Take One

This morning I made cinnamon rolls. When Judd heard the mixer start he was right there with his cake box in hand. He is really into baking cakes right now. And can pretty much do it on his own at this point. (Yes, he's (we've) made a few.)

We got the rolls raising and his cake baked without too much trouble. I then went to jump in the shower. By the time I got back he had it all decked out. I asked him what was going on and he said that today was his Pretend 5th Birthday "because he needed to practice".

Here's what I found.

So, to honor Justin's pretend 5th birthday we went fishing this evening.

Justin LOVES fishing.

Last week he caught a HUGE fish. Sadly the picture of it is on another camera that I don't own. You'll just have to believe me.


I had spent 90% of the evening in a chair, enjoying the beautiful evening with a Sudoku puzzle. Finally, near the end of our fishing trip, I got up, threw about 10 lines and caught the only fish of the night.

I have finally found the one sport I may be good at!



Practicing for his birthday did turn out to be a fun time.

Doesn't Take Much

As many of you know, I have been quite sick these past several days.

Holy Cow! or Holy Swine! or Holy Something...it has been NO good.

But yesterday I started feeling better and got out of bed. And then things started to happen that made me laugh & smile.

I got on the computer & posted one of those big, yellow playhouse slides on Freecycle. (Funny what you think about while you lay in bed for too many days. My only goal in life was to give that thing away ASAP.) Within a hour I had seven people that wanted it. This lead me to meeting someone different today. She was picking up the slide for her grandchildren because she felt bad that her two monkeys each had a slide in their bedroom/cages and the grandkids didn't have one at all.

Yes, they have pet monkeys, and when their real kids left home they transformed the bedrooms into cages for their monkeys. What could this house smell like? She was telling me about the one monkey, Ozzy. He was their third monkey, and he started getting aggressive so they had to take him to another home in Tennessee. As she is telling me this she is starting to cry. She misses him. I'm really not making fun of her. I was (and still am) in awe of the whole conversation. She whipped out her cell phone so I could see pictures of Ozzy. The other funny thing was that she said that her and her husband were going to Michigan for NASCAR races and her son-in-law was checking in on them and he refuses to change their diapers so she'll just have to cage them up while she's gone.

I guess we all have our limits?

After dinner some dear friends brought over some beautiful roses to cheer me up. How do flowers do that? Or is it the thought? Whatever it is, it always works.

And then to end a pretty good day, my favorite show had its Season Premiere. I've watched Burn Notice since the beginning. LOVE IT!

And to top it all off, the show has gotten 'big' enough that they moved it to the 9:00 time slot instead of 10:00.

I often wondered who rented/bought DVDs of a TV series. I guess I could see myself buying The Cosby Show, Little House, or Gilligan's Island. Anyway, I could totally see myself at least thinking about this one. I've seen it at Movie Gallery.

Ya, it was a good day. It feels good to feel good.

Yes, It's May

As usual, May is a run, run, run kind of month.

Here are a few things we've experienced.

1. Layne and I started & finished a 5K. That was a lot of fun. Yes, this was one of our experiences that I 'accidentally' don't have a picture for.

2. Baseball has started. I'm sure I'll have some great shots of the boys before their season ends. Todd is having a great season. Great short & pitch is he. Mitch is doing good too. He is a fast runner. I can see him enjoying track.

3. Mitch had his 2nd grade Spring Program. Here he is doing his speaking part. No one was surprised at our house that he ended up with a speaking part.

And here is Mitch's class of 2019
4. Monday - Memorial Day
Josie & Todd are in band and so that means parades & memorial services galore.
They always have three different towns to get to, but they enjoy it, and it is always such a good experience. I always get a little teary at the end when the trumpet plays Taps, and then the echo trumpet (farther away) repeats.



At this point Justin & Mitch are there for the candy.
Here they are with their buddy Micah.

5. Today Josie graduated from 8th Grade!

Here she is with her best school buddies.
Beth, Josie, Jessie, Shana, & Caitlyn
(Isn't that funny that Shana & Caitlyn showed up in the same dress?!)
I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the whole class (175 students). Bummer.

6. Ah, spring weather......Even when it gets bad with rains, winds, and tornado's -
pretty things like this make it all okay.



So that is what we've been up to (kinda/sorta) this month.

The kids get out of school next week. Then the real fun starts.....
Day Camp
Boys Camp
Girls Camp
Football Camp
Band Camp

I'll stop there...I'm already getting light headed. Summer is going to go by too fast I'm afraid.

Pillow Talk

There are two things I hate buying

~toilet paper~

~pillows~

Toilet paper because...well, it costs a lot and all I do is flush it down the toilet.

Pillows because I can NEVER find a good one. For 15+ years I've been buying pillows and cannot say that I've ever loved even one of them.

I've done all the research~natural/synthetic, firm(back sleeper), medium(side sleeper), soft(tummy sleeper), etc.

I went to Ikea with my buddy Becky yesterday and purchased yet, two more pillows.

Last night really was nice. I did enjoy this pillow, but I'm still a little weary.

How long will the niceness last?

When will it collapse, never to recover?

What if some kid pukes/pees/drools all over it?

(The pillows I bought yesterday have a handy dandy zip up cover on them, so this last worry isn't as scary as it used to be.)

I'm just not ready to let my guard down and enjoy the pillow.

Anyone have a VERY FAVORITE pillow in their possession? If so you've got to share about it with all of us. I can't be the only one with pillow dissatisfaction.

Doesn't take much to make me....

* Here are a few things that have brought me smiles *

Our flowering trees are so pretty, the flower beds look nice and colorful, the ferns and geraniums are planted in their urns, and the garden is coming up nicely.

Don't you just love your yard in the spring?

Baseball is back.
I love the sound of the ball hitting the bat, the sound of kids, and we get to catch up with our 'seasonal friends'.

I still have a few more good hair days left before humidity hair sets in for good.

And yes, watermelon is back. Ah, watermelon.

Want some watermelon trivia?

Oklahoma designated watermelon as the official state vegetable in 2007. Although there is controversy on whether watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable, Senator Don Barrington (who sponsored the bill) said watermelon comes from the cucumber and gourd families, which are classified as vegetables.

Who knew?

Oh, how they grow...

Give me a T! Give me an O! Give me a D!

Give me another D!
What's that spell?

TODD!

Todd is now 12 years old.
**April 18, 1997**


Todd & Mitch.

(Grandma, the outfit fits. Thank you! )

This is how he usually looks when we try to take his picture

We had a cookout for dinner. Here is Justin enjoying his hotdog. It was fun and the weather was just perfect.

Layne built one of the biggest fires we've ever had. (We've had some pretty big fires.)He claims he was trying to get rid of some wood, old tree limbs, etc. to clean up the shed and back yard...I think he was just playing with fire.

Happy Birthday Todd!
Todd has always been a super great kid. We are thrilled to have him for a son. He was ordained a Deacon at church today. His little brothers really look up to him. Good thing he is such a great guy.

We love you!