Dressing the Part

Somebody's really excited about shark week.

Wind Blown

Jack's favorite part of Bible School?

The wind-misting machine.

Bible School

The boys went to Bible School last week.  It was a first for the boys and they had an awesome time.  The theme was Pandamania...God is wild about you!  They sang songs, heard bible stories and made crafts.  One night they tie-dyed shirts.  Jack made one for himself, while Sam insisted on making one for me.  Both boys were so excited each night to tell us all they'd learned and they emptied their piggy bank to make sure the boys won the offering competition.  By the fourth night, Jack was done with "school" and insisted on coming home with me after dinner. The last night was a celebration for everyone with singing, dancing and lots of fun inflatables and games outside. I was so proud of my boys.  I'm convinced that there is nothing more wonderful than watching your children develop a love for Christ.

Jack "participating" in the celebration with his class. 

Sam singing one of the many songs he learned.

Sam riding the mechanical bull at the outdoor celebration.

This Boy of Mine

This boy of mine...

 is way too tall and entirely too heavy for my liking.

will gladly tell you he'd rather take horseback riding lessons than go to kindergarten.

amazes me with his heart.

can't understand why farmers plant tobacco if they know "smoking is really bad for you and can make you die."

is still my night owl.

worries over who he'll marry someday.  "Mama, I don't know anybody I want to marry.  But, Mama, I want to have kids one day.  So what do I do, Mama?  Can I just have kids and not get married?" 

still obsesses way too much over clothes.

loves to sing along to the ipod.

really wants to build a house in the pasture beside his Daddy and me but won't be able to "unless we can figure out how to clean up all that cow do-do."

talks about heaven every day.

is becoming quite good with a lasso.

only wants to watch Animal Planet or Apple TV.  No more Noggin or Cartoon Network for this boy.

wants a horse and a dog of his own.

is the light of my life.

Wrong End

Someone should really tell him he's munching on the wrong part.

Privacy

Because sometimes you need a little privacy...

Crushing It

Cannon versus the push up.

Cannon won.

Ostriches, The DMV and a Headache

Tonight I was tired.  I crawled into my bed where Will was already snoozing away.  I hoped to sneak away and fall asleep before the boys noticed I was missing.  Jody was fixing a broken door in the hallway and replacing the toilet seats.  (On a side note, does any one else not think it's a terrific idea to replace your toilet seats every year or so just to freshen things up?  I think it's a grand idea.)  I knew he'd be busy for a while and the older boys, still hyper from bible school, could "help" him while I disappeared to dream land.


My plan failed.


As soon as I pulled the down comforter up around my face some alarm must have sounded notifying the troops, "Boys!  Look around!  Your mother!  She's gone!  You must find her!  Now!  Make it snappy and be loud about it."


They flung open my door, turned on the light and launched onto my bed.  Jack was carrying a large animal encyclopedia. Sam yelled, "Look, Mama.  Look!  Jack has something to tell you."  Jack flipped the pages, landing in the bird section.  He turned each page, looking desperately for something.  And then he found it.  And slammed his fist on the page and yelled, "Look, Mama!  This!  This is what I want for my pet."  I looked to see my boy pointing at an ostrich.  A large, feathery, ugly ostrich.  "Sure, buddy.  Wonder where we could find one of those?" I replied. 


But what I really wanted to say was, "Have you lost your ever-loving mind, son?  An ostrich!  Really?  How dare you wake me up to ask me to buy you a pet ostrich?  Look at me boy.  I'm your Mama.  I gave birth to you.  And by the way, my epidural failed.  Did you hear me?  Failed, big boy!  And I thought I was going to be the first woman in the history of mankind to give birth to her child out of her rump.  Yes, son, giving birth to you with no pain meds was so excruciating that I actually believed you were coming out of the wrong part of my body, sweet boy.  And you know I'm afraid of birds, right?  And do you understand, dear one, that an ostrich is like the anaconda of birds?   And that they can run really, really fast?  And contort their necks in alien-like fashion?  So no, love, you can't have an ostrich, or a parakeet or a rooster or anything with wings for a pet.  Got it?"  


Thankfully, my undying love for my doe eyed child, kept me from saying what was on the tip of my tongue. Instead I praised him for choosing such a unique animal to want for a pet and encouraged him to run along to his room and "read" all about that ostrich so he'd know just how to take care of him.


He scampered away with his book, leaving his older brother behind to torture me further.  Mentally, that is.  Ever tried to explain the process of obtaining your driver's license to a five year old?   My oldest is obsessed with the whole idea and no matter how many times I reassure him that: 
1.  his Daddy or I will drive him to get his license so he doesn't get arrested and then he can drive home..
2.  and that the lady will tell him before she takes his picture so he'll be ready..
3.  and, yes, I'm sure he'll pass the test,
he still worries himself sick over the whole process.  At five years old, my boy is a nervous wreck over taking driver's ed.  Twenty minutes later, I am explaining how the picture ends up on the license when we begin to smell a strong odor.  Like a cleaning solution or glue of some kind.  I assume it's something Jody's using to attach my wonderful, brand spanking new, toilet seats to the toilet.


That is until Jody walks into the room and says, "What is that smell?!?"


"I have no idea, " I say.  "I thought it was something you were using."


"Nope."


Silence...


"JJJAAACCCKKKK!  What are you doing?


"Just nothing, Mama."  


My middle boy had been alone for a good twenty minutes while I explained the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles to Sam.  And I thought that little angel was gazing at his book and dreaming of names for his pet ostrich. Well, he wasn't.


I walked into his room and nearly passed out from the odor.  Headache inducing, throat burning odor.  What in the world was that smell?


"Jack, what is that smell?  What are you doing in here?"


"Just nothing, Mama."


I noticed five stuffed animals lined up on the bed.  


"Maybe it's this," Jody said and tossed me an open bottle of lotion.


"No it's not!  Lotion doesn't smell like that!"


And then I saw it.  The empty bottle of fingernail polish.  The new, never before used, full to the brim, bottle of clear polish.  


I thought my son was sweetly flipping through an animal book dreaming about his pet ostrich.  Well, he wasn't. He was painting the "toes" and "fingers" of his stuffed animals to "make them look pretty." My boy had set up a nail salon on his bunk bed.  Five stuffed animals drenched in nail polish and coated with lotion for extra soft fur. And I found it hard to discipline him because all that was going through my mind was 'T-Nail, may I help you?  Pick your color ma'am."


Needless to say, the smell is horrendous.  And it's too hot tonight to open the windows.  So I'm going to sleep with a headache.  And I'm praying no one in a one mile of our vicinity of our house strikes a match tonight.

The Fine China

After a tough day in the saddle, a cowboy needs a nice, cold beverage.

;

And nothing says "I'm from the wild west!" like drinking cold water from the fine china.

Water in a blue willow coffee cup.  That's the cowboy way.

And should anybody question my cowboy's toughness and masculinity just because he's sipping filtered water from his Mama's china?

He'll gladly show you that he is the real deal.  A cowboy so tough, one belt just won't do.  And if you ask him, he'll quickly inform you that John Wayne drinks from cups just like that.  And don't you forget it.

Best Friends

I love...

Sam's silliness.

Cannon's shirt.

Sam's serious face.

Cannon's smile.

Sam's laugh.

Cannon attempting to escape Sam's hug.

How happy they are together.

Flag Day

The boys discovered an old flag at the barn.

And you'd have thought it was Christmas.

They waved the flag proudly.

And held a mini parade.

 Complete with cheering bystanders.

 Lord help me, I think I see the ROTC in my future.

Seashell Crafts

I got my way.

After a few days of begging, the boys gave in and helped me use the shells we collected at the beach to make crafts.

I reached down deep and pulled out my inner Martha Stewart.

And I made my little rednecks join me in an very, very short afternoon of seashell-craft making.

Making necklaces.

Give this boy some scissors and he'll "craft" the afternoon away.

Making wind chimes.

Pay no attention to the baby in the background snacking on hair products.

Putting on the finishing touches.

The finished product (rifle not included).

Uninterested

Work on puzzles?  No, thanks.

Sing songs?  Um, boring.

Read books?  That requires sitting still, right?  

This boy is too busy.

Busy wrestling with his older brothers and chasing the cat off the deck.

Too busy to browse books or tinker with puzzles.

He has no interest in learning the names of his body parts and showing off his brilliance with a demonstration.

He'll identify two body parts for you.

His teeth.  Which he identifies by chomping his jaws up and down like an alligator.

And the other?

His belly.

Ask this boy where his belly is and he'll scramble to pull his shirt up and reveal it to you.

And I cheer like a crazy person.

Which leaves little motivation for him to learn anything new. 

Nailing the teeth and tummy reveal are just enough for him.

And for me, too.

Saturdays

Saturdays are cattle days around our house.  Well, everyday around here requires some form of cattle duty that must be done.  But Saturdays are the busy days.  From 7:00 am until the job is done, Jody is working. Moving cows, putting out hay, checking fences, filling water troughs.  And he takes Sam and Jack with him every Saturday and often takes Will for a large part of the day.  And while I am grateful for the slight break, I am more grateful for the time they are spending together and the lessons they are learning at such a young age.  My boys know their livestock and sometimes I even get lucky enough to catch them hard at work.

Someone left a gate open and we had a few escapees who went on a sightseeing trip to the feed lot.  If only they knew what "feed lot" meant, they'd probably have stayed put in the pasture.  Jody followed them up the hill.

And my babies stood at the top of the hill, preventing the cows from going further up the path and forcing them to head toward the gate.

Once all the cows were past them, my babies ran in behind them, knowing their job was now to shut the gate.

We had a couple of stubborn guys that wanted to test the waters and see if they could avoid being put back in the pasture.  We'll call them Jack and Will, just for story-telling purposes.

My babies let out a few loud "Yaahhs" and threw their arms up in the air and sure enough "Jack" and "Will" ran through the gate.

My boys sprinted to shut the gate behind the escapees.

Unfortunately, "Jack" and "Will" ran further than they should have and had to again be led to the right opening.  Jody yelled for Sam to come inside the gate with him and for Jack to shut the large, metal gate behind him.

Jody ran the misbehaving boys back around a barn, right towards my oldest child who was standing his ground, just like his Daddy told him to do.  There is no picture of this because I was shaking to much to hit the shutter and was too busy yelling, "Jody!  My baby!  My baby!  Is that safe?  My baby!  They're running towards my baby!"  But my boy stood firm and those cows wanted no part of him or his crazy, screaming Mama that was flailing her arms and hanging over the gate.

In they went and Sam proudly shut gate behind them.

The boys were hot and tired and I rescued them from the injustice of child labor and brought them home to enjoy the air conditioning and cold milk.  After dinner we headed back down to the barn so they could finish up their work.  Will busied himself finding stray piles of hay.

He gathered handfuls and giggled as he headed over to the baby calves.

He dropped his hay quickly.

And then he watched, hoping the calves would rush over to eat.

And when they didn't he copped an attitude and started fussing and pointing at those poor, little calves.

Thankfully, his Daddy had just what one calf wanted and Will got a front row seat for dinner.

Sam stepped in to finish feeding the sweet, little calf.

And we discovered that he really needs to improve his grip.

Jack was suppose to be helping too, but I turned to find him scaling the gate.

He ditched his job to show Crawford a little love.    

Before we called it a night, Will stalked a barn cat.  He stayed in this position for a ridiculous amount of time.  I think we may have a catcher in the family.

And I ended my evening by taking my first look at the latest additions to the farm.  Needless to say, the sight of these things scared the @#$% out of me.