One Week to the Day.

My son cracks me up. He reminds me so much of myself some time. I haven't decided if that is a good thing....or a bad thing. Poor boy.

Last Friday, Caden lost his tooth. In the grass. Forever. The funny thing about that tooth....it wasn't even the tooth that was the loosest. That tooth's faithful companion has been dangling by a thread for about a week. I've been telling him to just yank it for several days now. Or at least let his dad yank it. He would have none of that.

That is the part that reminds me of myself. I never did have the courage to allow my Grandpa to pull my loose teeth with the pliers. Now...my sister....she seemed to have no problem with it. I do have a horrid memory that involved my Dad, Grandpa, a piece of string and hanging upside down screaming bloody murder. If I remember right....they really did lose my tooth....but maybe my memory has gone awry through the years. Stranger things have happened. Anyway....I was quite content to just let those teeth fall out....all by themselves.

Today, Caden finally lost that tooth. At one point he comes in and starts wagging his head back and forth at me. That tooth was little just waving in the breeze. Just as I was thinking to myself that that tooth was going to be out by the end of the day....Caden exclaims: "I lost my tooth. I lost my tooth!" At least this time, he found it after he lost it!! His excitement over losing those teeth just crack me up. One would think it was Christmas morning with all the hullabaloo he puts off.

Anyway....here is a cute picture of Boy with Hole in Mouth.

Thankful Thursday

I realized this afternoon, that I don't think I have done a Thankful Thursday post since school let out. At least. Shameful.

I definitely feel like I need to get back on the Thankful Bandwagon today. It has been difficult to get back into the Groove of Life after a week of vacation. It hasn't helped that I came home to a filthy house, loads of laundry, tons of unpacking, and several requests for babysitting. Nothing like coming home and hitting the ground running. I have felt like running away all week long.

So...get busy and get thankful. Life is too short.

• Today I am thankful that I am able to be home with my kids. I have to remind myself of that every once in a while. I forget that being able to listen to my kids argue, picking up their messes, and having a constant influx of friends is a gift. It is a gift. Thank you, Jesus.
  

• I am thankful that my house is getting clean. I decided not to kill myself cleaning house. So, I have done a little here....a little there. At least I am no longer wanting to throw piles of stuff out the windows anymore. Peace is beginning to reign once again.
  

• I am thankful for Good Neighbors who watered my plants while we were gone. I was amazed at how much things grew while we were gone!! Wow. Thank you!

• I am thankful for packages that arrived two months too late....but really....arrived just in time. I feel blessed.
  

• I am thankful that my vacation blogging is now caught up. Don't forget to look for my Fourth of July post. Scroll down....I finished it tonight. Yeah!!

Getting caught up.

I have finally had some time to update some vacation posts. I'm not done yet....but getting there. I post dated them for accuracy of time for memory sake. So....scroll down a little to find them by date.

Or...if you are bored with vacation pictures...just ignore them.

Thanks!

I'm Behind.

We've been home from vacation for a couple of days. Life has hit me full force since then. I have lots I want to post about....but not enough time to do it. I am hoping to get caught up soon.

Thanks for hanging with me. Keep checking in. I'm slowly getting caught up.

T'was a Grand Ol' Day....

Why is it that holidays are always better when a little family is involved? This Fourth of July, we really had the family stuff going on. I don't remember exactly what day it was, but Mom had the grand idea of inviting as much of the family to come celebrate as we could. Amazingly, everyone was available!! What fun. And fun is exactly what we had. We had fun packed in there from morning until very late at night. I will say that we did have some work in there. But, there is something about work before a party.....it almost doesn't seem like work.

To start the day off, my kids were excited to spend some time shooting off bb guns. Caden literally spent hours out there shooting that thing. He was bound and determined to master that thing. He really can be tenacious when he wants to be. I shot a couple of times....it was fun. My dad sent the gun home with Tim....so now maybe I can get the cats that like to do their business in my flower beds.



Isn't it cute that they are all wearing tie-dye shirts? That was their project the night before. I think they had fun....

Personally, I think the best part of family gatherings....or any gatherings for that matter....is the food. Considering the fact that we all had just a couple of days to plan....we really had a feast that day. On days like that, I wish that I had an Extend0-Stomach....and that all calories were null and void. Since that isn't the case, I just ate myself silly.


For Tim to really enjoy food, he has the mentality of calories-in/calories out. So, the kids, and the Men-Folk gathered together and played an old-fashioned game of kickball. The last couple of years, when my family has been together for vacation, we have played kickball. Kind of a fun way for us all to get involved without too much stress. Tradition!! I ended up not playing....I was torn between visiting family I don't see all that often....and taking pictures. Though I must say, the pictures really don't capture the joy of the game......


I have to laugh at the above picture. If you notice, that is Daria's leg that is mimicking Kyle's kick. I see her do that all the time out on the soccer field. I think she wants to be in the action all the time....which isn't possible....so she pretends. Cracks me up. I'll bet she will be one of those Moms who opens their own mouth when they are spoon feeding their babies. I'm going to catch that on film some day!

During the kickball game, Caden had the good luck, or bad luck all depending on how you look at it, of losing one of his teeth. Truly, he lost his tooth. That little bugger of a tooth went flying out of his mouth....only to get lost in the wilds of the grass. I spent quite some time looking for that dirty little bugger with no luck at all. Caden was devastated...and a bribe of twice the amount of money didn't keep him from falling apart. A while later, he finally let me take a picture of his gaping hole. Notice the other tooth that is dangling......it has yet to fall out. Ugh.



As luck should have it, Tim and I had a few tricks up our sleeves for entertaining the gaggle of kids. Actually, we had brought them along to share amongst our smaller family....but it was nice that it was able to spread around to the extended family. Tim brought out his balloon rockets again....and the kids had a blast. It was fun watching them giggle and chase their balloons all over the field.

I had brought along some Mentos and Diet Pepsi to do a little "experiment" for the kids. I had done it at our Power Lab vacation bible school the week before and my kids thought it was a blast. I thought it was too. So, we had fun sharing.

The kids thought it was fun to drink the pop after the explosion was done. Yuck. I'm pretty sure that Mint Diet Coke is not the next up and coming flavor.


And what would the Fourth of July be with out a few fireworks? Between my cousin and I, we were able to keep the kids entertained for quite some time. It was also nice that several places around my parents' house were setting off some pretty impressive fireworks, too. It made for a pleasant evening, to sit there around the campfire, talking with family, enjoying the fireworks and the kids' excitement, without the hassle of dealing with crowds.

Of course, there were the traditional sparklers:




Then...there were the Mongo Sparklers. (Didn't even know that they made things like this!!!!)




It was a great day that went out with a bang....or two....or three.....

Farragut State Park!

Today we went to one of my favorite childhood swimming holes at Beaver Bay on Lake Pend Oreille in Farragut State Park. I'm not sure why it is one of my favorite. It is a wonderful little man-made bay that is perfect for family swimming. The distance across is short enough that I could actually swim across it....and I thought that was pretty darn cool.

If I remember correctly, Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in North Idaho. AND....it is extremely deep. So deep that there is a Naval Base on this lake. Because it is so deep....it is so cold.

For me, the best way to get into the water is to just dive in. Unfortunately there are no docks. I hate getting into the water inch by inch. That is pure and absolute torture!
The kids thought that the adults should be a little more involved. It is so much more fun to be in the water than to be beside the water. Unless, of course, you are fishing. I think some of the boys fished for a while. Luke wanted to see Papa get just a little bit more wet.
He also thought that Auntie Tresa should be a little more wet as well. You can see that she was really wanting that!!


Even though the water was cold, once you got in....and stayed moving....we had a lot of fun.


Tim also got in the water.....sort of. He looks like he doing something really cool....but he is only in about 2-3 inches of water. He doesn't even want to get his toes wet. Woos.

I think Tim got a little more wet when he rode in the raft. That raft is a kid magnet....and they are in and out...in and out. Them...along with the water they bring with them!

I guess we must have played hard.....Papa had a hard time staying awake. Guess that is a good sign of another good day.

Say Your Prayers, Varmint!

a.k.a: Grammy's Revenge!


I know that I have mentioned before that the older you get, the more aware our bodies are of how cold the water can be. Thus, when we are on family vacations, the kids play willy nilly in the lakes....while the grown ups park their fannies on the beach. If it is hot enough outside, I still like to get in the water....but sometimes it is harder to get in than I wished it was.

But, I digress.

My mother did a very surprising thing while we were at Farragut. The kids, particularly Kyle, had been giving Grammy grief all afternoon. Splashes here. Splashes there. They were truly relentless. Grammy was throwing back some grief all afternoon as well. Threat here. Threat there. Even if all the splashes and threats never mounted to anything, they were all having a lot of fun.

Over time, some of Grammy's threats started showing a little more buffoonery. Every once in a while, she would charge into the water, puffing up her arms like a peacock on alert, heckling them along. The kids thought that was hilarious and would charge back into the safety of deeper waters, giggling all the way. At one point, I remember asking my mom at what point does she go charging in after them. She told me that she was contemplating it....but I never really thought that she would go in after them. The kids clearly thought that she would never go in after them.
Boy...did she surprise us all.



So the mantra became: "Say your prayers, varmint." Translation: You have thrown around enough guff....now sit there and take your medicine.

Kyle, of course, was the first target. He had been taunting and teasing more loudly and more relentlessly than all of the others combined. I haven't decided if he has gotten some sort of death wish or something.

Of course, the other kids thought that having Grammy in the water and dunking people was just too priceless to ignore. The heckling picked up to a feverous roar. They all must have had death wishes, too......


Grammy must have really done some damage to those kids' egos. I just sat there and laughed as I watched kids, still throwing out the guff, mind you, paddle themselves clear across the bay to avoid the dunkings. It is easy to throw out the threats when you are out of range!!


Even after Kyle had been dunked a time or two, he still came back, begging for more. (Sorry about the picture, Mom....it tells a story! Besides....I don't think it looks bad.)

Silly boy. Doesn't he ever learn?

Lots of fun. Lots of laughter. Lots of memories. And....a lot of prayers.