Photo Hunters- Original

This weeks theme is original.

Since I'm trying to be original this week it was a little harder to come up with something. What I finally decided on was my husband's beer can collection. His collection is on proud display in the back shelf of our very dark closet.

Here are two JR Ewing (from the TV show Dallas) beer cans. They are filled with the original beer and still have the original pull tabs on them.
Here are some more original beer cans from his collection but most of these no longer have the original beer or pull tabs on them.


For other participants in this weeks Photo Hunt visit TNCHICK.com

Or Click this link PhotoHunt

Middle Name Meme

Nicole tagged me with this one.

So. The rules:
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players - You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3.At the end of your post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.


A- I think that I am a bit adventurous. I'm always willing to try something new at least once.

N- Sometimes people think that I am a bit to Nosy. I just really like hearing about all the things going on.

N- I hope my children think that I am nurturing. At least that's what I'm trying for most days.

E- My kids wake up at the crack of dawn, which makes me an early bird. Completely against my choice by the way. I'd much rather sleep in.

I am going to tag Kim and anyone else who wants to do this meme. (I know, I know I broke rule #3). Just let me know if you do it so I can check out your answers.

The Newest Who in Who-ville

Poor Gigi

Poor Gigi, She just can't do anything right with me. I now have a new way my Boxer annoys me. It's not the fact that she is huge and not really anything like the kind of dog that I really wanted (i.e. she isn't a toy). It's not the fact that the dog for whatever reason insists on drinking gallons of water at one time only to turn around and throw it all up just five minutes later. Sometimes even on me. Or that she will just sit there and whine at you until you play with her. It's not even the fact that the dog wakes me up by licking my face in the morning. Although these things really do annoy me.

No, the new reason for me to not like my dog is that she has now brought fleas into my home. It really isn't her fault, I do know this. I haven't been consistent on keeping her Advantix on her this summer. But when my neighbor told me about five days ago that they had just found fleas I knew it would be only a matter of days until they would invade our yard and thus get on our dog and then make their nasty ways into my house. So I did put the Advantix on Gigi and I have been watching and waiting. And sure enough, she didn't disappoint me. She has been scratching just a bit to much.

So I gave her a pretend belly scratch while I was really looking for fleas. She however didn't know this and thought she had won the belly rub lottery or something.

Once I found the first little booger, her poor belly scratching lottery ended. And outside she went while I figured out how to get rid of them.

I called the vet first and found out I can spend five dollars on a 24 hour pill that will kill all the fleas on her. Then I called the exterminator and they will come out and blast the outside and inside of the home. Meanwhile, Hoss just thought he would try and sweep the pesky fleas off of Gigi. But sadly it didn't help to do anything except get Gigi all excited to play.

So now that just leaves me to vacuum the furniture and shampoo the area rugs like a mad woman. And hopefully in the process my poor Gigi will feel better to. Because let's face it, she is living with those nasty things on her.

Where are they now

My husband and I were talking the other day about our college years. Neither of us had talked to our roommates recently and we were wondering how they were doing and what was going on in their lives. Well it was only a few days later that I got a call from my roommate Jennifer telling me that she was getting married. Naturally I was super excited for her. But then she went on to tell me that they were having a bridal shower only 45 minutes away and would I want to come. Now since I hadn't seen her in about eight years I jumped at the chance.

So the evening of the shower when we finally got a chance to sit down and start to visit we naturally went down memory lane. Here's a picture of Jenn and me. (I'm in the white shirt)


There were three of us there catching up that night. Me, Jennifer and Lanie who was her sister, but with us alot of times. It was at this time that we were laughing so hard my sides hurt and Jenn's poor fiance was just sitting there listening to some of the stories being told in disbelief. Because what one of us had forgotten the others were there to remind us of. I have to admit to completely forgetting all about the shutting down of three dorms worth of study halls during finals because of a shadow strip tease. But once they reminded me of this it all came back in an instant.

We then got to talking about how different our paths have taken us from where we used to be. Now I am a stay at home mom to four children. No one knowing me then would ever believe this of me now. Lanie is now a principal at a Catholic School here in Texas. Even her family is confused at times of how she ended up there. And Jennifer is working in at law firm and finally getting married and ready to start her family. So now here is a picture of where we are now. Here's me, Lanie and Jennifer and if you look closely you will still see some empty beer bottles and glasses of wine around us. I guess we haven't changed all that much after all.


As for Mike, her fiance, I bet he is wondering what other things we got up to in our good ol' college days.

Passing the Torch

My sweet friend Kim recently awarded me with the Nice Matters award. I've known Kim for a while now and I think she is a great lady also. She is always so strong in her beliefs and always faces new challenges head on. So now it is time for me to pass it on to someone else. Now I am faced with the same dilemma that my friend Nan had. It seems like everyone has already received this award. So she made a few changes to her button to make it look different.

So I am hoping that even if you have received this award in the past that you may still be excited to be told that I think your nice and yes it does still matter. So I would like to pass this on to two great women.

First I'll start with Lauren over at Baseballs and Bows. She is always so positive in her posts and all the comments that she leaves for everyone. She just seems to me like a super nice gal and I really enjoy her blog. So I hope this will brighten her day just a bit.

Second is my friend in "real" life Nicole over at 4andcounting. I guess I am a little biased because I know she truly is nice in person as well as on her blog. I consider her a true friend and I also hope this will make her smile a bit today.

So even if both you ladies have received this before I hope you will still enjoy getting it again.

Just for the Record

My pain in my neck for all eternity big brother emailed me the other day. And while that isn't really all that surprising since I do hear from him on a pretty regular basis, this email was different. This was not because my pain my my neck for all eternity brother actually spelled everything correctly for a change. No this was because my pain in the neck for all eternity brother had read my blog for the very first time. And although he was very kind in his words about how cool he thought the blog was, he had a few other comments about some of the content on it.

In particular, he had issue about my post where I was contemplating getting a maid service twice a month. For whatever reason he seems to think that my house was never spotless at anytime when I had only one child. And now that I have four, well let's just say I could hear him laughing from 750 miles away. That dumb ol' pain in my neck for all eternity brother of mine. Naturally, I had to correct my brother's incorrect assumption that my house was ever spotless after I had one child. So I set about thinking of how I could prove it to him. Then I realized I couldn't. My pain in my neck for all eternity brother of mine was... gulp...right.

Now since I am his pesky little sister I can't have this. So I went ahead and emailed him back that yes he was right my house probably wasn't so spotless when he came to visit me when I only had my oldest child Z. But then I had to point out that he never came to visit our house between the time that I had Hoss and K. So what does this mean exactly, well it means that for all he knows (and let's face it what big brother ever really knows more than a little sister) my house was spotless. He was never there to prove it otherwise. So there! How's that my pain in my neck for all eternity big brother. I have admitted to my few readers that yes my house wasn't spotless when I had only one child. But since you were never in my home until after K. was born that gives me at least two years of a pretty clean house if I do say so myself.

Yeeeessss, the pesky little sister wins again!!!

Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is paper. After a week of looking for paper all around me, I am surprised by how it's everywhere. From the piles of school work to the phone book.

But to my children nothing reminds them more of their Pappy then reading the newspaper. This is because when he goes to get the paper he always stops and buys donuts for them. This past weekend poor Pappy had to put the paper away to read for another time since he had way to much help "reading the paper" and drinking coffee.


The kids always get excited when they see the next type of paper come out to be used. The paper baking cups always mean there is something good on the way and they can hardly wait for them to come out of the oven. These cinnamon muffins were a huge hit and didn't last long.


For other participants take on this weeks theme visit TNCHICK.com

Or Click this link PhotoHunt

And the Battle Rages on...and other random things

We are still fighting the battle of germs in our home right now. With half of us on medicine hopefully we will soon be healthy again. But Hoss is home from school again today so no telling how long it will last.

Last night at football practice the 4-5 year old flag football coach finally crossed the line. He is a habitual jerk toward other parents and even the kids on other teams that are practicing close to him. But last night he kept on throwing football passes that no 4 year old could catch and in process hit several different parents, this was because it was to much for him to ask them to please move. One mom who isn't exactly the forgiving type said hit me again and I'll call the police. Which she did the next time he threw a football at her. Truly what a waste. The police came out and eventually everyone moved around so no one would be hit by footballs anymore. Just makes me wonder why we have such fine examples of good sportsmanship teaching our youngest players. Yes, I'm very frustrated by such immature actions on everyone's part.

My poor children don't know why mom has turned so mean on them lately. I have finally stopped buying so much of the "junk" that they love to eat. You would think that I am torturing them or something. The thought of eating anything not processed is freaking them out. On my part, I think I have finally watched one to many programs on what all these processed foods is doing to us. Whether this will last, I can't tell you. But, it has been alot of fun trying to explain to them why the new peanut butter has all this oil floating on top of it. It's all fine and good until I try to drink a diet coke only to have them run up to me saying no mommy that's poison. Some "poisons" are harder for mom to give up I guess.

So that's it for my randomness of this post and thanks for staying awake this long if you have. Hope you have a happy weekend.

Our first taste of Fall

We are experiencing one of our first tastes of fall in our household. Only this isn't in regards to the weather. We have our first fall illness. After only a brief week and a half in school, Hoss has come down with Strep Throat. I am valiantly fighting the battle of it spreading to the other members of the family. So far it appears that I may be winning the battle. But since we are a family of six, I would not be surprised for at least one other person to come down with it. At least now Hoss is no longer contagious and is feeling much better. I never used to be such a germophobic (is that really a word) but the thought of having everyone sick at the same time will turn me into one in an instant. As for me and my home, we all smell like Lysol. But as long as no one else gets sick than I will tolerate this medicinal smell throughout the house for as long as it takes. As for Hoss, he is milking it for as many popsicles as he can get.

Photo Hunters

This weeks photo hunt theme is plastic.

I saw all sorts of plastic at the homecoming parade they had this week for one of the local schools. I saw some cool and colorful plastic masks on along with lots of plastic flowers on some floats.



I also saw some very big inflatable plastic looking pink flamingos.



But by far my favorite shot of something plastic was when my youngest found a plastic tub and began playing with it.


I really don't know why we bother buying toys when it's the everyday normal stuff that keeps them so entertained.

For other participants pictures just visit TNCHICK.com or click this link

PhotoHunt

Grandparents Day

It is Grandparents Day at my son's school today. And by some very fortunate timing my parents were actually planning to visit. As a result they were lucky enough to go buy my son a special lunch and go meet him in his classroom for lunch. Z. was very excited about this and understandably so. My dad had been very sick over the summer and no one was sure he would even pull through, including the doctors. But here we are two months later and he is well enough to travel here for a visit and attend Grandparents Day.

Once they arrived at the school they were directed to the right room. And every child in my son's class had at least one grandparent by them except for one. He was a new boy to the area since he just moved here from Albuquerque and so didn't have any real close friends to sit with so off he went and sat down by himself. Now with a room full of grandparents doting on their grandchildren I am sure he felt left out and was wishing he had his own grandparents with him. But since there was a room full of grandparents you can bet that little boy didn't sit there on his own for long. I heard he had offers from around five sets of grandparents to join them which he happily did. Only a few minutes later he ditched the new "adoptive" grandparents in favor of his very own grandmother who was just late. So everyone was very happy at how the situation turned out.

But this gets me to thinking of all the children who can't have grandparents there on these days. My son has only had grandparents there twice, so many times he is the one left alone only to be "adopted" by someone else's grandparents. Some of his previous teacher's have invited their own retired parents to act as "adoptive" grandparents and then no one is left out. While I love the fact that Grandparents Day is being celebrated I know it has to be hard for some of the children who have lost their grandparents or who live to far from them to be able to attend. I guess in the future I will have to take it a bit more seriously for my children instead of just thinking they'll get over it. It just gives them one more special memory to have with their grandparents.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Sometimes it's just not easy being green. Just ask Kermit the frog, he'll tell you all about it. But really I have encountered a lot of green creatures this week and it's because of their bright colors that I spotted them right away.

This green thing is... I don't know a green leaf bug I guess. It appeared in our garage the other night and showed up quite well against the white background. It really needs to work on it's camouflaging skills I think. He seemed pretty freaked out to see me and my camera getting so close but when your this pretty shade what can you expect.




The other green thing that's crossed my path this week is this huge Slider turtle. At least that is what I was told it was. He had a pretty green shell (not as pretty as the green leaf bug, but don't tell him that). Unfortunately it looked like he had been run over by a lawn mower, but his shell was beginning to heal. The kids and I packed him into a box and released him back in the pond at the park.



The ungrateful thing didn't even give us a simple thanks for freeing him from the neighborhood kids attention. Nope not for him he just hissed and snapped at us. Some turtles are all about attitude I guess. I mean I completely understand it not being easy being green and all but if you were a bit nicer than maybe you'd feel better.

I guess it's a good thing the mean green turtle, who was having a bad day, didn't see the pretty green leaf bug. If he had, he just may have eaten him for dinner.

Marshmellows?

Sometimes even I am confused by what it is my kids are telling me. Let's see if you can figure this one out.

Hoss: Mom, come quick and see all the marshmellows we have growing in our backyard.

Me: Marshmellows?

Hoss: Yes, marshmellows. Come quick and see them. I squished them all over.

So what do I find when I get out to the backyard? Instead of a bunch of squished marshmellows I find a bunch of squished mushrooms. Marshmellows, mushrooms it's all the same thing isn't it.

In Rememberance

Stopping to Pick the Flowers

Some days are just meant to pick flowers. For A. this is obviously one of those days. She was just fascinated by the flowers that she has seen a hundred times already and decided that today was the day to examine them a bit more closely. She stood screaming at the door until I let her out. She starts off innocently enough just looking but before long the desire to touch is to much. You can just hear her thinking " I really must learn more about this little flower."



Soon she is touching and feeling and learning all she can about this little yellow flower. Her intense observation of the flower is obvious, she won't be distracted. Even the silly dog jumping all around isn't distracting her from her study of this flower. Maybe these study habits will carry on into her high school years and she will be a straight A student. I can hope right.



When she is finally done with her little flower study, she seemed quite happy to finally agree to come on back inside. Almost as if she is saying "There now, I have learned all I can from this little flower and it's time to move on."

Photo Hunters

PhotoHunt

I found a new thing to do with all these photos I have been taking. I am going to start posting pictures to go along with that weeks theme. It should be fun.

This weeks theme is Music:

I love the sound of Fall, it is music to my ears. And to me nothing says fall like football. So here are some pictures of my oldest son playing football.



Just imagine the sounds of the pads smashing against each other along with the whistle blowing. This is music to my ears.

Sad but true..

It's truly a sad thing to admit, but I really don't clean as much as I used to. This is simply because it's to hard to keep up with the house as well as spending the time I want to with my children. When I only had two children I had a spotless house. When my third child was born, my house first began to suffer. Now that I have four children I am lucky if I can keep up with my goal of a deep weekly cleaning. Sometimes it is almost two weeks before I can truly clean it the way it needs to be done and not just a quick spot cleaning. I've struggled with this since I truly hate having a dirty home. But I have four busy kids and a husband who just doesn't notice the mud on his shoes, anymore than the dog notices it on her paws. So when I finally get the house clean, in invariable gets messy again within an hour.

So I have finally decided to bite the bullet and see about getting estimates on having someone come in at least twice a month to clean. How sad is that, I am a stay at home mom who is getting quotes for a house cleaner? I would just rather spend my time with my children doing something else and my husband agrees. To add to the fact that if it does get messy again right away, I won't take it as a personal affront, since most times it won't be me doing the actual cleaning. I must confess that I grew up with a house cleaner so I never really appreciated all the work that goes into keeping the house clean, but I do now. But since I still have no one but me to clean then, I guess I will have to tackle my most despised chore of all...dusting...all on my own. Or I could continue on the path that I have been on and pretend the dust isn't there and go play with my son. Guess which one I choose? Yes, you guessed right, my furniture shall remain dusty for another day.

Forms and Artwork

I am filling out lots of forms today. They are from Hoss's Pre-K teacher. She wants to know all about my Hoss and what I expect from her this year. So naturally I am trying to figure out how to write about how special my son is and how wonderful I think he is. I am trying to fit all this information into a small space of about an inch in length. Which makes me wonder if that is intentionally done. Because if she gave us mom's more space to write about what our children our like, we would fill it up. We'd fill it up with all that is good about our children and conveniently forget to put any of the their faults which drive us so crazy. Because if we did that, then we would be putting a preconceived idea into their heads and then that would probably affect the way they treat our sweet babies. Isn't it better to pretend that our angels are always perfect until we get that first note home from the teacher saying they need to work on staying in their seats and not talking so much. Because let's face it, we mom's are hopeful that all that teaching we have been doing at home for the last four plus years will show itself in how they behave at school. So instead of writing in small illegible letters, I am using self control and not going on about every sweet aspect of my son, instead I am hoping she will discover some of these small treasures on her own and that they will brighten her day the way they do mine.

Now during this struggle with words, Hoss has been completing his first homework assignment of the year. To decorate a plain boy using any means possible so that it can be hung on the wall in the classroom. So armed with markers and glitter, Hoss has completed his first assignment. And I must say I am impressed, I didn't think it was possible for a single piece of paper to hold so much glue and glitter without falling apart. As to whether Mrs. Robyn will be able to make out the true intentions of my son's artwork, I can't say. All I know is that he is extremely proud of his glob of gluey glitter and I won't have any problems identifying his artwork once it's hanging up.

Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde

I have a bully in the house. I'm really quite surprised by this for some reason. The bully in question is Baby A. my seventeen month old. She baffles me. How did I get through the other three kids without a biter or a hair puller or a head banger. She truly throws some of the most spectacular tantrums I have ever seen. I am so bothered by her bullying tactics that at her last check up I even asked the doctor for suggestions. He put most of it down to her age but did say once she was eighteen months we could effectively start using time outs. Oh is it going to be a long month. Poor K has lost countless handfuls of hair and both boys have been bitten by her. She's even biting the dog for goodness sake. Yuck! She can turn a calm and quiet room upside down in no time and laugh at the results. She is the youngest of four and I really think for her she just wants to be a part of the action. Any action, and if there isn't any then she will just create some of her own.

But don't think she doesn't have her good qualities to. She is the best kiss giver of the bunch. She will immediately come back and give kisses to anyone hurt and pat them on the back. Whether she feels true remorse, I have no idea. She just copies whatever it is that I am doing Oh the joys of having a dual personality at seventeen months. I really am looking forward to this phase passing and soon. In the meantime, I have to give my older kids a huge award for being so patient with her during all the hair pulling and biting.