Last 24 Hours.....

Chad has worked 3 out of the last 4 days.  

When I figured it up, he is home less than 24 hours inbetween his shifts.

I feel sorry for him, but am thankful that he does so much to provide for our family.

HOWEVER......

I do my own duty at home.

In the last 24 hours, I have dealt with a blackout at bedtime and splinters.

Sounds innocent, right?

WRONG!

Last night at 8:30, the lights went out.

THE WHOLE FREAKIN' TOWN!

The kids had just went to bed and had only been in bed a short while, long enough to settle down, but short enough not to be asleep.

And then everything went black.

No fans, no music, no nadda.

And you should've heard the screaming coming from all ends of the house.

I went to Macey's room first because I know that she'll just lay in bed and cry.  

She was hysterical and as I was coming into her room, and Josh ran up the stairs with his lovey and dog.  Crying, but not hysterical.

So......we made the best of it.  

Called the electrical company and "based on historical averages, your power is supposed be on by 1 a.m."

Uh no.

Read a couple of books on my bed with each of us having the flashlights.  And by miracle among miracles, the electricity came back on.

But, now Macey is TERRIFIED to sleep.  She keeps calling out "Mama-my 'lectricity's doin' sumptin!"

And it's not.

Then around 10 today, if you would've peeked in my back door, you would've seen me in the sunlight digging a splinter out of my son's rear end.  LITERALLY.  

No metaphors there.

A splinter in the rear.

And I couldn't help but say, "Son, you know if you would've been wearing underwear under your shorts, this probably wouldn't have happened."

Duh.

Oh what tomorrow, what'cha gunna throw at me?!?!?

4th of July

We had the BEST 4th of July this year!

The kids are old enough to have fun and stay up later.

Grandma Evie and Papa Hoyt were generous enough to give the kids some firecracker money.

We made a HUGE production over getting them!

We went to several tents.

Yeah, they sell the same stuff.

But it's much more fun when you get to go to a couple and stretch it out!

Then we went over to Mimi's for an excellent BBQ dinner...ribs, grilled chicken, pea/lettuce salad, festive jello, etc.  It was great!

I enjoyed it so much, I rolled in it.

Stupid belly and stupid BBQ sauce.

Then we went outside and lit some fireworks.

The favorite daytime ones are always the parachutes.

They had the BEST time chasing these!  

Totally should've bought more.  I don't think the 8 or so we bought were enough.

Daddy was the official lighter for the evening.

Then we did one rocket.

And various other fun fireworks.

It was topped off with ice cream and some awesome big fireworks put on by the city.

Everyone had a great time.

Okay, okay! I get the hint!

As I'm sitting here eating breakfast, Josh has been talking with me.

Like a grown up.

Then all of the sudden, he looks at me so seriously and says, "Mom, do you think sometime we ought to clean the table?"

Point taken son.

I've been slacking on housework too.

Are you and your Dad in cahoots together?

Random Things at Our House

Here are some random things you might have overheard yesterday if you were a fly on our wall.

Daddy - "Anything for lunch?"

Me - "Lunch meat, hot dogs, sandwiches, nothing big because I'm cooking a big dinner.  Fried chicken, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, etc."

Daddy - "Oh.  So we're going over to your mom's for dinner or YOU are cooking?!"

Point taken.  It's been a while since I've cooked

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While cooking that fabulous dinner mentioned above, the boys are outside mowing while Macey and I are inside.

I overhear Macey say this from the living room-

"These stickers will NEVER EVER come off the couch!"

What?!

Yep.  That's right.  Ariel stickers all over our leather couch.

Bonus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While watching cartoons, a commercial for Chuck E. Cheese comes on.  (You know that annoying playplace with horrible pizza and even worse behaving children?)

So when the commercial ends, Josh turns to me and says, 

"What's Chuck E. Jesus?  Is that a real place?"

Not for this family it's not!

Water Park Fun

We're so lucky to have a water park so close to our house.  It's just a little drive in the car, but OH SO worth it!

There's a zero entry with a small dog shaped slide for little ones, there's a lazy river to float around on, there's a giant swirly slide, there's even lanes for lap swimming!

Since Daddy has been gone so much lately with harvest and working overtime, he decided it was time to do something big and fun as a family.

So after naps today, we loaded up and went to the water park.

Josh went off the big slide.

Here's a look at all the twists and turns. 

(He actually did this last summer when he was just tall enough to and still 4, but fear has never been something to stop him from having fun.

And here he is at the top:

And here he is at the bottom!

I think he went on it at least 10 times!

Then we decided to go to the Lazy River.

Josh is old enough to have his own tube.

But poor Mace is stuck riding with someone.

The lucky someone today was Daddy.  There was no room on Mommy's tube.

Then here they are coming around.

I think Josh might have lapped Daddy and Mace.  He moves quickly in there!  (And Daddy drags the bottom.....)

Oh but I almost forgot!

On the way to the Lazy River....what should my eyes spot, but this:

That's right ladies and gentlemen.  

It's a hairy and proud man with a neon speedo.  

And if you look VERY closely........he even has bar piercings on both nipples.

That's right.  

Hubba Hubba.

And yes, I stood there and took a picture.  Me in all my preggo glory.  Who's gunna say something?!?

Nobody.  That's who.

Back to my family, who was appropriately dressed I might add.

They had the best time.  

Macey even danced from place to place at the water park.

Until the cement got too hot for her piggies.

Then Daddy carried her.

Hey Dad, next time, can you carry me?

Darn House Guests

We have officially, for the second year in a row, moved to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't like country living.

We have more varmints here than in Arkansas.

Allow me to tour you thru the varmints we've had here just in the last month alone....

Ground Squirrels....

We tried to bury them (in their holes with dirt), we tried to drown them....

We even tried to 'trap' them....

And they've still come back.

Next on the varmint list is.....

Skunk.

Everyone was tracking it.

It's amazing.   She can't see anything (randomly barks at the mailbox), but can spot a skunk.

We trapped and got rid of this one.

Then we've had plagues of wasps and mosquitoes.

But the most recent is....mice.

Well, just one mouse.

I think a rat.

He was too fat and too happy.

This is a bad picture, but I felt as though I if I didn't share some kind of a picture, you wouldn't believe me.

I'm so tired of unwanted house guests, I can't see straight!

New Sign

I think I'll make this for the front door.....

Except for the beer part.

And adding something about "if you wake the child, you take the child!"