes off of him for anything and he is standing there in the middle of the front yard wailing. I looked at my wet nails, I looked at my wailing wet son, I looked at my wet nails, and I turned to son#2 and said "help your brother."

I did. I chose nail polish over love.

How sad am I ?

The thing is, he couldn't get those clothes off. They were suctioned to his body. My friend jumped off the porch and helped get his clothes off. She took his boots off and literally POURED the water out of them.

I wish I had taken a picture, I am pretty sure I could have done that without smugging my nails, but I didn't have the camera with me. It would be a classic, though. Almost worth the drive back to see him try it again!

I did help him into the tub, scrubbed him down, dried him off, borrowed clothes for him and got him dressed and he seemed no worse for the wear from it all. They all did not go out side to play for the rest of the visit.

And that is ONE story from this week. Stay tuned...we got baby chicks on the way home.