Dad’s Backpack Did It

Ed hollers out in a not so friendly holler, “who smashed the wall?!!”  Ooops, that is never good!  I went over to see what he was talking about.  YIKES!  There was the huge crack going down the seam of the wall at the stairs.  I made the mistake of pulling on it……not good.  The wall basically peeled back and fell to the floor.  I went to pick it up and Ed was slightly annoyed with my answer when he asked what I was going to do with the pieces.  I really thought I could glue them back on.  He didn’t think that would work too well…..Earlier in the day Ty had fallen down the stairs and banged his knee on the wall and apparently his boney knee had done that damage.  When I asked Ty how he managed to fall on the stairs he pointed and said “Dad’s backpack did it!”  Yes, indeed, everything can always fall back on DAD!!!!

Spring Break = Strawberry Picking

Every Spring Break I do my big strawberry picking.  Year one we were here Ty and Ryan begrudgingly helped me.  Year two Vicki complained the entire time.  This year, I decided to hear all three children grumble in unison as we picked strawberries so I could make jam!  They were not happy, but they did force a smile or two for me in between telling me that I was ruining their Spring Break and something about child labor laws I was breaking having them work in the fields……


I was the only one seriously picking strawberries.....



Ryan and Vicki were excited with their pickings!

I had in about 3 minutes what all three kids had combined in about 30 minutes!



...a year ago.....



......Vicki just sauntering a year ago as well.....

Pinterest Junkie!

Yes, I suppose you can say you are a Pinterest Junkie when you baked your Easter eggs instead of boiling them, polka doted your Easter eggs (well I hearted mine since they were for Ed because Vicki wanted to decorate her own and Ty and Ryan don’t like hard boiled eggs), colored my deviled eggs, and made the Kit Kate Cake!  Yes, I love Pinterest!!!



I should have taken a picture when the plate was full....



Ummm, No, It Wasn't That One....

Ty was looking at the lunch menu. The lunch menu is on the fridge. It is held to the fridge by a magnet. The magnets on the fridge are from either my travels or the travels of the family during this Marine Corps Adventure we have been on for 15+ years and counting. I heard the magnet fall. I knew the magnet had broken by the way it exploded onto the floor. The last time i had looked at the lunch menu, which was quite recently, (i like to have a good idea of what days i might be making the boys lunch ahead of time) i knew the magnet holding up the menu was my cool one i brought back from China. I asked Ty if a magnet had broken. Ty said rather sheepishly (since he knows i love my magnets and he has waited impatiently many times while i try to decide which magnet to pick from our various adventures) yes. I said, "was it my favorite red one from China that says China on it in Chineese?" Ty says, "no, not that one." I ask, "which one?" Ty, "ummm, where is the glue gun....?" Yes, it was the red one, not my very favorite one, i was just teasing him because i had just looked at the lunch menu before he had come into the kitchen. It was an easy fix. Many of our magnets on the fridge have visited Dr. Gun, shoot, most things in our house have had atleast one appointment with that gun!

broken.....



all fixed!



Give Me Back My Paw Miss Wolfie!!!

Leah acts like she is Bella's Mothere, it is hillarious!  Sometimes Bella seems to just annoy her a little too much!!!  Leah had Bella's paw in her mouth and was not letting go.  I think she was tired of Bella batting at her face.....

Dock Fins

One beautiful, bright, sunny day a silly, playful girl decided to go sit on a dock next to this super cute, quiet, shy guy! 


super cute, quiet, shy guy.....(well, not really...)

They sat there with their feet dangling over the water. 

                       All of a sudden fins popped out of the water! 

The girl was scared but the boy, an undercover dolphin charmer, said to not be afraid as they were just dolphins swimming over to say hi.  The girl was no longer afraid and lived happily ever after with the undercover dolphin charmer.

Converse Toes

I wish i had pretty feet......

Ed sent me a picture awhile back of nail art in converse.  Totally loved it!  He knows me soooo well!  My nail lady was able to do it!  I love them!  But, probably should have waited until after school gets out.....they are quite distracting in a High School environment!

Aligator Hunting

It was a beautiful day and so Mr. Hottie and I decided to take the canoe out.  None of the kids wanted to join us, so we headed out to New River and paddled out.  We decided to go alligator hunting!  Ed paddled us out while I searched the water.  I saw something really big to our left surface and disappear back into the water.  Mr. Muscles turned us around and we sped after it.  Well, Mr. Hottie was the speed while I called out commands! 

I was a little scared because it looked to be a quite enormous alligator!  As we approached we realized there was more than one and they weren’t alligators!!!  They were DOLPHINS!!!  I think we counted 5.  It was hard to keep track of how many there were due to their playful behavior!  They were enjoying their morning swim and seemed to be having so much fun jumping out of the water.  I didn’t have my really good camera because, duh, we were in a canoe looking for alligators!!  But, I did manage to get some video of them jumping.  It was windy and the water was rough. (yes, Mr. Hottie and I began singing the Gilligan’s Island song, making up our own words as the waves tossed us to and fro)  We almost tipped a few times, but totally worth it to be out there with those beautiful creatures with Mr. Hottie chasing them in our canoe so I could watch them up close!  PLEASE turn the volume off when watching the videos, it was really windy and that is what you mainly hear, and me beiong a dork.....It never failed, as soon as i would turn off the camera one or more would jump up right in front of us!  But you can see them if you look closely!

The dolphins appear on the right back about 3/4ths of the way through.....

Have the sound off!!!

The guy that makes all my dreams come true!



Of course Mr. Hottie had phone calls as soon as we pulled ashore....



Marine Wife Pantry

Looking quickly into this pantry you would find nothing amiss......welllllll.....other than it being a mess!  But!  Upon closer examination there is proof, once again, that a Marine lives here!

Yep!  The rubber bands around a can of veggies, or sometimes fruit!  Anything that will shape the Marine's cover just right!  I am almost done with my picture book that shows how you can tell if a Marine lives in the house!

Slip Slop Reminder

I woke up at my normal time of, still dark outside, 4:45 am.  I usually always slip on a pair of slip slops this time of year due to my enormous fear of stepping on a super sized spider in the dark.  This morning was not my usual morning……I started down the hall bare foot……when I got to the kitchen I ran into Leah’s hind quarters.  I went into panic mode and flipped on the kitchen light and sure enough, Leah had her nose up to one of those giant furry spiders that invade my dreams most nights.  Leah wasn’t killing it…..Jasper was showing no desire to kill it…..and I had on no slip slop to smash it with!  I was quickly looking around at my options before the 8 furry legs of dread made a run for it!  I was coming up empty!  I would have to go around the breakfast bar and loose visual if I were to grab napkins or paper towels……the fly swater was nowhere to be seen, not that it would be firm enough to kill a spider of this caliber……the spider killer was under the sink, again this would require me to lose visual…..You NEVER lose visual of a creepy crawly in the house, because then you just have to move!  The Dude in Cammies won’t let me move because we aren’t up for orders yet and I don’t think he can function without me!  Thankfully Jasper moved to the side during those agonizing 3 seconds when I was going over all my options and revealed a flip flop laying on the floor!!!  Thank goodness Captain America left a lone flip flop on our kitchen floor!!!  I grabbed it, let out my creature killing battle cry and smashed it to oblivion!!!  It took almost a whole roll of paper towels to clean it up, but I will now never forget to put on my flip flops until it gets cold again!

I killed it so there is no picture, but it was the type i call Frankenstein!  They creep me out and i kill them inside or outside!  This one was by our garage, it is dead....There are too many of them here!

Obviously by looking at the picture above; Mother's Day was wonderful!

Ed took me out to breakfast Saturday morning and Ty and Ryan convinced me Saturday night that i would NOT be disapointed in catching the sneak peek at the not yet released movie

Battleship!

The boys were right, the movie was fabulous and always fun to watch a movie about our military in a packed movie theater on a USMC base!

Ed and the kids grilled a delicious lunch for me of pork chops, chicken, and steak! 

I also had my favorite veggies of potatoes, zuchinni, bell peppers, and oinions in a zesty itlaian dressing!  It was beautiful outside and we were able to eat on the deck, my favorite place for mealtime with my favorite people!

This picture edited quite bright! Ty will kill me if he ever sees it!  So, shhhhh!

Jasper watched patiently....

Jasper couldn't resist licking his lips while he waited for something to fall!

Ryan had to stretch to make room for more!

I think Ed thinks it is Fathers Day! lol

Ty even let me take a picture of him!  He always ducks when he sees my camera turned towards him!  But he sat still and gave me a hint of a grin.

My cake was absolutely delicious!!!!

Ryan is a huge fan of Mothers Day Desserts!  He said, "This is a jolly delicious cake!"

And of course the kids made me cookies!

I love being a MOM!!!

He Still Holds Our Hand

Ryan still holds our hand when we are out in public!  I know someday he will outgrow it.....but until then, i will keep capturing it one photo at a time!  I have enough for a book, but waiting until i think i have got the last one to finish it up......that will be a sad day for me.....

Are Those Football Cleats?

They have served her well....

Vicki decided to go out for soccer this year.  She hasn’t played in awhile and she kept going back and forth on if she really wanted to play or not since none of her friends are soccer players.  There was also a lot of misunderstanding on when and where soccer tryouts were going to be and how many teams the school would have.  Two days before the so called try outs at Steeds park there is still absolutely NOTHING on the school website so I decide to shoot off an email to the people that were over the sports program for the High School.  I receive an email back the day before tryouts.  It is not a 5 mile run at Steeds park; the try outs will be at the school, after school.  Yay, don’t have to take a day off of work to get Vicki to her try outs!  Another Yay, they have decided to do a JV team!  The odds of Vicki getting on the team have jumped significantly!  Due to previous experiences with this school I am NOT buying soccer cleats to only possibly be worn a few times, Vicki can wear her old cleats which she is fine with.  Vicki goes to try outs each day and does very well for being out of the soccer loop for the last 4 years!  She switched over to just doing Softball and cheerleading our last couple of years on Oki and then football and swim team here.  On the last day of tryouts the coach hollers at her, “Are those football cleats?”   Vicki, “yes…..”  The coach, “well, that explains why you kick the way you do!  Are you going to get soccer cleats?”  Vicki, “if I make the team….”  Coach, “Go buy SOCCER cleats!!!!”  She came home quite happy!!!

Cold Water Leverage

Ryan had been teasing Ty non stop.  He knew he had no worries as his big brother had chosen to NOT wear his swim suit and was in his shoes.  Ryan on the other hand was bare foot and in his swim trunks.  The water was his safety net everytime he went a bit too far and Ty started to chase him.....i think this story tells best in photos with caption bubbles....





It all started because Ryan was building a giant fortress and Ty kicked some of it over, apparently on accident....but Ryan did not seem to think it was on accident.......words were exchanged....Ty thought he should kill Ryan, Ryan ran to the safety of the water since he had no shoes on and his brother did....Ryan proceeded to verbally torment his big brother from the safety of the water.....and the following pictures kinda tell the rest of the story!



Ty got tired of watching Ryan parade back and forth and walked back to shore.....

 

Ryan now wondering how long he must stay out in the cold April Atlantic waters!



It didn't end well....Ty ran and caught Ryan and threw him face first into the ocean.  It wasn't pretty, but sometimes they need to end their own stories.....or battles i should say.....




When i confronted Ty on pushing his little brother into the water on his face he just quietly put his finger under his nose.....this lets me know that he is NOT Ty, just a random stranger who looks like Ty with a mustache.....





Someday their battles might not end blood free......





But, till than.....we have survived another outing with the boys!