An easter story...

We went to church for Easter, at Hope in West Des Moines. They had quite the "opening." We all stood...there was music playing (they have a band - with guitars, drums, etc.) so it was pretty up beat and loud. The cross was covered with a large white sheet and they dropped the cover...black blinds covered the windows...the blinds were raised and opened wide ...it was great! The music started playing louder and the band starts singing. I look over to the boys to see how they were taking it all in...and Jack was standing right beside my, totally into it, standing tall...
with his hand over his heart like he was ready to say the pledge!!!
It was SO FUNNY!! I almost got the "church giggles" where you giggle, but not out loud, so you end up just shaking...you know what I am talking about!

Yuck...

If you know me, then you know how terribly scared I am of snakes. So this is what i get to look at each time i use the bathroom on our main floor. I can't stand it and I know that there is absolutely nothing i can do about it...can't even cover it up with a rug!!

Doesn't it look as if a snake is coming our from under the floor boards....ick.  I told Jason about it, but hadn't showed him it yet.  He even said, "I found the snake in the bathroom!"

Just wanted to give you a closer look, so you could feel my pain!

A Happy Easter...

I hope that you all had a fun and happy Easter...the boys sure did!

 

We started our at an early 6:25 wake up from Sam and Jack.  They started their inside egg hunt right away...

 

Someone ate a few too many jelly beans while hunting...

Sam was so excited each time he found an egg...

After brunch, my sister was outside and came in and told the boys that they missed TONS of eggs outside...and so they headed out.  Jack was a very intense egg hunter...

Sam loved the funky eggs...

 

And nothing like a little egg dance to celebrate the day!

Happy Easter (yesterday) to you and yours!

The Masters at out House...

The other night, after the boys were asleep, i went downstairs and found Jason playing his new golf game...


He states, "This is me. Check me out...don't you think this guy looks like me!"
He was serious...I didn't know that Jason owned a white belt or white shoes..and this guys pants don't have pleats of cuffs (hee..hee)

"Watch me swing!"
This means nothing to me. I find golf frustrating to watch because I can never see the ball. I wish they would circle it in the air or put a little arrow by it or make it flash, so I could see it going to wherever it is headed. they can do all sorts of "drawings" in football, they should be able to spot a small golf ball.

Then Jason says, "Wait..look at me from the front. Isn't that great!"
I am not sure what he is referring to...but I just go along and say, "Awesome."

"Oh, did you get a picture of my caddie. He has my name on his back,"
Like this is the REAL Masters....though is did find this funny.

So while I was "in the area" of where he was playing his golf game (basically i was near the couch) he started to shoot bad.
He looked at me and said, "i have had three double bogies since you came down here."
Me: "Is that good?"
Jason: "No."
Jas and I have been together long enough that I know what he really is saying, "I was doing awesome and then you come down here and have ruined my good luck streak..time for you to leave."
 (Reminds me of when he watches the vikings games..."the vikes haven't scored since you started watching." )

Anyway, that's ok with me...I have my Russian revolver solitaire game to play upstairs...
AND...
 I am amazed of my super woman powers that I can change a football and golf game just by my mere presence.
THAT... is awesome.

A Sleep Over...

Jason took the boys to a movie this weekend...Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In the movie, the boys go see a movie. In this movie, a man and a lady go into a house and above the fireplace is a huge portrait painting of a gentlemen...that only has one foot. Well, the couple hears the foot pounding down the stairs...and that night the lady is sleeping in bed and the foot jumps on her face and sticks to her face by hooking its pinkie toe into her nostril.

Do you see where this is going?

When the boys get home they tell me how freaky the foot was. I looked at jas and he just shrugged and said it was VERY cheesy. I take his word for it. that night, jack yelled out around one in the morning...scared...jas laid with him (only fair, he took him to the movie) and jack was fine. Night 2 - called out, Jason laid with him again....Night 3...called out (I am thinking this is becoming a habit!!) i laid with him....when he would fall asleep, I would get up (very quietly) and boom, the kid would wake up. Finally after 2 hours of laying on his floor...we made a "comfy" spot for him by my bed so we could both get some sleep.

Now for the past three nights, I go to get into MY comfy bed...and what do I see?

Hmmmmm..blankets, monkey slippers and monkeys...

Oh...it's Jack...sleeping by my bed!!!

Notice all of his "monkey" things are there...protecting him. I like how he has the monkey positioned down both sides of him..extra protection.
(he must of just finished reading the paper before calling it a night!)
Jas and I decided this is fine...we just don't know how long to let him sleep in here...but for now, everyone is getting sleep...and that is a good thing in our house!

duct tape...

Sam and a friend are playing with the idea of selling duct-tape wallets. (Let me know if you would like to see any samples!)  So, after a stop at Staples to refresh our duct tape choices (plain gray is so yesterday!),  Sam sat down the other day to make some samples...he has a dollar bill out to make sure each wallet is "usable."

He worked very hard...sticking the tongue out helps. (He gets this"trait" from his Grandpa Rold!)

TA DA!  A small set of duct-tape wallets...any bids?

And then Jack...he ran upstairs and put on his tie-dyed t-shirt.  He put small strips of tie-dyed duct tape on his earlobes...and peaced us...still sticking with being a hippie in his grown years.

He is very much in the groove and feeling it in this shot....

Introducing Mr. Baseball...

Jack has decided that he wanted to try baseball this spring. So it was off to practice in the COLD weather! Sam and I decided to stay home drinking hot chocolate, playing a mean game of war while watching Dancing with the Stars on TV and the eagles on the computer. We are multi-taskers!

Jack is so excited about his new #9 Blue Jays shirt and baseball hat. The best part for him,is his new cleats...he refers to them as his Eastons. Unfortunately, Jason and I are not baseball fans...so, I can promise you that I won't be "one-of-those" moms...because I don't have ANY idea what is even going on!! I just hope I don't yell "One...two..three...FIRST DOWN!"

A Belding Dinner...

So, I am making an Italian dinner the other night for the boys...we are having cheese raviolis (from the freezer section), jar pizza sauce (i forgot to buy spaghetti sauce) cheese bread and a fruit or vegetable that I have yet to decide on (pizza is made from tomatoes...vegetable...right?)

While I am making my gourmet dinner, Jason is getting ready to go to a function and his friend is over waiting for Jason to get ready...sometime Jason is worse than a girl getting ready.  So, the friend helps Sam with his math while I fix dinner and tell the friend that I have come along way with my cooking....he laughs.

Anyway, I am going to make my cheese bread nice, warm and toasted by broiling it in the oven.  I do that all the time.  it is a bit tricky, because you must keep an eye on the bread because it can turn black and charred in seconds...and I do mean seconds!

Jason comes down with a nice outfit on (resembles his friends a bit... ) and they are off.  When the door shuts, I turn to the oven and there is smoke rolling out of the oven. (seconds...I told you ...just mere seconds!) 

I proceed to open the oven door and presto we have real flames!!

I announce to the boys, "NO ONE PANIC...EVERYONE STAY CALM!"  (i believe I was doing some self talk.)

I take out the tray of fire...or bread...which is engulfed in flames and blow out the fire...thank goodness it went out without a hitch or fire extinguisher. 

I look up and the house is FULL of smoke.  I tell the boys in my best announcer voice, "The fire alarms will be going off in a few seconds...just want you to be prepared.  it is a loud piercing....EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (fire alarm goes off.)

Sam looks at jack and they both put their hands over their ears...never fear, i have much experience with burnt food setting off alarms.  So i go over to the fire alarm and start to wave my charred pot holder in front of the alarm.  It goes off in a few more seconds. success.

I look over to where the boys were sitting...and they are gone. Where could they have gone.... 

Well, they are both on the floor ARMY CRAWLING to the front door.  Sam states, in  his best announcer voice " When there is a fire, you must get as low as you can to get away from the smoke!" 

SERIOUSLY????

Suddenly Sam stops...and says, "I can't make it!"  Jack continues to the door.  I look at Sam and say, "Why can't you make it?"  He tells me, "The smoke is too much..."  Oscar award to Sam Belding.  Jack, though, continues safely to the door and is the lone survivor.

Sam jumps up, goes back to the table to eat the rest of his cheese raviolis and asks, "Want to try that again, mom?" pointing to the tray of burnt cheese bread. 

"You really want me to try again?"  I ask.

"Sure...your cooking gives us a chance to practice our fire safety rules."

Thank you, Sam. 

Spring Music Concert...

Sam had his spring music concert the other night. It is always fun to go to..get to see lots of people from my old "teaching" days!! But I know this is not about me...

Sam comes out, looks for us, spots us and proudly poses until I am able to take his picture. He is SO well trained! Had to blur out the classmates...kind of a creepy touch...

Even while singing, he can pose for me! Love that!!

 

Sam and his best buddy wore the exact same outfit!! I asked Sam if they planned their outfits while at school...he was AGHAST..why would anyone EVER do that??? Wait until he gets to college..it's going to blow his mind when he figures out that girls don't go to the bathroom alone.

Some Quick Reads...

Noticed that I haven't shared what I've read lately...here is an update.  All the books are 250 pages or less, so they only took about a week to read...if you need a "quick" read, you may want to check out one of these!

Picked this one up at the library...it is about a man that gets up every morning and goes to a field to pull weeds or "aukowies."  The aukowies grow every day and if they go un-pulled - even for one day, they will "attack" a person. His family has been "in charge" of pulling the weeds for over 300 years and it is a business they all take very seriously.  Sounds corny...but it is written pretty well.  While reading, you are constantly wondering if the guy is crazy, or are these weeds or "auwokies" are really dangerous.  People have accidents in the field, but is it the aukowies or the man that causing the accidents?  You don't find our the answer until the very last page....

In Listen, someone in the town of Marlo is listening and recording people's conversations and then posting them, word for word, on the Internet...so everyone is finding out what everyone else is saying about them...it makes you think...if you say something unkind about someone (even a friend) is that ok as long as the other person never finds out...

It was a quick read, but I wouldn't run out to buy it....

This one has been my favorite..  It is about a girl, Josey, that lives with an overbearing mother.  Her life is pretty dull and she "brightens" it by eating sweets that she hides in her closet.  One day she goes to her closet and finds bad-girl, Della Lee, hiding in it and refusing to leave.  Della Lee has her do errands for her and Josey starts to discover a life and world outside her mother's reach...there are all sorts of secrets that pop up on her discovery, too.  Parts maybe "corny" but the author writes it like a fairy tale.  I would definitely recommend this book if you need a quick, heart warming book.

Another Lost Tooth!

Jack has not been able to eat sandwiches lately...not because we are having them every night, but because he has this very loose tooth.  Well, eating a bagel took care of that the other day.  He took a bite of it and looked at Jason. 

"Jack, we have got to get that out!" 

So off they went to the bathroom...at least there wasn't any talk about stringy things still being attached! 

The tooth would go all the way forward, but not back...so Jason just pushed it back and presto...tooth out.

No tears,,little blood.

And now Jack can put TWO straws through his "holes" while drinking his milk...and Sam CANNOT do that!

First Official Day of "Summer"...

(Blogger is still posting blue squares for my pictures, so i am loading photos in a different manner...unfortunately I cannot crop them, so these pictures are very "rough")

Yesterday the weather was warm enough (88 degrees) for the boys to break out the swim trunks and have the first official water gun fight...

An official water fight must have a plethora of water guns to choose from...

Sam chose the super soaker, which is good for about 20 seconds and then needs to be refilled...which left him wide open for the jack attack...



 As you can imagine...no holds bar from Jack...full out water war!

This picture scares me a bit...he is chasing Sam while guttural sounds rage from his mouth! And today we are back to reality...jeans, tennis shoes and 60 degrees...spring in Iowa!

Side Note: I am sorry to say that our little Alice had to find a new home. It just wasn't the right time for our family to take on a new puppy. She is now with a new family of four boys (oh my!) that really wanted a little girl wheaten terrier in their family. Alice will be perfect for them...thanks to everyone that lent a helping hand, ear and shoulder this past week...all the advice, support, listening and helping...was and is greatly appreciated (and needed). it was not an easy decision, but with my family and friends help, i was able to get through the week. thanks to everyone who was there....it is truly amazing how many friends (and my family) stepped up to help me out...it is very humbling and reassuring...thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Getting use to the new "Us"...

Have been very busy getting use to and training our new addition of the family. Oh My! I wasn't expecting so much work!

Jack is warming up to her.

Sam is burned out of her and is still not sure about the whole thing (and that is ok.)

I love my sleep at night and am having terrible flashbacks to when the boys where born and the lack of sleep!

Look for more posts towards the end of the week...

Stay tuned....

UGH!

As you have noticed, I am having blog issues...will be posting when I get this all figured out!