Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is time. There are so many different ways that you could go with this theme. But I decided to use the following picture of my son and his teammates. They had just finished warming up before their game was about to begin. So then they all lined up against the fence to wait for the other teams to exit the fields. It was only a few minutes of their time spent on the field that morning but I had to take this picture. Not a single one of them was goofing off or talking with each other. No hats were being hit on anybody else's heads. They were actually still and paying attention. And that is no easy thing for a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds.



So there's my take on this weeks theme. For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

Such Confidence

I just have to laugh at the confidence my children display sometimes. This time I am talking about my oldest son Z. Maybe it's because he is the oldest that he is so confident or maybe it's just his personality. But confidence he has in abundance and I hope he never loses it.

This week at his school they are taking the TAKS test. That is the state wide test that rates the schools and such. Z. has three tests this week. Yesterday was his first day of testing. He had to take the math test. Now he is usually pretty good in math so I don't doubt that he did well on the test.

When he came home from school yesterday I asked him how his test went. His response was fast and he informed me that "He aced the test and got a 100". I chuckled and asked him how he could be sure that he didn't miss even one question. He responded that when he double checked all his answers he always came up with the same answers so obviously none of them were wrong. Oh such confidence.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that there was still a chance that he didn't score a perfect 100. There will be plenty of time to burst his bubble with reality later. In the meantime, I hope his confidence and correct answers will carry him through the rest of the tests this week.

Three

Three, that is the number of times in the last week and a half that we have seen a snake in our back yard. Three is also the number of dead snakes in our backyard. Sorry, I'm not the granola type, if there is a snake in my yard then it will be killed. Especially if the last snake last night decided to sun itself on my back porch. So now we have examined the body of these headless creatures and surfed the Internet for pictures of snakes and we have come to the conclusion that we are being visited by one of these two types of snakes. It is either a water moccasin like we originally thought or it is a harmless garter snake who has had the misfortune of slithering into our yard. The problem is that since Hubs is chopping off the heads of these snakes I am unable to get a good look at the heads to determine if it truly is a water moccasin. So until I can determine for sure what the heads look like then I have to assume that they aren't garter snakes. So if any of you know what a baby water moccasin would look like without a head and can positively identify one then please let me know how to do it. Because I am sick of snakes in the back yard. Hubs is sick of mowing the grass every three days to keep it short so the snakes won't like it and I am sick of being told that I need a cat to keep the snakes away. Like I really need any more creatures or children to tend to right now. I don't think so. What I do need is to go and buy about a million bags of snake away and spread it around the house and yard.

7 Random things about me

I saw Lauren did this over at Baseball & Bows and since by doing this, it saves me from thinking of something new to write about I decided to do it. Not to mention it's always fun to share some of my strange quirks with ya'll.

1. I prefer to drink my coffee from one particular cup. If by chance I can't because my dad is in town and he always grabs my preferred cup than I have a second favorite cup. If that one is gone than no matter how much I try, my coffee experience is just not the same that morning.

2. I get completely crazy and anal and run around like a crazy woman if the toilet paper is not in the right direction for me. (the paper must come over the top for me to stay sane)

3. I can not do puzzles to save my life. Even some of the kids puzzles can be a bit challenging for me. Hubs family loves puzzles so I'm always odd man out when we go to his house and they all sit around putting those little pieces together. (Really, I don't understand the point of it... your just going to destroy it after your done)

4. I'm the worst person in the world about getting cards, presents, etc. into the mail on time for a birthday or holiday. I think my family has gotten used to my lateness and hopefully they don't take it personally. In return, I never expect a card or present to arrive for me until at least a week after the event.

5. When I park the car, the steering wheel must always be in a straightened out position. It makes it easier for me to back out next time I get in the car. Hubs will always tend to turn the wheel one direction or another when he parks so that I have very nearly taken out the garage door a time or two.

6. I am the worst morning mom you have probably ever met. I don't cook real breakfasts for the kids until after I have had two cups of coffee and even then it usually only happens on the weekends. During the week, my kids live off of cereal,waffles, bagels and cereal bars.

7. I love Snickers candy bars. If my kids ever get them for Halloween or in party goody bags then I will almost always eat them.

So there you have some more of my weird issues out there for all the world to see. If you decide to share some things about you, then let me know so I won't feel all alone.

Beware the Dead Battery

Normally I am very anal about charging my cell phone. But the last few days I haven't been able to find my phone charger so I haven't charged it. Today I started to get those little annoying beeps, you know the ones. They remind you about every ten seconds that your phone is about to die. It's so annoying that by the time the phone does die your actually quite happy about it. Because that means that those annoying little beeps finally stop.

This morning I knew I had two missed calls from my mom on my phone. I just kept thinking I'll call her right back. But then I had to run out and do some errands and grocery shopping. And the car is where I do most of my talking it seems. By the time I was in the frozen food section at the store my phone was on it's last beep. It's then that it somehow dredged up enough energy to ring again. And yes it was mom, again. I knew this without even taking the phone out of my purse. I'm physic like that (if it's an inconvenient time to answer the phone, it's guaranteed to be mom). So naturally I didn't answer it. That would have meant that I would have had to stop pushing the shopping cart and thus giving my kids an escape route from the big three seater basket I was pushing around for my cardio workout this morning. I also knew that the second I answered it, the phone would die... so why bother. I'll call her back when I get home I thought.

Now for most moms, they would just leave a message and not worry to much if the didn't get a call back right away. But I never said my mom was like most moms, did I? No, I was able to get home and finally locate the phone charger. All the while knowing the next call wasn't far off. And I was right. The phone rings and it's mom and she is very agitated and worried. What's wrong, where have you been, I couldn't reach you at all. So I explained about the battery and she finally settled down.

I guess I need to keep my battery charged from now on. If for no other reason than to save me from the six missed calls in less than four hours and the grief I get afterward from it.

Flowers Sheds and Snakes...Oh My

We have been busy the past few days. We now have lots of flowers planted in the front flowerbed. Hubs is putting the finishing touches on the shed as I type. And we have discovered that being this close to the lake means the snakes like to visit our yard. So far I haven't actually seen them, only Hubs. I'm not sure if it's just the harmless garden snake or not. I know that they had problems last summer with water moccasins so I hope it's not them slithering in my yard. Should be interesting if the dog finds one, she plays with anything that moves and would just love to have a snake I'm sure. As for me, I would just as soon figure out a way to keep them out of the backyard.

Not a Ligustrum Lover

What's a Ligustrum. It's a very cheap and inexpensive evergreen shrub/tree that the builders like to use. So they planted six of these things in front of my dining room windows. I don't care much for them. They have absolutely no shape to them until they get really big. And by really big I mean over twenty feet+ tall. You can keep them as a shrub if your willing to trim them about every ten days or so (yes that is a slight exaggeration) but they are really way to much work for what you get. So as you can see they are terrible to plant in front of any window, let alone mine and then you have six of them on top of that. So I decided that today was the day to dig them up. I went ahead and bought some dwarf holly bushes and some miniature rose bushes to plant there instead. Both are nice and poky for being in front of the window area. And when they are full size, they will never grow so tall as to obscure my view. So here is my before picture.

See how ugly they are, they just do nothing for me.


Now here they are lying in the back yard until I decide if I'm going to get rid of them or let Hubs do it. I'm leaning toward letting Hubs do it since technically I did the hard part of digging them up.


R.I.P. Ligustrums I'm sorry you weren't appreciated by your owners as you deserved to be.

The one thing I definitely found out while I was digging these suckers up and then replanting the Holly and Rose bushes is that my front flower bed is nothing but clay. I went through close to fifty pounds of potting soil just getting these things in the ground and giving them half a chance at survival. Well OK, maybe not fifty pounds but close enough.

So that now has me rethinking all my flower planting plans. Because anything I do in that flower bed is going to involve clay and lots of it. Which means lots more potting soil and lots more work on my part. And I hate to admit it, but I'm a lazy gardener. I don't like having to dig out huge globs of clay and over sized rocks from the flowerbeds. That's to much like manual labor for me. Wait that is manual labor, see this is a total contrast to my lazy gardener approach I try to follow. So now I'm back to the proverbial drawing board while I decide what else to plant. I'm leaning more and more to perennials with just a few annuals now that I know how much clay there is. I'll keep you posted since I'm sure your all dying to know all about this. Then again, maybe I'll just take up container gardening...it's sounding better and better by the minute.

Random bits and things.

It's seems like there are so many things taking up the hours of my days lately. Not just the kids but all the running around. Then I still have to do all the laundry that never seems to end and let's not forget about those dishes. I can't bear to think about them.

I have had these last four boxes just sitting in my dining room. I intentionally left them there because I knew they would drive me crazy looking at them until they were unpacked. Instead, they seem to have became part of the furniture in the room. They don't exactly match my formal dining room or my china and crystal ware, but still they remained. So I finally opened them up to unpack them and was able to get throughtwo of them without a problem. It's those last two that are still sitting there that I don't know what to do with. It's funny how I just don't have the right place to put these items. They are more of decorations than anything else but I still can't find the right place. So still they sit in my dining room.

The same thing seems to be happening with all the window treatments. They have sat in the office waiting to be hung for two months now. And finally today I washed them and ironed them and got ready to hang them. It's then that I realized the new windows are much to big for the old treatments. So that means I must now go shopping for new ones. Not really a big deal for the boys room but the girls rooms had some really cute ones that I'm hoping to find extra off. But in the meantime they will just have to go without for a while longer. I don't think they really noticed at all so it's not to much of a big deal.

And I must also admit that I've been spending a bit more time reading than blogging lately. But I can't really feel to bad for that. I feel like it's been ages since I had time to read and am enjoying it. So that's where I've been for the last few days. Nothing big or fun or important going on that's even all that exciting or worth mentioning. So that makes it a bit harder for me to come up with anything worthwhile to write about.

Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is twisted and I immedietely thought of this picture. I took it a few months back while the kids and I were out for a walk. It shows the tree trunks of two trees that have twisted around each other. My kids thought it was the "most coolest thing ever". And while I don't know if it really is that, I did find it pretty neat.




So there's my take on this weeks theme. For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

Never To Big

Just when I think things are settling down a bit with the kids, we enter a new phase. Right now, Z. is the one that is going through his phase. He has a bit of a sassy mouth. Add to the sass a bit of tone and you are guaranteed to sound like my oldest. We have talked until we are blue in the face to him about his sass but it just doesn't seem to be making much of an impression. He is nine, almost ten and I know he is testing his limits. But this mom is ready for him to be done with this phase. Now we have Hoss, who thinks his big brother walks on water, doing the same thing just so he can be like his big brother. The other day, when I had heard enough out of the both of them, I layed down the law. Talk nicely or else I would start treating them to soap in the mouth. (I'm a mean mean mom, I know) For whatever reason, they didn't seem to believe me.

And sure enough in less than ten minutes time Z. had opened his sassy mouth again. He really tried to argue his way out of punishment. But when I told him he had a choice of opening up and taking it like the sailor man he sounds like or else having a double treatment, he for once clammed up and took his punishment. And boy was he ever mad. I mean, I was laughing so hard my sides hurt he was that mad. Naturally, Hoss soon had to follow his brother's lead and ended up in the same predicament. Only he didn't argue like his brother.

Once both boys were allowed out of their rooms Z. came storming down the stairs. (He does hold a grudge...hmmm I wonder where he got that from...) He came over and found the label for the soap and began to read. He obviously found what he was looking for since he brought it over to me and said here mom read this warning label it said, "Keep out of reach of children". And then began to tell me how dangerous it is for me to do this, I might cause permanent damage. I then told him to keep on reading where it says "if swallowed drink a glass of water" and pointed out that if he swallowed it then he could just have some water and not to worry about permanent damage since it leaves a nice fresh scent. The only thing I could think of was the movie "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie had gone blind after having his mouth washed out with soap. So I warned him that if he keeps it up I will just have to get the lye soap that may cause blindness next time he sasses me. (I still don't know if he believes me or not) But he stopped his arguing and I have seen a huge improvement the last few days. And for whatever reason both boys are getting along much better now that they have both suffered the soap treatment. They just look at each other and say, you don't want the soap it's the worst thing ever. As for me, I also have this terrible urge to watch "A Christmas Story" now, and I still can't help but laugh at the image of Ralphie (or Z.) becoming blind at what their mean moms did to them.

Two of a Kind

I know I promised pictures of A. and they are of course a day late. It is well worth the wait however, in my opinion anyways, and since I am her mama and this is my blog then it's settled and we all agree and I can continue on. (You can now catch your breath after that long run on sentence)

A. really enjoyed herself and her presents. I must admit to not being very sneaky when buying her presents this year. I figured she probably wouldn't remember and would still be surprised when she opened them. But I was wrong. She apparently has the memory of an elephant and did remember. She found one of her presents which had all her new beads and necklaces and before we were ready she had opened it up and was wearing them. But since it was her birthday and unless it's serious you never get into big trouble on your birthday (at least in our house) she just kept on wearing them and was completely ready for Mardi Gras just in case it should make a surprise appearance on the calender. (Wow, another run on) She got lots of pretty dress up things and a very pretty doll from her Grandmama. When she's wearing her dress she looks a bit like her doll so it's two of kind in the princess department. Now she has something to wear when big sister is playing dress up. She doesn't know it's just a nightgown and I'm not going to tell her. She can figure that out some other time. Then she proceeded to try and blow out her candle and lick as much icing off her pink cake as she could. She did have a bit of help in that department with the rest of the kids. I think I now have a big cake with all the icing licked off and nothing but white cake left. For most moms, this would mean throw the cake out but I know my kids and they will eventually want some cake even without icing and so it still remains in our kitchen.

Anyways that's how her day went and she loved every minute of it.

Turnin' Two Today

Today my baby turns two. We're planning on having a small family celebration this evening so I will post some pictures of Baby A. in the morning. Can I still call her Baby A if she is now two...I think so, since she is technically still my baby. I'm off to make a pink cake for my little princess.

Feeling the Love

There are many times where I feel like no one even realizes what it is that I do everyday. And that if I stopped doing it, no one would miss it all that much. Let's face it, children are very demanding and not good at thanking us for all that we do for them. They just expect clean clothes to be in their drawers and food to be in the pantry. Well at least mine do. They take everything they have for granted including us moms. So there are some days when I just feel a bit drained by all the requests that seem to be never ending. But then every now and then, one of them will surprise you with something and suddenly your lifted back up and all is right with the world.

When my oldest was gone for Spring Break he went out to a ceramic shop and made something. I knew he had gone and had fun but just assumed he had made something cool for him like he had done the time before. Well, he hadn't, instead he made something for me. I don't know what made him decide to do this. It's not my birthday or Mother's Day or anything like that. I guess I will just assume that he was missing me a bit that day and if I'm wrong then please don't tell me. So after he returned home he came downstairs and said "Mom, I've got something for you". I just assumed it was trash or laundry and was completely surprised when he handed me a bag. Inside was this lovely vase he had picked out and painted for me. It has flowers all around it and says MOM with little hearts next to it. I immediately grabbed him and gave him a big hug and put it where I will see it everyday. It's there to remind me how much my children do love me, even if they aren't always bearing gifts to show it. I love my new vase!


And I know it's sideways but for whatever reason I am having a hard time fixing that right now so just tilt your head a bit and you'll see it.

Lapsing in my duty

I've been informed that I've been a bad blogger. I've not been posting everyday and sometimes not even every other day. I will try to do better, truly I will. It just seems like my computer time has gone completely by the wayside lately (but I have read a few books that I wanted to so I can't complain to much). So for those of you who want to know what is going on to make my blogging so erratic lately, just pick up the phone and call me. In the background you will probably here at least one (maybe two or three) of my children immediately start to scream and clamour for something or another. I will of course still try to talk to you on the phone because you most likely will be an adult and that would mean that I could use big words while I talk to you and I always enjoy using big words these days. But it will be difficult for an extended conversation with out any interruptions. That's just like here at the Juice Box household. Noisy and chaotic with a touch of lunacy. It's how mom gets through the day.

Opening Day

Today is opening day for our family. Tonight Z. has his first baseball game. Hoss has his first game on Saturday. We always have fun watching the boys play but we are pretty excited about tonight. It will be the first time Z. will be pitching. He'll still play his other positions during other innings (usually 1st and 3rd) but since we haven't seen him pitch in a game before, it should be fun.

Hoss is very excited for all of us to be at his first big T ball game on Saturday. I think he's more excited to have big brother there to cheer for him for a change. He hits pretty good and doesn't need the tee stand most times. Unfortunately his catching and throwing skills need a lot and I do mean a lot of work. He's getting there though. But it's to much fun to watch him and the other little boys playing. Definitely not nearly as serious a game as the bigger boys have.

Fenced in Again

When we bought this house, for some reason it didn't have a fence. The builder is one of the few in our area that doesn't include it. So we knew we would have an added expense of getting a fence put up. Well we have been moved in for over a month now. I have jumped through all the hoops that this ridiculous HOA required and we are now in the process of having our fence put up. I can't tell you how excited I am to be fenced in again. I will now be able to just let the dog out instead of having to actually stand outside with her while she does her business. The kids can now play outside freely without me worrying about them falling off the retaining wall again and again. (Some lessons are a bit harder to learn I guess) We can now start thinking about that shed that Hubs really needs so there will be more room in the garage. And now if we feel like it we can run around outside with the kids without every neighbor in the block laughing at our kids whipping us at tag or whatever game we are playing.

There is a drawback to our fence. It will now block our view of the lake from the backyard. For whatever reason, the HOA wouldn't allow wrought iron. But we will still see the view from all the windows inside and or course out front. Our crazy old bat lady of a neighbor who so rudely accosted Hubs about our fence will not be able to see the lake anymore. She will also not be able to see our "bunch of kids and dog" as she so eloquently put it in her crazed state of mind. I have thought of taping a picture of the view on her side of our fence just so she won't miss it so much. But I heard that she's considering moving now (apparently our fence was the final straw or something like that) so I'm really not to concerned about her keeping her view. I guess I shouldn't tell her that our new neighbors moving in next door our putting up a big fence also. When they do then her yard will essentially be fenced in on all sides. But I don't want to add to her fence burden anymore than I have. Some people are just not happy and I am sorry to say that she is one of them.

I however am a happy person. I'm happy that I am going to have my fence by the end of the weekend. Yes, that makes me happy. It makes my kids happy. It makes the dog happy and it makes Hubs happy. We are going to be such happy people to be around you won't be able to stand it.

And then there were three

Our house has been a bit off balanced the last two weeks and it continues on this week as well. This is because my parents have been taking each of the kids for a week to spend some one on one time with them at their home. First to go was Hoss, this was the first time he actually got to go all by himself. He had lots of fun and lots of milkshakes. I really missed him and the house was very quiet while he was gone. It was also a lot more clean. I soon realized who my two main mess makers are. And when he came home, he looked like this.


Next to go visit was Z. He actually bumped K. from her chosen week but since he was off from school on Spring Break she really didn't have a chance. He to enjoyed lots of milkshakes, movies and made lots of friends at their house. He spent lots of time playing basketball when he wasn't eating. I swear that child gained five pounds last week. The house was quiet and off balanced during his visit as well. But when they returned for the Easter weekend it was all good again. I had a few days with all my kids back home in their own beds like they are supposed to be.

But then K. had to get her visit in and so she hopped in their car when they left and got her first turn at Grandmama and Pappy's house all by herself. She will be a bit more work for them since she is still the youngest and I hope my parents make it through her week without to much trouble. If not, we will just meet at the halfway point and just shorten her trip a bit. My K. can be a bit clingy to her grandmama, kind of like this.


But it was something that both the kids and grandparents have been wanting to do. So we seized the opportunity while we could. I'm sure it will take me weeks to get them back into reality once they are all home again. Baby A. isn't going for a turn. She's still a bit to young for me to let go just yet. But someday she'll get to go. But for now, they are all noticing the difference it makes when just one of them isn't around.

Photo Hunters

This week the theme is metal and I had to look a bit to find one. But I did managae. We took some time out this week to visit the botanical gardens. While there the kids couldn't resist climbing up on this big metalish looking frog fountain. Where they proceeded to spray water everywhere causing anyone with a camera nearby to run. After all what's more fun than that?







So there's my take on this weeks theme. For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

Wordless Wednesday

Camel Calisthenics



For other WW click here or else you can click here .

Spring Break This Week

This week is spring break along with Holy Week. So that means that I am going to try and spend a little extra time with my children and try to get the most out of Holy Week. I will be a bit sporadic at best.