T-Ball Practice

Tuesday was a big day folks! It was Dru's first day ever of t-ball practice!!!! He has been waiting with abated breath to finally get to go to baseball/t-ball practice and games!  It was a red letter day!

 Stretching...always important!

Their team color is blue, name is still undecided (please no more Rainbow Shooting Star's ;) ) I did have to break it to him slowly that his team color was not going to be ORANGE ...I think he'll be OK.

Practicing hitting off the T...not bad for the first time and yes I know I'm biased.  He's also a lefty so we have a learning curve! 

Eli asked several times when it was his turn to bat and catch.  He was told not his turn and he sighed and went awwww....in time little one, in time!   He is cute though and trouble ALL the way!

We finally got a call for the big boys from their coach...everyone is way excited now!  I'm kinda excited because both boys are on the same team. I think this has the potential to be really good for my boys, to cheer each other on as teammates...something new for them and I think an opportunity for them to grow.

Spa Day

So on Monday it was Spa Day at MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) and this day is always fun for our moms and those of us who are on steering (leadership).  A day where we find other women who are hairdressers, ladies who wax brows/lips, masseuses, nail ladies...you get the idea.  Anyway, these women come and pamper us for a day, OK well not a day but a few hours.  I am exhausted here but I got my hair trimmed and she curled it.  This picture is for posterity's sakes...my hair will not look like this again...EVER!

 On top of all those wonderful pampering things, they spoil us with yummy food...pink champagne cupcakes, truffles, dipped strawberries, fruit, made to order Frappeccinos.  To make those wonderful yummy drinks we need ice, so we went to Taco Time and got their pellet ice. I LOVE this ice!  I am an ice chomper and this is my little bit of heaven. Turns out however I'm not the only one who loves this kind of ice...there were several of us who are cheap thrills over this!  Who knew!?! 
Want to know the more exciting part of all that ice??? I got to bring a bunch of it home!!! Squeeee!!!!

I treated myself to a small glass of soda with a cup filled with the ice...SPOILED!  I also brought home a ton of People magazines we had out for the ladies to browse through while waiting for their next appointment.  I now can catch up on all the celeb gossip! I need to just get my own subscription, but this works for now.

Thankful

I have no picture today...but today I am thankful for the sunshine the good Lord sent us today!  For me it was much needed...just to see something bright and not dark and gloomy.  Now as people who live in the Pacific Northwest, we need to remember that April and May are around the corner and rain is yet to come...a lot of it.  Well that's what my memory serves anyway...seems to me that those are our rainy months.  Just in time for baseball and t-ball...I do really need to invest in one of those BIG umbrellas and a new camping chair.

I just felt really good all day and the weather was wonderful.  The littles were able to go outside and play and so did Charlie.  That dog has been doing nothing for the last 2 days but sitting outside soaking up as much sun as he can.  That dog is a funny one. 

Thank you Lord for this grand day you gave us!

And a happy 29th birthday to my brother in law Jason...all he wanted today was a nap...I hope you got the nap Jason!

9

As of March 20th it all be came official...my first born turned nine!  Where the time went I don't know, I'm as lost as you are on that one.  I sniffed a little and have had a few moments the last week or two where I got verklempt.                                             

Here is Ian with his birthday cake...with out fail he always orders/wants an ice cream cake.  I can't remember the last time he asked for a regular cake.

                                                                Ian's Army cake.

 Present time!  He liked the card he was opening because it was a music card and it was a Looney Tunes card...funny what was big when I was kid is now big for Ian.  Weird!

 If you look really closely he's stuffing money he got in his birthday card in his pocket.  He did this several times, I'm not sure his eyes could bug out anymore.  Especially when all was said and done with the gifts and he had a chance to count it.

 This pretty much sums it up with Ian and his birthday glory!  This money is burning a hole in his pocket!! Tonight he asked me if tomorrow after school I could take him shopping.  I had to tell him no...it was a school night!

 He got a pair of MUCH needed pj's...I'm almost positive he's had a growth spurt in the last month.  I've had to buy him more pj's and more jeans and his shirts are looking a little short...I'm running out of hand-me-downs for this kid!

 We got Ian Mega Mind the movie...he loved it.  I, however, thought the movie was a dud.  The movie Despicable Me was FAR superior to that movie!  As long as he liked it right??

 Ian was making me chuckle...constantly had his hands in his pocket fiddling with his new found wealth.  I can also see the wheels churning in his head about all the possibilities that are now open to him.

I think overall Ian had a good birthday.  It's still a little surreal that he's 9...I'm still speechless when I say it or write it.  My mom says I have to let it go and let him turn 9...I still say it's not right and it doesn't feel right...but she might have something too.  Time will tell I guess!

Happy Birthday Ian!

Super Moon

Well, remember when we had the super moon? Well, in my little town and this side of town, this is what I saw.  I was so bummed!  I really wanted to see something magnificent (don't get me wrong, anything God makes is amazing) but I saw fog, and a far away moon.  They say this might not happen again for at least another 30 years...Guess I know what I'm doing...I'll be 60ish...maybe I'll have to drag a grandkid or two out with me...who knows!

Chivalry

Ladies...Chivalry is NOT dead!

Last Saturday, well it really started Friday, anyway...on Saturday I got to see a good friend.  Just me.  Yes you read that right, me and no littles! Whoopiee!!!  So off we went to get pedi's and some girl time eating lunch!  It was fun and I can't wait to do it more when my boys get bigger.  Anyway, after I had a visit I had to leave and go home to my family (It was Ian's birthday the next day!!).

As I was driving back home I saw a man pushing a car that ran out of gas or something, with three women.  All I could think was God Bless that man!  Those women were dressed up and had heels on...my worst nightmare (not the heels but the dead car).  Then I saw him hop in his car on the off ramp and most of the cars waited for him to get in his car and go and not pass him.  Then on top of it all he was a father to  two daughters and I thought way to go dad! Show those girls what a real man looks like!  It made me tear up (that and I was...well lets face I'm emotional all the time).

It was just good to see.  Chivalry is not dead and is very much alive!  Thank you Lord for that man!

Melancholy

I miss my grandfather and I really should visit my grandmother more often.  The excuses are never right but seem fitting at the time, which make me feel all the more guilty!  Both my grandmother's on are my next on my list (which I know sounds bad too).  

 

I started this post yesterday, my cable company seems to be having issues and I honestly think it's only us on the block whose having issues!  Thankfully there have been no incidents to report today...which is good for them.  If I had to tell a little one more time or explain one more time about the TV and how it wasn't my fault...they would have had a...well a not so nice person on the phone to deal with!

Tomorrow I take off for a one night retreat with some friends.  I'm excited to go and it will be really, really nice to not have to yell at some littles all night or to just be heard...I am SO tired of not being heard by little people...SO tired of yelling at them...and I am SO tired of having to yell to BE heard!

Have a good weekend everyone!

I Am or I Have...

• I have....been MIA from my blog for awhile
• I am...very tired due to this silly time change we have to do
• I am...getting busier and busier with Spring around the corner
• I am...fighting with my computer as I type this post
•  
• I am a member of this family

I am the mother of this nose picker

I have a best friend whom I love dearly!



• I have been praying a lot lately it seems...cancer, friends, family, marriages, surgeries, my sanity...
• I think I have mentally shut down from things like tsunami's, earthquakes, nuclear reactors.  I can no longer process the ramifications of everything that has happened
• I AM a child of God, which I need to be reminded of often...
• This verse has stuck with me: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8~~ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep an a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, and a time for war and a time for peace.
• Several of those verses are causing me to stop and think and wonder
• I am ready for Spring
• I am NOT however ready for my oldest to be 9 on Sunday (where has the time gone??)
• I am glad to be me

I hope you all are doing well and plugging along.  Take care

Dru Sings

Dru goes to a preschool through our church.  Acutally the bigger boys have gone there too.  I love the school and I love the teachers and the preschool director.  They are so good with my boys and they really do like my boys which is important to me.  What I love also is they once a month have Chapel with our pastor.  I love that for them!  One of the other things they do that I love is they come to church and sing songs for us.  I do have to say of all three boys that have done this Dru  has been far more entertaining to watch.  He actually sings and is more animated.  Ian and Lee just stood there with the deer in the headlight look staring at everyone, scared. 

And, yes of course, he had to wear orange.  Orange shirt, socks and the insides of his shoes had orange.  For all I know he could have had orange on his underwear...

Here is a video, a little over 2 minutes, of Dru and some of his classmates singing.  He cracked me up moving to the beat of the song.

Just another shot of my boy!  I'm just doing the bragging bit...he's a handsome feller! It's all from me!

Clutz

My husband at way to early in the morning.  Look what he did to himself...got up too quick and nailed himself pretty darn good! That was Sunday!

All the pretty colors on his eye today.  The last few times we have gone to do anything one of us or both for that matter end up getting hurt.  For some reason Frank doesn't like his eyes, this is the second attempt he's taken to blind himself.  He's got it out for himself I think.  The colors are pretty don't you think?

Some days you gotta just love your life or laugh or you end up crying :)

Fat Tuesday

In honor of Fat Tuesday I thought I'd post these from Disneyland.

This was on the train going around Disney

I have always thought this was neat looking

I love the mask, almost simple compared to some other masks

These kinds of masks are a bit unnerving for me...but still cool to look at.

I thought this guy was neat

Frank has wanted to go to New Orleans for a long time now and experience Mardi Gras.  I, however, have no desire to step foot there while Mardi Gras is going on.  Kinda like going to Time Square for New Years...no desire!  TOO many people in ONE place at ONE time!  Can we say squished??? Shiver!  So I've told him to go ahead with out me...it really just sounds unnerving.  I would go an visit down there during a different time but not during Mardi Gras...N-O-P-E!

So, being that it's Fat Tuesday that means Lent starts tomorrow....hhmmmm.  Is anyone giving anything up or adding anything to what they do? 

I Got Nothing

Lee takes the cake!

Read Carefully

HA!

Mickey

I just found this picture while looking for a few other pictures! I couldn't believe what a half way decent picture this was for our family!  Look!!!! Lee is actually...well LOOK!

I see potential in next year's Christmas card...it's that one or our family picture with Goofy.

(my stupid glasses!!! Arrggg!)

DuckTales...Woohoo!

Huey.       Duey.      Luey.    

               

 

The real Huey, Luey, and Duey. 

I thought the resemblance was a little uncanny...just a personal opinion.

It's Snowing Boys...

Monday the big boys, Ian, Lee and Austin all got out of school early...due to deteriorating weather conditions.  I am not sure who their weatherman is but they should consider sending him back to school.  Oh I know those weather people get picked on a lot and maybe I need to pick on the school district more but man, by the time I picked them up from the bus stop the snow was gone and it wasn't even snowing.

Yes I know our school district is the biggest or one of the biggest in the state, 100+ miles so the outlying areas were getting pounded.  Here's my thing...why couldn't the kids in town stay in school?  I know it all goes back to that small, rectangle green thing we all rely on to make the world go round, but man! I want to be a fly on the wall to see how they get to these decisions!

Alright I'll get off my soap box (oh and secretly I'm a HUGE advocate of all year round school!!!!).  Since they got out early I needed entertainment for my boys, I all but kicked them all out of my Tahoe that morning telling them I loved them.   All the while doing a cheer in my head about getting my routine back and getting those kids out of my hair (talking about my kids not my lovable nephews!).  It's Tuesday...I still don't have my routine and time back...maybe tomorrow?? I can hope!

So I asked for my nephews to come over and play and thankfully their momma and dad said it was OK.  Yeah me!  So my big boys have bunk beds and they all wanted to make a fort, so I helped them. 

Ian, Lee, Austin, Dru, and Colton

The token goober faced picture, which we sent to Grandma Paulson, who in turn waited for Grandpa Paulson to come home.  She then sent her own funny face back to the boys.  They laughed so hard!

Eli wouldn't get in on the first few pictures and then decided he did...so pictures with Eli. Ian of course couldn't get with it and so there you have it.  Good picture of  Lee though!

Ian, Lee, Austin, Dru, Colton, and Eli

Still good picture of Lee, got Ian to get with the program.  Then what cracked me up was Colton...what is that kid doing?  I should have kissed those lips! They were puckered and waiting!

All in all the boys got an extended stay on Mid-Winter break for one more day and they lived it up for a few more hours.  Then it was back to the grind when Uncle Frank took my nephews home and we started homework and the battle over dinner! 

Enjoy!

Ears To Hear....But Do They Really Hear???

(I love Eli's hat the best!)