A day out with sammy.........

Dan and I had the blessing of getting to spend a whole day (a very very hot one) at the Day Out with Thomas event. It was awesome, and I am glad we got to go!

Somehow................

I thought that having 1 less kid this week would equal more time to clean and tidy our home. Boy I was wrong. Maybe we got rid of the wrong kid or something. But she's been gone for going on day #5, and I still don't have any more order than I did when she left- which wasn't much.

First and foremost- this kid is giving me fits.

Yesterday was one of the single most difficult days I have ever experienced with him- and let me tell you there have been some doozies people. It all came to a head at the children's museum where he behaved like a horses patootie and hit, licked, smartmouthed and scolded dang near every kid in the joint. We ended up in multiple time outs and even had to leave early as I was just exhausted from trying to rein him in. The day ended with him dropping his britches in front of God and everyone at vacation bible school last night to 'show everyone his butt'. Lord give me strength.

I took some pictures of my house this morning, to prove that my house is without a doubt in need of some love. But then I had this whole 'technical difficulty' trying to download them. So you will not see them. Besides- why give you fuel to add to the fire when someday I get reported to the officials, right : )

But then I noticed this.

Not only is this tiny little clump of eggs the most facinating thing I have seen in a while- it is my excuse not to clean the windows! How could I, I mean that would destroy whatever tiny bugs will hatch from this cluster of perfectly arranged green balls (they are outside the glass- not to worry).

So there you have it- I am exhausted from dealing with evil boy, my house is still a wreck, and I am loosing my mind because I am obviously obsessing over insect larva. Ta Da!

A campin she will go..............

Well, we're off to year number two at church camp. This little girl was beside herself excited to go, she could hardly stand the two hour drive to get there.

It really is a beautiful old place. In the dorms, where they get to sleep this week, the windows are all really tall and pretty.

We had some tears from the little guys in trying to say goodbye to Ally. Emily in fact cried the first part of our way home. They will be glad to have her back this weekend. So they can fight with her, I suppose. That's all they seem to be doing anymore. Uhggg.
It felt really weird to leave her there. She was heading to the pool to wait for her friends to get there, and we left without her. I suppose that will feel weird each time we leave one of them somewhere. Which is a good thing, it will remind us to go back and get them : ) She did give me a hug this year, which is different from last year when I had to force her to say goodbye to us. I hope she has a good week (I'm sure she will).

Dear World.............

Dear World,

Consider this my resignation letter. I can't be a part of this anymore.

If you choose to decline to accept my resignation, then please be advised:

My children will never be clean all at the same time. It is not possible, I have tried. There might not even be one of them clean AND in clean clothing all at once. Whatever.

My lawn will forever be the one that needs mowed, consider that your clue when looking for our home in our neighborhood. Also- weedeating is apparently not possible here either.

Flowers do not look pretty placed in the driveway in the containers in which they were purchased in. Therefore, a well manicured landscape we have not. Just pots full of flowers right where they landed out of the van after purchasing them. There I anticipate they will stay until they die- then someone (please someone) will manage to throw them into the trash.

DO NOT open both doors on our van at the same time. The wind will pick up all the scattered trash and blow it all over the place.

Laundry is now, and will forever be, and issue in my home. Just consider the children lucky they have anything clean to wear at all. And when I do get cracking on laundry, we will always be out of laundry soap. It's just how it is. I can not change it. I have tried.

I will have to serve the Lord in the only way I know how. It is not the right way, but it's all I've got.

The floor is sticky. It was sticky yesterday, it is sticky today and it will be sticky tomorrow. There is simply not enought time or cleaning solution to change that.

Piles of stuff seem to accumulate everywhere. If you don't like it, well then quit sending me all this stuff. Otherwise, get over it.

Work is an afterthought. I might be there at 9, possibly 9:30, probably more like 10, and on most given days I will need to leave early. And yes, I will try and balance my checkbook before leaving- it is the absolute only time I get to sit down- get over it.

My blog will not be updated daily with positive uplifting stuff- but since you are still reading this then you know that.

There are things in my refrigerator that are considered toxic- do not eat anything from this area of our home unless you are positive it is safe and can easily visually identify it. If you have to ask what it is, then put the lid back on it and place it on it's respective shelf. The fact that it was not glued to the rack by whatever unidentifiable sticky substance should count for something.

There is a pile in the corner of the garage the size of a vehicle itself that is waiting on the yardsale I swear we will have. Then we won't and I will just trip over all this stuff for the rest of eternity. Deal with it.

If you, dear World, can choose to overlook my complete unpreparedness, lack of coordination and poor planning skills, then I will choose to remain a part of it. But I will be taking a few days- as soon as they present themselve- to lock myself away in the crazy little hole of the earth and try to remedy some (not all) of these issues. Consider this my notice to decline on several invitations coming up shortly.

Sincerely,

Crazy Momma

Happy Birthday Mr. Old

He's as close to 40 as you can get without going over that hill.

And he is of course at work now- so the celebratin' is over.

Happy Birthday Dan.

(good grief, look at all the crap on that counter! I need to do some serious tidying!)

Good Mourning................

Well, not so good I suppose. I am mourning the loss of normal in our home. Dan began his new shift, ugly:00 until stupid:30- and now I am basically a single mother with an extra kid in the morning (no offense darling). I'm out of whack, thrown of kilter, in a daze, and basically dreading the next every weekday of our lives. I'm sure a new normal will surface- one that doesn't involve macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for every.single.dinner- and for that I am grateful and excited for that day to come. Until then, I will just wipe the tears and make the best of what the Lord has given to us. I trust Him, and know that for whatever reason this is how it is right now. And trust me I am grateful that Dan has a job, so many don't right now and that must be scary.

The kids just spend all day asking where daddy is, even when he's here. They are also so confused by this new strange shift.

On another note- any single mother who makes 'real' meals for dinner is a saint and should be honored. It's so hard to force myself to make a nice dinner, complete with veggies and some sort of protein for my children to snuff their noses at. So I've fallen into cheater dinners, but not forever. Just until I break out of this funk.

funk.funk.funk.funk.funk.funk.

The End.

Clifty Falls- but no one fell in (yeah!)

So here's the brewd we took camping over the weekend. 10 kids- 7 adults, we were outnumbered but still came out the victors!
Here is Allyson post nature walk- she does not like hiking so we had tears. I don't care for hiking either, but at least I didn't cry.

Hiking does make one thirsty.

Here's adam just before he split back to the car and skipped the whole hiking adventure (we all think he secretly went geocaching!) This one startled me- we were so very high up. This is the back side of one of the falls.

Notice the tape on Sams head- he managed to squeeze a trip to the pediatrician in on Friday as we were in crunch time to leave for camping.

Another one of the falls........

And everyone looking at it.

Maddie and Ronda joined us on Saturday- Maddie is telling her daddy all about it. Ronda doesn't care for camping

Here is the one time Julie sat down : )

Our youngest camper

The crew departing for geocaching. Notice Sam is still in his pajamas- oh well.

Here is the 'boys club'- notice the intruder in the front trying to obtain entrance.

Our mascot.

How we roll. Notice no emily head? she was crashed on the pillows, sound asleep.

Our trusty leader- driving our tent on wheels.

It was a wonderful weekend. We all enjoyed ourselves and the kids rode themselves silly on their bicycles. We got to swim, hike, bike, roast marshmallows and see nature in it's finest. Thanks to all the group for making this weekend possible. And thanks to God for getting us home safe and sound!

Happy campers

So, anyone who knows me, knows I am anything but a happy camper. I really do not enjoy camping. It seems fruitless to me to drag everything that makes home like home into the woods and pretend that it's home. To me, you could have just stayed home. Tack in the heat, water, mud, bugs, bugs and more bugs, and it's just over the top for me.

So what are we doing this weekend? Camping. I wanted to go all the way and tent camp, but Dan's parents, who obviously have concern for our well being, loaned us their RV. Bless them. So needless to say, I am at a loss of what to pack and what to bring. But we are going, not for one but two nights.

There should be some interesting photos and stories come Monday folks. Pray for me, this is going to be ugly : )

Special Accomodations.............

So, I suppose it goes without saying that I have spoken with a whole lot of folks in the past week. Not just air show committee members (who top over 100 people), or air show performers and such (and vendors, promoters, etc.), but with lots and lots and lots of spectators. I swear that on Thursday and Friday, all three lines rang non-stop all day long- forcing other callers to fall into voicemail for return calls after hours (like after 9pm hours before the phones died down at all).

Spectators call for all kinds of questions, but the basics are hours, when the blues fly, can I bring........., ticket prices. It gets really old folks. really.freakin.old. But it's just for a weekend, so whatever.

But what floors me every year are all of the folks who could not even walk to their own mailbox without oxygen and a chair that call and want to know what provisions we have made for them to attend the airshow. Call me stupid, but perhaps the airshow is not the best place for your 90 year old grandfather, or 2 day post hysterectomy mother, or 3 week old infant. Not trying to be calloused here, just venting a bit. I get so frustrated from explaining that the airshow, it at-----an airport------which by nature is -------- huge-------- and dag gone near all ---------grass------- and no there is not someone with a cart to personally meet you at your car and drive you around all day. Although, with the number of carts we rent I suppose it could be possible. Back to my point. I would never expect an event to provide accomodations for my out of the norm situation. I would make my own provisions. the end. There were even lots of folks who are 'handicapped' who don't have handicapped plates who wanted special handicapped non-handicapped plate parking areas. Dude- if you are handicapped then why no plates? Do they provide this special parking at the mall, the state fair, wal-mart? No.

We live in a society that expects everyone to do everything for them. But the reality is we all have our limitations. I do not look around for the hostess to watch my children at the casino or bar. I just don't go, unless I...............wait for it.......................make my own provisions. What the heck.

I will stop there. No intention of offending anyone. Just venting, that's all.

By the way- no camera at the air show this year (forgot it)- but just imagine one of my coworkers ravaging Smokey the Bear, my manager getting locked in a refrigerator truck and our volunteer coordinator assistant locking herself in the bathroom with empty threats of 'slitting her wrists' when the chairman called in sick for the event. It was a fun weekend, with a great group of wonderful people. I am blessed to be a part of it. But I am glad we've got a year until the next one : )

It's over............

Life can resume, the air show is over.

amen.

Oh brother.................

As a child, this is the person who terrorized me most. I spent many a day being hung upside down and run around the house, he would dangle me over the toilet, put my clothing on the dog, and tickle me till I thought I was going to puke. You got it, he's my big brother. And I love him.

Not because of all the torture, mind you, but because he is my brother.And this is the woman who willingly chose to spend her life with him. She deserves a medal : ) She is my sister, by marriage, and I love her too. Although this is a horrible picture of her. You're welcome Lori.And here a product of the two. My beautiful niece who is exploring her talents in the theater and is genuinely a good person. Surprising to me that my brother had anything to do with her, she is so pretty!


And here is the reason for this entire post. My nephew. My 18 year old nephew. Wow, could that be possible for him to be 18 already? I suppose so, considering he graduated from high school last weekend. (I let emily take the picture, sorry it's so far away- if closer you would see that he is a well built, tall, handsome young man- with facial hair, yikes!) Despite the fact that he still plays on playground equipment, he is a talented young man who I know will do well with his life. And hopefully, in 6 years or so, he will produce a baby for me to love on. Someone must have a baby soon, or I'm gonna have to do it (my mom just had a stroke).

When this child was born, I was 16 years old. I had no idea what a gift it was to snuggle a newborn baby, to smell their sweet little necks, and squeeze their chubby little thighs. I held 'it', and I was happy he was safe and healthy, proud to be an Aunt, but I didn't get it. Not like I do now. Oh how I love me some babies.

Anywho- My brother and sister in law told me I couldn't ride with him in my car until I could go for a full 6 months without a wreck. He was a preschooler before I got to take him in my car : )

One of the first times I got to have him for the day, we played and whatnot and ended up at Roslyn Bakery for pecan tea cookies (his favorite), a giant smiley face cookie and a carton of chocolate milk. On our way to visit uncle dan at work, the kid puked it all up all over the backseat of my car. Being a non mother, I wanted to just abandon the car, and the kid, and get new ones. It was disgusting. At the gas station, when I attempted to clean it all up with windshield rags and a squeegie- he looked up and said "Aunt Mynde, I power puked". What a character.

I was young when he was born, and I wish I would have gotten to really savor the gift that having a baby nephew brings. But I was busy graduating myself, going to college, falling in love, marrying- you know, all that stuff. Because now, just a breath away it seems, he is grown up and getting ready to do all his twenty-something stuff. I can't wait to see where his life will take him.

And I'm proud of my big old brother for raising such a great kid.