Literally

Carlie told Bob the other day that she watched a movie at school that was SO scary that it scared her pants off. Bob says "Really?!?!? Your pants came off at school?"

Carlie rolled her eyes at him and said "Not LITERALLY, Dad. Sheesh!!!"

How Do You Catch A Squirrel?

You climb up in a tree and act like a nut!!! The little girls had to be "nuts" for their spring concert today.







One of those wild days today. I was running late this morning. I threw on a soft dress and headed out. As I got in the car I noticed that I hadn't shaved my legs!!! Sooo...I stopped at a convience store to buy a pop and some razors, and I dry shaved my legs in the parking lot. This of course gave me a horrible case of razor burn on my legs.

At lunch I made a run to Kohls to pick Madi and Carlie some clothes up so they could be "nuts" for their music program tonight. Do you know how hard it is to find a yellow, green or brown shirt with nothing written on it!!!

So I got that done. Rushed home to get the kids ready for the concert. We just got sat down at the concert, and our cell phone rang. Frank had gotten hurt on the trampoline. Granny and Papaw took him to the ER. They don't think he's seriously hurt, but are taking xrays of his sternum just in case. Still waiting to hear if he's okay. Here are some pictures of the nuts.

They just called and said he has a bruised sterum.

Easter

We had a great Easter at our house with Granny and Papaw. They went to our wild new Church with us. Then they came to our house and actually let ME cook Easter Dinner!!! And it turned out okay too!!!

Not the Burning Bush...the Moving Bush

I got this lilac bush as a tiny sprout from the lilac bushes in my Mom's yard. She got her bushes when the neighbor lady dug up her lilac bush and was going to haul it off.

So I got the sprout when I was pregnant with Carlie. I moved it from Madison, KS and planted it in my home in Cleveland, OK. Then two years later when we moved to a rental house in Wichita, KS I dug it up and took it with me and planted it there. THEN a year later, when we bought our house in Towanda, KS I dug it up yet again.

So now it is 7 years old....same age as Carlie....has lived at four different houses in two different states. And for the first time this year it bloomed. Now that is survival!!!!

Dirty Feet

If the amount of dirt on a kid's feet is an indicator of how much fun they are having, my kids are having a fabulous Spring!!!

What Would You Say?

What would you say? How would you treat me? If I told you that my son was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. My 11 year son. My oldest. My only boy. And I had talked to professionals....more than one of them. And they told me that after a few years of extensive and painful treatment, we'd know if he was going to live. And that the chance of that happening was about 30%.

What would you say? Would you hug me? Would you be understanding if I cried? Would you understand if I was distracted at work? Would you understand if I needed to take more time off from work than normal to go to doctor's appointments and such? Would you offer me support? Would you bring me food and offer to clean my house and understand if all I wanted to do was spend a day in bed? Would you let your kids come play at my house and play with my sick child?

You would probably do all those things and more. Because it's okay to have a child who is physically ill.

But MY child is not physically ill...he's mentally ill. And there's a stygma that goes with that. It's not to be discussed, because he MIGHT be in that 30% that's okay and we don't want him labeled. If my son was mentally ill, you'd secretly wonder if it had something to do with our parenting. You think of about a dozen things you'd have done differently that might have "worked". You'd doubt the statistics given out by professionals and claim there probably wasn't much wrong with him other than "being a boy". You probably wouldn't want your kids to play at my house or play with my son. You might not understand my grief...because his life is not in danger. You wouldn't understand the support that I needed....because I wouldn't tell you my son is ill. And even if you knew, you'd look at his handsome smiling face and think that perhaps "I" was the one who had a mental illness, because not only does he look normal....he's beautiful and smart and charming. I'm the one who looks stressed, tired and frazzled, not him.

If I told you that my son had a serious mental illness..... What would you do? What would say?

Home Made Donuts

Recipe:

Take a can of canned biscuits.
Punch a hole in the middle of the biscuit with your finger
Fry in a deep fryer
Take out and apply icing while still hot
Add sprinkles and decorations
Eat until you can't move.


They had an assembly line going. Notice that Madi is at the end of the assembly line doing the eating part.

When they had ate their fill for breakfast, Papaw said "Well I guess I'd better go make myself presentable." Libby looks up and says "Oh, you mean you're gonna go poop?" I swear she's a blonde in disguise!!!

Beetles for Sale

Libby came flying into the house this weekend shouting "Mom!!! Mom!!! Summer has some puppies for sale for FREE.!!!! They are part Beetle and part somethin' we don't know!!!"

She was very disappointed that I wasn't interested in adding a third dog to the family.

Nothing More Fun Than A Big Box

This Jump Rope is their "Car"

The Wild Wood

The kids helped Granny and Papaw clean up their yard this weekend. Notice that Madi isn't in nearly as many pictures as the others!!!! They had a great time. They are lucky to have such good grandparents.

Church Gone Wild

I was raised in a Church of Christ family which is ultra conservative. No instruments in church, no solo music, certainly no clapping. For a while we'd joined the local Baptist Church here, and they were pretty conservative too...mostly older people...we sang the old time hymns....had to dress up.

Well we stopped going because we stay so busy. It's probably been a year since we've gone regularly. My friend just started up a new H2O church. They have a band and praise music. It's okay to sing and dance and clap, and you can wear whatever. March 14th was Carlie's birthday and it fell on a Sunday this year. She asked me if I would PLEASE take her to church on her birthday. Well who could resist that. She even had it figured out that church ended at Noon, and her party wasn't at 3pm, so that wasn't a problem.

Well Carlie LOVED it. She danced her booty off the whole service. She told her Granny that "When that music started up, you just couldn't help from getting up and dancing." Granny asked her if she knew the songs, but she said that they put the words up on the screen so you could sing along.

Granny asked if if Dad went with them, and she said "Yes". So Granny said "Well did your Dad dance too?" Carlie thinks about it a minute and then says "No, he's not really the dancing type. He's more the singing type. But he's not very good at that either!!!"

Now they pester me to take them to church on Sunday. How cool is that.

Halo or Horns

At school when the little girls get in trouble they have to "pull" a card or stick. Madi likes to please and hardly ever gets in trouble. Carlie on the other hand has to pull at least on stick most days. I always ask them when I pick them up if they had to pull and cards or sticks.

Today Carlie said "I didn't have to pull a SINLGE stick!!!" Madi replies "Well, I NEVER have to pull a card. Ha!!!"

Before I can interrupt and tell her that's rude Carlie says "Well I guess you're just the Godess of Goodness then!!!!" So I asked Carlie "Well what does that make YOU then. And she said "A DARE devil".

Out of the mouths of babes....

Parker's Memoir

This is my nephew's first essay. I think he takes after his Aunt Julie!!!!

Super Pal
By: Parker Noe

Do you have a pet in your life that is as valuable as gold to you? Well I do. I bet you can’t guess who it is! We do lot’s of fun things together. We snuggle together, we play fetch, and we wrestle! When we are together I feel safe. Do you give up? Okay, I will tell you! It is my dog Russle!

One thing I like to do is with Russle is snuggle together. I remember when I got him he really liked me! We snuggle on the couch and chair. Every time we watch a movie he licks the door! When I am with him I feel safe.

I do lots of things with Russle but my number one is to play fetch. One time I threw the ball in the pool. Isn’t that funny! We have a lot of balls, over 50! He is fun.

One last thing I will tell you is that we like to wrestle. He always wins! He has a cool trick. He stands on me. That is so funny. He keeps doing it. I feel brave when I wrestle with Russle.

Now I bet you can guess why I said Russle is as valuable as gold. We do lots of things together. Even though he is older we still have fun. I am so lucky. Yes I am.

Libby i never licked u

Lots going on in our family lately, and I haven't felt much like blogging. But here is a funny from Libby. This is from her facebook between her and a little girl named Kayla.


Between You and Kayla

Libby Pool February 21 at 11:20am

kayla leave me alone just to let you know jade and sierra lila kayla not you kayla the other kayla kinzie ashlee these are only a cupple there are alot more people who lick me for who i am but i know that you just lick me for not who i am

Kayla February 21 at 12:54pm Report
libby i never licked u and wat made u think that i liked any of them so leave me alone

Libby Pool February 21 at 6:35pm

they like me for who i am

Kayla February 21 at 6:48pm Report

like i care

Funny

Since I was little bitty, I've always been a rather serious and intense person. What alot of people find funny, I usually just don't get....like say...any Adam Sandler movie.

Now I do play with the kids alot. We snuggle and wrestle and tickle and aggravate each other almost daily. And they all seem to need this physical contact. But they also know that when I mean business about something....well I mean business. One of Bob's favorite expressions to the kids is "You better straighten up 'cause you KNOW your Momma don't play!"

So the other day Carlie said something to me and I replied "Oh Carlie. You are SO silly." And she goes "You're funny, Mommy!!!" Then she pauses for about a nanosecond and goes "Well now that I think about it, you really AREN'T funny, Mom."

My husband laughed when I said I was laid back, and my 1st grader says I'm not funny. Hmmmph!!!

Don't Push My Buttons About It

All the kids sat down together Tuesday night before I left for my trip to Corpus Christi to fix their Valentines for the class party. Carlie marched up to me and informed me "I'm going to put my friends' nicknames on their cards...not their full names....and DON'T push my buttons about it!!!"

I told her that I didn't care what she put on them as long as I didn't have to do it. LOL.

Glad I was aVADable

We got a flier in the mail over a month ago about a Littlest Pet Shop parade at our local Walmart. Carlie has been counting down the days. She was afraid that our basketball games would keep us from going. So she made Granny PROMISE her that she would take her. Well Granny had knee surgery, and Pawpaw hurt his back this week.

Carlie cornered me this morning and told me "You know you have to take me to the Littlest Petshop Parade cause you are the only one aVADable."

I took them, it wasn't much, but they enjoyed it.

The Cost of a Trip To Town

Bob wanted me to go to Wichita with him to buy a pair of shoes for him. I told him, I didn't want to go and he asked why. My response....

Well if you go by yourself to buy shoes it will cost about $75. If I go with you, that means we have to round up all four kids who are dispersed through the neighborhood and then get them dressed appropriately. And settle a few squabbles amongst them in the process. Then you'll go spend $75 for the shoes. And then we'll all go eat out which will be another $40. Then we'll have to stop at PetSmart to replace Madi's deceased goldfish...which would normally be $5.99...but I can't ever leave that place without spending $50. Then we'll stop at Sam's Club and spend $100 on things we don't really need and we MIGHT even stop at Barnes and Nobles....and since everyone will want a book that'll be another $75. So if YOU go to buy shoes, that'll cost $75. If we all go, it will cost $350!!"

Seemed like perfect reasoning to me. He then told me that I was a difficult person. And I said that I am normally a very laid back and easy going person. And he started LAUGHING. He wasn't even just snickering a little bit either. He was Hee Hawing. Hmmmph!!!!!

Sometimes the best Offense....

is a good defense. Madi is a very good defensive player. They always give her the biggest girl to guard. During her game on Saturday she was guarding a really tall girl. Madi was all over her, and they couldn't throw the ball to the girl at all.

Finally the girl said "Would you quit being so hard on me so that I can get the ball sometimes!!!" I asked Madi what she said to her and she goes "Nothing. I just kept guarding her!"

Whiney Mae and Tatolyn Grace

Meet Whiney Mae Pool and Tatolyn Grace Pool, the two newest members of my family. Can you tell its been a long week??? Madi doesn't care much if I call her Tatolyn Grace, but Whiney Mae makes Carlie furious. LOL.

Today Libby and I were looking for something. We finally found it right in front of us. I said "Well if it would have been a snake, it would have bit us!!!" and Libby replies "Yeah, and if it had been a monkey it would have Eeeeked at us!!!"

Bwhahaha. I swear that child is really a blonde!