The Latest Dirt

So I haven't updated in a while. Here's what's been happening: That last crabby post was one day when I must have just had PMS or something. Do you other gals just have bad days when you are a roller coaster of raging mood swings? Well, that was one of those days. Since then, I've been feeling quite normal and happy to have my kiddos here with me.


What else...? Justice was getting himself dressed the other day and he told me, "I found some underwear in the laundry room. I sniffed em'. They're clean."

I did the Memorial Day Biathlon today. I had a terrible run. The heat got to me, and I had to stop and walk. I've never done that before in a race. However, once I got on the bike, I felt good and flew past quite a few folks. I made up enough time that, though I was just over a minute slower than my time last year, I still took 2nd out of 21 women in my age division.

Okay I'll talk you through my recent pictures, in reverse chronological order:

Summer time is upon us, and one of my favorite things ever is when my kids are having fun playing out in the yard. I love the next several pictures!

Here's a big spanking that Clayton earned himself. Check out that bruise on Justice's cheek. That's from a bite.

Lydia was WAY over due to clean out her backpack!! She'd been carrying around all of those old papers for a while.

Ally has a new friend. We have a new set of neighbors. Cash is their little bull dog pup. He's about the same age as Ally (just shy of a year old). The two dogs are good buddies now. The cutest thing is when they try to share toys and sticks with each other through the fence.

Here's Lydia with her last school project of the year. It's a mouse trap car that Bruce and my sister-in-law stayed up ALL NIGHT to finish. I was a party pooper and fell asleep on the couch.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Victory in the primary room!!! Brady (my cousin's little boy, who is in my Sunbeam class, who always pulled away from me and gave me no end of dirty looks, and always stuck his tongue out at me) Brady came up to me and gave me a hug, all on his own volition!!! Then he crawled up and sat on my lap! Yay yay yay!!!

Not a Good Sign

It's the first day of summer and I have already shouted a bunch and cried. Luckily, Ross and Mark were sweeties and cheered me up by fixing me a thoughtful lunch and telling me jokes while I ate it. :)

Busy

Monday: Dr. appt. 45 minutes away, two ball games at the same time. Tuesday: Muddy dog, two REALLY REALLY muddy little boys on the floor that I JUST FINISHED CLEANING, threw kids in shower while I went outside to hose off muddy clothes; shower clogged, came in with hosed off clothes which I took to the laundry room to find water from the clogged shower pouring through the ceiling, ran upstairs hollering my head off, freshly cleaned floor, walls, cabinetry COVERED in mud with a small lake to boot, boys loving splashing in the clogged shower, turn off shower, shop vac floor & shower, re-clean floor, time to get ready for older kids' band concert. Wednesday: Two ball games and church activities. Thursday: Go to Ross' school for living museum, yay for visiting Sister-in-Law!! Friday: Help with Fun Day at Ross' school. Saturday: GIRLS' NIGHT OUT!!! Sunday: Church. Monday: Help with Mark's Fun Day, two ball games.....

Life as a mom of mixed age kids: I'm there.

Happy Days With My Pre-Schoolers

Okay, I really need to get out and play with my school aged kiddos more. It seems like all my posts are about the two youngest. But to be real, they are the two I see the most, since they are still at home with me. Clayton is going to miss the heck out of Justice in the fall, when Justice starts Kg!

Today I am hosting a couple of ninjas. They had Ninja Oatmeal with Ninja Eggs and Strawberry Ninja Milk for Ninja Breakfast. And when Ninja Clayton got his Ninja Spoon out of the Ninja Drawer, he cracked me up when he wielded it high in the air, with a He-man-By-the-power-of-Gray-Skull-I-have-the-POWER kind of attitude, as he cried "I have the NINJA SPOON!!" At the moment though, Ninja Clayton is having a melt down because Ninja Justice is playing with the guy that Ninja Clayton wants.

Here are yesterday's adventures:

This week is big trash pick-up. I couldn't help but give a little sigh over getting rid of the high-chair, the baby car seat, and a couple of other baby things. In the end, I decided to at least keep Justice and Clayton.

I don't know if our neighbor minds or not, but all of the good puddles are in front of his house.

Here is a cool vine to swing on across the street. After an old guy driving down the street stopped and told me that it was a poison ivy vine, I immediately took the kids in and scrubbed Justice down. However, after consideration, I think that guy must be wrong. While I do know that poison ivy does grow into vines like that one, I don't think this one can be poison ivy. I asked Justice if he had ever swung on that vine before. He said he had. Well he didn't get poison ivy then, and he didn't get it this time. I think it's probably okay.