A mostly happy birthday.

This:

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This:

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This:

Addie decided to give the skateboard a try and Gage decided he wanted to ride it. One little push and her sweet face hit the patio causing her front teeth to go all the way through her lip. The girl cried for a few minutes and then spent two hours in my lap letting me ice it while she watched tv. She kept looking up at me, like "why am I getting all of this lovely attention"? She soaked in every moment and ended up falling asleep on my lap.

My baby turned two today and made my day by taking a nap while I held her. It's going by waaaay too fast!

She gets it from me.

Isn't that what we are supposed to say when our kids do something kind or creative or really, really smart? Then when they act out and embarrass us (like screaming in the library because they want to walk, not hold hands and basically act like they own the place) we wonder where did you come from?

So, Ashlynn loves making her now famous homemade desserts. Last night was no exception and we all couldn't help but smile when we looked at our plates:




She said they were "all natural and so healthy" and the mustache was made from "fresh-picked mint leaves from our garden".


Um, yeah, she gets that from me.

Monkey boy turns 6!

Happy birthday to Ryder!!! Our boy who has more energy and enthusiasm for life than anyone we know! And, dude, you can find Waldo in two seconds flat, you ARE amazing!!

Have fun fishing with dad, playing put-put golf, eating lots of bbq ribs and cake, opening presents (hey, when your 6 it's sort of all you care about), and being spoiled rotten for one day a year!

Love you big guy!!

I know, I know.

It's been forever. Can we just call it a dry spell? Literally, there has been so much going on around here that choosing just one thing to blog about seemed more difficult than just not blogging at all. So, here in bullet point form is the last two weeks of my life:

• I cleaned every nook and cranny of our house and had a huge garage sale that lasted three days.
• The cleaning took up the four days before the sale.
• On the second day of the sale someone decided my cell phone was marked free and took it.
• Thankfully, I broke even with my profits and new cell phone purchase.
• We moved four yards of dirt and I now have two 4x8 raised bed vegetable gardens.
• We moved one yard of mulch to make the yard look pretty....and if it keeps the weeds down I'll be super happy!
• We were the recipients of a loaded 24' trailer (more on that later).
  
• We now have a loaded double car garage (ditto to above).
• I sold a dresser, crib, and bed within 24 hours of listing them on craigslist.
• I spent five hours at urgent care with Gage. Ryder was practicing his golf swing, dare I say more?
• One of three pieces of furniture has been sanded, painted and moved into the girls room.
• The kids have almost finished school....

And really, the list goes on, but I will bore you no longer. If I haven't emailed you, called you, blogged about you, or anything that a good friend, daughter, mother, sister, aunt, cousin, granddaughter, etc should do, I truly apologize. Please list any complaints, suggestions, rants, raves, etc in the comment field.

They will be approved.

Eventually.

A bit of advice.

When cleaning out your refrigerator, you know, that thing you do once a century when spilled goo on the shelves makes it really hard to see through them so you can see what is really in there, use caution.

Let me give you a "for instance".

Don't take a glass tray directly from the fridge and put even the tiniest corner of it in your warm soapy water at the sink.

It will explode.

I mean, like, in a million tiny pieces, while sounding like someone shot at it/you with a BB gun. Not that I've really been shot at, thankfully my brothers had better targets outside, but I imagine this is what a BB gun might sound like in the kitchen.

Then you will stand there frozen for a moment assessing the damage. You will look around at the shards of glass scattered all over the floor, counters, under the table, in the warm soapy water and wonder, "Where do I even start?", while feeling very grateful none landed in your eyes.

Yes, use caution. Maybe set one shelf out at a time on the table to ease into room temperature before trying to wash. Or, just leave the shelves in the fridge and wipe them with a rag, I'm sure you'll be able to see through the shelves well enough to make out what's in there, minus the explosion.

The Farm.

Tuesday, the kids and I made our way down to the farm where Randy and Dale were working hard on their food plots. The guys needed to pick up a fertilizer spreader, so I was awarded the task of towing the trailer with Ranger on it. Actually, I was feeling pretty cool that I was towing this huge trailer with this manly ATV ratcheted securely on board (like I did it!) cruising down the freeway.

Until I went the wrong way.

Three times.

Have you ever had to turn around while towing a trailer. Lots of prayer, folks, lots. of. it.

Coolness, aside, here are some shots of us enjoying what was left of the day by the time I arrived.

The kids were keeping a close eye on daddy turning the seed under:

Ashlynn, my new bookworm, and Addie walking down the trail:

We had to have the book (Ramona the Pest) with us at all times:

The boys trailing daddy as he spread clover seed:

The kids sticking on the trail, staying out of the tall grass (mom's orders, no ticks, please!):

Addie and I riding shotgun in the Ranger:

Time to head out....let's see how far we can run before mom calls us back!

I'll give them creative.

My sweet neighbor has lots of ivy that loves my fence. Since I love my neighbor, I trim it back on my side just enough to get the mower through without walking into spider webs (they love the ivy). It's quite a big job and I didn't have enough time to finish trimming the length of the fence, so I left the pile cut of vines to bag when I finished the next day.

Here, let me show you what it looked like:




Then, I cut it:



And put it in a pile to bag the next day:



Now, you would think with four kids, I might think twice before leaving large bunches of cut greenery just lying around. Especially the type that could, um, I don't know, take root and spread easily and aggressively.

But really, who am I to stand in the way of creative minds. Ashlynn does love plants and making things pretty. And then there's Ryder. A boy needs to be able to tie knots and attach things to other things....right?

Homey, isn't it?

Really not sure what this was. He did have his spiderman costume on, so, I have no idea...


Must give props to the detail:



Some sort of weaving going on here. Maybe we're headed for a thatched roof. For that matter, maybe my children were born in the wrong century...



Gage and Addie spent their time dragging vines back and forth across the lawn. Maybe next year I'll be mowing ivy too.