I am experiencing a bit of bloggers block.......

Gasp! Who knew that the day would ever come when I am at a loss for words?
I have heard that the cure for blogger block is to just keep typing, so here I go:

It is 2:45 on a sunny Thursday afternoon and I just put both boys (yep, I said BOTH) down for a nap because they would not stop bickering. Now, if only I could remember where I hid the candybar I bought last week............

I just looked in on them and they are both asleep. Hallelujah! I'll let them sleep for an hour and then take them to the pool.

Soccer practice starts next week for Ben. I wonder if we can cram his feet into last years cleats? Nah, probably not, I guess I'm going to have to go buy new ones?

Cooper's soccer starts in a couple weeks. I hope I have cleats in the storage box that will fit him, since he just grew out of the smallest pair I had.

Ben wants to play football so bad, but I am very against kids his age playing tackle football. I do not think that it is good for their brain development or their growing bodies to be slammed around like that at such a young age. I can just picture his brain sloshing around in his skull with every tackle. There will come a day for that.

Where is that candy bar?

I wonder how many days that big pile of laundry can sit on the couch unfolded before we cycle through it again.

Ohhh, one of my favorite songs is on the radio right now.

Ahhh, Only Grace, isn't that so true.

I need to offer grace more often.

Clark County Fair starts tomorrow.

Dave and I have always referred to it as the "Clark County White Trash Festival" but for some reason we go EVERY year. What does that make us?

Dave will be home in a hour.

It will take me an hour to fold that huge pile of laundry.

I need to find a recipe for a marinade or rub for the brisket that is thawed in my fridge.

Where did I put that dang candy bar?

Why in the world did my eight year old think it was okay to say 'fricken' today? I have never said that.

I hope the pool is warm today.

Maybe Dave will get in the pool with the boys while I work out, then I'll be all hot and sweaty and the pool will feel great no matter what the temperature is.

Yay, Dave and I both have tomorrow off together.

We're going to the white tras.....I mean the fair.

I don't think that the new shoes I bought the boys yesterday are really sturdy enough to hold up to the playground.

I think I'll return them and look for different ones.

Why DID I try to shop with the boys yesterday?

Ben is a complete faker. He is in his room stretching and moaning, trying to pretend that he is waking up, which leads me to believe that he never was asleep in the first place.

I should do a blog giveaway for my blogiversary in August.

I wonder what I should giveaway? I am so not crafty. Maybe I'll give away a box of Otter Pops and a Sonic gift card.

I wonder if Dave found my candy bar and ate it?

How in the world is Lula going to get that book to me by tomorrow?

You know that I am going to read it this weekend and then will have to go buy the second one to take with me to the beach.

I hope it's not to crowded in Seaside next weekend.

Must go fold that laundry, three days on the couch is too long.

WHERE IS MY CANDYBAR?

You must go check out my mothers Wordless Wednesday post

However it is not for the weak:

click here

I'd Rather........

Ben and I are watching the Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds 3-D concert with special guests the Jonas Brothers.
Please allow me to tell you what I'd rather be doing.........

• getting my eyebrows waxed
• getting anything waxed
• cleaning up dog doo
• riding a cow
• eating a chocolate covered grasshopper
• having an ingrown toenail removed
• giving birth without an epidural
• painting a barn
• dissecting a frog
• changing the oil in my car
• shoveling snow
• watching phineas and ferb
• donating blood
• reading War & Peace
• playing rugby
• calculus

Instead, I sit here, snuggled up to my eight year old.

Why? Because I love that eight year old!

I did like the last Jonas Bros. Song, called Year 3000. But don't tell anyone!

See this kid.....

He is, generally, a happy kid.

He eats vegetables like no other 4 year old

but he can also put down his body weight in pizza.

Simple things make him happy.

Like a long, steep slide

or a spin on the carousel.

He is a fabulous bumper boat driver.

He ADORES his big brother

and this week he misses his best friend something fierce.

Lately, however, he has become a world class WHINER

and it's drivin' me NUTS!

ApparEntly some people had a deprived childhood....

I have been hearing from some people in my comments asking what an

Otter Pop was.

This caught me a little off guard because I thought that everyone knew what Otter Pops were.

I guess not.

So allow me to explain:

Otter Pops are a plastic sleeve filled with a concotion of water, sugar, artificial color and actificial flavor. They come unfrozen (thus making them VERY shelf stable!) in a box:

You can then freeze any amount for later enjoyment:

These are serious summer enjoyment.

Now go buy some!

Love, Joy, Peace and Harmony

I am about to show you what I consider to be one of the best purchases of my lifetime. This is quite possibly one of my favorite things. It's not Prada or Gucci and I didn't get it at the Nordstrom sale that started yesterday. As a matter of fact it's not really even for me. But yet it has brought laughter and joy and sanity to my life. Are you ready for this?

We Bought a Trampoline!

I have wanted one of these things FOREVER!

My boys are rowdy and rambunctious and this is the perfect place for that.

Yes, I do know that injuries happen on trampolines, but injuries can happen anywhere! We know a guy that recently shattered his elbow just by tripping and falling while he was walking. Not to mention numerous kids at Ben's school who have broken their arms falling off the monkey bars. So I'm okay with the risk of injury considering the amount of laughter and fun this has brought to our yard.

Besides that look what I found my kids doing out there today:

Guess what's in my kids' pockets.......

Welcome to my new weekly blog feature.

Yes, it's true each week I am going to invite you to

"guess what my boys left in their pockets when they put their clothes in the laundry".

It's kind of like the Price is Right, only a little different .

Okay alot different.

Some days I forget to check their pockets before tossing their stuff in the wash. Recently I have washed and dried a rubber snake, a tiny Motorola walkie talkie, lots of pennies, a colored pencil, a golf ball, playground chips, and more otter pop wrappers than I can possibly count.

Tonight I remembered to check the pockets. Their contents: a gold pirates doubloon, a $1 poker chip from the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, a Wendy's straw wrapper, a Wendy's kids meal toy wrapper, a Wendy's kid's meal fry box, one otter pop wrapper (why only one? I'm not sure seeings as how they seem to be consuming roughly 200 a day) and these:

So go ahead, guess what those are.

Here's a hint: When I asked Cooper why these were in his pockets (yes both pockets looked like this!) he replied:

"Tuz I want dem for my pantates tomowow mom"

The first person to guess correctly gets a Wendy's straw wrapper, fry box and kid's meal toy wrapper!

Why didn't I just get a pedicure and lay by the pool?

** Edited 7/15**
Sorry Debbie! This did not post until 7/11. You are not crazy, a little iron-y freak-y yes, but crazy no. What happened is that I had started a post earlier in the week that I ended up editing over. Blogger keeps the date that the post was originally generated and I forgot to go in and change it.

So I'm back and my chest and face are about as red as this font color. Can you say LOBSTER? And I aint talkin about what I ate.........

Pictures later.



My kids have been gone ALL week. Gone. As in not here, sleepin somewhere else, makin a mess at someone else's house, eatin out of a different fridge GONE. They went home with Gramma and Papa last Saturday for their annual week long summer visit. Get it? they were G-O-N-E.

So I spent the week painting the inside of my house...............

I'm exhausted.

Today I made the 200 mile drive to pick up my kids and tomorrow morning the boys and I are heading to Northern Idaho for some camping and amusement park fun at Silverwood Theme Park with my sister and her family while my husband heads to Las vegas with his brother.

Yeah, I got the short end of this deal.

And yes, Lula, I made more of those yummy gooey cookies.

They are my currency.

How else could I get my nephews and brother in law to set up my tent for me?

Try not to miss me as much as I'll miss you all.


PS. I was going to try to have some blogs in the queue just waiting to auto post whilst I was off having some fun.
Yeah, that's not happenin. The painting took far longer than I expected and the fumes killed all my fun, whitty brain cells........

Sorry folks.

Our Fourth

What a great day it was...............

It started out with Dave's brother Troy and our nephew Andrew stopping by to help get the net up on our new trampoline:

Then it was off to our communities bike parade:

The parade starts at the park about 3 blocks from our house and circles around and heads right down our street. I have always walked with the boys but this year I asked Dave if he would walk with them so that I could finish some things around the house. I had him call me when they were getting close to our street and I headed out to watch. I could not believe how many people actually participate. There was the vintage fire truck then the local Boy Scouts presenting the colors and then easily 500 people followed:

After the parade we headed out to our some good friends for a fun a festive BBQ with lots of other friends from church:

Then it was home for a little fireworks fun while we waited for Gramma and Papa to arrive:

Those snakes were the definite favorite of the boys. They were laughing so hard at how they looked like poop. That would be an eight year old boy for you.

After dinner we joined up with about 40,000 of our closest friend and neighbors at the

Fort Vancouver Fireworks.

It has been about 4 years since we have been to the Fort for the fireworks. It was fun. We got there about 45 minutes before the show was scheduled to start and enjoyed the live music. Ben even got his groove on:


(anyone notice that is his THIRD outfit for the day? He's high maintenance like that!)

The fireworks (known as one of the largest shows west of the Mississippi) lasted about 30 minutes, but Cooper only lasted 20. He fell asleep snuggled up with Papa.

The day ended with all of us going to bed listening to the sounds of neighboring fireworks exploding long into the night.

We had a fabulous day and for that I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all the men and women out there who have served my country. That is not something that I take lightly. I love my country and my freedom. So to all those who have served I say:

THANK YOU!

Me, the Obedient Daughter

My mother has tagged me for a MeMe.
I have done one of these before.
However, my mom has told me that I must play along and since I have always been obedient to my mother there's no reason to stop now.


Aw c'mon now, we all know that the truth of the matter is that the rebel in me wants to change this up a bit. So instead of a MeMe (where I post all about none other than ME) I am going to do a DaveDave. Yep, folks it's six random facts about my husband (with his approval):

• Dave has lived in this very same county all his entire live long years, and the same town for all but the 3 years that we spent in the neighboring town, which is really one and the same as this town. As a matter of fact his parents still live in the house that they purchased when he was 2. That would be forty some odd years ago..........
• Dave went back to college a little more than two years ago and graduated with a business degree and a minor in marketing this past December. He is the first in his family to receive anything higher than a high school diploma!
• Dave worked for the same company full time for 19 years and when he graduated there was no opportunity or offer for advancement so he left for a different company. Too bad. They lost an excellent, hard working and very loyal employee and he lost 5 weeks of vacation a year!
• Dave once had his own TV show. It was called Big Dave's Sports Calvacade. Seriously. It was on the local cable access channel. He and some friends produced about six episodes in the late eighties. We have them all on VHS if anyone would like to borrow them!! They are quite humorous and when we first started dating and were married we would run into people all the time that recognized him from his show.
• Dave LOVES playing baseball. He played all through out his childhood into his first few years of college, then he took up softball for a while but it just wasn't the same. So back to baseball he went and up until this summer he has played real hardball, wooden bat baseball in a league over in Portland. I like to call his team the "has beens, used to be's and washed-ups" because nearly every one of those over forty year old men played at least college level baseball and some even spent time in the pros.
• Dave has been blessed with the "good hair" gene. His two younger brothers are both rapidly balding, but he has a full head of luciously thick hair with barely any gray. Yeah, I got the best looking of the bunch!

There you go.

My DaveDave.

That was fun now wasn't it.

You know you want to play along.

So I tag...........

whoever wants to play along!

Blessings

My friend Delores celebrated her birthday last month. As part of her celebration she posted about gifts she received from her husband each of the 22 days leading up to her birthday. Along with the posts she ran a little comment contest. The fun thing about it was that somwhere along the way I forgot about the contest and was just having so much fun getting to know Delores. And boy did she receive some doozy of gifts: like this one and this one all leading up to the big one (which was really a planned purchase that just happened on her birthday!). I really had fun reading along and commenting and it paid off because now not only am I a big fan of Delores but I also won her contest!


So this afternoon she delivered our prize to our doorstep!

She gave us a that large tote, embellished with the words 'beach bums' and our last name on the other side (done with her snazzy gift from day seven!) and filled with fun beach toys, a very large beach towel, that super cute beach ball, and a case of Thomas Kemper Root Beer!

Thank you Delores, we feel so blessed!

But wait, there is more to this story:

Just yesterday (Monday) the boys and I went to Costco to pick up a few necessities. As we were wandering the aisles scouting for yummy samples Benjamin spied the cases of Thomas Kemper Root Beer. He pulled one of the cases off the stack and asked if we could get it. I hesitated for a minute, because I do love good root beer, but then told him "no, it's not in the budget". He put it back without saying anything, but I could see disappointment on his face. So much so that I almost wavered on my response. But I stuck firm and we walked away.

So today when Delores delivered our gift and I spied that case of root beer I almost started crying. I pointed it out to Ben and he almost started crying and then he hugged Delores about three times! In that moment I was able to share with Ben how God honors our obedience with blessings and that root beer was a blessing!!

Thank you Delores!

We will enjoy our prize and each time I sip from one of those root beers I will be reminded of how God honors our obedience.