The Mommy Chapter

Scapegoat

2012-02-10T07:45:00.002-07:00

I've been in North Carolina for work this week and the boys have been taking full advantage of the fact that I'm not around.

When Seth told them to stop peeing on the garbage can next to the toilet, they told him that I was doing it! I guess I'll need to start working on my aim...

I Got Me Another Firearm

2011-11-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

Let's make something clear right away: I am not a hunter. I have never taken hunter's safety and I really could care less about shooting an animal. However, I am married to a man who could never own a big enough gun safe, is constantly reloading and testing new rounds, has a 12 foot enclosed trailer filled to bursting with decoys, and really, really, really wants me to have the same priorities in life.

I can always tell when he wants to buy another gun, but can't quite justify it because it hasn't been long enugh since he plunked down hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a new gun for himself.

He starts telling me that I could use a new gun. There's usually a trade of some sort involved, so at least we dont have guns coming out of our ears...yet.

Here is his latest purchase for me; a 25-06. I think he chose it because it had good reveiws and he really, really, really wanted it, but needed a reason to buy a girl's gun.

He was kind enough to set up the scope and everything for some target practice.

Best of all, I got to lay right next to the poop pond at our neighbors feedlot to shoot it.

That's right.

A poop pond; full of cow poop.

I tell ya, life doesn't get much better than that!

2011-11-11T21:02:00.001-07:00

I just posted from my iPad! This totally rocked my world!

Our Newest Family Member!

2011-07-20T21:34:00.000-06:00

After having to give up Pike last year due to his extreme (maniacal) separation anxiety, his difficulty adjusting from country life to apartment life, and the fact that he had begun biting us; I thought it would be a very long time before we added a four legged family member.

Last Thursday, Seth texted me at work to say that he was ready to get another dog, so I pushed my luck and asked if it could be a Gordon Setter. I've wanted one since I was around 13 years old and knew that any dog we did get would have to be from the sporting group. Seth said we should find one before he changed his mind.

Long story short, we found a breeder the same day who not only seemed reputable, but also had two puppies available. The only problem was that the puppy was in Eastern Iowa and the breeder declined to ship him due to the heat. Since the weekend was coming up, we decided to take the boys on a road trip. I went into work an hour early on Friday just for the morning and we left our house around 1:00 pm that afternoon. We had planned on camping in the back of the Jeep the first night and getting a hotel the second, but we forgot how unbearable the Midwest humidity is, so we ended up caving and getting a hotel the first night too.

The closer we got, the more we started to worry that we might have made the wrong decision and jumped into this too fast. After all, we could have spent our weekend camping in the nice, cool mountains and were instead driving through Nebraska and Iowa during the hottest, most humid part of the summer. Not exactly our dream vacation...

We were wrong, of course!

Meet Ruger, our Gordon Setter!

He turned out to be exactly what we wanted. His breeder, Ron, also raises pigeons and pheasants to train dogs with, so we got to see how the puppies reacted to the birds.

Tucker got to pet a pigeon and thought it was pretty awesome.

The breeder was calling the puppy "Jack" which only seemed fitting since Jackson had declared that if we got a dog, it should be named Jack. As for temperament, think the opposite of Jackson...

He was definitely the calmest puppy in the litter!

While we were there, we got to see the puppies from Ruger's aunt. They were adorable!

Tucker seemed to prefer Ruger's dad the most, though. He's scared of little dogs, but not big dogs. He screams like a girl when a toy poodle jumps on him, but walked right up to a Saint Bernard one day to pet it.Yet anther thing that I do not understand about my strange children.

The four wheeler won out over the dog in the end and yes, Tucker told me to take this picture.

Ruger is on the right with two of his litter mates.

On our way back, we met Dale and Collette in Omaha, spent the night in a hotel filled with dogs that were attending a nearby AKC dog show (Salukis in a Freightliner van, anyone?), and went to Cabela's for the morning before heading home.

So far, Ruger is the happiest, sweetest little guy ever. He loves his crate and goes right in to sleep at night, he goes to the bathroom in the corner of the yard that we want him to go in, and chews on his toys instead of on our furniture. He's retrieving a little, and loves to explore the yard. Best of all, he doesn't seem to be causing an allergic reaction for Erin.

As Seth put it: "He's so perfect, it's disgusting"!

Fourth of July Weekend

2011-07-19T21:29:00.000-06:00

Seth's parents drove out for the Fourth of July and we all rented a cabin in Twin Lakes with Erin, Tim, and Leah.
We decided to hike to a trail that led to a great view of the lakes. Seth drove as far as he could and we walked the rest of the way. It was a pretty tame hike, but at almost 11,000 feet, we were all breathing pretty hard.

Jackson and Tucker found a little "waterfall" and were very excited about it.

Auntie forgot her inhaler and Jackson wasn't interesting in hiking, so they went back to the Jeep while Seth, Tucker and I continued on.

The whole way up Tucker kept saying that he was a "super fast mountain climber"!

He made it to the top and had a snack while we rested.

That night, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores with the girls.

The next day we drove over Independence Pass to Aspen and stopped for some pictures.

Next up: Our new family member

Sooooo.....

2011-07-19T20:53:00.000-06:00

It's been a while and I know my dear readers are just dying to know what we've been up to, so take a deep breath and let's get this over with.

I transferred jobs in June from Sales Programs to Internal Audit and Seth quit work to stay home with the boys this summer and go to school in the fall.

Jackson played soccer and we all hated it. Group sports are definitely not his thing.

We hike with the boys as much as we can...

My parents flew out to visit for a day

Have I mentioned that we eat supper with our neighbors nearly every night? Well, we do and it is the best set up ever!

We went camping with our neighbors and another couple the weekend after my parents visited and the boys got to do some fishing. They caught a little brook trout and were, of course, ecstatic.

We can't seem to get away from the wildlife around here.

I didn't realize there was a buffalo ranch up by Cameron Pass.

More wildlife...

This ram charged at Seth right after he took this picture.

The boys have been playing it safe by only pursuing wildlife in statue form.

Oh, before I forget, Tucker fell from the front steps onto the driveway and lost a tooth. Well, he didn't exactly lose it...he pulled it out after he fell on it.

His lips swelled up big enough to give the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills lip envy.

Fortunately, the other 5 teeth that were knocked loose in the fall seem to be doing fine and the dentist thinks he will be able to keep them.

Although it isn't exactly accurate, we've taken to calling him "Snaggletooth".

Well, that's some of what we've been up to.

Next: Fourth of July and a new family member!

Sometimes, I wish...

2011-05-21T12:28:00.000-06:00

...that we lived in a community with an HOA...

The Best 12 Dollars I Ever Spent

2011-04-28T18:49:00.000-06:00

2011-04-23T13:41:00.000-06:00

We all knew this day was coming and that Tucker's hair would need to be cut, but I was planning to trim it myself so that he could still have a little length on top.

Here's what Tucker's hair looked like two weeks ago. The electrical tape on his face is his attempt at a beard. Maybe he was trying to cover up the face painting from daycare?

About a week ago, when we sent the boys into the bathroom to brush their teeth before bedtime, Jackson decided to take matters into his own hands and "trim" Tucker's hair himself. It was so bad, that I had to get the clippers out to finish the job.

When I asked why he thought cutting Tucker's hair would be a good idea, Jackson turned to look at himself in the mirror and replied (while stroking his locks), "because I wanted to be the only one with long, beautiful hair".

Tucker's hair is so light that he now looks bald.

And yes Dad, the first thing I noticed was that:

"He doesn't have any eyebrows!"

2011-03-26T12:14:00.000-06:00

Jackson: Mama, what's a stepmom?
Me: Why? Do you know someone who has one?
Jackson: Yeah, Wyatt does.
Me: Is she nice?
Jackson: Yeah, she's really nice. I want a stepmom.
Me: But, that would mean I couldn't be married to Daddy anymore and that would make me sad.
Jackson: Don't worry, I'll marry you.
Me: Thanks for the offer but mommies can't marry their kids.
Jackson: That's okay, I don't mind.

Tucker and His Hair

2011-03-20T15:55:00.000-06:00

March

2011-03-20T15:48:00.000-06:00

March has been a busy month so far and its not over yet!
Leah's birthday was on the 5th, so Papa and NeNe drove down and we all brought the kids to the Denver Aquarium.

Jackson was obsessed with this part of the aquarium. I think Uncle Tim liked it just as much. At one point, Jackson tried to kiss a fish through the bubble. Barf! I can only imagine all of the germs crawling on that thing!

B was happy to see her favorite uncle "Sessy".

Tucker was amazed by the sharks.

Jackson was just confused.

Papa and NeNe brought the boys home so Seth and I could stay in Denver to celebrate our (8th!) anniversary a little early. It was amazing to have a conversation without a million interruptions consisting of, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"

The next day was Jackson's 5th birthday, so we invited his cousins and the neighbor kids over for a party. I made a pathetic attempt at a machine gun cake with a scope. It turned out a little funny looking, but at least Jackson was able to tell what it was!

Of course, he also received several toy guns as presents.

Our neighbor girls commandeered a couch when they got tired of shooting the boys.

Little E.

Dallas and Nancy are teaching an A.I school in the southern part of the state for the second week in a row, so I'm missing her happy little face!

Jackson with Papa and NeNe.

He was very excited about the Toy Story Wii game they gave him!

Last Sunday, we brought the boys for a bike ride.

I thought we should have brought Jackson's other bike, as this one is getting too small for him, but I was glad that Seth didn't listened to me when we had to load it into the "rickshaw" so that he could ride with Tucker.

We stopped for a little hike by the river,

and a picture, of course.

I also made the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls last weekend. They are pretty delicious, but still not even close to the deliciousness of my Grandma's Caramel Rolls which I made yesterday.

Tucker was happy to help roll out the dough, but he lost interest after that and wandered outside to play with Jackson. Strange, when I was a kid, the best part was putting the butter and sugar on the dough...

I also made a plain loaf of bread because I live for fresh bread straight from the toaster slathered in butter. I rolled out the third portion and sprinkled it with cheese and chopped jalapenos before rolling it up. It raised up nicely, but it was a weird shape because I wasn't very careful.

While I was doing that, Seth came home from work and went straight out back to put together two square foot gardens for me!

And, finally, here's a look at our living room right before I painted it in the beginning of March. It was boring white, except for the spots covered in crayon and dirty finger prints.

Notice the stylish front door. Oh yeah, that baby's on it's way out as soon as possible! I have a new one picked out, but I think we're going to put up some new fence panels first. The back section is a wood fence, but the sides are chain link. It just isn't "us". The fan however, is long gone! It worked great, but it was so huge and ugly and I always worried that Jackson would try to jump up and grab it from the back of the couch. That's just something he would do.

The finished look.

Seth installed a new light in the dining area and put the old one where the fan used to be until we can decide on a bigger one.

I painted the ceiling the same color as the walls. Its hard to tell in the picture, but the sculpting stands out more than when it was painted white. The molding also looks better now that it's a different color than the rest of the room.

So there you have it. I also painted the boy's bedroom, but forgot to take pictures. Oh well, at least that's two rooms that are not covered in crayon any more.

In Case You Were Wondering

2011-01-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

What Tucker and his

hair have been up too!

The time might finally be approaching for a real haircut!

Grandpa

2011-01-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa passed away yesterday.

Life will never be the same.

I can't imagine never hearing his voice again. Never wrapping my arms around his big chest for one of his impossibly strong hugs again. Never looking into his eyes again and seeing how much he loves me. Never seeing him surrounded by his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren again. Never being offered a ride to the Keg in one of his Lincolns for a pine float again. Never slapping his giant, leathery hand in a high five again and saying "I like Grandpa best". Never hearing him say "By Golly" again or "Whoopdeedoo for my Subaru". Never hearing him say that none of us would be here if it weren't for him. Never watching him talk to my dad again. Never hearing his chuckle again as he tells a story about his latest escapade.

He was strong willed, unique, determined, stubborn and invincible.

Once his mind was made up about something there was no use arguing.

Ray always got his way.

No physical ailment was allowed to get the best of him and no doctor was allowed near him if he could help it. Cataracts and macular degeneration couldn't stop him from driving down to the cafe for a cup of coffee or out to the farm to move his cars and machinery around. Deafness gave him an excuse to hear what he wanted to hear and a limp was ignored, but played up if he could use it to his advantage.

I see his reflection in my son, Jackson Raymond every day. When Jackson's preschool teacher said that he "leers in her face" when she is disciplining him, I know the exact look he is giving her. It's the "you can't tell me what to do" look that I have seen on Grandpa's face so many times.

My memories of Grandpa are happy and include sunny days, combines, Heidingers, bringing lunch to him in the field with Grandma when I was small, riding down gravel roads in old Red and old Yellow, going to the lake, the purple speedboat, rides in the pontoon, visiting Grandpa and Grandma in Arizona, Grandpa and Grandma staying with us when we lived in Arizona, Christmas at the house on the hill when I was little and then at the house in town when I was older, the blue Lincoln, lots and lots of coffee, countless stories, hearing his words of wisdom about driving, picking him and Grandma up at the lake for her doctor appointments the first year Seth and I were married, and the ever present twinkle in his eye that said he was up to something.

I never doubted his love for a second.

He meant the world to me.

(photo taken by my cousin Libby)

Long Overdue Kitchen Update

2010-12-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

I finished stripping the wallpaper off the kitchen walls a few months ago with the help of a handy steamer that Seth brought home one day. He must have been sick of shredded wallpaper hanging in his face when we sat down to eat. Good thing he bought it because once I started on the stuff above the cabinets I found another layer of ancient wallpaper behind the horrendous sheep stuff. The old wallpaper must have been from back when the house was built and it was covered in some crazy orange mushroom pattern and glued on good. If not for the steamer, I would probably still be trying to get that stuff off.

Anyway, the kitchen is still blue, but a much nicer shade and painted instead of shrouded in greasy old wallpaper.

My next project will be to start painting the other rooms more interesting colors than plain white.

But first things first.

I have got to figure out what to do with the dead, stuffed animals that Seth keeps bringing home.

Like this duck. It started out in the garage because Seth doesn't have a hunting room or a family room like he did in our old house. Back in those days, he could hang these disgusting things from the walls with minimal impact on me. Now this one is hovering over one of our bookshelves and nearly pokes me in the eye every time I try to get a bill from the bill box. Now that I think about it, that's a good incentive to put Seth in charge of the bill paying...

I have managed to keep the walleye in the garage, but it's only a matter of time before it ends up above our bed or something.

Think it won't happen?

Get real.

I thought this blue snow goose would be forgotten in my in-law's basement when we moved to Colorado, but it suddenly appeared one day when they came to visit.

Not only appeared, but settled in the most inconvenient place possible. You can't really tell from the picture but that darn bird sticks out a good foot further than the bookcase and directly into the path of anyone trying to walk from the kitchen to the bedrooms.

Good luck trying to get a midnight snack.

That bird doesn't know it yet, but his days of perching on my office wall are numbered. I would say his days are numbered, but...Seth beat me to that one.

Summer, Summer

2010-11-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! Since going back to work in June, I have been horrible about updating my blog. As the other alternative to chronicling our lives would be to scrapbook (excuse me while I puke) I have decided to add a little here and there.

My mom and youngest brother, David came out to visit at the end of July which just happened to be Seth's first weekend off since April. We brought them up to Rocky Mountain National Park and did some hiking. The boys were so excited to see them and even more excited that beloved uncle "Abu" was going to spend the rest of the week with us and fly home the following Saturday.

I have included a picture of Seth's Jimmy for posterity. This was taken on the weekend that we went to RMNP and Seth was halfway through repainting it. He did finish and it looked nice, but then he went to North Dakota to haul sugar beets this fall and totaled it. Nice story, Anna.

Moving on.
My younger sister, Rachel was delivering a car from Arizona to Canada for Dad, so she was able to pick David up at the end of the week and we got to spend the day with her.

We met Leah and her girls at Chipotle and we all got to spend some time together.

I used this picture of Rachel and Leah, not because it is the most flattering, but because I think the guy in the background looks hilarious. Seriously, was he posing?

Anyway, now that both of my parents, two of my brothers and one of my sisters has been out to visit, that leaves Tina and Eddy as the only family members who haven't made it out here yet (hint, hint!).

We're driving up to Minnesota next week for my cousin Paul's wedding and my entire family will all be together for two days. I can hardly wait to see everyone!

Jackson and His Writing Skilz

2010-09-19T18:09:00.000-06:00

Jackson started preschool this year and I, for various reasons that I am not going to get into on this blog, was a little apprehensive about it. Suffice to say that, as his mom, I know that he is completely capable of learning anything, I was just afraid that a classroom setting would not be good for him.

I guess I didn't need to worry because the other night while I was reading the boys their bedtime story, Jackson drew this:

Okay, it's barely legible and the "son" is underneath a pretty funky looking "c" and "k", but overall, I think it's pretty impressive that he already knows how to spell his name. He also shocked me even more by spelling Tucker's name afterwards!

Of course, in typical Jackson fashion, he was pretty impressed with himself too!

Abu

2010-08-29T18:37:00.000-06:00

Jackson and Tucker love their uncle, David aka "Abu". The week that he stayed with us earlier this month was a full of fun and goofing off for the boys. David has a magical way of getting Jackson to listen. The only thing he can't get Jackson to do is sit still for a picture.

Okay, not that sitting still made for a better picture of David and Tucker. Don't ask because I have no idea what they are doing.

Okay, at least I know what's going on in this picture. And those nasty floral curtains in the background? They are gone forever! As in: I threw them away and put up a set of brown curtains from my mother-in-law. The new curtains are not quite long enough, but they work for now and are so much nicer to look at than the old ones.

But, enough about me - back to the boys.

David helped Jackson set up his Thomas trains and tracks in the living room one day - I think Jackson was a little worn out by the process. You see, David is much more methodical and careful about things than Jackson, who would rather do something as fast as possible.

So ladies, if you're looking for someone who is thoughtful, gracious, a gentleman, sweet, kind, does housework and is excellent with kids (my sisters and I call him either Slave Dave or Manny) then look no further.

Not only do his nieces and nephews adore him,

He's not bad looking at all!

But be warned: I am forcing him to go to college here in Colorado, so he will be very busy spending time with his favorite sister and nephews!

Summer, Summer, Summer

2010-08-18T19:09:00.000-06:00

I used to hate summer. The heat, humidity and pollen were enough to make me dread going outside. Now that we live in Colorado where the humidity is negligible and we have central air, I love summer. I also love all of the visitors that we've had this summer. Our spare bedroom is definitely seeing some use!

My brother, Andrew was able to spend the 4th of July weekend with us as his custom combining crew was only a few hours away and Seth's parents were also able to make it out. While they were all here, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park for the day.

Tim, Leah and the girls came along as well and we drove to the top of the pass with some stops along the way for pictures. Tim got some great pictures of elk jumping across the road, but I of course was too busy trying to turn my camera on, then accidentally turning it off and then on again so my pictures were of empty space instead of elk.

Tucker and B were kind enough to treat us to a dance off at our 4th of July barbecue. I must say, they were quite entertaining.

After the barbecue, we drove out to the shooting range. You didn't see that one coming did you!

It's not as though we have any guns or anything...

While Andrew was here, he helped Jackson learn to ride bike without training wheels - something I was not encouraging. Now that Jackson has his two-wheel freedom, he can disappear a lot faster than he used to. His favorite thing to do right now is ride to the other side of our block to play with his friend, Cora.

Now that the bikes no longer have training wheels on them, Seth decided that Tucker needed a trike in order to keep up with Jackson. When it came to buying one, I was thinking Wal-Mart trike and Seth was not. All I have to say is that our grandchildren had better be using that trike too. I want to get my money's worth!

My dad was also able to stop by on his way through last month. He picked Jackson and Tucker up from daycare in his truck and stayed overnight. We got to spend a nice evening with him and he helped Jackson put his toddler bed together. Seth and I had been a little lazy about getting around to that and Jackson was thrilled that Grandpa let him put it together. Maybe the next time he's out here, he can help Jackson take down the lace curtains in the boy's bedroom...

Grandma A had sent some PJ's for the boys so Dad tried to get Jackson and Tucker to smile nicely for a picture - Ha!

Jackson is still talking about Grandpa and every time that he sees a Volvo, he gets excited and starts yelling that he "saw a Volvo just like Grandpa's truck!"

Erin made it back from Norway by the end of July and brought me a troll magnet. Guess which one is her and which one is me! I hate having things on my fridge, but this was too cute - it's right on the front.

Mom and David came to visit on the last weekend in July and we forced them to go up to the park as well. Not that it took much forcing.

Mom stayed for the weekend and David stayed until the next Sunday when our sister Rachel, picked him up on her way through delivering a car for Dad. I have some pictures from the day that we got to spend with her, but those will be for a later time when I feel more ambitious.

Our next visitors are going to show up some time around Labor Day and then I'm not sure if we'll see anyone for a while. It's been so nice to have everyone come out to visit! Seth is planning to work in North Dakota for my cousin, Paul the first week of October and then we're all driving up there the weekend before Thanksgiving for Paul's wedding, but it falls during elk season and Seth has a tag for November 17-21 so he'll only get to hunt for the first two days, two more days will be spent driving and we'll only get to see my family for one day. We were planning on having Christmas with my side while we were up there, but I'm not sure how that is going to work out.

Whatever happens, I'm sure it will be an adventure!

Just Lazy, I Guess

2010-07-20T23:15:00.000-06:00

That's right. Remember that sheep wallpaper that I keep talking about? Well, I can't show you a picture because it's on my computer which is off getting fixed while I mooch Erin's computer while she's off gallivanting around Norway. I can't take a picture of the wallpaper to download because that would involve me holding my arm around the corner and taking a picture of the wallpaper from my comfy spot on the couch. Suffice to say that I have begun scraping it off the wall and quickly realized that it's not as easy as I remember the wallpaper adventures of my youth to be. Somehow, Mom made spraying water at wallpaper and then scraping the sticky goo off the wall fun. It's not so much fun now.

I did sucker Jackson into helping me for an afternoon, but if you could see the small patch that we worked on together, you wouldn't think that we spent an entire afternoon on it. It looks like we should have only spent 10 minutes on it. I should have worked on it tonight, but I'm too lazy and would rather sit in front of the TV with Seth than scrape wallpaper. So, here I sit. The only thing pushing me to finish is the knowledge that my Mom and youngest brother are coming to visit very soon and I would be so embarrassed for my Mom to see a half finished wall that I have to finish it before she gets here! My backup plan for not finishing the kitchen would be talking Mom into going camping while she's here. We could pick her up from the airport, go straight to camping, and then return her to the airport in time to catch her flight. That's it. I'll plan on that and then I can spend each evening vegging instead of being productive. Hahahaah!!!!

More Pink?

2010-07-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

We pulled the carpet out of our bedroom last week and discovered that the baseboards had once been painted the same color pink as the bathroom. I think the previous owners had a thing for pink...and blue as all of the carpet upstairs is blue.

I'm loving the wood floors!

(FYI: If you think I used that claw thing to pull up tack strips, you are sorely mistaken - I did use a needle nose pliers to pull all of the staples out, though.)

While we were doing that, Jackson played dress up in the lovely floral curtains that came with the house. I've been trying to pawn them off on my sister in law, Leah, but for some reason she doesn't seem interested. I have no idea why.

Our cabinets were too low for the new fridge, so Seth adjusted them a little.

Note the blue wallpaper and the sheep on the wall. There are two wallpaper designs on the opposite wall with the sheep border separating them. Those suckers are on good too. Believe me, I'm working on removing that hideousness from my happy place.

Speaking of my happy place - here it is!

I'm trying to talk Seth into replace that horrendous microwave with a white hood, but I think it's pretty low on his list of priorities right now.

Before you leave, here's a picture of my throne

Oh yes, those dragonflies are appliqued. Nothing but the best for me!

Unprepared

2010-06-20T17:09:00.000-06:00

Seth and I have been married for over 7 years. We both worked full time jobs until about 4 1/2 months after I had our second child. When we were first married I was appalled that Seth had never cleaned a bathroom and could not understand why he would continue to sit in front of the TV instead of pitching in to help when I was cleaning. If you know my family, you know that sitting down while others are working is just unacceptable. After all, we were both working outside the home, so we should both help out with cooking and cleaning, right? Needless to say, I got to work on changing that right away.

After a couple of years, we had a pretty good routine figured out in which I did most of the cleaning, we shared laundry, and Seth did most of the cooking. Next, we introduced our first child into the mix and figured that out. I obviously, did all of the feeding, but Seth was the one who got up in the night to fetch the crying baby, bring him to me, and then put him back in his own bed with a dry diaper when he was finished.

Enter child number two. I returned to work for 1 1/2 months after maternity leave and then left to finish school and take care of the boys. For over 2 years, I have mainly stayed home and been responsible for the cooking, cleaning, and laundry while Seth has taken care of supporting us. I graduate from school this week and have been able to find a full-time job with a large company that pays quite well, has great benefits, and is reasonably close to home. The daycare center in our town has an opening for each of the boys and because Seth works a rotating schedule we only have to pay for the weekdays that the boys attend. It's hard to believe that everything has worked out so perfectly.

I've been talking about daycare and preschool with the boys for the past few months in an attempt to prepare them for this sudden separation from me into a world of strangers, but I just realized that I have not prepared myself or Seth!

I have let the past 2 years undo the 5 years of training that I put in molding and shaping Seth into a helpful husband! How are we going to cope with this? I highly doubt that we will simply fall back into our old routine of sharing chores, but what I'm even more worried about is how Seth will cope with the sudden loss of dependable, 24/7 childcare. You see, I intentionally used these 2 years to spend as much time as possible with the boys, cooking, keeping the house clean, and making sure that Seth was able to go hunting and fishing without worrying about finding a babysitter because he knew I would be home instead of at work. He worked long hours every day and only had Sundays off, so I wanted him to be able to come home to a hot meal and a clean house.

Because I am a selfish and lazy person I have no intention of continuing to do all of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry once I start work, so I am beginning to realize that I may have shot myself in the foot by trying to be a good stay at home mom and wife. I feel as though we might be a little unprepared for this transition!

Pretty in Pink

2010-06-13T11:19:00.000-06:00

We (Seth, his sister Erin, and I) bought a house together a couple of weeks ago. You heard me. We broke the cardinal rule of families and bought a house, of all things, with a family member. Anyone who knows me well understands how violently opposed I am to these sort of things, but so far we all get along famously. Erin lives in the basement and we live on the main floor and everyone's happy. I throw my dirty clothes down the laundry chute and Erin washes them for me and delivers them upstairs. What do I have to complain about?

Oh yeah. I guess I could complain about the bathroom. Overall, it's a nice bathroom. Big. A window. Large tub. New shower with curved shower rod. Tons of storage. So much storage that I can't fill all of the space.

So what's the problem?

It's pink.

Pink tub, pink toilet, pink sink, pink wall tile.

The only think that's not pink is the counter top which is white with blue stars.

Did I mention the house was built in 1961?

Oh, and the toilet seat is covered in appliqued dragonflies.

With our two boys and my aversion to the color pink this is the last color scheme in the world that we would pick. My Midwestern sensibility will not let me rip out the entire bathroom though because it is in such great shape. So, I will learn to live with the color and just enjoy the retro vibe the hanging lamps give off. After all, they do make my skin look good.

Next up? The kitchen.

Think: blue and white checks with a lamb border.

Oh well, the truck with my new oven just arrived, so I'm happy.

A Present?

2010-05-29T09:42:00.000-06:00

Seth gave me a present yesterday after we closed on our house.

I was really excited at first.

He said it was something that I could start using right away.

He said that I would love it.

He said that it would change my life.

I felt so bad that I didn't get him a new house gift after he must have put so much thought into what he was giving me.

Then I saw what it was.

Me: Ummmm...Thank you?

Seth: I'm going to pull up the carpet in the bedrooms and I didn't want you to have to pull up the tack strips with your fingers.

Then, he bought me a new fridge and oven...after he realized that a precision claw bar can also double as a weapon.

Cooking with Jackson

2010-05-18T22:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I completely forgot to take pictures of Jackson cooking, but he really did cook. I promise. Well, it was more like bake. Snickerdoodles to be exact.

They were delicious and very easy for a 4 year old to make. Probably because he had a little outside help. His favorite ex-barista, Liesl, came over to lend a hand and even posed for a picture with him. In coordinating aprons, of course.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat 1 or 10 of them. I just can't stand the thought of my boys ingesting the amounts of sugar involved with eating cookies, so I'll have to take one for the team. It's all for their benefit, really.

If I keep telling myself that I might actually start to believe it.

Boots, Boots, Boots!

2010-05-06T09:20:00.001-06:00

Jackson and Tucker recently discovered the wonders of the movie Toy Story. Not only are they obsessed with Woody and Buzz, they think they are Woody and Buzz. I'm sure the neighbors below us cringe every time they hear "To infinity and beyond!" as they wait for the ensuing thud as a little boy jumps off the couch, bed, or counter top. After landing, one of them will yell, "That wasn't flying, that was falling with style" as the other one yells, "Come on, you want a piece of beat?"

That's right.

They say "piece of beat" instead of "piece of me".

Right before tumbling to the floor in a tangle of punching, clawing , and flailing limbs as I try in vain to separate them or keep them from climbing on the furniture.

Jackson has recently outgrown his tennis shoes. When Papa and NeNe were here last week, NeNe offered to buy him a new pair so that he wouldn't have to wear his camouflage crocs or church shoes everywhere.

Long story short, he found these:

Buzz and Woody light up when he walks and one of the boots even has the name "Andy" inscribed on the bottom.

I often catch him imitating the part in Toy Story 2 where Woody wipes the new paint off the bottom of his boot.

It's pretty cute.

Tucker went nuts in the store when he saw the boots and had to try them on too. When Jackson walked out with a pair and Tucker didn't I could tell that he was disappointed, but he didn't say anything. He never tried to steal the boots although he did ask to borrow them several times and he stared at them constantly.

Papa noticed too, so the night before they left for home he and NeNe had Auntie Erin pick up a pair in Tucker's size while she was out shopping.

The moment that he spotted those boots was priceless.

Yes, they also say "Andy" on the bottom.

Now they are the only shoes these two little boys will wear.

I hope they let me put some sandals on them when its 100 degrees this summer...

Fishing Day

2010-04-19T22:19:00.000-06:00

We went fishing on Seth's day off last week. The first half of our fishing trip consisted of the boys sleeping, Seth fishing, and me sitting in the car with the boys. You know, every girl's idea of a good time. Right before the boys woke up, Seth caught this trout.

Then he went back down the hill and fished for a loooooooong time without catching anything.

It probably didn't help that the fly he was using looked like a tiny speck of dryer lint. The fish were biting, but obviously it's a little difficult to set a hook that small. Have these trout never heard of a wooly bugger?

Anyway, Tucker woke up and we spent some time taking pictures by the road

Until he decided that he would rather be fishing with Daddy.

Pike was down there too, but it didn't look like he was having as much fun.

If you look closely you can see just how badly he is wishing to be snuggled up in a warm bed instead of standing on some cold rocks. Well Pike, you can't expect life to be all peaches and cream when you start relieving yourself on the carpet every time you're left alone! Honestly, I hope this is just a phase - he's only 6, so it can't be blamed on old age yet.

When Jackson finally woke up, he was really excited to find out that it was his turn to fish with Daddy.

He tried, he really did.

But I think my screams of "Be careful!", Don't stand so close to the edge!", and "Seth! Get your hands out of your pockets so you can catch him if he falls in the water!" kind of ruined his concentration.

But honestly, I was worried that he would fall in the water.

Who would "fish" him out? Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Seth finally did catch another trout that was immediately claimed by Jackson who proceeded to tell us that he had caught it.

I don't think Seth minded. After all, it wasn't exactly anything to brag about!

At our last stop Seth tried to get a picture of the boys and I, but we must have been feeling shy.

Pike didn't even bother to turn around.

Oh well, maybe next time!

Why I Hate Carpet

2010-04-15T22:08:00.000-06:00

Remember how the boys spilled nearly an entire bottle of flocking on the carpet and bedspread in our room while I was washing windows in the living room?

Well, I was going to post a picture of my cleanup job, but our severe separation anxiety suffering dog, Pike, had another little job that he thought you might enjoy more.

At least he only got Seth's side of the dresser.

But, he made up for it on the white bathroom rug. And the the cabinet. And the door.

While I cleaned it up, the boys stole my camera and broke out their squirt guns in an attempt to film their own action shots.

When I finished picking up all of the poo and soaking the carpet with cleaner, Tucker ran past yelling, "Mommy! I did poop chicken!"

Poop sucks.

Thank You Greenhead Gear

2010-04-12T06:40:00.000-06:00

We interupt this programming to thank Greenhead Gear for not putting a childproof cap on their bottles of FFD Elite Black Flocking.

We would also like to thank Anna's husband for using their bedroom as a storage room for all things related to hunting;

Hoover, for creating a magnificent vacuum;

and Anna for cleaning up any mess that may have been caused to carpet and bedding by said Greenhead Gear product while she was washing windows in the other room.

The identity of the perpetrators will remain nameless to protect them from the wrath of their mother.

Cavanolli

2010-04-05T19:58:00.000-06:00

I don't advertise the fact that we have a fish and a dog mostly for the simple reason that Jackson and Tucker take up so much of my life that pets are now obsolete. I never thought I would say something like that.

Me. The girl who used to be obsessed with dogs. Not so much now.

Anyway, when we first moved into our apartment we were constantly on the receiving end of phone calls from the apartment manager and her peons notifying us that Jackson and Tucker were much too loud for the other occupants of our building. One such occupant finally moved, but before she did, she came over to thank us for the Starbucks gift card and the note of apology that we put under her door.

She also offered us her fish. The fish, a red beta, had no name and was purchased purely for his color as he matched her living room rug.

Okay. I guess I would probably do something like that too.

As the fish had no name, I asked Tucker if he would like to christen it. The first name that he came up with was "That". I told him "That" was totally unacceptable. He decided to go with "Song". Song died a couple of weeks ago after becoming more and more sluggish and disinterested in his food. We decided to purchase another beta to replace Song, so we went to WalMart and the boys picked out a blue beta.

This time it was Jackson's turn to name the fish. I have no idea where the name came from, but his decision was quick and he was adamant.

The name?

Cavanolli.

Life With My Boys

2010-03-25T23:41:00.000-06:00

I don't have any pictures to share this time, but I do have some crazy words via Jackson and Tucker that I feel should be put out there so that the rest of the world can see what life is like with these two.

They are so entertaining/crazy that we come up with all sorts of things to call them. Our favorite nick-name for them is satchmo, but sometimes they have a different idea of what we should call them.

For instance: A few days ago Tucker was digging through a cabinet when I walked up and asked him if he was being a satchmo. His reply?

"No, I'm not a satchmo; I'm a pigmy shrew".

What about Jackson?

He was busy peeing on the floor in his bedroom. When I asked him why he did that, he answered that he felt like it. I asked him what made him think that it was okay to do that anywhere but the toilet. He replied that he was a dog and then lifted his leg and said, "See, I pee like a dog".

I handed him some cleaner and paper towels and made him clean it up. Just like my mom did with me the time that I peed on the bed that Tina and I shared just to find out what it felt like to wet the bed...

When I told Jackson that he should never do that again he put his hand on his hip, rolled his eyes, and said, "Whatever".

Hungry? Here's An Eyeball!

2010-03-17T09:13:00.000-06:00

Seth and I celebrated our 7th anniversary (already?) on Monday by taking the boys fishing. They had a lot of fun and Seth caught a trout that we kept to cook with the one that was already in our freezer. According to Tucker, it wasn't a trout; it was a sprout. After Seth cleaned the fish, I set them on a piece of tinfoil over slices of onion and butter. Then, I lemon peppered the heck out of them and stuffed them with lime slices.

I put them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes and they smelled delicious!

When they were done, I cut a hole in one corner of the foil and poured the butter sauce into a bowl so that we could soak our fish in it. Yum!

Seth was taking the fish apart for the boys when Jackson decided that he wanted to try one of the eyeballs. Knowing that they are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, we decided to let him give it a try.

They were a little difficult to get on a fork, so he ended up chasing them around his plate for a little while before resorting to using his hands.

He popped one in his mouth and chewed as we waited in suspense for the verdict.

Not bad! Jackson liked them so much that he ate another one. He wanted more, but I told him to finish his tater tot salad instead. The tater tot salad is his own creation. Whatever gets him to eat his greens I guess.

The eyeballs seemed to agree with him until I went to check on him a little later.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Birthday Time!

2010-03-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Leah and Jackson's birthdays last weekend and let me say this: It was a lot of fun! For Leah's birthday we went out for Mexican food on Friday night.

It was delicious!

The next day was Jackson's birthday. It was a momentous occasion for him as he finally received the Red Ryder he has been begging for.

After waving it repeatedly in my face, he stored it in the gun safe with Seth's guns and we headed for kids' day at Bass Pro.

Papa and NeNe came for the weekend to celebrate the birthdays - and hold Pike's leash. While Auntie Erin came to cuddle sleeping babies.

B. and Pike are great friends and there was a lot of hugging and sloppy kisses between these two.

Because it was kid's day there were all sorts of fun activities set up. There was a fishing pond outside stocked with trout who seemed a little more intersted in finding some shade than being caught.

Inside the DNR had a table set up where kids could color a picture and then have it ironed onto a t-shirt.

Uncle Seth tried to scare the girls with a crocodile pillow, but they were pretty cool customers. Not even a flinch.

When the shirts were finished, the kids collected some badges and tattoos on their way to the shooting gallery.

Before leaving, we had supper at the restaurant and the servers even came over to sing for Jackson.

Overall, I think he had a pretty good birthday. However, the next morning I could tell that the boys might have had a little too much fun.

Maybe next year we'll just have a little get-together at home...

The Cutting of the Hair

2010-03-04T08:33:00.001-07:00

I was cleaning under the bathroom sink a few days ago when Jackson wandered in. With a surprising quickness that I have come to expect from a little boy who is beginning to figure out the need to move very fast when he is doing something that he shouldn't, Jackson grabbed the clippers and a pair of scissors and was instantly in the other bathroom cutting his hair. Seriously. He had the clippers plugged in and was already working on the front by the time I got my head out from under the sink.

I decided to let him go with it and see how well he did. His hair was getting a little unruly anyway (see previous post) and he needed a trim.

And boy, did he get one.

He actually did a pretty decent job.

Then he broke out the scissors and it started to get a little short.

Meanwhile, Tucker was starting to feel a little left out.

After all, only those with hair can get haircuts. When one is rapidly approaching the age of three and is still hairless, it might seem as though a first haircut is far in the distant future.

What to do?

Use some of your brother's hair as a toupee!

Aaaaah. Content at last.

We had to call Daddy in to finish the job as Jackson was suddenly suffering from a severe case of remorse.

(Tina and Rachel: recognize that pink blanket?)

However, Jackson quickly realized that his new hairstyle wasn't so bad after all when I let him style it.

Not that there was much to style.

He consoled himself with the fact that now his hair looks more like Uncle Abu's than Grandpa A's high school picture.

We're all still getting used to it; he looks older and I had a difficult time finding him at the park the next day, but overall, the ease of maintenance is very nice.

On a side note, I made the Pioneer Woman's Apple Fritters yesterday morning and they were outstanding!

The glaze didn't go very far, so some of the fritters got powdered sugar instead, but those with the glaze were by far the best. Mmmmm. I'm trying to hold off so that Papa and NeNe can have some when they get here. After noon, I'm not making any promises.

Hiking with Jackson and Tucker

2010-03-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so nice lately that we have been able to do a lot outdoors with the boys, which is good because they have been getting pretty sick of being indoors and we were getting pretty sick of their increasingly outrageous antics. A few days ago, we went to a nearby state park to hike (translation: Seth and the boys were on the lookout for a cougar attack).

We made it about halfway up the trail before taking a side loop down the mountain in order to make it back by dark. There was too much for those little boys to look at!

It's been so nice that we've been able to take the kids and Pike out nearly every day, except Sunday when it snowed. We tried a new church that day, but it didn't go so well. One of Seth's hunting friends invited us and we really liked it. The only problem was that the church was really, really, really old and we sat in the balcony in order to keep the boys from drawing any unwanted attention to us. I don't know what we were thinking. When Seth got up to bring the boys to children's church, their footsteps on the wood floor combined with the creakiness of the building drowned out the pastor's voice.

They made it all the way to the other side of the balcony before Jackson decided that he needed me to go with him. He broke away from Seth and thundered back across the creaky floor as Tucker shouted, "Hey Mommy! I'm over here!!!!"at the top of his lungs. The pastor stopped talking during this because his voice couldn't be heard over the pounding of feet and the roaring laughter of the congregation. Talk about wishing the floor would open up and swallow you.

I decided that the best course of action would be to take Jackson down the steps closest to us and then try to sneak behind all of the pews, which are set up in a half circle. We made it to the bottom of the steps where we were met by a concerned parishioner who felt it was his duty to inform me that it sounded like a "drum" when anyone walked across the balcony. As if I hadn't noticed.

Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, Jackson and I trekked across the sanctuary and met up with Seth in the hallway. After dropping the kids off, Seth and I were faced with a dilemma. Stay in the hallway until church was over to avoid having to come all the way back if the boys decided they didn't like it, go back up the stairs the way Seth had come in order to avoid another concerned parishioner, or go back the way I had come and face a possible "teaching your children to be quiet" talk from said parishioner. We chose the hallway. Afterwards, said parishioner apologized, but it was still mortifying to say the least. How do you come back from something like that?

Flour Kings

2010-02-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Jackson and Tucker love to bake. No question about it. I made cookies last night and contemplated doing another Cooking with Jackson post, but was too lazy to take any pictures and Tucker kept slamming a chair leg down on my bare feet.

The boys did try to do a little baking on their own last week, but it didn't work out as well as they thought it would. As a disclaimer, this particular episode happened while Seth was watching the boys.

He should have talked them into pretending to be mimes. But, he decided to do the responsible thing which was to clean up the mess before I got home and freaked out.

On a side note, Jackson's birthday is coming up and we're going to spend it at Bass Pro (his favorite store) where they will be having a children's fishing pond. Seth also insisted that Jackson should have a Red Ryder bb gun. After all, he is turning 4. Any small boy worth his salt should have a gun by the age of 4. It's going to rock his world.

It will not rock mine.

What if I get shot? Pike has a bb lodged under his skin thanks to a crabby neighbor; maybe we can match.

One more thing.

Matt, this is for you.

Where Are They Learning These Things?

2010-01-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today, I was waiting outside the DMVwith the boys. Seth did not change his residency until a few weeks ago as he was in North Dakota working most of this fall. The Jimmy is in his name, so we waited to do anything with the licensing until he was back for good.
I stayed outside to play DJ for the boys. In case you were wondering, they requested: Leonard Cohen, Beastie Boys, Amy Winehouse, and Pixies. Interesting combination. The Beastie Boys and Amy Winehouse didn't pan out.
While we were sitting in the car a police officer walked by our open window -at the same moment that Tucker started screaming, "Stinky! Stinky!"
Wanting to escape, I took the boys for a walk around the building. They were playing a cute little game of tag when a middle-aged woman approached on her way to the front door. As she passed them, smiling at the sight of their angelic little faces, they looked up, pointed at her and, in unison, shouted, "Boobies! Boobies!"

Christmas Cards Concluded

2009-12-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

I know you're on the edge of your seats wondering how the christmas card episode ended, so I'm here to enlighten you. When I wrote the previous post, the boys were in pj's and this is what the living room looked like.

Classy.

I dressed them up and set them in front of the fireplace in a desperate attempt to get one christmas card worthy picture.

Here's what I got:

Note: there were no fingerprints on the fireplace glass prior to this little photo shoot.

Obviously, this would never do. So, I looked through some pictures from this fall and chose the one that Seth had wanted all along.

The one where I'm wearing one of his sweatshirts, my hair is blowing everywhere, and I look like a beached whale.

Hey, at least everyone is looking at the camera!

After work on Friday, we printed the pictures, I finished my finals, and then got all of the envelopes addressed and stamped by 3:00 am.

The only problem is, I think I might have left pictures out of a few of the cards...

O, Christmas Cards O, Christmas Cards

2009-12-17T19:56:00.002-07:00

I used to have two user accounts on my computer for no apparent reason. I'm not really sure why so I merged them late this summer right before my computer crashed. Unfortunately, my address book didn't make it. I was using Windows Contacts and now I cannot find a single address. Apparently, Windows Contacts does not believe in mergers. I'm pretty sure that most people that we know do not have our new address, so I can't fudge it by waiting for them to send a Christmas card so that I have their address. I have tried to look for the addresses, but no luck. I am obviously devastated because it is the one area of my life where I was organized and now it's gone. My sister, Tina sent me her address book, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my cousin Casey does not live in Alaska anymore. It would be a little bit of a commute to the Minneapolis airport every day. My mother-in-law offered to read all of her addresses for Seth's side of the family over the phone to me, but do you think I've called her?

It's called laziness and procrastination, people.

Which brings me to my other point. Last year I didn't have any money or ambition to send out Christmas cards so, even though I had a very organized address book, I stuck a picture up here and then emailed everyone. Classy.

That made me feel like a loser, so I bought Christmas cards on clearance after the holidays last year with the intention of sending them out this year, but I don't have any money for stamps and pictures and I haven't taken any decent pictures of the boys lately that could work for a card. I do have a handful of pictures that we had taken of the boys this summer, but I only have enough for our immediate family. I was going to go ahead with it anyway, but here I am: it's the week before Christmas, I should be working on my finals, I haven't done any baking or decorating, and I am surrounded by dirty clothes, clean clothes, dirty dishes, clean dishes, broken furniture, and snotty little boys who are trying their darndest to break the windows.

I have until the end of the week to update all of the gas tank records for 2009 at work (for some reason, they haven't been updated since August of 2007) and I have only been able to finish through April. Not that there's any pressure to get it done. Just the $5,000 a day that my employer will get fined for every day the log is late getting to the state. Seth started his job on Monday, so I haven't been able to stay late at work to finish it and the time that I am at work has been spent on fixing problems from last week coupled with new problems every day. They're not difficult, they're just time consuming and there is no reason that most of them should have happened. Do you ever have a dream where you're running, but no matter how hard you try you're running in slow motion? That's what this week feels like.

I don't think Seth has to work tomorrow, so I should be able to stay late and get the logs finished so that I can send them out on Saturday. But, staying late means that I will not be able to print off Christmas pictures, address cards, or finish up my last day of classes before Christmas break.

Okay, now that I've written all of that, I feel like a complete loser. If this is all I have to worry about, I think I can handle it.

Here's my new plan: I'm going to dress the boys up quickly, search for some batteries for my camera, take a picture of them, address as many cards as possible tonight, write two papers, respond to 2 discussion posts in each class, go into work at 7 instead of 7:30, finish those darn gas logs, go home, pack up the kids and head to Wal-Mart or King Soopers to print off some cards, stand in line waiting for 2 hours, print off the cards, go home, realize that I forgot to buy stamps, go back to King Soopers, buy stamps, go home, send the cards, and go to bed.

Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by, and if you would like a Christmas card, or our new address send me a message on facebook or email me and please, please, please, give me your address!

Are You Kidding Me?

2009-12-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

It snowed yesterday. A few inches, nothing major. Seth and I were fondly recalling how happy we were as children in North Dakota when it snowed because it meant that the weather had warmed up enough for us to play outside.

Then we saw a Jeep stuck in one of those tiny drifts left by snowplows.

Seriously. We laughed all the way home.

This morning, on my way to work, I felt as though my Trailblazer was wading through a sea of idiots. It seemed as though the entire world had forgotten how to drive in snow.

This is Colorado. It may not get that cold, but it does snow.

In the words of my friend, Laurel, "Are you kidding me?"

I'm Still Here!

2009-12-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

I'm still here! I know it might look as though I have dropped off the face of the earth, but I've been busy, people! Seth came home and I have a job now. At the moment I have bigger fish to fry than this blog.

So anyway, I'm about to start an intense session of schoolwork and foodmaking in no particular order. But, rest assured, I shall return.

Someday.

Old Job, New Location

2009-11-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

I started my new job today, and I think I'm really going to like it. It's only part time, so I might need to find another job as well, but once I'm trained in, I'll only have morning hours Monday-Saturday. It's very similar to the job that I used to have, except this store probably does about 5% of the sales that I used to have to reconcile. I would have never applied for it because I didn't exactly want to work in retail again, but Seth found the job posting and told me that they would have to hire me because I'm the "Queen of Retail". They must have thought so too because I got the job!

I'm the only one in my department, which I think I will really like. I'm kind of a control freak, so I need to know exactly what is going on and I hate it when someone else messes up my stuff! Everyone is really nice and Amy, the girl who is training me, is awesome! They have really made me feel welcome and I think I'm really going to like working there. The management and employees are all so friendly and they keep telling me how happy they are to have me there. Who wouldn't like a job like that?
There is going to be a lot of things to get used to (lack of hard-core internal controls, for one), but I've been told that I can make changes and believe me: I will. Hopefully my previous work experience will help me to make a positive contribution to the company without coming across as, "at my old job this, and at my old job that"!

Seth went back to North Dakota last week to help with harvest, so Collette drove down to watch the boys for me until he gets back. I had originally thought that I would have to leave the boys at a drop-in daycare center, but the cost would have been more than I make per hour plus a registration fee on top of that.

Before I knew that Collette was coming, my sweet brother Eddy who is being layed off from his construction job for the winter offered to either come out and watch the boys himself or pay for their daycare, so that I wouldn't have to. What a sweetheart!

Collette got here last night and I left for work around 7 this morning. Jackson was still sleeping, but Tucker was up and not too impressed with the fact that I was going somewhere without him.

Yes, that is a coffee filter on Tucker's head.

Don't judge him. He likes it.

Besides, he's really got it rough while I'm at work.

He has to play with NeNe and Jackson all day, go for walks, and play with his cousins.

Rough, I know.

I'm not sure if Jackson even noticed my abscence.

He was probably too busy playing Wii and tyring to sculpt his newly shorn locks into a mohawk.

He's all about the mohawks.

Overall, it was a pretty good day.

Once Seth gets home we can get into a routine and the boys will hopefully get used to me being gone.

Until then, they're in good hands with Grandma.

Speaking of Seth; I miss him.

Whaaaaaaaa!

Now you'll have to excuse me so that I can go get my beauty sleep.

I have to work tomorrow and I wouldn't want my eye to keep twitching like it did all day today.

Noise Complaints? What Noise Complaints?

2009-11-09T20:48:00.004-07:00

Let me just preface this post by saying: I prefer to keep the tone of my blog lighthearted and happy. There are enough things in life that suck and I would rather brighten someone's day than make them wonder why they took the time to read what I have posted. I'm still mad about this particular incident, but I thought someone might find it funny. And I thought Tucker running around with pants on his head was too funny not to post. So, read on.

Since moving from our country home in the frozen tundra to a small apartment in a large (to us) Colorado town, we've received some complaints about the boys and their noise. And by some, I mean that the apartment manager said all of our neighbors have been complaining about us.

The conversation quickly spiraled downward when she suggested that Seth and I take parenting classes and consider changing our "parenting methods".

Seriously. She said that.

I asked her if she was implying that she wanted us to spank the boys when they throw a tantrum.

Seriously.

Then, she had the nerve to tell me that I should read parenting books.

Seriously.

Then, she had the nerve to ask me if we ever read them bedtime stories.

Seriously? Who doesn't read their children bedtime stories? Seriously.

Then, she told me they would be knocking on our door if there were any more complaints.

Seriously.

Then, I told her she would be just in time to put my kids to bed.

Seriously.

Then I told her the alternative to that would be me sending her our gas bill after I drive the kids around each evening so that they don't disturb the neighbors.

Seriously.

In an effort to determine the cause behind these complaints, I decided to observe the boys in their new habitat.

Here's what I found:

(Disclaimer: I have been deathly sick for the past week and cannot be held responsible for the catastrophe of a mess that is our entire apartment. Thank you for your cooperation.)

After my observations, I promptly went out and bought all of my neighbors Starbucks gift cards and offered my sincerest apologies. Although, after some thought, I think that I should also get some sort of compensation for being with these two 24/7!

Wouldn't you know, Linda, one of our neighbors, refused to take her gift card and no matter how hard I tried, she insisted that I keep it. What a sweetheart!

Fart Face

2009-11-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

In a family dominated by boys, it's difficult to avoid joking about bodily functions.

I must confess, that I find it quite funny and even encourage it.

We even have a "fart face".

Here's Jackson's.

Note: Please disregard the bracelet, he likes to feel pretty.

Tucker likes to fart and then yell, "Fart Chicken! Haahahahah!"

But, my all time favorite has to be this one.

He puts so much effort into it.

Happy Birthday, Vo!

2009-11-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is my younger sister, Rachel.

She likes to lead small children around on leashes.

It's her birthday today.

Happy birthday, Rachel!

I tried so hard to find some embarrassing pictures of her, but gave up after a few hours. Most of the pictures I have of Rachel are quite flattering. Where's the fun in that?

Fortunately, my older sister, Tina has a knack for finding hilarious pictures and she came through with some gems.

To see them, click here.

Enjoy, and don't forget to wish Vo a happy birthday!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Yep.

That's my boys.

Jackson rocked the cowboy outfit and Tucker was a glow-in-the dark skeleton. The best thing about that skeleton outfit is that it doubles as pajamas!

Do you like the face Jackson is making?

We call it "fart face" around here.

There's more where that came from - lots more.

The Boss

2009-11-01T23:15:00.003-07:00

It's difficult for a 3 year old (at least my 3 year old) to understand that someone else is in charge of the decision making for them. Both Jackson and Tucker have been a little crazier than usual as they adjust to the move and the fact that they cannot see their beloved uncle, Abu (my brother David) whenever they want to.

But back to the "in charge" thing. A few days ago Seth asked Jackson to eat his supper. Jackson refused and was sent to a time out. When Seth let him out a few minutes later their conversation went something like this:
Seth: Jackson, you need to eat your food. Do you know why?
Jackson: No.
Seth: Because I'm the boss.
Jackson (over his shoulder as he ran away): No, I'm the boss.

Tonight at supper the same scene was about to play out again when Seth and Jackson started to discuss who the boss was.

Seth: Jackson, I'm the boss.
Jackson: No, Abu's the boss.

Poor, Poor, Pike

2009-10-29T00:34:00.002-06:00

Here's Pike.

Sweet, little Pike who we've had since he was tiny enough to fit in my sweatshirt pocket. He found a muskie lure on our balcony this morning and, for some reason only known to him, decided to eat it.The hooks in his paw were so deep that Seth couldn't get them out, so we brought him to the vet who had to sedate him and push them all the way through.

Pike was able to get the hooks out of his mouth on his own, but ripped out half of the underside of his tongue as a result. If you look closely, there is a main artery under his tongue that he came close to snagging as well.

From the blood splattered all over our balcony and door frame, you would think that he did snag an artery.

$200 dollars later, he's home with drugs, antibiotics, bandages, and an iv bag as a bootie to keep his bandages dry.

Did I mention that the iv bag appears to be used?

For 200 bucks you would think that he could at least get a new iv bag!

Anyway, he's doing fine and the bandages will come off in 2-3 days, but I have a feeling he'll avoid fishing with Seth for a while.

Happy Birthday Tucker!

2009-10-29T00:02:00.002-06:00

Tucker turned 2 last week. You heard me. Last week.

Don't ask me what took me so long to blog about it, because I have no idea.

Tucker got to open some presents and eat some chocolate cake. Okay, I ate most

of it, but he shouldn't have all of that chocolate anyway! Did you see the size of that thing? There's no way he could have eaten it by himself anyway.

For a variety of circumstances, I did not make Tucker a cake this year or even have the Thomas themed birthday party that I had planned.

Honestly, he didn't even notice.

Good thing because, now I can save the Thomas plates and party favors for Jackson's birthday in March! Bwaahhhaaahaaaa!!!!

Cooking With Jackson and Cambria

2009-10-19T09:05:00.002-06:00

Last week Jackson decided to share his love of cooking with his cousin, Cambria. Because Jackson didn't want to put a lot of pressure on Cambria by showing off his mad cooking skilz we decided to start with a simple mandarin orange soup. They put on their coordinating aprons and proceeded to the first part of the lesson.

Tasting.
Turns out, Cambria already knows her way around a kitchen.
(Yes, I realize that Jackson's hair is not combed. He never holds still long enough for me to comb his hair, much less even see that it needs combing. All I see when he runs past is a yellow blur. Besides, his messy hair is a minor issue compared to what he's up to most of time.)

Anyway, they had a great time and made a very good soup that they promptly devoured.

Next time I think they'll try that chocolate souffle that I promised about a year ago.

Thrift Store Finds Concluded

2009-10-11T23:04:00.003-06:00

Can I just say how happy I am to have some reliable internet again? It really is handy if you're taking classes online from a school in Fargo, ND and you live in Northern Colorado.

Okay, now that I've got that off of my chest (um, my nonexistent chest), let's move on to my various thrift store finds. I made the attempt to paint most of them black, but I'm pretty sure that Seth will be motivated to touch them up once he gets a closer look at my handiwork.

Let's start with the desk.

Nice and roomy.

Finger grooves under the drawers instead of handles (translation: Jackson hasn't figured out how to open them yet).

Price: $29.99 (My biggest splurge)

It was a horrible, classic brown stain from the 50's (?), but the black really made it look nice. This dresser was given to us by our friend, Steph. It was my inspiration for painting the rest of our furniture black. It, like the desk, was also stained brown, but Seth painted it black and put new drawer pulls on that look quite spiffy. I love this dresser almost as much as I love the Steve Madden purse sitting on top of it. Steph was with me when I bought that purse. Hmmm... Notice a recurring theme?

I have to admit that I do love how good that purse looks when its sitting on black furniture. Now that most of our furniture is black, it will always look spectacular wherever I throw it. Not that I ever throw my purse or anything. Never. Especially not one loaded down with a roll of quarters.

Eddy? You don't read this do you?

I found this beautiful soft sided dog crate for Pike at the same place that I found the desk and TV stand. It still had dog hair in it. Creepily enough, it looks exactly like Pike's hair.
Price: $9.99

I pulled the biggest clumps of hair out, but if you look closely at this picture, you'll see that I still have a lot of cleaning to do before Pike arrives.

This bookcase was obviously homemade, but at $9.99 it cost less than the wood used to build it. The corners were even sanded! Alas, there are three shelves and only enough pegs to hold one shelf. I have only tried Lowe's so far and could not find the right size, but someone in these here parts has got to have something that will work! I am determined to unpack my books! After 6 years and 8 months, they deserve a bookcase, dang it!

I did not even notice this last piece and even after Collette pointed it out, I still wasn't quite sure if I liked it or not. Besides, it weighed a ton! Now that its painted and in my living room I like it a lot. Not only is it kind of unique, Jackson and Tucker have no idea how to slide the doors back to get to the DVD's and Wii games! We used gun locks on our previous TV cabinet to keep them out. Once Seth comes home, I'll convince him that he should drill holes in the back for the DVD player and cable box cords so that they can go in there too.

There was a Drexel stamp on the drawers and something printed on the back (that I painted over, oops! heehee!), so Collette and I tried to find some information online about the company. We had noticed an outline of some sort of frame on the bottom. Turns out, it actually had legs at one time. Some pieces had wooden legs and others had brass. I found one that was repainted white with brass legs and 6 drawers on eBay for just under $5,000. I didn't find an exact match to ours which has 6 drawers hidden behind sliding wooden doors that disappear inside as they are opened. Our best guess is that it was made sometime between 1955 and 1960 and we're going to leave it at that. Besides, who really cares?

Price: $19.99

There.

That's it.

No more furniture.

No more pictures.

Exept for this one.

Jackson has already figured out the childproof lock on the front door.

Eewww! I just noticed that our door handle and locks are GOLD! Somebody send help right away! Do you think this is something that maintenance will replace?

Free Day at the Denver Zoo!

2009-10-09T07:35:00.002-06:00

Wednesday was a free day at the Denver Zoo so we, of course, had to take advantage of it. The boys had fun looking at all of the animals and just about lost it when this leopard or cheetah or whatever kind of cat is in this picture jumped onto the platform right in front of them. Tucker kept screaming, "He jumped!" BFF's Tucker and Bella loved the reptiles.
We even got to ride the train which the boys were pretty excited about.

That is, until they saw the carousel.

I thought that Tucker would be scared because he has always freaked out at the grocery store horse, but he didn't want to get off of the "deer" that he picked. He even let me ride with him when I turned down his suggestion to ride the bear ahead of Jackson.

Did I mention that it was sunny and in the 70's that day?

Here's a picture from the very next day.

Note Jackson getting ready to pelt me with a snowball.

First Thrift Store Finds!

2009-10-08T10:42:00.003-06:00

We left our table at our house when we moved, so we needed a kitchen table and some chairs. We (Collette and I) went to Arc (a thrift store) to look for some furniture and I almost purchased a table for $30, but after two of the employees lifted some other furniture off of it, I realized it was too rickety for us. I was busy looking at a soft sided dog crate when one of the employees who had helped us approached me and said that somebody was dropping off a table that I might be interested in. It's the table in the picture and I only paid $9.99!

I found the chairs at Goodwill and they gave me a deal for buying 4 of them. There was a 5th, but some of the leaf design was badly cracked, so it didn't quite meet my high, high standards. I gave them a quick coat of poly and I only had to pay $5 for each chair! The best part about these chairs is that they fold! When we buy a house and need a real dining room table, I can still keep them!

I'll be posting more furniture pictures over the next couple of days, so stay tuned!

Cooking With Jackson is Back!

2009-10-07T22:39:00.007-06:00

Now that most of the chaos of moving halfway across the country is behind us, I decided that it was high time to bring on another round of "Cooking With Jackson"!

Here is my new kitchen. I almost cried when I found out that the door next to the sink led to a water heater instead of a pantry, but I pulled myself together, put all of my beloved Tupperware away, and resigned myself to keeping all of our food in tubs until Seth gets back with a cupboard that Dale and Collette have generously offered to us.

Speaking of Seth, he's still out in ND and every other time that I've talked to him they've been rained out so he's gone duck hunting instead. When he called this morning he had limited out every time and only had 4 boxes of shells left. To put that into perspective, we had a small room in our old house that was filled with boxes of shells, a couple boxes in each vehicle, a box or two above the cabinets in the kitchen in case a squirrel happened by, and a couple of boxes in our bedroom closet. A very conservative estimate would put our average inventory at 672 boxes of shells at any given time.

Now that I've gone completely off the subject, I'll get back to the recipe that Jackson and I decided to make. My nieces live in the apartment building next to us and between the two of them, they are allergic to nuts, dairy, and eggs. In other words, my home and all of my baked goods are an allergic reaction waiting to happen.

I was reading my friend, Amy's blog and words cannot describe my excitement when I saw that she had posted the recipe for her Great Grandma Emily's Pumpkin Cookies! Here it is:

Great Grandma Emily's Pumpkin Cookies

1 C. brown sugar

1 C. cooked or canned pumpkin

1/2 C. oil

2 C. flour

1 t soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/4 t ginger

1 c raisins (optional)

1/2 c chopped nuts (optional)

Combine all ingredients and drop by teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Cool slightly before moving to cooling rack.

Easy Recipe? Check. No dairy or eggs? Check. Tucker napping? Check. I decided it would be the perfect activity for Jackson and I to do together, so I made a pile of ingredients (note: when moving you will always be missing one or more crucial ingredients) and preheated the oven.

Brown sugar...

Pumpkin...Is it weird that the only thing I could think about while I was digging in the can of pumpkin was dirty diapers?

Olive oil...

You should have seen the look on Jackson's face when I brought out his cooking apron. I have a matching pink one and we always wear them when we cook together. Apparently that apron means a lot to him!

Flour...

Pretend there is a picture of Jackson dumping baking soda in here. I had a picture, but it didn't turn out so well and my weird hand was in there messing it up anyway.

How cute are those little hands dumping the baking powder into the flour?

Another cute little hand dumping the salt. He waited so patiently to dump each ingredient until I had the camera ready!

Cinnamon...

Nutmeg...

Ginger...

The recipe doesn't say to sift the dry ingredients, but I have a tongue that is very sensitive to the taste of baking powder. My intense love of hot baking powder biscuits slathered in melty butter has been tempered by the many small chunks of baking powder that I will invariably find in said biscuits.
Besides, it was so funny to watch Jackson struggle to hold the sifter over the bowl while he was turning the handle!

Next, our little baker stirred the brown sugar, pumpkin, and oil together.

Then, he dumped the dry ingredients in...

And with his uncombed curls in disarray, proceeded to mix everything together.

All of the commotion in the kitchen woke Tucker up from his nap, so he sauntered out of his room just in time for a fresh cookie.

Conveniently.

He doesn't know that I'm on to him.

(Notice Jackson sneaking some dough in the background.)

When the cookies were done, I could not get them into those little hands fast enough. The boys always like cookies, but I have never seen Jackson react the way he did with these. He literally started running around the living room screaming, "I love these cookies! I love these cookies!"

Coincidentally, I had a message from the apartment management on my phone today saying that someone had complained about children being too loud and banging on the walls.

By the time we were done sampling, this was all that we had left. I know that my photography skills are sorely lacking and these are on a paper plate and they are not nearly as pretty as the cookies that Amy made, but give poor Jackson a break. He's only three!

We used white flour instead of wheat and powdered suger and water for frosting. I didn't have any cream cheese and this way Cambria and Bella could enjoy them also. The girls loved them and the boys cried when we got home and they discovered that we had no more cookies.

I guess I'll be making them again!

Thanks for the recipe Amy!

The Last Two Weeks In a Nutshell

2009-10-04T22:35:00.004-06:00

We've packed a lot into the last two weeks, so take a deep breath and brace yourself. I'll try to make this as painless as possible.

The day before we left for Colorado, we drove to the cities to see Tina and Baby Micah.
At 5 am...okay, 6am the next morning we (Seth, Collette, the boys, and I) headed out. We eventually reached our destination only to find that our new apartment (our front door is the one with the sign and the windows on the second floor are ours) was not ready and the office had forgotten to relay that information to us. No problem, we already had a week-long vacation planned in Steamboat Springs courtesy of Century 21!

We stopped in Golden on our way so that the boys and their cousins, Cambria and Bella could meet

Sir Topham Hat and

Thomas.

The kids also got various Thomas and Friends tattoos that they were eager to show off to eachother.

We had a great vacation and

Jackson rapidly picked up on Seth's love of fishing.

At the end of the week we returned to our apartment and moved in before Seth had to leave for North Dakota to "work". He says that he's hauling sugar beets for my cousin Paul, but we all know that it's just a thinly veiled excuse to get some duck hunting in. :)

We've been keeping busy here with trips to Rocky Mountain National Park and various thrift stores. As a side note, I cannot stand thrift stores. The only comparison of how they make me feel is to stick your finger in someone else's ear, wiggle it around, and think about how that makes you feel. That aside, I have found some pretty sweet deals on various pieces of furniture which have sort of made it worthwhile.

I thought I'd throw this picture in for giggles. Jackson and Leah spend a lot of time like this. They just don't see eye to eye on many things.

On the other hand, Tucker and Bella are getting along swimmingly.

After looking at this picture, I discovered that I have officially become my mother. Dark hair, navy blue and white tops, an uncanny ability to reproduce...but, I digress.

On Friday, we brought auntie Erin out for her Birthday

and went pumpkin picking the next morning.

The kids rode a barrel train, went on a hayride, and then we all went to Rocky Mountain National Park for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, Jackson got some sort of stomach bug while we were in the park and went through one pair of underwear, two pairs of pants, and a towel before I finally thought to put one of Tucker's diapers on him in a desperate attempt to make it home.

However, I did take the time for one last picture.
(Try to find the three lakes in the picture!)

Whew!

Now that we've waded through all of that, I need a breather.

As we get settled, I'll add some pictures of our apartment and the furniture deals that I found as well as their regeneration.

Stay tuned!

Goodbye Minnesota, Hello Colorado!

2009-09-13T12:39:00.002-06:00

We're leaving Minnesota this week! Baby Micah (Tina & Eric's newest bundle of joy) is scheduled to make his grand entrance on Wednesday, so we'll drive down to the cities to welcome him and then light a shuck out of here the next day!

To help you visualize our departure I've downloaded a picture of us leaving Minnesota for Colorado.

Okay, maybe it isn't a picture of our Trailblazer.

Maybe this picture was taken in North Dakota, not Minnesota.

Maybe that van is actually bound for New Jersey, not Colorado.

Maybe the occupants of that van are actually Paul, Sonja, and family, not us.

Details, details.

That still doesn't change the fact that we're leaving Thursday morning, moving into our new apartment on Friday, leaving for our week long, Steamboat Springs, CO vacation courtesy of Century 21 (Thanks, Scott!!) on Saturday morning, and then returning to start real life again in our apartment via relaxing by the pool the following week.

I know.

We lead such a rough life, don't we?

From The Mouths of Babes

2009-09-03T20:32:00.003-06:00

Okay, I know that I have made previous mention of Tucker and his foul language, but I feel the need to let you know that this has rubbed off on Jackson as well. Now both of my innocent little boys are spouting the most inappropriate things in the most inconvenient locations. It probably doesn't help that I laugh hysterically at home which only encourages them to keep saying the things they say.

For example: Try watching the end of Marley & Me when your one year old is standing in front of the TV yelling, "Butt Chicken!...Fart Chicken!...Peener Sam!" I have no idea where the chicken obsession came from, but the "Peener Sam" thing is from Thomas the Train. It's actually "Peter Sam", but the boys didn't quite catch that part.

Have you ever tried to walk through the mall with your one year old screaming "Help! Help!" as he tries in vain to struggle out of your death grip while your three year old happily screams, "Giant Wizzers and Sneakin' Beauty!"? (translation: giants and wizards, sleeping beauty...it's a preview on their Thomas movie)

How about taking your newly potty trained three year old to the bathroom in a public restroom? Not only does he get pee all over his hand and then grabs me by the neck with said hand for support as I try to assist him, but he knocks on his butt cheek and yells, "Hey Poop, are you in there?"

Poop answers back in the deepest voice that a little boy can muster, "Yeah".

Then Jackson asks, "Are you coming out?"

Poop answers "Yeah".

Of course Poop never makes an appearance and we spend the next 10 minutes washing our hands and drying them with yards and yards of paper towels.

Oh My Gosh! I'm Posting Again!

2009-08-22T19:52:00.005-06:00

I know it's been like, a month since I've posted last, but give me a break. I've been busy. I don't have internet. I take online college classes. My laptop took a dump on me. I share one shower with 5 other people. Need I go on?

Anway, we took a trip to the Mall of America a few weekends ago with our friend, Steph who was able to capture yet another Tucker word that just ends up coming out wrong. Here it is for your enjoyment:

Weekend Update With Seth and Anna

2009-07-23T09:02:00.000-06:00

Okay, after trying to load pictures from last weekend three times, I have given up and I'll just try later. In the meantime, I'll bore you with our weekend fun!

We met Tina, Eric, and Grace at the fair in Elk River last weekend to watch Eric compete in a tractor pull (pretend there is a picture of Eric driving a John Deere here). He entered in two pulls, so he gave us pit wristbands which means that we were free to wander around the fair for...free! We did get them mixed up and realized later that Tina and I were wearing the drivers wristbands and Seth and Eric were wearing the crew wristbands. No one seemed to notice though. The boys had loads of fun with Gracie (pretend there is a picture of the three kids here) and Tina and I had loads of fun stuffing our faces with mini doughnuts (no picture).

After Eric's last pull we went to Cabela's for some retail therapy. In case you didn't know Tina is having a boy, so one of the best ways to prepare for that is to pick out a new gun for Eric, er, the baby. Of course, that means that Seth needed to help. I go for the fudge.

We went out for pizza after that (pretend there is a picture of Tucker and Grace here). We had so much fun hanging out with Tina and Eric, thanks for inviting us guys!

Movin', Movin', Movin'

2009-07-17T13:28:00.003-06:00

Ahhhhh...It feels so good to be back. We moved out of our house last week and have been staying with Dale and Collette (Seth's parents) who (gasp): Do. Not. Have. Internet.
In case you didn't know, I just started my final year of taking online classes. You kind of need Internet for those. I have been able to sneak over to the dealership once every few days to sign into my classes and participate a little bit, but I haven't had time to update my blog (which is what I would much rather be doing). Yesterday morning, I was able to mooch a neighbor's Internet if I set my laptop in a certain spot on the kitchen counter. I got a 1mbps connection which is 0%, but at least I was able to get some stuff done. I even got to check my facebook!
In fact, I am at the dealership right now "working" on some schoolwork. Tucker is hopefully still taking his nap and Jackson is helping NeNe freeze some more raspberries. We have picked nonstop since we moved in and I literally dream every night that I am still picking them.

Other than being even crazier than usual, the boys are handling this transition well. In light of how they're acting I am getting more and more nervous about how they will handle our move to Colorado when they are away from Papa and NeNe and I am no longer home with them every day.

As you can tell from this picture, Tucker has already begun to display his tough side in an effort to deal with the turmoil in his life while Jackson constantly scans the sky for flying geese.

Oh dear.

Fourth of July Weekend

2009-07-06T08:07:00.004-06:00

Dale and Collette came over on the Fourth and we lit off some fireworks for the boys. They were ecstatic! Although they were lame Minnesota firecrackers, that didn't seem to bother Jackson and Tucker. Nic and Remy came over later to take us on a pontoon ride. Rachel had to work, so I got to hog Remy the whole time!
Remy wasn't too excited about the camo hat that I brought along for him; I think it only stayed on long enough for this picture.

Remy was a little more interested in driving the pontoon than wearing a silly little hat.

Yesterday Seth and the boys set all of the goose and duck decoys up in the backyard so they could be washed before we move. I didn't even try to count them. Although this picture only shows a few decoys they were literally covering our backyard. To put this into perspective, our lot is an acre and a half and it was covered with decoys.

I promptly forced Seth to watch Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Cousin Tony stopped by on his way home to Illinois, but I forgot to get a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Jackson was very excited when he saw Tony. The first thing he said to him was "Cousin Tony, do you want to try a little English?" (Long story).

After all of the decoys were washed, my brother David came over and we all drove out to the lake. Tucker fell asleep on the way, but when he woke up the first person he ran to was Uncle Rick. Rick was always my favorite uncle too, but don't tell anyone.

Rick and Coleen brought us out for a boat ride around the lake and when we got back, Aunt Julie made Jackson his very first smore. He savored every bite! Jackson also spent most of the time forcing Abu to give him rides in the paddle boat. We decided that Abu should have a more middle eastern sounding last name than Asche, so Coleen dubbed him Abu Aschmed. It wouldn't have been the same if he couldn't keep the "sch". :)

We had fun - thanks for letting us hang out with you guys!

Another Busy Day

2009-07-04T07:26:00.003-06:00

Okay, our day wasn't that busy. The most exciting news was that Jackson decided to graduate from the Hot Wheels bike to his new John Deere bike. Grandpa and Grandma Ellefson donated to the Hillcrest fundraiser auction and were kind enough to let Seth and I bid, which is how we ended up with the bike. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!Tucker decided that he needed a change of pace from his jeep, but he didn't have much luck with his new choice of transportation. On Thursday, we went back out to Milnor to pick up the trailer that Seth and his friend Lance had stripped down the day before. Of course, no trip to North Dakota (or anywhere) would be complete without some shooting, so Seth and Jackson brought their guns.

Seth might have been able to get some more shooting in if I had spent more time keeping the boys away from the guns instead of letting them run wild while I took pictures.

Seth and Jackson threw some clays for me, but I think I only hit three of the twenty or so that they threw...

Seth, on the other hand, throws three clays up at a time and shoots them all before they hit the ground.

Show-off.

In other news, we have a buyer and should be closing on July 31st, so we rented a storage unit for our belongings while we are in transition. Yesterday, we brought a load of tubs over and one of the lids blew off. Naturally, when we turned around to get it, I was the one who had to get out, climb in the trailer and try to figure out a way to keep it from flying off again. I ended up laying a chain over the top and putting each end of the chain under the tubs in front and behind the offending tub.

After that, I was a little crabby, so when the lid started to fly up again I told Seth to pull over so that I could fix it before we lost the lid again. His response: "Oh, it'll be fine". To which I responded (in my most crabby voice), "If that lid comes off again I'm going to make you get out and fix it". Of course, he pulled over right away. He started to open his door (because he really is nice like that), but I thought I would show him and do it myself. I opened my door and got out trying to beat him to the trailer, but my foot got caught in the diaper bag and I fell face first landing with my hands in a patch of thistles causing me to yelp quite loudly. We were in the middle of town, so not only was Seth laughing at me, the people driving past were probably laughing at me too.

I probably shouldn't have been so bent out of shape about getting that lid in the first place because when we loaded the tubs all I had to do was stand in the trailer while Seth carried them out of the house and when we unloaded them I stood in the trailer again and Seth carried them into the storage unit. Let's just say, I wasn't the one working up a sweat.

A Busy Day For Two Little Boys

2009-07-02T09:59:00.003-06:00

Jackson and Tucker were very busy yesterday. Lately, they have been enamored with the Hot Wheels bike and the little green car, so they spent the late morning and all afternoon riding those around the driveway. I had the bright idea to lay out on the deck in my vain attempt to get a tan, but my attempts were thwarted when Seth came home from work early and pointed out that it might not be the best idea to lay out in the sun when my back is still peeling from last week's sunburn.

So, we packed up the boys, some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and headed out to Milnor. Seth has a camper parked out on his family's land that he has decided to strip down. I was supposed to help him tip it over and remove it from the trailer frame, but my noodle arms are most definitely not built for that kind of exertion, so he called his friend Lance and sent me and the boys to town.

We stopped at Grandpa Asche's house and he wasn't home, Grandpa and Grandpa Ellefson weren't home either. I was starting to think that I might have to help with the camper after all when we spotted Grandpa Asche's Subaru parked downtown at the cafe.

The boys spent most of the time just climbing up and down the stairs at Grandpa's house.Then, they ran across the street into the neighbor's front yard and started throwing rocks across their lawn. Talk about embarrassing.

Grandpa has been moving furniture around and told me that he does that on Sunday's because it gets so lonely around there on the weekends. I was starting to feel bad for him, but then Jackson turned on the answering machine and there was a message from Aunt Kathy. Grandpa called her back and then my dad called, and then Grandpa's brother Dale called. I began to realize that when it comes to being lonely, he might have been pulling my leg.

Of course, no visit to Grandpa's would be complete without a dish of ice cream and he had just enough left for Jackson and Tucker. He also had some candy bars that the boys were more than happy to gobble down.

Seth and Lance were able to get the camper off the trailer and I have a sneaking suspicion that some fishing also took place. The boys and I had fun with Grandpa and I'm pretty sure that he found a soulmate in Jackson. Or maybe he just likes Jackson's middle name :)

Old Blue

2009-06-28T10:20:00.001-06:00

Two of my brothers came over the other night to go fishing with Jackson, Seth, and Nic. They brought Old Blue.

Ah, the memories.

When I came back from MWSB I was in dire need of a vehicle to get me to work and back, but I was able to borrow a car from one of my sisters or the van from my parents until both of my sisters left for college again in the fall and I stayed here for college. Then, I really needed something of my own to drive.

Enter Old Blue: "66 Ford F100 Twin I-Beam.

The fire damage happened a few years later while my brothers were driving it, but other than that Old Blue hasn't changed much. Old Blue (and various other old pickups) had been in my dad's family for as long as I could remember and they were all still sitting out at his farmstead. I was thrilled to have the chance to drive one of Grandpa's old pickups.

Go ahead and laugh, but I was thoroughly convinced that when I was driving that pickup there was no one cooler than I.

Sure, Old Blue had some problems but they were minor.

1. There were a million holes in the floor that were nice to have in the warmer months for ventilation, but caused freezing cold air to blow straight up my pant legs when the weather was cold.

2. My emergency brake was a chunk of wood behind one of the wheels.

3. I had to unhook the battery every time I parked it somewhere to ensure that it would start again.

4. Half of the bench seat had been chewed up by mice (on the driver's side naturally) so I sat on a combination of towels and blankets.

5. Part of the roof had been dented badly during one of Grandpa's projects - giving Old Blue a little bit of a haphazard look.

6. The hose to the gas tank behind the seat had, for the most part, rotted away and was held together by several rags. I did not realize this until I filled the gas tank and arrived home smelling like I had bathed in a vat of the stuff.

7. The hood had to be slammed down very hard after each battery hookup session or it would fly up while crossing railroad tracks. Not that anything like that ever happened to me. That would be far too embarrassing to admit here.

8. At stop lights I had to shift into neutral and continuously rev the engine to keep it from dying. This got me some looks, but not the good kind.

9. There were several little tricks to starting it that I will not get into here. Suffice to say that every time I did start up Old Blue a cloud of smoke would billow out behind it and sparks would fly underneath. The sparks were not too noticeable during the day when I was leaving the college, but every night after work it looked like the 4th of July.

10. The brake lines were rotten so I almost ran over an Alero when they finally did give out. Luckily, I had just enough room to swerve and fly around the corner where the new bank is now on Lincoln. I turned the engine off, jammed it into first and hoped for the best. I walked home for some brake fluid and my nice elderly neighbor gave me a ride back. Of course, the brake fluid was useless so he gave me a ride home and I was reduced to driving my parents' (gasp) minivan. They were out of town at the time, so I called Seth who had just moved to town and had been pestering me to hang out, and he decided to play hero for me.

Of course, something like no brakes didn't bother Seth. He just started Old Blue and took off. Took off meaning, he drove much faster than he probably should have. And, as I have now learned, Seth usually knows what he's doing so he made it back to my house just fine.

That little episode revealed to me that driving Old Blue might not be the wisest decision that I had ever made. It did mark the beginning of a new chapter in my life, but that's an entirely different story and one that would take me too long to tell here.

Fishing and Swimming, Oh My!

2009-06-26T21:17:00.002-06:00

Papa stopped at our house last night on his way home from the car auctions and we all went fishing. The boys and I didn't have any luck, but Dale caught a large crappie, a walleye, and Seth caught another walleye.

Of course, Jackson had to take all of the credit for the fish.

Tucker spent most of our fishing trip trying to launch himself into the water. Good thing there's a handle on the back of his life jacket! Today, Rachel and I brought the boys to the lake for some fun in the sun.

Tucker insisted on pushing Remy around. I think he was actually trying to hide behind the stroller because he was feeling a little self conscious over the sweet wetsuit he was forced to wear.

Jackson decided to go incognito. We wouldn't want the paparazzi to catch him.

All three boys must have had a good time because they were all asleep by the time we got home. If only every day were this sunny and dry!

In other news, I think we might have reached an agreement with the buyer. His realtor is being an absolute flake, but despite that I think this deal might actually go through!

If Only He Would Potty Train Himself!

2009-06-25T15:54:00.001-06:00

I tried to start potty training Jackson last year, but he still had a lot of pain from his hypospadias repair and I didn't want to push him into it. By the time that he turned 3 this spring, most of his pain seemed to be gone and I figured we should probably start working on potty training.

It started out slow, but he seems to be catching on. Most of the time Jackson wants to use the big toilet because "Daddy doesn't use the little toilet". Sometimes he's too busy playing to go into the bathroom so I bring his little toilet out into the family room for him.

Tuesday was one of those days.

It was 2:30 and I was rushing around getting the house cleaned up for a showing at 3:00 so I brought Jackson's toilet out into the family room for him. I had just finished what I was doing when I heard Jackson say, "Mama! I peed on the toilet!"

I turned around to see him holding the toilet bowl and, in what seemed to be slow motion, he slowly lifted it up to show me that it was almost full. The only problem was that as he lifted it up he tipped it towards himself and the entire thing spilled down the front of his shirt and around his feet.

As I ran toward him trying to stop it from happening, he dropped the toilet bowl on the floor in front of him. It landed face down spilling every last drop onto the carpet as Jackson stared down at his shirt, horrified.

We were both horrified.

Needless to say, every last drop soaked into the carpet. We had to leave before the showing, so I sprayed some carpet cleaner and tried to blot it up as best as I could, but the carpet was still damp when we left.

Still Waiting.

2009-06-24T13:23:00.002-06:00

Alright, here's what's happened so far:

We received an offer on Sunday that was a little ridiculous so we countered that night. The buyer wanted to look at it again before making a decision, so he went through with his realtor yesterday afternoon and we had another showing in the evening. The buyer ended up countering our counteroffer. He also had some illegal requests included in his second offer that neither we or our realtor were about to agree to.

Here's the kicker: He's a police officer. Either he needs to reevaluate his ethics or his realtor is an idiot.

Most of the signs point to his realtor being an idiot.

She doesn't fill her paperwork out even when our realtor makes a point of telling her what needs to be done and she neglects to have the buyer sign paperwork. She has left some parts of the offers blank and tells our realtor that we can all just deal with them later as they come up. Worst of all, she ripped a page out of the disclosure and information book that stays at the house and took it with her. Our realtor had to go get it from her. By then the second realtor had already been through with his buyers so it was too late.

If we had known this other realtor was such an idiot we would have countered higher than we did and hoped that she went away! Seth and I can't decide if we don't want anything to do with this underhanded dealing or if we should just try to get this whole deal over with as fast as possible!

The good news is that the other buyers were interested and they are only the third showing that we've had! Our house has also consistently outdone the other local listings by a long shot in site hits on the Century 21 MLS site.

I talked to our realtor today and our counteroffer had still not been presented to the buyer, so hopefully that gives the other party time to decide that they want our house instead. If not, I hope that this guy decides to do the right thing and agree to an offer that doesn't contain any illegal or underhanded dealing and we can get this show on the road!

Until then, I'll be keeping a very close eye on my speed while driving!

The Suspense is KILLING Me!

2009-06-23T08:30:00.002-06:00

Seriously! The suspense is KILLING me! We received an offer on our house on Sunday that we countered and the buyer is coming to look at it again at 3:00 today. We have another showing at 6:30 also so I should actually be cleaning the house right now. Cleaning? Bwaaahaaaaa! I crack myself up.

I was really hoping to write some more but I have one child begging me to play baseball and the other one is shoving his hand down my shirt yelling "Bo Bo"!

You'll just have to check back later for more details about the house. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll know!

Father's Day Weekend

2009-06-22T09:43:00.005-06:00

Okay, not all of these pictures are from this past weekend. In fact, you may have already seen some of these, but in light of yesterday being Father's Day, I wanted to post some pictures of Seth and both of our dads. I couldn't ask for a kinder, gentler, sweeter dad for our kids.
Seth always makes the boys and I a priority - even if it means that he has to pass up on something that he would rather have or do.

I like this picture just because the blue glove on his hand looks so creepy.

Happy Father's Day to my dad too! I had a great example of what a dad should be like in him.

Happy Father's Day to Dale too! Seth definitely had a good role model (although we need to talk about all the chips, popcorn, and brats that Tucker "tucked" away at the game!) :)

Speaking of game: Dale and Collette had tickets to the Twins game on Saturday so Jackson and Tucker got to take in their very first baseball game.

You can probably tell from the pictures that they were completely enthralled.

See? We had the hardest time getting them to look at the camera!

In the chaos that usually surrounds us on the weekends that we go to Dale and Collette's we forgot Tucker's shoes so we bought some sandals on the way to the game.

We call them his "Jesus of Nazareth" sandals.

Jackson wore Seth's hat and guess what? It fits both of them. Surprise, surprise.

I included a picture of the game just to prove that we really were at a Twins game :)

The woman wearing a blue shirt in this picture used to babysit Joe Mauer. When the Twins were behind, her little twin boys helped Jackson turn his hat inside out to a rally cap.

The Twins were behind by two, but they had one on base and the last hit looked like a home run until the very last minute.

The ball didn't quite make it over the fence and an outfielder caught it.

Of course, I didn't realize that the ball had been caught, so I kept right on cheering with Jackson and telling him that his rally cap worked. Going on and on about the home run as the people around us started walking out and the woman in the blue shirt gave me weird looks. Finally, Seth leaned over and said, "Um, you do know that the Twins lost, right?"

He Said What?

2009-06-18T08:31:00.003-06:00

This is Tucker.

His favorite song is the B-I-B-L-E and he likes to give hugs and say "I love you".
He seems innocent enough.
Tucker has a little secret, though.
He swears like a sailor.

Okay, not intentionally, but most of the words coming out of his mouth sound pretty awful. So much so that Seth has started to ask me if I swear around the kids. Let me give you a little sampling of what I mean.

The obvious: Shirt= Sh-t

Finger= F--ker

Fingernail= F--ker ale

Trailblazer= P-sser (seriously)

Juice= Douche (I think this one's pretty universal among small children)

Jackson= Shack Sh-t

The most disturbing one is probably:

Breakfast= F--kfest

This list has barely scratched the surface of Tucker's vocabulary, but you get the picture. I'm afraid to take him out in public. It's hard enough to hang onto two small boys who want to run in opposite directions and refuse to sit in a cart, but if I were to bring him into the grocery store, I'm afraid that Grocery Store Guy would never recover.

So, don't let those angelic looks deceive you.

You might be disappointed.

The Many Faces of Tucker

2009-06-17T08:59:00.002-06:00

The Many Faces of Jackson

2009-06-16T10:28:00.001-06:00

Summer Vacation

2009-06-15T21:56:00.004-06:00

Seth has been on vacation since Thursday and we are having a blast! We were originally planning to go to South Dakota with his family, but decided to stay around here and relax instead. Also, it was our niece, Gracie's, 1st birthday party on Saturday so we wanted to be around here to help her celebrate. We started our vacation by meeting Rachel, Nic, and Remy for some fishing at Orwell. Disclaimer: Seth picked out his own wardrobe
Rachel caught the first fish of the night.

As you can see Remy was less than impressed with his mother's fishing abilities.

Tucker spent the entire time sleeping in his sling.

The next day, we went to Spitzer and caught 9 Northerns and 2 Sunfish.

Tucker was all about the stylish eyewear.

On Saturday we stopped at Cabela's on our way to Gracie's party.

We saw the fish

and ate some cheese curds and sampled some fudge and bought some fudge and ate a lot of fudge...

We finally made it to the party and Jackson made a beeline for the cake; intent on getting a taste of the frosting. Fortunately, the part he ended up getting was on the back of the cake where it was less noticeable.

The boys made themselves right at home and took over the Wii for some extreme cow racing.

Gracie had her very own little cake made by Grandma Wendy.

She literally attacked that little cake!

She did stop long enough to offer Tina a bite.

We tried to take a picture of Mom with all of her grandkids and this was the best one that I was able to get. If you squint and turn your head to the side Gracie looks like Mom's MiniMe.

On Sunday, we were back at Spitzer for some more fishing. We drove right up to a sleeping loon and I was able to get some pictures of him waking up.

Jackson caught a tiny little Northern while we were fishing. After we let it go he informed me that, "the little fish is going home and his mommy is going to make him a grilled cheese sandwich".

Today we went on the river above Orwell for some more fishing.

Jackson decided to try his fishing luck using a tiny stick instead of the traditional rod and reel. He actually caught a lot of big fish. They were hard to see, but he put in a great effort reeling them in.

I didn't have any luck, but Seth was able to catch some supper...with Jackson's help, of course!

Before and After...Sort of

2009-06-09T15:33:00.006-06:00

I don't have many before pictures of what the house looked like inside and out when we bought it because most of those were taken in our pre-digital camera days and I am waaaaaaay too lazy to dig through photo albums and scan them all. They are already packed up and the thought of digging through tubs with Jackson and Tucker "helping" me just doesn't sound very fun at all.

In light of that, I have more after pictures than before pictures, but who really cares? It's just fun to look at someone else's house, isn't it?

On a side note, see the deck? We put that on two years ago to replace the little room on stilts that used to be tacked onto the side of the house. Seriously. It was a little room on stilts. The day Seth dismantled that room was one of the happiest moments of my life. I touched up the trim around the windows the same day that Seth and Dale installed the new front door. Translation: we never actually painted the trim around the upstairs windows on the house or on the back of the garage when we painted 3 years ago. Yes, 3 years have passed in which I have been forced to crop those upper windows out of pictures because I was much too vain to show them and much too lazy/pregnant to paint them.

Our realtor asked some other realtors to walk through the house last Thursday and tell us if they saw anything we should change. They told us to paint the basement a lighter shade of green. Apparently, the dark color was cramping their style. Happy to oblige, we slapped some paint on the walls over the weekend.

BeforeCambria, Tucker, & Bella

After

Before

After

Seth wheeled and dealed Dale and Collette out of a fridge, so now all of our appliances are the same color. Our old one still worked great (which is why we could never justify getting a new one), so we were able to give it to one of Seth's coworkers which spared us the hassle of trying to sell or dispose of it somehow.

Before

After

The living room has gone through the most color changes in the time that we have lived here.

It was white when we moved in so I decided that it needed some color. Note to self: after one coat of dark primer and five coats of red paint you should have realized that something was wrong.

Before

Tina, Jackson, & Rachel

After being underwhelmed by the red, we had a little stint with some nacho cheese colored paint. Note to self: Please stop using color.

Jackson

After

After

Last, but not least, is our upstairs bathroom. When we moved in there was wallpaper shredding from the walls and a pipe sticking out of the wall for a shower, so we did a quick-fix to make the bathroom usable and then never looked at it again.

Note to self: Please, please, stop using color.

Before

Seth and Jackson

After

What is now our office and the room where I keep everything that I don't want the boys to get into was originally Jackson's room. Jackson eventually moved into our old guest room and Tucker just moved out of our room last week into the bedroom that we had when Dale and Collette lived with us.

Before

After

Now that you've had a chance to ogle our house, what do you think?

Vote For My Daddy

2009-06-07T22:52:00.002-06:00

I wore this shirt back in the day when my dad was running for North Dakota State Senate. Did I mention that we were illegally homeschooling at the time? Anyway, now that Jackson is finally big enough to wear it I feel vindicated for hanging on to it this long. Doesn't he look cute?

Ummmmm. Ooops!

2009-06-05T14:25:00.003-06:00

I have a lot in common with this woodpecker that hangs around our house each spring.

I make too much noise.Remember when I told you we were selling our house and moving to Colorado?

Well, we are still planning to move to Colorado, but only if our house sells.We put the house on the market a couple of days ago, but we really have no idea how long it will be on the market or if it will even sell. We have a great realtor, but even great realtors cannot sell houses if there is no one to buy them!

Back to the making too much noise part.

I guess people at work have been asking Seth if we are moving (Gee, I wonder how they could have found out - it's not like I have a blog or anything). I'm not worried about him losing his job because let's face it: No one can clean a car better than Seth. But, there is always the possibility that the owners will fire him when they hear how long his commute would be if the house sells. Obviously, Seth is not planning to quit without giving his employers some time to find a replacement, but it is possible that they would simply fire him and find a replacement later. You never know.

So:

Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut a little longer!

(But I'm still going to put up pictures of our recent home improvements!)

Silk Purse?

2009-06-01T20:41:00.002-06:00

When it comes to our house, I didn't think it would be possible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It's beginning to look as though I might be wrong. We have almost made more improvements in the last few weeks than in the last 5 1/2 years of owning this house. It's so nice now, that I almost feel bad selling it, just because I want to enjoy it for awhile.

Not really.

Rachel and I brought our boys shopping on Friday to find some pictures for the house as well as some bathroom decor.The boys were all very well behaved. Except for that little incident at Culver's where Jackson traumatized a little girl. He kept yelling, "Hey girl! I'm gonna fart!" Even her mom looked shocked.

The day before, Seth installed the vanity on his lunch break with a little assistance from his two helpers.
The look on his face tells me that Seth was doubtful of how much help they would really provide.

On Sunday, Dale and Collette came over and helped us get some things done. Collette watched the boys while I touched up the trim on the house and garage and the guys switched refrigerators, put more boards on the deck steps, and installed a new front door. They did a lot more than that, but I can't remember everything!

There will be many more pictures of our recent home improvements, but for now here's a blurry picture of our little spread. I just realized that you can't even see the new front door, which was the whole reason for me taking this picture in the first place. Oh well!

Because You're Dying to Know

2009-05-28T07:40:00.006-06:00

What? Did you think I was going to tell you where we're moving? Not until you read this entire post (or scroll to the end).

I'm sure you're just dying to know how our family spent Memorial Day weekend. Even if you aren't, I'm going to tell you anyway!

We started off with a Park Lane jewelry party at Krista's house put on by my mother-in-law, Collette who sells Park Lane. Afterwards, Collette watched the boys while I packed our suitcase and Seth and Dale installed a new sink and faucet in the basement bathroom to replace the old rust colored sink and leaky faucet. When they were done, we loaded everyone up and headed to Dale and Collette's so that Seth could get up bright and early to work at the dealership before we drove back to my parents' house for Eddy's high school graduation party. Tucker had a great time. I don't think the smile left his face all day.The boys did some exploring in the shelterbelt.
Jackson shot the "bear".

I got attacked by the "bear". It's hard to believe that my baby brother is so big!

Me with my mom and my older sister, Tina. Rachel had to leave before we were able to get one of the four of us. Notice, how I angled myself in the picture and tried vainly to suck in my stomach in an attempt to look skinny next to my pregnant stick of a sister and my tiny mother who has given birth to 7 children. I think that Mother's Day candy may have started to catch up with me. Hmmm. That reminds me...I still have some in the cupboard... Grrrrandpa and Tucker getting some hugs and kisses in before the party was over.

On Sunday, we drove back to Dale and Collette's so that we could use their equipment at the dealership to put new tires on the Trailblazer. In case you didn't know, I was a level 2 tech (um, yeah: my claim to fame?) when I worked as a service writer at Fleet Farm before moving to the audit department, so I've changed my share of tires. I guess Fleet was good for something because so far it looks like I balanced the tires right. I was a little rusty, though. The first wheel weight I tried to take off was on pretty tight and my hand slipped giving me these lovely souvenirs on my thumb.On Monday, we met Rachel, Remy, Molly and Ryan at DQ for some ice cream.

I absolutely love Remy's little helmet! He came over yesterday without it on and I had to do a double take. Of course, he's still just as adorable without it, but I'm going to be kind of sad when he doesn't have to wear it anymore.

Tucker had his "CREAMS!"

Jackson pretty much spent the entire time running around the restaurant getting into mischief and asking other diners, "Don't you wish I came with a user manual?"

Molly and I tried to get a picture together, but my pop fell over and we were laughing so hard, this is what we got.

Then, we went home to finish painting the walls in the upstairs bathroom and scrape the old linoleum off the floor. I realized that the underside of our toilet tank was a little dirty (a lot dirty) so I sprayed some cleaner on it and started wiping it with a rag. The very edge of the rag brushed a bolt under the tank and, of course, the rusted bolt fell out and water started to leak everywhere. To say I was peeved is an understatement.

We ended up going to Fargo with Dale and Collette that night to pick out some new linoleum and a new toilet to go along with the new vanity we were installing. Seth and Dale stayed up past midnight getting the linoleum and toilet in.

Someone else stayed up also.

I guess he must have been determined to be the first to use the new "turd slinger" as Seth titled it.

The guys had just finished hooking up the toilet when I heard Jackson yelling for me through the door to his room. I opened the door and there he was standing. Pants down, diaper on the floor behind him, and he was holding half of a childproof door handle cover. He had pooed and then used the half of the cover to scoop it up. Down the hall he went to dump it in the toilet. Now if I could just figure out how to get him to skip the diaper and handle cover part. Judging from the brown spot that the toilet came with, Jackson might not have been the first to use it after all.
So, now that we have a practically new bathroom, some new paint, and a stained deck why would we want to move?

Because we don't want to live here.

When Seth and I were engaged (the whole 6 months) we both agreed that we never wanted to stay in this town. Somehow, 6 years later, we're still here. We decided to put an end to this nonsense and quit wasting our lives away in a place that neither of us like. Besides, there aren't many opportunities for certified fraud examiners around here - which is what I will be if I can pass the test after graduation next year.

So:

We're pulling up stakes and moving to Colorado.

What Would You Do?

2009-05-26T09:13:00.003-06:00

You might think that Tucker would be overjoyed to have a nutritious breakfast of vanilla yogurt, strawberries, and organic, locally grown flax seed.

Nope. Show him a powdered sugar covered doughnut hole and it's all over.

One More Hint

2009-05-21T10:34:00.004-06:00

Here's one more hint about our "Big Change".

It inspired us to stain and put up lattice on our deck, It inspired Seth to start destroying the upstairs bathroom,
(By the way, that picture was taken at the exact second a chunk of tile hit my little toe. Ouch!)
It also inspired my hunky husband to install this new fan in our kitchen on his lunch break one day.

Does it have anything to do with Jackson dressing like Bono?

Maybe Tucker dressing like Bono? Could the new paint in the living room and hallway in the background of this picture have anything to do with it?

Forget about new paint in the kitchen. I like that blue too much to paint over it. The nacho cheese hue in the living room? No one liked that color, not even me.

Figured it out yet?

While you ponder the possibilities, here's some pictures of the boys.

Now for half of the answer:

We're going to put our house on the market next week!

That explains our sudden urge to start and complete projects that we should have done 5 years ago, but it still does not answer the other half of the question.

What could posses us to sell our (warning: shameless plug) 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage with attached shop, custom gun room, 3 closet master bedroom, 1.5 acre lot, gigantic dog run, and of course, tastefully decorated home?

More to come on that later.

But They Look So Sweet and Innocent!

2009-05-19T07:44:00.003-06:00

That's the face of an angel.
There's another one. To the outside world it might seem as though these two are as angelic as they look.

But don't let their boyish good looks deceive you. Would little angels spread a bottle of Karo syrup all over the kitchen floor while you are standing right there?

This is normal.

Take yesterday for example:

We had never quite finished staining our deck after we started a few weeks ago because it has been raining so often. After our garage sale on Saturday, we painted the living room and hallway after the boys went to bed, so yesterday I decided it was high time to finish the deck before we start any more projects. Namely, remodeling our upstairs bathroom.

All I had left was a second coat on two sections of railing and the floorboards on the 20X12 section of deck. Sounds easy enough doesn't it?

Let me walk you through how yesterday played out:

2:45am: Tucker wakes up at his usual time and cries until I put him in bed with us. He nurses back to sleep and then wakes up on and off (6 times) to poke my bellybutton, pull my hair, gouge my eyes, pinch me, and nurse until 7:15 when he is up for the day. This is a typical night for us.

7:20am: I jump in the shower and lock Tucker in the bathroom with me so that he doesn't get into any trouble. That lasts for exactly one minute. I hear shrieks of laughter and find him splashing his hands and his sippy cup in the toilet water.

7:30am: I finish brushing my teeth while keeping one foot firmly planted on the toilet seat behind me. Tucker decides to climb on top of the toilet tank.

8:00am: Tucker eats his usual breakfast of eggs and toast while I fold laundry and unload the dishwasher.

8:20am: Jackson wakes up and I contemplate asking Rachel to watch the boys so that I can stain the deck in peace. Meanwhile they bite my legs, climb on the counters, and make phone calls.

8:40am: Rachel says no. Meanwhile Jackson throws the Dish receiver on the floor and Tucker picks up a piece of baseboard that has not been reattached and starts hitting the walls with it.

9:00am: I go outside with the boys and put them in the sandbox while I start staining the railings. Tucker runs into the road while Jackson opens the shed to play with Seth's decoys.

9:15am: Tucker alternates between running in the road and grabbing the freshly stained railings. Jackson tries to grab the brush and dip it in the can each time I go to get Tucker.

11:00am: Two hours later after more dashes for the road and Tucker finding a knife I finally finish the two sections of railing and try luring the boys inside with promises of food. When that doesn't work, I pull them screaming, kicking, and biting, off my brother-in-law's lawnmower that is sitting next to the road and carry them inside.

After lunch, I put Tucker down for a nap and go back outside with Jackson who refuses to nap and has resorted to trashing his room every time I try to make him take a nap. I stain the floorboards while he alternates between running through the wet stain and trying to tip over the can of stain. He finds a screwdriver which I promptly take away only to turn around and find him holding a bayonet. Don't ask. Jackson finally goes into the backyard to play in the sandbox only to return carrying his diaper which is now full of poo. He says, "Remember, don't poop in your diaper".

I take him inside to wash off the poo and the purple glob of Mederma for Kids that has been in his hair since the day before. He freaks out in the shower and tries to run between my legs leaving me looking as though I wet my pants. Tucker wakes up crying and I bring both boys to the park to meet Krista. When we get there I realize that I forgot to put sunscreen on them at all that day and I also forgot hats. Tucker's bald little head was already turning pink and both boys' faces were red. I find a year-old stick of sunscreen in my purse and decide that will have to do.

After the park, we brought Seth something to drink at work, went to the bread store where Jackson smashed every loaf of bread that he could find and then started giving the hot dog buns the same treatment, met Seth at Fleet Farm to get a life jacket for Tucker because we were going fishing, and tried in vain to stop Jackson from using arrows as spears on unsuspecting customers.

After we go to the lake and put the boat in the water we realized that Tucker had a dirty diaper and we had forgotten the diaper bag. I dumped the poo out by some bushes and put the diaper back on him. I know who's not getting a mother of the year award. The boys spent the entire time either fighting over the same fishing pole, trying to jump in the water, throwing tackle over the side of the boat, and screaming at the top of their lungs when they didn't get their way.

We put the boys to bed when we got home and Jackson immediately climbed to the top of the shelves in his room and threw everything off the top. I finally convinced him to read books in his bed and went downstairs to watch TV with Seth instead of starting my schoolwork. We woke up some time during the night to go to bed and then at 2:45 Tucker woke up and we started all over again.

By the way, that was a pretty tame day compared to most and I left out about half of what happened because this post was already becoming a book. I love those little boys, but sometimes I can't wait until I have a job again so that I can miss them.

Here's a Hint

2009-05-18T17:40:00.002-06:00

Now that I have everyone all hot and bothered about the changes that are fast approaching, here's a little hint.

I have two boys. Other than Tucker's strange fascination with shoes and the fact that our church referred to Jackson as a "her" in a letter they sent saying he was too old for the nursery, both Jackson and Tucker are unmistakeably boys. This is Lydia. The only childhood doll that I ever liked. For the most part, I couldn't figure out what to do with dolls so I would usually ask my mom to babysit them (so they wouldn't feel lonely, of course) and I would go play outside. Lydia was different. She had a cute little wardrobe and because I was so eco-friendly I even made her some little cloth diapers. Obviously because I have two boys and have no plans to produce any more offspring I no longer have any reason to keep Lydia. As a result of our preparations for "The Change" I decided that I should free Lydia from the Rubbermaid tub that she has been in for the last 6 years and give her to my niece, Gracie. I also either threw away or sold everything else that was in that tub last Saturday on our garage sale. Speaking of garage sale, we sold about half of our earthly belongings on that sale. I will never quite recover from the realization that our house harbored so much crap!

Now what does that tell you? Have you figured it out yet, or do you want a few more hints?

Whaaaaaa!!!

2009-05-15T08:48:00.004-06:00

We gave away our beloved Sally Maxworth yesterday so I thought I would share some pictures of her as I have never posted many of our dogs.

This was taken last year right after she had come home from pheasant hunting with Seth.Sally was probably the sweetest dog I have ever met - big and clumsy, but very sweet.

She spent a lot of time following Pike around and annoying him while he was trying to sleep. Housetraining her was a breeze - I really appreciate that now that I'm trying to potty train Jackson.

Pke and Sally spent a lot of time cuddled up together sleeping after wild days of counter surfing, toy chewing, coffee table chewing, and hair shedding.
Sally never had a problem jumping over the 5 foot fence in the dog kennel if she felt like doing a little exploring, but she never went very far. She preferred to stay close to home just in case Seth decided to take her hunting.

When we got Sally I was pregnant with Jackson and we were not planning to get another dog at all. We already had two dogs and our third dog had been run over that spring, but we saw her picture on a flyer at the gas station and decided to go waste someone's time so we could play with their puppy. When we called for directions we found out that the owners lived right across the river from us. There had only been two puppies in the litter and Sally hadn't found a home yet. The ad stated that her mother was a pointing black lab with papers, but it didn't say anything about a father.

Oh look, it's Kodak. We inherited him when we bought this house. He was just as sweet as Sally, but I think he got a little senile towards the end. Sally is a giant, but Kodak was even bigger. No fat, just muscle and he still weighed 95 pounds. Did I mention that he wasn't fixed? Why am I telling you this?

Because Kodak was Sally's father!

We saw the resemblance right away. We asked who the father was and sure enough, Kodak had been hanging around and then played an irresponsible father by leaving as soon as their dog got knocked up.Now for the burning question - if we loved Sally so much why did we give her away?

Well, Sally and Pike are both big dogs who take up a lot of room. Sally lives to hunt ducks, geese, and pheasant. She points and retrieves and can hunt all day without getting tired. She likes to be outside more than she likes to be inside. Pike, on the other hand, would rather lay on the couch and watch TV or sleep under the covers on our bed. He is smaller than Sal and doesn't knock the kids over when he wags his tail. We knew that with the approaching changes in our lives it would not be practical to keep both dogs, but we had been putting off making a decision because we love both of them.

To make a long story short, a guy that Seth works with was looking for a black lab that would hunt with him and his two boys. The situation was perfect for both Sally and for her new owner, so even though we are really sad about losing Sal Gal, Fat Sally, or whatever we felt like calling her I have a feeling that she's going to have a pretty sweet life ahead of her.

P.S. More to come about the fast approaching changes!

Honey, Pass the Gummi Bears

2009-05-11T08:35:00.003-06:00

I got candy for Mother's Day. Lots and lots of candy. As much candy as I could carry. It was great! In case you were wondering, I love candy. I live for candy. I could eat candy and only candy all day with a little meal at night to balance all of the sweetness. Gummi bears, SweetTarts, Snickers - I just can't get enough. In the past, Seth has even mentioned staging an intervention. He quickly discarded that idea when he turned around to find me holding a butcher knife to his neck.

Okay, not really. I love candy, but not enough to threaten my husband with a knife. Although I did meet him at the door with a gun once...but that's a different story for a different day.

Do you know what the best part about Mother's Day was? That I am a mother.

Anyone who has known me for a while probably knows that I swore up and down that I never wanted to get married, let alone have kids. I think you can figure out for yourself how that worked out. In my defense, I had no idea that the wild little boy I knew when I was 3 would grow up to be so perfect (and he had no idea that he would marry the dorky homeschooler with pink plastic glasses).

After being married for a couple of years we started talking about kids. Seth thought we should maybe have one and I thought we should maybe have none. I liked kids, but I was pretty sure that I did not want the complete responsibility that would come with having children of my own. Not only that, the whole pregnancy and childbirth thing really had me freaked out.

Although pregnancy and childbirth still freak me out a little the end result was completely worth every second (and I'm not talking about the candy).

Wanted: Middle-age Midwestern Woman Driving Black Ford Pickup

2009-05-06T22:35:00.002-06:00

My ambitious husband replaced the ceiling fan in our kitchen on his lunch break today but we didn't have the right kind of light bulbs for it so we stopped at Fleet Farm after picking my brother David (a.k.a. Abu) up from school tonight. Seth and Jackson went in while David, Tucker, and I waited in the Trailblazer - yes, it takes our entire family to drive across town to get David and no, I do not have any desire to spend time in the place that sucked away 8 years of my life which means I usually wait outside at Fleet Farm.

Seth had pulled through an empty spot (never back up when you can go forward) so we were facing the rear end of a black crew cab Ford pickup parked across the aisle. Before long, a woman came out of the store and started unloading her cart into the pickup. I'm ashamed to say that I proceeded to poke fun at her mom jeans and middle-aged midwestern haircut (you know what I'm talking about). There is no way she could have heard me but that is the only way I can explain what happened next.

As she was getting in her pickup Seth and Jackson came out of the store. Seth was strapping Jackson into his carseat while I watched the black pickup backing up towards us. She backed right up to our front bumper and then must have decided that she had a little more room because she started backing up again. She didn't stop until she hit us, then she pulled forward a little bit and Seth helped her back up until she was able to pull out of her parking spot.

Then she drove away.

No stopping to see if either vehicle was damaged. No thank you to Seth for guiding her out of her parking spot. She just drove away while I wrote down her plate number. Thankfully she did not have a hitch so our bumper is still intact, but her behavior was downright rude and ungrateful.

I can't really blame her though. If someone made fun of my mom jeans and frumpy hair I'd back into them and drive off too.

Can I Have Lotion On My Legs?

2009-05-05T13:47:00.002-06:00

Jackson has always had dry skin on his legs and tummy. We limited his baths as a baby to once a week and put lotion on his legs constantly. He didn't have eczema, but he was really itchy in those spots. That said, he now has a thing for lotion. Pair that with his annoying affinity for climbing anything that he can find and you have this: You can't really see it in the picture, but there was lotion all over the walls, the floor, and all of the clothes on the shelves. If you think this picture looks slightly familiar click here to find out why.

So Lazy. So, So Lazy...

2009-04-22T22:10:00.004-06:00

If you've been reading my blog lately you've probably noticed that I have mentioned my outrageous, extreme, embarrassing habit of being lazy. So lazy that I never posted pictures from Easter. Bella and Tucker are shocked.

Tucker, you should know me by now.

If I don't post some pictures soon the whole world might not find out that my sister, Tina is sporting her second, small baby bump!
Or that I actually have some pictures of my brother, Andrew, who Jackson refers to as simply "Uncle".

The world might even miss out on two cousins calm, yet determined in their quest to gain control of all of the toys.

They might even miss out on Tucker impressing Eddy's girlfriend, Bethany with his mad baseball skilz.

What about this picture of four cousins?

Have you seen anything cuter lately?

You might soon.

Wait for it...

Okay, now you have.

(Sorry Eddy, I couldn't help it. Bwahhhaaaahaaa!!!!)

Then, there's this.

Need I say more?

I think Gracie is probably happy that I've finally gotten around to posting some pictures.

...If her smile is any judge of that.

She would be even more proud of me if she knew that I spent all of today doing schoolwork, raking gravel out of the ditch, staining the deck, and raking the leaves.

Um...about those leaves...they were from last fall when I put pumpkins on the deck and then decided that I really didn't care about their fate. Never mind that I went to work every evening after Seth got off work, so we weren't home together at the same time. I could still have brought the boys outside with me during the day while I raked.

Maybe the fact that the last time I counted the oak trees in our yard I came up with a number somewhere around 999,999,999 made raking seem futile at best. At any rate, I decided that I would just wait and see what happened if I didn't rake.

Guess what. The leaves multiplied. So today I gave in and raked...and raked...and raked. If you look in my backyard, you can't even tell. It's still covered in oak leaves.

And what does Mr. Remykins think of my sudden burst of industriousness?

He is less than impressed.

In fact, he is quite appalled.

One might go as far as to say, thoroughly disgusted with me.

Yes, Remy, I would rather lounge around on the floor with you than rake leaves any day. I'll probably be so sore in the morning that I won't be able to get off the floor, so give me a call.

Tucker Learned a New Trick

2009-04-15T22:55:00.002-06:00

I was working on some school assignments today when I heard a suspicious clinking sound coming from the kitchen. Knowing my boys, somebody was up to no good. Sure enough: Tucker has figured out how to open the refrigerator door.

Here he is surveying the mess after I put him in his high chair so that I could clean up. The red mark on his nose is from a carpet burn he suffered at the library on Tuesday (that's what happens when you get your kids all hopped up on Easter candy before leaving the house). By the way, that's not chocolate around his mouth. Any ideas? The clinking sound was Tucker putting the bottle back in the door after he tried some and then emptied it all over the floor.
It's soy sauce! Poor little guy - that was probably an unpleasant surprise!