My Puppies

Nikki is the youngest of our 2 dogs...about 1 1/2 yrs old. We got her from a couple who offered her up on craigslist when she was about 6 months old. She's a Sharpei/Basenji mix...sharpei being a Chinese watchdog and a basenji is an African watchdog. She's very playful and enjoys running around the yard, pouncing on Sprinkle and following me around the house!

Sprinkle is the oldest of my 2 dogs...she's 2 1/2. We got her from the pound when she was 10 weeks old and she is a sweetheart! She's blue heeler mix and rare colored for that breed...usually blue heelers are blue w/white spots, but Sprinkie is white w/blue spots. She likes to play fetch, herd the boys and Mom around and just have fun!

Life Speeds Up

Well summer is coming to an end and with it the slower pace life. I've volunteered or will be volunteering for at least 3 things this fall and the planning meetings have started. I've volunteered to be the Treasurer for my MOMS (Moms offering Moms Support) club and we had our first board meeting this morning. Next week we will be having the chapter meeting to keep everyone up to date on the upcoming events. We also had to plan our Founder's Day Picnic (our major membership drive), so if anyone reading this is a mother and you need someone to talk to there are chapters all over the country, so you might look into joining.

The Leader's meeting for our Cub Scout Pack is next week and that will also be focused on starting our membership drive, along with some internal problems (mainly trying to find a couple of good Leaders to take the place of Leader's who've had to leave...and believe me will be missed!) I'm Achievement Chair right now(which is a monthly commitment), but I may end up helping with a den or two (weekly commitment), which is okay...I'll miss it if I don't get to help.

School registration is next week. 2 schools this year: elementary AND middle school! (Insert whimper here!). I might join 1 or both PTA's, but that depends on Scouts and how busy I am there, especially since husband wants me to participate in the Committee meetings for my Oldest son and his Troop (these meetings usually land on Bunco night though, and I won't give up Bunco for anything!)

Signed Youngest up for another year of gymnastics this morning. Wednesday afternoons this time since he'll be in school in the mornings. Oldest has wrangled a promise from me, so he gets to play football this fall too.

Man...I knew I was going to be busy, but writing it all down here...YIKES!

Mohawks!

We are allowing the boys to have some fun with their hair and at the same time express their personalities. I insisted last night that the hair that hasn't been cut since before school let out had to go! Both boys were not happy with the idea, but my Oldest asked if he could have a mohawk when we cut it. I thought about it and agreed that they could have mohawks for a week! Then their heads will be shaved, and hopefully it will grow long enough before school starts in 3 weeks for a proper haircut. I'm calling this their transitional haircut!

School supplies, New routines, and Nerf guns

The Husband and I took the boys to get their school supplies this afternoon. It was strange this year shopping for 2 instead of just the Oldest. He starts middle school this year and the Youngest is in 1/2 day Pre-K. School won't start for another 3 1/2 weeks, but I always enjoyed shopping for school supplies as a girl and I've carried that over with my boys (although now I can get them the things I wish I had!). We had fun.

This week I finally got around to cleaning out the storage pit that should have been our Dining Room. The table is clear and it has led to a new routine...the routine of: Eating around the Table! I've wanted to do this for a long time, but we had our old computer sitting on the table. After we eat my Oldest cleans off the table, scrapes the plates, puts up the food, and rinses the dishes while I'm washing (we don't have a dishwasher!...Or as my Husband says..."I have a dishwasher...she's right there!"). My youngest gets to wash off the table and push the chairs back under the table. The three of us are done quickly (usually while my Hubby is hiding in the Bathroom!) They seem almost happy that they can be helpful.

This summer I bought soft nerf guns for the boys and the shoot-outs are on! (I should have bought 3 since my Hubby seems to enjoy this game immensely). There is some fighting, but overall they spend a lot of time playing the game and having fun! The only rule is: NO SHOOTING MOM!

A Very Productive Day

I am so proud of myself and my boys today! We had a very productive day and got a lot of things done.

We journeyed to the Library this morning with Grandma and exchanged our books and movies for new ones. Little Dude got to choose 4 movies and I choose 10 books to read to him. He signed up to read 50 books this summer and will get a medal when he finishes. We are up to 31! The Oldest finished Book #4 out of 5 he signed up for (he reads longer chapter books) so he picked up another. He is reading the Book of Three series by Lloyd Alexander. We also found a biography on Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody for him to read. I rented The Young Rider TV series shown between '89 and '92 and told him that the Hickok and Cody characters in the show were based on real people.

We came home and Oldest son carried half the junk clutering our Dining Room into the Garage, while I re-arranged and vacuumed. Now we can start eating in the Dining Room again! Oldest and Youngest then took to their room and between the 3 of us we got that bulldozed.

We attended a MOMS get together this afternoon that included sprinklers, water-guns and ice-cream sundaes. That was super fun!

Tonight we will have cheese ravioli with meatballs and garlic bread and watch some TV.

Yeah Us!

A simple chore

I spent the day yesterday doing a simple chore, that when done leaves me wrung out and exhausted. Now you might be asking "What chore did you do that left you in such a state?...was it mopping?"...NO, "was it dusting?"...NO, "was it cooking?"...closer, but NO. I spent the day yesterday coming up with my families menu for the next 2 weeks! You're standing their scratching your head in confusion, aren't you?

This simple chore is not as simple as you might think. It requires a lot of correlating of schedules, reviewing of recipes and the families likes and dislikes, and then poring over the freezer and pantry to see which ingredients will be needed for the upcoming shopping trip.

The production of the menu begins the same every time. I write down 14 evening meal ideas that sound good to me or that I know are family favorites or that I found in the most recent cookbook that I've been perusing. I make sure that I don't put in too many hamburger or chicken recipes, and maybe sprinkle some recipes with odd ball ingredients like hot dogs or clams or pepperoni.

The second step is to use my planner and add in all of the activities planned for that week. Then I find the recipes that are the easiest to prep and prepare and put them on the days we have evening activities. The rest of the menu ideas I disperse throughout the rest of the menu, keeping in mind that I cannot have the same meat/starch back to back. Once the evening meals are set, I come up with 4 lunch ideas and 4 breakfast ideas that I put down for the 2 weekends and my menu is complete.

The third step is to make up my shopping list. I write down all ingredients needed and then I mark off those that I have around the house or are staples. I then take off that list the ingredients that will not keep for 2 weeks and put those down on the shorter list for the shopping trip next week. Throw in bread, chips and lunch meat for my Husband's lunches, and ramen, hot dogs and fries for my kid's lunches and I'm done for another 2 weeks!

Menu planning=stressful
Shopping=stressful
Not having to think about meals for the next 2 weeks=Priceless!

Swimming Pictures

"Wheeeeeeee........"

......SPLASH!

"Ring around the Rosie"...water style.

Trying to learn the beginner stroke.

"The Water Monkey" and Swimming Lessons

Today was the last day of 2 weeks worth of swimming lessons for my youngest. He loves the water so much that I'm thinking of re-naming him "The Water Monkey".

Unfortunately my oldest had to leave for his canoe trip early so I didn't get any swimming pictures of him, that allowed me to concentrate on the youngest this morning and I got a lot of great photos.

His lessons revolved around getting the kids comfortable with the water, putting their heads underwater, breathing out (not in) underwater, gliding, floating, beginner's swimming stroke and jumping off the diving board with someone to catch them (a game mine wanted to repeat over and over again). Today being the last day they also got to go down the slide, which he did by himself! Next year he will be in level 1 and swim in the big pool.

In his swim class, my Oldest is learning things like the butterfly stroke, the breaststroke, elementary backstroke and the sidestroke. He also did some diving from the side of the pool and the diving board, he learned to swim underwater, and to tread water for 2 minutes, along with survival floating and swimming. He will repeat this level so he can practice and refine these skills.

The 3 Bears in a different twist

This came to me through the internet...

The 3 Bears in a different twist

A far more accurate account of the events of that fateful morning... Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table. He looks into his small bowl. It is empty. 'Who's been eating my porridge?' he squeaks.

Daddy Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl and it is also empty. 'Who's been eating my porridge?!?' he roars. Mommy Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells, 'For Pete's sake, how many times do I have to go through this with you idiots?' 'It was Mommy Bear who got up first. It was Mommy Bear who woke everyone in the house. It was Mommy Bear who made the coffee. It was Mommy Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night and put everything away.

It was Mommy Bear who swept the floor in the kitchen.

It was Mommy Bear who went out in the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper and croissants.

It was Mommy Bear who set the darn table.' 'It was Mommy Bear who walked the dog, cleaned the cats' litter tray, gave them their food, and refilled their water.

'And now that you've decided to drag your sorry bear butts downstairs and grace Mommy Bear with your grumpy presence, listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once....' 'I HAVEN'T MADE THE DADGUMMED PORRIDGE YET!!!'

Packing for the Canoe Trip

Well, my Dear Husband and Eldest son are on their way to Missouri to canoe the Current River. These trips are always so much fun to get ready for. It started Tuesday night when Husband and Son started to think about packing, and then last night came the actual packing. Actual Packing includes their clothes, their utensils, their bedrolls and pillows, the camelbacks for water and flashlights and lanterns. This also includes trying to decide how much of our camping equipment they should take, although the amount of "stuff" they need to take has decreased dramatically this year since our Scout Troop has most of the group necessities (something we supplied when we were the Cub Scout Leaders).

It also includes several hours of "honey, where is this?" "Honey, what happened to that?" "It's not where I left it" (which usually means it is not in the middle of my living room floor from the last camping trip!) If they would just put things away after they get home they would know where it is the next time, but Husbands idea is to bring it home, dump it in my living room, to be put away later...like the next trip when it's put away back in the car! I usually end up putting everything away a couple of days later.

It also includes several hours of Husband staring into space...thinking he's forgotten something! If he does forget something, which isn't often, it's small and not really needed.

I was up this morning at 5 AM to take my shower, started breakfast at 6 AM, made sure everything was piled up and ready to go out the door and the dishes done by 8 AM, the boys at the Church by 9 AM and now quiet with just me a the little Dude for the next four days!

A few Spring Pictures.

Brother's new bike.

Three boys and their ice-cream.

A little summer reading.

Spending time under the bleachers during one of Brother's games.

Monsters vs. Aliens

Began Saturday morning by taking the boys to Lowe's for their kid's build workshop. The boys made pirate treasure chests and had lots of fun.

Took the boys to see the movie "Monsters vs. Aliens" at the dollar theatre after lunch. Lots of kids since there wasn't much else to do except go swimming with 105 degree F weather outside. It was an okay movie...most of the really funny bits have been shown on commercials and trailers for the movie. The boys loved it and the Youngest sat through most of it. He kept wanting to drink our soda...which would have had him in the bathroom through the movie so we kept removing it from his grasp. The oldest found some friends there and he went and sat with them and mooched their popcorn. I'm glad I fed them before the movie.

Came home and made homemade egg rolls and bacon-fried rice for supper. Egg rolls had ground pork, green onions, coleslaw mix and soy sauce in them and then fried in oil. Found a good sweet-n-sour sauce at Homeland from Ty Ling Naturals to dip them in. The bacon-fried rice had bacon, rice, soy sauce, green onions and scrambled eggs in it. Husband forgot to add the peas and carrots, but it was good.

All in all a good Saturday with the family!

Troop Court of Honor

I forgot to post on Monday and tell everyone about Oldest Son's Court of Honor. His Boy Scout Troop had their Court of Honor and first we ate...hotdogs and hamburgers (Yum!), then we had the ceremony. Oldest Son received a patch from Summer Camp and 4 Merit Badges: Photography, First aid, Indian lore and Archaeology.

I like the Merit Badge portion of the Boy Scouts although they are very hard to earn. There are so many different areas the boys can explore to see where their interests lie. They have animal science, automotive maintenance, cinamatography, finger-printing, fly-fishing, law, motor-boating, railroading and space exploration to name but a hand full offered. I believe there are more than 120 badges offered. He has signed up to take Architecture next.

It was a good night.

Summary of Life

This was passed on to me through the internet...author unknown.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats..
2) When your Mum is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch thesecondperson.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground..
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional..
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're downthere.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rockingchairthat you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers toaskyou the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

Too Many Problems!

This June and July has brought too many problems! They say things happen in threes...well I've had my three, and now my Hubby has had his three...now I hope the problems are over for a very, very long time.

It began with the Hubby breaking our chair. We have 4 places to sit in our living room and 4 people to seat...so someone has to sit in the broken chair. Then came the first visit to the vet with the dog...to get her fixed. Later in the day we get a call and...no surgery, the dog has heartworms! Sigh...Probably means the other dog has heartworms so I make the appt.

Next comes the oldest getting in trouble and to punish him I leave him at home alone while the youngest and I go visit friends. I come home and several hours later discover that he broke the window with his baseball! Thought he would use the couch as a bounce-back net and it didn't work. He also didn't tell us about the window. That made us madder then the act itself.

Well the next week we took the other dog to the vet and yep!...she has heartworms too. Not a surprise. By this time it was getting hot outside (July in Oklahoma is HOT) and we realized that the air in the van wasn't getting cool at all. I had thought it was just taking time to cool down and my very short trips around town didn't last long enough for the air to cool down. But Nope...took it in and had to replace the air manifold hose assembly, found out the engine mount bolts were worn...had those replaced, husband didn't want to change the belt, so we threw those in while it was in the shop, and Kwik Kar was kind enough to throw in the $25 oil change.

Think that's it? Wrong...got into husband's truck after dropping the van at the garage and it started shimmying and shaking...don't know what's wrong with the truck. The next day a letter from the City is in the mailbox saying "No parking on the lawn" and you must move your truck or be fined. Husband called the city and he wasn't pulling in straight to the garage, but angling the truck when he parked...the angling put him on the lawn, so he went to move the truck and straighten it out so we won't be fined. Found out the brakes were not working on the truck! Afraid the brake line is leaking, but couldn't check it with brake fluid because that's in the van at the garage.

The van is fixed and my air works...yeah! Husband put brake fluid in truck and saw no leaks...hopefully that is fixed...cross-fingers! Going to call the window repairman after swimming is over next week (so I'll be home), the City is happy, since Hubby straightened out the truck, and the dogs are okay. Please let the rest of the year go smoothly!

Family Day

I have come to realize that we have become lax when it comes to spending time with our boys. We spend our free time in front of the tv or on the computer or playing video games when we're not running the boys somewhere for Scout's or sports.

I decided to implement a family day once a month (with husbands approval), where we go out for a few hours, away from home and do something. Last month we loaded the boys up and took them fishing one morning with a small breakfast picnic and climbing on the playground included.

Today we took them to POPs in Arcadia for lunch. POPs is a restaurant, convenience store, gas station on Route 66 that collects local soda's from all over the USA. We ate burgers for lunch...the burgers were average, but the onion rings and fried okra were good, and then we chose 6 different soda's to bring home. We were gone about 4 hrs, and had a good time. I would recommend stopping in if you are in that part of the state.

Next month I am hoping to get the boys to Tulsa to visit the Aquarium.