Funny Animals

I saw this the other day, and all I could think about was Zoey.

Oh how I wonder how many of these she'd like to try on the kids.

http://news.distractify.com/megan-mccormick/animals-who-arent-thrilled-with-kids/?v=1


Poor girl has gone thru so much.

Getting a kid at age 7.

A loud rambunctious kid.

I remember her hiding on the back of the couch to get away from him!

Then another kid at age 9.

A kid who wants to squeeze and kiss you.

And then, just when you think all is well.....

we moved her houses.

And then added another kid.

It's a wonder why we don't constantly have 'retaliation poop' on our carpet.

Take Time To Slow Down.....

Lately, I've been so stinkin' busy. 

And nothing has really changed!

Except I have a baby.

Who needs to eat every 2.5-3 hours.  

Which requires me to be present.

And I have 2 other children, whom the M-O-M-E-N-T I sit down with the baby.....scramble to get a view of her.

I'm getting claustrophobic!

Sometimes I just want to yell, "BACK UP!  LET ME BREATHE!"

But it's times like the ones I'm about to tell you, stop and make me realize that this is MY LIFE.  

Not just a list of things to do, not just people walking in and out of my life, BUT MY LIFE!

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The other night we were all sitting down to do the devotional that goes with Josh's Wednesday night program.

Chad was leading it and we were supposed to be quiet and think in our head about how we can have more Jesus in our lives.  (Or something like that.)

Chad asked Josh and he had a good answer.  

Then he asked Macey, "What were you thinking about?'

And without missing a beat, she replies, "Bubble Guppies!"  (It's her new fave cartoon.)

We both just giggled.

Then later it came time to pray and he asked Macey if she had anything she'd like to ask God for.

And again, without missing a beat, she replies, "A Mermaid!"

Oh golly.  

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

Then the next day, we were practicing our school stuff (sight words for Josh and letters for Macey),

I told Josh to say the words outloud as I point to them.  (We have them on our cabinets in the kitchen.)

So he starts YELLING his words!

I stop him after a few and ask why he's so loud.

'Well mom, you said to say them out LOUD."

Oh boy........

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But those are my kids.  That I made. 

And I'm so proud of them.

First Kindergarten WORK!

Josh got on the big, bad school bus today.

Ok.  

So it's not the big, bad school bus, but it is big.  

And it did take my kid away.

Josh was scared and started to balk at 7:15, but we talked through it.

The school bus picks Josh up at the end of our driveway!

The bus driver seemed nice.  

I cried as I walked back to the porch because he looked so scared when I looked at him thru the window.  

I wanted to go yank him off the bus and yell, "Oh screw it.  It won't be that hard to load an infant, an opinionated 3 year old, and Josh in the care at the butt crack of dawn every day to take him."

But I didn't.  I just went back inside and sulked in my bed.

But he made it to school.  How do I know?  Chad picked him up!  Ha!

When I checked his book bag, there were a couple of things in there.  

And here was one of them:

That's right ladies and gentleman!!!!!  

After a year and a half practicing at home with mom....

And ONLY ONE DAY IN KINDERGARTEN.....

Josh F-I-N-AL-L-Y knows how to write the "S" in his name!

He wrote it correctly on all 3 pages!

And then here was the last page of the assignment.  He had to draw a picture using all 3 shapes.

And notice the hearts for me!

I'm so proud of him.  

He did say that today wasn't as much fun as the first day because they didn't have as much time to play and more work to do.

Welcome to life, Buddy.  

Welcome to life......

My B-I-G boy....

I knew today was coming.

Heavens...I knew it when he was born!  The days were already numbered.

The day would come when he would leave for school.  REAL school.

Not preschool; only a couple of hours a couple of days a week.

But the R-E-A-L school where it's every day.  And in this case, starting in October, all day.

It was tough dropping him off.  

The whole family went!  (Even Zoey tried to come!)

Parking was CRAZY! 

 And Josh did great!  Until he realized it was FOR REAL. 

His little eyes got red.  You know the look when you're about to cry.

But by golly....he did great.  He held it in.  He tried to be brave.

Seeing your baby cry and be scared is hard.  But then you see he's grown.  And he's trying to be brave.  Which makes him look even more mature.  

And then I tried to be brave.

Kiss on the cheek.  A hug.  You'll do great.  And let's leave.  

I think I even saw Daddy tear up.  Although he'll probably never admit to it.  

It was tough.  

On everyone.

Even Macey on the way home asked, "Where is Josh?"  

   
The only one happy to see him 'go' was Zoey.  A 3 hour break from pestering.  Ha Ha!

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?