The Ugly Sweater

Roo is my elf all year round.  

If I'm cooking, he's chopping.

If I'm crafting, he's gluing.  

If Kelly is fixing, he's hammering.  

So when his class announced a: 

"Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest." 

I knew he'd be all hands-on.

Everyday he would get home from Kindergarten 

and ask me if I had picked up his supplies.

The problem was I was picking up 

lots and lots of supplies but had no plan.

Even picking up fabric with no clue what it would become.  

2 days to go and still nothing.

Finally, we just pulled it all out 

and made the one thing that has everything!

Lucky for me, Roo can run a hot glue gun 

like nobody's business.

He's happiest when he's gluing.

And then, we went mad, 

and supplies started flying everywhere 

until we had the perfect ugliest sweater.

And he was happy as could be.

(as all elves should be)

And he was pretty excited that he tied for first place.

He got a whopping 2 votes. :)

I better go try to catch him.

Wish me luck.

Wanted: Activity Director

On Sunday we dropped Annie off at Bible camp.

I miss that girl like crazy!

See Annie is our family activities director.

She keeps the boys busy all day long.

So now...

Guess who is the new activities director by default.

Yep, me.

We've been writing her letters,

jumping puddles,

watching planes,

just lots of busy boy stuff.

But, they still seem to find things to get into.

Yesterday morning, they brought me 

a giant newborn opposum in a jar.

Yes, I screamed,

 when it appeared from behind their backs 

and was thrust into my hands as a gift to me.

Then, later in the day Bo caught a pigeon in his fishing net.

I think I more yelled that time, 

"Bo! Let it go!"

So today I thought the zoo would take up 

a nice big chunk of the day and keep our adventures to a minimum.

Let's just say I sent this text to my sister:

So Laurie the zookeeper got the excitement today, 

all the kids around us yelling and pointing at her, 

"There's a lady in the monkey cage!"

Me, snapping pictures of her as she waded 

through the waist deep water with only knee deep boots on.

And the adventure of climbing the rocks,

 and hiking through the plants,

 to rescue a little boy and find his flip flop.

Rocco was so happy when she reached up and 

handed it to him under the railing.

We thanked her 

(and apologized) 

a hundred times.

Zookeeper Laurie was gracious and sweet,

Our new hero.

So today we gave the Gibbons something to watch,

and tomorrow I'm sure we will have some new animal adventure.

But at least it gives me something to put into my letters to Annie!

Get home girl!  You are missed :)

Just the Way It's Supposed to Be

Bo had his first baseball game tonight.

Baseball season is my favorite.

I can just sit in the sunshine and cheer for my baby.

Oh yeah no...I mean I chase my baby...

...and Kit sits in my chair and soaks up the sunshine.

This year Bo's team is the Grasshoppers.

And I won't lie...I was a little '"What? Grasshoppers?"  

what about something tough like last year?:

Now thunder is cool!  

Just look at that cloud! 

I was wondering how weird it would be to yell, 

"Go Grasshoppers!"

But then, we got to the game.

And the red team...

well just look at the picture I snuck of their coach:

Yep...The Chihuahuas.

Go ahead, try yelling "Go Chihuahuas!"

All of a sudden Grasshoppers seemed so cool!

I mean he even looks like a tough little grasshopper:

So, when Bo hit a home run I yelled 

"Go Grasshoppers!!!

with the other parents,

chased babies & didn't even care that Kit stole my chair, 

and Roo's sunflower seed. (Roo cared but I didn't)  

I have a feeling it's going to be a good season, 

full of home runs & dirty knees.

Just the way it's supposed to be.

Grasshoppers Rule!

A Good Deal

Toinght, I dropped Annie off at her cousin's college dorm 

& headed to home to a house filled with boys. 

Bo has a friend sleeping over so I'm outnumbered 7-1.

I heard Kelly shouting out the front door,

"Bo!  Put that saw away! You can't cut off our tree limbs!"

Bo explained he needed firewood to sell.

I told him if he wanted firewood, to gather it from the woods, 

in the BACKyard.  

Kelly took the saw and they scrambled to the woods.

10 minutes later Rocco came in the house to grab 

something out of his drawer in the kitchen.

Rocco:  Bo got some great firewood! He took the bark off  

             and he's washing it so he can sell it.

Me:  You can NOT wash firewood Rocco.  

         And he can NOT sell it!

Rocco:  Yes he can.

Me: No...he can't.

Rocco:  Yes he can, why not?  It's just beautiful.

Kelly:  Rocco why are you taking that dollar outside? 

           (as Rocco is headed back out)

Rocco: I'm gonna buy some firewood.

Oh brother...so it turns out Rocco's tooth fairy money from his first tooth was in his hands less than 12 hours.

Rocco gave Bo the dollar and was quite 

delighted with his wet beautiful firewood.

I have to admit...it was beautiful,

(and much larger than I thought it would be.)

And the rest of the wood made delicious 

s'mores for the good ole' boys club.

 So I am admitting here that I was wrong.

You CAN wash firewood,

And someone will buy it.

I can only imagine what our friends say when they return home.

Sorry Joey.  

Newest Addition...

Our journey to a dog started a long time ago.  

It started with an agreement and a puppy jar.

Yes, I was finally ready to get a dog.

They had all been waiting for me.

Well, over the year that little jar filled up.

Every coin and bill they had was stuffed into the jar.

They kept filling the jar, counting it up, 

and tucking it into our secret spot.

They filled that jar many many times, and raised 257 dollars.

Then, we waited for a dog to steal our hearts.

Saturday night I made a call to an add on Facebook:

Golden Retriever Puppies

Two hours later we were sitting in a kitchen, with new friends, cuddling their adorable puppies.

And one stole our hearts.

Completely stole our hearts.

So we left that night, blessed by Maria and Carl, with a puppy.

Now he was our puppy.

Bullet Doyle.

Now he's just one of us.

And when Bullet wants to go for a walk we all go for a walk.

When Bullet wants to stop,

we all stop.

When Bullet is tired,

everyone is tired.

He is one smart dog.

He knows how to magically make little boys 

want their picture taken.

Well, except for  one little boy in the back row who is sad cause HE wanted to hold the puppy.

Bullet already knows where the 

best seat in the house is to get a free snack.

And he knows he is completely loved.

Welcome home Bullet.