No slowing down...

BOYS are EXHAUSTING. They're wonderful, and fun, and silly, and adorable, and sweet, and hilarious, BUT BOYS ARE EXHAUSTING.
Yesterday was a long day. We're still working on the potty training thing at our house and one of my little darlings decided to try the couch out as a possible substitute for the toilet. We've a had a few incidents this week with trying out the carpet, but the couch? Great. I mean, I can understand the reasoning... who in their right toddler mind wants to miss out on even a second of Sesame Street?But it sure doesn't make my day!

And there's the regular sibling quarrels over things like who gets what sippy cup, and who gets to sit where and so on. Those are always pleasant. Except for when they end up with a hit or a name call. We had a little bit of that yesterday too which caused me to turn in to "Mean Mom" and put them in separate rooms while I made dinner.
But the straw on the camels weakened back yesterday was when they finally were all back to being buds and were outside playing just before bed and Paul accidentally pushed my bicycle over and it landed on Nick's head. It gave him a couple of little cuts, and as we all know, big or small-- head wounds are famous for bleeding. So Mr. Nick let out a terrible scream and when I came running I saw a bloody mess all over his blond curls. The cut really wasn't too bad once it was cleaned up, but to see the blood you would think it was worse.
We got through that all OK, and the boy-ness hasn't let up at all. Tonight Andrew came and got me after they had all been put to bed, and squealed on Nick for making a mess.

I came. I saw. Nick had pulled everything from his closet- the hangers, shirts, blankets, pull ups, etc. and spread them around the room. Then he took the metal bar (that you hang the clothes on)down too. It must have taken a lot of effort to create his masterpiece of a mess because of the 3 boys, he was the only one conked out asleep! At least we know his head wound isn't slowing him down, right?
All of these little experiences are funny to look back on.... at least I'm hoping they will be! LOL

Funnies

Today while I was making lunch for the boys, Paul and Nick decided to get on each others nerves. The next thing I know, I hear Nick tattling to me (he was fine by the way) that Paul just punched him in the face.

I said "What?! Paul! Did you punch Nick in the FACE?"

and Paul responds kind of quietly, "Well, it wasn't very hard...."
I had to turn my head to hide my chuckle. BOYS. SHEESH.

Just for the record, it's not like Nick is this innocent bystander. He teases Paul incessantly. For example, this week he has managed to convince him that Josh and I killed Scooby Doo,

and that Woody (from Toy Story) was coming to our house at 2 AM last night while Paul would be asleep.



As Andrew takes all this in, I'm wondering where I'm headed in this house full of boys. Speaking of Andrew,I have another little story:

Josh and I have gotten into the habit of watching M*A*S*H episodes on DVD at night as we try to relax and while we wait for 11:00 to roll around so we can give Nick his medicine. Well, the other night the boys were still awake and sitting with us. In the episode we were watching, Col. Potter steps in some Horse manure and Frank Burns says "That's Disgusting!"
Col Potter grins and says "Son, to me that's a tiptoe through the tulips!"
I had to tell Paul what Col. Potter had stepped in and that he didn't mind because he loves horses so much. At that point, Andrew grins and sweetly says, "I love horses!"
I said "You do?" Andrew answers back, "Yes!" and then turning to Josh finishes with "And Daddy! I love horse poop."

Nice. Thank you.

And now, for what I hope will be the Final excitement for this installment of "My 3 sons", as I have been typing this, Andrew snuck into my bathroom (he was supposed to be having a nap)and decided to try mascara.
Paul ratted him out and so I told Andrew to come here.When I saw this face, I asked him to bring me what he used-- thinking it would only be this:
He returned with these:
SO, I sent him back to bed, only to have him return moments later with a cut on his lower lip from trying to scale up the side of Paul's bunk bed.
Some Days!

It's a Hot Hot Summer.....

It's been a busy last few weeks. I think it's because it's summer. There's just so much to squeeze in before it's over, not to mention the regular stuff that always has to be done! :D
Mom hosted a "Girls weekend" at her house the last weekend in June. It was a great time to catch up with my sweet mom, sisters, aunts, cousins, & nieces! Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it, and we missed those who couldn't terribly! However for those of us who were able to come I think it was a great success. Also unfortunately, I forgot to bring MY camera, so I'll need to get some copies of the pic's that others took! My poor sister Amie was attacked in water wars and I know Mandie and Heidi had some fun in a food fight. (Whoever said girls are not rambuncious did NOT meet my family!) And of course when there's that much estrogen in one house the water works are bound to surge... and they did a couple of times, LOL, but I think mainly because we all felt how much we each care for each other and want to support each other. It was a good fun weekend! Thanks to Josh for letting me have the get-away!
And then, to bring in July with a big welcome, the boys and I spent one day in the HOT, HOT sun trying to cool way, way down in the water. It was a lot of fun. We set up the inflatable pool, put on our bathing suits and whipped out the water guns and the hose.







Later that same day, Joyce-- my mother in law, called me and invited me to go see the play "Brigadoon" with her and my 2 sister's in law, Jodi and Michelle. It was a lot of fun! I LOVE plays. And it was such a treat to have another "girls" outing! I had never seen Brigadoon before and so I'm really glad to have had the chance!


Ah, yes. And then it was the Independence Day. My, how time goes by! My father in law Roy invited us to join the rest of the Jardine's in Idaho Falls to watch the "Freedom Celebration" and to have a BBQ at Freeman Park.


Here's Andrew and Jodi's little one, Maddie



And here's Andrew after pouring the chips onto the lawn returning them to the bag. (Sorry, by the way, to anyone who might have got some grass in with their chips :P)


Nick, giving me a face for who knows what reason...?


One of the few pic's I was able to get of Paul because he was so busy running around!


Josh and Me.



Grandpa Roy and Grandma Joyce playing cards with the boys... The kids were THRILLED to be included in their game!


Jason and Josh singing and playing while we waited for the fireworks to begin.


Here's Brandon.... NOT sleeping (wink wink)


Jodi just Chillin'.


Robert groovin' to his music.


Jessie trying to steal Bege's chair... (as you can imagine, that didn't work out well for her. :D)


And Michelle, FINALLY getting to sit down! :D



So that catches me up for the most part until this last weekend. We checked out our schedules and it looked like it was going to be about our only chance to go camping this summer, and since we wanted to squeeze that in, we just up and went. We took off to Pleasant Valley, ID. It's just past Spencer and West of Kilgore. It's kind of a drive, (a windy one too-- check out my hair on the way there) but a very beautiful area. The kids had a good time. We made "Snores" (not S'mores-- I couldn't get Nick to say it the right way, so we left it as snores)we drove to the top of the mountain (where we could still see some snow), played near the creek and did some fishing, gathered rocks and sticks, made some campfires, cooked some hot dogs, got filthy dirty, slept in the cold night air, and got a few bites from some hungry mosquitos! It was great!
















WHEW!!