A dad, his boy and the boonie hats

 Mike and Nick have boonie hats.  Recently Mike braided some paracord and attached them to their hats.  Aren't they cool?  Father and son are happy, happy, happy!

My random likes

 I am liking that every 6 weeks or so my mom, sister and I get together without our kids.  Just the three of us.  We so rarely get to enjoy each others company when the kids are around that our girls nights out are much needed and appreciated.

 After going to the winery and dinner with my mom and sister I came home to find this beautiful rainbow.  I really liked this!

 This is really one of my top likes.........Nick and Lauren getting along.  If you look closely at Lauren's hand she is holding a pink camo paracord bracelet that Nick made her (more on the paracord bracelets further down).  Lauren was thrilled with it and Nick was pleased.

 I like that my sister and Craig took Jay hiking today.  Lauren and Luke went to hang out with Craig's parents and Jay, Craig and Kim drove about 1.5 hours and hiked the day away.  My sister has really felt disconnected from Jay the past year.  He's at that age and she is busy with her own kids but I know it's been hard on her.  Recently Jay got texting abilities and no one has been happier about it than Kim.  Kim and Jay have been texting daily.  It's cute.  Jay had such a good time today with his aunt and uncle and I really like that!

 I am really liking these new paracord bracelets the boys are making with Mike.  They are really cool.  Check out my pink camo paracord key chain Jay made me below.

 I like the fact that late this afternoon Mike got the boys started on a project - that they are actually engaged in (now I really like that).  They are building themselves wooden stand with small holes in it.  They plan on positioning these stands in their trails for their air soft gun "wars."

Here's Nick working away.  There is a lot of drilling going on at my house.  On a side note and without pictures included.  I am really liking the crop dusters right now.  I am enjoying the cool/October like (yes I said October) weather and I'm really loving the sweet corn right now!  Life is good.

5 indicators that it might be time for school to start

1.  When I went to use my lap top today it was sticky from popsicles.....we have gone through boxes and boxes of popsicles this summer but the boys have gotten down right lazy in throwing their wrappers away and not dripping them everywhere.
2.  I'm saying "Stay away from each other, don't touch or look at each other" way too often during the day.
3.  The boys are so tan they are starting to look like they belong in another country.
4.  I have banned sleep over and friends coming over to our house the rest of the summer.  Maybe that sounds bad but review my blog posts from May, June and most of July.  If you still have the opinion that I'm unjustified - tough.
5.  I'm officially out of money.........a really good reason for school to start!

What we've been up to

 Thursday night Jay had a camp out with his friends.  The boys had a blast.  The evening first started out with an air soft gun war.  The boys got their protective eye wear on and they were off!  Jay and his friends spent the night in the tent.  They had a nice camp fire going until about midnight.  It was one of the hottest nights of the summer but those boys didn't seem to mind or really notice.  The picture above of Nick cracks me up because he layered himself so that when he got hit with the air soft pellets it wouldn't sting as much.  I would have preferred the stink of the pellet vs. sweating to death in layers on a 100 degree summer night.

                                                               Da- Crew

                                            This was Jay right before bed.  He cracks me up.

 On Saturday night we were invited out to one of Jay's friends house - where we had never been before.  This friend just happens to be a girl and her brother is just one year older than Nick.  Nick and W. played relentlessly all night long.  They also had a pool.  It was such a fun night.

                                      My good friend Jenna was there too.  We are so silly.

                    Here we are being a little more serious.  Ha!  We have been friends for 30 years!              

Jay and his friends!  This friend lives on a county road and the nearby town had fireworks on Saturday night so we all stretched out in her front yard and were dazzled by the firework display.  It was a great evening!

Friends

Last week Nick had his good buddy over!  The boys played and got into mud and boy did they ever.  I love all of the friends the boys have.  The picture above just makes me laugh.  Don't these boys look silly?  Anyway on the night Nick had his friend over I left for 20 minutes to get pizza and left the boys in the care of Mike.  I was gone for 20 minutes - I have to repeat/emphasize that for the effectiveness of the story.  When I returned it looked like a murder mud scene in my garage and laundry room.  This summer has been the summer of friends.  I like having an open door policy when it comes to the boys' friends but I have to say I'm wearing down.  Jay has one more event friend event (at our house) this summer and then I'm done....for the summer anyway.  Before I know it the boys will be back in school and we will be busy with flag football (Nick) and cross country (Jay) and all the school work that comes with a new school year.  Whew!

Parenting and sundaes for lunch

The boys left yesterday to go R.V(ing) with their grandparents.  They don't come home until tomorrow.  So what are Mike and I doing? NOTHING and it's heaven.  We purposely didn't schedule a thing.  We wanted to do whatever we wanted when we wanted and that's even if we felt like doing anything.  Ha!  Last night Mike went shooting with Ausili so I stayed home, ate junk and watched trash T.V..  Today I hung out at the pool with Jenny and Faith and even took a short siesta in my lounge chair.  People told Mike and I when we had kids that once we had them we would hardly remember our lives before children but to be honest for several years after I had Jay I vividly remembered what our lives were like before we had both boys.    However, now that we are 11 years into parenting our 4 years together after marriage but before we had kids is now a distance memory.  I know I am a better person because of my kids.  I am certainly way less selfish and I appreciate things more - especially the quietness of my house (ha) and I like to think I'm more patient.  Just today I decided that I wanted a carmel sundae for lunch.  I knew it was wrong but darnit the boys weren't with me so I took full advantage of it.  It was a rare treat.  As I sat and savored every bite of my sundae I thought to myself......."If I was never Jay and Nick's mom then I never would be able to truly enjoy this heavenly carmel sundae for lunch!"

I've turned into my mother

Yes, I've turned into my mother but that isn't a bad thing (I love you, mom!).  Sometimes when I'm in the midst of parenting I stop myself and think, "Oh my, I have officially become my mother!"  All those little things she use to do that drove me crazy when I was a kid are now things I do as a mom.  For example, she use to make me sign contracts.  I hated them!  She would also call us out on our bad behavior and trust me I had plenty of that.  So to get to the entire point of my blog last night as I was putting Jay to bed he mentioned he thought his whole summer had been a bust!  Really Jay!  First off it's only early July and secondly Jay has more fun (and yes cheap fun at that) than any 11 year old boy I know.  He's free as a bird and doesn't even realize it.  Did it make my blood boil?  Yes but only for a second and then I'm reminded that he's not that different than I was when I was 11.  So I thought to myself......how would my mother handle this situation.  I calmly kissed Jay good night and got up this morning and typed him a letter (below).  I gave it to him this morning and had him read it out loud to me.  He wasn't happy but apologized to me that he had hurt my feelings - mission accomplished.  Actually he didn't hurt my feeling but I was disappointed in his statement.  What was amusing to me was when Jay was reading my letter he had forgotten half the stuff on the list - imagine that?  Guess Jay's summer isn't such a "bust" after all.  Ha!  

Dear Jay:

I was disappointed to hear you say you feel this summer has been a bust. As an 11 year old boy you are getting to do a lot of activities. You may not realize it but all of these activities take time and money on my end and dad’s end. We are happy to provide you with those activities as long as they are appreciated by you.

I’ve made a list of all the fun things you’ve gotten to do this summer and it’s only July 9.

*Boating & getting to use your wake board

*R.V (ing) coming up this Friday you will go out with your grandparents for 3 days

*sleep overs galore

*You’ve spent time at froggie island almost daily

*fishing

*State Farm Pool for our family reunion. All those dives you took with Quinton.

*Paddle boating. Several of your friends have been out to paddle boat with you which probably then lead to another sleep over.

*Camp fires in the back yard.

*Constant flow of your friends coming over and spending time with you or you with them at their houses.

*Wrestling show with Aaron.

*Two basketball camps with your friends.

*Church camp

This is a pretty good list, Jay. Always remember we love you but we want you to appreciate what you already have. The Lord has provided your dad and I with what we need to take care of you – food, shelter and clothing. Everything else you get to do is just an added bonus – appreciate it!

Pictures

 Jay found this turtle!  I think it's a she and she was not overly thrilled to be found and Copper wasn't happy at all!

                                              Nick, Curtis and Jay - muddy!  Gee, imagine that?

Nick and his summer time uniform.  On any given day when were at home this is how you will find Nick; cut off jean shorts, no shirt and his boonie hat!

Our week

I wasn't sure what to name this blog.  I thought about "My Rise & Fall," or "Two close calls."  It has been quite a week at our house.  First I am guilty of sometimes biting off more than I can chew.  I can hear my husband in my head saying, "Ya think!!!"  I love having friends and family in and out but we are also a family that completely shuts down when we take too much on.  My boys are home bodies and my husband likes a clean and organized home - which takes us being at home to achieve.  When I take too much on it makes everyone cranky - me being at the top of the list.  So my rise was that I had so much fun taking too much on but my fall was when I realized I had taken too much on and I was just worn out & everyone was short tempered and tired!!!  I have banned sleep overs for the rest of July.  Ha!
This week Jay accidentally knocked over a highly flammable bottle of gasoline and about set himself and the house on fire.  That was a "good" day.  Then last night Nick was taking Curtis for a ride on his four wheeler when he accidentally flipped his four wheeler and the handle landed on Curtis' eye.  Thankfully he was okay but both boys were shook up and Curtis now has a shiner on his eye.  Nick felt terrible and both boys had the same story and Nick was not messing around but it was a good reminder as to what can happen on a four wheeler and I've gotten rather relaxed about wearing helmets.  Needless to say the boys will be wearing their helmets from this point on.

4th of July

This year the 4th of July was beautiful weather wise.  It was cool and the sun was out all day.  We started the day with our subdivision parade.  The boys decorated their four wheelers.  Family and friends participated!  It was a lot of fun!

After the parade our friends The Neal's spent the afternoon.  Jay and Aaron roasted hot dogs, rode four wheelers, dirt bikes and swam at Froggie Island - truly a perfect day to my boys.

                                                 
For dinner Mike fried fish and it was so yummy!  We did everything outside this year.  It was great!

The Ausili's and my mom joined us that evening too.  Here's the 3 boys.........relaxing by the fire.

                                                              Mike lighting Jay's sparkler!

All the boys with their sparklers.  I can say that because Faith was absent this year.  She's always up for boy time but this year she spent the evening with a girlfriend - I can't blame her.

Us three girls minus my mom.  I think my mom had left by this time.  Notice the blue flame in the picture.  My crazy husband did that on purpose!

Kid centered weekend

I would have blogged last night but I was EXHAUSTED!  On Friday night Jay had two friends spend the night - hence the picture above of Aaron and Reece.  The boys had a really good time.  On Saturday night the Ausili's came out and Faith and Curtis spent the night.  All the kids had a ball but I have to admit I was exhausted by Sunday afternoon.  I love all these kids and enjoyed seeing them and spending time with them, I was just washed out by Sunday.  Ha!  Even my boys were cranky and Jay can run on nothing.  He's like a machine, just like his dad.  Nick, however, needs more sleep and can't quite run like Mike and Jay.  We all rested up and now were preparing for the next round - 4th of July!  Wo-hoo.

 My favorite kiddos before church on Sunday morning.  They had to get a quick bike ride in before church, of course.

A sunday afternoon paddle boat ride.  It wasn't quite what Jenny and I had envisioned.  By this time the kids were tired and probably a little annoyed with each other which doesn't happen very often but I could tell they were all just beat!  Plus the weather wasn't great so it was kind of a downer.