Our New Yard

FIRST FOOTBALL SEASON

The two most common views of M on the football field this season: jumping up and down from excitement or running the ball into the endzone. :)

M's FIRST FOOTBALL SEASON

M played his first season of flag football this year. He had an absolute blast and loves it!! If you want to see more pictures, let me know and I can give you the logon info to his team site.

Second Encounter

Here is a picture of the second yellow jacket hive I have tangled with in my life. The cool thing is my hero Daddy was there this time (as well as the first time as a kid on Nash Lane) to put gasoline on my stings and take care of me. I was out in the yard messing with the timbers (in the back corner in the "secret garden") when I got a couple stings - one on my shoulder and one on the back of my thigh. I never saw a yellow jacket, mind you. I maintained excellent control as I walked up to the house and went inside, calling calmly for Chris and Dad to come help me. I took off my shirt and a yellow jacket flew out....you'll be impressed to know I still didn't lose it at that point (although I believe I yelled pretty good which was probably the yell that set my eldest off). I then proceeded to take my pants off and saw another yellow jacket stuck inside my pantleg (UPPER thigh in a pair of tight jeans, for cryin'out loud!) After freakishly kicking my pants away and I assume yelling again...I was pretty much beside myself and couldn't really answer the questions being thrown at me by my precious and concerned husband. I just stood there in my skivies leaning over the counter grunting....trying to maintain sanity while Dad rubbed gasoline on the stings. (We won't talk about the emotional trauma the unaccounted for yellow jacket in the house caused my eldest....)

The hive was hiding down in the ground under the timbers....this is after the guys sprayed then dug out the timbers.

Tractor Obsession

We had our yard landscaped and Mr. Horne's tractor was at our house for probably 6 weeks. I has an absolute obsession with the tractor. He always had his little tractor (M's, actually) out whenver Mr. Horne had his out - he would carry and dump legos inside next to the windows where he could see the real tractor outside. One day he got the tractors outside in the dirt before I realized it....(I don't think the Hess trucks were meant for the dirt but that truck was chock full of dirt before I realized he had gotten it outside....Daddy took them apart and cleaned them out and I'm keeping closer tabs on what goes outside.) Anyway, the combination of dirt and tractors was absolute heaven to this child. He is obsessed and wants to play with the tractor every day even though Mr. Horne is done and his tractor is gone now.

Mii

These glasses cracked me up and they reminded me of something...I couldn't figure out what for the longest time. Then I realized it reminded me of Mark's mii (at least the one we saw years ago when we were there for Christmas). Must be the eyes so close together....

I originally posted this without any explanation but some people were confused... This is a poem I wrote as part of a journal entry last year. I was feeling very overwhelmed with life and especially parenting...feeling like I just can't keep up and I'm losing ground...Although I wrote it last year, it is still very relevant to me now.


Avalanche

I hold desperately to my childrens’ hands,
hoping I don’t lose them in the chaos and dust,
but feeling them slip…
slipping in the dust that chokes and blinds me…
slipping ….
gradually…

I’m in an avalanche
dirt and rocks pouring down from the hill above
and I scramble…
I climb to get past it,
flailing to get above the piling dirt,
one step forward,
Forty-two back…
getting more and more buried as I go.

How long can I keep fighting if this doesn’t let up?

I can’t even hold on to Chris – can hardly hear him shouting through the noise.
All I can do is try to catch sight of him
through the gaps in the falling rock
and pray he holds on and stays close

All the while, wondering…
that one nagging and foreboding question
that eats at me daily as I’m slowly buried
and slowly losing my grip on them:

Where will they be?

When the dust settles…
When I can look around…
When I can finally try to reach for them…

Where will they be?

Christa 9/14/09

Tea Party

G:  "J, why do you have a sword?"

J:  "To protect you!"

The "butler"

SKIING!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we took the kids skiing....so they posed with their goggles after we got home.  We all had a blast and the kids did GREAT!  (we left the two little ones behind)  The snow was great, the weather was perfect, and Daddy and Mommy only shot a few longing looks at the powder-covered moguls as we rode the lifts....it won't be long now anyway, these kids were dominating some pretty steep blue terrain!

I AM 4!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Chicken ZAY

I.J. woke up this morning with his hair looking like this. (If you've seen "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" you'll understand the title)

I FINALLY caught the amazing kissy-face on film.  Who WOULDN'T want to plant their lips on this enormous soggy pucker??  (anyone seen "Hitch"?) 

We went to Florida for TWO WEEKS and stayed with Uncle David, Aunt Becky, and Caleb.  We had a super trip and we miss them so much!  Here are all the cousins.