Friday Fun

This week has been a rough a one but it's been a good reminder that time with our kids is so short and I'm taking advantage of every moment. This is the crazy fun princess that I wake up to every day...

Last night I asked her for a kiss before bedtime and she shook her head and said "no!" I was a little disappointed but at the same time, her independence makes me smile. She's not going to be an easy child to raise but she's going to be a beautifully independent, strong woman one day. And, just for the record, I did get a kiss blown to me for the first time just a few minutes after she said no so it all balanced out. She does her own thing in her own time (reason #37 why I'm grateful we've decided to homeschool...pretty sure she'd be "that" kid in class).

As for the boy, he had another T-ball game last night that went great. His buddy who has been struggling with the whole idea of "team" sports, really did great and with the exception of our boy running from his spot at third toward the dugout while yelling at the top of his lungs that his sister was all alone (Joshua and I were both in the outfield with his team) it was a good night. For the record, we did not leave the girl unattended. She was sitting with a friend. I managed to grab the boy mid-run and carry him back to third while explaining that his sister wasn't actually alone and he didn't need to rescue her. It's always an adventure with kids and I'm loving it.

Adventure Is Out There! Part 2

Our adventure in El Paso continued after the gun range (and a taco break) when we hopped in the truck and drove out to White Sands for some Sand Dune Sledding. 

Sounds awesome, right?!

It was pretty cool but it was also a lot of work to get back up the sand dunes and it's really not like snow sledding at all. 

(it was awesome to get away from the kids, just the two of us...first time in almost 3 years)

(pigtails were helpful to keep my hair out of my face until they tried to kill me...this pic wasn't moments before "the incident" where my pigtail got caught under the sled and made me wipe out...graceful, as always)

The rest of our time in El Paso was spent playing games...I'm now just a little bit obsessed with dominoes...eating and just hanging out. The boys cleaned the guns while JG and I played with our nails.

We stayed in El Paso until just about the last possible moment. We got to my parents' house (which is about three hours from our place) at 0200. They had to leave for the airport at 0400...they're in Belize for two weeks (must be rough). We stayed at their house until both Joshua and I had enough sleep to get back on the road which took a while because the kids woke up way too early and we ended up taking shifts napping. We managed to pick up the dog from a local farm where he goes while we're out of town and get home with enough time in the afternoon for the kids to lay down while I got some laundry going...exciting stuff. But we were still in a rush because the boy had his first t-ball game that night.

(the boy in the 1st inning...he hit...he ran...unfortunately, he ran to the pitcher's mound before he ran to first base...thankfully, in the second inning he managed to run the correct direction and even scored)

(it was sort of a David vs Goliath situation...except that Goliath won...the other team was clearly older and much more experienced than our kiddos but they had a great time)

(in the 2nd inning, our boy was the catcher...isn't he just the cutest little thing!)

Have I mentioned that we had a whirlwind week and a half?! Because we did and even after the t-ball game, it wasn't over. We got home and repacked the suitcase for an overnight yellow ribbon event about an hour and a half from where we live. Thankfully, this time around it wasn't death by power point and a few of the speakers seemed to really have the attention of the audience which when you're talking about a few hundred soldiers who were made to attend and spouses who were only trying to be supportive, it's no small thing to keep their attention. It was good to hang out with some of the guys Joshua deployed with and having a couple free hotel rooms for the night (one for the kids and one for us-adjoining of course) didn't suck but I'm glad to be home. Other than going out for the 4th, I plan to stay home for nice stretch, if only to recover from the last two weeks.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Independence Day. Let's celebrate our nation's freedom by blowing a piece of it away...it's the American way.

Crazy Cat Lady Strikes Again

0630.

That is what time our neighbor...the one RIGHT next to us decided to start mowing her lawn. 

I know we're kind of the odd balls out and I accept that most people go to bed and wake up earlier than us but still 0630...who mows the lawn at 0630?! If the weather was like last summer and it was hitting 110 or even 120 I could understand but yesterday didn't even get to 90. 

I'll tell you who mows at 0630...Crazy Cat Lady. I don't remember what her real name is and although she only has two or three cats (along with three or four soccer balls small dogs) Joshua dubbed her the Crazy Cat Lady when we moved in three years ago (holy buckets, it's been three years, woohoo, only two to go to have the equity we want...sorry, bunny trail). 

We had a husky/lab mix...Murray...

 Murray, like most huskies had amazing skills and a high prey instinct. We quickly learned that Murray could jump a six foot fence without a running start and desperately wanted to "chase" one of the neighbor's cats. He did. He didn't catch her. He didn't eat her. He didn't even bite her. He chased her under the neighbor's house. That's it.

She called the cops. The cop laughed. We put Murray on a running line in the back yard.

That was our introduction to Crazy Cat Lady.

Back to this morning. Anyone who really knows Joshua and I knows that he has a reputation for being an ass someone who speaks his mind. He's a me-and-my-four-and-no-more kind of guy and outside our immediate family, some close friends and select extended family members, he tolerates has to work harder to be loving and kind. What some people don't know is that he appears to be the mean one while I smile and hold him back but in reality I'm way more mean. In fact, this morning I released the beast encouraged Joshua to go and speak to the Crazy Cat Lady because if I had gone outside, there are people (the police) who might have considered my thoughts and actions to be unhelpful (premeditation).

So, he went outside and thankfully the opening line of expletives communication was drowned out by the insanely loud mower. She was shocked that he asked her to stop and replied with "Is it really that early?" To which he snapped, "well, you woke the whole house up so let's ask the baby...or maybe the three year old..." and walked away. She stopped mowing got in her car and drove away but the damage was done. We have a long day already planned and now I suspect extra doses of sugar and a little more grace will be needed with the children.

Vent over. Thank you. And if you are the sort of person who mows at 0630, I hope I didn't offend you but seriously 0630 is too early. Be nice to those of us who are not morning people.