Monday, April 30, 2007

Break out the hose...



...Must be Summer!


As soon as the temperature gets a degree or two over 70, the kids want to be in the hose. The dog, on the other hand, does not. Oh, well! Hope you all had a great weekend! I'll be working with Andy tomorrow, so wish me luck! Hopefully I won't get fired! Or maybe that could be a good thing. I'll have to think about that.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Hail to the Chief




Three of our nephews were here tonight. That made 6 boys, 3,5,7,8,10, & 12 years old. If you read the last post, you know about the boys.


Tonight they had my brother's 3-wheeled bike. You know, the kind of bike that really old people in a retirement community ride around. Basket in the back and all. Mario sat in the basket while the other boys took turns carting him around. He was the President, and the other boys on bikes were his "guards." Oh my, what would this world be like with Monkey as the President!
Sorry about the fuzzy pictures, it was getting pretty dark out. #2 sis Emily's son Jack is in the white shirt, #1 bro Ben's son Austin is in the sweatshirt, and Monkey, I mean Mr. President, is in the basket. If you look really closely you can see the scaredy-dog Ro in the background. When the flash went off he took off running. He thought it was lightning! It took a little bit of coaxing to get him back to the house. I blame it on doggy dementia. He is 77 in dog years, you know!


Speaking of retirement, my friend Nancey sent me this article about her cousin's Mother-in-law. Inspirational!




Thursday, April 26, 2007

Boys will be Boys

First of all, thanks to all who called, e-mailed or commented on the blog yesterday. It was fun hearing from you all! And Auntie Mona, I will try to make sure I label the pictures. Also, to see a picture enlarged you can click on it.

My boys have really been giving me a run for my money lately. Mario will only wear snow boots or cowboy boots, which may be acceptable in snow and/or Texas, but when the weather is a little bit warmer and he is sporting shorts and a t-shirt, not so acceptable. Last year he was addicted to flip-flops. Now I can't get him to even slide a big toe into them. He loves cheetos, and his Auntie Emily has been known to show up at our door with bag of cheetos in hand as bribery for a love. Of course it's always better to get a kiss before it is rimmed with orange cheese!

Joseph loves food. When he is eating something especially delicious his eyes roll back in his head and he MUST make a comment, like MMM, that was SOOO good, Mom! His pre-school teachers marvel at his eating prowess. The only thing they have NOT seen him eat with pleasure were fishsticks. (Can't say that I blame him there.) This past week or so they have been talking about birds, nests, baby birds, etc. They have two little nests with eggs in them on the playground. Here's how one of those teaching moments went:

Miss Amy: Baby birds are hatched out of the little eggs after their Mommy birds have had to sit on them for a while to keep them warm.

Joseph: Miss Amy, can you please quit talking about eggs cuz you're making me HUNGRY!

Brian plays the trumpet like a band teacher's dream. Unfortunately, his behavior in band class is not a band teacher's dream. Brian and Natalia were involved in the Dinner Theater at school on Saturday, which included a 6th grade band performance. I assumed Brian was part of that performance, but I guess I need to ask more questions. At dress rehearsal Friday night his band teacher asked me why Brian was not playing for the Theater since he can raise his band score a whole grade letter. When asked, Brian told me he did not know the music, blah blah blah. Mrs. Gumbel said, "Brian, you know you can play it without practicing. I'll go get you the music." To make a long story short, I lost the battle. Brian should have been named HardHead.

I am a mother to Boys. Thank goodness for my girl.

WHAT IS A BOY? by Alan Beck

Boys come in assorted sizes, weights, and colors. They are found everywhere – on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older brothers and sisters tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them.

A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket. A boy has the appetite of a horse, the digestion of a sword swallower, the energy of a pocket size atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a dictator, the imagination of Paul Bunyan, the shyness of a violet, the audacity of a steel trap, the enthusiasm of a firecracker, and when he makes something he has five thumbs on each hand. He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, the boy across the street, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday school, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime. Nobody else is so early to rise or so late to supper. No one else can cram into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, three feet of string, an empty Bull Durham sack, two gumdrops, six cents, a slingshot, a chunk of unknown substance, and a genuine supersonic code ring with a secret compartment.

A boy is a magical creature – you can lock him out of your workshop, but you can’t lock him out of your heart. You can get him out of your study, but you can’t get him out of your mind. Might as well give up- he is your captor, your jailer, your boss and your master – a freckle faced, pint sized bundle of noise. But when you come home at night with only the shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them with two words – “Hi Dad!”

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Honor Roll and Thunder Roll


One more post for today. We are now under Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 9 p.m. tonight. Time for the dog to freak out again!


Look closely at this picture. Third straight quarter on the Honor Roll! Yeah!

New Babies




My #1 Sis, Mellisa, and her husband were just blessed with twin boys last month. Mellisa has never been able to get pregnant, even after a try at invitro, so Adam's sister amazingly offered to carry a baby for them. She had an almost perfect pregnancy, and they were born by C-section on March 21, the first day of Spring.


They are now 4 1/2 weeks old and are doing great. Adam and Mellisa are wonderful parents, and are totally sharing the responsibility and workload. These pix are of Mario and his cousin Jerica visiting Abrahm and Matteo at the hospital when they are just hours old.
Guess What?
Mellisa is now 4 1/2 weeks pregnant!!!!!

Birds of a Feather...or The Early Bird gets The Worm!

I woke up before sunrise this morning to the most amazing sound of dozens of birds twittering back and forth to each other. I couldn't believe how loud they were! I'm not sure why they were all out there, but my best guess is they were after all the little wormies that might be above ground after the big storm last night.

We had lots of lovely thunder and lightning, had to even make sure the computers were all unplugged-just in case! My parents have had a couple of lightning issues with their computers in the past.

Emily had her house ready in case of frightened family hunkering down in her basement during the tornado watch until 2a.m. this morning. We didn't end up over there, but it's nice to know we have an alternative spot to the smelly basements of the Presbyterian or Baptist churches in town. Not that I wouldn't be happy to be in those basements in case of actual tornadic action, mind you!

Thought I'd take this early morning time to actually start my blog that I've been threatening to start for a while now. Also thought this could be a good way to keep in touch will those of you far away. Keep checking back! I want to update this often, and maybe I'll have some surprise guest bloggers on once in a while!
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